Sil'dih

Sil'dih was a city-state that existed long ago beside Ul'dah in Final Fantasy XIV. It existed in Thanalan as a sister city-state to Ul'dah, both having been born from Belah'dia, but vanished from sight until the Calamity exposed the sealed ruins. Like Ul'dah, it was ruled by Lalafell.
==History==
:Note: Dates are taken from Encyclopaedia Eorzea. For reference, A Realm Reborn takes place in the year 1577.
Sil'dih was founded in the year 969 by a Belah'dian prince named Sasawefu after civil war divided Belah'dia, while his brother Sasagan Ul Sisigan founded Ul'dah. While Ul'dah took Belah'dia's flame of magic and gem of affluence as its symbols, Sil'dih took the helm of might and fruit of knowledge. Sil'dih was proud of its military might and used Belah'dian techniques to create gladiator constructs.
In 1159 Lalawefu Sil Tatawefu ascended to the throne of Sil'dih, and was known as the King of Springs because he was able to secure a stable source of water for his city. This sparked the enmity of Ul'dah because said water source was found by diverting a river that had previously led into Ul'dah's own resevoir. His financial reforms brought the city-state prosperity, but over the generations a combination of tax increases and untimely droughts led to civil unrest. Lalawefu passed away in 1177, and the following year in 1178 Ul'dah began the War of the Sisters against Sil'dih to reclaim their water source.
The two nations were equally matched, until in 1181 when Ul'dahn thaumaturges devised a powder capable of turning the dead into zombies, called the Traders' Spurn. Ul'dah used their catapults to cast the powder inside the city in order to have the dead attack the living. To explain the anguished screams, Ul'dah fabricated a tale that Sil'dih had started turning their dead into zombies in order to win the war. Ul'dah created the Immortal Flames to lead a crusade against the zombies, and in their triumphant crusade sealed the gates of Sil'dih, wiping them out with the perverse plague.
After Sil'dih was destroyed, Ul'dah moved itself onto the former site of its sister city. Only a few decades after the war however, in the year 1224, Sultan Sasagan III was ousted and arrested for his ordering the creation of the Traders' Spurn. He was replaced by Baldric Thorne, establishing Ul'dah's hyur Thorne Dynasty which would rule for roughly 130 years.
In 1353, undead Sil'dihns emerged from the ruins of Sil'dih beneath Ul'dah. The Ul'dahns worked together with the Amalj'aa to defeat the zombies. Two years later the undead were defeated, and the Thorne Dynasty willingly handed control of Ul'dah back to the Ul Dynasty.
Sil'dih was eventually forgotten by the majority of people over the centuries. The Traders' Spurn powder remained locked in a vault for all that time.
==Locations==
Ruins of Sil'dih can be visited in the Variant Dungeon The Sil'dihn Subterrane, added in Endwalker.
Ruins of Sil'dih can be visited in Central and Western Thanalan, recently uncovered during the Calamity. Before the rediscovery of these ruins the civilization was nearly forgotten. However, thanks to the daughter of the Amajina & Sons Mineral Concern's leader, Nenekku, and other Eorzean researchers such as Erik in the Monk quest line, much of the above history is now optionally available.
A remnant of the Sil'dih Aqueducts (likely relevant to the aforementioned flood control) was hidden in the furthest tunnels of the Copperbell Mines, which was not instanced in 1.0. It was later blocked by a strange wall of webbing, and only available via temporary Aetherial Gates during the first of the Lambs of Dalamud events. After this particular event ended the Sil'dih Aqueducts remained sealed.
The aqueducts were accessed again by the Scions of the Seventh Dawn when they were accused of murdering Nanamo Ul Namo and had to flee Ul'dah. They accessed the waterway via a secret entrance in Nanamo's private chambers, and the exit led them to the Sil'dih Excavation Site in Central Thanalan, north of the city.
Category:Nations in Final Fantasy XIV
Category:Thanalan locations in Final Fantasy XIV