Once a focal trading post, the Silver Bazaar has since fallen on hard times.

-Exploring Eorzea is a periodic feature taking a closer look at the people, places and lore of Final Fantasy XIV.

If you stand outside the Silver Bazaar and close your eyes, you can almost hear the haggling of merchants, the shouting of eager customers and the clanks of gil on the tabletop.

Open your eyes, and you’ll see the Silver Bazaar is barely even a shadow of its former self. The market is no longer open. A scale once used for measuring gold dust, food and other goods stands empty on a red tablecloth where venders and travelers once did business in droves. Only the cool, salty wind from the sea consistently moves through the Silver Bazaar, channeled by the sheer cliffs and leaving a fine coating of rust in its wake.

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Still, the gate guard outside the tiny hamlet invites weary travelers to rest within its walls. After all, lingering outside the Silver Bazaar can be dangerous; careless adventurers who’ve wandered off after unloading their gil have fallen victim to Amalj’aa that patrol the nearby areas.

Nowadays, the Silver Bazaar is mainly used as a safe haven for refugees of Ala Mhigo, which was the most powerful of the Eorzean city states before being destroyed by the Garlean Empire. The Ala Mihigans seem a natural fit for the shopkeepers of the market, with their relentless work ethic and refusal to complain. The refugees are viewed in much higher regard than Ul’dahns, who are perceived as soft, weak and spoiled.

The few residents of the Silver Bazaar don’t take kindly to how the Ul’dahns look down upon them and their establishment. True, there isn’t much to see in the Silver Bazaar. The hamlet consists of two small buildings and a large central bazaar tent. A mysterious cave tunnels through the cliff from the western edge of the hamlet, eventually ending in a larger, open room and a pristine subterranean spring. And now the market isn’t even open -- the few facilities the hamlet has to offer are vacant.

Even when the Silver Bazaar is open, the bazaar’s products can’t match up to the high-quality items found in the markets of Ul’dah, says an Elezen by the name of Celie, standing in the shade of the large bazaar tent. However, that doesn’t stop merchants from coming from far and wide to browse the wares of the bazaar‘s wares. Traveling merchants are drawn to the bazaar for its uniquely wide selection of goods. The prices of items at the Silver Bazaar are also more fare than the prices charged in Ul‘dahan markets, which have long been infused with wealth and excess.

The Silver Bazaar was once a bustling waypoint on one of the major trade routes of Eorzea. During that time, nearly anything shipped over from across the sea passed through the dusty hand of a Silver Bazaar merchant.

Now, barely anything passes through this tiny, salt-swept hamlet, but the winds of commerce could change at any moment. It happened before, and it could happen again.