World A Beginnings

Covering FF6, FF12, FF1/Dissidia, and FF5 :) **Spoilers ahead!!

The Espers (FF6)

 

                The Warring Triad found themselves on the first planet born of the Void, World A. Mortal beings already occupy the planet.  Without restraint, the Triad wages war and the mortals are drawn into the battle. Some become Espers and were forced to fight for the “Gods”. In time, they realized the chaos they are causing is reminiscent of the conflicts in World B. They seal their powers away, yet again, and return the Esper’s free-will. Turning themselves to stone, they task the Espers with protecting them and keeping them petrified. To ensure their everlasting rest, the Espers leave World A and take the Triad’s statues with them to a new realm, Esper World. With their departure, magic left the world for the time being; society advanced with science and technological development. The planet went under reconstruction, empires rose, war broke out again, but a peace treaty was made. However, one empire, Gestahilan declared independence and built up its military force. During this time, the world saw a surge of industrial and artistic revolutions.

                Some empires merged into unified nation called Nashe, and Figaro Castle was constructed in the middle of a desert. Figaro Castle rivaled the Gestahilan Empire in technology, but The Empire woul pull ahead. A human, Madeline finds a way to the Esper World and falls in love with the Esper, Maduin-together they have Terra (hybrid). Not long after her birth, The Empire finds its way to the Esper World and captures Terra and other Espers; they are imprisoned in the Magitek Research Facility. It is used to develop armor for knights and make them able to wield magic by draining power from the Espers. Their first experiment on Kefka Palazzo ended with the shattering of his mind- loses sanity. With more testing, the western continent is conquered and Figaro Castle allies with The Empire while secretly supplying a group of rebels, The Returners.

                Years later, Kefka raises to power and test the effectiveness of a controlling device called the Slave Crown on Terra. He tasks her with killing 50 imperial soldiers and she does. He sends her to Narshe to collect a frozen Esper that recently appeared there; Kefka is unaware that they still exist and no knowledge of the source of Magitek- Espers. During her mission, the Esper breaks the crown and Terra regains free will. She flees to Figaro Castle, but Kefka tracks her down. He attempts to burn the castle down but it burrows itself in the desert and Terra and new allies escape. Moving on, The empire begins another military campaign and attacks Doma. Kefka poisons the water supply and kills all but two residents of Doma. Upon making contact with the Frozen Esper, Terra finds out she is half-esper and she learns from the Esper Ramuh that the source  of magic is magicite which are the remains of an Esper and much stronger than Magitek. The Returners goto the research facility to free the Espers, but in the process Kefka learns of the Espers true power. The Returners bring the Espers back to the Esper World but want the other to help them stop Kefka.

                They break the seal on the gate; unfortunately this is what Kefka wanted. Kefka is able to kill some Espers and use their magicite to become too powerful for other Espers to subdue him.  Entering the Esper world, he makes contact with the Warring Triad and the world rises to become the Floating Continent. Wanting more power, Kefka succeeds in obtaining the power of the Triad and becomes the God of Magic.  In the process, he knocks the Triad statues out of balance creating the World of Ruin. Kefka builds a tower to rule from and uses a beam of Light to destroy anything he wants; he creates monsters and fear (cult). In the end, Terra and allies battle Kefka in two forms: three-tiered mechanical-organic tower (Hell, Purgatory and Heaven) and his angelic-demonic godly form. Upon defeat, magicite, magic and Espers disappear from the world and return to The Rift; all humans, fiends, and monsters remain. The heroes work on rebuilding the world without magic. Legends of the Espers persist in which the Aeons of Spira (FF10) are created in their likeness and replica statues of the Warring Triad make their way to Gaia (FF9), forever a representation of the struggle of power between man, magic, and machine. Centuries later, magic returns with the rediscovery of World B and the introduction of orbs-crystals; they are the first world crystal to be fully charged world crystals due to Kefka’s magic in the Rift. Before that, Kefka’s magic was used to create deities of a new world of the Rift, Ivalice.

 

Mist of the Rift (FF12)

 

                In the world of Ivalice, Occuria are born of Mist created by aether and led by the Occuria Gerun.  The source of magic and the life force of the world, high amounts of Mist forms into magicite " stones in which magic can be drawn from. The Occuria create Espers with Kefka’s magic to become their servants. An Esper, Ultima leads a revolt but the Occuria bound them in glyphs and scattered them throughout Ivalice.  In time, the Occuria withdrew into Giruvegan (Holy Realm with a great crystal in a pit) and watch over Ivalice from afar. They sealed the gate to their ancient city and shrouded it in mist. Chaos ensued in Ivalice and the Occuria seek to dictate mankind by giving them power that they can manipulate. Gerun gave 3 shards of nethacite (absorbs mist) from the Great Crystal to the King of Valendia, Raithwall. He created the Galtean Alliance and he is called, Dynast King. One shard is given to Dalmasca (Dusk Shard) and one shard is given to Nabradia (Midlight Shard); Sun-Cryst remains with the King. The Cryst and shards absorb Mist and it leaks from them.

                City-states Archadia and Rozarria rise to military empires after the King’s death and the Republic of Landis were established. Peace doesn’t last long. Rogue Occuria, Venat makes an alliance with Dr. Cid of Archadia with the goal of severing the Occuria’s hold on Mankind- the Sun Cryst. It teaches Dr. Cid how to manufacture nethacite. Eventually, they enlist the help of Vayne Solidor and Gabranth to help accomplish Venat’s goal. Archadia leads a military campaign to obtain the Midlight and Dusk shards; the mist released from them and the Sun-Cryst can be used to fuel their sky fortress, Bahamut. A resistance organization formed- people all over Ivalice join. The heroes find themselves looking for stones and  the Sun -Cryst. Dark Crystals (of Giza plains) absorb sunlight- drained into Shadestones to create sunstones needed to access the castle of Rabanster, Dalmasca (where Vayne resides). A waystone is needed to access the city where the Occuria reside. Ashe, princess of Dalmasca  is chosen to be the  new Dynast King; the Occuria essential  want to protect their control on mankind by keeping the Sun-Cryst intact. Instead, Ashe sought to destroy it.

                The Sun-Cryst is destroyed by Reddas; he sacrificed himself to save Ashe from the explosion. Thus, the Occuria hold on mankind severed-  Venat’s goal accomplished. With Fortress Bahamut fueled and Vayne gaining much power from Venat, Vayne wants to become the new Dynast King. Ashe and allies are able to defeat Vayne  and Venat-peace is restored. In the aftermath, the mist clears and Sky pirates discover the sky continent, Lemures  where a race of winged humans live called, Aegyls. They discover a threat from the Judge of Wings who wants to drain the Auraliths (crystals harboring a collection of Anima) to summon an Esper, Yarhi. Anima is the soul-gives a being emotion. A stone, Auracite drains a person’s anima. Some aegyls help the pirates defeat the Judge of Wings, Feolthanos. This aegyls had an ancient grudge with the Occuria and Ivalice; the Occuria were not accepting of his mating with a Viera (bunny eared-very tall- human-like race) as they saw the creation of a new race (Veol Viera) as  “disorder”. As a result of his defeat, the Sky continent was shattered and the aegrly look for new home-left Ivalice. Tales about them are told in later generations (FF Tactics).

 

Cosmos and Chaos (FF1)

 

                The nation of Onrac of World A discovered a door to the Rift and retrieved a sample of crystal ore for study. The ores are the basis of lifeforms and are manipulated to make the first manikins which took on the forms of the researchers observing them. They were but mindless puppets so Cid of Lufaine was recruited to transplant memories into them; he was a scientist who studied Harmony and Discord and the creator of the manikins. His “perfect” manikin creation was, Chaos. Raised as a weapon for war, he grew too powerful- thus Cosmos, who resembles Cid’s wife, was made; she has power equal to Chaos. Witnessing the death of his mother, Cid’s wife, caused Chaos to open a portal to The Rift and travel to World B with Cid and Cosmos in tow. With no way of getting back, a being named Shinryu offers them a way back to World A. Shinryu  brings “replicas” of warriors and villains from various final fantasy games-past, present and future-and steals their memories; thus the cycles of war between Chaos and Cosmos begins.  At the end of the 13^th cycle, Cosmos stays in World B with Chaos; they both “faded away”, while Cid, Warrior of Light (soul of Light), and Garland (soul of Dark) return to World A. Shinryu travels through The Rift with a fragment of the dark crystal to World A and takes Chaos with it. Cosmos summons OMEGA from the Rift (first created by a man in FF12), a being who can combat Shinryu and is drawn to his presence.

                The ancient civilization of Leifen (Lufaine) was a technologically advanced; Cid created airships, robots-War Mech, and a flying fortress using the power of the Wind crystal (orb). However the crystal went dark when the fiend, Tiamat waged war. Five sky warriors were sent to restore the crystal but they failed and were turned to bats. Many centuries later, another fiend, Kraken darkened the water crystal by sinking a civilization in the ocean, while the earth and fire crystals are darken by Lich and Marilith respectively. Four warriors of light of Lucan’s prophecy arrive at the Castle in Cornelia with the four darken crystals. The king tells the warriors that his daughter, Sara was kidnapped by rouge knight, Garland and taken to the Chaos Shrine. Along the way, they defeat the four fiends and restore the crystals; they also defeat four other fiends: Scarmigliore, Cagnazzo, Barbarccia, and Rubicante who guard Chaos. However, an unknown power is still draining them and answers lie at Chaos Shrine.

                At Chaos Shrine, they find the dark crystal of Shinryu. These dark crystal transports them 2,000 years into the past using the power of the Mist from the Rift. The mist of the Rift allowed the Four Fiends to use elemental magic to create the time spell- thus creating the time loop of this world. This time-loop involve Chaos senting the fiends into the future to bring back Garland just before he is defeated by the Warriors of Light, in the past, Garland would summon the fiends to the future so they can darken the crystals to give power to the dark crystal so Garland can become Chaos. In other words, their world repeats the same 2,000 years. The warriors are able to kill the fiends before Chaos can send them into the future and defeat Chaos. When they return to the present, the world has no recollection of the fiends or of the crystals darkening. The Warriors of Light remember and keep protecting the world and its 4 light crystals. The fiends returned to the Void with Garland and Chaos- waiting for someone to summon them.

 

Creation of 4 Dark Crystals (FF5)

 

                Now named Planet R, an ancient civilization constructed the Ancient Library which contains information on other worlds connected by the Void. A powerful mage named Enuo ruled the world using the power of darkness from the Void.  The Ancients retaliated by using twelve legendary weapons to vanquish Enuo; however, the Void itself could not be destroyed. Consequently, the people split the world's four elemental Crystals into two sets, effectively creating two worlds. The Void then became sealed in a dimensional cleft between the two worlds thus creating Bartz’s and Galuf’s worlds with the Rift between them.  Crystals seal Enou and the Rift; 4 in one world and 4 in the other. In time, the original summons are born: Ifrit, Ramuh, Shiva, Titan, Odin, Bahamut, Leviathan, and Phoenix (a few others too); they are called Espers and live out their own lives. In present time, Kings and Queens in Bartz’s world are abusing the powers of the Crystals- draining them with machines until they burst.  Cid gave them the idea due to reading books on crystals in the Ancient Library. His grandson Mid is able to find an alternative way to fuel machines. Meteors are falling on the planet; they contain teleportation devices and warriors of Dawn from Galuf’s world. These warriors sealed Ex-Death away on Bartz’s world 30 years prior.

                Galuf informs the party that if the 4 crystals shatter, Ex-Death/Enuo will be freed and he is. They travel to Galuf’s world where they face general Gilgamesh (weapons collector) multiple times and his partner Enkindu; eventually defeated and sent to The Rift. Ex-Death takes control over Galuf’s crystals after the party accidently breaks the seal.  As a result, the worlds became merged again and Ex-Death seeks to control The Void. They discover a way to stop him while at the Ancient Library- gather 12 sealed legendary weapons to kill Ex-Death, but first they must find the sealed tomes to break the seals. Each tome is connected to an element as well as Bahamut & Leviathan, and strong spells-Flare, Meteor, and Holy. After battling Shinryu, Omega, Gilgamesh, and Atmos in the Rift, ironically enough, Ex-Death is defeated by the Void which manifests to destroy everything. Upon defeat, crystal fragments gathered during their journey restore the crystals and the Void retreats. The Guardian Tree of the Forest of Moore revives fallen comrades. The warriors of Light continue to protect the crystals. Eventually they will create an advanced society- the Floating Continent-and the Flood of Light; 4 warriors of Darkness would be needed to restore balance.  Also, 4 Light Crystals are made into 4 Dark Crystals to bring balance. They are guarded by four new fiends: Ahriman, Cerberus, Echidna, and Two-Headed Dragon. Chaos persists in the Rift with Shinryu , Omega and the original dark crystal until they find their way to a new planet- Spira.