The Unending Codex
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Spoiler Warning : This article contains spoilers! |
“Accessible from your Collection, the Unending Codex puts vital information about in-game terminology and characters at your fingertips. Review this handwritten record of key concepts from your journey thus far whenever you fear the details of past adventures are slipping from your grasp.
— In-game description
The Unending Codex is unlocked during the quest 
Newfound Adventure, with new entries added as the story unfolds. These lore entries summarize important characters and concepts in the Main Scenario Quests primarily up to the end of the initial release of Endwalker (patch 6.0), although some entries go beyond that.
The Codex can be accessed from the Collection feature in the Main Menu → Duty tab.
Entries
Tataru
Scion of the Seventh Dawn
Coinkeeper
Though publicly known as the organization's receptionist, Tataru also serves as the Scions' coinkeeper─a role she executes with an enthusiastic cunning that borders on the terrifying.
Born to Ul'dahn merchants, the young Tataru had everything a Lalafell could ask for─until her family lost it all to bankruptcy. Plagued by debt and still smarting from this abrupt introduction to the harsh realities of the sultanate, she apprenticed herself to a lapidary at the age of twelve, and henceforth supported the household with her meager earnings. It was during this period that she met Minfilia─a miner come to sell gems and ore─who would later recruit Tataru to oversee the Path of the Twelve's finances.
Tataru, in turn, resolved to use her newfound position not only to accrue personal wealth, but also to serve others. Indeed, when the Path of the Twelve relocated to the Waking Sands, and her role was expanded to include secretarial duties, she used her considerable social acumen to build relationships and increase its influence. As the organization slowly but surely grew into an association of like-minded and gifted souls, she was instrumental in seeking out potential members blessed with the Echo.
After the Seventh Umbral Calamity, when the Path of the Twelve merged with the Circle of Knowing to form the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, Tataru continued her tenure as secretary and coinkeeper combined. When the political situation in Ul'dah drove the Scions from their headquarters for a time, she journeyed with Alphinaud and the Warrior of Light to Ishgard, that they might there regroup and rebuild the organization. Later, she accompanied a contingent of Scions to the Far East, where she established ties with the East Aldenard Trading Company's Kugane branch in order to fund local anti-imperial resistance efforts─one of her many laudable ventures on the Scions' behalf.
Privately, Tataru has long regretted her inability to assist her comrades in martial endeavors, and thus sought to train as an arcanist. Alas, these efforts met with misfortune, including the escape of her Carbuncle companion, and so she has since resolved to provide financial support through trades such as mining and weaving. In so doing, she has become something of a master artisan─going so far as to establish her own boutique in Old Sharlayan─yet she always manages to find the time to fashion new outfits for her Scion friends when they stand poised upon the threshold of journeys new.
The Scions of the Seventh Dawn
This secret society was the product of a merger between the Circle of Knowing, led by Louisoix Leveilleur, and the Path of the Twelve, led by Minfilia Warde, following the Seventh Umbral Calamity.
Working in concert with the leaders of Eorzea, the Scions strove to address the myriad problems that plagued the realm, be it the godlike primals, the imperialistic Garleans, or the scheming Ascians─beings who have long shaped history from the shadows. As a means to achieve its objectives, the society sought out those blessed with the Echo, a mysterious power with myriad manifestations, the most notable of which was the ability to walk in the memories of others. It was for this reason they extended an invitation to the Warrior of Light.
On account of their contributions in dealing with several primals and the XIVth Imperial Legion, the Scions' existence became public knowledge. Utilizing their newfound reputation, Alphinaud Leveilleur founded the Crystal Braves, a military organization intended to pave the way for a unified Eorzea. However, the society's activities had made it the target of a Monetarist faction of Ul'dah, and an elaborate betrayal by Alphinaud's presumed allies resulted in the Scions being framed for the sultana's assassination. Though branded fugitives and scattered for a time, they eventually learned of a plot within a plot that saw the monarch put into a deep slumber rather than slain, and succeeded in clearing their names.
Their honor restored, the Scions went on to become key players in the liberation of Ala Mhigo and Doma from imperial rule, and after helping to avert the Final Days, they judged their mission fulfilled. So it was that they announced their disbandment─at least outwardly─and retreated from plain sight to labor in secret once more.
The Final Days
This dreadful calamity befell the star in the distant past, when it was known as Etheirys.
In that shining age, men had the power to manifest anything at will, even living beings, and through this miraculous creation magick their civilization thrived. One day, however, following a keening sound from the land, their magicks ran rampant, giving form to eldritch horrors born of fear and despair. Their blissful lives became a waking nightmare, and mankind was driven to the brink of extinction.
The Convocation of Fourteen, the people's chosen representatives, observed that the phenomenon manifested where the celestial currents, the star's outermost flow of aether, had grown weak and stagnant. In order to address this deficiency, they summoned forth the mighty Zodiark to exert control over the laws of creation. Though this act demanded a high price─the sacrifice of half of mankind's remaining number─the vast majority willingly rendered up their lives, and thus were the Final Days forestalled.
Over the intervening millennia, this star-encompassing calamity had faded from memory. But faced with its second coming as engineered by the Telophoroi, the Scions of the Seventh Dawn embarked upon a desperate quest for the truth. At length, they discovered that an ancient named Hermes had created Meteion, a being capable of traversing the great expanse, to ascertain the meaning of life by seeking out other civilizations in the universe. Alas, Meteion and her sisters found naught but despair, driving them to conclude life was suffering and death the sole mercy. Fleeing to the edge of existence, they became the Endsinger, and proceeded to unleash the power of dynamis, an esoteric energy set in motion by feelings, to usher all stars to their doom, that life need not continue in vain.
Despite seemingly insurmountable odds, the Scions held fast to hope, and amidst darkest despair lit the way for their champion as they confronted the Endsinger at her nest. And at the end of a fierce battle, they emerged triumphant, and put an end to the Final Days once and for all.
Estinien
Scion of the Seventh Dawn
Dragoon
One of Ishgard's most capable knights, Estinien─called “Wyrmblood” by many─once led his order as the renowned Azure Dragoon.
Estinien's origins are humble, having been born to a family of sheepherders in the eastern highlands of Coerthas. However, the course of his pastoral life was forever changed when his village of Ferndale was razed by the great wyrm Nidhogg─an attack which claimed the lives of his parents and his brother.
Bereft of home and family, the orphan of twelve summers was taken in by Alberic, then holder of the title of Azure Dragoon. The two proceeded to forge a complicated relationship. A martial instructor, an adoptive father, and a flawed knight─one who failed to protect his family. To the young Estinien, Alberic was all these things and more.
When his training was complete, Estinien joined the Temple Knights. So focused was he on the fight against the Dravanian Horde that he scarcely remembered the names of his companions. His sole friendship was with Aymeric de Borel, a knight of similar age who shared Estinien's passion for the cause. Estinien's prowess saw him rise through the ranks, first becoming a dragoon, and later inheriting the title of Azure Dragoon once held by his foster father.
Like all Azure Dragoons, Estinien would carry with him the Eye of Nidhogg─a relic torn from the wyrm's head over a thousand years ago. Though the Eye conferred power to the bearer, it rendered them vulnerable to Nidhogg's influence, and his undying hatred threatened to consume Estinien's very soul. Only through constant vigilance and strength of will did Estinien maintain a grip on his sanity─though there were occasions when he came perilously close to succumbing to Nidhogg's rancor.
In the midst of the Dragonsong War, Estinien offered to accompany the Warrior of Light and Alphinaud Leveilleur in their quest to convince the Dravanians to renounce their thousand-year campaign of vengeance. Though he did not believe they would succeed, Estinien nevertheless agreed to eschew violence─unless circumstances forced his hand. They were later joined by Ysayle, leader of the heretics, who similarly believed peace an unlikely prospect, but one still worth pursuing in earnest.
Estinien traveled with the others to the Churning Mists, where they sought an audience with Hraesvelgr, brother of Nidhogg. From the great wyrm they learned the truth of the Dragonsong War: that it was King Thordan of ancient Ishgard who drew first blood when he and his knights murdered the great wyrm Ratatoskr, and subsequently devoured her eyes so that they might claim her power for themselves. Yet in spite of this truth, the fact remained that Nidhogg was intent upon the destruction of Ishgard, and if he could not be persuaded to yield, they had but one recourse. In the end, the Azure Dragoon succeeded in hunting down and slaying his archenemy, presumably ending the thousand-year war.
Upon their return to the capital, Estinien and his companions discovered that Archbishop Thordan VII had plotted to wield the power of a primal to transform himself into an eternal god-king and bless the world with his twisted idea of harmony. They pursued the archbishop to Azys Lla, where they put an end to his machinations once and for all. However, in the wake of the battle, Estinien succumbed to the all-consuming hatred within Nidhogg's two eyes, transforming into a vessel for the wyrm's shade that would marshal his forces for a final assault on Ishgard. Following his defeat on the Steps of Faith, Estinien regained partial control and urged Alphinaud and the Warrior of Light to kill him, but instead the two tore the eyes from his body, casting out Nidhogg's shade and saving the dragoon's life.
With his homeland entering an age of peace, Estinien renounced his title of Azure Dragoon and set off on a journey of his own. Even during these wanderings, though, he stayed abreast of the Scions' activities, and participated in both the liberation of Ala Mhigo and sabotage efforts within Garlemald. In time, he gave in to the relentless solicitations of Tataru and Krile, officially becoming a Scion and working tirelessly with his comrades to deliver the world from the calamity known as the Final Days.
Following his long journey from archnemesis of dragons to their friend and brother, Estinien renamed his lance Nidhogg after his fallen foe. Though he is still a lone wolf at heart, he travels more often with others than before─such as to the isle of Thavnair, where he has forged a new friendship with Vrtra, another of the first brood.
G'raha
Scion of the Seventh Dawn
All-rounder
A relatively recent addition to the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, G'raha Tia hails from Corvos in southern Ilsabard, where the Allagan Empire once flourished during the Third Astral Era. Although the Miqo'te were once forced to toil in obscurity for the glory of Allag, G'raha Tia's tribe, ever proud, devoted themselves to the study and preservation of arcane secrets. Thousands of years later, when Corvos was conquered by the Garleans and brought under the jurisdiction of the illustrious House Darnus, a young G'raha─heir to vast stores of Allagan knowledge and the last child born with the Allagan Eye, was given into the custody of the Students of Baldesion.
After acquiring Sharlayan citizenship and freedom from more mundane duties, G'raha concentrated on his education, earning his Archon's mark for his groundbreaking research into ancient arcane wisdom. Owing to these qualifications, G'raha Tia was tasked with the vital duty of investigating the Crystal Tower, the most fascinating and forbidding of the surviving relics of the Allagan Empire. It was during this expedition that he met with Rammbroes of the Sons of Saint Coinach, Cid Garlond of the Ironworks, and the Warrior of Light─an occasion which led to the formation of the fellowship known as NOAH.
With his newfound companions he laid bare the secrets of ancient Allag, and learned from the awakened clones Unei and Doga that the eye he inherited was in truth the Royal Eye, the unmistakable mark of the Allagan imperial family. With it, he could control the Crystal Tower itself, per the wishes of Salina, the final princess of Allag, who had chosen to pass down this gift and place her trust in future generations.
Judging that mankind was not yet ready for the secrets of the Crystal Tower, G'raha Tia sealed himself within it, in the hope that he might awaken in an age when his fellow man had set aside their differences─when they might truly comprehend and wield the Allagan knowledge for the benefit of all.
Alas, when G'raha awoke from his slumber two hundred years later, the world had been ravaged by tragedy and death, for the Eighth Umbral Calamity had come to pass. Biggs─third of his name and eighteenth chairman of Garlond Ironworks─had cracked the tower's wards, seeking to harness the power within to develop a means of time travel, that they might forge a future in which the Calamity had never occurred. G'raha agreed to lend them his aid, and so it was that he and the Crystal Tower were transported into the past─not of their world, the Source, but of the reflection known as the First, where fate would once again see him reunited with the Warrior of Light.
The First, for its part, had suffered a calamity no less daunting than that of the Source. A Flood of Light had nearly extinguished all life, and what little remained was beset by horrors born of the phenomenon known as sin eaters. Unaged due to his symbiosis with the Crystal Tower, an ever-youthful G'raha Tia took the initiative in building the Crystarium─a city and bulwark of hope where he and his growing community would stand against these foes.
For a hundred years, the Crystal Exarch─as G'raha Tia had come to be known─laid the groundwork for the coming battle, for he had always known that he could not triumph without the Warrior of Light. When the time came, he summoned the champion and their allies─albeit accidentally─from the Source, assembling a formidable alliance to take up arms against the Lightwardens and reclaim the long-absent night sky.
The final step in G'raha Tia's plan would have seen him render up his own life for the preservation of the First and the Source. Blessedly, this sacrifice did not come to pass. Ultimately, the Warrior of Light and their brave companions succeeded in laying low the Ascians Emet-Selch and Elidibus, ending the threat of an Eighth Umbral Calamity and giving the First hope for a brighter tomorrow.
When the Scions at last returned to their own world, they did not do so alone. G'raha Tia had conceived a method in which his memories and essence in the First could be merged with his past self still sleeping within the Crystal Tower of the Source. The awoken G'raha Tia eagerly joined the ranks of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn and proceeded to employ his ample knowledge of all things Allagan, as well as the leadership skills he honed as the Crystal Exarch, to provide invaluable guidance and support to his companions. In particular, his decisive actions in Thavnair during the Final Days ensured the survival of countless innocents.
After the de facto disbanding of the Scions, G'raha Tia joined Krile in helping to rebuild the Students of Baldesion. However, he has not yet shaken his wanderlust, and will not hesitate to seize any opportunity to embark upon a new journey with the Warrior of Light.
Krile
Scion of the Seventh Dawn
Mage6.1 / Pictomancer6.55
Orphaned as a child and taken in by Galuf Baldesion, founder of the eponymous Students of Baldesion, Krile was blessed with power of the Echo─though in her early years it seemed to her more a curse. Uncommonly sensitive to the feelings of others, unwelcome thoughts flooded her mind, leading her to develop a guarded personality that many found off-putting. Seeing this, Galuf gave her a cat-eared hood, assuring her that her gift was not something to be bemoaned, and that it would one day prove a tremendous strength. Moved by her grandfather's words, Krile vowed to devote herself to her studies, that she might use her power to serve the greater good.
Displaying a remarkable aptitude in the mystic arts, Krile attended the Studium in Sharlayan, joining the Faculty of the Arcane and becoming highly skilled in healing and curing magicks. It was at this time that she made the acquaintance of Alphinaud and Alisaie Leveilleur, with whom she maintains a close friendship to this day. After graduation, she joined her grandfather's research organization, eventually coming to Eorzea to support the Scions of the Seventh Dawn as they rebuilt their operation following the bloody banquet in Ul'dah. She lent her impressive knowledge of the arcane to the search for the missing Minfilia.
Krile chose to remain in Eorzea for the foreseeable future, both out of a desire to support her friends, and for lack of a home to which she might return. Prior to her arrival, the Isle of Val was obliterated by a devastating spell akin to Ultima. While she herself was on the isle at the time, she was saved by the blessing of Light, and so she naturally fell in with the Scions. She soon became a full-fledged member, and thenceforth used her command of the Echo to serve her comrades on many an occasion.
Krile suffered a particularly harrowing experience when she was captured as a prisoner of war by the Garleans during the campaign to liberate Ala Mhigo. Her Echo made her a target, as the magitek engineer Aulus mal Asina sought to study the phenomenon and create an artificial variant. He succeeded in this endeavor, transforming Fordola rem Lupis and Zenos yae Galvus into beings he dubbed the Resonant. Krile was later rescued by the Scions, and after recovering from the ordeal resolved to repay the favor. Indeed, when her companions were forcefully summoned to the First and left in a comatose state, Krile took the lead in nursing the Scions back to health.
With the appearance of the Telephoroi and the looming threat of the Final Days, Krile returned to Sharlayan in hopes of gauging the true intentions of their governing body, the Forum, which to that point had stubbornly refused to approve any aid to Eorzea. Subsequently, she would use her influence as representative of the Students of Baldesion to arrange for her friends to visit Old Sharlayan.
Now that the Final Days have been averted and the Scions ostensibly disbanded, Krile has devoted herself to the restoration of the Students, recruiting the precious few survivors she has found, along with new talent, that together they might carry on her late grandfather's legacy and preserve their knowledge for future generations.
Y'shtola
Scion of the Seventh Dawn
Sorceress
Displaying prodigious aptitude for magic from a young age, Y'shtola—at the behest of the Sharlayan Forum—was sent to Master Matoya for tutelage at the tender age of seven. Resentful of having to mind a child instead of pursuing her own research, the revered Archon was a stern taskmaster, imposing upon her new student one harsh trial after the next. Y'shtola, for her part, did not shirk from these formidable tasks, eventually winning the approval of her mentor—who doubtless saw in the stubborn Miqo'te girl shades of her own self as a child. After ten years of training, Y'shtola emerged from Matoya's cave a woman grown, possessed of vast knowledge and skill in the arcane that easily earned her the title of Archon.
Striking out on her own, Y'shtola joined the Circle of Knowing, led by her mentor's colleague and friend Louisoix Leveilleur. Sailing to Eorzea, she assisted her friends in their efforts in Limsa Lominsa in the fateful days leading up to the Seventh Umbral Calamity. During that time, she won the trust of Admiral Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn, to whom she lent invaluable assistance in rebuilding the Eorzean Alliance, which had theretofore devolved into a shell of its former glory. After Louisoix gave his life on the fields of Carteneau, Y'shtola became one of the founding members of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, formed by the merger of her own Circle of Knowing with a like-minded organization, the Path of the Twelve.
Together with her new companions, she worked tirelessly to quell the threat of the primals and defend Eorzea from the invasion of Garlemald's XIVth Imperial Legion. When the Scions were caught up in the political coup in Ul'dah, it was Y'shtola's command of forbidden and ancient teleportation magicks that allowed her and Thancred to escape the clutches of the villainous Crystal Braves. Left to wander the Lifestream as a result of this, she was on the verge of being lost forever to the aetheric currents when she was rescued and called back to this world through the efforts of Kan-E-Senna and the Warrior of Light. Y'shtola awoke from her coma to find she had lost the physical ability of sight, gaining in its stead the power to see aether in the environment around her. This gift is a double-edged sword, however—for while it allows her to remain a formidable presence in battle, the strain it places on her mind and energies is often great.
Having recovered her strength, Y'shtola joined her fellow Scions in their exploits across Eorzea, traveling to Azys Lla to depose the mad Archbishop Thordan VII and bring the Dragonsong War to an end, then playing a key role in the liberation of Ala Mhigo.
Y'shtola once again suffered a harrowing experience when her soul was accidentally forcefully summoned to the First by the Crystal Exarch. Assuming the alias “Matoya” in honor of her mentor and concealing her true identity, she befriended the Night's Blessed, a group of Dark-worshipers who made their home in the depths of the Rak'tika Greatwood. It was around this time that Y'shtola came to make extensive use of destructive magicks to complement the healing and curing arts at which she had always excelled.
After the Scions succeeded in restoring the darkness to the Light-blighted First, they returned home to the Source, where Y'shtola would again play an invaluable role in averting the dark designs of the Telophoroi—in the end journeying with her friends to Ultima Thule to deliver their world from the Final Days.
Having long served the now-disbanded Scions with her boundless knowledge and puissant sorcery, Y'shtola now strives to find an answer to the universe's most fundamental question—seeking the truth of creation to honor the legacy of her mentor, Master Matoya.
Hydaelyn
Primal
The will of the star, 'tis She who has long kept Etheirys turning.
Tales of Hydaelyn's call and the singular power it was said to bestow─the Echo─ have been recorded throughout history. The nature of this power was not wholly understood, and it was often conflated with another of Her gifts, the “blessing of Light,” which ensured one's aether would remain uncorrupted by primal tempering. The chosen few also spoke of being summoned to the heart of the star where, according to their testaments, awaited a pure and towering crystal. It is likely that said testaments gave rise to the appellation “Mothercrystal,” as well as the usage of “Hydaelyn” to refer to the star itself, though the precise point at which these terms became commonplace remains unknown. While many sought further knowledge of Her nature─the Sharlayan Forum foremost among them─few ascertained Hydaelyn's true identity: a primal with an ancient, Venat, at Her core.
In a time before time, society was governed by the Convocation of Fourteen, upon which Venat held the seat of Azem. An indefatigable and insatiably curious individual, she tired of the academic approach to natural studies, and resolved instead to travel the star and seek its truths through firsthand experience─a journey that she continued even after she abdicated her position. One day, during a visit to Elpis, she chanced to meet with the Warrior of Light, who had come from the future with a warning of calamities to come. Thus did she learn of the Final Days that would befall Etheirys, and of this tragedy's ultimate cause: Meteion, bearer of myriad fallen worlds' despair.
To prevent the obliteration of all life, Venat embarked upon a quest that would span millennia. Offering up her own flesh and soul, she summoned and became Hydaelyn. She sundered Her people, who yearned for a past that could never be restored; the god Zodiark, manifestation of that ill-fated wish; and the star itself, which She loved so dearly, into fourteen pieces. The god of Darkness was gaoled within the sundered worlds' moons, and their people condemned to a fragile and imperfect existence forevermore. However, She knew that from their imperfection─their suffering─would arise the strength to face deepest despair.
So passionate was Her love for mankind, so unwavering Her faith in its potential, that Hydaelyn would never, in the eons that followed, waver in Her belief. Even as shard after shard fell to calamity and were rejoined with the Source, empowering Zodiark as it enervated Her in turn, She stayed the course, awaiting the day when man would prove himself worthy. When at last the time came, and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn triumphed over Her in a battle that burned through Her very soul, She faded away with a smile on her lips and peace in her heart.
Though the Warrior of Light and their comrades would go on to follow the path She had shown them, Hydaelyn was no more. Her love for Her children, however, is eternal.
The Reflections
Though few are aware of their true nature, these worlds exist in parallel to the one in which we live, the Source.
In order to weaken and imprison Zodiark, Hydaelyn mustered Her strength and sundered the very fabric of reality, causing the world to be split into fourteen shards, akin to identical, diluted images. Being reflections, the geographical features of these worlds are naturally similar, akin to observing the original through a looking glass. But over the course of millennia, the peoples of each have lived disparate lives and histories, and some variance has manifested in the environment itself as well. Since the reflections were birthed forth, seven have been lost, sacrificed in the Ascians' quest to restore the ancient world.
Curiously, while the reflections are displaced from each other, the boundaries between them are not uniform; certain worlds, such as the First and the Thirteenth, are more readily accessible from the Source, while others are not. One theory posits that the worlds exist within pockets of reality that are arranged in a pattern not unlike the numbers on a clockface, and that it is easier to travel to an adjacent reflection.
The Crystal Tower
Approximately six millennia ago, when the world still languished in the aftermath of the Third Umbral Calamity, there arose a man who led an army of mages on a campaign of conquest. Xande would go on to found the storied Allagan Empire, as well as marry the secrets of magic and wisdom of science to create aetherochemistry. Through advances in this miraculous field, he expanded his dominion to encompass the continents of Aldenard, Ilsabard, and Othard.
However, generations of peace and prosperity gave rise to decadence, and a thousand years after the nation's birth, progress all but ground to a halt. The people grew complacent, abandoning learning and drowning themselves in leisure, and society stagnated. None lamented this deplorable state of affairs more than a technologist named Amon.
Desiring to restore his nation to its former glory, Amon brought Emperor Xande back from the grave. Under the founding father's leadership, the empire was given renewed purpose in world domination. In order to bolster the might of his armies, Xande entered into a pact with the Cloud of Darkness, a sovereign among voidsent, and granted their kind passage to the world of men in return for their aid in assuring the supremacy of his reign.
The Crystal Tower played a key role in all of these events. Built to harness the power of the sun, it provided the sprawling empire with energy during its heyday. When the empire fell into decline, Amon used that selfsame energy to resurrect Xande, and Xande in turn used it to open a gate to the void.
Eventually, the emperor resolved to welcome the Cloud of Darkness herself into our world, a feat which would require a voidgate of heretofore unseen proportions. To this end, he commanded that the eikon Bahamut, captured in Meracydia, be encapsulated within a massive iron sphere. The sphere was launched into the heavens and set into motion alongside the moon, where it utilized the wyrm's affinity to fire-aspected aether to accumulate solar energy in a more concentrated form. Yet while the tower had been fortified to channel the increased flow, the land upon which it had been built could not withstand the immense forces. The Crystal Tower's collapse triggered a series of earthquakes which shook the entire realm, bringing about the Third Umbral Calamity and consigning the Allagan Empire to oblivion.
For five millennia the Crystal Tower lay buried and forgotten, until the violence of the Seventh Umbral Era coaxed it from its resting place. Awakened from his long slumber, Emperor Xande once more sought to fulfill his nihilistic ambitions, but he would be thwarted by the stout souls of the fellowship of NOAH and their newfound comrades from the distant past.
Urianger
Scion of the Seventh Dawn
Astrologian
An avid reader since he was old enough to hold a tome, Urianger spent his youth engrossed in books of prophecy. Eastern, Western, modern, historical─the young Elezen devoured all manner of sources concerning his favorite subject, though in so doing acquired an erudite vocabulary and poetic mannerisms that alienated his peers. His steadfast studiousness─along with the encouragement of his childhood friend, Moenbryda─did, however, enable him to enter the Studium under the auspices of the foremost authority on prophecy, Archon Louisoix. Indeed, it is thought that Urianger elected to join the Circle of Knowing to learn the truth of Mezaya Thousand Eyes's Divine Chronicles, a work that hinted at the coming of the Seventh Umbral Calamity.
In the moons preceding said Calamity, Urianger sought to share his knowledge with the people of Eorzea, but his doomsaying only served to earn him an unflattering reputation. After the prophecies came to pass, and his beloved mentor was lost in the fires of Cartenau, he and the other remnants of the Circle of Knowing joined with the Path of the Twelve to form the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. Thenceforth, Urianger became a fixture in the halls of the Waking Sands.
Although his profound knowledge of history has ever been a boon to the Scions, Urianger's verbose explanations and dry manner have given rise to interpersonal tensions. Of particular note are the events following Moenbryda's death during the confrontation with the Ascian Nabriales, when a grieving and guilt-stricken Urianger took it upon himself to treat with Elidibus in secret. In so doing, he learned long-lost secrets, which he used to sabotage the Ascian's plot to manipulate the Warriors of Darkness. While he had the best of intentions, the decisions he made without the input of his allies─such as orchestrating the journey of Minfilia, the Word of the Mother, to the First─and their consequences would long weigh heavy on his heart.
To compound his turmoil, Urianger was pressured into deceiving his allies once more when the Crystal Exarch summoned him to the First. After divulging his true identity as G'raha Tia, the Exarch implored him to pretend that his own knowledge of future tragedies was a vision Urianger had witnessed when passing between worlds. Believing this fiction was essential for the success of the Exarch's plan to prevent the Eighth Umbral Calamity through his personal sacrifice, Urianger reluctantly agreed and retreated to Il Mheg. However, when the truth was finally laid bare, the Warrior of Light─then the Warrior of Darkness─refused to allow the Exarch to trade his life for the star's safety, rendering the deception meaningless.
Urianger, overcome with regret, resolved to be more forthright and emotionally open with his comrades from that day forward. Upon returning to the Source and being confronted with the reality of the Final Days, he played a key role in facilitating cooperation between the people of Etheirys and the moon-dwelling Loporrits. But it was not until a tearful reunion with Moenbryda's parents, who welcomed him as they would a son, that he began to feel as though he was growing into the man he wanted to be. Ultimately, it was the relationships Urianger cultivated that would see the ship Ragnarok take to the stars, and hope restored to the star.
Vrtra
Satrap of Radz-at-Han
This kind-hearted dragon is one of the seven sired by Midgardsormr in a time before mankind's memory. The talismans made from his green-black scales are treasured by those Scions and Alliance members fortunate enough to possess them, as they provide protection against soul-warping aether.
Vrtra took up residence on the cliffs of Thavnair long before the founding of Radz-at-Han. The Matanga came next to the isle, but they knew well enough to let sleeping dragons lie. They were followed by the Au Ra, who despite cultural differences maintained cordial relations with their new neighbors. It was not until the coming of Hyuran colonizers that Thavnair knew war─and it was Vrtra who emerged to quell it ere its flames consumed the land. The various tribes welcomed his intervention, yet he remained convinced that however grateful they may be, they would never be content to let a dragon lord over them─and there would never be lasting peace. And so he asked Alzadaal of the Au Ra to lead the people in public as Vrtra himself withdrew into the shadows...whence he would provide guidance to the satrap and his successors. Thus was the isle united under the banner of Radz-at-Han.
As Alzadaal and his descendants ruled the diverse Radz-at-Han for centuries, behind the scenes, Vrtra was no less devoted to her people. In fact, he was closer to them than they knew, for he oft embedded one of his eyes in alchemical simulacra of men that he might walk among them. Many of these simulacra would be sent abroad as representatives of the satrap at one point or another, there to be made permanent ambassadors─providing a convenient excuse for the wyrm to switch vessels.
When the Final Days came to his beloved home, twisting his people into beasts for whom death was a mercy, Vrtra realized that things could not continue as before. Loyal Ahewann, the erstwhile satrap, had fallen protecting the citizens, and to honor his final wish, Vrtra would have to become satrap in name as well as deed. With a little encouragement from Estinien, he at last revealed himself to the Hannish people as their longtime protector.
In the wake of an apocalypse averted, Thavnair began to rebuild under Vrtra's auspices. His simulacrum is frequently spotted out and about in Radz-at-Han, and while the public is no longer fooled by his diminutive guise, he is yet resolved to traverse the city as a man might, to better understand their plight and ensure that no quarter is left wanting.
The First Brood
Though there are many exceptional dragons, the wyrms of the first brood are beyond compare. In a time before reckoning, Midgardsormr traversed the great expanse, bearing seven eggs as he searched for a new home. Arriving upon Hydaelyn, he formed a pact with the will of the star and secured for his children a bounteous dominion. The wyrms born of this clutch would grow into Hraesvelgr, Nidhogg, Ratatoskr, Bahamut, Tiamat, Azdaja, and Vrtra─beings of immense power and majesty. The seven then scattered to the far reaches of the world, there to spawn broods of their own, and thus did the dragons become legion.
Though they have the capacity to live for nigh on an eternity, several of the first brood have fallen. Bahamut was vanquished by the Allagans in the Third Astral Era, while Ratatoskr and Nidhogg's deaths marked the beginning and end of the Dragonsong War respectively.
Hraesvelgr, Tiamat, and Vrtra remain among the living. Vrtra, the youngest, is perhaps the most prominent of late, owing to his long-standing relationship with the people of Thavnair. Instrumental in establishing the nation of Radz-at-Han, he has long guided it from the shadows, only to recently reveal himself and formally assume the role of satrap in the wake of the Final Days.
Azdaja's status─whether she is alive or dead, much less where she may be─is currently unknown.
Aether
This vital energy is essential to life as we know it.
For a being to be classified as “living,” it requires both a soul and physical vitality, each of which is composed of aether. Scholars posit that this aether can and must be restored throughout life via the consumption and digestion of sustenance─whether this is the primary factor in the body's need for nourishment is unclear, but what we do know is that the critical depletion of aether will result in physical or spiritual death.
Aether manifests in many ways aside from the aforementioned two, including magical phenomena both natural and of man's design. Most importantly, it flows imperceptibly throughout the world, forming the great Lifestream to which all life one day returns, as well as the smaller aether currents that drive the winds and carry the winged aloft. Without aether's blessings, our star would be a barren and desolate hell.
Upon death, a being's aether disperses, and passes from the mundane physical world into the aetherial realm. However, where many lives are lost suddenly due to violence or calamity, or the flow of the Lifestream itself is disrupted, the aether may instead coalesce upon the physical plane, forming the crystals with which our star is replete.
Fourchenault
Sharlayan Forum Representative
An Elezen born and raised in Old Sharlayan, Fourchenault is one of the more influential members of the Forum, his nation's governing body. This council, formed of ninety-nine elected representatives, dictates Sharlayan's course for matters great and small, be they minor regulations or national policy. Indeed, it was by the Forum's decree that, in response to the imperial invasion of Ala Mhigo, the Sharlayan colony in the Dravanian hinterlands was abandoned nearly overnight─an event referred to by many as simply “the exodus.”
In addition to his political power, Fourchenault also wields authority as the patriarch of the Leveilleurs, one of Sharlayan's oldest families. Its lineage can be traced back to the nation's founders who arrived aboard Nyunkrepf's Hope during the Sixth Umbral Calamity. Thus does the family keep Nyunkrepf's words as its creed. “Renounce the ways of war, and pursue enlightenment through knowledge and reason”─so spoke Sharlayan's first leader, and so too does Fourchenault Leveilleur.
Until recently, Fourchenault was driven to fulfill a singular purpose─one which the Forum had pursued in secret for two hundred and seventy years. Having learned of the Final Days through an unexpected communion with Hydaelyn in the aetherial sea, Sharlayan's elite set to work developing a ship by which to ferry their people─and their hard-won stores of knowledge─to the moon, thence to search for a new home among the stars.
Fourchenault's dedication to this plan grew more fervent after his wife Ameliance gave birth to their two children, Alphinaud and Alisaie. Desperate to ensure the twins escaped the coming apocalypse, he threw himself into his work with a determination bordering on obsession. The death of his own father, Archon Louisoix, during the Seventh Umbral Calamity only served to deepen his resolve.
As the Final Days drew closer, Fourchenault was consumed by fear for his children's safety and disapproval of their continued association with the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. He vowed to get them aboard Sharlayan's ship by any means necessary, even should it cost him what remained of their already strained relationship. However, when the twins accomplished the impossible by optimizing the ship's aetherburner, he came to understand that their conviction would not be denied─nor should it. Unburdening his heart, he at last reconciled with his family and embraced the monumental responsibility of saving the star.
The ship he dubbed the Ragnarok would travel to the very end of the universe, delivering the heroes who would defeat the threat he had so long feared.
Eorzea
Comprised of Aldenard, the westernmost of the Three Great Continents, and its surrounding islands, the realm of Eorzea has, throughout history, been the cradle of several unique civilizations. Rich in aether and blessed with an abundance of natural resources, it is often said to be “embraced by gods” in reference to the Twelve─the pillars upon which the religious faith of many Eorzeans firmly rests.
As recently as a few decades ago, the six city-states of Eorzea coexisted in an age of relative stability. Alas, this peace was shattered in the year 1557 of the Sixth Astral Era, when the Garlean Empire embarked upon a campaign of Eorzean conquest. Ala Mhigo soon fell, and the promise of continued violence saw the nation of Sharlayan abandon its Dravanian colony, recalling its citizens to the motherland in the northern seas. In this way was Eorzea plunged once more into an age of strife.
The Seventh Umbral Calamity followed, bringing with it unspeakable devastation, but the resilient people of Eorzea endured. Joining hands in common cause, they eventually succeeded in defeating the imperial invaders. In Ishgard, the millennium-long Dragonsong War was later brought to an end, and after a joint campaign by the Eorzean Alliance and the Ala Mhigan Resistance, the twenty-year Garlean occupation of Ala Mhigo ended in liberation. Thus did the realm obtain a measure of peace.
The Seventh Umbral Calamity
The history of Eorzea is marked by a repeated cycle of devastation (Umbral Eras) and prosperity (Astral Eras). The first six Astral Eras were each preceded by a calamity corresponding to one of the six elements. Following on from the Calamity of Wind, which ushered in the First Astral Era, the Calamity of Lightning brought destructive thunderstorms, the Calamity of Fire withering droughts, the Calamity of Earth devastating earthquakes, the Calamity of Ice an endless winter, and the Calamity of Water a lands-consuming deluge.
With all the elements accounted for, many scholars convinced themselves that there could not be another calamity─that the Sixth Astral Era would last indefinitely. Alas, the Seventh Umbral Calamity would indeed befall the land, triggered when the Garlean legatus Nael van Darnus saw the Meteor project to fruition. Dalamud, Hydaelyn's lesser moon, was plucked from the heavens, and upon its arrival above central Eorzea, it split apart to reveal the elder primal Bahamut, who, in a fit of inchoate anger, laid waste to anything and everything around him. However, owing to the countermeasure enacted by the Archon Louisoix, the realm was spared complete annihilation, and after the ashes had settled, underwent a remarkable rebirth.
Five years on from that fateful day, the forces of the Eorzean Alliance succeeded in defeating Legatus Gaius van Baelsar and his occupying XIVth Imperial Legion. Though other threats still remained, this victory marked a turning point in the fortunes of the realm, and so it was proclaimed that, by the light of the Crystal, the Seventh Astral Era had come, and the realm was at last truly reborn.
Zenos
Outcast
Eldest son of Varis zos Galvus, second Emperor of Garlemald, Zenos yae Galvus was groomed from birth to succeed his father. However, history would come to know him by another name: Zenos viator Galvus, kinslayer and outcast, whose misdeeds threw the Empire into a turmoil from which it would not escape.
Blessed with martial and intellectual gifts, Zenos ever stood apart from his peers. He was raised among the sons and daughters of nobility in the hopes that he might find companions to advise him in his future role, but none proved his equal. Though the crown prince scorned the naivety of children and deemed his elders unworthy of respect, he eventually found joy in hunting─in the primal desperation of the beasts who fought violently to survive. Zenos savored pitting his strength against theirs, and even after he became a military leader, this remained his sole pleasure.
It was after Zenos was appointed imperial viceroy of the provinces of Doma and Ala Mhigo that he would encounter prey of a different stripe: the Warrior of Light. Aided by the Eorzean champion and his allies, a band of rebels grew bold enough to draw the crown prince's attention, leading to their first altercation at Rhalgr's Reach. Alas, the Warrior of Light was soundly defeated that day. While a subsequent clash in Doma resulted in a similar outcome, Zenos grew more fascinated with the beast he dubbed “the champion of the savages,” electing to spare him a second time in the hopes he might grow into an even greater challenge.
In time, the Warrior of Light and his allies led an army to Ala Mhigo, and with his comrades engaged Zenos a third time within the Royal Palace. In that battle, the legatus realized that this was his first and only rival, and after luring him to the gardens atop the palace, Zenos used his artificial Echo to become one with the captive primal, Shinryu. For the fourth time he fought his prey, but on this occasion the Warrior of Light emerged triumphant. Having experienced a transcendental joy beyond any he had ever known, Zenos took his own life, unwilling to live outside that fleeting moment.
Yet in embracing his stolen power, Zenos had rewritten his fate. His essence did not return to the Lifestream, but instead possessed the body of another. In a cycle akin to that of the immortal Ascians, the erstwhile prince leaped from vessel to vessel, until he found one with which he could return home to Garlemald. There he was reunited with his original form, which had been occupied for a time by the Ascian Elidibus, and was thus resurrected body and soul.
His first act following his return was to murder his own father. This was not out of malice, but jealousy─Emperor Varis had set his sights on the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, and Zenos was loath to share his quarry with another. For the returned prince, who had known the exultation of a warrior's death, the purpose of this new life was clear: to confront the only soul he would deign to call friend, and reclaim the bliss he had known only once before.
As Garlemald teetered on the verge of collapse, Zenos was approached by the Ascian Fandaniel, who laid bare the truth of the star. Together the two formed the Telophoroi, who schemed to usher in the Final Days. They sowed discord across the realm, channeling aether from the Lifestream into the Tower of Babil, that Zodiark Himself might be liberated from His lunar prison. In this they did succeed─but before Zenos could seize control of the primal and battle the Warrior of Light, he was betrayed by Fandaniel, whose subsequent death at the hero's hand set in motion the Final Days. Zenos was still desperate for his long-desired rematch, but understood that the Warrior of Light was too distracted by the fate of the star to accept his challenge. And so, in disappointment he quit the field and vanished from the world's stage.
Zenos spent much of his self-imposed exile contemplating how he might obtain his heart's desire, but his answer proved simple. He would aid the Warrior of Light in his struggle, and to that end he assumed the form of the dragon once more and flew to the edge of the universe. With Zenos's aid the threat to all life was laid low, and when the dust had settled, the Warrior of Light at last granted his wish.
Zenos viator Galvus now rests at the edge of the firmament, and none but the Warrior of Light can attest to his final moments.
Fandaniel
One of the sundered Ascians, Fandaniel first appeared before the Warrior of Light in the body of the late Asahi sas Brutus. Like those of his brethren, his name is in fact a title─one of the exalted offices of the Convocation of Fourteen, the collective that guided mankind in ancient times.
During the first Final Days, the seat was held by a man named Hermes, who prior to his induction served as chief overseer of Elpis, the testing ground of creation, and was an authority on flying life-forms as well as the celestial sphere. In the course of his work, however, Hermes came to question mankind's single-minded pursuit of perfection, prompting him to create Meteion and her sisters to seek the meaning of life in the distant stars. Alas, an accident caused them all to perish before they could fulfill their purpose...or so it was believed.
In truth, his creations found naught but despair, and concluded that salvation lay only in death. Furthermore, Meteion declared that she herself would usher in their demise. In a moment of madness, Hermes allowed her to pursue her designs, and erased the memories of those who knew what awaited─his own included─that mankind might be put to the proof and prove themselves capable of change and thus worthy of survival.
Ignorant of his deeds, Hermes went on to oppose the Final Days with all his being, as he himself had intended. His knowledge proved instrumental in forestalling the Final Days, and the formulation of the plan to sacrifice half their number to manifest the mighty Zodiark. This first primal served to shield the star from Meteion's song of oblivion, but would later be sundered into fourteen parts alongside all creation by His counterpart, Hydaelyn.
Ironically, in forcibly erasing his memories, Hermes engraved them deeper upon his soul. In the millennia that followed, the cycle of death and rebirth would lead him to recall the forgotten truth: that the architect of the apocalypse abided at the edge of the universe.
One of the incarnations who inherited a shard of Hermes's tormented soul was a man named Amon, a brilliant technologist who rose to prominence in the Allagan Empire just as it was falling into decline. A victim of its prosperity, the empire had grown stagnant; the people delighted in debauchery, and science was no more than a means to amuse the decadent masses. Lamenting this state of affairs, Amon resolved to resurrect the founding father, Emperor Xande, that he might restore the empire to its former glory. And though he succeeded in his unholy endeavor, the emperor, having once experienced death, had been forever changed by the knowledge. Seeking to return all to nothingness, he set in motion events that would lead to the empire's undoing. But before Allag was consigned to oblivion, the Ascians, wishing to make use of Amon's singular talents, called him to serve as the new Fandaniel.
In receiving of the Ascian mantle, Fandaniel regained the missing pieces of his past and recalled the truth of the Final Days in its entirety. After the three unsundered Ascians met their ends, he forged an alliance with Zenos in order to take control of Zodiark. His heart was a maelstrom of righteous anger and all-consuming despair, twisted further by the remnants of the dreams that had haunted him as Amon─of an ancient world rent asunder by a calamity well deserved.
Ultimately, he did not bear witness to the conclusion of the tale he had written. Having fallen as Zodiark, his soul was subsequently dragged into the depths of the aetherial sea by the spiteful Asahi, and he would never know if the Warrior of Light and his comrades managed to overcome the despair that had broken him so utterly.
The Ascians
Throughout Eorzean history, whether it be in folklore or myth, there has been scattered mention of dark-robed figures known variously as “Ascians” or “Paragons.” With their twisted words, they would incite strife between peoples, or indeed, entire nations─often escalating hostilities by instructing the beleaguered inhabitants in the rituals of primal summoning.
While this portrayal was not inaccurate, it was not the entire story. In the course of their efforts to counter the machinations of the Ascians, the Scions of the Seventh Dawn came to understand the true nature of their enemy. They learned that the cabal was comprised of thirteen prominent individuals: three “unsundered” survivors of the Convocation of Fourteen, the council which had orchestrated the summoning of Zodiark in antiquity; and ten “sundered” souls─fragments of members restored to their former offices. They were known as Loghrif, Mitron, Emet-Selch, Pashtarot, Fandaniel, Altima, Halmarut, Nabriales, Igeyorhm, Deudalaphon, Emmerololth, Lahabrea, and Elidibus. These positions served as both name and title, for should an Ascian fall, another bearing a shard of the same soul would be found and raised to the vacant seat.
The Ascians' ultimate purpose was nothing less than the restoration of their dark god, Zodiark, and the resurrection of their ancient brethren. Such miracles demanded they sow chaos in both the Source and its reflections, that they might cultivate the conditions for cataclysmic Rejoinings. Only then would Zodiark be freed of His chains, and the souls of the modern age be worthy of offering up in sacrifice.
Azem's Crystal
In the age of the ancients, when the Convocation made the decision to summon Zodiark, the Fourteenth seat on the council─the seat of Azem─lay empty, for the holder had relinquished his office. When his dear friend and former Azem, Venat, labored to summon Hydaelyn, he did not take part in her plan. Though the circumstances and his reasons were unclear, to the end, Azem walked a path all his own.
After the world was divided into ten and three, the unsundered Ascians sought to reconvene their council to facilitate the rejoining of reflections. Yet while they succeeded in locating the fragmented souls of their erstwhile colleagues, these reincarnations had no recollection of their ancient lives. Thus did the unsundered find it necessary to prepare crystals replete with the knowledge and memories tied to each office.
As a defector, Azem and his legacy were deemed unworthy of preservation. Moved perhaps by lingering affection, however, Emet-Selch crafted a crystal in secret which contained his dear friend's signature incantation: a magick with which he summoned allies to his side in times of great need.
That selfsame crystal was inherited by the Warrior of Light, whose path has ever been paved with trial and tribulation. Whenever he is required to call upon the depths of his conviction, Azem's crystal is sure to answer.
The First
A century before─by that reflection's measure of time─the Warrior of Light and his companions journeyed to the First, it underwent a terrible transformation which forever changed the world. A failed Ascian attempt to set in motion an Eighth Umbral Calamity on the Source triggered a Flood of Light, which then swept across the land, leaving naught but blank perfection in its wake.
The tale of the Flood is one of hubris and tragedy. Hoping to restore peace to an embattled world, brave Warriors of Light fought and felled the Shadowkeeper, steward of Darkness─but in their decisive victory unbalanced the cosmic scales. Though Hydaelyn's agent, the Oracle of Light, managed to stem the ravenous tide and prevent the First's utter annihilation, much was lost. Only Norvrandt─a region the approximate size of Eorzea─remained habitable.
Contrary to traditional associations between light and the astral, the Light that consumed the First is characterized by passivity and tranquility─what scholars of the Source would term “umbral” polarity. Thus did the lands claimed by the Flood, known as the “Empty,” come to reach a state of stasis utterly bereft of aetheric activity. Norvrandt itself would be cursed with an empty sky of unyielding Light and ravenous hordes of Light-warped creatures.
Save for the greatest among them─the Lightwardens─these “sin eaters” are largely mindless beings, seeking only to corrupt the aether of the living and give rise to more of their own. Nevertheless, for the First's remaining population, it has been a constant struggle to keep these fiends at bay. Only since the Scions of the Seventh Dawn arrived to destroy the extant Lightwardens and purge Norvrandt of Light's corruption have its people known a measure of peace. They yet pay homage to their heroes as “Warriors of Darkness” for their role in restoring the night sky.
Alphinaud
Scion of the Seventh Dawn
Sage
Son of House Leveilleur, it was at the tender age of eleven that Alphinaud and his twin sister, Alisaie, were accepted into the prestigious Studium. There, he specialized in the study of arcane entities, history and natural history, and pursued advanced studies in the magical arts and aetherology. Upon graduating at sixteen, the Sharlayan age of adulthood, he resolved to sail for Eorzea in spite of his father's objections. Alphinaud has since worked to see his grandfather's wishes made reality. It is why he joined the Scions, and later why he founded the Crystal Braves. With the latter, however, the Ul'dahn elite utilized Alphinaud's inflated confidence to their advantage, wresting the Braves from his control and delivering the young man a bitter defeat.
Swallowing his despair, Alphinaud traveled with the Warrior of Light and Tataru to Ishgard, a nation locked in the thousand-year Dragonsong War. There he engaged with various factions and individuals who sought to resolve the conflict in their own way, among them Archbishop Thordan VII, Ser Aymeric, the Azure Dragoon Estinien, and the heretic Ysayle. The experience prompted him to reevaluate his view of the world as well as his purpose, and as the war neared its conclusion, he reached his own: he would not be a man who sacrifices friends and family for a cause. In spite of the risk to himself, he swore to rescue Estinien, who had been corrupted by the influence of Nidhogg's shade, and with the aid of the Warrior of Light succeeded in saving the dragoon's life.
Alphinaud's involvement in the provincial rebellions that followed taught him further life lessons. He saw firsthand the crushing defeat dealt to the Ala Mhigan Resistance in Rhalgr's Reach by Zenos and the XIIth Imperial Legion. Undeterred, the young Scion then journeyed to the Far East with his comrades, braving haunted seas, and helped the Domans to free themselves from imperial rule. Having won an ally in Hien, Doma's rightful king, he returned to Eorzea to once more aid the Ala Mhigans in their fight against the Empire. At length the Eorzean Alliance laid siege to Ala Mhigo, where Zenos ruled as viceroy, and succeeded in vanquishing the imperial occupiers. With peace thus restored to the land, Alphinaud enjoyed a moment of adventure as he joined the Warrior of Light and fellow Scion Arenvald in a quest for lost treasure.
In the course of these experiences, Alphinaud learned of the Populares, a moderate faction in Garlean politics that sought to bring change to its provincial policy. Together with one of its members, a soldier named Maxima, he embarked on a diplomatic mission to the imperial capital. An unexpected attack en route put a premature end to his plans, but his subsequent chance meeting with Gaius led to another opportunity. Long thought dead, the former legatus had taken to working independently in the shadows, and their encounter resulted in an unlikely alliance that set in motion events which would alter the course of history.
After coming to the First, Alphinaud applied himself earnestly and continued to ponder the true meaning of salvation. He did not shrink before Lord Vauthry, the godlike mayor of Eulmore, who believed himself to be mankind's sole deliverance, nor did he hesitate to voice his opposition when Emet-Selch revealed his intent to restore the past at the cost of the future. By these acts, he showed that the salvation that he had once striven to bring to others had transcended hollow ideals and become a tangible endeavor. And in the face of the Telophoroi threat in the Source, his long-held dream was realized with the formation of the Grand Company of Eorzea. With the combined might of not only the city-states but the myriad tribes besides, this organization united the realm in a way its ignominious precursor, the Crystal Braves, could not.
As he continued to walk his long path, Alphinaud was unexpectedly reunited with his father Fourchenault. In their first meeting since he left Sharlayan behind, he was made to question the wisdom of his course─of going to war to effect change. But encouraged by his comrades, his sister Alisaie not least of all, he was able to find his answer: for those he holds dear, he would always choose to fight.
Even now, with the Final Days averted, Alphinaud labors on behalf of those in need. And he will ever do so, forging ahead one step at a time towards the better tomorrow he envisions.
Alisaie
Scion of the Seventh Dawn
Red Mage
Alisaie is Alphinaud's twin sister—though she dislikes that their similarity leads people to mistake her for her brother. Though unmistakably a prodigy, she has, in their sixteen years together, always trailed ever so slightly behind him. Her grandfather, however, never treated her as secondary, and as such Alisaie clearly misses Louisoix dearly, still holding him in higher regard than any other.
Shortly after Alisaie gained admission to the Studium at the age of eleven, Louisoix resolved to return to Eorzea in order to save the realm from the Seventh Umbral Calamity. His son Fourchenault attempted to dissuade him, asserting that the wise abjure conflict, but the elder Archon responded with words that have remained in Alisaie's heart: “To ignore the plight of those one might conceivably save is not wisdom─it is indolence. We must all protect that which we hold most dear in the manner of our own choosing.” Louisoix upheld his creed to the end, and vanished amidst the fire and fury of the Calamity.
Wishing to know the fate of her beloved grandfather and what he had sacrificed himself for, Alisaie journeyed to Eorzea together with Alphinaud years later. Disappointment awaited her, as she found all the city-states struggling with fundamental problems, with none making any progress towards addressing them. Distancing herself from her brother and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, who proactively aided the nations, she struck out on her own to investigate the truth of the Calamity─and better understand the realm.
In the course of her solitary endeavors, Alisaie uncovered a scheme between the Warriors of Darkness and the Ascians, with her family friend Urianger somehow involved. Seeking to thwart their plot to sow chaos, as well as ascertain Urianger's allegiance, she made the decision to join with the Scions formally.
Since then, Alisaie has fought fearlessly on the front lines. Taking up the rapier in place of the grimoire she received from her grandfather, she played a key role in the liberation of both Doma and Ala Mhigo before helping to save the First from all-consuming Light. Countless times has she been cast down, battered and discouraged, but never has she failed to rise up again and carry on the fight. And in the course of her struggles, she came to accept her grandfather's wisdom and likewise love the world that he gave his life to protect.
During her time in the First, Alisaie tended to the Light-afflicted souls who were living out their days at the Inn at Journey's Head. Determined to save a boy named Halric, it was by her initiative that a cure for sin eater corruption was devised. The method was subsequently adapted into a treatment for tempering─a condition long held to be irreversible─and used to cure not only the koboldling Ga Bu, but the countless people whom the Telophoroi had transformed into the primal Anima's mindless thralls.
In the chaos of the Final Days as well, Alisaie showed unfaltering courage. When the enemy came in force, she charged into the fray; when souls wanted for succor, she rushed to their aid. In this way she lived up to her grandfather's words, protecting that which she holds dear in the manner of her own choosing.
Through it all, Alisaie's sights have never strayed from one individual: the Warrior of Light. Driven by the desire to stand shoulder to shoulder with the hero, she strives to better herself that she may one day count herself his equal.
The Garlean Empire
The Garlean Empire once controlled the majority of the Three Great Continents, the enormous landmass that encompasses Eorzea. Until some fifty years ago, Garlemald was a remote and sparsely populated nation which held little more than a fraction of the northern continent of Ilsabard. But with the arrival of a technological golden age and the concurrent emergence of a brilliant young legatus, Solus Galvus, in the span of a single generation Garlemald established itself as one of the most formidable forces in all of Hydaelyn.
Garlemald is unsurpassed in the field of magitek, a technology which it exploits with devastating effectiveness in warfare. Unperturbed by their lesser numbers, the Garleans went forth upon gigantic flying warships, bearing powerful weaponry the likes of which the world had never seen. One nation after the next fell before their relentless onslaught, first those of the northlands, followed by the sovereign states of the eastern continent, Othard. Employing suppression and conciliation in equal measure, Garlemald indoctrinated the peoples it conquered, thus integrating them into its ever-expanding territory. So it was that the Garlean Empire came into existence.
In the year 1557 of the Sixth Astral Era, the Garleans brought their campaign of conquest to Eorzea, swiftly bringing the city–state of Ala Mhigo to its knees. Yet following the subjugation of Ala Mhigo, the Empire suddenly ceased its aggressive expansion.
For a time, it seemed as though the Empire's complete subjugation of the world was all but inevitable. However, Emperor Solus's failing health and eventual death triggered a war of succession, and following a protracted campaign on Eorzean soil, Gaius van Baelsar and his XIVth Legion suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the newly unified Eorzean Alliance. Thus did cracks begin to appear in the Empire's armor, and as the Scions of the Seventh Dawn continued to intervene on behalf of the oppressed, the Garleans went on to lose control of Doma in the east and Ala Mhigo in the west. To compound their woes, the new emperor, Varis, had scarcely won the throne before he was slain by his son Zenos, who had an agenda all his own.
Zenos then colluded with the Ascian Fandaniel, and using his father's corpse as a medium, summoned forth the primal Anima. The imperial capital, which had become the stage for a bloody civil war, fell silent as nearly every soldier and civilian remaining was turned into a tempered slave.
Though both Anima and the Telophoroi have since been eliminated, Garlemald struggles to recover from the devastation. The leaders of the subjugated territories bide their time, making no moves to resurrect the fallen Empire, and it remains to be seen what the future holds.
Magitek
The term magitek collectively refers to the advanced technology widely employed by the Garlean Empire. Utilizing ceruleum as a source of power, it has found practical applications in all aspects of life, from everyday conveniences such as heaters and radios, to weapons of destruction such as flying warships.
The history of magitek can be traced back to the year 1513, when a man named Solus Galvus attained the rank of legatus. The twenty-four-year-old Garlean learned of the newly invented ceruleum engine, and saw great potential in it. His was the hand that guided the development of magitek weapons, and his the mind that devised tactics for these warmachina. Galvus also saw them integrated into the army, and so imbued the military with mechanical might.
Innately ungifted in magic, the Garleans once relied upon mages recruited from foreign lands to bolster their armies. Not only did magitek free them from that dependence─it transformed them into a machine of conquest.
Ceruleum
For centuries, the Garleans warred with the Corvosi for control of the warm and fertile lands south of Ilsabard's central mountains, but they were eventually defeated and driven into the northern wastes. Winters in the Garleans' new home were harsh. The northern seas were bound in ice for most of the year, and the resources of the waters were available for only a slim window. Likewise, farming and rearing animals were possible only at certain times. The land, in other words, could not support a large populace. The Garleans multiplied slowly, and over time were forced to accept being few in number. There was but one benefit to the frigid land—its vast deposits of ceruleum. This deep-blue liquid burned as well as oil, and kept the hearth warm during the long, dark times of year. Indeed, had it not been for this natural resource, the Garleans would not have survived the severe winter cold. Yet, it was to be a long time before the advent of the ceruleum engine, and the Garleans realized what a boon this liquid was.
The Students of Baldesion
Founded by Galuf Baldesion as a research organization devoted to combating threats to the star, the Students of Baldesion study all manner of relics, magicks, and unexplained phenomena in lands near and far.
In stark contrast to other Sharlayan organizations that would adopt their city-state's policy of nonintervention, the Students have often collaborated with foreign scholars in their never-ending pursuit of knowledge. G'raha Tia's assignment to the Sons of Saint Coinach during the Crystal Tower expedition, as well as the Students' constant support of the Circle of Knowing and their successor, the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, are two notable examples of this philosophy in practice. Since their conception, this academic collective has also served as an advisory body to the Forum and other influential parties, identifying potential threats to mankind and providing counsel as needed.
The Students' headquarters were once located on the Isle of Val, a remote island south of Sharlayan which Galuf had purchased with considerable funds accumulated over the course of many adventures. The facilities constructed there allowed his organization to thrive and perform research independent of the Sharlayan motherland, but this selfsame independence rendered them uniquely vulnerable to attack. The Isle of Val abruptly vanished one day, and it was later determined that a terrible magick was responsible, having obliterated the isle and nearly all who were present at the time.
In recent days, the remaining Students have made the Baldesion Annex in Old Sharlayan their base of operations. Krile, adoptive granddaughter of Galuf, has assumed the role of leader for the time being, hoping to carry on her grandfather's legacy.
Thancred
Scion of the Seventh Dawn
Gunbreaker
A member of the Scions, Thancred grew up in the backstreets of Limsa Lominsa, and spent his adolescence snatching purses with a band of petty thieves. One day, he targeted an Elezen man who had come to the maritime city-state to study aether. Unbeknownst to Thancred, that man was Louisoix Leveilleur and just as the boy drew near, the Archon sent him flying to the cobbles. Caught red-handed, Thancred was certain he would be tossed onto one of the city-state's prison hulks. Instead, Louisoix offered him an alternative─use his gods-given agility to aid his fellow man. Thus, the Midlander boy returned with the Archon to Sharlayan, and there began to study survival and intelligence gathering techniques. He became an expert in both, then an Archon, and then a member of the Circle of Knowing.
In the years leading up to the Seventh Umbral Calamity, Thancred was dispatched to Ul'dah on a mission of paramount importance. He would work surreptitiously to undermine the interests of the Garlean Empire, who had begun preparations for a future campaign of conquest in Eorzea. In the course of his duties, he was present at a parade during which a goobbue broke free and rampaged through the city, resulting in the death of a man named Warburton. Though his identity as a double agent for the Empire and Ala Mhigan Resistance were of particular interest, Warburton's true legacy would be Ascilia, the daughter he left behind, and for whose welfare Thancred thenceforth felt personally responsible.
While Thancred wanted to ensure Ascilia's safety and well-being, his responsibilities meant that he could not act as a proper guardian. The songstress F'lhaminn instead adopted her, though Thancred made a point to visit when he could, as well as bestow upon her a new name to help hide her from her father's enemies. Thus did she come to be known as Minfilia Warde, and while she grew older over the years, a part of him always saw her as that crying child in the streets─a daughter for whom Thancred should have done more.
In the wake of the Calamity, fate would see both Thancred and Minfilia join the Scions of the Seventh Dawn─he as a member, and she as their leader. Thancred was instrumental in many of the Scions' victories, but the events that followed the bloody banquet would forever change him. While holding off pursuers with Y'shtola during their escape from Ul'dah, the mage cast a forbidden spell to facilitate a swift escape. There were consequences, however, and his journey through the Lifestream saw him lose his ability to properly control aether and magicks. Yet what pained him far more was the loss of Minfilia, who had gone missing in the chaos. His grief was further compounded when he learned she had been summoned to Hydaelyn's side to serve as the Word of the Mother, a vessel for the deity's will─and one seemingly devoid of Minfilia's.
The two were reunited after the Scions' clash with Ardbert and the Warriors of Darkness, where Urianger called upon Hydaelyn to intercede on behalf of the First. Hearing this earnest appeal, the Word of the Mother appeared and resolved to journey with the fallen champions unto their world and save it from the Flood of Light. Though Hydaelyn spoke through her, Thancred realized to his relief that Minfilia was still present...but this joy was tempered by the understanding that they would soon part ways once more. Bitter though it was, Thancred accepted this outcome, for he knew that Minfilia would make him proud.
Thancred was the first of the Scions called to Norvrandt by the Crystal Exarch. After his arrival he learned of how the Word of the Mother had sacrificed herself, and of the existence of the Oracle of Light, a girl who had inherited Minfilia's name and soul both. To save her from a life of imprisonment, he breached the gaols of Eulmore and took her into hiding. He taught the Oracle how to fight and survive, and continued to care for her well after the other Scions joined him on the First. Though their relationship was complicated, no matter how daunting the foe, the two would stand together, for Thancred believed he had found in the Oracle another chance─another daughter for the one he had lost. And when she found the strength to stand for herself and not be defined by Minfilia's legacy, Thancred would bestow upon her a new name: Ryne, his “blessing.”
Now returned to the Source, Thancred continues to fight for the future of the star Minfilia loved so much. He often travels with his boon companion, Urianger, who notes that Thancred has developed a habit of gazing at the night sky, a smile on his face as he considers the stars. Though one can only speculate what he is thinking in those moments, Urianger likes to believe his thoughts are of Ryne─and that no matter the distance between them, in his heart they are never far apart.
Zodiark
Primal
Like Hydaelyn, Zodiark is one of the eldest and most powerful of primals. To define what exactly He is, one must first define Light and Darkness─polar opposites whose core components differ from the six main elements of which the star is composed.
The ancients classified Light as that which governs tranquility and stasis. It is a pure white energy bereft of color or movement, and in modern terminology, an element of this nature would be defined as “umbral.” In contrast, Darkness was classified as that which spurs growth. It is an energy of deepest black─a cacophony of life's myriad colors─and contemporary scholars would define elements of this active nature as “astral.” As such, Zodiark is Darkness and activity given form, while Hydaelyn, who would be His undoing, was conceived as the embodiment of peace and Light everlasting. In the world unsundered, these concepts lacked any associations with good and evil; Light and Darkness were simply fundamental energies that coexisted in all things.
Approximately twelve thousand years ago, a vast quantity of Darkness was required to forestall the coming of the Final Days, that its dynamic nature might ensure that the celestial currents of Etheirys did not stagnate. So it was that the ancients devised a plan to create a god who would embody Darkness itself, and at the order of the Convocation of Fourteen, half of the star's surviving population gave their lives to bring Zodiark into being.
Serving as the primal's heart was the emissary Elidibus. Though countless ancients sacrificed their physical aether and tethered their very souls to Zodiark, Elidibus, having judged his duties unfinished, created a reflection of himself to keep vigil over his allies. Zodiark's untold power averted disaster for a time...yet those who survived and had come to worship Him sought to perpetuate the cycle of sacrifice. They vowed to reap the new life they had sown in His name to resurrect those who had rendered up their essence to fuel the primal's summoning.
Venat and her followers stood in opposition to Zodiark's faithful. Believing that a new generation should inherit Etheirys, they summoned forth Hydaelyn, a second primal born of collective sacrifice, with Venat to serve as Her heart. And so Hydaelyn brought Her tranquil Light to bear against Zodiark's relentless Darkness in a terrible battle. Hydaelyn narrowly emerged the victor, and with Her final strike sundered Zodiark and the star itself into fourteen shards. With Her enemy fragmented and too weak to resist, Hydaelyn created a moon for each shard─a series of gaols in which the divided Zodiark would be sealed for all eternity.
Outraged by the sundering of their world and their god, the Ascians─those who had belonged to the Convocation of Fourteen─resolved to revive Zodiark and restore the broken world to the paradise it once was. For millennia they plotted against Hydaelyn and Her followers, orchestrating events to achieve their ultimate goal, until one of their own chose to forsake this solemn charge.
The Ascian Fandaniel, upon regaining his memories and understanding his true nature, rejected his role in his brethren's machinations. After learning of Elidibus's defeat on the First, he resolved instead to destroy Zodiark. Using Garlemald as his base of operations, the rogue Ascian orchestrated the summoning of the primal Anima, who would siphon aether from across the star and direct it into the Tower of Babil. Utilizing the tower as an aetheric cannon, Fandaniel crippled the mechanisms on the moon which kept Zodiark imprisoned, and subsequently traveled there to seize control of the elder primal by offering himself as His new heart.
Though the Ascian was laid low by the Warrior of Light, Fandaniel reveled in Zodiark's defeat, as his ultimate goal was the return of the Final Days. In a final act of defiance, Zodiark reached into His chest and shattered His own heart, consigning the elder primal to a permanent death.
With His demise on the Source, it is presumed that the reflections of Zodiark in other shards were destroyed as well, and the once-fettered souls of the ancients are finally free to return to the Lifestream.
Ryne
Oracle of Light
This young maiden of the First fought the sin eaters alongside the Warrior of Darkness, and played an instrumental role in restoring night to Norvrandt.
It is impossible to speak of Ryne without first speaking of the Oracle of Light, Minfilia. Approximately a century ago, when the Flood of Light threatened to engulf the First, the people of Nabaath Areng bore witness to a woman who single-handedly halted the encroaching radiance. Amidst the tumult, someone was heard crying out "Minfilia"—and so it was that Norvrandt's mysterious savior was named.
Fifteen years later, when the Kingdom of Voeburt fell to sin eaters, a girl was discovered who could not be turned by their corruption. With her hair of spun gold and eyes of clearest sapphire, she bore an uncanny resemblance to the legendary Oracle. Inheriting her name, this Minfilia went on to be a beacon of hope in mankind's struggle against the sin eater threat, but as is the fate of many a soldier, she eventually fell in battle. Some years later, however, another girl would appear who possessed the same distinct features and immunity both. In this way the cycle continued, with a new Minfilia emerging as if to replace the one who had died before her.
This strange phenomenon was brought about by none other than the original Minfilia, the Antecedent of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, who had journeyed from the Source to deliver the First from destruction. Having quelled the Flood, she began reincarnating into the bodies of suitable young girls so that the blessing of Light, the source of resistance to sin eater corruption, might endure. Those who were vessels for Minfilia's soul invariably manifested her features, serving to identify the bearer of the blessing.
Once Vauthry became supreme leader of Eulmore, however, the Oracle was deemed no longer necessary. In truth, Vauthry feared the Oracle and the hope she symbolized, and so he ordered General Ran'jit to find and imprison the next Minfilia to appear. That girl was Ryne (though she was yet to be called thus), and she was locked up deep in the city's dungeon before she had seen five summers. For years she languished there, deprived of the opportunity to develop her powers, until she was rescued by Thancred, whom the Crystal Exarch had summoned from the Source.
The days that followed were filled with excitement and discovery for the young maiden. From Thancred she learned how to live and fight, and over time he became as a father to her. Yet even as she grew closer to him, she began to question his motivations for taking her under his wing. She came to believe it was the original Minfilia that he had sought to save—that he would be happier if she surrendered her body to the woman's soul—and the thought tormented her throughout her journey with the Warrior of Darkness.
In time, the moment of truth would arrive. Tracking down the remaining Lightwardens required that she harness greater power as the Oracle, and it was during a bitter confrontation with Ran'jit that she finally found the strength of will to walk her own path. With Thancred laying his life on the line to secure her escape, she pressed on to inherit her namesake's power and arise as the Oracle in her own right. Driven by the desire to fulfill the legacy of those who went before her, she returned with her hair and eyes restored to their natural hues, and from the man who was her father in all the ways that mattered, she received the name by which she is now known.
With the Lightwardens that once plagued the realm no more, Ryne now dedicates her days to restoring life to the First. Be it bejeweled with stars or a brilliant blue, the sky never fails to remind her of journeys past as well as her family, whose love she feels no matter the distance between them.
Garlond Ironworks
Cid Garlond established the Ironworks in 1562 so that magitek technology might spread throughout Eorzea, lessening the Garlean Empire's dangerous monopoly on the science. With a combination of both Garlean defectors and young Eorzean engineers in its employ, the manufacturers create everything from airships to ceruleum-driven trains. There are even scaled models for the younglings of well-to-do houses.
The company is second to none when it comes to airships, and it was but a twelvemoon after Cid's defection from the Empire that he designed a civilian model completely craftable with Eorzean resources. Since forging their partnership with Highwind Skyways, the Ironworks has produced countless airships, and is largely responsible for the current era's convenience in sky travel.
While Cid remains the president of the company in name, during his five-year absence following the Calamity, it was a woman named Jessie who saw to the everyday management of the Ironworks. It is said that she remains at the company's helm even now, as Cid's duties often lead him far afield, and hers was the hand that signed the contract enlisting former imperial tribunus and engineering prodigy Nero tol Scaeva into their ranks.
Working tirelessly by the motto "Freedom through Technology," Cid and his fellow engineers have been a reliable source of innovation. Through their inventions, they have provided the Warrior of Light and their comrades with many a vital breakthrough, and they will doubtless continue to do so.
Spirit Vessel
Long ago, the Crystal Exarch came to a fateful conclusion: only a mighty warrior who could defeat the Lightwardens as well as resist their corruption could deliver salvation to Norvrandt. The sole individual he knew capable of such feats—the Warrior of Light—abided in the Source, and thus did he labor to adapt the Crystal Tower's cross-rift travel capabilities that he might bring the hero unto the First.
Success proved elusive. Even after much time and effort, instead of the Warrior of Light, the Exarch ended up summoning their fellow Scions, and incompletely; only their souls successfully made the journey. Though he could weave for them something akin to corporeal forms, their actual bodies remained locked in slumber in the Source, and the connection between flesh and soul would eventually fail, resulting in death. To wit, it was imperative that he found a way to return his unintended guests safely home.
When teleporting, an individual takes their possessions with them by virtue of recognizing those objects as extensions of the self. It was this mechanism that served as the basis of the solution. Receptacles would be created to hold each of the Scions' souls, which the Warrior of Light, who had been summoned whole and complete, would then carry back across the rift to the Source. The finished product, the spirit vessel, also drew inspiration from white auracite, Moenbryda's ingenious invention for capturing an Ascian soul.
However, one other obstacle had to be overcome: the separation of mind and memory. While the two are intrinsically entwined like words writ upon parchment, the latter is wont to fade when the soul is placed into a vessel. In seeking to ensure that their memories remained intact, the companions looked to Allagan memory transference—a technique which required that their spirit vessels be imbued with royal Allagan blood. This blood was provided by the Exarch himself, and it also served to turn these vessels into keys for controlling the Crystal Tower, whose operation was restricted to the ancient empire's rulers.
Emet-Selch
Ascian
A man whose true name was Hades, mighty sorcerer of eld.
Who became Solus zos Galvus, founding father of the Garlean Empire.
Who threatened the world as the most dangerous of foes.
Who stood at your side as the most dependable of friends.
An ancient who clove to his ideals to the bitter end.
A man who rendered up his all for the people he loved.
A man who once lived.
The Studium
True to its reputation as the cradle of knowledge, Sharlayan is home to numerous private study halls and schooling facilities, but it is the prestigious Studium which represents its foremost institution of learning. The academy opened its doors in the year 432 of the Sixth Astral Era, and for over a thousand years has established a history for producing accomplished Archons and contributing to breakthroughs in every academic field.
While initial classes focused on the formal study of the arcane, the occult, and astromancy, it was from these subjects that aetherology─the exploration of magic's fundamental theory─was derived. This signaled the beginning of a more diverse curriculum, the main trunk branching out to include mundane fields such as the natural sciences of astronomy and biology. These were joined by the social sciences (law and economics), the humanities (philosophy and history), the formal sciences (mathematics and statistics), and the applied sciences (alchemy and medicine), and more on the spectrum of learning. Not all faculties are of equal size, however, with some professors teaching only a handful of pupils. This situation is exacerbated by compound disciplines such as somanoutics─combining the study of aetherology, sorcery, and medicine─the introduction of which leads to no few students transferring between faculties during their academy career.
Now unburdened by the threat of the Final Days, administrators have seized the opportunity to enact changes. The Studium's post-exodus limitations on accepting foreign students has since been lifted, and hopeful young scholars now converge on the city from every corner of Etheirys.
The Eighth Umbral Calamity
The Source has been visited by seven cataclysmic events known as “Umbral Calamities.” The first of these was the Calamity of Wind, followed by the Calamities of Lightning, Fire, Earth, Ice, Water, and finally the Calamity of Darkness. While these disasters may seem the logical consequence of conflict or natural phenomena, they could not, in truth, have occurred without a massive disruption of the aetherial equilibrium of a reflection world. When a reflection's balance shifts drastically towards a single aspect, the heightened elemental energies seep into the Source─much as water flows from higher to lower ground. An influx of fire-aspected aether might cause extended droughts, for example, while ice could result in a widespread drop in temperature. These anomalies become increasingly common, until a final great catastrophe breaks down the barrier between the two worlds. In that moment, all the aether which comprises the reflection floods into the Source, and the catastrophe swells into a full-fledged Umbral Calamity.
Though it did not take place within our present timeline, the Eighth Umbral Calamity's origin can be traced back to the First, where the power of Light was ascendant. Even as the luminous excess bled into the Source, the Garlean Empire launched its Black Rose upon the battlefield, and the deadly gas─itself a weapon of a Light-based nature─was amplified far beyond its expected potency. It spread over a vast area, halting the circulation of aether and killing every living being with which it came into contact. The aether currents themselves were stilled, and the repercussions of this stagnation rippled throughout the environment. The Alliance leaders and Scions who had gathered to fight the imperial armies were slain where they stood.
Thus began an age of unending war. Order broke down, violence ran rampant, and all fought in the savage battle for survival. In the midst of civilization's collapse, it was Cid and his Garlond Ironworks' stalwarts who led the development of an ambitious and far-reaching plan. Founded upon the knowledge they had gleaned in preceding years, the group set out to create a reality in which the Eighth Umbral Calamity never happened─to build a past in which the calamity was prevented, and ensure that the fallen heroes survived into the future.
The engineers and their collaborators toiled for generations, devoting their lives and the lives of their descendants to bringing this mad scheme to fruition. Finally, after decades of preparation, they succeeded in transporting the reawoken Crystal Tower backwards through the years and into the world of the First.
Many adventures and misadventures later, Darkness was restored to the ailing reflection, and the Eighth Umbral Calamity was averted. None who live today bore witness to that tragedy, nor the great effort which went into making this miracle possible. None will ever know who their saviors were, nor the thoughts and fears which drove them. None will ever know if their bleak future was erased by the changing of history, or if it endures in a fork of time's eternal river. Here and now, their hopes for the world are evident only in the continued survival of those they gave everything to save.
The Void
The Thirteenth was once strikingly similar to the Source, albeit possessed of its own unique history─much as might be said of any other reflection. Tragedy arrived, however, when Ascians enveloped the lands in Darkness in their attempt to shatter the barrier between the worlds and force a Rejoining. The first step of their machinations involved sharing the secrets of primal summoning and instigating wars of conquest. Heroes possessed of preternatural talents came forth to do battle, employing an art that sealed the primals away in crystal “memoria.” They then drew on the memoria's power to tip the balance and quell the conflicts for good, but from these champions arose new tyrants, intoxicated by the strength they now wielded. One by one, the heroes fell, the tides turned, and the catastrophic shift in aetherial equilibrium triggered a Flood of Darkness.
Yet even greater disaster was to come when the Ascians' Rejoining failed to channel the surfeit of Darkness unto the Source. Having nowhere else to which it could escape, these energies surged and swelled until it engulfed the Thirteenth entirely, transforming every living being on the star into twisted fiends. All that was left was a grasping void, where even the surcease of death was denied its inhabitants.
Ever since this inundation of Darkness, the veil separating worlds has been notably thinner between the Source and the void, more so than with any other reflection. Forging a passage via natural fissures or man-made gates is comparatively simple, and voidsent incursions─be they the result of deliberate summonings or otherwise─are a frequent occurrence.
Zero
Memoriate
In the void, where life's natural cycle no longer holds sway, Zero strives to restore her world to its rightful state.
Zero's mother, a memoriate, was with child when she was exposed to a powerful source of Darkness during battle. Zero was thus born half-voidsent, and ceased to age after reaching adulthood. She chose to take up her mother's struggle to bring an end to the Contramemoria, but while traveling as a lone hero, she was bested by a band of corrupt memoriates. The Flood of Darkness inundated the world even as she lay dying, sweeping her soul into the rift between worlds.
When an incidental fissure at last allowed her to return, she found her world an empty void, uninhabitable by any being that was not a voidsent. Zero surrendered to hopelessness, condemned as she was to wander alone for eternity.
Although strong enough to manifest her own territory in the swirling mire, Zero rarely visited her “home” unless her aether reserves were low. It instead became a sanctuary for lesser voidsent who had grown tired of the endless battle for dominance─an intrusion she tolerated without protest.
Seeking an advantage against the Warrior of Light, it was Zenos who summoned Zero to the Source and bound her to serve as his reaper avatar. With his defeat, she was cast back unto the void, where she would once again encounter Eorzea's champion and their companions when they came in search of the great wyrm Azdaja. They gave her the name “Zero,” and struck a bargain to enlist her aid in their battle against Golbez's archfiends. As they traveled and fought together, Zero began to reconnect with a part of herself she had thought forever lost, and the discovery of how Light might be restored to her world rekindled a fire within her breast. Zero soon abandoned the pretense of payment and accompanied the Warrior of Light of her own accord, forging bonds of friendship with Jullus and many others in a way that she had shunned when fighting alone.
The quest to defeat Zeromus would eventually take her to the First to meet with Ryne, the Oracle of Light. Ryne's words gave Zero much to consider, and after contemplating what her half-voidsent nature allowed her to do that no other being could, she took within herself the power of Light.
Zero then returned to the Void to confront Golbez in the depths of the moon. Golbez, too, had desired to restore the Thirteenth, but in his grief at losing his dear companion, he had been manipulated by the Ascians into unleashing the Flood of Darkness. So it was that Zero revealed to him the flicker of Light she carried, convincing the would-be conqueror that a seed of hope yet remained. During the ensuing battle with Zeromus, Zero's fervent wish to save her world transformed her into a knight of legendary appearance. A blow infused with both Light and Darkness shattered Zeromus's form, and Zero succeeded in sealing the massive voidsent's aether in memoria. Following their triumph, she joined hands with the repentant Golbez, and together they took the first steps toward bringing Light into the void.
Wary of diluting her essence, Zero has always avoided feeding on the souls of others. This insistence on consuming stray aether often led to her death through starvation, leaving her to drift in the void until her corporeal form was reconstituted. After not eating physically for so long, Zero's sense of taste had also atrophied─but she has since rediscovered this facet of cuisine after sampling heavily spiced foods in the Source. The extremely spicy curry custom-made to her preference in Radz-at-Hahn has become one of the city's new signature dishes.
Souls
Within all beings─whether it be man, animal, or even plant─does aether flow. It is the spark which grants life to the lifeless. Conversely, death can be said to occur once aether has left a corporeal object. From this it is clear to see why many scholars use the words 'life' and 'aether' interchangeably.
The aether of the living can be broadly divided into corporeal aether─one's vigor or life force; and incorporeal aether─more colloquially known as one's soul. A person possessed of only the former becomes a zombie, while having only the latter would render them a ghost.
Aetherologists also assert that an individual's “memory” is inscribed upon their soul's aether. It is further theorized that memories associated with stronger emotions, such as regret, are more likely to persist after death, which would perhaps explain why so many spirits fixate upon vengeance.
When a living creature perishes, its corporeal aether remains in the physical world where it is consumed by predators or absorbed back into the land to provide nourishment for other life-forms. Incorporeal aether, however, is returned to the aetherial sea. In that otherworldly plane is a soul washed clean of its memories, there to await rebirth as a new entity.