Birth of the Fantasy

Covering The Crystal World, The Rift, The Void, FF11, FF14, and origins of World A. *Spoilers ahead!!

Birth of the Fantasy

“In all Chaos, there is a Cosmos; in all disorder a secret order.” Carl Jung

                In the beginning, there was a realm called the Crystal World which resides at the center of the universe. The crystal world was once in a perfect balance of light and darkness- one crystal-the original crystal of red and blue light. The Crystal World was a life force of Harmony and Discord. To keep the forces separate yet in balance, the Void and the Interdimensional Rift was created by splitting the crystal in two. The Void became the source of Chaos and holds the dark crystal, Zodiark. The Rift became the source of Time and holds the light crystal, Hydaelyn. The Crystal World is the source of Cosmos and holds the dormant-fragmented original crystal. From the Void, planets were born and from the Crystal World life was born. Four elemental spirits are born from the light crystal: fire, water, earth and wind. Four demons are born of the dark crystal, the Four Fiends. A powerful demon dragon named, Shinryu manifested in Chaos. Hydaelyn summons Shinryu to the Interdimensional Rift where he is given the task of collecting and preserving memories of all worlds connected by The Rift (World B). The fiends are tasks with protecting Shinryu. If the world should die, it would be reborn from the memories Shinryu holds and from the dark and light crystals coming together briefly to awaken the original crystal so it can birth the mothercrystal. Over time, knowledge and memories build up and the humans advance to form its own complex society with the deities and fiends in the crosshairs of ongoing conflict between light and dark, man, machine, and magic.  

 

Residents of the Rift (FF11)

 

                The mothercrystal created the deities, Shiva, (Ice), Ifrit (Fire), Leviathan (Water), Ramuh (Lightning), Titan (Earth), Garuda (Wind), Odin (Dark), and Alexander (Light). Each holds a piece of the “Mothercrystal”. Other lesser Gods are created later on: Carbuncle (Rainbows), Fenrir (Moon), Diablos (Dreams), Bahamut (Skies), Phoenix (Rebirth), Goddess Altana (Dawn) and God Promanthia (Twilight). These Gods created “children” that would be known as Zilarts.  These children went through many conflicts of their own with each other and the Gods. After the fighting subsided, the Gods retreated to “Paradise” while the children banded together to create a pathway there. Wanting nothing to do with them, the children and civilizations were destroyed by Bahamut. Sadden by their disappearance, Altana weeps and from her tears 5 new races and the world of Vana’diel was born.  However, Promanthia cursed the races to fight each other for eternity due to implanting dark attributes into them: apathy, arrogance, rage, cowardice, and envy.  He also created monsters to kill them, however they managed to thrive, but in time this world crystal would die and be reborn into another world of World B, Eozea.

 

Beginnings of Light and Dark (FF14)

 

                Creator of worlds, the dark crystal, Zodiark wanted more power, but the Light crystal, Hydaelyn fragmented him into 12 pieces. Over time, the world of Eozea is created in the Rift. It has 3 great nations and an empire, Gridania, Ul’dah Sultanate, Limsa Lominsa, and the Garlean Empire. The world cycles through different eras; chaotic periods known as Umbral Eras and prosperous periods known as Astral Eras. The Umbral Eras coincide with the “rejoining” of the scattered dark crystals- once 12 eras are reached, Zodiark will be reborn. During the 3^rd Astral Era, the emperor of Allagan Empire, Xande (FF3) failed to expand his empire completely before his death (reborn in FF3 world). Before his death, he constructed the Syrcus Tower as his seat of power, made advancements in science, magic, magitek,  spacecraft, and created Ultima Weapon to combat Primals (reincarnations of Deities from Vana’diel)- Ultima weapon captures them.  4^th Umbral Era, the empire is on decline. Current emperor, Amon resurrects Xande in clone-form to restore the empire to its former glory. Xande constructs Azys Lla as an aether (Life force) research facility and prison for primals. He invades other nations and they summon primals against him, however, he discovered a way to bind their powers and seal them away. Primals, The Warring Triad are sealed in Azys Lla.

                The Warring Triad were deities (Primals) worshipped by different cultures of people who opposed the Allagan Empire: Sephirot- the Fiend, Sophia- the Goddess, and Zurvan- the Demon. They would manifest in the spirits of future villains of World A. Their souls were preserved by Shinryu and the memories it holds and grants others great power. The Goddess soul of Magic is given to Orphan, Kefka, Bhunivelze, Kuja, Occuria, and Ultimecia who achieved God like powers. The Fiend soul of Man is given to Yunalesca, Seymour, Sephiroth, Zemus-Zeromus, and The Creator-Owen who were once human. The Demon soul of Machine is given to Ardyn, Jenova, Ex-Death, The Emperor, Cloud of Darkness, and Necron who harbor great darkness.

                 Bound to Allagan technology, their powers are drained and used to make bio-engineered creatures. All the while, Xande forms a pact with the Cloud of Darkness and Ascians (supernaturals who know how to summon primals from aether) in order to destroy Eozea. Wanting to access the World of Darkness, Crystal Tower was made which contains the Labyrinth of the Ancients Syrcus Tower, and The World of Darkness. With technology from primal studies, he creates the 2^nd Moon of the world, Dalamud to draw solar energy to the tower to force the Voidgate to open; the primal Bahamut is used as a catalyst. However, too much energy was absorbed and the tower sank causing a great earthquake that destroyed the Empire- ending the era. The Warring Triad remained undisturbed for many centuries until Archbishop Thordan VII tried to release them- dangerous for all involved.

                Presently, the Umbral Era, a man of Garlean, Nael Van Danus is summoning Dalamud with the Meteor spell to purge Eozea of beastmen (other races) and primals.  Dalamud glows red, grows bigger and as it does it changes the flow of aether and makes monsters bigger and stronger. Unfortunately, Bahamut is freed from Dalamud, laid waste to world, fragments of Dalamud scattered throughout world- heroes sent in time rift- returned when Eozea was recovered (5 years later). In this time, Archbishop Thordan VII and 12 Knights (Heaven’s Ward) are in alliance with the Ascians. The archbishop and his knights can make themselves into Primals termed, Knights of the Round. Thordan seeks to awaken the Warring Triad- which will cause catastrophe. Mothercrystal of light and harmony, Hydaelyn sends Warriors of Light on quest to battle Ascians- prevent 12^th Umbral Era, giving birth to the soul of the 4 Light Warriors.  Ascians taught races of Eozea how to summon Primals from aether. Aether is the soul of Life and Magic that manifest after death into mist, crystals, and when in excess-ghosts. Primals collect it to sustain themselves; if left unchecked the primals can drain all of the aether from world leading to its death. The Ascians are a cult of supernatural beings and want to revive Zodiark, fathercrystal of darkness and chaos. Zodiark sends Warriors of Darkness to combat Hydaelyn’s Warriors of Light, giving birth to the souls of the Warriors of Dark. The goals of the heroes are to defeat Ultima Weapon, the Ascians, and Thordan VII and his knights to end the Dragonsong War (7^th Astral Era). In the end, they achieve their goals; however Thordan’s actions lead to the Warring Triad starting to awaken.

 

Origins of World A

 

                Hydealyn ascends to the Crystal World and uses the aether of Eozea to create world crystals. It takes time for them to gain enough energy and memories to be used, in the meantime Hydealyn uses her power to start the new world and with it a new life cycle.  When life expires the memories return to “world crystal” in the Rift and the souls to the Void. When the world crystal dies, the light (memories) flows to Crystal World to invade Chaos in order to trigger the expulsion of life and light (“Big Bang”). A new world will be born from the Void expelling light and a new crystal from the Crystal World will start the life cycle over. When World A is born of the Void; humans are created by Hydealyn to give energy to the dormant world crystals in the Rift. However, the dark crystal Chaos energy would seep from the Void and into this world and disrupt the life cycle by creating fiends from the flora and fauna of this world. They are similar to monsters in World B, but the fiends were humans who refused to die or died horrible deaths, animals and plants possessed by Chaos energy. The first world born would become known as “Planet R”. During the first void birth, the Warring Triad is transported to World A where they fully awaken.