(See also: History of Eorzea)
Introduction[]
The people of the realm once more begged The Twelve for warmth during the beginning of the Fifth Astral Era, when Eorzea was huddling in the icy grip of the Endless Frost. During this period, a magnificent cathedral was constructed on the edge of the Black Shroud as a place of worship where people might ardently pray to the gods and utilize magic to increase the strength of their blessings. These rites gained popularity as a means of coping for the Fifth Calamity survivors with the grim outlook of the time, and they became a catalyst for the realm's revival.
People started traveling the realm once more as the terrible weather receded. Small communities expanded into towns and ultimately cities, each with its own distinct culture. As the inhabitants of these towns sought to assert their newly discovered sense of individuality by selecting patron deities to guard them, the universal worship of the Twelve fractured. There would be fierce conflicts for domination among nations as a result of these growing divisions in culture, religion, and approaches to the mysterious arts.
A Precursor to War[]
Around the third century of the Fifth Astral Era, fledgling cities began to appear. Over the following two and a half centuries, the number of city-states would increase to twelve, with each paying homage to a different deity from the Eorzean pantheon. These city-states, however, lacked the stability of their contemporary equivalents, and the Age of Enlightenment was characterized by upheaval and continual redistricting of territorial boundaries as smaller territories were destroyed, divided, or assimilated into larger communities.
The realm's sovereign nations numbered six by the thousandth year of the Fifth Astral Era, with the most notable being Mhach, which was situated in the western basin of Yafaem; Amdapor, which was located on the plains of central Aldenard (or what is now the South Shroud); and Nym, which spanned the western coast of the Isle of Vylbrand. The city-states that had previously endured centuries of sporadic unrest would find themselves involved in an entirely other magnitude of conflict in the second part of the era.[1]
The Dark City of Mhach[]
Yafaem's lands are currently submerged in an uninhabitable saltwater swamp, but it wasn't always so. The White Maiden was created when the Fifth Umbral Calamity subsided and the thawing snows of Abalathia's northeastern mountains trickled down to nourish the lowlands' soils. Nearly five hundred years into the Fifth Astral Era, the area had changed into a fertile environment, and its inhabitants gathered together to build the city of Mhach.
Mhach was one of twelve unremarkable city-states that were fighting to survive when it was founded. The dominant force was the Amdapori, who ruled over a wide area of central Eorzea and had considerable influence outside their local sphere of authority. But around the year 800, when a sorceress by the name of Shatotto discovered a ruinous sort of magic, the scales tipped sharply in Mhach's favor. According to a legend shared by masters of the craft in the Order of Nald'thal, Shatotto was the first to learn how to use ambient aether to give her spells devastating strength. The world saw the advent of modern black magic in this way. The Mhachi used this acquired information to strengthen their army and were able to withstand the violent ups and downs of feuds that left many other city-states in ruins. As a result, they eventually ascended to become a significant military force.
Voidmagicks[]
The Mhachi were well-known practitioners of black magic, but Shatotto's school of magic was not the only place they could use their full might. The civilization had started to perfect voidmagicks—the calling and control of entities known as "voidsent" from beyond the corporeal realm—by the fall years of the Fifth Astral Era.
A report by the scholars of the Nominated Observers of Artifacts Historical defines the "void" as:
"An otherworld parallel to the one in which man dwells. Abnormal events can weaken the veil between worlds, tearing it asunder and allowing the voidsent to invade the material realm. These fiends have a depraved appetite, and seek our world merely to consume the aether it contains, allowing neither beast nor man to stand in their way."
The Allagan Empire's mages had previously experimented with creating covenants with void demons in an effort to get access to the beasts' abilities. In order to avoid experiencing the same destiny as the Allagans, the Mhachi built on this project and added additional safeguards to their tests. For this reason, the mages created the Nullstone, an occult device, to protect both themselves and their city in the event that a bond is violated. A voidmage could strike a feral entity using the Nullstone to cut its connections to the corporeal realm if a summoned voidsent disobeyed the summoner. The Mhachi developed a belief in their civilization's superiority to all others as a result of controlling this ability, which eventually led to war.
The twelve-tiered voidsent hierarchy prohibits creatures from the highest rungs from crossing spatial boundaries via a manufactured tear. The Nullstone has the ability to destroy that vessel and nullify the pact between it and the summoner, making it a powerful tool in maintaining control over even the most powerful of voidsents, who instead require a willing vessel from the corporeal side, possessing their soul and entering the world through a "summoning."[2]
The Ancient City of Amdapor[]
(See also: The Lost City of Amdapor)
A party of Hyur arrived in what is now the South Shroud at the beginning of the Fifth Astral Era. The territory in which they established themselves was an open plain dotted with large outcrops of light-colored rock, noticeably devoid of the dense forest cover presently characteristic of the area. With so much stone available, the Hyur were able to build constructions that were incredibly strong, and by the year 300, central Aldenard had been turned into the thriving city of Amdapor.
In an effort to share in the wealth of the forest, the inhabitants of Amdapor made an effort to communicate with the mysterious elementals of the Black Shroud. The elementals, who had never trusted men, shunned contact with their new neighbors and were satisfied with their separation. Except for the odd pursuit of prey during a hunt, the Amdapori honored this wish and did not aggressively infringe into the sacred holt. It is important to note, though, that at this time the elementals did not completely shun outsiders; friendly connections were kept with the Ixali tribes, and the elementals permitted them entry into the Shroud after concluding that the beastmen posed no harm to the forest's natural equilibrium.
The Amdapori concentrated on reinforcing their territory as their city-state grew prosperous, increasing their fortifications by erecting a massive stronghold atop a knoll outside the city itself. Invoking the abundance goddess Nophica, they professed to value harmony with nature and made a peaceful cohabitation pact with their neighbors. Because of this mentality, Amdapor was not seen as a danger to the nearby communities but rather as a wise elder caring over its eleven fellow towns. As a result, it earned the moniker "the ancient city."
A growing layer of mold and rot brought on by an elemental imbalance left over from the aftermath of the Seventh Umbral Calamity is slowly engulfing most of what is left of the city of Amdapor. Even said, experts anticipate that the deterioration won't significantly damage the stone foundations of the old city, which are architectural marvels that have previously weathered more than 1.5 millennia of nature's wrath.
The Discovery of White Magic[]
The Amdapori initially used simple magic for the protection of their city, building on their rudimentary understanding of the construction of golems to temporarily breathe life into stone sculptures. Mages of the old city, however, saw Mhach deploy the destructive arts to conquer nearby city-states in the ninth century. The Amdapori, who were wary of their neighbor's ambitions, tried to defeat these black magicks by honing their own spellcraft and weaving in order to purify, ward, and heal—the practice of white magic.
It has been speculated that Amdapor would have probably fallen to Mhach's aspirations if white magic hadn't been discovered. The Mhachi army was restrained from attacking Amdapor fully because of the old city's ability to control the dark magicians lest they also suffer terrible losses. The fragile yet long-lasting peace that Eorzea experienced over the following many centuries was therefore a result of the delicate equilibrium that existed between the two nations and their competing magical schools.[3]
War on the Horizon[]
The peace that resulted from the deadlock between the black and white schools of sorcery allowed the inhabitants of Eorzea to flourish. In an effort to advance their cultures, various city-states started creating their own varieties of spellcraft in the tradition of Mhach and Amdapor. The Allagans of the Third Astral Era pursued prosperity in a very different way, forgoing scientific advancement in favor of more occult forms of progress.
However, development would be costly since man would quickly become complacent with the power that arcane power would provide him. Huge amounts of aether were taken from the earth in order to preserve the cities' magnificence, forcing societies based on the foundations of magic to sacrifice their natural environs. The realm's enlightenment had turned into a double-edged sword because each mage city kept up the appearance of a noble past while secretly developing its aggressive magic.
One need not be an oracle to foresee that this peaceful period would eventually come to an end. The Mhach mages turned their gaze to the dark, hoping to quench their imperialistic desires by assembling an army of voidsent thralls. Amdapor maintained their appearance as a thriving center of culture and the arts, but ominous sculptures of their "guardians" gradually arose in every neighborhood of the city.
The exact cause of the conflict is unknown, but it is known that as the middle of the thirteenth century drew near, the two countries' political and military posturing dramatically increased. Soon, the whole of Eorzea was caught up in an implacable web of conflict. The Magi War had started.
The Floating City of Nym[]
A large number of Lalafellin sailors came on the shores of Vylbrand in reed-woven longboats close to the 500th year of the Fifth Astral Era. On the southern tip of the island, the mercantilists constructed a small town in the hopes of establishing trade with the local kobold tribes. Their isolated colony would eventually develop into the port city of Nym.
The population of Nym was not as large as that of the other twelve city-states, but they made up for it in commerce by fully using their expert seafaring talents. The Royal Marines, a small but powerful naval force put in charge of the city's defenses, was established by Nym's sailors, who were known for being rude and boisterous. The Marines are portrayed in translations of Nymian records as axe-wielding marauders who fought with a few gifted mages who offered healing and support through their own specially created style of spellcraft. The Marines' tact proved to be their greatest asset in spite of their small numbers; much of Nym's legacy alludes to tales of the Marines' tremendous martial prowess. Even throughout the Great War, the Royal Marines bravely repelled wave after wave of voidsent sent by the Mhachi over Rothlyt Sound to ensure that their small nation kept its freedom.
The Nymian Plague[]
(See also: The Wanderer's Palace)
Nearly three decades of the War of the Magi had passed when a mysterious plague devastated the city-state of Nym. A bizarre tale of a group of Nymian sailors who were abandoned at sea after their ship was battered by a terrible storm is the basis of one frequent explanation used to explain how the scourge was transmitted.
The lost sailors made landfall on a barren island, where they were greeted by a tribe of Lalafell natives who cared for them and fixed their damaged ship so they could sail back to Nym without incident. The islanders gave the traders an elaborate amphora as a farewell present before they set sail. Shortly after the sailors arrived back at the floating city and gave the gift of friendship, Nym's inhabitants began to succumb one by one to a disease that had never before been seen on Vylbrand. Nymian scholars didn't realize the amphora was a component of a sophisticated Mhachi plan that would release Bitoso, a plague-carrying voidsent that had been sent to Eorzea just to wipe out the Nymian people.
Limbs shriveled, flesh turned a horrifying shade of green, and the nose and ears of those who got the voidsent's sickness melted away. The Wanderer's Palace—the revered Nymian temple of Oschon—was used to isolate the sick, who were kept there as part of the plague's containment efforts. Bitoso's hidden presence went completely unnoticed by the Nymians, and the epidemic spread even as the temple's halls filled with sick and dying people. The city-state's mages soon reached their breaking point due to their panic over the Green Death, and had no choice but to resort to harsh means.
Wanderer's Palace
The Wanderer's Palace and the destinies of those imprisoned inside were sealed when the mages, in a final act of desperation, used their magic to swell the land's waters. The Nymians' nation would finally descend into self-destruction as a result of hysteria around the illness. The Mhachi were prepared to reap the fruits of their devastation.
The protective wall that had kept the Wanderer's Palace isolated from the outside world for ages was shattered by the falling shards of Dalamud, awakening many of the Nymian plague victims from their profound sleep. Those early explorers of the recently discovered temple reported the ruins were inhabited by tonberries—mythical vicious creatures thought to haunt the shadows of night in pursuit of retribution—without understanding of the plague and its deforming effects on the skin and extremities.[4]
The Battle of Amdapor[]
(See also: Amdapor Keep)
Diabolos
The War of the Magi was reaching its peak in 1510 as the Mhach voidmages inched closer to Amdapor. Amdapor Keep, the old city's initial line of defense, was quickly overwhelmed by Mhach's entire army of otherworldly demons despite having stood for ages. The voidmages entered Amdapor through the gate that had been left open, and as soon as they did, they summoned Diabolos, a powerful voidsent that would decide Amdapor's fate.
Mhach, however, grossly underestimated Amdapor's defensive magics. White mages breathed fire into the strongest stone guardians of the city to withstand Diabolos and the demons under his vile command. The Amdapori were able to shut the void prince away by pooling their total strength, which made the Mhachi retreat. The ancient city may have won that day, but it was a hollow victory as little was done to prevent the sun from setting on this once-proud civilization. The worst was yet to come for the age.
The loss of Eorzea was not just a result of the Mhachi march on Amdapor. The three-century-long assault on the land had taken its toll, throwing the balance of the elements in the realm off due to the loss of energy utilized to promote conflict. The equilibrium eventually broke, and this last struggle was the final straw. The citizens of Eorzea didn't fully realize the harm they had done until the dust had settled. The most potent seers of the realm were summoned to scry the future of the realm, but what they saw was darkness. It was too late to amend their ways. A catastrophe was approaching, and the country would soon be cleansed of people who had so thoroughly desecrated it by rising rivers.
Birth of the Grand Companies[]
(See also: Grand Companies)
All scholars and mages pleaded with their governments to temporarily put aside their disputes and concentrate on the bigger issue at hand. Monitoring of the aether in the realm revealed an unhealthy imbalance toward water, which suggested the appearance of an epic flood on a Calamity-scale. The leaders of the city-states were unable to continue denying the information that was shown to them and, though first reluctantly, soon started to pool their resources. They quickly established central command centers with the primary goal of protecting civilians from the impending flood. Later on, these emergency services were referred to as the "Grand Companies."
Despite still grieving over the losses brought on by the plague, the Nymians sent their dwindling armed troops into the rising seas to erect Operation Maelstrom, a vast floating net of protective wards. In order to begin the evacuation of the populace of the realm to the mountains of Abalathia's Spine, Amdapor organized what was left of its soldiers and abandoned the city that so many had just lost their lives to defend.[5]
The Ark of the Mhachi[]
Scathach
The Grand Companies of Mhach and Amdapor were looking well beyond the mountains as they implemented their emergency plans to move their populace to higher land. The city-state started building an airship called the "Ark," which was created to run on the evil energies of an entire legion of voidsent imprisoned within its hull. The city-state was confident in its ability to govern any and all monstrosities wrested from the void. The floating refuge was intended to transport entire families and their means of subsistence—livestock, seeds, and supplies—up into the air, where they would wait in relative safety until the Calamity's waters had subsided.
The Ark still needed a core strong enough to carry the ship to the sky, even if they had a plethora of mindless thralls at their disposal. As a result, the voidmages sought the strength of a voidsent they had never before been able to summon: Scathach the Shadow Queen, a ruler from one of the highest rungs of the voidal hierarchy. Only a powerful mage could attempt to restrain such a powerful prisoner without the aid of the Nullstone, which had long since vanished beneath the rising waves by this point. Cessair Blackwind, a high voidmage with a dubious reputation and a vocal opponent of the War of the Magi, was ultimately handed the task.
Cait Sith
Cessair expressed her severe opposition of the idea after learning about the Ark and the methods the Mhachi mages intended to use to power the ship, arguing that it was at best foolish and at worst lethal. She had little options, though, as the rising oceans had already started to consume the kingdom, so she grudgingly consented to lead the plot if only to preserve the lives of her people. The energies of Scathach and more than fifty-three voidsent were effectively suppressed by Cessair and her team of fifty-three voidmages after they boarded the Ark. A whole nation cheered as the ship took off, hoping that their efforts would help to preserve their way of life. The Ark and her passengers, however, were never to return.
Cessair and her team had unmatched talent, yet they were unable to contain the Shadow Queen's immense might for too long. The mages' hold on Scathach began to fade, and the slaves that the queen had control over broke free of their chains. The voidsent, free to traverse the ship, made rapid work of the Mhachi populace by taking full advantage of the cramped quarters. The high voidmage and her devoted companions made the decision to give their lives in a last-ditch effort to strengthen the seal on Scathach and send her minions back to their coffins as they believed that total loss of control was unavoidable. With no surviving voidmages, the familiar Cait Sith was left alone aboard the masterless vessel as it wandered through the mists of the Sea of Clouds, where it has since been given a more ominous title—the Void Ark.[6]