The Setting
From Lavosfantasy
INTRODUCTION
2000 years after the civilization of the ancient Cetra collapsed with scarcely a trace, on the Planet of Gaia, where all things that live and die are bound by the same spiritual energy, it is a time of beginnings and endings. Shinra Electric Power Company, an empire in all but name, essentially rules over most of the known world, the bastion that was the Wutai Empire having fallen 8 years ago. They rule with a power stolen from Gaia itself, Mako, drained from the Planet in cyclopean edifices to soulless industry. Opposing Shinra is the secretive terrorist group AVALANCHE, led by the charismatic Sephiroth, ex-Shinra general, considered the greatest warrior and military mind of his time, with the blood of thousands on his hands over the course of his strife filled existence, which extends to the brutal, violent tactics of AVALANCHE. And between these forces stand a brave few, and the life of Gaia itself.
THE LIFESTREAM
The world lives. Spiritual energy pervades Gaia, and all living things on it, in a naturally ethereal state. It gathers and flows deep under the surface in high density. Collectively, this Spirit Energy is known as the Lifestream.
Spirit Energy becomes part of a living thing at it's birth, both as the spark of life that invigorates it, and an immortal soul that contains a person's memories and personality. This personal store of Spirit Energy is impossible to detect with conventional scientific devices, but Mako based equipment and Materia are capable of sensing it, among other things. When a living thing dies, this Spirit Energy returns to the Planet, adding its knowledge and experiences to the Lifestream. Eventually, this energy will be reborn in another being, ensuring a cycle of reincarnation, and enriching Gaia's Lifestream as a whole.
In high density Spirit Energy forms a physically tangible condensate state called Mako. Mako is typically green in coloration, sometimes turquoise. It ranges in solidity from a foggy, semitransparent gas, to a viscous, syrupy liquid. Mako has an odd sort of hot/cold feeling to it, and causes tingling sensation and pressure which quickly fade to numbness. Prolonged exposure to, immersion in, or ingestion of Mako is hazardous to the human body and mind, resulting in a form of sickness known as Mako Poisoning. The Mako in the body unbalances the flow of the body's personal flow of Spirit Energy, and the memories and knowledge of the Planet's life flooding the mind rapidly, resulting in severe mental trauma. Symptoms include lowered immune system, failure of bodily functions, hyperactiveness of bodily functions, cancer due to improper cell division, schizophrenia, dissociative identity disorder, and amnesia. Mako Poisoning is frequently fatal if not treated quickly. Mako must be worked with extremely carefully, with proper precautions taken. Individuals with high Mako content in their bodies have a distinct luminescence in their eyes, faint, but recognizable to those who know what to look for. Their eyes tend to shift toward green or blue.
Mako can also solidify further, crystallizing under natural or artificial pressure into marble sized spheres known as Materia.(While there have been extraordinary cases of Materia forming at different sizes, such cases are quite rare indeed, and there is no known way of artificially duplicating such circumstances.) Materia is capable of granting access to impressive abilities, or enhancing existing ones.
The most well known, and common of these Materia, are Magic Materia, Green in hue, which combines one's own knowledge and Spirit Energy with that of the Planet. The individual abilities granted buch such Materia require training to use, but it is usually considered a fair tradeoff for the sheer utility of the powers made available. Support Materia are tend towards various shades of blue, usually due to minerals caught in the Materia during formation. These Materia require no extra knowledge to use, and enhance the capabilities of Magic Materia they are paired with. Independant Materia enhances existing abilities, such as resilience, speed, or combat ability. Most manufactured Independant Materia offer only minor benefit, and are quite costly, but their advantages make them not uncommon, especially in the Shinra military. Independant Materia are shaded in the lower levels of the spectrum, usually violet. Skill Materia ranges from yellow to orange, and grants the Planet's memory of a certain set of skills to a user. The benefit provided is fairly small, but allow an untrained individual to practice a sensitive trade without harm, or provide an extra benefit to a trained individual. True geniuses, already outside conventional knowledge, find them useless.
The rarest variety of classifiable Materia is Summon Materia. While most spirits that return to the Lifestream remain dormant as Spirit Energy until that energy is reincarnated as another living thing, some strong willed souls remain in a state of consiousness. These spirits tend to drift near the surface of the Planet, where Mako is concentrated in natural areas. Among these spirits, a few end up, sometimes by choice, compressed within a Materia. These Materia do not form normally, and have a reddish hue, some believing that this being due to a concious spirit having a higher frequency than ordinary Spirit Energy. These are called Summon Materia, and thus far, none know how to artificially produce one. The bearer of a Summon Materia is capable of communicating telepathically with the Summon inside. Through a process which is more intuitive than anything,(though Shinra has been working on mechanizing the process.) an individual can learn to draw out the power of the Summon, by harmonizing one's Spirit Energy with the soul inside. The Summon is then capable of drawing on the power of both the summoner and the Materia itself to forge a temporary body, in return for service to the Summoner.
Most Materia in use today were formed in Shinra's factories. While Shinra has not completely mastered how to make the full range of naturally occuring Materia, and has only begun to develop Materia even approaching the level of power of certain natural samples.However, Shinra makes up for this with the sheer volume of Materia that they can produce, for any variety of purposes.
In order to make use of a Materia, it must either be in physical contanct with the owner, or, more commonly, placed in a Materia slot in an object on one's person. Materia slots are just that- small holes in an object in which Materia can be inserted. It is believed that the original design was invented by the Cetra, and later was built by the Wutai empire, whose lands remain rich in Materia. During early conflicts with Wutai, Shinra began reverse engineering the design, and after the advent of Mako research, Materia equipment became commonplace. Weapons and armor usually come with Materia slots, as well as lightweight bracers called Materia Bangles.
CETRA
Over two millenia ago, a people called the Cetra, and by later generations, the Ancients, thrived on Gaia. Evidence suggests they were once a nomadic society, that revered the spirit of life and the planet itself, before their tribes settled down almost en masse, mostly at Knowlespole on the northern continent. The sedentary Cetra remained a spiritual people, but evidence implies they were also highly technologically advanced. Especially interesting was a seeming connection the Cetra had with the Planet and its Lifestream, and with Materia. Little is known about them, as no surviving historical records of them in modern languages have been found, and other records are being deciphered only slowly. All accounts imply the Ancients as being physically identical, or near identical to humans, which gives rise the popular theory that they were indeed such, though this does not explain their natural traits. Other theories suggest that they evolved parallel to humans, that they were extraterrestrials, or other stranger things.
THE COURSE OF HUMAN HISTORY
Two thousand years ago, the reign of the Cetra on Gaia came to an abrupt end, leaving only scarce records of their existence. However, there is not an utter lack of evidence regarding how they fell. On the northern continent, a crater roughly a mile in diameter, and peculiarly, with a network of Caverns that lead underneath the Planet's surface. Either way, investigation of this crater is difficult, surrounded as it is by potent and numerous monsters.
After that, human society began to come into it's own, all over Gaia. There are any number of theories at the apparent lack of human civilization before the fall of the Cetra, but archaelogical evidence is little, especially as things buried far enough under the earth tend to be integrated into the Lifestream itself. It is possible Cetra architecture was simply more durable over the ages, less likely to slip into the Lifestream.
Human progress was aided by the assistance of Materia, with early discoveries being developed at a rapid pace. After industrialization roughly five hundred years ago international relations quickly developed between the myriad countries of the Planet, cutting down fairly significantly on war.
Three hundred years ago, in the town that would become Midgar, an impovershed scientist just fresh from school in Junon discovered how to harness electrical power. This man's name was Nikolai Shinra. Despite his lack of funds, Shinra had a cunning analytical mind well suited to business, and soon established Shinra Electric Power Company, and began selling his new power all over the world. Shinra rapidly became a dominant economical force, paving the way for the future success of the company.
As years gave way to decades, and decades to centuries Shinra began to forget it's humble origins, and eventually power began to corrupt. At first, Shinra began to diversify, purchasing other companies, offering a wider range of services than electrical power. Fearing a monopoly, some nations began to start their own electrical power programs.
But by then, Shinra had already amassed enough power and wealth to surpass nations, and had formed a private army, a standing demonstration of Shinra's waxing power. Addtionally, the General Affairs department of Shinra not long after that created the Investigation Division, more commonly known as the Turks, amounting to an intelligence agency, and covert operations force. Perhaps the moment when Shinra truely became an empire in all but name was with the establishment of the client state program. Starting with the now metropolis of Midgar, and expanding steadily, Shinra offered a deal to provide defense, power, and governmental assistance to client nations at an affordable price. Those who turned down the initial offer, mostly offered to smaller nearby states on the north of the eastern continent, found themselves subject to a series of all too coincidental deaths among statesmen and uprisings.
After a bloody series of surrogate wars, assassinations, intelligence, and blackmail, Shinra had essentially seized the reigns of most of the world nations over the course of fifty years, with the glaring exception of the Wutai Empire. Wutai was powerful, having control of westernmost continent, and it's leaders were cunning. Furthermore, Wutai's lands were rich in Materia, giving their soldiers an impressive advantage.
In the meantime, Shinra began construction on the Midgar Arcology to serve as its headquarters. Midgar Arcology was built over the existing Midgar, and was owned completely by Shinra. After its completion over the course of many years, the wealthier citizens began to move to the Arcology, usually simply called Upper Midgar, leaving the old city little more than a slum, untouched by sunlight, and of little concern to Shinra's policies.
JENOVA AND MAKO
It was 37 years ago that things changed even more drastically. Shinra had sent an expeditionary research force with a massive guard contingent to explore the crater on the nothern continent, convinced that treasures of the Cetra may be there. As the largest force sent there in known history, hopes were high that the research team would not be driven off by the infamous monsters of the Northern Crater. The research team included Wutaian defector and biologist Yoshizawa Hojo, the up and coming physicist Heinrich Gast, and Dr. Hojo's protege, Lucrecia Crescent.
Further into the Crater then any expiditionary team had gone before, Shinra had seemed to strike proverbial gold. Frozen deep within layers of permafrost was perfectly preserved woman's body. A tablet was placed next to her, as if she was deliberately buried underneath the layers of frozen soil, and it was engraved with Cetra script. The Cetra language was only barely understood, even after 2000 years, but a few words could be made out easily. "Cetra," "Lifestream," and "Jenova," the latter presumably being the name of the buried.
