Miasma (term)

Miasma (瘴気) is a poisonous, gaseous substance that plagues the world and surrounds everything like air. It is the eternal threat of the people in Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. Miasma is similar to Mist, a gaseous monster-creating substance found in Final Fantasy IX and the Ivalice Alliance.

The origin of the term comes early medical theories predating the discovery of microorganisms, associating foul air from crowded conditions or rotten objects as a cause of disease.

Properties
Miasma is pure poison. Even the slightest contact harms a person, and prolonged contact with it can cause death. Furthermore, it is the substance that is responsible for the appearance of the monsters. It is said that long ago there was no Miasma and no monsters. Although, in Ring of Fates which takes place before the spread of Miasma monsters still exists. This is the same for My Life as a King where the Miasma is now gone but monsters still exist. Sometimes a random Yuke in My Life as a King will question this and say that the "definition" of what people thought monsters were will have to change.

The only way to keep the Miasma away is to remain inside the barrier of a crystal. The crystals in the world are protecting the people from the Miasma, but their power is not endless. Every year the crystals have to be cleansed by Myrrh, which is collected by the Crystal Caravans.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
Miasma is produced by the Meteor Parasite, brought to the world in a meteor that crashed into Mount Vellenge centuries ago. The gas brings pain and suffering to the world, so that the memories of the people are focused more on this pain and suffering. This is because Raem, who devours the memories of people, prefers these kinds of memories, and as a result has a somewhat symbiotic relationship with the parasite.

When the miasma began to spread over the land, the Carbuncles advised the inhabitants to live near the  crystals, which emit a protective barrier warding off the miasma. As a result, settlements sprouted wherever such a crystal rested.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates takes place before the Meteor Parasite arrived, thus before the spread of Miasma. In Alhanalem's collection of books, there is one book titled "CRYSTALS AND BIG BANG THEORY" which briefly reads, "As for the relationship between crystals and Miasma..." Not much is revealed by this quote, other than Miasma was known to exist before the Meteor Parasite's arrival. In certain dungeons there is a poisonous gas that fill rooms, similar to Miasma. In the Crystal Temple, certain rooms are filled with the gas and can only be repelled by a Lilty's urn. When a Lilty's urn is placed on certain platform in these gas rooms, they create temporary sphere around the party that keeps the gas out just like the Crystal Chalice in the original game. The other dungeon filled with this gas is the River Belle. It is a remake of the River Belle Path from the original game right down to the area being filled with gas.

In multiplayer mode, a Yuke who returns after you clear a certain dungeon mentions that he seemed to wander into a separate world, filled with miasma, where the only safety was in the crystals' light.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King takes place directly after the original game. The young King Leo is beginning to restore his Kingdom after it had been destroyed by the Miasma.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time
While the Yuke that resembles Lich from Ring of Fates attempts to tell a moral story to a mother Lilty and her daughter, she makes a story about a disease in the air that slowly killed off people near it. Eventually, the Lilties believe in the story, with the mother Lilty stating "We're going home straight this instant! And when we do, we'll brush our teeth and scrub our hands until they're pink!"

Final Fantasy
In the PSP&#160;version&#160;of&#160;Final Fantasy, Miasma appears in the Labyrinth of Time when the player has run out of time for the current trial. The miasma drains both HP&#160;and MP slowly. It can be put at bay once per floor by talking to a glowing light and sacrificing another ability to buy more time.

Final Fantasy II
In the PSP&#160;version&#160;of&#160;Final Fantasy II, Miasma appears in the Arcane Labyrinth as both a keyword, and the name of its corresponding floor, wherein HP is drained slowly in certain areas.

Final Fantasy XI
In Final Fantasy XI, "miasma" is the term for intense dark-elemental weather, showing itself as a dark purple haze obscuring the sky and occasionally as a light fog at ground level as well. "Dark Miasma" is also the name given to the toxic mists continually pouring forth from Attohwa Chasm, erupting from cracks in the ground and acting as impassable barriers that may or may not dissipate at certain intervals. Finally, Mamool Ja leader Gulool Ja Ja possesses an attack called Miasma, which inflicts multiple status effects within a radius of himself.

Final Fantasy XIII
In Final Fantasy XIII, Miasma is an attack used by some winged Cie'th.

Final Fantasy XIII-2
Miasma returns as an attack used by some winged Cie'th, such as Varcolaci.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
In Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Miasma is an attack utilized by Vampires and Zombies that causes Poison and area damage.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift
Miasma is an enemy ability used by the Zombie family. It is an area attack that damages close units and inflicts Poison to them.