Artefact (Final Fantasy XIII-2)

Artefacts are an important element of the gameplay of Final Fantasy XIII-2 and the Historia Crux. When acquired, they allow use of Time Gates, which act as portals to the Historia Crux, the traveling element of the game.

Time Gates appear whenever there is a distortion in time, but they can only be accessed through use of specific artefacts, specific to each gate (apart from the Wild Artefact, which can open any gate that requires one). Since artefacts are not supposed to exist, due to being formed when two timelines collide, they can only be uncovered by use of the Moogle Hunt and Moogle Throw commands.

Hope Estheim studied artefacts during some time of Final Fantasy XIII-2, but then switched to the New Cocoon Project.

Datalog
''Artefacts are the keys that activate Time Gates. These objects can appear in any form, and are only identified as 'things that shouldn't exist' or 'items from another time,' making the search for an artefact a difficult task.''

Artefacts are strongly tied to their possessors, and are also said to take on completely different shapes depending on the person who handles them.

Etymology
The Artefact's Japanese name is OOPart, out-of-place artifact, which refers to an object of historical, archaeological, or paleontological interest found in an unusual or seemingly impossible context that could challenge conventional historical chronology.