Fal'Cie

The fal'Cie (ファルシ Farushi) [fælsiː] are supernatural beings in Final Fantasy XIII. They are responsible for the creation and maintenance of the land where human beings dwell, and indirectly govern their lives.

Datalog


''Fal'Cie are an existence beyond human comprehension, possessed of incredible magic power. The ones responsible for Cocoon's construction are protectors of humanity, but there are others of their kind as well: the fal'Cie who dwell on Pulse and name themselves enemies of Cocoon.''

''Humans who encounter Pulse fal'Cie are cursed being turned to l'Cie and ordered to destroy Cocoon. It is for this reason that most ordinary citizens support the Purge—anyone who may have come into contact with one of these fal'Cie represents a dire threat.''

''The Sanctum fal'Cie are the unfathomable entities that constructed the floating shell of Cocoon in ages past, and even now watch over the world's human inhabitants. Each is assigned a specific task that supports the existence of Cocoon's grateful populace, such as generating energy or manufacturing food. The fal'Cie rarely intervene directly in the governing of society, leaving that responsibility to appointed human representatives.''

One theory states that, including the lower hierarchy, the total number of Sanctum fal'Cie exceeds eight million.

Profile
In the official mythology the fal'Cie are said to be of divine origin. The god Buniberzei, in his attempt to reach the world of the dead, created Pulse, Lindzei and Etro. The mythology calls these three also as fal'Cie, but in the game the humankind calls Pulse, Lindzei and Etro as gods and goddesses. After creating the three the god Buniberzei turned into a crystal and entered eternal sleep. Pulse and Lindzei were given powers to create, and according to the mythology created many fal'Cie of their own. These are the fal'Cie met in the game: the Pulse fal'Cie having been created by Pulse, and the Cocoon fal'Cie having been created by Lindzei. However, at some point, both Pulse and Lindzei left the world, leaving their fal'Cie orphaned.

In the Famitsu magazine in June 2009, the fal'Cie were revealed to be formed from the crystals residing inside of them, acting as their energy sources. The director of the game, Motomu Toriyama, described the fal'Cie as "god machines surrounding the crystals". The fal'Cie are thus immortal and do not age. In Final Fantasy XIII lore, some fal'Cie seek to summon back their Maker, the greater being that created the fal'Cie and sent them into the world. However, some societies treat the fal'Cie as gods because of the variety of things they offer to humans to improve their lives. Cocoon, for example, has a theocratic government, the Sanctum, which receives advice from the fal'Cie Eden.

The fal'Cie have the power to brand people with the power of the crystals in order to make them fulfill special missions called Focus for them. These people, called the l'Cie, can be identified by a symbol somewhere on their bodies. The appearance of the brand depends on the fal'Cie that chooses the l'Cie. Brands vary with the fal'Cie's alignment: Pulse or Cocoon. Pulse brands are an overlapping sequence of black arrows. Lightning and her companions are branded as l'Cie by Anima, a Pulse fal'Cie.

In the interview with the Official PlayStation Magazine in August 2009, producer Yoshinori Kitase revealed that there are various types of fal'Cie, their actual number being incalculable, although only a handful appears in Final Fantasy XIII.

Known fal'Cie

 * Sanctum fal'Cie
 * Orphan: The fal'Cie responsible for powering Cocoon over the world of Gran Pulse, the structure dependent on its life. Orphan represents the power of sunlight.
 * Eden: The trinity fal'Cie responsible for all functions of Cocoon, and communicates with the human Sanctum representative. Cocoon's capital is named after this fal'Cie.
 * Phoenix: The fal'Cie in charge of Cocoon's weather, shining like a sun in the middle of Cocoon. It oversees numerous fal'Cie managing wind and rain.
 * Carbuncle: Responsible for the production of food in Cocoon.
 * Kujata: Provides Cocoon with power. Located at Euride Gorge, which is visited as a tourist attraction. This fal'Cie turned Dajh Katzroy into a l'Cie.
 * Barthandelus: A fal'Cie assuming the guise of the human Galenth Dysley as Cocoon's Primarch. It seeks to bring back the gods through Cocoon's destruction. As the Cocoon fal'Cie can not directly attack Orphan due to their own Focus as Cocoon's caretakers, Barthandelus instead guides and manipulates the Pulse l'Cie to act in their stead by causing one of them to become Ragnarok. He also made Cid Raines a l'Cie, and turned the entire Cavalry into Cie'th.


 * Pulse fal'Cie
 * Anima: Originally located in Oerba. This fal'Cie turned Serah, Lightning, Vanille, Fang, Snow, Hope, and Sazh into l'Cie.
 * Atomos: A spherical fal'Cie who digs underground passages in Mah'habara.
 * Bismarck: Responsible for protecting the Sulyya Springs. Anyone who tries to trespass into the waters is mercilessly eliminated.
 * Titan: Forces an artificial selection process to produce more powerful species on Pulse.
 * Dahaka: The boss at Taejin's Tower. Its purpose is unclear, as, unlike other fal'Cie, it seems to roam about Gran Pulse without a task.


 * Cut fal'Cie
 * Nemesis: Appears as a purple-hued Anima, Nemesis is a dungeon guardian that fights along with its swords.
 * Ramuh: A Pulse fal'Cie towering over the landscape, portrayed as an old man smoking pipe.
 * Gilgamesh: Wields swords of various sizes that dwarf large buildings
 * Squid fal'Cie: Planned to dwell in the Sulyya Springs.

Other appearances
Beside crystals, the fal'Cie are a central part of the story in the Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy. Due to this, they also appear in the two other confirmed parts of this compilation: Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy Type-0.

While this has not been directly confirmed by the developers, recent concept art for Versus revealed fal'Cie to appear in the game. The Goddess Etro was speculated to be one of them, although in Final Fantasy Versus XIII the fal'Cie and the gods/goddesses are not the same thing. In Type-0, the army of Cid's country is said to consist of l'Cie, which leads to the assumption, that fal'Cie may be an important part of the story here as well.

However, the story may change during development.

Trivia

 * Apart from Barthandelus, Dahaka and Orphan, each of the fal'Cie are named after summons from previous Final Fantasy games. Dahaka's name, however, has been used on multiple occasions for common enemies.
 * In Dissidia 012, there is a battlegen in Orphan's Cradle called Fal'cie husk.