Gran Pulse

Gran Pulse (グラン-パルス), also known simply as Pulse (下界) to the citizens of Cocoon, is the giant world which lies underneath the floating continent in Final Fantasy XIII. Gran Pulse can be considered the conflicting parallel of Cocoon, it is a world of natural evolution where animals and plants are free to grow to tremendous sizes. In Final Fantasy XIII, Gran Pulse features an open world design with a more free style of gameplay, a stark contrast to the more story driven and linear experience of Cocoon.

In Final Fantasy XIII-2, Gran Pulse is now populated with many of Cocoon's former residents who had moved to the lowerworld, and built settlements in the three years after the Day of Ragnarok. However, with the death of Etro, the chaos consumed Gran Pulse with the world transformed into Novus Partus.

Datalog


''The savage world derives its name from that of the god Pulse. Its vast wilderness is populated by creatures ranging from the monstrous to the deadly, and its fal'Cie seem to have taken a decidedly less friendly approach toward human dealings than those of Cocoon, cultivating the land for settlement, but demonstrating little concern beyond that.''

''At one time in its history, Gran Pulse was home to a thriving civilization and many great cities. Now it is home to many great ruins, and people are nowhere to be seen.''

''The lowerworld, known as either 'Pulse' or 'Gran Pulse,' is an unforgiving wilderness infested with predatory monsters. This world once boasted a civilization that stood in conflict with Cocoon, but traces of its culture exist only in ruins.''

Profile
The people of Cocoon are made to believe that Gran Pulse is a living hell for humans. In order to remain in control, the Sanctum keeps the people of Cocoon in constant fear of a Pulsian invasion. This irrational fear is further strengthened by an event known as the War of Transgression, which tells of an army from Pulse attempting to attack Cocoon many centuries ago. The aftermath resulted in Cocoon's shell being cracked, and many artifacts and warships from Pulse being found in Cocoon's outer-rim in areas like the Vile Peaks and the Hanging Edge.

However, the citizens of Gran Pulse were no different than the people of Cocoon, as they saw the floating world as the source of evil, fear, and eventual invasion. The fal'Cie of Cocoon would often steal valuable resources from Gran Pulse, and lure Pulsians to Cocoon with the promise of an eternal paradise, and this only increased the hatred between the two worlds.

At the present time, the human civilization that once lived on Gran Pulse is long perished, with lingering architecture being its only living testament. The buildings of Yaschas Massif and Oerba suggest a relatively advanced culture, though primitive in comparison to the highly advanced technology of Cocoon. It is unknown exactly how the humans on Pulse died out, but it is suggested that the majority were transformed into l'Cie, and as a result, the world of Pulse is entirely populated by monsters and Cie'th.

It is not completely certain whether or not humanity on Pulse was wiped out entirely, as the party does not explore the full length and breadth of the continent, and early concept artwork does show humans living among the ruins of Pulse cities.

According to Datalog entries, Gran Pulse was named after its creator, the Maker, known as Hallowed Pulse, who left many centuries ago entrusting the mission of perfecting the world to the fal'Cie. In contrast to Cocoon, the fal'Cie of Pulse are notably indifferent towards humanity, cultivating the land to support life with no concern beyond that. It is said, however, that the fal'Cie of Gran Pulse were the ones to construct the Arks, mysterious armories hidden across the land in preparation of a great battle.

Final Fantasy XIII
When the six Pulse l'Cie reach the end of the Fifth Ark, they leave Cocoon for Gran Pulse in the hopes of finding a way to remove their brands. Crash-landing and setting up camp in the Vallis Media, they embark on a days long search for any humans living on Pulse, but to no avail. The party decides to travel to Vanille and Fang's hometown of Oerba to find answers.

They cross the Archylte Steppe, the Mah'habara Subterra, Sulyya Springs, and ascend Taejin's Tower to reach Oerba. However, the party finds Oerba empty and lifeless. After battling Barthandelus, the l'Cie return to Cocoon.

After Orphan's demise, Fang and Vanille sacrifice themselves to save the world from the Cocoon fal'Cie's scheme, enabling many of the surviving Cocoon inhabitants to settle on Gran Pulse.

Final Fantasy XIII-2
Over the course of the three years since Cocoon's fall, survivors of the event moved to Gran Pulse and built a small civilization near the base of the crystal pillar. The survivors also created the village of New Bodhum a distance from where the floating utopia world was crystallized. One night, a crystalline meteorite falls near New Bodhum, causing mysterious monsters to attack the village. When Serah is attacked, she is saved by Noel Kreiss, a hunter from a doomed future who traveled through time to find her at her sister's request.

The next day, Serah and Noel set off on their journey to find Lightning in Valhalla and save the future. Using the Historia Crux, they travel to multiple locations on Pulse and Cocoon, and solve the paradoxes in the timeline. On their journey through time, Noel and Serah go to some old and new locations on Pulse that show advancements in technology, such as Augusta Tower, and the futuristic metropolis of Academia, the city that began construction near Cocoon's crystal pillar in 3 AF.

After Noel and Serah reach Valhalla and defeat Caius], they return to year 500 AF in Academia. In mere moments, the [[Chaos (Final Fantasy XIII)|chaos of Valhalla bursts from Etro's Gate as a result of the goddess's death. Bhunivelze and Gran Pulse are infected with chaos, the world bleeding into Valhalla. However, within Etro's temple, a crystallized Lightning endured the storm and eventually awakens within the resulting Novus Partus.

List of Areas on Pulse

 * Academia (XIII-2)
 * Archylte Steppe (XIII, XIII-2)
 * Augusta Tower (XIII-2)
 * Dying World (XIII-2)
 * Faultwarrens (XIII)
 * (unvisitable)
 * Mah'habara Subterra (XIII)
 * (unvisitable)
 * New Bodhum (XIII-2)
 * Oerba (XIII, XIII-2)
 * Sulyya Springs (XIII)
 * Taejin's Tower (XIII)
 * Vallis Media (XIII)
 * Yaschas Massif (XIII, XIII-2)

Trivia

 * When party arrives in Gran Pulse in Final Fantasy XIII, a locale introduction screen will display "Gran Pulse" with "Terra Incognita" (Latin for "The Land of Unknown") under it in smaller size.
 * The term Terra Incognita is also a term for a southern landmass on ancient world maps roughly located where Australia lies. That fact may have played a role in Fang and Vanille having Australian accents in the English dub.
 * The Japanese kanji word used to notate the word "Pulse" in the Japanese version of Final Fantasy XIII, "下界", literally means "netherworld" or "underworld". Although these characters are usually pronounced together as Gekai, the staff of Final Fantasy XIII assigned these characters the custom, synthesized ateji reading of Parusu, the Japanese pronunciation of the English word "Pulse".
 * Square Enix promotional material describes the battles in Final Fantasy XIII as Cocoon being "scripted battles", compared to Gran Pulse as "random encounters".
 * Some original inhabitants of Gran Pulse notably have their names in a different form from those on Cocoon. On Cocoon, names are written in the personal name, family name format that is common in many individualistic societies, while on Gran Pulse, names use a format that is common in collectivist societies. The people had the area in which they came from first and then both their clan (family) name and personal names come after. Two examples are Oerba Dia Vanille ("Vanille of the Dia clan, from the village of Oerba") and Paddra Nsu-Yeul ("Yeul of the Nsu clan, from the nation of Paddra"). Two notable exceptions to this are Noel Kreiss and Caius Ballad, whose names are in the form used by the people of Cocoon.

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