Eidolon (Type-0)



Eidolons are the name for Summoned Monsters in Final Fantasy Type-0, and were created by the Dominion of Rubrum using the power of the Vermilion Bird Crystal.

They serve the same military purpose as siege weapons and war machines, and are used by Rubrum to counter the Militesi Empire's advanced weapons technology. In addition to their standard forms, Eidolons boast higher ranks and forms, giving them more destructive potential and utilization.

Following the deployment of the crystal jammer, only the members of Class Zero and l'Cie retain the ability to summon these creatures, though they can only do so by sacrificing their life force, removing them from battle for the remainder of the mission. As such, they are best used for last resort attacks.

Rubicus
''After their embarrassing performance against the royal army's wyverns, the dominion legions began searching for something stronger than the magic they had relied upon until then. What they found were the Eidolons.''
 * Sil. XIX, 339 RG Rubrum: Implementation of Eidolons

''Sorcery designated the Eidolons as a type of weapon, but they were not created at Akademeia, and these beasts of war were not exactly magic. Each Eidolon possessed its own intellect and its own will. They appeared when summoned—not from anywhere in Orience, but from another realm—and after a set period of time, they vanished. Unlike spells developed in Sorcery, the Eidolons could only be deployed by forging a covenant via summoning portal—and in exchange for their services, the Eidolon demand the summoners' life energy.''

''It is said that the discovery and implementation of Eidolons can be attributed to the efforts of the Archsorceress at the time, but the psychomagical principles behind the Eidolons remain unclear to this day. Compared with Concordian wyverns, who similarly possess their own intellects but were most certainly born of the Crystal's power, there is still much yet to be understood in regard to the nature of the Eidolons.''

''According to legend, as if responding to the dominion's demand for more power, the first Eidolon summoned was even more formidable than a l'Cie. Rubrum deployed this Eidolon to Lorica, and after long and drawn-out battle, the Eidolon finally managed to topple the Black Tortoise l'Cie. However, this Eidolon required massive amounts of life energy, and the dominion foolishly sacrificed the lives of many innocent legionaries to this end.''

''Because of this incident, dominion officials sealed away this first mighty Eidolon as anathema, and Rubrum decided to forge covenants with more agreeable beasts of war. Many facets of the Eidolons remain unclear, but once a covenant has been forged, anyone can summon that beast of war through a portal. Thus, the Eidolons immediately secured a spot as the dominion's primary offensive tool, and in the year 339, Rubrum formed its first summoning regiment.''

Story
The people of Rubrum revere Eidolons as gods of war and guardian deities of Rubrum. Summon magic is studied in the Sorcery Division of Akademeia, which is also the instance that grants summoning permits. The head of Sorcery, archsorceress Arecia Al-Rashia, has a personal Eidolon, Bahamut ZERO, of which not even other high-ranking Sorcery officials are privy to details about. All that is known is that its abilities are on a different level than those of the dominion's other Eidolons.

Summoning Eidolons if no small feat, as it requires a special kind of skill and magic ability, as well as every last ounce of the summoner's strength; the exertion of performing the ritual kills the summoner. There exists a classification of Eidolons known as "Special Eidolons" developed to Arecia that don't require the sacrifice of the conjurer to summon.

The ability to deploy Eidolons makes the Rubrum army a formidable opponent, and the Militesi Empire has developed its magitek armor teknology specifically to encounter Rubrum's magic and Eidolons. The latest MA developed for fighting Eidolons is the Militesi Colossus.

Eidolons were discovered in 339 by the Sorcery Division of Akademeia that learned to forge covenants with the Eidolons and create magical portals to momentarily summon them to Orience to fight in behalf of their summoner. The first Eidolon Sorcery summoned was said to be stronger than even the l'Cie, but due to the massive quantities summoning this Eidolon required, dominion officials sealed it away.

When Militesi Empire breaks the Pax Codex and attacks Rubrum in 842, they deploy two crystal jammers to disable the Vermilion Bird Crystal, rendering Rubrum's Crystal-powered shields useless and making its soldiers unable to use magic. Rubrum summons Bahamut but it is shot out of the sky by airships. Cadets that would become known as Class Zero are sent to deal with the problem and disable the jammer and face off against Qun'mi Tru'e, the White Tiger Crystal Secundus l'Cie who was operating one of the crystal jammers. To her surprise, Class Zero summon Odin, a Special Eidolon, against her, and annihilate her and her troops, driving them out of the city.

Impressed by the cadets' prowess Class Zero is officially registered at Akademeia and deployed to the battlefield to help reclaim the areas lost to the empire. During The Capture of Togoreth Stronghold, Class Zero faces off against Channelgates that had fallen in imperial command and the Golems they summon. The dominion army has installed Channelgates in nearly all of its strongholds. When an intruder approaches, the Channelgate will automatically generate a portal and call forth a powerful Eidolons. Although summoning usually requires a human being to sacrifice his or her life, scientists in Sorcery developed a way to freeze summoning portals in their early stages and then reactivate them using time manipulation magic. However, resuming the summoning process requires an immense amount of energy, and the entire security system will shut down when one severs the power supply.

During this mission Class Zero get permission to summon Ifrit, and after felling commander Qator Bashtar, get permission for Shiva as well. Other Akademeia cadets resent Class Zero for their preferential treatment, as Eidolons are forbidden for all other classes. Arecia Al-Rashia, Akademeia's archsorceress and Class Zero's assembler and benefactor, has the power to resurrect the cadets if they die, however, as summoning an Eidolon costs a person their life. Therefore, Class Zero can be allowed to summon Eidolons without losing any cadets as long as Arecia will revive them afterward, and Class Zero keeps collecting more summoning permits as reward for successful missions.

After Queen Andoria of the Kingdom of Concordia is assassinated, her successor, the King of Concordia, allies with the empire. Now facing the wrath of two Crystal-States, Rubrum calls the Consortium of Eight to a meeting to decide how to handle it. To everyone's surprise Chancellor Khalia Chival VI announces that the Vermilion Bird Crystal Secundus l'Cie Lady Caetuna wills to summon a Verboten Eidolon should the Militesi-Concordian coalition try and invade Rubrum. The other consortium members are shocked as no one has summoned a Verboten Eidolon for centuries.

Central Command prepares for the upcoming showdown against joint Militesi-Concordian forces. The plan is to send Class Zero with Lord Zhuyu to fight off the Concordian dragons, and send the rest of Rubrum's legionaries, and Akademeia cadets and trainees, to the Militesi border for Lady Caetuna to summon a Verboten Eidolon. Two l'Cie taking part in Rubrum's military operations simultaneously is unheard of, and many see it as a sign of the dominion's, and thus the Vermilion Bird Crystal's, desperation, as by now all the other Crystals of Orience have been subjugated by the empire that has devised a machine to enslave them.

Waging war on two fronts, the dominion forces summon Bahamut and Odin to vanquish the Concordian wyverns, but when the Azure Dragon Crystal Primus l'Cie Soryu appears its breath attack annihilates the dominion's Eidolons. The Vermilion Bird Crystal deploys Zhuyu to intercept it and while the two l'Cie do battle the forces of Concordia and Rubrum engage with Class Zero eventually facing off against Shinryu Celestia. If they perish against the Five-Star Dragon, Arecia summons Bahamut ZERO to annihilate Celestia with its Tera Flare.

On the western front the dominion forces are being driven back until Lady Caetuna summons the Verboten Eidolon Alexander. Its summoning takes time and energy and thus cadets from Akademeia and the commanding officer Kurasame Susaya relinquish their phantoma to complete the summoning. While Caetuna performs the summoning the rest of the dominion legionaries defend their position with summoning squads in the fray. When Gilgamesh appears he defeats the dominion's Ifrits. Alexander decimates the imperial forces with its Divine Light, but the summoning also kills Kurasame and all the cadets who aided Caetuna, who herself enters crystal stasis, having served the Crystal's Will.

When Tempus Finis commences the cadets head to the Pandæmonium, and can no longer summon Eidolons as they are cut off from the power of the Vermilion Bird Crystal, and are no longer revived by Arecia should they fall. After the cadets fell the Rursan Arbiter as mortals Arecia decides to abandon her experiment to find Etro's Gate with the Agito, and departs from Orience. As the light of the Crystals fades, it is unknown whether anyone would be able to summon Eidolons anymore.

Summoning
When pressing the two assigned buttons together for 0.4 seconds simultaneously, a portal will be opened summoning the Eidolon below the active leader. An Eidolon is then summoned in battle at the cost of the summoner's life. It can be controlled just like the active party leader, but it will differ from them in many ways: they only appear for a limited time (which differs per different Eidolons), they recover MP at a rate of 4.4-4.6% per second (which can be accelerated with abilities), they cannot dodge, cannot obtain Phantoma, will not obtain items, and cannot switch abilities.

Once the period of time for the summon expires, the Eidolon vanishes and will be replaced by the KO'd active party leader. Some Eidolons have the auto-ability automaton meaning they will choose their own commands. The player must then switch active leaders to control the party again. Different Eidolons require different spaces in order to summon. Opening a portal in a space too narrow will prevent the portal being opened, and prevent the Eidolon's summoning. Bahamut and Odin require large spaces in order to summon, Shiva on the other hand is more lithe and can be summoned in narrower spaces and the player should take this into consideration when deciding what Eidolon to take on missions.

There are times when the Eidolons will automatically summon themselves and fight on behalf of KO'd characters. After the summon time has ended, the Eidolon will eventually revive all KO'd characters, but will be unavailable for the rest of the mission in return.

List of Eidolons
Eidolons are categorized by six primary classes, and in each class are stronger incarnations of that Eidolon.

Verboten Eidolons
Immensely powerful Eidolons, known as Verboten Eidolons, cannot be controlled by the player. According to the description in the game and the official novel, these Eidolons can only be summoned by a l'Cie. The process of summoning takes six hours to complete and requires the l'Cie along with a couple of thousands of outstanding sorcerers to sacrifice themselves. Once summoned, these Eidolons are able to destroy entire armies.

Below are the Verboten Eidolons mentioned in the story. Out of these, Alexander is the only one to appear in the game:
 * Alexander
 * Ramuh
 * Leviathan
 * Knights of the Round

Development
The first Eidolon made for the game was Ifrit, who was intended to be depicted as brutal, wild and berserk. At this time the team still played with the idea of making the Eidolons playable in real-time, and looked at the summoning video they made first of an Ifrit NPC summoned that acted on its own. The team had the feeling it was not the beast they wanted him to be as he did not seem feral enough. When the team tried to make Ifrit playable for the first time, Tabata, who was trying it out, clicked the button and Ifrit made a powerful attack. This impressed Tabata so that he decided they should try to overcome the technical limitations to make the Eidolons playable.

One day Yusuke Naora was walking out in Tokyo, and saw a cat that had been struck by a car and killed. The corpse was surrounded by other cats nudging and licking it. This harrowing experience inspired Naora to portray the connection between the students of Class Zero, both between themselves and with their Eidolons, and the pain of death and war. This is reflected in the key art featuring Machina and Rem next to a slain Bahamut.

Etymology
Verboten is German for forbidden, with particular emphasis of being forbidden by an authority.

Trivia

 * Unlike Final Fantasy XIII, where Eidolons were much more mechanical in nature and referenced to be messengers of Etro, the Eidolons in Type-0 are more organic in appearance, however they all still have gear and cog-like designs on their person somewhere. This is a major theme in Orience and may still imply some attachment to Etro as they are said to be called forth from another realm.
 * Ifrit shares its concept art with that of his Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- counterpart, in a similar manner the concept art for Diabolos is a slightly altered version of its Final Fantasy VIII artwork.