Mako

Mako (魔晄, Makō, lit. "magic light") appears in Final Fantasy VII. It is the condensed form of the Planet’s Lifestream and the primary source of energy used by most human beings throughout the world (except Wutai and rural areas). The Lifestream can condense into mako by means of both natural and artificial processes. The terms “mako” and “Lifestream” are often used side by side due to one being a derivative of the other. Crystallised mako can become either Materia or Mako Stones.

The Lifestream
The Lifestream is a river of spiritual energy coursing through the Planet and is considered to be its "blood".

The Lifestream is also considered to be a swell of souls, a river of the dead's memories. The Lifestream is in fact the sum of all living things on the Planet. In the game's universe, each new life (of plants, animals, and human beings) is "blessed" with spiritual energy from the Lifestream prior to birth. Upon the death of an organism, its spiritual energy returns to the Lifestream, taking back with it the memories of its lifetime, and allowing the Lifestream as a whole to grow and the cycle to continue. The Lifestream is extracted and processed by the Shin-Ra Electric Power Company, creating Mako energy for electricity, and also for forming into Materia at times. However, it may also be considered a real-life equivalent for oil, as in the game it is described as being removed from the Planet by Mako reactors, used up, and then ceasing to be, a process that would eventually lead to the death of the Planet.

Mako as an Energy Source
Mako is the most common source of electrical power on the planet, with coal former resources a distant second. The process of power generation via Mako was began by the Shin-Ra Electric Power Company, based in Midgar. Mako extraction and its usage is considered environmentally unfriendly, however, and the rebel group AVALANCHE actively attacks Shin-Ra Mako Reactors in hopes of ultimately stopping the process.

Mako is thought to be similar to radioactive materials in that prolonged exposure can lead to genetic mutation (though this is discovered to be false in the game), poisoning, and ultimately death. People (notably those in SOLDIER) who have had prolonged exposure to Mako are identified by a glow in their eyes, referred to as "Mako Eyes." Besides its electrical uses, the elite Shin-Ra task force, SOLDIER, is made up of operatives that are biologically augmented by Mako. Cloud Strife, Zack Fair, and Sephiroth are examples of people with Mako enhancement.

Members of SOLDIER are not only infused with Mako, however. They are also injected with Jenova cells, an experiment created by Professor Hojo, one of Shin-Ra's scientists. Jenova's cells together with Mako gives them far greater strength and cognitive ability than ordinary people possess, provided they are mentally strong enough to handle the Mako infusion process without suffering from Mako poisoning. When this proceedure is taken too far, the subjects turn into horrible monsters, as seen in the Nibelheim Reactor.

Besides its other uses, Mako--in one form or another--is also found in weapons used by Shin-Ra. The Mako Cannon of Junon used a variety of Mako shells, and later, as the Sister Ray, fired a beam of raw Mako energy. As materia, Mako has been employed by some of Shin-Ra's Turk operatives who wielded it in their weapons in Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII and First Class members of SOLDIER were able to synthesize their own custom materia as shown in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-. In addition to the energy resource and weaponry allocations of Mako, the Shin-Ra Corporation was also developing a mako-powered cars for civilian purposes.

Mako Poisoning
Exposure to Mako in its concentrated form can be dangerous to humans and typically results in a psychological disorder known as "Mako Poisoning" in Final Fantasy VII and "Mako Addiction" in Crisis Core. The best-known case of this occurred when Cloud fell into the Lifestream for an extended period of time, during which his identity and personality were phased through by the millions of souls and their memories coursing through the Lifestream. Though he later washed up near Mideel, alive, his immersion in the Lifestream had reduced him to a near-catatonic state, prompting Tifa to undertake the arduous process of restoring his former personality, memory by memory. The incident also led Cloud to "find himself" by casting away the illusion behind which he had been hiding, an event which is crucial to the story and to Cloud's character development.