Crystal (Final Fantasy XI)

It all began with a stone, or so the legend says. In ages past, the sentient jewel, enormous and beautiful, banished the darkness. It's many-colored light filled the world with life and brought forth mighty gods.

Bathed in that light, the world entered an age of bliss, until after a time, the gods fell into slumber. That world was called Vana'diel.

Opening cutscene in Final Fantasy XI

Crystals (クリスタル, Kurisutaru?) play an important role in almost every story in Final Fantasy XI and have several gameplay uses, such as battlefield entry points, and items used for crafting.

All of the crystals are shards broken off from the original great crystal, which brought the world into existence. This great crystal split into five great shards, now called mothercrystals. These mothercrystals now stud the land of Vana'diel, and grant life to the denizens. Certain smaller crystal shards can be used for teleportation from one crystal to another. Others, known as Magicite, are sources of power for the beastmen armies. Within the churches of San d'Oria, it is preached that these crystals have a deeper connection with the goddess, Altana.

Function[]

Crystals serve as the source of light in the world, and are intrinsically opposed to the Promathian Chains or the Emptiness. In the creation myth of Vana'diel, it was the light of the Great Crystal that was responsible for bringing all into existence. At some point, this Great Crystal broke into five shards, which became the mothercrystals, and with this split, all of creation was separated into two realms: the Astral Plane and the lower realms, including Vana'diel, Abyssea, Desuetia, and others.

Crystal light or crystal energy can be divided into eight components; combustion, solidification, disconnection, union, disintegration, restoration, degeneration. These individual forms of energy each have an elemental form and a crystal form. For example, combustion energy's elemental form is fire and its crystal from is a fire crystal. The hardening of crystal energy into both elemental and crystal forms is what makes life possible on Vana'diel.

Energy	Elemental Form	Crystal Form
Combustion	Fire	Fire Crystal
Solidification	Ice	Ice Crystal
Union	Earth	Earth Crystal
Disintegration	Water	Water Crystal
Dissolution	Lightning	Lightning Crystal
Disconnection	Wind	Wind Crystal
Restoration	Light	Light Crystal
Degredation	Darkness	Darkness Crystal

Because all crystals originate from the great crystal, they also serve as junctions between different planes of reality. Getting too close to any of the mothercrystals may take an individual into a pocket dimension or a shattered fragment of the Astral Plane. To form a pact with one of the six sleeping gods, summoners must venture to one of the avatar's protocrystals, where they are taken to the realm of the sleeping god.

Types of Crystals[]

Synthesis crystals[]

Because crystals are hardened forms of energy, they are common and are used in item synthesis. These synthesis crystals can be harvested from dead plants and animals. Due to the overwhelming demand of synthesis crystals, adventurers can harvest synthesis crystals and turn them in to gate guards in order to increase their rank.

There are eight main types of crystals, with each element corresponding to a different crafting task, and each can be found at the Auction House under the category "Crystals":

Fire Crystal - Burning or Heating.
Earth Crystal - Bonding.
Water Crystal - Diluting, Dissolving, or Liquifying.
Wind Crystal - Carving or Cutting.
Ice Crystal - Freezing or Congealing.
Lightning Crystal - Disintegrating or De-synthesizing.
Light Crystal - Mending, Repairing, or Blessing.
Dark Crystal - Decaying or Aging.

Protocrystals[]

Proto-crystal in the Cloister of Flames.

During the reign of the Zilart civilization, they were able to tap the mothercrystals for energy. The Zilart harnessed an enormous amount of crystal energy, then split the energy into its individual components, forming eight elemental crystals. Between the Meltdown and the age of adventurers, two of these crystals were destroyed. The six that remain were discovered by the Rhinostery. The Rhinostery gave these crystals the name protocrystals. These crystals were discovered to be enormous reserves of their respective energy and serve as gateways to the six sleeping gods, Ifrit, Shiva, Ramuh, Titan, Leviathan and Garuda. The protocrystals are located in the following areas:

Cloister of Flames in Ifrit's Cauldron.
Cloister of Frost in Fei'Yin.
Cloister of Gales in Cape Teriggan.
Cloister of Storms in The Boyahda Tree.
Cloister of Tides in the Den of Rancor.
Cloister of Tremors in the Quicksand Caves.

Telepoints and gate crystals[]

In modern-day Vana'diel, six telepoints exist in the forms of crystals. In the Shadowreign era, three additional telepoints existed that have since been destroyed. When the adventurer first examines a telepoint, they receive a gate crystal, a key item needed to be teleported to that specific telepoint via teleport and recall spells.

The following are the locations and teleport spells associated with each telepoint: Existing telepoints in present-day Vana'diel:

Destroyed telepoints:

Magicite[]

Main article: Magicite in Final Fantasy XI

Magicite is functionally similar to crystals in that they store crystal energy, but they differ in how they are formed. While crystals are harvested from dead plants and animals, magicite is crystal energy that has been directly hardened from its raw elemental state. As a result, they contain much more power than their crystal counterparts. Magicite can be found in crystal deposits inside beastmen strongholds near destroyed portions of the Crystal Line. The Crystal Line is a large conduits that connect the Crags of Holla, Mea, and Dem and are said to have pure crystal energy running through them. The magicite likely formed form leaks within the Crystal Line.

Mothercrystals[]

Main article: Mothercrystal (Final Fantasy XI)

The Mothercrystals are six shards, five of which broke off the great crystal that is said to have created the gods. The great crystal was shattered into the five pieces to fend away the Emptiness. The mothercrystals are responsible for providing the world with life-giving light. The Emptiness is a force that emerges as the mothercrystals are drained of their light.

Orbs[]

Orbs are synthetic magicite, developed by the research facilities in Windurst. Orbs are created and charged using the power of the moon and stars. Windurst is able to channel this power using the Horutoto Apparatus. Mana orbs, as they are often called, are used as magical batteries to power the technologies in Windurst, including their military cardians.