Etheirys

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Etheirys is the world, or "star", in which Final Fantasy XIV and its expansions take place. It consists of one Source world that was split into thirteen additional, parallel 'reflections', named the First to Thirteenth. The Source is where the majority of Final Fantasy XIV takes place, while the First is the setting of the Shadowbringers expansion.

History[]

Etheirys was a planet rich in aether, one of the two fundamental forms of energy that make up the universe. Its original inhabitants were known in the future solely as the ancients. They had the power to weave anything they desired into existence, a magick that they named Creation, and which they used to peacefully cultivate their home in the pursuit of perfection. 12,000 years ago the original Etheirys and its inhabitants were split in an event known as the Sundering into fourteen near-perfect copies. The aether of the star was equally divided between them, resulting in beings much thinner in aether who were mortal, incomplete, and without the ability to use creation magicks. Over time, each reflection diverged into its own world, with its own cultures and historical events.

Three of the original inhabitants survived unsundered and began a long campaign to rejoin the shards to the Source to liberate the deity sealed in the events of the Sundering, and restore the 'true' mankind. Besides their first disastrous attempt that resulted in the Thirteenth becoming the void, removing the possibility of a rejoining, the trio and their followers succeeded in their subsequent seven attempts. As a result, only the First, Fourth, Eighth, Ninth, and Eleventh shards remain untouched.

The World Unsundered[]

The original Etheirys, as it was before Hydaelyn sundered it.

Amaurot – The capital of the ancients' world, overseen by the Convocation of Fourteen, a group of mages who were the top experts in their various fields when recruited to the group.
Elpis – A facility located on a floating continent where the ancients test their creations before approving them for life on Etheirys proper.
Pandæmonium – A facility far beneath Elpis that contained and researched monsters created through the ancients' creation magicks that were deemed too dangerous to be released into the world of Etheirys but too valuable to outright destroy.

The Source[]

Main article: The Source

Also known as "Hydaelyn" after the goddess said to be the will of the star, this is the world where the Warrior of Light and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn are from. After events in Endwalker, "Etheirys" is used instead by those who are aware of the original name. As the "Source" of the shards, it is intrinsically linked to all of the other worlds, so much so that if this world were to be destroyed, the shards would follow its fate.

Eorzea – A geopolitical region which includes Aldenard, the westernmost of the Three Great Continents, and its surrounding islands, the largest of which is Vylbrand.
Ilsabard - The largest of the Great Continents and home to the militaristic Garlean Empire. The island of Thavnair to its south is also treated as part of the same geopolitical region.
The Far East – A geopolitical region including the eastern Great Continent of Othard and its surrounding islands, including Hingashi and Eureka.
Tural – A continental group to the west of Eorzea, known to them as "The New World". It is divided into Yok Tural in the south and Xak Tural in the north. Home to the Mamool Ja, the continent boasts a multicultural civilization of disparate peoples.
Meracydia – The southern continent, known to have once been inhabited by dragons.

The First[]

Main article: The First

Once a vibrant world like the Source, it was afflicted by a Flood of Light that wiped out nine-tenths of its geography, leaving it mostly a desolate wasteland.

Norvrandt – The only surviving continent on the shard, equivalent to the Source's Eorzea, and the last surviving bastion against the legions of aether-suffused monsters known as sin eaters.
The Empty – A Light blasted, overaspected wasteland where the sin eaters originate from. It covers the majority of the planet's surface.

The Thirteenth[]

Main article: The Thirteenth

After falling to a Flood of Darkness, this world became known as the "void". Its inhabitants were twisted beyond all recognition into aether-starved monsters known as voidsent, the strongest of which carve domains of their own from the unstable world.

Cloud of Darkness' domain – Domain of the Cloud of Darkness, once accessible from the Source through a voidgate created by Syrcus Tower's energies.
Troia – Domain of the voidsent Beatrice, serving as a twisted recreation of a castle from before the Flood.
Zero's Domain – Domain of the voidsent Zero, serving as a sanctuary for voidsent that wish to escape from the service and machinations of more powerful voidsent.
Storm's Crown – Free moving domain of the voidsent Barbariccia, one of the Archfiends of the elements.
Red Moon - Once housing a shard of the primal Zodiark, Golbez claimed it as his domain.

The Sea of Stars[]

Beyond the confines of the world lies what is known as the "great expanse"; an unimaginably vast void that separates the stars and is near impossible to traverse. The ancient Allagan Empire barely breached the boundaries of the planet by launching their artificial satellite, known as Dalamud, only after millennia of technological advancement. However, many more worlds dot the sea of stars, some with the technology and physical means to cross the distances.

Dalamud – The "hound of Menphina", actually an artificial satellite harnessing solar energy and housing the elder primal Bahamut. It was shattered apart when the elder primal broke free during the cusp of the Seventh Umbral Calamity, its fragments embedding themselves across Eorzea.
Menphina/The Moon – Contrasting with Dalamud, this "silver moon", known as "Menphina" after the Goddess, but more commonly simply referred to as "the moon", is the nearest neighbor to Etheirys. It features the crater known as Mare Lamentorum where the Loporrits make their abode. It is also an artificial satellite, created by Hydaelyn around the time of the Sundering to serve first as a prison for Zodiark, and then as an escape ship from Etheirys should Zodiark be freed.
"Hena" - A faraway planet, the first one visited by the Meteia who found it furnished with livable buildings, but thoroughly devoid of life forms, as though all those present had simply vanished into thin air.
"Dyo" - The second planet visited by the Meteia. According to their report, many buildings are scattered on the star, though the surface is covered in a thick layer of ice. Meteion did not manage to identify a presence of life.
Deneb III - The third planet visited by the Meteia, known to them as "Tria", was the homeworld of the Ea, who committed mass suicide after discovering the inevitable heat death of the universe.
"Tessera" - The fourth planet visited by the Meteia. According to their report, buildings which could be abandoned residences are on the surface of the star. She supposes that a deadly plague or an extreme degradation of the environment led to a massive extinction.
"Hexi" - The sixth planet visited by the Meteia. It was the homeworld of the Grebuloff, a civilization that fell to corruptive pestilence.
"Hepta" - The seventh planet visited by the Meteia. Members of the civilization which inhabited this planet possessed multiple limbs, and one's number of limbs was valued above all else; each additional appendage was seen to indicate a higher intellect.
"Okto" - The eighth planet visited by the Meteia. The homeworld of the Karellians. Described as a formerly brilliant star that fell in a global war exacerbated by Meteion's arrival.
"Ennea" - The ninth planet visited by the Meteia. According to their report, the star is an arid desert on which no flora had been found. On the other hand, she found bones similar to those of humans buried under the sand, but was not able to determine their intelligence.
"Deka-pente" - The fifteenth planet visited by the Meteia. According to their report, the civilization that lived on the star prospered under the auspices of an entity that eventually turned against them and exterminated them in a fit of rage. When Meteion tried to approach it with her question, said entity chose to end its life rather than answer her. She did not find any other form of life on this star.
Alphatron – The sixteenth planet visited by the Meteia, who called it "Deka-Hexi". An ancient, technologically advanced planet inhabited by Omicrons; beings that took to cybernetic augmentation until they were entirely digital, mechanical life devoted to military conquest. The Omicron engaged in conquest to perfect themselves and consume resources, eventually coming into conflict with the Dragonstar, their greatest challenge. War with the Dragons and assimilation of their unique properties resulted in Omega, the ultimate Omicron weapon. After the defeat of the Dragons, the Omicron's technological progress stalled, lacking purpose or reason without a strong foe. It is implied that Meteion destroyed what remained of their civilization.
"Deka-hepta" - The seventeenth planet the Meteia visited, the homeworld of the Nibirun. A peaceful planet whose inhabitants achieved what they believed to be perfection by removing all risk, danger, and hurt, and in so doing also removing any motivation for pleasure and leaving the populace apathetic and nihilistic. Subsequently, they created an entity capable of ending their immortal lives and willingly offered themselves to its mercy.
The Dragonstar – The eighteenth planet the Meteia visited, who called it "Deka-Okto". A distant planet that is the origin of dragons, it fell thousands of years prior when invaded by the technologically-advanced Omicrons. Rendered a desolate wasteland that could not support the birth of new Dragons due to insufficient aether, the remaining population descended into a fatalistic fugue until their full extinction at the behest of Meteion's power.
Gordhona - The first planet conquered by the Alphatron civilization, who desired the material resources of this star. The Omicrons originally considered the mechanical defenders the star's inhabitants, but later found that these were the unintelligent devices of the true inhabitants.
Ultima Thule – An Ultimatum, a region of space at the farthest reaches of the universe dominated exclusively by dynamis, and Meteion's nest. Here she gathers the emotions of despair from around the universe to fuel her song of oblivion, stores the unborn souls of those to die to her influence, and accelerates the natural heat death of the universe to end life entirely.
Elysion - A planet recently born from dynamis near Ultima Thule, becoming the new home for the recreated homeless alien lives.

Etymology[]

The name of Etheirys is derived from "aether" due to the star being especially rich in it. [view · edit · purge]According to ancient and medieval science, aether, also spelled æther or ether, is the material that fills the region of the universe above the terrestrial sphere. In ancient Greek mythology aether was supposed to be the breath of the gods, which formed the air which mortals breathed. The deity Aether is the personification of this idea as well as the upper sky itself.