Ninth

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The Ninth
(第九世界, Dai Kyū Sekai?)
Geographical information
Type	Planet
Associated world(s)	The Source
Continents	Unnamed Alexandrian continent
Metaphysical elements	Aether, electrope
Societal information
Sentient races	Hyune, Eldite, Milalla
Ruling factions	Alexandria, Lindblum
Major cities	Everkeep
Major events	Storm Surge Interdimensional fusion

The Ninth, also known as the unlost world (失われざる世界(アンロスト・ワールド), Anrosuto Wārudo?), is a world in Final Fantasy XIV and one of the reflections of the Source. Introduced in the expansion Dawntrail, it was beset by a calamity of lightning. The reflection was initially named the "unlost world" by Wuk Lamat due to the Scions lacking confirmation of its number when it was discovered.

History

Before Final Fantasy XIV

Origins

The world that would come to be called the Ninth was created when the planet of Etheirys was sundered into 14 identical worlds at the end of the conflict between Hydaelyn and Zodiark. Like other reflections, the Ninth developed its own societies and history.

Over time, various peoples came to inhabit the world, such as the robust Hyune and the graceful Eldite. One of the peoples of the world were the Milalla, originally inhabitants of the Source from the South Sea Isles who escaped the Fifth Umbral Calamity, the Calamity of Ice, using a mysterious artefact known to them only as the key to seek refuge in this reflection. These people formed various nation states, including the kingdom of Alexandria.

The Storm Surge

One thousand years ago, the world began to be flooded by lightning-aspected aether. Slowly over the course of several centuries thunderstorms and rainy seasons became longer and longer, with parts of the world overtaken by endless storms. The inhabitants of the world discovered a mineral called electrope, a result of the aetheric instability from the that could store electrical aether and, with use of the Milalla's arcanima, convert that aether into other elements through runes inscribed into the mineral. With this combination of electrope and arcanima, the world saw a great developments in technology and industry.

As the thunderstorms continued to expand, electrope became an ever more precious resource. Four hundred years ago a war known as the Storm Surge triggered between the nations of the world as they fought over electrope supplies. One nation, Lindblum, created an electrical superweapon that destroyed parts of the neighboring country of Alexandria, triggering an even greater increase in thunderstorms that soon threatened to engulf the whole world. As the storms raged more and more out of control, Alexandria took in refugees from its neighbors and used electrope technology to protect Alexandrian's inhabitants from the calamity inside of a dome created under the massive superstructure of the Everkeep that separated them from the rest of the world.

It is unknown what happened to the rest of the Ninth after Alexandria sealed itself within its dome.

Alexandrian paradise

During their time under the Everkeep's barrier, an Alexandrian organisation, known as Preservation, developed technologies to save the memories of the departed and restore them as Endless, pseudo-consciousnesses that would continue to live beyond their deaths within Living Memory, the top level of the Everkeep. With their memories preserved, the deceased souls would be treated and separated from their memories, and used as currency and treated as commodities, effectively cutting off Alexandria from the lifestream. As this exchange resulted in a net loss of aether, Preservation looked toward other methods of acquiring aether to maintain the Endless, and researched a technique known as interdimensional fusion, using the key that brought the Milalla to the unlost world, in an effort to reach other dimensions. Two Milalla scientists working for Preservation, Robor and Alayla, disagreed with Preservation's ideals, founding Oblivion, an organisation that looked toward stopping the use of interdimensional fusion, and spirited away the key to the Source to hide it from Preservation, entrusting it and their daughter to Gulool Ja Ja and Galuf Baldesion before returning to the unlost world.

Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail

After the rite of succession of Tuliyollal came to an end, the First Promise of the nation, Zoraal Ja, approached the gate to the "golden city", in reality an electrope gate that allowed dimensional travel between Living Memory from the Source through which Alayla and Robor had spirited away the key. There, Zoraal Ja came into contact with Endless Sphene, the Eternal Queen of Alexandria, who struck a deal with him to provide aether to the dwindling Endless population: using the key obtained from his father's vaults by Sareel Ja, Zoraal Ja would initiate interdimensional fusion, merging the remains of Alexandria with the Source, and he would rule alongside her as King of Resolve, counterpart to her Queen of Reason. With this, Alexandria's Everkeep and everything within its barrier "overlapped" with Yyasulani on the continent of Tural, causing the landscapes of both to partially combine, with a great rift hidden in the clouds in the sky above Everkeep remaining, linking the two worlds, leading directly to the Everkeep's topmost level, Living Memory.

After the Vow of Resolve Wuk Lamat, the Warrior of Light, and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn defeated Zoraal Ja atop Everkeep, Sphene recovered the interdimensional key and used it to close the rift, escaping back to the Ninth, preparing to use interdimensional fusion to absorb aether from other reflections directly. Wuk Lamat and the Scions headed to the unlost world through the same gate through which the key was spirited away, leading to Living Memory. After the Warrior of Light defeated the Queen Eternal in the Interphos with the help of Wuk Lamat, turning off the Meso Terminal that maintained the last of the Endless, the barrier surrounding Living Memory dropped, revealing the dawning sun in the unlost world, showing the thunderstorms had ceased.

Following Sphene's defeat, Y'shtola investigated the Ninth as part of her research into traveling between the Source and its reflections, and was later joined by Oblivion member Shale. During one of her forays, an unseen figure approached the pair and collapsed, eventually revealed to be the original Queen Sphene Alexandros XIV, who was reported dead four hundred years ago.

Behind the scenes

Dawntrail features many references to Final Fantasy IX, and fittingly, the Ninth reflection of the Source shares the number of the game it was inspired from. Alexandria is the primary nation represented, while other locations from the world of Gaia are mentioned such as Cleyra, Conde Petie, Daguerreo, the Iifa Tree, and Lindblum.

Prior to the in-game confirmation of the Ninth's name in patch 7.2, Naoki Yoshida was the first to mention its number in an interview.