I couldn't miss the chance to practice my drawing!
The unlost world is a world in Final Fantasy XIV, introduced in the Dawntrail expansion. It is the ninth reflection of the Source,[note 1] beset upon by a calamity of lightning. Unlike other reflections seen in the game, like the First and the Thirteenth, the unlost world is not identified by its number in-game, with its name given to it by Wuk Lamat.
History[]
Before Final Fantasy XIV[]
Origins[]
The world that would come to be called "the unlost world" was created when the planet of Etheirys was sundered into 14 identical worlds at the end of the conflict between Hydaelyn and Zodiark, with it being one of the reflections of the resulting Source. Like other reflections, the unlost world developed its own societies and history.
Over time, various states and peoples inhabited 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 as the key to seek refuge in this reflection.
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 became longer and longer, with parts of the world overtaken by endless thunderstorms. The people discovered a mineral called electrope that could store electrical aether, and with the Milalla's arcanima, they inscribed runes onto the electrope to convert that aether into other elements. With the combination of electrope and arcanima, the world saw a great increase in technology and industry.
As the thunderstorms continued to expand, electrope became an ever more precious resource. Four hundred years ago a war triggered between the nations of the world, known as the Storm Surge, as they fought over electrope supplies. One nation, Lindblum, created an electrical superweapon that destroyed parts of the neighbouring country of Alexandria. As the storms raged more and more, Alexandria took in refugees from its neighbors and used electrope technology to protect the Alexandrian capital city's inhabitants from the calamity inside of a dome created by the Everkeep, as well as to provide a source of energy for the survivors.
It is unknown what happened the rest of the unlost world after Alexandria sealed its dome.
Alexandrian paradise[]
During their time under the Everkeep's barrier, an Alexandrian faction, 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 in Living Memory, the top part of the Everkeep. With their memories preserved as such, 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 loss of aether, Preservation looked toward other methods of acquiring aether, 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, particularly other reflections, in an attempt to obtain more aether, and maintain the Endless. Two Milalla scientists, Robor and Alayla disagreed with Preservation's ideals and spirited away the key to the Source in order 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[]
The First Promise of Tuliyollal, 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 Sphene, the Endless Queen of Alexandria, who struck a deal with him in order to provide aether to the dwindling Endless population: using the key obtained from his father's vaults, Zoraal Ja would initiate interdimentional 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 together, leading directly to the Everkeep's topmost level, Living Memory.
After the Warrior of Light, Wuk Lamat, and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn defeat Zoraal Ja, Sphene recovers the key and uses it to close the rift, preparing to use interdimensional fusion to absorb aether from other reflections directly from the unlost world. Wuk Lamat and the Scions head to the unlost world through the same gate through which the key was spirited away, leading directly to Living Memory. After the Warrior of Light defeats the Queen Eternal in the Interphos, succeeding in 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.
Behind the scenes[]
The unlost world is based on the world of Gaia from Final Fantasy IX, with Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail making reference to Alexandria, Cleyra, Conde Petie, Daguerreo and Lindblum in the unlost world, all locations originally appearing in IX. Fittingly, the reflection world has been identified as the ninth reflection of the Source.[note 1]
Notes[]
Annotations[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 In an interview in TheGamer, Naoki Yoshida, producer-director of Final Fantasy XIV, refers to the world where the original Sphene lived as "the ninth reflection".[1]
Citations[]
- ↑ Pelliccio, Meg (2024, August 24). "Final Fantasy 14: Yoshida Hints At Future Possibilities Of The Warrior Of Light Becoming A Hingashi Shogun, A Multiverse, And Visiting The Future". From TheGamer. Archived from the original on 24 August 2024.