White Tiger Crystal

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The White Tiger Crystal.

The White Tiger- Steely arms by which to seize knowledge

Final Fantasy Type-0 Opening Narration

The White Tiger Crystal (白虎クリスタル, Byakko Kurisutaru?) is one of the four Crystals of Orience in Final Fantasy Type-0. It is controlled by the Militesi Empire and bestows the power of weapons, and lends its energy to powers imperial teknology. As a Crystal of Orience, the White Tiger Crystal has the power to brand l'Cie and give them a Focus. Unlike the other nations of Orience, the people of Milites do not serve the White Peristylium. Rather, the White Tiger Crystal exists solely to provide energy to the populace.

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Story

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. (Skip section)

Depiction of the White Tiger from the opening of Type-0

Jörg Paradis was a lowly lord in Azurr who encountered a White Tiger l'Cie in 174, three years before he was to crown himself Emperor of Milites. Paradis studied Crystal-driven technology, leading to the invention of firearms. He subjugated Azurr and out of the ashes rose the new city of Ingram in the north, the capital chosen to house the White Peristylium as Paradis made his formal declaration of empire into which Cetme was soon annexed.

In 218 the imperial forces penetrated the Lorican heartland before the Black Tortoise l'Cie stifled their advance and brought about an armistice. The alliance poured its efforts into combating the Crystal-powered imperial weapons and devised a means of imbuing arms and armor with the Black Tortoise Crystal's energy. The Arms of Agito could fell the formerly invincible imperial war machines, and once enough knightly orders had been outfitted, Lorica declared war on Milites on 301.

The armies again clashed in the sandy region of Berith, and with their new equipment the Loricans overwhelmed the empire. Alliance knights pursued the fleeing imperial troops into their homeland, but did not anticipate their encounter with a White Tiger l'Cie. The Black Paladins were driven out of imperial lands, but the knights' Crystal-imbued Arms of Agito saved the alliance army from total destruction at the hands of the l'Cie.

After suffering defeat at the hands of the Lorican Alliance the empire hastened its development of new weapons. Thanks to their C-Engine, the empire was ahead of the alliance in regard to Crystal energy extraction, and imperial researchers introduced a weapon superior to their tanks and dreadnoughts: magitek armor. The imperial government installed high-output C-Engines throughout the state to extract energy from the Crystal that distributed the energy to smaller C-Engines, which then used that energy to generate power for the various imperial arms factories. As a result, magitek armor could be mass-produced.

Steeled and strengthened through centuries of war, each Crystal-State had developed formidable fighting forces convincing each head-of-state of the possibility of unifying Orience under one banner. The waning of the Crystals' power drove the four state leaders to expedite their war efforts, even if extracting energy from the Crystals exacerbated their deterioration. Fearing the weakening of the Crystals to be permanent, each nation sought to annihilate the others.

What became known as the Great Orience War began as a border dispute between the dominion and the empire. The empire lost more than half of its magitek armor in the clash between the Lorican king and a Vermilion Bird l'Cie is Iscah, and with the alliance approaching from the north, and the imperial fleet in shambles, Militesi territory was vulnerable. With the help of its l'Cie, the empire escaped the plight. As the struggle continued, each nation's Crystal began deteriorating even more rapidly due to the replenishment the weapons, armor, and magic and through the creation of l'Cie. As the power of all four Crystals was waning, on Ventusmens IV in the year 359, the four nations ordered a ceasefire and began preparations for a peace treaty.

When Marshal Cid Aulstyne seized reins of power, one of his first orders of business was absorbing the peristylium into the imperial government. In other nations, only those chosen by their respective Crystal have access to its power. In Milites, however, scientists developed teknology to extract energy from the White Tiger Crystal and harness it to mass-produce guns, magitek armor, and other armaments. Imperial scientists discovered they can use a modified C-Engine to extract energy from the Crystal and artificially enhance a trooper's physical capabilities. These soldiers are called Supersoldiers.

Qun'mi Tru'e, a White Tiger Secundus l'Cie.

Cid discovered a way to subjugate the Crystal, and thus enslave its l'Cie. The empire begins its campaign to claim the Crystals of Orience, and after annihilating Lorican Alliance and stealing the Black Tortoise Crystal, they turn their focus on the Vermilion Bird Crystal of the Dominion of Rubrum. Rumors spread the light of the White Tiger Crystal is fading and the empire wants to siphon power from the other Crystals. The empire's citizens come to believe this as well, as hail the marshal as their savior. The empire deploys Qun'mi Tru'e, a White Tiger Secundus l'Cie, to Akademeia, but she is repelled by cadets who would become known as Class Zero. The appearance of a l'Cie among Militesi ranks surprises everyone, as l'Cie are known to only take orders from the Crystal.

As the joint Rubrum-Concordia forces reclaim Togoreth from the empire, Milites deploys Nimbus, a White Tiger Primus l'Cie. Unusually, the Vermilion Bird Crystal deploys its own Primus l'Cie to face off against Nimbus, Zhuyu Voghfau Byot. Zhuyu asks Nimbus if what he is doing is really the Focus given to him by the White Tiger Crystal, but Nimbus declines to answer. The ensuing battle between Zhuyu and Nimbus obliterates Togoreth.

Afterward Cid oversees the White Tiger Crystal in the grasp of a colossal machine built to subjugate it. The engineers give him status reports on how the plan is going, but worry over the l'Cie's involvement. Cid says that as long as they hold the Crystal hostage the l'Cie can't do anything.

When Class Zero infiltrates an imperial magitek development facility and destroys the Brionac, a prototype magitek armor developed to deploy the empire's weapon of mass destruction, the Ultima Bomb, Nimbus is deployed to deal with them. He does not have the full power of the Crystal behind him, implying the White Tiger Crystal resists this order. As the Secundus l'Cie of the Azure Dragon Crystal, Queen Andoria, invokes the Fabula Pact, a peace agreement wrought between the four peristylia of Orience, Nimbus ceases his attack on the cadets. Cid Aulstyne, who watches the queen's arrival from a balcony, wryly remarks her invoking the pact being "quaint," implying he believes he has the power to override the Crystals' Will if he so wishes. The pact is soon broken when the queen is assassinated.

Qun'mi passes on her Focus.

Qun'mi passes on her Focus to Machina Kunagiri, an Agito cadet of the nation of Rubrum and a member of Class Zero. When the Vermilion Bird Secundus l'Cie Lady Caetuna annihilates the Militesi forces with a Verboten Eidolon, Machina powers up Militesi General Qator Bashtar's magitek armor's shield so the two of them can survive the blast.

Rubrum invades Milites and as the White Peristylium falls, Tempus Finis commences and Pandæmonium rises from the sea. According to the legends, a Judge resides in the temple that appears during the end times to deem the worthiness of one seeking to become Agito. Cid has a White Tiger l'Cie bring him to Pandæmonium where he is turned into the Rursan Arbiter. The Vermilion Bird Crystal senses a White Tiger l'Cie in Pandæmonium and, wanting one of its own to become Agito, brands a new l'Cie—Rem Tokimiya—and sends her to intercept the White Tiger l'Cie. Rem and Machina do battle and as Rem dies both enter crystal stasis.

Class Zero fell the Rursan Arbiter, but instead of restarting the spiral Orience has been trapped in for millions of years, the souls of Class Zero ask Arecia Al-Rashia, really a Pulse fal'Cie, to not be revived. As Arecia abandons the experiment to find Etro's gate with the Agito, the light of the Crystals fades and Orience enters a new dark age where mankind must learn to cope without the power of the Crystals, yet the people are allowed to remember the dead.

l'Cie

• Nimbus
• Qun'mi Tru'e
• Machina Kunagiri

Spoilers end here.

Etymology

[view · edit · purge]The White Tiger is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations. According to Wu Xing, the Taoist five-elemental system, it represents the metal-element, the direction west, and the autumn season. Thus it is sometimes called the White Tiger of the West. It is known as Bai Hu in Chinese, Byakko in Japanese, Baekho in Korean, and Bạch Hổ in Vietnamese.

Trivia

• The four Crystals of Orience allude to the elemental crystals from the early Final Fantasy games. This continues a core concept of the Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy series where core elements of the Final Fantasy series are re-imagined. In the early Final Fantasy games being made a Warrior of Light by a Crystal was shown in heroic light, but in the Fabula Nova Crystallis series the equivalent fate of a l'Cie reflects a more sinister state, calling the person's free will into question. The White Tiger Crystal alludes to the Earth Crystal.

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