What's the Deal in Vana' Diel

"What's the Deal in Vana' Diel" 
Tryptifaeris invites you to share in his adventures through the MMORPG world of Final Fantasy XI's Vana Diel. Join me as I chronical my stories of triumph and failure as I journey across the vast lands of Vana Diel. Follow along and see what paths I choose to follow, will Tryptifaeris master the mystical powers of Summoning avatars such as Shiva, Ifrit and Diablos or follow the dark path of a Dark Knight? Will Tryptifaeris' name be inscribed in Bastokan legend as the greatest adventurer or fall into darkness like the the Shadow Lord?

Long, long ago, an ancient race, descended from the gods, flourished in

Vana'diel. They traveled through the sky, extracted gold from stones, and

gave

birth to grasslands across the world.

But one day, they decided to

build a

pathway to the divine entrance of paradise. Enraged by such a brazen

display of

insolence, the holy gatekeeper destroyed their path and cast

their homes to the

bottom of the sea.

Shortly thereafter, the goddess

Altana awakened and saw

the ruin that had once been Vana'diel. Saddened, She

wept five divine tears.

When the five tears fell upon the earth, they gave

life to the five races of

Vana'diel.

But the god Promathia saw this from

His place in the shadows.

Promathia saw fit to condemn Her work, cursing the

people with eternal conflict

amongst themselves. He created terrible beasts

and spread them across the world,

commanding them to fight the people of

Vana'diel and occupy their minds. Never

again would they think to open the

gate of the gods.The beastmen thrived in the

ensuing era of darkness. But

the demihuman Galka and Mithra, blessed with bodies

powerful enough to

resist the advances of the beastmen, grew in number as well.

They fought

tooth and nail to cast the hordes from their homelands in an age of

unending

battle and chaos.

The Tarutaru race grew weary of the never-ending

conflict, and wandered the world in search of peace. After discovering an

uncharted continent, they named the land Windurst and settled down to build

a

brighter future for their kin.

Several decades after the Tarutaru's

long

journey had come to an end, a young Tarutaru girl lost her way in one

of the

mysterious towers scattered across the outskirts of Windurst. It was

there that

the secrets of magic were revealed to her, and this knowledge

would spread to

her entire race. The Tarutaru worked as one to harness and

understand the

mysterious power that had been given to them. So began the

Great Age of

Magic.Empowered by their expanding magical abilities, the

Tarutaru united

themselves as the Federation of Windurst, and worked to

drive the hordes of

Yagudo beastmen from their lands. The Tarutaru

prospered, unified by their

knowledge of magic and the solidarity of a new

federation. It was a glorious age

for their people.

But revealed secrets

cannot be suppressed, and the

knowledge of magic slowly spread to all the

people of Vana'diel. Within a short

time, other races - and even beastmen -

began to employ magic techniques for

themselves.

Filled with regret, the

Tarutaru entered an era of isolation.

They closed their borders to all but

their longtime friends, the Mithra. And so,

a once-proud civilization became

more and more out of touch with the rest of the

world.The use of magic

brought both happiness and conflict to the other races of

Vana'diel. Perhaps

the most satisfied were the proud Elvaan, who made their home

in the Kingdom

of San d'Oria in the northern reaches of the old continent. With

the

Tarutaru monopoly on magic broken, the Elvaan were able to create powerful

orders of knights who feared no adversary.

Beastmen strongholds and

Tarutaru

villages alike fell before the power of the knights of San d'Oria.

Within a

short time, nearly the entire Quon continent had come under San

d'Orian

control.

But pride comes before the fall.The nation of Bastok,

founded by the

Hume and Galka races, lay on the southern edge of the Quon

continent. Fortified

by the growing economic and intelligence-gathering

abilities of the Hume race,

Bastokan forces crushed the elite San d'Orian

knights at the Second Battle of

Konschtat. Cutting-edge firearms technology

turned the tide of battle and

cemented victory for the people of Bastok.

This humiliating defeat sent the

Kingdom of San d'Oria into an age of

internal turmoil and civil war. Piece by

piece, territories that the Elvaan

had conquered slipped from their grasps.The

fall of the Kingdom of San

d'Oria ushered in an era of prosperity for the

Republic of Bastok.

Hume

tradesmen spread across Vana'diel in an

unprecedented era of economic

development. Bastok's fortunes grew as Humes sold

products forged from the

precious metals and rare ores extracted from their

mines. The trend only

accelerated with the appearance of the engineering genius

named Cid. Ever

practical, the Humes set about creating another nation-state:

the Grand

Duchy of Jeuno. Jeuno had long been a tiny fishing town on an isolated

island between the two continents. The construction of great bridges

transformed

the sleepy village into a teeming metropolis of trade and

industry.The one known

only as the Shadow Lord appeared without warning, and

his name remains

synonymous with terror to this day. Consumed by hatred of

all living things, he

enlisted the beastmen and employed them in

simultaneous attacks against the

nations of Vana'diel. So began the Crystal

War.

After years of peace and

prosperity, the nations fell one after

another, unable to halt the relentless

onslaught. The nightmare spread

across the lands of Vana'diel like

hellfire.

In response to the

seemingly unstoppable beastmen assault, Grand

Duke Kam'lanaut of Jeuno

convinced the people of San d'Oria, Windurst, and

Bastok to unite as the

Allied Forces of Altana - and defeat the beastmen once

and for all.

A

stalemate ensued for some time. Finally, at the legendary

Battle of Jeuno,

the Allied Forces of Altana were able to gain the upper hand.

They claimed

total victory over the beastmen at the merciless Battle of

Xarcabard.Finally, the heroes of the five races cornered the Shadow Lord in

his

stronghold of Castle Zvahl, where Volker, champion of Bastok, delivered

the

final coup de grace.

Thus the Crystal War drew to an end, with

victory marred

by the uncountable corpses scattered throughout the

devastated lands and cities

of Vana'diel.Although the war had ended, the

long-suffering nations of Vana'diel

pledged to maintain their alliance. Each

nation built a consulate in their

sister countries. The Duchy of Jeuno

unveiled enormous airships based on ancient

technology, bringing the nations

of Vana'diel closer together, and promising a

new era of peace and

prosperity.

Or so the nations of the world had hoped.In

reality, the

beastmen had regrouped and continued to construct strongholds

throughout the

world. Although they lacked the organization of previous eras,

they launched

a new campaign of looting, plundering, and terror against the

people of

Vana'diel.

Still, the three great nations continued to mistrust one

another. Rather than dispatching their own forces to deal with the beastmen

threat, they began to employ a new generation of independent youth to deal

with

the situation on an individual level.

These stalwart people are

called

adventurers. They are intrepid souls who follow their own beliefs,

moving freely

from city to city in spite of their own national

allegiances.Truly, it is the

dawn of a new era in Vana'diel history.