Loreteller
Teller of Lore
The Ultimate End. The Final Revelation. The Last Dream.
When a mediocre soul or an aspiring soul wishes to experience the heights of all potentials of life, they must experience a Final Fantasy, a last dream in which they may start from almost nothing, to become the pinnacle of almost everything, to be a hero in a world in which they were just one among many. No matter how much appreciation the would-be hero has had, it has proven to be false, superficial, or unfulfilling. The core desire to experience something greater is the requirement to experience a Final Fantasy.
During a dream of a Final Fantasy, there is a very real threat of 'death', because without risk, there is no gain. A character who dies in a Final Fantasy must either re-live their tale all the way over from the beginning or from the last point at which they could be confident of their progress and have their story and developments recorded. There are many methods and ways this information can be stored, for later retrieval or resuming of the story.
Often, 'magic' is a development within the story, which often starts out mundane. The source of 'magic', however, is corrupted, and is what provides the motivating force to keep moving forward. Although the bearers of magical power are often benevolent, there is a darker hand at work which has provided this unnatural source of energy. The seeking of magic, by the end, must be abandoned, and all attachment to it must be given up, for life to return to its mundane harmony. The battle of 'natural' nature and 'unnatural' magic can be a driving force of energy.
There is often an Imperial authority which has a vested interest in the continuing propagation of magic, as its own power stems from the ability to convince the world that this 'magic' is safe, useful, and helpful -- with its own citizenship as its prime audience for said propagandistic messages. The Empire provides a source for the common theme of 'authority vs. resistance', as well as also providing a suitable base for a 'utopia vs. dystopia' theme to be explored, as well.
The Rebel resistance, thus, provides the foil for the attempt at commanding and absolute authority. It is the pivotal 'iota' which tips the scales of imbalance back to balance, no matter how small the actions taken. The slightest action which disrupts the false utopic vision-attempt provides a chance for the illusion to shatter in the eyes of the beholders and witnesses. The humanity inherent in nearly all of the hired soldiers can often be swayed, in the citizenship, and even in the military and official ranks up to the rulers themselves.
At the highest levels, however, there are characters whose sole purposes is to continue to guide the vision of a world in which no one can 'fail' the test of life (as Lucifer's plan of salvation was that no person would have the free will to be able to fail the test of morality), yet also forces a narrow course of action, and all those who act in opposition are to be destroyed. Anything less than destroying opposition enables them to continue their work: talking to prisoners, serving as martyrs, or worse, breaking free from imprisonment. Those at the highest levels, however, anticipate this, and work on increasingly elaborate manners of restraining, restricting, and controlling the opposition. This can be accomplished through making the opposition believe they are working towards a goal which really works in concert with the Imperial authority, restricting access to manners of transport, martial law due to threat of riots, mandatory licensing of all weaponry, and so forth. They can also flag those who wield specific types of magic as heretic outlaws who are dangerous to the populace, and work to destroy them.
The beneficient magical forces in the world know that their own relative consciousness is part of the dreamscape of the Final Fantasy, but also know that the heroes must wield their powers in order to stand a chance against those who are in power. These guardian forces can be called, summoned, or be connected to the heroes through some other mystical form - such as junctioning. For their duration, they can be called Aeons, since they live for eons themselves, and seem to come in one such time period. For their extra-sensory perceptive talents, they can be called Espers, implying their supernatural powers. For their abilities to empower a hero passively, they can be called Guardian Forces. For their constant stature as emblematic heralds and heroic forms, they can also be called Eidolons. Oftentimes, the test of the worthiness to wield such power is to defeat it in combat, using whatever powers have been already acquired. There are those who receive training to be able to summon without combat, although that combat is often a test of will, faith, or patience.
The malevolent magical forces in the world work to perpetuate the dreamscape of a Final Fantasy, knowing that their own semblance of life depends upon their ability to persuade others to continue using 'magic', to not 'demonize' magic, or to encourage the tapping of the mystical forces in order to provide 'useful' services which would otherwise be rendered null without magical influence. These forces are often most strongly manifest in very few individuals who make themselves very useful to Imperial authority, and thus rising to power for their skills in forceful diplomacy tactics, as well as their natural affinity and willingness to work as a test subject in magical research. These few are the ones who cause the most recurring trouble, as they have no purpose other than to ensure that magic continues to be used, and that cycles of magical death and rebirth are continued.
The souls who bear the cross between malevolent and benevolent can fall to either side of the scales, at any time, due to any number of influences. Oftentimes, there are spiritual brothers of whom one becomes an unexpected pinnacle of light and one of whom becomes a betrayer who cannot escape the taint of darkness. There is often a maiden whose purity and belief in the virtue and triumph of the light can serve as a beacon of hope and faith in all quests. There are often allies whose own battles with darkness have granted them boons and magics which they may eventually sacrifice, but as long as they work to aid those who are good, they remain virtuous. There is often at least one soul whose own actions have caused them to become outcast from their town, tribe, race, or other unity -- these souls who have strayed from a strict code are often acting along with the spirit of that moral code, rather than the literal rote fundamentals which have been set in stone, and may be generations out of date.
There are those souls who have clearly fallen, and those souls who have ''unclearly'' fallen -- that is to say, souls that it is difficult to tell if they are serving a specific good purpose, or if they themselves have become falsely convinced that the only way they have discovered is the only way that good may be accomplished. Oftentimes, these fallen souls can be distinguished by their inability to truly act with pure and good intentions, and when their very set morals are contradicted, they reveal themselves to be perpetuators of false hopes. These souls may have the noblest intentions when they had first set out to accomplish their tasks, but their narrow blinders have blinded them to any solutions except their own, which will have proven to be useful in the short term having provided respites, but ultimately useless in having provided no enduring solutions.
The path of adventure often leads heroes to many places which are unique and enchanting. Many racial territories can be explored, spiritual realms can be visited, and challenges await in forgotten and destroyed dungeon terrain. There are wild lands and territories where corrupted creatures roam, and there are greater evils at work which corrupt entire populations. The challenges for the Imperial authority to preserve magic use and yet destroy tainted regions can be harrowing. The choices for resistant heroes to make can often be minor yet useful, in that almost any information gleaned can lead to the undermining of Imperial actions.
The world often experiences a cataclysm, apocalypse, or world-end. This can take many forms, but often results in a schism or split, where one world that may be left behind was a world of purity, and one world that takes precedence is a darker world where things are only continuing to decay. The preserved world may be only a small sanctum location, an entire continent, or a whole dimension set off to be saved for a day when it could reign again. The magical world may be emanating from a wellspring, secluded away from the world in its own dimension, or due to an intrusion in the world. The world-end can often be determined from the complete destruction, death, and ruin of nearly all within it. On occasion, this is due to the calling down of the heavens, the moon, or the Meteor. Even if the Meteor is destroyed, its fragments strike all the lands. Even if the moon is quelled or sequestered temporarily, it always influences human emotions. Even if the heavens are resisted, the divine sparks (and profane sparks) within heroes (and demonic forces) serve as stars of their own constellations.
There will be at least one grand pilgrimage, or exodus, during which all those of all races who truly seek salvation from the coming apocalypse will be spared. It is not known exactly how the course of action is taken, but each exodus is unique to the world and situation which demands it. All races and all beliefs are welcomed, as long as the intentions are pure, for those who truly seek a world free from the cycles of magical forces controlling things will find that way to survive and prosper. Those who survive with motives of greed, profit, or desire for power will use the approach and results of a cataclysm to control others, gain magical powers, and experiment with the energies which are unnatural in origin.
The final end of the Final Fantasy is the true Thanatos, the death-urge, during which a hero must finally face his own 'ending'. There is to be no more of the magical journey, they seek to retire, and they seek to put their all into one final showdown with the ultimate source of magical force in the world. The confrontation usually causes great rifts in time and space to occur, although to the common lay-person, no knowledge of the changed worlds will be evident, as the common mind can only adapt to a single time-line. The end result is often the abolishment or sealing away of magic from the natural world, and the false world's time-line to have only existed in illusion, as a tangent, or as the path for a hero to experience his or her Final Fantasy, the last dream and phantasmagoria in which he or she could finally become the fullest potential they have sought to be.
Usually, the final battle involves a demon whose powers are often rival to all of the combined powers of all benevolent magical guardians, who often even come to the assistance of the heroes in the final battle. The villain usually represents the ultimate opposite of life, and the complete opposite of nature. The magical forces wielded during a final battle attest to this concept. There are very few heroic final battles which are won without a powerful expenditure of energy, as the final villain often proves to be the source of magic, or a consumer of space-time and magic, without any regard for any human concepts of compassion, morality, love, life, or anything beyond the sheer desire to continue surviving, even if that means perpetuating a false illusion in which all life and living beings are to simply be used as an energy source.
The balance restored afterwards leads a hero to have discovered his true bonds with other allies and friends, many of whom they would not have known if that tangent universe, illusionary experience, or Final Fantasy had occurred to bring them together in the ways they had. The teamwork and belief emanating from each friend in each of their other friends often provides the necessary synergy which is lacked by all inhuman forces: the belief that many working together for a common goal are more powerful than several working together independently for a common goal.
Let this document serve as an inspiration for your own Final Fantasy, the reverie during which you may experience your own visions of grandeur before the finality overtakes your heroic aspirations. There are no restrictions, as all Final Fantasies must vary from each other, explore new ground, and avoid rehashing the same exact stories -- although varying permutations are encouraged, and draw from many mythos of the world we already live in. There is always a goal to bend rules, and to break at least one (if only one) rule, to encourage the power of variety to be present. Let the reader of this document go forth with new appreciation for the potentials of all human life, of the creation of Fantasy, and the question of Finality.
When a mediocre soul or an aspiring soul wishes to experience the heights of all potentials of life, they must experience a Final Fantasy, a last dream in which they may start from almost nothing, to become the pinnacle of almost everything, to be a hero in a world in which they were just one among many. No matter how much appreciation the would-be hero has had, it has proven to be false, superficial, or unfulfilling. The core desire to experience something greater is the requirement to experience a Final Fantasy.
During a dream of a Final Fantasy, there is a very real threat of 'death', because without risk, there is no gain. A character who dies in a Final Fantasy must either re-live their tale all the way over from the beginning or from the last point at which they could be confident of their progress and have their story and developments recorded. There are many methods and ways this information can be stored, for later retrieval or resuming of the story.
Often, 'magic' is a development within the story, which often starts out mundane. The source of 'magic', however, is corrupted, and is what provides the motivating force to keep moving forward. Although the bearers of magical power are often benevolent, there is a darker hand at work which has provided this unnatural source of energy. The seeking of magic, by the end, must be abandoned, and all attachment to it must be given up, for life to return to its mundane harmony. The battle of 'natural' nature and 'unnatural' magic can be a driving force of energy.
There is often an Imperial authority which has a vested interest in the continuing propagation of magic, as its own power stems from the ability to convince the world that this 'magic' is safe, useful, and helpful -- with its own citizenship as its prime audience for said propagandistic messages. The Empire provides a source for the common theme of 'authority vs. resistance', as well as also providing a suitable base for a 'utopia vs. dystopia' theme to be explored, as well.
The Rebel resistance, thus, provides the foil for the attempt at commanding and absolute authority. It is the pivotal 'iota' which tips the scales of imbalance back to balance, no matter how small the actions taken. The slightest action which disrupts the false utopic vision-attempt provides a chance for the illusion to shatter in the eyes of the beholders and witnesses. The humanity inherent in nearly all of the hired soldiers can often be swayed, in the citizenship, and even in the military and official ranks up to the rulers themselves.
At the highest levels, however, there are characters whose sole purposes is to continue to guide the vision of a world in which no one can 'fail' the test of life (as Lucifer's plan of salvation was that no person would have the free will to be able to fail the test of morality), yet also forces a narrow course of action, and all those who act in opposition are to be destroyed. Anything less than destroying opposition enables them to continue their work: talking to prisoners, serving as martyrs, or worse, breaking free from imprisonment. Those at the highest levels, however, anticipate this, and work on increasingly elaborate manners of restraining, restricting, and controlling the opposition. This can be accomplished through making the opposition believe they are working towards a goal which really works in concert with the Imperial authority, restricting access to manners of transport, martial law due to threat of riots, mandatory licensing of all weaponry, and so forth. They can also flag those who wield specific types of magic as heretic outlaws who are dangerous to the populace, and work to destroy them.
The beneficient magical forces in the world know that their own relative consciousness is part of the dreamscape of the Final Fantasy, but also know that the heroes must wield their powers in order to stand a chance against those who are in power. These guardian forces can be called, summoned, or be connected to the heroes through some other mystical form - such as junctioning. For their duration, they can be called Aeons, since they live for eons themselves, and seem to come in one such time period. For their extra-sensory perceptive talents, they can be called Espers, implying their supernatural powers. For their abilities to empower a hero passively, they can be called Guardian Forces. For their constant stature as emblematic heralds and heroic forms, they can also be called Eidolons. Oftentimes, the test of the worthiness to wield such power is to defeat it in combat, using whatever powers have been already acquired. There are those who receive training to be able to summon without combat, although that combat is often a test of will, faith, or patience.
The malevolent magical forces in the world work to perpetuate the dreamscape of a Final Fantasy, knowing that their own semblance of life depends upon their ability to persuade others to continue using 'magic', to not 'demonize' magic, or to encourage the tapping of the mystical forces in order to provide 'useful' services which would otherwise be rendered null without magical influence. These forces are often most strongly manifest in very few individuals who make themselves very useful to Imperial authority, and thus rising to power for their skills in forceful diplomacy tactics, as well as their natural affinity and willingness to work as a test subject in magical research. These few are the ones who cause the most recurring trouble, as they have no purpose other than to ensure that magic continues to be used, and that cycles of magical death and rebirth are continued.
The souls who bear the cross between malevolent and benevolent can fall to either side of the scales, at any time, due to any number of influences. Oftentimes, there are spiritual brothers of whom one becomes an unexpected pinnacle of light and one of whom becomes a betrayer who cannot escape the taint of darkness. There is often a maiden whose purity and belief in the virtue and triumph of the light can serve as a beacon of hope and faith in all quests. There are often allies whose own battles with darkness have granted them boons and magics which they may eventually sacrifice, but as long as they work to aid those who are good, they remain virtuous. There is often at least one soul whose own actions have caused them to become outcast from their town, tribe, race, or other unity -- these souls who have strayed from a strict code are often acting along with the spirit of that moral code, rather than the literal rote fundamentals which have been set in stone, and may be generations out of date.
There are those souls who have clearly fallen, and those souls who have ''unclearly'' fallen -- that is to say, souls that it is difficult to tell if they are serving a specific good purpose, or if they themselves have become falsely convinced that the only way they have discovered is the only way that good may be accomplished. Oftentimes, these fallen souls can be distinguished by their inability to truly act with pure and good intentions, and when their very set morals are contradicted, they reveal themselves to be perpetuators of false hopes. These souls may have the noblest intentions when they had first set out to accomplish their tasks, but their narrow blinders have blinded them to any solutions except their own, which will have proven to be useful in the short term having provided respites, but ultimately useless in having provided no enduring solutions.
The path of adventure often leads heroes to many places which are unique and enchanting. Many racial territories can be explored, spiritual realms can be visited, and challenges await in forgotten and destroyed dungeon terrain. There are wild lands and territories where corrupted creatures roam, and there are greater evils at work which corrupt entire populations. The challenges for the Imperial authority to preserve magic use and yet destroy tainted regions can be harrowing. The choices for resistant heroes to make can often be minor yet useful, in that almost any information gleaned can lead to the undermining of Imperial actions.
The world often experiences a cataclysm, apocalypse, or world-end. This can take many forms, but often results in a schism or split, where one world that may be left behind was a world of purity, and one world that takes precedence is a darker world where things are only continuing to decay. The preserved world may be only a small sanctum location, an entire continent, or a whole dimension set off to be saved for a day when it could reign again. The magical world may be emanating from a wellspring, secluded away from the world in its own dimension, or due to an intrusion in the world. The world-end can often be determined from the complete destruction, death, and ruin of nearly all within it. On occasion, this is due to the calling down of the heavens, the moon, or the Meteor. Even if the Meteor is destroyed, its fragments strike all the lands. Even if the moon is quelled or sequestered temporarily, it always influences human emotions. Even if the heavens are resisted, the divine sparks (and profane sparks) within heroes (and demonic forces) serve as stars of their own constellations.
There will be at least one grand pilgrimage, or exodus, during which all those of all races who truly seek salvation from the coming apocalypse will be spared. It is not known exactly how the course of action is taken, but each exodus is unique to the world and situation which demands it. All races and all beliefs are welcomed, as long as the intentions are pure, for those who truly seek a world free from the cycles of magical forces controlling things will find that way to survive and prosper. Those who survive with motives of greed, profit, or desire for power will use the approach and results of a cataclysm to control others, gain magical powers, and experiment with the energies which are unnatural in origin.
The final end of the Final Fantasy is the true Thanatos, the death-urge, during which a hero must finally face his own 'ending'. There is to be no more of the magical journey, they seek to retire, and they seek to put their all into one final showdown with the ultimate source of magical force in the world. The confrontation usually causes great rifts in time and space to occur, although to the common lay-person, no knowledge of the changed worlds will be evident, as the common mind can only adapt to a single time-line. The end result is often the abolishment or sealing away of magic from the natural world, and the false world's time-line to have only existed in illusion, as a tangent, or as the path for a hero to experience his or her Final Fantasy, the last dream and phantasmagoria in which he or she could finally become the fullest potential they have sought to be.
Usually, the final battle involves a demon whose powers are often rival to all of the combined powers of all benevolent magical guardians, who often even come to the assistance of the heroes in the final battle. The villain usually represents the ultimate opposite of life, and the complete opposite of nature. The magical forces wielded during a final battle attest to this concept. There are very few heroic final battles which are won without a powerful expenditure of energy, as the final villain often proves to be the source of magic, or a consumer of space-time and magic, without any regard for any human concepts of compassion, morality, love, life, or anything beyond the sheer desire to continue surviving, even if that means perpetuating a false illusion in which all life and living beings are to simply be used as an energy source.
The balance restored afterwards leads a hero to have discovered his true bonds with other allies and friends, many of whom they would not have known if that tangent universe, illusionary experience, or Final Fantasy had occurred to bring them together in the ways they had. The teamwork and belief emanating from each friend in each of their other friends often provides the necessary synergy which is lacked by all inhuman forces: the belief that many working together for a common goal are more powerful than several working together independently for a common goal.
Let this document serve as an inspiration for your own Final Fantasy, the reverie during which you may experience your own visions of grandeur before the finality overtakes your heroic aspirations. There are no restrictions, as all Final Fantasies must vary from each other, explore new ground, and avoid rehashing the same exact stories -- although varying permutations are encouraged, and draw from many mythos of the world we already live in. There is always a goal to bend rules, and to break at least one (if only one) rule, to encourage the power of variety to be present. Let the reader of this document go forth with new appreciation for the potentials of all human life, of the creation of Fantasy, and the question of Finality.
