#aetherology

[autumnslance]

Replaying 6.4 and opened the voidgate to the Thirteenth's moon. In light of the plot being hinted at in 7.4 now with Halmarut's comments about "withering", some of the prior commentary on the nature of the Source and its reflections seems pertinent.

Embiggen or use the alt text.

[aramis-dagaz]

The Firmament: Some Basics, Part 2

Resonances Matter may make up the physical being of the Firmament and everything in it, but Resonances are its very essence and soul.  In its most simple form, a Resonance is simply an energy field, made up of heat, light, or other more exotic forms of energy.  At higher orders of energy, however, patterns begin to emerge.  As these patterns become more ordered and complex, Resonances stop merely existing and start actively interacting with its environment.  Some Resonances bond with matter, and at increasing levels of complexity, these Resonances become life, which in turn become minds, and finally, sapience.

Therefore, sufficiently advanced Resonances are the spark of life.  In sapient creatures, many have referred to them as souls.  Those of immense power and consciousness are called gods.

Like any pattern and energy field, Resonances can be observed, understood, and, more importantly, harnessed and controlled.  This is the basis of magic, which all sapient beings hold the potential of wielding, albeit some better than others.  Over the ages, mages have learned to control and manipulate existing Resonances, and even create new ones to serve various functions.

In the Firmament, all living creatures, regardless of their physical composition, magical power, and level of sapience or lack thereof, possess a Resonance that is their consciousness and lifeforce.  Magic creates and manipulates Resonances, and sometimes is able to do so to a degree that it can create a Resonance of sufficient complexity to have an awareness of its own.  Resonances sometimes form spontaneously, especially in regions of powerful, uncontrolled forces, significant psychic events, or in the wake of gods, becoming aether ghosts or bonding with matter and forming elementals that are little more than wild animals.  Mages create Resonances that become autonomous spells, allowing them to perform rituals without their direct action or perform deeds that they would not be able to accomplish directly.  Some even go further and imbue these complex Resonances with vast arrays of heuristics, and even a bit of personality.  These constructed Resonances are bound to physical bodies, creating golems.

And sometimes, whether they were artificially created or arose from the clash and churn of natural forces and nearby sapient thoughts and emotions, these Resonances attain sapience themselves, and thus become their own being.

The Arcs The Arcs are what make aetheric civilization possible.  Without them, many forms of life could not exist and people would be unable to travel the vast distances between motes within a reasonable amount of time or expense.

Arcs are cords of magical plasma that crisscross the Firmament, essentially a permanent lightning bolt several miles in diameter that spans the length of the universe.  They give off vast amounts of light, heat, and other forms of energy, acting as stars for the motes nearby.  This makes them vitally important for both agriculture and energy production, and countries fortunate enough to be located near nexuses where two or more Arcs intersect can make a lot of coin in both trade and exporting batteries filled with raw arcane power.

In order to travel the immense distances between motes, aetherships will travel along the Arcs using devices known as Arc drives.  Arc drives can take several forms, but the most common are several mechanical arms that grab hold of the outer layers of an Arc, basically turning an aethership into a cable car using an Arc as a cable.  While a lot of shipping traffic follows known paths to reach their destinations in a fairly predictable amount of time, it is possible to calculate routes that will allow ships to travel much faster.  However, doing so involves placing oneself at the mercy of fate, for while one would arrive at their destination much sooner than taking the standard route, the path they follow could take them anywhere.  This means that the fastest route between two motes within the same country could take them to the farthest reaches of the wild, untamed Aetheric North and back, or along Arcs through the middle of an enemy nation or other extremely dangerous areas.  These opportunities and risks often prevent merchant princes and admirals from getting any sleep.

Calculating the fastest route is just as much an art as it is a science, and often involves the use of sophisticated and esoteric navigation devices, calculators, and divination magic.  Most skilled Arc navigators also have some talent as seers.

While Arc travel is very common and safe, it's not without its dangers.  Many creatures can use the Arcs for long-distance travel and migration, some of them quite dangerous to even large warships, and many strange phenomena can severely damage an aethership or even knock them away from an Arc, sending them tumbling into the aether at high speeds.  Some of these phenomena are even reproducible via technological and magical means, and are a favorite of pirates and navies who want to interdict incoming traffic.

[ozinba-ffxiv]

Traveling via Aetherial Plane~

Now I just need my corporeal form to WORK WITH ME.

[autumnslance]

Cid Garlond of the Ironworks that bear his name once wrote that these Silvertear Falls lie at the center of our world. Our world is round, and we live on its surface. Even you should see, then, that he did not speak of a center in the physical sense. I am no astrologian, nor a biologist, but I have studied enough of the various sciences to say this: The vital energy of Hydaelyn, that which is called aether, is one and the same as the life force in which you monks believe. As the center of our world, these Silvertear Falls are connected to what you call chakra in an inexplicably profound way. We all share in the same existence. We are neither separate nor distinct from the world. Our energy and its energy are one. At times, that energy may wreak havoc and destruction, but it plays a far grander and more significant role. To bring forth life! As part of this world, you must endeavor to do the same. Long have I studied the history of this realm's wars. If there is aught I have learned, it is that there is no future for Eorzea should her people struggle and vie for power without considering the consequences of their doing so. With great power comes great responsibility. To seize the former and deny the latter is to beget despair. The duty we owe to one another, and to this world as part of it, is to use what power we possess to deliver a future full of life─not death.

Professor Erik, “Five Easy Pieces”, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.

[aramis-dagaz]

The Firmament: Some Basics

The Firmament is an endless void of aether.  Within this void are numerous motes of rock, dirt, and other substances ranging in size from specks of dirt and rock no larger than a human to floating islands to planets, upon which creatures and sapient beings make their homes.  Crisscrossing the Firmament are the Arcs, bands of intense energy that travelers use to voyage throughout the aether.

In many ways, the Firmament is at the center of all of Existence where multiple worlds connect to.  As such, the Firmament teems with all manner of sapient species, and numerous cities and nations are melting pots of many different cultures and peoples.

Travel and trade is reliant upon the Arcs, which form the pathways upon which ships travel from one place to another.  While it is possible for ships to voyage through the Aether itself without the Arcs, such travel would take months, years, even centuries.  With the Arcs, these journeys take mere weeks at most, even though the exact path between any two given points won’t always be the same.  Navigating the Arcs is as much an art as it is a science.

Regions of the Firmament Most aetheric cartographers divide the known Firmament into five major regions based on the commonly-accepted cardinal directions:

- Aetheric Center: The location of the Great City and its immediate surroundings.  There is no particular scientific, geographic, or political basis for making the Great City the center of the Firmament aside from the convenience of having a ready point of reference.  Very heavily and densely populated, though the surrounding aether is surprisingly devoid of significant settlements aside from waystations for the massive amount of shipping traffic.

- Aetheric South: This region has the highest population in the Firmament and is arguably the most developed in terms of technological, economic, political, and military power.  Home to several nations, kingdoms, empires, and merchant leagues.  However, this power comes with a price, and the untamed aether around these countries are crawling with monsters of their own making in more ways than one.

- Aetheric East: Home of Verraxia, once the largest empire in the Firmament, now a shattered collection of feudal kingdoms and petty fiefdoms squabbling amongst each other for power and prestige.  Most known for their knights striding across the battlefield in 15-foot-tall suits of mechanical armor known as ogre armor and a shared culture of chivalry, though the reality is typically less glamorous.

- Aetheric West: A comparatively sparsely-settled region, home to several nations ruled by dragon-gods.  The kingdom of Aten is ruled by four ancient dragons, to whom many other dragons either claim familial ties or otherwise pay homage to.

- Aetheric North: A mostly unexplored region of the Firmament with comparatively few Arcs, inhibiting travel and exploration.  Most maps show it as being a vast, empty space, but in truth there are many undiscovered mysteries to be found there.  Most settlements there are economic ventures to exploit discovered resources.

Technically, there are also the Aetheric Zenith and the Aetheric Nadir above and below the Aetheric Plane, respectively, but most geographers do not consider them to be of any particular significance on their own.  Generally, the Aetheric Nadir is more populated and sees more traffic than the Zenith, with the Aetheric East being the exception.  Like the regional divisions of the Firmament, the Aetheric Plane and what is considered zenithward or nadirward is based largely on convenience and consensus, as there is no gravity out in the Aether.

Planes of Existence in the Firmament In general, there are four primary planes of existence in the Firmament, though many more are known to exist:

- The Firmament: The material realm where all the action happens, at least according to those that live there.

- Volleri, the Dreamrealm: The plane where the minds of most sapient beings go when they sleep.  Volleri is unsurprisingly a very strange and otherworldly place.  While the landscape is notorious for changing between visits and even during the same visit if you aren't paying close attention to it, the realm overall has a fairly stable geography, with certain landmarks, settlements, and native cultures having remained largely the same for centuries, if not millennia.  Moreso than the Firmament, Volleri is often said to be the true crossroads of all Existence, where beings from vastly different worlds can meet and interact with each other.  While most visitors to Volleri travel there by the mere act of dreaming, there are portals that directly connect the waking world to the realm of dreams.

- Wells: More of a category than a single plane, Wells are extradimensional pockets in the Firmament that contain separate worlds where environmental conditions can be drastically different.  Not all Wells are the same.  Some are connected to the Firmament by a portal, some are more or less the same as the Firmament except that the region can only be entered from a particular direction, and others don't have a distinct border but more of a region where the two realies blend together.  Most Wells have a finite size and distinct edges of their space, while others are seemingly infinite, or at least so large that their borders haven't been discovered yet.

- The Esgarion: The Esgarion is best described as a collection of artificial pocket planes created using Esgari, the underlying language of Existence.  Though long and complex arrangements of Esgari sigils, entire worlds can be created, though in practice most Esgarion nodes are simply rooms that can be connected to each other via portals.  While it is possible to travel directly into these nodes, most people simply use interfaces so that they remain in the Firmament.  A lot simpler and cheaper that way.

- Other Planes of Existence: There are many other known planes that are not directly connected to the Firmament like Wells are.  Travel to these planes can be accomplished by powerful magic, permanent gates, or other, more esoteric means.  Most famous of these is the Soleri Pillar, an infinitely tall tower (well, not quite infinite, but that's a topic for another day) that pierces through several planes, including the Dreamrealm of Volleri.

[miqojak]

Snapdragon: At this moment, what do you want?

"I want...to know what decision I'm supposed to make. There's a lot of scrutiny on my aether, and talk of 'healing' and 'fixing'. I want to know what the right answer is - what decision I'm supposed to make, since I'm the only one who can make it. But I don't know what the right decision is, and asking anyone else is fruitless. It's...daunting."