We don’t know much about the Astral War in canon. Not that we really need to know about it in canon. For the story to make sense, it’s enough to know that there was a war.
There are bits and bobs and the patch with Shiva on the train. So now we know that 1) the Taelpar Crag was caused by the war, 2) Solheim spurning Ifirt caused the war, 3) Solheim was destroyed by the war and 4) the Astrals went to sleep after it.
I have no problem with these facts. What I have a problem with is that they word it as if there was so much more going on behind the scenes. At least that’s what I’m getting from it.
Did Ifrit really fight alone, as in 1vs5? In the artwork it looks as if there were more beings involved. Were there neutral parties? What exactly did Solheim do? It had to be something huge for Ifrit to decide to burn down the whole place. If it was such a huge thing, why did the others fight against Ifrit?
I have questions about this. And a whole lot of headcanons. So have a Thing under the cut because it may get a bit long.
To recap stuff I already wrote about: There are the two Sister Gods Etro of the Night and Eos of the Day. Etro is the Godess of Death, Dreams and Magic. She created the world and all things living on it. Eos is the Godess of Life, Healing and the Heavenly Bodies. She is the Mother of Dawn and it is from her that white magic originates.
Together they have nine Astrals. Six born of Eos and three of Etro. The Three have very direct tasks, the Six less so. The only direction given to them by Eos is to protect. They have their elements with which to do so.
That’s the situation befor the Astral War.
It starts with Bahamut imprisoning Eos because she dared to fall in love with a human and have a child with him. Bahamut is conflict, so when he sees something he doesn’t like, he solves it with force. In his mind humans are lesser than his mother (lesser than the Astrals) and do not deserve her. At least that’s what he tells Titan until he agrees to help him.
Bahamut thinks the problem solved then, even when that human abomination (never his sibling, never) seems to have vanished from the face of the planet. What he had failed to take into account was Ifrit.
Ifrit loves his mother. Less so her child, but it is of her and she loves it and that is enough for him. He is furious. In his hot temper he declares war on Bahamut. Had he tried to solve this any other way, he may have won, but war is Bahamuts domain. It is the advantage the Drakonian needs.
By the time the first strike falls it is Bahamut and Titan against Ifirt and Shiva, for the Glacian loves the Infernian and stands by him. Leviathan is not intersted in the conflict, she prefers her waters and as long as no one trespasses on her territory she will keep out of it. Ramuh is the one trying to mediate between the parties, but it gets more complicated when Etro demands Eos to be released at once.
Ironically it’s not Ifrit who loses his temper first. When Etro demands her sisters release through Carbuncle he is on the winning side. It is Bahamut. His strike cleaves deep into the earth, and what remains would later be called the Tealpar Crag.
His srike misses and that’s the only reason it doesn’t become a war between domains. By the Old Laws that bind the Gods and Powers That Be, they cannot interfere within another domains conflict. Ramuh, as Keeper of the Law, enforces this and gets Leviathan involved because Doomtrain Does Not Agree with this.
Diavolos does nothing because the throne of the world is not endagered and if Carbuncle is seen in the dreams of those he favoured, well that’s what he does. Etro cannot help. Not just because of the Laws, but also because she is keeping the balance as best as she can. Without this balance the world would break.
Bahamut and Ifrit fight and in his desperation Ifrit does crueller und crueller things, goaded on by Bahamut. Then he destroys a city under his protection, one of the cities in his beloved Solheim. Solheim turns against him. With his guidiance they have accomplished many things and can infact put up a fight.
Now it’s a war on three fronts. A cold war between the Six and the Three and a full on war between the Six themselves and Ifrit and Solheim. In his rage Ifrit burns Solheim to the ground. That is when Shiva changes sides.
She had learned to love humans and had sworn to protect them. As had Ifrit. When he brakes that oath she is furious. Many that do not burn, freeze in her anger.
Ifrit, getting increasingly desperate, calls upon a meteor. Titan, who gurads the entrance to Pitioss, is forced to catch it, lest the planet be entirely destroyed. Doomtrain is the one who get’s Ifrit in when everyone is distracted by the meteor, but he has to get out by himself.
He frees Eos and he gets out, but both are weakened. Eos dies, her own light burning her, and Ifrit turns his own body into a pyre for her. It releases the scourge.
Bahamut rips out Eos’ heart before it can be infected or burned. It turns to crystal.
With that the Astral War ends. The light of the world is weakened, the scourge ravages the planet, Etro sleeps, magic is waning, Ifrit is reduced to embers in a volcano, Titan is trapped under a meteor, Leviathan, Ramuh and Shiva fall into a sleep like trance to recuperate and Bahamut speaks providence upon Eos’ heart. Solheim is burned to the ground and it’s lands sunken beneath Leviathans waves. Few are able to flee and only the colonies remain.
ooh... one thing moon mom is royally pissed about is that she originally made her kids to watch over and protect the children of the other gods, but the other gods children fucked that all up and continue to fuck that all up
