Author's Note - When I played Final Fantasy 4 as a kid, I remember wondering what all had led up to the events of the game. I recently picked up a copy of Chris Tolkien's "Unfinished Tales" and decided after reading a few chapters to put my ideas to use here. This is a rough outline as to how I imagined the history of Final Fantasy 4. I hope to write several short stories about it, however that will be decided by what kind of input I get back on this by the FanFiction community.
Final Fantasy 4 - The First Age
Long before Baron's first airships ever sailed the skies and the armies of Golbez marched across the earth, there was a golden period of man. In time immemorial, the land was ruled by great beasts and demons from the old world. In the libraries of Mysidia there rest the legends of man, and this is there accordance to the events of this antiquity.
The Lunarians had long fought from their home to keep at bay the spirit of The Un-Named, a being they could only describe as such a malevolent force that it threatened to encapsulate all Gaia as well as the moon. After many battles between the Lunarians and The Un-Named's horde of demons, the Lunarians finally managed to seal them in the vast subterranean areas with the help of Drir, king of the Dwarves.
At a time of 5,134 years before the time of Cecil of Baron, it is recorded by Lunarian texts that man first appeared on Gaia to the confusion of the Lunarians, who at the time regarded themselves as the keepers of Gaia. It had been many years since the Great Sealing of The Un-Named and his servants, and as such the Lunarians had decided to watch these newcomers from afar and offer their assistance in the building of human civilization.
The first seeds of humanity settled around what would later become Mysidia and Mt. Ordeal, which at the time had been called The Phoenix Summit, in honor of a battle which had occurred there in times past. After many years of observing and even sending an emissary, KoSai, to Man, a small series of towns and hamlets emerged. Mysidia rose as capital of the new civilization, and the Lunarians taught them much about lore and spirituality.
Almost suddenly, other sects of Man began to spring up on Gaia. Most notably were the Cave-Warriors, the ancestors to the ninja lords of Eblan, and a race of men unlike the others. These men were deep thinkers, but also skilled in the martial arts. KoSai was very surprised that these men knew as much about spirituality as the Lunarians.
Several hundred years of peace prevailed over the fledgling civilization. The almost omnipotent beings who still inhabited the earth lived in perfect harmony with their seemingly lesser neighbors. The numbers of the Lunarians had grown considerably. Babil was chief amongst them with the exception of KoSai, whom had set up a principality on a small island called Agart, where he could have dialogue with the Dwarves as well as maintain the Sealed Wall keeping The Un-Named at bay.
There were many other places in the world at this time as well. Baron had been established under Odin, a being from antiquity who had taken in some of the wandering tribes of Man and ruled them with the fairness befitting an immortal. To the north in a small valley was a small community of sages. They were perhaps the most humble of all the races of Man with the exception of the Mysidians, and sought knowledge above all else. Eight sisters, the daughters of a Lunarian named Kluya and a mortal woman, reigned over the realm of Troia.
Greatest of all the immortals was Bahamut, King of the Dragons. For many ages he had resided in mountains west of the masters of martial arts and in the surrounding vales, lush with wildlife. Bahamut had many offspring, and they had settled in the forests where the nation of Damcyan would later be.
Whilst many of the Lunarians invested their time in the political and social events of Man, there was one who wandered the planet, befriending all that came upon him. His name was FuSoYa. His travels were vastly unknown, but it has been said that he was the one who destroyed the race of Octopi who lived in the watery depths north of the Great Desert, allowing Man to travel freely between Baron and Bahamut's lands.
In the year 936, 4,198 years before the time of Cecil of Baron, a great shadow fell over the land. Imps and other fell creatures began to emerge from the wilderness and plague Man with war and pestilence. Babil had remained secluded in the vast tower he had built in the heart of the mountains inhabited by the Cave-Warriors for decades. Few were allowed admittance with the exception of KoSai, whom the Dwarves had witnessed entering the Tower of Babil several times from it's subterranean entrance.
Many of the Lunarians had began what they called "The Long Slumber", and while it's effects could be seen on many of those inhabiting Gaia, many noted that it did not seem to affect KoSai. The great inventor and warrior of the Lunarians, Kluya, also seemed to show now signs of the great fatigue expressed by the others. It had been deemed that a rotation of Lunarian dignitaries would need to take place; in other words, other Lunarians would be roused from their slumber to take the place of those already on Gaia at intervals. This time was close at hand.
FuSoYa, who was also brother to Kluya, had become very weary but nevertheless traveled far abroad, seeking the source of the recent incursions of the monsters of the world. While he was away in the wilderness, the Sealed Wall broke, allowing the demons of The Un-Named to come forth and wrecked havoc on the civilizations of Man.
The Cave-Warriors were the first to feel their wrath. Were it not for a number of the demons defecting from their master and battling in the deeps all would have been lost for the Cave-Warriors. On all fronts, the demons and monsters assailed Man. With the rest of their number asleep on Luna, the keepers of Gaia fought long and hard against the beasts. They beseeched Babil for his aid, for it had been said he had been developing many new technologies and magics in his years of willing exile. Still, the tower remained silent.
In his journeys, FuSoYa had learned that it had been KoSai who had broken the Sealed Wall. The Lunarians and the rulers of the nations met, and had decided that KoSai must be punished for his deeds. Kluya led a small group of Lunarians to Agart, but were assaulted as soon as their ship landed. King Drir had long sat in waiting, and came to Kluya's aid when the Dwarven council had decided to lend their aid to the surface world.
Once KoSai had been vanquished at great cost to the Dwarves, the war seemed to turn in the Lunarian's favor. It was then that a Giant, the fruit of Babil's labor, stormed from the tower. All the world rejoiced, until the Giant's strength was unleashed on Bahamut, the most fearsome of the alliance. Babil then revealed that he had planned this for centuries due to his hatred of Man and how the superior Lunarians seemed to cater to them.
For over five decades the war raged on. So much of the Alliance's resources had been spent fighting the Giant, the Lunarians as well as the leaders of Man reluctantly decided to unleash Meteor. While they would run the risk of causing great damage to Gaia, it had become apparent that all might be lost if the Giant could not be subdued.
And so FuSoYa, who had assumed leadership over the remaining Lunarians, relinquished the piloting of their ships to Man and led the Lunarians to the Giant. From the peaks of the mountains, the brought forth a great storm of meteors. While most of their allies had retreated, Bahamut and his offspring still fought the Giant and the demons, mostly out of pride. As the meteors rained down, the Giant was destroyed along with the rest of those who would seek to do the Alliance harm.
Sadly, however, Bahamut was the only of his kind capable of surviving the onslaught, and as he laid eyes on the once lush land, now barren and littered with the bodies of his children, he cried. FuSoYa, greatly troubled by the carnage wrecked on the land, begged Bahamut to come to Odin's aid. Bahamut, consumed with rage, spent fourteen days afterwards scorching the earth where his kind once lived, the land never able to bear fruit or life again.
With Babil's demise, the armies of The Un-Named lost heart and after many successive battles, they were all thrown down and vanquished. There were no joyous celebrations or parades, however, for the world had been broken. Whole towns and villages had been destroyed as the Lunarians, the immortals, and the defected demons battled the demons and Babil's new technologies.
With a heavy heart, the last of the Lunarians looked upon the carnage which had been created in the wake of their meddling. The rebuilding process was long and arduous, but finally they had restored the civilization of Man to it's former glory. Once this had been accomplished, the Lunarians and the rest of their non-human allies decided to leave Man as the keepers of Gaia.
The Immortals had, along with those who had been swayed from The Un-Named's grasp, had created a rift between the dimensions and would dwell there, allowing only those humble souls from the Valley of Myst to call upon their power. When Bahamut was asked to rule there, he refused, saying that he would never lend his power to a lowly human or even to the Lunarians, who he blamed for the destruction of his home and people. Instead, he traveled to the moon, never to immerse himself in the affairs of Man and Lunarian again. Odin was the next choice, but had transgressed into a spiritual state to reside in Baron, making his oldest mortal son king. And so, it was decided that the immortal Leviathan would rule in the Land of Summons.
The Lunarians set to depart, but knew that The Un-Named would not be silent forever, and so they made as stewards of the Tower of Babil the Cave-Warriors. Through their great lore they created eight elemental crystals; four for the surface world and four for the Dwarven kingdoms. The eight clerics, while of Lunarian blood, remained and took charge of one of the crystals. One was also placed under the charge of the great Antlion, a friend of Man. The martial art masters, now known as the Fabul Monks, took one, while the other resided at Mysidia. Once these crystals were brought together, a path to the moon would be created as to seek the aid of the Lunarians should The Un-Named ever come to bear again. King Drir and the Lunarians concluded it would be best to seal the Dwarves off from the surface to better protect the crystals, leaving only a key in the hands of Odin's son.
Finally, the Lunarian's prayed to the creator. For several weeks they prayed for a way to ensure the finality of The Un-Named's demise. From the sky came a star, and it settled atop Phoenix Summit. A great wall of fire surrounded the pass leading to the summit, and the Lunarians left; content with the knowledge that their prayers had been answered. With that, the First Age came to an end.