Legacy of the Blood Angel
The time was a thousand years after the Saint Agora purified the world of its sins with the Zodiac stones. The event that was significant enough to be used as a placeholder for the numbering of years had reached that point before it becomes a myth yet after it is known as common sense. There are many nowadays that no longer believe this "myth", but there were those religious ones who would watch his friend die, watch his brother die, and give his life himself before they give up their beliefs. And so it was with Ivalice at the time. The religious ones discriminated against the heretics. The non-believers discriminated against the pious. There was often open conflict on behalf on these beliefs, and the ones who were safest from sudden assassination were the ones who choose to take no sides. The general public criticizes these neutral people as being too weak- minded to choose sides, and indeed, it is truly a cowardly thing to not jump recklessly into any and all conflicts that arise. It is this belief that Ivalice is based off.
A certain chain of events was triggered a few centuries after the Purification. This period is commonly known as the Lion Wars, between the princes Goltana and Larg. The irony was that both Goltana and Larg were assassinated, and power was eventually given to a knight by the name of Delita. The public knew nothing of the deeper truth, and saw the more significant events only as unexplained happenings. Obliterated bodies were found in a fort. Act of Fate. Several people mysteriously vanished. Act of God. The truth was no one bothered to figure out what really happened. Five hundred years after the Lion wars, a certain historian recovered the Durai Reports, a documentary that contained the truth of what really happened. The Reports sold out quickly and were commonly read as an entertaining novel.
One such disappearance was that of Ramza Beoulve and his sister Alma. The only one who might have had any clue how they disappeared would be Olan Durai, but no one believed him, or cared about this Ramza character in the first place. Olan's constant insistence on what is the truth, and the writing of the Durai report, eventually landed him at the stakes as a heretic. However, the Glabados Church had lost influence since then, and the use of stakes and fire had evolved into conflict with fist and sword.
With all the interesting events that had supposedly transpired in Ivalice, it is looked upon with a lot of interest from other lands. It in this time, that a second event, similar to the happenings in Ivalice, began to take place. A crisis of greater magnitude than the Ivalice incident shall descend upon the earth.
It begins in Borgin, a land some hundreds of miles west of Ivalice, in the town of Gehrlyne.
In every way, Gehrlyne is quite an ordinary town, no different from any other town in Borgin. The events of the day are just as common as in any other town. The shady dealings of the night are no more darker than any other town. The houses and street are considerably clean for such an industrial city as Gehrlyne. This could be credited to the bums who clean up the streets at night for a living, although credit is more often given to the slave-drivers that sentenced these workers to a life of street- sweeping.
The land of Borgin as a whole is pretty advanced technologically. Steam- powered mechanisms are a common sight in any city. New technology made it possible for smiths to forge far superior weapons and armor than in the old days, for the farmers to more efficiently reap the annual harvests of Gestahl Greens, and for traders to travel more quickly between the towns. Being an industrial town, Gehrlyne is the recipient of a considerable percentage of the import of raw material and other goods, and sights of trading carriages and merchandise carts were a common sight in the streets, and no one paid much attention to a boy in his teens pushing a cart in the middle of the streets.
A dim light shines through the clouds, as the brilliance of the sun could not be completely obstructed by the thin clouds. The day could be more cheerful, but this wasn't going to stop the people from having their weekly market day. Pushing the cart through the street, the boy's eyes caught on to a tall middle-aged man that happened to be approaching him. The man was completely clad in a black robe, a scarf of the same color covering most of his face, leaving only the eyes, and even that is covered up by the man's long uncombed hair. The boy tried to read the man's expression as best as he could to see what the man was up to. Was he here to shop, or just wandering? The man had a poker face, and the boy couldn't get anything out of his expression. The man did seem pretty suspicious to the boy, but suspicion wasn't going to stop him from selling something to the man if the chance arises.
As the man passed by the cart of the boy, his facade gave an opening, and the boy saw an interested glance upon an item in his cart. The boy followed the glance to a small black stone statue, that just happened to be on the top of the cart. Giving a grin, the boy pulled out this statue. "You interested in buying an old ancient artifact?"
He hit the bull's-eye. The gentleman took the orb. The boy tried to see whether or not the man was interested, but the opening had been covered up. After scrutinizing every crevice of the statue, the man replied in a muffled voice (as his mouth was covered by the scarf). "Name your price."
The boy took in this statement with suspicion. It was apparently up to him to influence the man into buying this artifact. Set the price too high, and he'll lose a potential customer. On the other hand, the man had given a glance of interest to this artifact earlier. The boy decided to play it safe. "Eight hundred Gil."
The man looked more closely at the statue. The boy wonders if he should've set the price a little lower. The man looked up and gave his reply, "I'll take it for five hundred."
This seemed to be a bluff, and the boy pondered whether this was the actual price that the man wanted or if he just wanted him to lower the price. He took a chance, "Seven hundred."
"I don't believe you heard me right. I said I'll take it for five hundred."
The boy blinked at this statement. It looked like the man was serious about his offer. It was considerably less than what the boy had his sights set upon, but five hundred Gil was not a shabby amount in this land. "Okay. You've got it." It was pointless to drive the price any higher.
The man gave a grunt, took the statue, and trudged off. The boy coined the earnings in his pocket. It's not that bad for him to earn such an amount so quickly. Eager to get off another sale, the boy pushed the cart further down the street. However, the earnings had made him careless. Turning a corner, the boy was surprised to hear the ring of wood against metal and the surprised oomph of a knight, heavily clad in armor. However, the boy wasn't going to let an incident like this slow down his work. Giving a quick apology, the boy repositioned his cart and started to run off, only to be cut short as a hand grabbed his collar and jerked him to the ground.
"Don't be in such a hurry. You haven't given me a chance to look at your wares yet." A deep voice spoke.
The boy turned around slowly, and saw that it was the same knight that he had run into earlier. The first sense was one of fear. What's this guy going to do to him? Then the knight's second sentence sunk in, and the boy gave a nervous smile and walked aside to let the knight look in the cart. The knight didn't bother looking, but knocked the cart down with a swift kick, and goods spilling out onto the street. This action shocked the boy, and before he could stop himself, he called out, "Hey! What are you doing, you ass!"
It was not a healthy combination of words, and no sooner had the boy spoke it than he realized his mistake. The knight slowly turned to face him and glared. "What did you call me?" He said slowly. It wasn't an inquiry as much as a threat.
The boy nervously backed away. There was only one way out of this. "I'm really sorry, sir! I really am!" And ran down the street, away from this nightmare, with the sound curses and threats coming from behind him. However, he was surprised once more with another sound of clashing against metal. This time he himself was thrown down by the impact, and he looked up to see another heavily-armored knight. "Hey there, what's the hurry?" The knight asked in a good-natured voice.
The boy quickly took a moment to catch his breath. "There's a bad man after me!" He turned and pointed at the knight that was pursuing him.
"I really think you should let me handle this." The second knight said to the boy as we walked up to the first knight. "So, Dale, I hear that you are tantalizing a local street boy here?"
Dale gave a nod, "Aye, Vilkes, the very same child ran into me with that cart of his. I was willing to let him off on that, but the adding of insult to injury is enough reason I think to teach him a lesson. That is why I am pursuing him."
Vilkes gave a laugh, "Don't you find chasing a child a bit foolish? I believe I can help you with that." With those words Vilkes knocked the boy forward with the flat of his sword. The disillusion came as yet another shock to the boy, as it was in his sincere expectations that this new knight would help him. "Let this be a lesson to you. Don't mess with guys in heavy armor." Vilkes gave a derisive smirk. The two began to converge on the boy.
"Hey there! What are you doing!" A voice suddenly called out. The attention of the two knights were drawn to a single figure on the other side of the street. It was slightly armored, with a head of blond hair, fixed in the back into a ponytail.
Dale sneered, "What's it to you?"
The newcomer gave a shrug and approached. The two knights stood their ground. Opening a scared eye, the boy saw him step forward. A new feeling of hope passed through him. He saw the newcomer look at him, and their eyes made contact. The newcomer didn't need to explain his intent in words; Vilkes could see it in his eyes. He smirked, "And I suppose you want to stop us."
"You and whose army?" Dale gave a laugh, but it was cut short by what he saw next. Another man stepped in and took his place behind the blond man, and eyed the knights with an equal look of purpose. His body was covered with only a thin vest, and his muscular chest stands in plain view, results of years of training. His brown hair was directed upwards by a headband. Dale began to become uneasy, but Vilkes took a good look at both newcomers, trying to weigh out how good a chance they would have in a fight. A third person stepped in, this one a knight. He was wrapped in a white cape, and the sheath of his sword could be made out by a bump in the cloth. His had a neatly combed golden hair. Three others came in. One a girl wrapped in a thin red cloak, a blade at each hip. One an robed figure wearing a large conspicuous hat. One a female wrapped in white cloth, a sword at her side.
The blonde gave a shrug, almost ironically. "My army, I guess."
Dale and Vilkes' eyes boggled at the appearance of these characters, but Vilkes quickly assumed composure. "Humph, I guess you win. We'll leave the boy alone." Vilkes grunted and walked off. Dale took a longer time to regain sense, but Vilkes took a strong hold of his arm and pulled him off. The boy got up and dusted himself off.
"Thanks, sirs and ma'ams!" The child breathed out in relief to the fate that he had escaped, and began to run off.
"Hold up there," the first figure, the blond, called out. The boy froze, suspicious as to whether he was really safe.
The knight that was covered with a white cape called out to the leader, "Just let him go, Rubus. There's nothing we can get out of him."
Rubus gave a shrug, "No reason not to." He headed over to the boy. "You're pretty familiar with what goes on around this town, don't you?" The boy nodded. "Okay, well what I want to ask you is, have you recently seen this person?" Reaching into his pockets, Rubus pulled out a photo and showed it to the boy. The boy immediately recognized it as the man who had purchased the black angel statue from him earlier, and told Rubus so, and about the transaction. Upon his mention of the Black Angel statue, the monk cried out, "The statue of Erina!" Rubus gave a nod at him, and he calmed down.
"Do you know which way the man went?" Rubus inquired. The boy pointed off in the direction that he last saw the person. Rubus straightened his legs, gave a nod to his companions, and together they walked off in the direction that the boy pointed out.
The man's name was Cryar Sediko. It had been weeks since Rubus Ruglias and his companions-- Arch, the knight, Sidka, the monk, Kirana, the ninja, Warren, the wizard, and Fina, the cleric-- began their pursuit of Sediko and the Statue of Erina.
In all accuracy, their story began a bit less that a year ago, in the Krynnon Fort Sinon.
The time was a thousand years after the Saint Agora purified the world of its sins with the Zodiac stones. The event that was significant enough to be used as a placeholder for the numbering of years had reached that point before it becomes a myth yet after it is known as common sense. There are many nowadays that no longer believe this "myth", but there were those religious ones who would watch his friend die, watch his brother die, and give his life himself before they give up their beliefs. And so it was with Ivalice at the time. The religious ones discriminated against the heretics. The non-believers discriminated against the pious. There was often open conflict on behalf on these beliefs, and the ones who were safest from sudden assassination were the ones who choose to take no sides. The general public criticizes these neutral people as being too weak- minded to choose sides, and indeed, it is truly a cowardly thing to not jump recklessly into any and all conflicts that arise. It is this belief that Ivalice is based off.
A certain chain of events was triggered a few centuries after the Purification. This period is commonly known as the Lion Wars, between the princes Goltana and Larg. The irony was that both Goltana and Larg were assassinated, and power was eventually given to a knight by the name of Delita. The public knew nothing of the deeper truth, and saw the more significant events only as unexplained happenings. Obliterated bodies were found in a fort. Act of Fate. Several people mysteriously vanished. Act of God. The truth was no one bothered to figure out what really happened. Five hundred years after the Lion wars, a certain historian recovered the Durai Reports, a documentary that contained the truth of what really happened. The Reports sold out quickly and were commonly read as an entertaining novel.
One such disappearance was that of Ramza Beoulve and his sister Alma. The only one who might have had any clue how they disappeared would be Olan Durai, but no one believed him, or cared about this Ramza character in the first place. Olan's constant insistence on what is the truth, and the writing of the Durai report, eventually landed him at the stakes as a heretic. However, the Glabados Church had lost influence since then, and the use of stakes and fire had evolved into conflict with fist and sword.
With all the interesting events that had supposedly transpired in Ivalice, it is looked upon with a lot of interest from other lands. It in this time, that a second event, similar to the happenings in Ivalice, began to take place. A crisis of greater magnitude than the Ivalice incident shall descend upon the earth.
It begins in Borgin, a land some hundreds of miles west of Ivalice, in the town of Gehrlyne.
In every way, Gehrlyne is quite an ordinary town, no different from any other town in Borgin. The events of the day are just as common as in any other town. The shady dealings of the night are no more darker than any other town. The houses and street are considerably clean for such an industrial city as Gehrlyne. This could be credited to the bums who clean up the streets at night for a living, although credit is more often given to the slave-drivers that sentenced these workers to a life of street- sweeping.
The land of Borgin as a whole is pretty advanced technologically. Steam- powered mechanisms are a common sight in any city. New technology made it possible for smiths to forge far superior weapons and armor than in the old days, for the farmers to more efficiently reap the annual harvests of Gestahl Greens, and for traders to travel more quickly between the towns. Being an industrial town, Gehrlyne is the recipient of a considerable percentage of the import of raw material and other goods, and sights of trading carriages and merchandise carts were a common sight in the streets, and no one paid much attention to a boy in his teens pushing a cart in the middle of the streets.
A dim light shines through the clouds, as the brilliance of the sun could not be completely obstructed by the thin clouds. The day could be more cheerful, but this wasn't going to stop the people from having their weekly market day. Pushing the cart through the street, the boy's eyes caught on to a tall middle-aged man that happened to be approaching him. The man was completely clad in a black robe, a scarf of the same color covering most of his face, leaving only the eyes, and even that is covered up by the man's long uncombed hair. The boy tried to read the man's expression as best as he could to see what the man was up to. Was he here to shop, or just wandering? The man had a poker face, and the boy couldn't get anything out of his expression. The man did seem pretty suspicious to the boy, but suspicion wasn't going to stop him from selling something to the man if the chance arises.
As the man passed by the cart of the boy, his facade gave an opening, and the boy saw an interested glance upon an item in his cart. The boy followed the glance to a small black stone statue, that just happened to be on the top of the cart. Giving a grin, the boy pulled out this statue. "You interested in buying an old ancient artifact?"
He hit the bull's-eye. The gentleman took the orb. The boy tried to see whether or not the man was interested, but the opening had been covered up. After scrutinizing every crevice of the statue, the man replied in a muffled voice (as his mouth was covered by the scarf). "Name your price."
The boy took in this statement with suspicion. It was apparently up to him to influence the man into buying this artifact. Set the price too high, and he'll lose a potential customer. On the other hand, the man had given a glance of interest to this artifact earlier. The boy decided to play it safe. "Eight hundred Gil."
The man looked more closely at the statue. The boy wonders if he should've set the price a little lower. The man looked up and gave his reply, "I'll take it for five hundred."
This seemed to be a bluff, and the boy pondered whether this was the actual price that the man wanted or if he just wanted him to lower the price. He took a chance, "Seven hundred."
"I don't believe you heard me right. I said I'll take it for five hundred."
The boy blinked at this statement. It looked like the man was serious about his offer. It was considerably less than what the boy had his sights set upon, but five hundred Gil was not a shabby amount in this land. "Okay. You've got it." It was pointless to drive the price any higher.
The man gave a grunt, took the statue, and trudged off. The boy coined the earnings in his pocket. It's not that bad for him to earn such an amount so quickly. Eager to get off another sale, the boy pushed the cart further down the street. However, the earnings had made him careless. Turning a corner, the boy was surprised to hear the ring of wood against metal and the surprised oomph of a knight, heavily clad in armor. However, the boy wasn't going to let an incident like this slow down his work. Giving a quick apology, the boy repositioned his cart and started to run off, only to be cut short as a hand grabbed his collar and jerked him to the ground.
"Don't be in such a hurry. You haven't given me a chance to look at your wares yet." A deep voice spoke.
The boy turned around slowly, and saw that it was the same knight that he had run into earlier. The first sense was one of fear. What's this guy going to do to him? Then the knight's second sentence sunk in, and the boy gave a nervous smile and walked aside to let the knight look in the cart. The knight didn't bother looking, but knocked the cart down with a swift kick, and goods spilling out onto the street. This action shocked the boy, and before he could stop himself, he called out, "Hey! What are you doing, you ass!"
It was not a healthy combination of words, and no sooner had the boy spoke it than he realized his mistake. The knight slowly turned to face him and glared. "What did you call me?" He said slowly. It wasn't an inquiry as much as a threat.
The boy nervously backed away. There was only one way out of this. "I'm really sorry, sir! I really am!" And ran down the street, away from this nightmare, with the sound curses and threats coming from behind him. However, he was surprised once more with another sound of clashing against metal. This time he himself was thrown down by the impact, and he looked up to see another heavily-armored knight. "Hey there, what's the hurry?" The knight asked in a good-natured voice.
The boy quickly took a moment to catch his breath. "There's a bad man after me!" He turned and pointed at the knight that was pursuing him.
"I really think you should let me handle this." The second knight said to the boy as we walked up to the first knight. "So, Dale, I hear that you are tantalizing a local street boy here?"
Dale gave a nod, "Aye, Vilkes, the very same child ran into me with that cart of his. I was willing to let him off on that, but the adding of insult to injury is enough reason I think to teach him a lesson. That is why I am pursuing him."
Vilkes gave a laugh, "Don't you find chasing a child a bit foolish? I believe I can help you with that." With those words Vilkes knocked the boy forward with the flat of his sword. The disillusion came as yet another shock to the boy, as it was in his sincere expectations that this new knight would help him. "Let this be a lesson to you. Don't mess with guys in heavy armor." Vilkes gave a derisive smirk. The two began to converge on the boy.
"Hey there! What are you doing!" A voice suddenly called out. The attention of the two knights were drawn to a single figure on the other side of the street. It was slightly armored, with a head of blond hair, fixed in the back into a ponytail.
Dale sneered, "What's it to you?"
The newcomer gave a shrug and approached. The two knights stood their ground. Opening a scared eye, the boy saw him step forward. A new feeling of hope passed through him. He saw the newcomer look at him, and their eyes made contact. The newcomer didn't need to explain his intent in words; Vilkes could see it in his eyes. He smirked, "And I suppose you want to stop us."
"You and whose army?" Dale gave a laugh, but it was cut short by what he saw next. Another man stepped in and took his place behind the blond man, and eyed the knights with an equal look of purpose. His body was covered with only a thin vest, and his muscular chest stands in plain view, results of years of training. His brown hair was directed upwards by a headband. Dale began to become uneasy, but Vilkes took a good look at both newcomers, trying to weigh out how good a chance they would have in a fight. A third person stepped in, this one a knight. He was wrapped in a white cape, and the sheath of his sword could be made out by a bump in the cloth. His had a neatly combed golden hair. Three others came in. One a girl wrapped in a thin red cloak, a blade at each hip. One an robed figure wearing a large conspicuous hat. One a female wrapped in white cloth, a sword at her side.
The blonde gave a shrug, almost ironically. "My army, I guess."
Dale and Vilkes' eyes boggled at the appearance of these characters, but Vilkes quickly assumed composure. "Humph, I guess you win. We'll leave the boy alone." Vilkes grunted and walked off. Dale took a longer time to regain sense, but Vilkes took a strong hold of his arm and pulled him off. The boy got up and dusted himself off.
"Thanks, sirs and ma'ams!" The child breathed out in relief to the fate that he had escaped, and began to run off.
"Hold up there," the first figure, the blond, called out. The boy froze, suspicious as to whether he was really safe.
The knight that was covered with a white cape called out to the leader, "Just let him go, Rubus. There's nothing we can get out of him."
Rubus gave a shrug, "No reason not to." He headed over to the boy. "You're pretty familiar with what goes on around this town, don't you?" The boy nodded. "Okay, well what I want to ask you is, have you recently seen this person?" Reaching into his pockets, Rubus pulled out a photo and showed it to the boy. The boy immediately recognized it as the man who had purchased the black angel statue from him earlier, and told Rubus so, and about the transaction. Upon his mention of the Black Angel statue, the monk cried out, "The statue of Erina!" Rubus gave a nod at him, and he calmed down.
"Do you know which way the man went?" Rubus inquired. The boy pointed off in the direction that he last saw the person. Rubus straightened his legs, gave a nod to his companions, and together they walked off in the direction that the boy pointed out.
The man's name was Cryar Sediko. It had been weeks since Rubus Ruglias and his companions-- Arch, the knight, Sidka, the monk, Kirana, the ninja, Warren, the wizard, and Fina, the cleric-- began their pursuit of Sediko and the Statue of Erina.
In all accuracy, their story began a bit less that a year ago, in the Krynnon Fort Sinon.