APPENDIX I
(Summary for PeRFecT)
(ed.-I have placed this here at the end of PeRFecT instead of inserting it in Eden Unbound.)
Appendix: EXPLORATION OF PeRFecT
Characters and their stories
Quistis Trepe:
At seventeen (the summer before the game) Quistis is sent to do an instructor's internship at Galbadia Garden while instructed to keep an eye on Seifer Almasy who is stationed there for the summer. This sets off a strain of events that shakes up her entire existence. From the moment she meets Irvine Kinneas, she knows that there is something between them -both romantic and otherwordly. A freak accident at the missile base causes Quistis to reveal a part of herself she never knew existed- the power of the blue sorceress. Though this always seemed to be a limit, it's revealed to her that the core of her limit is actually the strength of a real sorceress and, that in time, she'd be able to control it.
Part and parcel with this power is a strange disembodied voice that speaks to Quistis in cryptic riddles. This voice continuously tells her to take advantage of her attraction to Irvine, swearing that he belongs with her. As their relationship grows, even darker things begin to happen- several assassins are sent to destroy the "blue sorceress" and the president of Esthar sends out his aid to attempt to bring both Quistis and Irvine into their refuge. Though Quistis' power is evident, Esthar seems even more concerned with Irvine.
Quistis is trained as a sorceress by Instructor-SeeD Lukan Samah, who has an uncanny understanding of sorceresses. However, when Xu comes to Galbadia with an urgent mission, Quistis' training is put on hold and she, Irvine, Seifer, Xu and Lukan (and others) are sent on a dangerous quest to retrieve an integral key to the Aede project- a mission that Lukan and Xu are heavily involved in. Here, they are tricked by a Gerogero disguised as a SeeD and are attacked by the guardian Tiamat. They barely escape with their lives, with Lukan being sent into a coma. However, Quistis emerges from the battle more powerful than ever, having finally used her blue magic to it's potential.
They are called from the mission back to Galbadia, where it's discovered that Deling has arrested several SeeDs and instructors, including the popular and integral Evana Botchaskya. After Botchaskya's trail- during which she is found guilty and sentenced to death for high treason- Garden revolts and, in the process, Evana is shot trying to protect Quistis
Evana's last words are highly prophetic.
At her funeral, Xu has a nervous breakdown and is sent back to garden with Cid. Here, Quistis meets Ellone for the the first time since her childhood. 'Sis', after paying her respects to Evana, takes Lukan back to Esthar with her and Laguna. At this point the Galbadian team is sent to Trabia to investigate The Soceritology Cult (left over worshippers of Adel) that's been attacking Trabia Garden.
In Trabia, Quistis meets Selphie, who seems to be her number one fan. But upon seeing how Irvine treats Selphie, Quistis becomes jealous and doubts her relationship with Irvine. But, upon further inspection, Quistis realizes who Selphie is and her memories start to come back.
That night, Quistis and Irvine talk out their entire past and everything returns to Quistis. Her magic soaring, they accept each other's feelings and make love for the first and last time. Fully over-stimulated, Quistis' magic lashes out at Irvine and she absorbs his power and memories- which includes the secret he'd been harboring since his childhood.
The next day, with a nearly dead Irvine and a completely out of character Martine, the SeeD team infiltrates the Soceritology complex. Quistis' magic is in top form, but Irvine is severely drugged. After Martine leaves with most of the soldiers, Quistis and Irvine run into an out-of-place Ellone. After a few brief words of surprise, Ellone is shot by an entering Xu, who says that Ellone is Adel's inheritor and that they have to seal Ellone. So Xu takes Quistis and Irvine through a series of sensors until they all find themselves in a strange and cold room. This room is in actuality the dimension of Lunarimanum-a place where they sealed sorceresses before space travel. It is in this place that Edea sleeps. Irvine realizes that this woman is not Xu and the creature retransforms into it's gerogero state. One of the soldiers reveal themselves to be Vinzer Deling and Irvine is severely beaten by the Gerogero. Quistis tries to cast her magic on Deling, but her magic is absorbed by Edea. The disembodied voice that had been terrorizing her earlier then revealed itself to be an external sorceress- Ultimecia- who had been waiting for the moment where she could enter Edea fully and have enough power to take the woman over. Using Quistis' blue sorceress abilities, Ultimecia drains Quistis of her powers and enters Edea. This part of the story ends with Quistis awaking with partial amnesia in Balamb. Xu, her best friend and comrade, still traumatized by the death of her lover Lukan, believes that the best for Quistis would be for her to remain unaware of Irvine's supposed death and the true happenings of the last two months. Xu junctions Quistis right after the instructor wakes from her coma. Seifer is sworn to secrecy and the rest of the events are ff8 history.
Irvine Kinneas: A Garden owned orphan and trained assassin, Irvine Kinneas is Deling and Galbadia's secret weapon. He has been taking care of their dirty business for most of his young life. But Irvine's greatest gift is neither his gunslinging ability, nor his flirtatious ease-it's his perfect memory.
Perfect memory: similar to a photographic memory, however, it includes all of the senses. Irvine can remember every single thing he's ever experienced in his entire life, including the taste of an apple he ate six years ago, or the smell of his gym socks the first time he used a washing machine when he was seven.
Irvine lived with Edea Kramer until Galbadia Garden was constructed, then was moved there to live with his surrogate mother Evana Botchaskya. However, all Irvine's ever wanted was a real family. His closest thing to a real family was when he was five and lived at the orphanage with his favorite girls Quistis and Selphie. Irvine keeps these memories very close to his heart and always believed that he would marry Quistis and adopt Selphie.
Things change. . .a little.
However, Irvine hopes that he will find his biological family and swears that he hears his 'mama's' voice in his head. However, this voice turned out to be Ultimecia's, who was attempting to get into his memory to retrieve something precious to her.
Right before Edea absorbed the sorceress powers from Ultimecia, Irvine discovered the sorceress who was dying on their front lawn. Somehow Ultimecia knew of Irvine's amazing memory, so she dictated the words of the time compression spell to him. Later, Quistis would steal this spell from Irvine's mind via her blue magic and from Quistis Ultimecia would steal it back and the cycle would begin again.
There are many things about Ultimecia and Irvine's relationship that still remain unsolved. She refers to him as Memorius and as belonging to her. At the end of PeRFecT, Ultimecia-in-Edea spares his life and treats him like her friend.
However, he does help kill her in the end.
Irvine's journal, left outside "ultimecia's" thrown room, still remains in Intervigilium (the castle.).
Seifer Almasy and Rinoa Heartilly: After failing to pass his SeeD exam and losing his credits, Seifer enrolls at Galbadia Garden for the summer session in an attempt to regain some lost time. Away from his rival, it should be easy. However, Seifer finds a new rival in Galbadia's resident prodigy, Irvine Kinneas. After a week of torturing each other, Seifer is sent on a mission to Timber, where he saves Rinoa Heartilly from a gang of mercenaries who follow her home from an independence rally. The two have a brief, but fairly affectionate time together, but part ways after Seifer returns from the Trabian mission.
Seifer and Irvine eventually agree to disagree on their relationship, and eventually become like brothers. Somehow, Irvine ends up bringing out Seifer's noble and humane side, though they still bicker. The only other person in Galbadia that Seifer trusts is Evana Botchaskya- his gunblade and strategy instructor. Her calculating nature and dominating presence impress him almost as much as her bladesmanship. The injustice of her death infuriates him and he swears that he will never die as commonly and anonymously as she did.
Serenya Laurentide Viator aka XU: The one named field commander who worked alongside the first graduate SeeD regiment to seal and contain Edea in Trabia before the war. The top ranking SeeD in the world, she suffered an immense breakdown after the death of her aunt Evana Botchaskya and relinquished her leadership role during the war. Born to Sorceress Adel's advisor and his young wife, Xu and her mother escaped and were taken in by the Hyenite Templar order. Her mother is Edea Kramer. Her bilogical father remains unknown.(xu- see Antithesis, a novel in the Trance Prophecy Saga.)
Evana Botchaskya aka Rose Laurentide Seagill: Along with Cid Kramer, this ex galbadian soldier helped engineer and construct GARDEN and later took on an instructor's role at Galbadia Garden. Also known as "Mama Red" this gunblade expert helped raise Irvine Kinneas and the other garden-owned orphans. The adopted sister of Edea (Laurentide) Kramer, it's also known that Evana helped President Loire seal sorceress Adel and was responsible for assassinating many of the sorceritology cults that emerged after the first sorceress war. She was shot down during a brawl that occurred at Galbadia garden the summer before the second war- five days after she finally married her childhood sweetheart, Kiros Seagill.
At the end of the first war, Evana gave up a child and rejoined the army. The boy's name is Seifer Almasy.
Ellone Leonhart Loire: Ellone worked alongside Xu and Lukan to keep sorceress Edea sealed. Her telepathic powers enabled the sorceress merger and the time compression. Still- there is little known about her powers.
Lukan Samah Leonhart: A teacher at Galbadia Garden, "Samah" is Ellone's twin brother and was stolen by the Estharian army at birth. His powers are still unknown, but he has an acute understanding of Guardian Forces. His body is currently contained in Odine's underground laboratory and will be there until the good doctor can release the guardian god Vigil from Lukan's junction. Lukan is also in a thoroughly complex relationship with Commander Xu, though, he is very willing to submit to her.
Hunter and Astrid: are Irvine Kinneas' best friends from Galbadia.
Vigil: The Guardian god of Time and Space- Vigil appears as a giant humanoid with bat's wings and tribal runes ingrained in a complex pattern in his skin. Vigil exists in two forms- the GF that can junction to a human mind- and the humanoid God that lives in Lunarimanum which is the dimensional gateway that leads from earth to "heaven" ( "heaven" is also called "intervigilium" the land of sleep). His guardian ability is "chrono tyranny" which can destroy anything by forcing the creature to quickly regress into it's primordial state.
During the summer previous to the war, a troop of SeeD were ambushed and Lukan Samah, Vigil's junctioned partner, was forced to use the Guardian to destroy Tiamat. However, Lukan lost control over Vigil. The Guardian God, still using Lukan's body, gave a gift to Quistis Trepe (dark matter) then attempted to murder Irvine Kinneas- the reason is still unknown. However, Quistis attacked Vigil, drained some of his power using her blue sorceress powers and caused him to seek refuge in Lukan Samah's mind.
With Vigil incapacitated, there is no one to control time. Thus, time compression was able to work for Ultimecia.
Psyche: Is Xu's Guardian. She is a psychic with the power to link to and locate any guardian force. Psyche supposedly has issues with Vigil.
Diadem: A Centran blue sorceress who lived through the age of the first Lunar Cry. Brilliant and beautiful, Diadem became powerful beyond mortal knowledge. The legends concerning her are vague, but in some strains it's said that she challenged Hyne for the domination of the planet. Other's say that she was forced to try to take a position of godhood. Many old cultures say that, after losing, her consciousness was trapped in a guardian for all eternity and her power was contained in a woman to be passed down throughout the ages. The conclusion formed by Lukan Samah and Dr. Odine is that the essence of Diadem is the power of the Blue Sorceress, which has been passed down through the Trepe line (female descendants.) However, this is all speculation. Little is known of Diadem's parentage or life.
The Power of the Blue Sorceress: The Blue Sorceress is not like the Dark Sorceresses(or Hyne's descendants) The Blue sorceress is a leech and steals power from outside sources. Diadem had created a set of spells (Quistis' limits) from the power she stole. However, it is not just magic- Quistis was able to steal Vigil's power and Irvine's memories. If not contained, the power is unstoppable.
The Hyenite Order: An old order of holy knights and priests that protected the world and served Hyne. Most of them were wiped out by sorceress Adel. Grand Master Seto Almasy (Seifer's father) was the last Templar (holy knight) to receive the Trance prophecy vision during his trance quest. The Trepe line is also involved with the order.
Cid Kramer is said to be the last survivor of the order. (after the death of Evana Botchaskya)
The immortal Dreamer: All life is controlled by the dreamer. It's like fate. Since the idea of the creator isn't exactly understood by mortality, they have called it Hyne. The Dreamer lives in the castle of Intervigilium (heaven).
Intervigilium: is the castle of sleep and heaven. During Time Compression, Ultimecia took control over this castle and brought the concept of time into the dimension. After she was killed by the sorceress war heroes she was rejected from Intervigilium. However, the decompression wasn't as thorough as it should have been. Since time has invaded intervigilium, the Dreamer now exists in a timeline and can no longer control fate.
This is the Dead Drift.
The Triune: Unknown. Musings of a demented sorceress and the Hyenite order.
The Trance Prophecy: A prophecy, sent from Hyne, to Templars during their Trance quests. It is vague and mysterious, but, supposedly, it details the elements that need to be in place for the Second Coming of Hyne.
The Trance Prophecy
Three shall be the faults of Time
Two shall be the fault of men
and one the fault of Hyne.
One will be born from two worlds.
Two will be born from One- one to manipulate the minds of men,
one to manipulate the minds of gods.
Three will be forced into One.
Four will be the house of Viator.
Five will be the heroes of war.
The Sixth will be the hearty vessel
The Seventh will be an unwilling serpent.
Time will compress into One.
Life shall be the Dead Drifting.
From Time the truth will come to pass- a hero, a villain and the sacrificial lamb.
Life without Time will spread skeletal wings.
One will be left standing.
Finally comes Emancipation.