Thirteenth

The Thirteenth, more commonly known as the void (ヴォイド, Voido?), is a world in Final Fantasy XIV from which the voidsent hail. One of the 13 reflections of the Source, this world fell to astral Darkness, leaving it a desolate wasteland where the inhabitants prey on each other for aether.

History[]

Before the events of Final Fantasy XIV[]

Sundering and creation[]

Originally one world known as Etheirys, the planet was wracked by the Final Days, which caused the world's inhabitants to lose control of their creation magicks. The Convocation of Fourteen put a stop to the event by summoning the dark primal Zodiark, sacrificing half of the world's population to do so. With the land left uninhabitable, the group further sacrificed half of their remaining people to allow the realm to heal and new life began to sprout. With further sacrifices of that new life planned to resurrect their sacrificed brethren, an opposition group summoned the light primal Hydaelyn to put Zodiark in check. In the process Hydaelyn sundered the world into fourteen pieces, a fragment of Zodiark contained within a moon associated with each, forming the Source and its thirteen reflections and effectively creating the world of the Thirteenth. She would then create familiars known as Watchers to keep vigil over Zodiark's fragments and keep the seals in place.

Ascian influence and the flood[]

After many years civilization in the Thirteenth recovered. The Ascians, a secret society that worshiped Zodiark and wished to see him once again whole, started exerting their influence on the world. Their plan was to cause a rejoining by suffusing the reflection with particular aether aspects, causing the aether of the reflection to be absorbed back into the Source, destroying the reflection while restoring a part of Zodiark. Their first attempt, led by the overlord Igeyorhm, was in the Thirteenth, but it failed as they did not realize at the time that for the rejoining to succeed, they also needed a calamity of the same aspect in the Source.

Using a corrupted version of the very same creation magicks that created Zodiark, the Ascians spread the art of summoning eidolons through the land to over-aspect the world to the element of Darkness. People with the ability to seal these summoned beasts in memoria crystals, known as memoriates, began to rid the land of eidolons in a war known as the Contramemoria. As the war continued, the eidolon essences stored within the memoria leaked or were voluntary used, corrupting the memoriates into beasts themselves. The resulting chaos tipped Thirteenth too far towards Darkness. At the war's peak, Igeyhorm approached the memoriate warrior Durante, who had taken on the name and appearance of his fallen friend and hero Golbez, and directed his desire to save his world to the Watcher of the Thirteenth's moon, convincing him that the servant of Light was responsible for awakening the powers of the memoriates. Durante slew the Watcher, causing an unexpected reaction; the bound fragment of Zodiark was released, and with no avenue to return to the main body, its aether enveloped the world in a flood of darkness, turning all but few of its inhabitants into astral-aspected, aether-starved creatures that came to be known as "voidsent", with the most powerful of these creatures being former memoriates.

Of the few inhabitants known to have survived without transforming were the memoriate Cylva, who was rescued by the Ascians and manipulated to their ends; the young hero Unukalhai, who was rescued by the Ascian Elidibus to work under him; and the half-voidsent memoriate that eventually became known as "Zero", who escaped the Flood of Darkness by falling into the rift during the cataclysm. After this event, the Ascians focused their efforts on the other reflections, considering the Thirteenth world unrejoinable. From this failure, the Ascians learned that a calamity of the same type of aether must occur simultaneously in both the Source and a given shard to trigger a Rejoining.

The tipping of the Thirteenth's aetheric balance towards Darkness had an effect on another shard: the First. As a consequence of the Thirteenth being plunged into Darkness, the First's aetheric balance began tipping dangerously close to an overabundance of Light. The Ascians would later attempt to exploit this to rejoin the First.

A void of darkness[]

As the inhabitants of the world became twisted by the astral Darkness, they became permanently aether-starved, constantly consuming each other in an attempt to satiate the hunger. The world itself was lost to the chaotic astral energies, with the domains of powerful voidsent becoming the only modicum of stability. Powerful voidsent carved out parts of existence as their own, creating courts and rulers, lords and ladies, as well as servants and prey. Society in this world was centered on a hierarchy of strength, where the weaker voidsent bow to the strong. There was no death in the Thirteenth, as the excess dark aether prevented souls from returning to the Aetherial Sea.

Much of the Shard's land was swallowed by the Darkness and turned into a sea of Darkness and what lands do exist in the world are recreations of the memories of the world's inhabitants, though in a ruined state. The only way to travel between domains were either to ride on a voidsent able to fly or moving the current domain to a different location.

Being one of the closest reflections to the Source, and unique in its astral properties, the Thirteenth had numerous natural rifts between dimensions allowing small and weak voidsent to pass through to the aether-rich Source, particularly around the times of Calamities, where the veils between the realms were thinner. As scholars and mages caught glimpses of the world where these creatures came from, they named this world of Darkness "the void". Mages in the Source began to research means to bring forth these "voidsent", discovering that while lesser creatures could come through whole, more powerful ones could only be brought through by providing vessels for their essences, often only possible through bargaining and blood pacts.

The Allagan Empire of the Source used many such pacts in their conquests, with Emperor Xande entering a pact with the incredibly powerful void lord known as the Cloud of Darkness in a nihilistic attempt to end existence by feeding it to the void, using the Crystal Tower to tear open an enormous rift into the realm. During these battles, the great wyrm Azdaja plunged into the void to seal the voidgates. Before Xande finished his pact the Umbral Calamity of earth befell the Source causing a massive earthquake that buried the Crystal Tower, delivering it into stasis, postponing the pact.

Some time later, the Source-born kingdom of Mhach, who practiced extensive voidmagicks, summoned a voidsent queen, Scathach, and many of her servants, including Lord Diabolos and Ferdiad, and bound them to the Source, imprisoning them outside of the void.

At some point, a powerful voidsent named Golbez began recruiting powerful voidsent and building his own domain on the Thirteenth's moon with the objective of eventually saving his world. Golbez gained a fearsome reputation during his conquests and rulers of other domains were on the lookout for any signs he was invading.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn[]

Following the coming of the Seventh Astral Era in the Source, the newly unearthed Crystal Tower was unsealed, with its stasis being lifted, allowing Xande to finish his pact and attempt to open a voidgate so large that the Cloud of Darkness could pierce through whole. The cataclysm was avoided by the timely interventions of the Warrior of Light, G'raha Tia, members of the Garlond Ironworks, the Sons of Saint Coinach, Nero tol Scavea, and the clones of Allagan royalty Unei and Doga, with the Warrior of Light venturing into the void to defeat the Cloud of Darkness.

Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers[]

Years before the First was nearly swallowed by an elemental flood of their own, young prodigal mages Nyelbert and Taynor were taught how to open voidgates until Taynor was swallowed by one. Years later, Nyelbert, now the cardinal virtue known as Phronesis, still opened voidgates at random, guided by his latent desire to rescue his friend.

After putting Phronesis and the rest of the cardinal virtues to rest, as well as discovering Cylva's origins as a former denizen of the Thirteenth, the Warrior of Darkness introduced Unukalhai to both Cylva and Taynor. The three came to an agreement to attempt to restore the Thirteenth, using Taynor's void magick to return to there.

Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker[]

After adverting the return of the Final Days, the Warrior of Light embarked on a new adventure with former Scions of the Seventh Dawn members Estinien Varlineau, Y'shtola Rhul, and G'raha Tia into the treasure vault of Alzadaal III. There they discovered a natural voidgate, sealed by the satrap of Radz-at-Han, the great wyrm Vrtra, who had long abandoned his search for his sister, Azdaja of the first brood. However, thanks to the encouragement of the people of his country, and Y'shtola's passion for multidimensional research, Vrtra once again resolved to search for his sister within the Thirteenth.

Using an artificial Atomos crafted by Hannish alchemists, Y'shtola, Estinien, Vrtra, and the Warrior of Light journeyed into the Thirteenth. They arrived in the Fell Court of Troia, where they fought the lady of the court, Beatrice, and vanquished Scarmiglione, Golbez's archfiend of earth. During their time in the Thirteenth, the group met the voidsent who had been forced to act as an avatar for Zenos viator Galvus during his final days. Restoring her to her more human-looking form with a Crystal of Light, and naming her Zero, the group entrusted her to guide them through the realm. With her help as a half-voidsent memoriate, they sealed the revived Scarmiglione in memoria and reached Zero's Domain where the group was confronted by Barbariccia, archfiend of wind. They confirmed that Azdaja still lived, and sealed the archfiend within memoria. Having expended most of her aether, Zero collapsed, with the group retreating back into the Source. The archfiend Rubicante later destroyed the portal to the void to stop their interference, leaving the group without means of entering the Thirteenth.

Determined to stop Golbez's invasion to the Source and rescue Azdaja, Y'shtola and Urianger opened a new gate to the Thirteenth through Zodiark's former prison in Mare Lamentorum, due to geographical similarities between the reflections. The Warrior, Zero, Y'shtola, Estinien, and Vrtra traveled through the gate and made their way to the Thirteenth's moon. They found Azdaja and fought Golbez, but he allowed Azdaja to be consumed by the Darkness and she turned into Golbez's Shadow Dragon. The Warrior defeated Golbez, but he threw Azdaja into his chasm and joined her aether with Zodiark's remaining aether within the moon to create a massive voidsent named Zeromus, all for the intention to breach the barrier between the Source and the Thirteenth and begin his invasion. However, Zeromus was not yet strong enough to accomplish this.

Locations[]

Historical[]

• Baron
• Troia
• Mount Ordeals

Current[]

• The World of Darkness – Domain of the Cloud of Darkness, entered from the Source through a voidgate created by Syrcus Tower's energies.
• The Fell Court of Troia – Domain of the voidsent Beatrice, serving as a recreation of the original Troia.
• Zero's Domain – Domain of the memoriate voidsent Zero, serving as a sanctuary for voidsent that wish to escape from the service and machinations of more powerful voidsent.
• Storm's Crown – Free moving domain of the voidsent Barbariccia, one of the Archfiends of the elements.
• The Thirteenth's Moon - Alongside the silver moon of the Source, Hydaelyn created these moons in the Shards to contain the sundered fragments of Zodiark, each under vigil by its own iteration of the Watcher. The moon's color is thought to be a side effect of Zodiark's dark aether not being able to return to the Lifestream after the Flood.
  • The Lunar Subterrane: Domain of Golbez, housed within the crater that once contained a fragment of Zodiark.
  • The Abyssal Fracture: The Thirteenth's equivalent to the Cradle of Darkness from the silver moon.

Behind the scenes[]

The Thirteenth was originally based on the World of Darkness from Final Fantasy III, with later characters and locations inspired by Final Fantasy IV. Initially appearing only as part of the duty The World of Darkness and referred to in multiple sidequests, the void and its history are a major part of the post-Endwalker storyline.

Gallery[]