IMPORTANT NOTE

This section is supplementary. It addresses information and reference points that may be brought up in the course of the game. It is not required reading. We provide it for players who wish to have a full OOC understanding of the game setting, but you can play in the game just fine without knowing the vast majority of this information.

THE HISTORY OF MODERN CIVILIZATION

All modern civilization tracks its history to the Centran civilization, which migrated from its southern continent long before Centra was ravaged by the Lunar Cry.

The Galbadian continent was originally once part of the Holy Dollet Empire, military superpower of the world from its creation 4000 years till its dissolution in the wake of the Centran Lunar Cry. In the chaos after the Lunar Cry, the Empire split into the Dollet Dukedom, Galbadia, and Timber.

Esthar was settled at approximately the same time as the Empire, but focused its advancements on science rather than the military.

Other minor entities were founded over the course of history as well, such as Balamb Town and Fishmermans Horizon, which attempted to maintain neutrality.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SORCERESS WAR

So named because it was started by Sorceress Adel, who had ascended to power in Esthar, the Sorceress War put the nations of Esthar and Galbadia against each other for almost two full years.

The war began when Esthar attempted to conquer Galbadia using Sorceress magic and advanced technology, but Esthar lost more than it gained when Galbadia conquered Timber to consolidate its hold on the continent, depriving Esthar of valuable natural resources. Esthar prepared to deploy the Lunatic Pandora against Galbadia, but behind the scenes Adel had become distracted with finding a suitable candidate to whom she could pass her Sorceress Power. Her choice of a Winhill orphan named Ellone led to her imprisonment when Laguna Loire rescued the girl and tricked Adel into a sealing chamber, then launched said chamber into space. Laguna then assumed leadership of Esthar, ending the war.

THE GAME, (MUCH TOO) SUMMARIZED

Newly-graduated SeeD Squall Leonhart and his companions are assigned to assist a Timber liberation organization, as Galbadia has held on to the territory with an iron fist since its capture in the Sorceress War. After a failed mission, they attempt to intercept the Galbadian president, only to discover he has Sorceress Edea as an ally.

Retreating to Galbadia Garden, they are given orders to assassinate the Sorceress. The attempt fails; Edea murders the president and claims Galbadia as her own, then orders the destruction of Balamb Garden. The SeeDs manage to activate the mobile Centra Shelter the Garden was built on, rendering it mobile. After several military actions between Galbadia and Balamb Garden, Sorceress Edea is revealed to be merely a possessed vessel of Sorceress Ultimecia, who is acting from the future to achieve the goal of Time Compression.

Squall and his team head to Esthar in the hopes of preventing Edea from passing her Sorceress powers to Rinoa Heartily, becoming the first people to enter the nation since it sealed itself off after the Sorceress War. Ultimecia possesses Rinoa, causing her to free Adel from her orbital imprisonment, at the same time as the Lunatic Pandora initiates a Lunar Cry to bring the prison down, giving Ultimecia a new body to possess. Adel's body is defeated, and when Ultimecia initiates Time Compression, the team is able to use its properties to breach her fortress and defeat her.

THE WORLD AND ITS CHANGES

The world of Final Fantasy VIII has no canon name.

Twenty-three years after the "end" of FFVIII, the world is divided into three major power blocks and two minor. Galbadia, Esthar, and Balamb Garden are the military and political superpowers of the globe, while Trabia Garden and Fishermans Horizon generally align themselves with Balamb Garden to even the balance of the three.

In addition, a mysterious power bloc consisting entirely of offworlders has emerged. Calling itself Sol Invictus, this new entity is rapidly establishing itself as a power to rival at least Balamb Garden.

THE GARDEN PROJECT AND SEED

The Garden Project was initially intended as orphanages and educational institutions, founded by Cid and Edea Kramer. The SeeDs they trained were meant to defeat the Sorceress, but through the influence of NORG, a Shumi who provided the funding for the project, this purpose became forgotten in favor of profitable mercenary work.

In present times, "Garden" almost invariably refers to Balamb Garden, the sole Garden now capable of properly training SeeDs. Galbadia Garden has been almost entirely subsumed into the miltary of Galbadia, while Trabia is closer to the orphanage and educational institution the Kramers originally wanted.

SORCERESSES AND MAGIC

Sorceresses in the world of Final Fantasy VIII are human beings who have received the Sorceress Power, allegedly given to humanity by the Great Hyne long ago. In this world, a Sorceress is the only kind of human with any supernatural power whatsoever; they can use magic directly and freely. Though there have been many sorceresses over the years, ask any common person and the ones they'll quickly name are the most notorious and terrible of them all. Adel caused the Sorceress War in her lust for world domination; Edea assumed control of Galbadia for much the same purpose; Ultimecia, of course, attempted to rewrite time and space to her own will.

There have been kind and good Sorceresses, or at least ones who didn't embark upon a pattern of world conquest. Humanity rarely records their names. The wide-scale devastation that magic can wreak upon the world has left a indelible mark on the world as a whole.

"Sorceress" has become a pejorative term in the years of Time Compression. Many people apply this label indiscriminately to any offworlder, painting them with the same brush as the dictators and conquerors of the past simply because they might have the same capacity for magic as a Sorceress does. The true meaning and legacy of the Sorceress is quickly becoming diluted and obscured in this modern age.

THE SORCERESS'S KNIGHT

A term often mentioned in conjunction with a Sorceress, the Sorceress's Knight is a male companion of a sorceress, who protects the Sorceress and often serves as a commander of their conventional forces.

The only requirement to be a Sorceress' Knight seems to be some kind of bond shared between the two people. Every known Knight has a bond to their respective sorceress.

A Knight does not seem to be a requirement for a Sorceress, as there is no mention of Adel ever having a Knight during her ruling of Esthar. This may be because Adel was so evil and selfish that the only thing people ever felt for her was fear and hate, and nobody was able to form any type of lasting bond with her.

THE LUNAR CRY AND LUNATIC PANDORA

At certain times in the history of the planet, its moon has become so full of monsters that the pull of gravity causes immense hordes of them to fall from to the planet. This is a natural event, or as natural as any can be, and the event in its full glory completely annihilated Centra's once-glorious civilization and scourged almost all life and remnants of humanity save the monsters from the entire continent.

That same Lunar Cry brought an artifact called the Crystal Pillar from the moon as well. Esthar scientists discovered the Crystal Pillar, when aligned with the moon, can induce a Lunar Cry as well. At Sorceress Adel's command, they weaponized it in a mobile fortress called the Lunatic Pandora -- a full three miles high and half that wide, capable of levitating indefinitely and channeling the Pillar's power. The weapon never saw use in the Sorceress War, but in the course of Ultimecia's press towards conquest, it was deployed within Esthar to force Adel's prison to ground in accordance with her will.

Artificial Lunar Cries are notably weaker than natural ones, as the moon has not reached the saturation of monsters necessary for true devastation. Nevertheless, the test of the Lunatic Pandora put a massive crater in the heart of the Trabia mountains, while the Esthar deployment would have demolished Esthar if not for the fall of Ultimecia and the intervention of Balamb Garden.

Lunatic Pandora was destroyed by SeeD recently.

TEARS' POINT

A sad footnote in the story of how Esthar both built and fell victim to the Lunatic Pandora, Tears' Point was place most likely to be subject to a Lunar Cry. Esthar scientists set up a complex security field to prevent the Lunatic Pandora from entering and functioning there. It didn't work.

In the present day, Tears' Point is a massive chaotic flux of Time Compression, possibly due to the anti-Crystal Pillar field generators having their energy over several years compressed into a single point.

HYNE

Whether he was a deity or merely a man, the legends agree: Hyne was the first Sorceress, and the originator of mankind.

There are many legends surrounding Hyne, but all seem to share certain elements in common: Hyne battled monsters in his capacity as ruler of the world, which exhausted him so much that he created humanity as a living tool. Hyne slept to recover, woke up refreshed, but discovered humanity had been fruitful and multiplied while he slept. He decided to reduce their numbers by slaughtering children, which for some inexplicable reason set off a mass rebellion by humanity Hyne found himself unable to put down. To buy peace, he agreed to give humanity half his body and power, but really just gave them his useless cast-off skin.

If the legends are true, the Sorceress power, magic, may in fact be Hyne's essence itself.

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