(04-20-2014, 05:53 AM)Spiritual Machine Wrote:(04-20-2014, 04:17 AM)JFrombaugh Wrote: I always knew Shatotto (who many people believe to really be Shantotto from an earlier time period) was a twisted old loony, but I never knew she started this whole War of the Magi stuff.
I don't think it's indicated that Shatotto started that war. She was more a pioneer in the art of aetherial manipulation, wasn't she? It was ultimately the abuse of the craft she developed that led to its ill results.
I don't think it would be possible for Shatotto to have started the War of the Magi. Shatotto is accredited with the birth of Black Magic near the beginning of the 5th Astral Era, whereas the War of the Magi takes place at the end of the 5th Astral Era.
So basically the timeline goes something like this:
The 5th Umbral Era was a great ice age that covered all the seas with ice and snow. This is believed to have occurred roughly 3000 years ago. This is when the 26 Miqo'te Seeker tribes and the first Clans of Keepers crossed over to Eorzea in pursuit of food. This Ice Age lasted until Magick was discovered by Man. The ability to cast and manipulate fire without tinder kept the survivors of the 5UE Calamity alive until the Ice receeded. The birth of magic is the historical turnover point between 5UE and 5AE.
For a while, Magi were limited in their magical pursuits by the amount of aether within their own body. It's never expressed how long magick exists in this form though. I would imagine Shatotto did not reinvent the wheel immediately at the start of 5AE. Perhaps 100 or 150 years into 5AE seems like a tangible time to allow early magicks to grow? (Purely theorizing.)
Then comes Shatotto. Her ambition knows no limitations. So she devises a technique to draw aether from her surroundings to supplement her own stores. This technique is what is known today as Black Magic. With this power, Shatotto brings down a star and crafts several staves from the fragments. To balance this power, the Elementals gift the nation of Amdapor Succor. And for a while the world lives in balance.
Until the War of the Magi, which occurs at the end of the 5th Astral Era. We do not know how much time exists in between these two points in history, nor do we know how long the War of the Magi actually lasts. What we do know is that Black Mages pulled the Void King Diabolos into this world and he all but destroyed the Amdapori. The surviving White Mages sealed the Void at great cost.
At the end of the War, the very land was drained of aether and dead. So the Elementals summoned the 6UE Calamity, a great flood, to wash away magick from the world. It is then that the Ascians emerged from the shadows and sought to summon their God from the waste of the world. The Archons at the time rose to stop the Ascians, but were betrayed by one of their own, Ahldbhar. In a last ditch effort to save the world from the Ascians, the survivors of the 5AE nations formed the first Grand Companies of Eorzea and with the help of the Archons, defeated the Ascians. This victory ushered in the 6th Astral Era.
Man vowed never again to use White or Black Magic, but the Elementals forbade Man from ever again entering the Twelveswood to ensure they never would.