The Elemental Trinity

The lines of Fire, Ice, and Thunder are as old as time immemorial. The exact happenings are lost to time... but like with many other such things there are legends that are passed down. A book entitled "The Trinity" sheds some light on one account. Not necessarily a 'true' one.

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The elements are always, always divided into classical forms. One such division is the four elements of Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water. One of the oldest divisions, however, is the Elemental Trinity. Fire, Ice, and Thunder. Ifrit, Shiva, and Ramuh are eidolons much closer than many, in fact. Tritoch embodies all three in one body. But it was not with these eidolons that this trio first came into light.

Long, long ago, it is said that there existed a trio of men. But these men were not friends, but companions of necessity during their travels. One with a temper that would flare hot, one with a cold and icy demeanor, and the third with an abrasive, frictional personality that would inevitably cause drama between the other two.

And so it came that at the end of their travels together, they simply could not stand each other's company any longer. Their reasons for sticking together now no longer relevant, they began contests of shouting that have were unprecedented. However, none of the three were fit fighters, but thoughts of violence still crossed their minds. All three of them being learned men, however, they spoke to one another.

The one of great temper spoke thus, "I shall go and visit the King of Hell and learn of how the world works and master the fires of the underworld. When I return I will build my kingdom to the west and burn away all but sand."

The one of cruel demeanor responded like, "And I shall sail to frozen wastes and learn of how the world works and exchange my heart for a shard of glacier. When I return I will build my kingdom to the north and the east underneath a cold blade."

The abrasive one opined, "And I shall rise into the skies and learn of how the world works and bring down a fist full of lightning to smite my enemies. When I return I will build my kingdom in between under an eternal thunderstorm, to wash away fire and sear away ice."

And the three parted ways, each seeking these weapons to use against each of the others. After many years they returned, each bearing the power of magic. They called these powers Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder, and as their powers grew they gave new titles to this power in the tongue of the old. Ra for Great, and Ga for Supreme. So began great wars, spell against spell, cursed to never have a true, permanent victor except Time itself, for Time cares not of burning fires, of freezing cold, or searing lightning.

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This doesn't really match up with what you're learned from Ramuh and others, but it's an interesting story. If it does bear any sort of truth to it, you figure that the three must have found some way of accessing the Manafont during each of their journeys. You wonder how useful this information actually is...

(It hints that the etymology of the spell names, by the way, would be for example Fire-Ra, Thunder-Ga, Blizzard-Ra and etcetera)