THE FINAL PASTEDOWN

THE TWELVE GATES TO THE UNDERWORLD

The Gate of Paradise - This is located smack dab at Chocobo's Paradise, a hidden refuge available only to those who are accompanying a chocobo friend. The method of opening and closing this gate is largely the same either way, you must defeat a champion of Fat Chocobo's choosing at a Chocobo Race. The whole thing with Celina and Bobby Corwin before they met Kujata was supposed to be a precursor to this. Chocobo's Paradise is located at the far corners of the world, in the middle of myriad leagues of ocean. STATUS: OPEN

The Summoner's Gate is in the Terra Caverns beneath Alexandria, a cave system extending far deeper than the Gargant tunnels of old. The caverns are supposedly the source of the Healing Spring that feeds into Evil Forest, waters pure enough to restore one's energy. It is protected by a structure erected by the original members of 12GIL which puts the knowledge of any would-be intruder to the test concerning various Eidolons. Opening or closing the gate requires that whoever gets beyond the question gauntlet is in fact a summoner themselves. This gate may have already been resealed - I need to talk to Anise. STATUS: MAYBE RESEALED

The Devil's Gate is located in a sweeping taiga on the Lost Continent. Opening the gate requires a sacrifice be made to Diabolos - which can come in many forms - wealth, lives, meaningful objects, etcetera. Resealing it requires strong holy magic from a White Mage or a Paladin, or the aid of Seraphim who in her ever present connection to Diabolos might be contacted nearby. Whatever the case, the ritual circle used to give sacrifice must be cleansed. STATUS: OPEN

The Blood Gate is located half-buried in the sands of the desert near the Desert Palace. Opening it requires the blood of a direct descendant of Cid Fabool I and powerful magic ensures that there will always be such an heir, notwithstanding gross deeds like genocide. However, there's also no telling who Regent Cid's bastard(s) might be at this point. Sealing the gate again requires someone else to donate blood to this cause, and will place them under the same stipulations. Someone who is unable to have children will not be able to satisfy the gate's demand. STATUS: SEALED

The Flooded Gate is located in the subterranean caverns beneath Daguerreo. Access to the ruins in particular may be done with at least four Zodiac Stones, though the full use of these artifacts is unknown. The exact nature of the sealing/unsealing method is locked away within a book somewhere within the massive library, which is why Ayane wasted so much time trying to find it. Protip: Ask someone who's been around in Daguerreo long enough to know. STATUS: SEALED

The Griever's Gate is in Durandal. You know exactly where this bitch is. Unsealing it requires the key, which you yoinked from Ayane, and a trial by combat to tame an otherworldly force lurking there - the Guardian Force, Griever. Eden mentions that Griever is a remnant of Terra and a rather powerful opponent, but will yield to the powerful. Resealing the gate is as simple as instructing Griever to do so once you've gotten its favor. STATUS: SEALED

The Lunar Gate - A structure resting on the blue moon of Gaia. Garland notes that no human actually seems to have set foot on the moons. The gate was sealed remotely, likely with the help of Eidolons capable of the deed. In theory, it's the easiest gate to open or close, all you must do is touch the door. Garland has only one more note on the subject translating to roughly: "Haha good luck". STATUS: UNKNOWN, BUT PROBABLY SEALED

The Mermaid's Gate - So named because this gate, long underwater, had come to have a mermaid city built around it. The magic used to bind this gate is tricky - opening it requires the assistance of a descendant of Wu, but they cannot be a mermaid. Sealing it requires the reverse - a mermaid whose ancestors were not of the lost civilization. STATUS: SEALED

The Gate of Life and Death - Apparently somewhere in the caverns near Burmecia. Gizamaluke's Grotto, perhaps? The gate may be unsealed by the birth of a sapient lifeform - but to be sealed, one must be willing to give their life. STATUS: SEALED

Gate of the Forgotten - A gate bound with the force of a rogue Eidolon whose form faded as memory of it passed from all thought and time. This gate is bound by the one known as Ozma, and may be unsealed with its defeat. To reseal this gate, an eidolon must be confined. STATUS: ...Open. Uh oh.

Gate of the Conquered - Named for the lands conquered by Baron in his lifetime, this gate may be found in Lesetira. This gate may only be opened by shedding blood in the name of the one whose armies once owned this land. The gate will reseal itself after a fortnight of peace has passed, along with the release of doves. STATUS: SEALED

Eternity's End: - The final gate, within the Underworld itself. It may only be opened or closed by the King of Hell himself, Hades, once the previous 11 have been unsealed. STATUS: SEALED


THE CURE

The spiritual energy around your home in Treno seems to have increased sharply for some reason, the little necklace that Professor Bell gave to you seems to actually be reacting. It may be partially due to the close proximity of a few Geomancers who have stopped by - Professor Bell and Bebe for starters, and then a young man with a nice blonde haircut, well-groomed facial hair and a nose ring, a moogle in shamanistic attire, and a rhinoceros preacher of the Alexandrian faith who all saw your advertisements and were interested in meeting up and helping out with things, especially with the publicity gotten due to the whole events at New Years. They're generally going to be around for you to talk to, learn about and from, help with the construction of the college, and etcetera. Bebe mentions, by the way, that he's met with all his siblings now and that he's available again, so let him know if he can be of any assistance.

You do indeed get Ambrosia's old tank reassembled into a doll incubator, though it wasn't something you managed alone.  Mikoto, Adenine, Ambrosia, and surprisingly Tina all were eager to help out. With some finagling, you can either work it into a version that creates an egg for them to hatch from with Mist, or you think you could use some of Mikoto's knowledge to set it up more like a Genome growing tank, which would require a lot of energy and nutrients and take time, but possibly be renewable where Mist isn't.

The Energy Core is surprisingly receptive to spiritual energy when you use it as a focus for your geomancy, and seems to automatically convert it into whatever sort of charge it's supposed to hold. Some deliberation with Elizabeth on the subject, (since she's been studying the spare parts she yoinked from the Enterprise, and also apparently Ambrosia herself) seems to suggest that she thinks that Manikins do have souls, and that they're essentially -in the heart-. Their brains possess memories, but it's their hearts that seem to hold the essence of who they are - and it may be something similar to your original theory that being an 'empty vessel' and being attractive to elemental spirits somehow woke sentience inside you. And furthermore this all seems to go in hand with Renegade's position on the soul being raw Emotion/Energy.

Mikoto is very curious about all of this and is wondering if you have intentions of making dolls with partially artificial hearts.

THE MEMBERS OF 12GIL (Roles partially provided by Cast a long time ago)

A combination of speaking with Ralul, Noah, and leafing through Garland's notes provides you with this information:

Architect - Ralul. Status: Watching over Kalissa.

Role: Maintain and repair the personal aether realms of Eidolons, aid in initial construction of a new Eidolon's aether realm. Helps with problems that arise from damaged, deteriorating, or unpleasant aether realms, such as memory issues, psychological trauma, general mental illness.

Inquisitor - Amaryllis. Status: Bumping uglies with Noah.

Role: Seek out and destroy heretics to the cause. Hunt down and identify threats to the organization and its goals. Root out information to use against the organization's enemies.

Librarian - Noah. Status: Learning how to assert himself better in his relationship.

Role: A keeper of stories, in specific, only those stories that directly pertain to the myths and legends surrounding Eidolons or entities that could potentially become Eidolons. Is in charge of identifying the potential for raising a new Eidolon out of collective mythos in human society and bringing to bear the resources ncessary to do so.

Mythweaver - Identity only known by Ralul. Status: Alive and well.

Role: 12GIL has a colorful mystical cosmology it believes in, and the Mythweaver is in charge of educating initiates on this cosmology and establishing how their beliefs die into their goals and justify them. In addition, the Mythweaver sets up contingency plans for the organisation throughout the world, planting the seed for prophecies and legends to spring up in a way that 12GIL members can step in and claim to be fulfillers of minor prophecy, harbingers of good fortune, or otherwise figures in local mythos in order to gain protection or resources even in the most remote parts of Gaia.

Eidolon Tamer - Identity and status unknown. Ammy suspects the Glutton.

Role: Win over rogue Eidolons to the cause, whether through taking them on in honorable combat, finding gemstones with trapped Eidolons or simply negotiating with them. In the far past might have been responsible for working with the Inquisitor to track down Summoners who went rogue and are using Eidolons for ill so that they could be stopped and have their Eidolons extracted.

Mistkeeper - Elvis. Status: Moglines reporter.

Role: The one who maintains communications through 12GIL through, yes, the Mist. Also charged with providing important news in human society through this communication channel and generally keeping the organization up to date with the latest happenings.

Gatekeeper - Agatha Lain. Status: Deceased.

Role: The one who guards the Gates from being undone when there is no need. Out of necessity, travels often, checking on the status of each of the locations.

Keymaster - Unknown. Status: Deceased.

Role: Guards the knowledge of how to seal and unseal the Gates, passing it down to the next Keymaster before they grow senile. This knowledge is used for the protection of the Underworld, and in the case of a dire emergency, to unseal the Gates.

Meansmaker - Albert Damcyan. Status: Deceased.

Role: Charged with handling the influential sides of things that the organization needs. Money exchanging hands, convincing authority figures to let something slide or to introduce legislation, this role was one very political in nature, trying to sew the strings to pull at later times. Very much in line with the Mythweaver, they often work closely together to assure success. Also some synergy with the Inquisitor as their ears are sometimes privy to knowledge others aren't.

Diviner - Unknown. Status: Unknown.

Role: Attempts to predict the way events will unfold before they happen through a combination of psychology, sociology, political knowledge, trends, and actual oracular magic, sometimes even enabling the Mythweaver's work or preventing disasters. (Whoever the Diviner was when Garland struck obviously wasn't a literal oracle and Garland seems to have taken advantage of that fact.)

Shrouder - Unknown. Status: Unknown.

Role: In any case that the organization is compromised in a way that the Inquisitor or Mythweaver cannot handle, it is the Shrouder's duty to quietly sweep things under the rug - whether with the elimination of documents, the modification of memories, or with the point of a knife.

Ambassador - Ralul knows their identity. Status: Alive.

Role: One from the lineage of a human who was allowed to stay in the Underworld to facilitate communication between Hades and other Eidolons and members of the organization. No one's asked about the biological problems with that yet.

DEATH OF THE DUDES

Noah does some analysis of the paper the correspondence was written on was a high quality blend of Alexandrian make, marked with expensive ink. The size of the handwriting suggests an enormous hand, and after checking your rumor network and finding out that Lone Wolf was boasting about a new contract from someone on the Forgotten Continent about a week before his death, you figure out pretty quick it was probably the Glutton who hired Lone Wolf.

In addition, you find out that the merchants that Kalissa killed had actually been seen supplying info to Zidane and General Beatrix before their deaths.

THE RETURNERS

One of you gets the bright idea to send a letter to Celina to ask her about the Returners. It seems they were not successful in finding the Covenant of the Ark, whatever that was, and missions have been mostly reconnaissance in nature, lately, keeping an eye on Alexandria. The leader of the Returners, Shannon, has been hesitant to act since the entire incident at the Treno border, and mostly they're just keeping an eye on Rymes, who they think has it in for them. Shannon thinks the Covenant of the Ark is still in Oeilvert, however.

More importantly, Celina tells you that Shannon is actually Freya, and how impressed she was when she found out and etc. She catches up with you guys for a bit. :3 And while she's catching up, you learn from her that she's been doing some things of her own in the meantime - She met with Bahamut recently, is currently trying to nurse a sapling of Cleyra's tree with water collected from Alexandria, she undid whatever Ayane did at the Gate there, and also she includes a Crystal Shard she found as well.

It seems like you'll be able to keep in correspondence with her if you want to learn more.

C IS FOR CARBUNCLE

More than anything, Carbuncle loves her reflection in the mirror! Silly, vain Carbuncle. She proudly polishes the Ruby on her forehead all day long, waiting for compliments from others. If on a dark night you feel eyes looking at you from a mirror, Carbuncle is probably watching you! All Carbuncle wants is a nice, firm hug, so don't try to use magic on her! It frizzes her fur and makes her grumpy, so she always sends it back to sender! Ouch!

SPREADING THE GOOD WORD

It seems you've attracted more of a following re: spreading a different tale about the Tonberries. We'll say that... on perhaps the 2nd or 3rd you dragged off some interested parties on a trip to Mt. Gulug to investigate the ruins of the Tonberry civilization, sparking a huge interest in the subject among academic parties, who then flocked to read your paper. Even Walt seems to be getting in on the act unbidden, sending out fliers boasting about his notes from "An interview with a Tonberry". Once the museum curator and other scholars realize an actual live tonberry is living in your house in Lindblum too, you're asked about scheduling appointments to see him. The landslide of sudden interest and activity is almost exhausting, really.

In any case, the curator is happy to start setting up an exhibit. Immediately. Before you get other offers.

COLLEGE STUFF

Now that you have a general plan on how to go with the construction, the Rooks seem ready to build! They're having people come in and look at Bishop's place, determine what needs to go and what can stay when putting things down. Seems like their main plans are a residential and market district, but they leave the north side of Bishop's estate wide open in case the university needs to be expanded or anything. They confer with you on this airport thing - Adenine had already approached them about making one before, after all, so you begin to hash out the idea of where to put it.

The Rooks also seem to be willing to pay the expenses of moving in people from the poorer districts into either the former Bishop estate or the King estate residential districts when they're built - there's actually a few people on a waiting list now, and you notice one of the names is the kindly old lady who sold you furniture for your house.

You and the Geomancers can also start flattening out the rolling hills of the estate if need be (I realize there are things you want to talk with them about, but I'll be getting to that as I go) to facilitate construction later. You can make the area pretty much completely flat or go for a more tiered approach as you shift the height of the land around.

Of course, Mikoto has no objections to any of this, she's actually delighted at how proactive you're being, and she's behind you 100 percent. Eden on the other hand, profusely apologizes that she wasn't able to summon enough power to be of help with any of this and that she hopes she can still be of use to you later. ;-;

WU CITY

You figure out its location easily enough between talks with the Kisaragis and probably meeting Professor Bell in passing when he visits Treno. It's roughly east of Alexandria, somewhere out in the ocean.

EDEN AND ARK

Eden has gathered enough strength to try and help you locate Ark or the Covenant if you wish - unlike what the Returners seem to think, it seems that the relics are somewhere on the Lost Continent, not in Oeilvert. Ark, on the other hand, is currently immobile somewhere near Lesetira. Looking into either lead should help her. Incidentally, this lead also helps Ammy out as well.

QU MARKS

All that shit before I said about needing to inspect the Glutton himself? NAH FUCK IT. LENORE IS ALL OVER THIS SHIT.

The marks, while they have strong connection to Time Magic, faintly resonate with an almost otherworldly power. With a possibility of her or her brother having experimented with it when they were younger, or some sort of mishap in Renegade's basement, Lenore deduces that the power is derived from demons. Not the kind of demons that people think Chell and Belle are either, but literal manifestations of Evil. She deduces that the Glutton has made a pact with demons and has then imbued some of his servants with this power - this likely means the Glutton has some of the same abilities. It's hard to say what kind of demon, exactly, but among their kind the Ash are known to possess significant magical power. Actual demons are not something you see very much of in Gaia, existing mostly in legend, but there are demonologists and historians who acknowledge their existence in the past. It's possible they may dwell in the Underworld now, the same as Eidolons.

ENTERPRISE AND AMBROSIA

You might want to consider looking into whatever happened to Lucian and the other people who left the Enterprise. You could try looking through records aboard the ship to see if they left any clue to where they were heading, or ask Bahamut if he knows anything - the Eidolon was recently summoned to Burmecia by Celina to have a chat, as she outlined in her letter. There are a few different approaches you could take with Ambrosia, but her fate is ultimately up to you. What's best for her? Only you can really say. Protip: You might also want to see if there is recorded footage of around the time they left to see what happened between Lucian and Ambrosia.

CORRUPTED STONES, BROKEN MIRROR

Alexander is back in Garnet's hands thanks to recovering the pieces of his gemstone, but you're not entirely sure if she's able to summon him in her current state. At the very least though, contacting her might allow you to -speak- with him much like you could speak with Leviathan at Daguerreo through his shrine.

As for the Wind Mirror... you have a bad feeling about what happened to it. Traces of corrupted wind spirit energy are on the edges of the pieces, and its frame has been marred by claw marks. Given that you used the Earth Mirror to cleanse the Earth Shrine, it's possible Tiamat may have somehow destroyed this mirror to prevent you from doing the same in Lesetira - but the Wind Shrine wasn't corrupted last you visited. She may be trying to send you some other sort of message, but it's not very clear what. Still... you might could get to work repairing this. It's a Terran artifact very much in tune with the elements, and given your particular talents it may be well within your power.

RYMES

Garnet sends you a letter conveniently explaining some things about Rymes. She had the brigadier general tailed and investigated for a bit, and found evidence of suspicious behavior; talking to the air when she thought she was alone, meeting strangers at odd hours of the night in secret... some digging also shows that she was the one who placed the order for provisions to be sent from Dali to Alexandria along the mountain pass, and also arranged for its armed escort. Garnet tells you that Rymes has been placed under custody pending further investigation, on charges of inciting international conflict, vigilante behavior, and suspection of treason. She still doesn't know what her beef with your group in particular is, but the prisoner has very adamantly defended her actions as being in Alexandria's best interests.

LACK OF COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Noah wonders as you talk to him if a setup like the Glutton's clay statues would work out, a sort of voice-only meetup system. Elvis doesn't have much input - the change in the world makes him think that his position kind of needs to be scrubbed or altered heavily in some way, but in the meantime, he can deliver letters in person without making himself suspicious, baby.

No one seems to know who the Eidolon Tamer was, but Ralul seems to agree that he thinks it's a Qu. Funny though, because the Tamer was always a lot friendlier than he'd expect of the Glutton, and he finds it hard to believe someone like that could keep an act like that up - or would even need to, given that cordiality is not a requirement.

SPIRITS

The answers seem to vary a little. The moogle is capable of manifesting elemental spirits into a sort of mindless companion that follows him around. Professor Bell and Bebe's experiences are similar to your own. Nosering mentions that he's spoken with quite a few elemental spirits - that the ones capable of speech gather in highly dense spirit populations, but even then they're not always self aware. More often than not the ones he's spoken to are more like records, which is difficult to explain - he makes a comparison to a geologist pulling apart the strata of an area to analyze the place's past. The preacher dude has an entirely different approach: he doesn't call directly on spirits but Alexandrian deities such as Jupiter, Pluto, and such, which correspond to eidolons like Ramuh and Hades. He insists it's different somehow but from watching him work it seems like he just believes it works differently than you do and he's really doing more of the same.

What you -do- get from the conversation, though, is a sort of consensus on the nature of spirits. The elemental spirits are the energy of the world manifest, and are strongest at the leylines of the planet - veins of power that flow through the world. In essence, though they're not the same thing by any means, spirits, souls, the life energy from Vivi's workshop, and the Manafont are all similar types of energy stemming from the planet's core. They're distinct from each other, however, in the fact that sand is distinct from glass, water is from ice or steam, or bread from the ingredients of its dough. They're composed of similar energy, but their states are quite different and have other factors modifying them. Mikoto interrupts the conversation with some scones and tea and mentions that Garland's flagship, the Invincible, literally ran on souls and could absorb and store them for energy. Things like this are also why you might read on fictional stories that mention or suggest truly terrifying arcane devices that generate magic from souls.

By the way, the globe on your necklace IS spinning something fierce, you're absolutely sure there's a sentient spirit near your home now.

EVERYONE'S GRUDGE

Well, seems like we'll be handling this in a mini.

HOW IS BABBY FORMED

Funny enough, you could probably craft a device to draw in and store spiritual energy using that energy core, and use it for the tank. Other than that, it's just figuring out a way to keep the occupant nourished, since they can't exactly eat while growing. Nature's own example of doing this is an umbilical cord, you could try something similar to break food down and nourish a growing mage.

BUSTIN' THE RYMES

She was noted as saying in her office, "Things aren't going so well. I'm going to need to gather more support. ...What, you think you can do better? Please, you've already proven -that- wrong. I just need a bit more time. Send some gil over. ...Is someone there?"

Next, she was seen meeting three cloaked figures in an alleyway in the city at night, exchanging bags and documents of some kind, and talking to them in a relaxed, friendly tone - though on this occasion they couldn't make out what was said. When the transaction was done, the figures vanished in a flash.