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Setting
Background
While a summary of the game and the game world can be found on the Final Fantasy Wikia, this page hopes to offer an explanation that is slightly more digestible.
The Planet
The Planet, technically named Gaia but called simply the Planet, said by some to be a living organism much like humans are plants are. The Lifestream is the blood of the Planet and all dead things return to it only to be reborn. This is the cycle of life on the Planet and it went for years without being disrupted.
Over forty years ago the ShinRa Electric Power Company developed mako technology. This technology condensed the Lifestream into an energy source that was efficient, relatively clean, and incredibly profitable. It just happened to have the unfortunate side effect of killing the Planet as burning mako for energy broke the cycle of life and rebirth.
Three years ago, the ShinRa company fell and mako energy is being replaced with older forms of energy, such as coal and oil, as well as new experimental "green" energy, such as windmills and solar power. These new power sources hurt the Planet less and seem to be the way of the future.
For more information on the Lifestream, mako energy, and materia, please see this page.
ShinRa
Then
Originally a weapons manufacturer, the development of mako technology pushed the ShinRa company into immense and near complete power. Even once the effects mako had on the environment were made public, the company remained in power and quashed any and everyone who dissented with their military, with their elite-class SOLDIERs, or with their black ops group, the Department of Administrative Research also known as the Turks.
Left unchecked, the ShinRa Company began to perform human experiments in hopes of developing the ultimate superhuman and became harsher in their silencing of dissenters. This shift from simply control to pure abuse lead many ShinRa employees to desert, though not enough that the company could not recover from it. By the events of the original game, the ShinRa Company is poised to begin the search for the fabled Promised Land, said to be overflowing with mako energy--and therefore money.
By the end of the events of the original game, the company is in shambles and blamed for everything that happened. Very few people know what has happened to the former superpower.
Now
Left with its president, Rufus Shinra, four of his Turks, and a handful of other ShinRa employees, the ShinRa Electric Power Company is poised to make a reappearance on the world stage as ShinRa Technologies. No longer interested in ruling the world, the new ShinRa Company will be working with the WRO to develop green technology and other, less world-changing gadgets such as smartphones.
Just don't ask why Rufus still has his black ops department.
AVALANCHE
Originally a nihilistic terrorist group working to destroy the world (and funded by a young Rufus Shinra in hopes of dethroning his father), Barret Wallace rebuilt the group roughly four years ago as a purely eco-terrorist group determined to blow up ShinRa and save the Planet.
Things went upside down very quickly after the group's first mission and AVALANCHE found itself in the center of the Meteor Crisis, eventually saving the world from Sephiroth. No one's entirely positive how such a motley group saved the world, but no one's really complaining either.
The assorted members of AVALANCHE parted ways after the end of the crisis, some of the finding a place with the WRO and others simply wanting time to heal. They all remain in touch.
World Regenesis Organization
Founded by former ShinRa employee and sort-of member of AVALANCHE Reeve Tuesti, the WRO is a volunteer organization that stepped up as the protectors of the Planet after AVALANCHE disbanded and as a transitional government with the fall of ShinRa. With the help of a "mysterious" benefactor (it's Rufus Shinra), the WRO built the city of Edge and is able to devote most of it's work to rebuilding rather than gathering funds to rebuild.
The WRO recently announced their partnership and support for ShinRa Technologies, promising to oversee the company's work and keep them from going the way of their predecessor. The WRO is also currently investigating the strange behavior of the Lifestream.
Important Locations
Edge
A city built on the edge of the ruins of Midgar from scrap collected from the ruins of Midgar. This is the largest city on the Planet and where pretty much everything happens. All Streamers will be taken to Edge after waking up in the WRO medical ward.
Mideel
Formerly a tropical tourist town, the city was destroyed by Ultimate WEAPON three years ago. The Lifestream is close to the surface here and it is here that all Streamers wash up. There is a huge hole where the Lifestream can be seen, but it is cordoned off for the safety of those still living on the island.
Gold Saucer
The Gold Saucer is the biggest (and only) amusement part/casino hybrid on the Planet! Located above the ruins of Old Corel in the desert, the Gold Saucer regularly holds massive and crazy events that promise fun, prizes, and frustration as your prized black racing chocobo goes off the rails. Lately, there have been rumors of strange goods appearing in the prize shops of the Gold Saucer.
Wutai
The only actual "country" on the Planet. Wutai long protested ShinRa, eventually losing a war to them, and remained one of the few heavily populated areas that did not use energy from a mako reactor. The country is known for its pride and the strength of its warrirors. Yuffie Kisaragi, a member of AVALANCHE and the WRO, is the future ruler of the country.
The Forgotten City
Located in the far north of the world. This city is all that remains of the Cetra civilization and is now considered a protected place. The WRO has sent historians and archaeologists to the Forgotten City in hopes of finding out more information about the Cetra, but so far there has been no luck. No one is allowed to go here unless sent by the WRO.
While a summary of the game and the game world can be found on the Final Fantasy Wikia, this page hopes to offer an explanation that is slightly more digestible.
The Planet
The Planet, technically named Gaia but called simply the Planet, said by some to be a living organism much like humans are plants are. The Lifestream is the blood of the Planet and all dead things return to it only to be reborn. This is the cycle of life on the Planet and it went for years without being disrupted.
Over forty years ago the ShinRa Electric Power Company developed mako technology. This technology condensed the Lifestream into an energy source that was efficient, relatively clean, and incredibly profitable. It just happened to have the unfortunate side effect of killing the Planet as burning mako for energy broke the cycle of life and rebirth.
Three years ago, the ShinRa company fell and mako energy is being replaced with older forms of energy, such as coal and oil, as well as new experimental "green" energy, such as windmills and solar power. These new power sources hurt the Planet less and seem to be the way of the future.
For more information on the Lifestream, mako energy, and materia, please see this page.
ShinRa
Then
Originally a weapons manufacturer, the development of mako technology pushed the ShinRa company into immense and near complete power. Even once the effects mako had on the environment were made public, the company remained in power and quashed any and everyone who dissented with their military, with their elite-class SOLDIERs, or with their black ops group, the Department of Administrative Research also known as the Turks.
Left unchecked, the ShinRa Company began to perform human experiments in hopes of developing the ultimate superhuman and became harsher in their silencing of dissenters. This shift from simply control to pure abuse lead many ShinRa employees to desert, though not enough that the company could not recover from it. By the events of the original game, the ShinRa Company is poised to begin the search for the fabled Promised Land, said to be overflowing with mako energy--and therefore money.
By the end of the events of the original game, the company is in shambles and blamed for everything that happened. Very few people know what has happened to the former superpower.
Now
Left with its president, Rufus Shinra, four of his Turks, and a handful of other ShinRa employees, the ShinRa Electric Power Company is poised to make a reappearance on the world stage as ShinRa Technologies. No longer interested in ruling the world, the new ShinRa Company will be working with the WRO to develop green technology and other, less world-changing gadgets such as smartphones.
Just don't ask why Rufus still has his black ops department.
AVALANCHE
Originally a nihilistic terrorist group working to destroy the world (and funded by a young Rufus Shinra in hopes of dethroning his father), Barret Wallace rebuilt the group roughly four years ago as a purely eco-terrorist group determined to blow up ShinRa and save the Planet.
Things went upside down very quickly after the group's first mission and AVALANCHE found itself in the center of the Meteor Crisis, eventually saving the world from Sephiroth. No one's entirely positive how such a motley group saved the world, but no one's really complaining either.
The assorted members of AVALANCHE parted ways after the end of the crisis, some of the finding a place with the WRO and others simply wanting time to heal. They all remain in touch.
World Regenesis Organization
Founded by former ShinRa employee and sort-of member of AVALANCHE Reeve Tuesti, the WRO is a volunteer organization that stepped up as the protectors of the Planet after AVALANCHE disbanded and as a transitional government with the fall of ShinRa. With the help of a "mysterious" benefactor (it's Rufus Shinra), the WRO built the city of Edge and is able to devote most of it's work to rebuilding rather than gathering funds to rebuild.
The WRO recently announced their partnership and support for ShinRa Technologies, promising to oversee the company's work and keep them from going the way of their predecessor. The WRO is also currently investigating the strange behavior of the Lifestream.
Important Locations
Edge
A city built on the edge of the ruins of Midgar from scrap collected from the ruins of Midgar. This is the largest city on the Planet and where pretty much everything happens. All Streamers will be taken to Edge after waking up in the WRO medical ward.
Mideel
Formerly a tropical tourist town, the city was destroyed by Ultimate WEAPON three years ago. The Lifestream is close to the surface here and it is here that all Streamers wash up. There is a huge hole where the Lifestream can be seen, but it is cordoned off for the safety of those still living on the island.
Gold Saucer
The Gold Saucer is the biggest (and only) amusement part/casino hybrid on the Planet! Located above the ruins of Old Corel in the desert, the Gold Saucer regularly holds massive and crazy events that promise fun, prizes, and frustration as your prized black racing chocobo goes off the rails. Lately, there have been rumors of strange goods appearing in the prize shops of the Gold Saucer.
Wutai
The only actual "country" on the Planet. Wutai long protested ShinRa, eventually losing a war to them, and remained one of the few heavily populated areas that did not use energy from a mako reactor. The country is known for its pride and the strength of its warrirors. Yuffie Kisaragi, a member of AVALANCHE and the WRO, is the future ruler of the country.
The Forgotten City
Located in the far north of the world. This city is all that remains of the Cetra civilization and is now considered a protected place. The WRO has sent historians and archaeologists to the Forgotten City in hopes of finding out more information about the Cetra, but so far there has been no luck. No one is allowed to go here unless sent by the WRO.