FFXIV Lore- What it Means to be a Black Mage

it's late in the fifth astral era a rampaging void sent is trying to escape the city of mock and those who pulled it from the void leaving a trail of destruction in its wake as it sees its chance at freedom from the only people that could contain it the void sense stops as its path is suddenly obstructed by a single mage the monstrosity smiles at its odds and charges without a word the mage pulls their staff from their back and ignites the ground beneath the beast an explosion shakes the earth and the force of the blast sends the void sent skyward only to be juggled midair by a relentless barrage of arcane fire and lightning it's only allowed back onto the ground after the mage conjures a glacier of ice on top of it slamming the void scent to the ground beneath the abomination regains focus and crawls from the shards of ice only to see a large arcane circle now below the mage the caster remarks that those who fail to fall online shall be dealt with as the mage visibly pulls the aether around them a torrent of destructive force sends the monster screaming back from whence it came and only dust remains to tell the creature's tail today we're addressing a profession that was so powerful and ruinous that it had a hand in the creation of the six umbral calamity otherwise known as the calamity of water these arcane arts beguile the mind and break bodies with little to no effort gather around my friends and let us discuss what it means to be a black mage the history of black mages begins around the 9th century of the 5th astral era within the lands of y'fame home to the civilization of mock magic like any tool had been used to both harm and defend oneself in a variety of ways since the first mage ever arose but it was within the walls of mock that magic's potential for absolute domination and devastation would be brought to its climax a lala fella mage by the name of chatoto would be the one to weave the first black mage spells this was a major turning point in their culture the maki began to produce some of the most powerful mages the world had ever seen with the rise of black magic with chatoto's teachings their civilization grew to become one of the two major powers of the fifth astral era only being rivaled by the ancient amdapor in the years following chatoto's discoveries they expanded on black magic and ended up creating the most dangerous incantations and arcane weaponry to be seen in thousands of years there was no shortage of willing mages looking to take up the black mantle with a mock so there was plenty of magi looking to obliterate any opponents of their great city-state eventually this mastery over the magics of our world led to some researchers deciding that they were strong enough to harness the powers of other worlds as well with blackmagic as their counterbalance the civilization of mock began to experiment with void magics they used their overwhelming spells to defeat and contain any and all void scent they summoned to our world using their very essence-like batteries for wicked devices machines and spells but as you all know absolute power corrupts absolutely and the maki began to rot from the inside out too late into their battles with the city state of amdapor did they realize that their excessive use of black magic and void magics had caused the world's aether to destabilize past the point of no return the sixth umbral calamity was upon them and they had only themselves to blame the calamity drowned the city of mach leaving the lands of ufame as an unforgiving saltwater swamp in its place for the land to reclaim books and archives were damaged beyond recognition the seals that had kept their void sent slaves in check weakened and broke unleashing monstrosities onto the world what's more is that almost every soul crystal used by black mages was lost and the ones that were found were destroyed branded as a forbidden magic there were black mages that had survived the floods of the calamity but they were so distraught by what they had caused they couldn't bring themselves to use their dark spells any longer some tried to form new schools of magic that would prevent further calamities others traveled and educated new cultures and the dangers of excessive magic and many more went into self-imposed exile never to be seen again this wouldn't be the end of black magic as the allure of the forbidden and the mysteries of the forgotten often drive people to dig up what others try to keep buried there were remnants of the art that survived into the sixth astral age with the development of the nation of bella dia in the heart of thanolin but this was several hundred years after the calamity and with no books or teachers to learn from the art was now a shadow of its warmer self and had reverted back into basic thaumaturgy a true black mage wouldn't be seen until the sixth astral era where a lalafell by the name kukuruka tataruka would go out of his way to try and revive this forbidden magic like chatoto before him he attempted to weave the first black magic to be seen in over a millennia with allies he had made from other beast tribes in his excitement in hubris he failed and what resulted nearly broke him for his failure he convinced ul daw that he was a threat to the world and was thrown into prison in his hundred years of imprisonment he meditated on the nature of black magic writing books and guidelines in hopes of handing these dark arts to worthy black mages that would respect the craft in this he succeeded and a new generation of black mages has been seen in our current age next let us discuss the powers of a black mage that made it so dangerous in the first place and hopefully avoid another calamity in so doing the easiest way to explain this is by beginning at the roots of the discipline thalmaturgy thaumaturgic arts have existed for as long as history can remember the weaving of spells into lethal incantations and helpful boons has always been a staple of the practice on its own thaumaturgy is no threat to the world since it only uses the caster's personal pull of aether normally using your aether to command such destructive spells would be dangerous but modern-day thaumaturgy uses a loophole today's mages teach how aligning yourself and your aether to the umbral and astral affinity for a short time can have tremendous results when a thaumaturge is aligned astrally their spells are spontaneous and aggressive but drains their personal aether more quickly but by temporarily aligning themselves with the umbral affinity their essence is given a chance to breathe and reinvigorate itself by making their aether breathe in and out with every umbral and astral shift their spells are both devastating and enduring at the same time this allows the thaumaturge to fight at full strength much longer than your typical spell thrower but no one's personal pull of aether is infinite eventually they'll grow tired and their own aether isn't enough to leave spells that would end a battle quickly against a superior opponent that is where black magic comes in chatoto while one of the strongest mages of her age desired to overcome her physical limitations and push beyond the pool of her own aether she wove countless spells and incantations before eventually finding a way to harmonize her own power with that of the world by tapping into and blending the ambient aether around her with her own essence she had achieved her goal and the first black mage spell was born the results spoke for themselves and she was pureless within the culture of mock earning her the title death's handmaiden this is why a black mage's power is so much greater and dangerous than that of a thalmaturg no longer bound by their own personal aether a black mage grabs hold of and mixes the very life force of the world into their spells magic that was once limited to a river was now akin to a mighty ocean the biggest limits on thaumaturgy are broken by black mages and the destructive forces of reality bend a knee to the caster's will the weaving of fire ice and lightning had been brought to its peak and past that was raw unexpected power normally supplementing your personal aether with out of the worlds isn't too horrendous the crime that the maki were guilty of was that of excess under normal circumstances your personal aether when depleted will slowly gain its strength back but there is a point of no return where you take more than your body could hope to reproduce ending in your death the world acts the same way if you take the ambient aether around you given time it will replenish itself with no lasting repercussions but with so many mages taking up the black mantle and so many spells taken from the world over and over again it bled the land dry the excessive use of black magic along with other factors destabilized the world past this point of no return this is why black magic has been considered a forbidden art for so long an excess of black mages would drain and doom the world all over again so for more than a thousand years blackmagic had nasty stories told about it to ward off its use and make it taboo people assumed just because the city of mock also made use of void magics that it and black magic were one in the same but this is not true black magic and void magic are two completely different things the black mages of mock did indeed make a habit of summoning void scent and using them in their rituals to gain power but chatoto's black magic had nothing to do with the void and there are no records stating that she had any interest in void magics in truth almost any kind of magic could be used to power a void rift black mages simply had the easiest time of it given their superior control over aether that brings us to the weapons and attire of a black mage the history of one-handed scepters and two-handed stabs of a black mage goes back further than any of my records can accurately predict but it's theorized they arrived in the first astral era with the discovery and exploration of a cult phenomena what makes these items useful to the caster is that they're always ethically charged and serve as a conduit for their spells if made of bone or wood then it can be assumed that it was fashioned from a magical beast or etheric tree likewise you'll find magically charged crystals or gems in almost every scepter and staff to act as the primary focus for your spells however you'll also discover that the most powerful stavs often makes use of the entire item in fact the entire reason thaumaturgy and blackmagic makes exclusive use of fire ice and lightning was because the first ones who made these stavs discovered that their spells flowed through these weapons easier when aligned to one of those three elements the attire of a black mage changed rapidly over the course of mock's history originally they were nothing more than dark robes woven with aether rich fabric and decorated with arcane symbols to make for easier casting it wasn't until their culture started to make excessive use of void magics that we eventually gained the attire we see today every gem crystal cloth and symbol on their robes now served the purpose of drawing an ambient aether and making for more powerful spells they even increase the size of their collar to obscure their mouths and make it impossible for anyone to read their lips or hear them whisper in incantation with the many void scent now under their control there was a problem with mages being harmed or manipulated by any who made eye contact with these demons the answer to this problem was the large brim hats that black mages are now known for the excessively large brim made it easy to break line of sight with void scent canceling their ocular powers to further this end they even started covering one eye to make getting caught out almost impossible while originally designed to enslave void scent easier these clothes now serve to turn black mages into the perfect void scent slayers now you know the truth behind these forbidden magics there was no connection to the void to begin with they never wanted to destroy the world it was only a byproduct of their gluttony if you take up the black mantle then heed these warnings well but even following these rules you'll discover that your magic can freeze oceans burn the land and alight the sky electric while the number of black mages may be few in the world just one it's enough to make an entire country tremble good day thank you for staying to the end of my lesson it's my hope that you found something new and interesting in between my ramblings if you did consider subscribing and liking this video doing that is the easiest way to tell me i'm doing a good job at feeding your thirst for knowledge if there is a topic you'd love to learn more about that i've yet to cover let me know in the comments and i'll see where my research takes me i'd also encourage you to share what you learned here with your friends and adventuring companions and if they're interested bring them to the next assembly i hope to see you and any other curious travelers in the next lecture till then stay safe my friends

Channel: Synodic Scribe

Views: 39,543

Keywords: ffxiv, FFXIV, Final Fantasy 14, mmorpg, mmo, lore, gaming, educational

Id: SXArbxg8TA0

Length: 14min 46sec (886 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 09 2021