Gaia ( Final Fantasy VII ) Gaia , known more commonly as the Planet and also spelled Gaea , is the name of the world in which " Compilation of Final Fantasy VII " takes place . Geography . Gaia is made up of three unnamed continents : one in the east , one in the west , and one in the north . Other large islands include the Mideel island south of the eastern continent part of a long chain of islands , a large forested island that holds the Temple of the Ancients in the southwest of the eastern continent , and a long island to the west of the western continent that is home to Wutai . Most of Gaia has a temperate climate with large grassy plains broken up by mountains . The Icicle Area taking up the northern continent is made up of a massive plain of ice known as the Great Glacier . At the northern tip of the landmass is the gigantic North Crater that has a cave inside known as the Northern Cave which leads into the bowels of Gaia . The most prominent desert is in the western continent below Gold Saucer . Marshlands can be found in the eastern continent in front of the Mythril Mine in the Grasslands Area . Nature . Gaia is a living organism from which all its living creatures are born and to where they return upon death . Its life blood is the Lifestream , a flow of energy that contains all the knowledge of all the creatures that ever lived on it . Gaia has a mind of its own and humans with special powers , called Cetra , can speak directly with Gaia . Gaia creates protectors called Weapons to be summoned whenever it feels threatened . The most powerful of these , the Omega , can transport Gaia ' s Lifestream to the cosmos when Gaia inevitably dies like all organisms . Minerva seems to have a connection to the will of Gaia , apparently being the embodiment of the Lifestream , but this is not elaborated on . Story . Ancient history . Two thousand years ago Gaia was home to an ancient nomadic group of people called the Cetra who could commune with the Planet itself . One day , a shape - shifting extraterrestrial being crashed into the northern continent , causing a massive wound on Gaia ' s surface that would become known as the North Crater . The alien took the form of Cetra and tricked their loved ones into letting their guard down . It injected its cells into the Cetra , twisting and corrupting them , even mutating them into monsters . The alien destroyed most of the Cetra until what remained of their number sealed her away . Human s , a branch of the Cetra who had abandoned their nomadic ways and built permanent settlements , largely survived the calamity , and became the dominant race on Gaia . The Cetra , now called the Ancients by humans , were reduced to almost nothing but legend , the only signs of their existence being the ruins called the Forgotten Capital on the northern continent . Overtime , the Planet gathered and emitted a mass of Spirit Energy around the North Crater to heal the wound . Because most of the Cetra were killed there weren ' t many to cultivate new life , and as a result , the wound heals slowly and still remains 2 , 000 years after the calamity . Shinra ' s rise . Humans have inhabited Gaia . A former weapons manufacturer , the Shinra Electric Power Company run by President Shinra , discovered a way to harness Gaia ' s Lifestream to create Mako energy and humans built titanic mechanical wonders , such as the metropolis of Midgar on the eastern continent . Unknown to most of the populace harvesting Mako sucks the lifeblood out of Gaia , and the world is slowly dying and the area around Midgar becomes a dead - zone . In their search for more Mako energy Shinra hopes to find the fabled Promised Land of Cetra legend and hunts for the Cetra ' s remnants . During their search they exhumed the sealed alien creature and named it Jenova . Thinking Jenova to be an " Ancient , " Shinra started the Jenova Project to breed a human with Cetra powers who could lead the company to the Promised Land . The company grew from a mere corporation to the world ' s " de facto " ruler and the only state that continues to oppose Shinra was Wutai . After the Wutai War Shinra took over that territory as well , and holds complete control over Gaia . Following Shinra ' s conquest of Wutai , two separate threats appeared to oppose its rule . AVALANCHE , an eco - terrorist army , wants to destroy Shinra and save Gaia from the threat pose by Mako energy . An AVALANCHE commander called Fuhito betrays the organization and summons a monster known as Zirconiade . A group of Shinra defectors from the Turks , a Shinra secret agent force , defeats Zirconiade in the Midgar Slums . At the same time , Genesis Rhapsodos , a member of Shinra ' s special forces , the SOLDIER , and a child of the Jenova Project , also defects from Shinra and leads an army of his copies to fight the corporation and his former SOLDIER friends in the Genesis War . During all this Sephiroth , Jenova ' s " son " and the strongest of all SOLDIERs , goes insane and destroys the town of Nibelheim . A Shinra guard named Cloud Strife watches his hometown burn and faces off against Sephiroth in the local Mako Reactor . Sephiroth falls into the Lifestream and is believed dead . Genesis is later defeated by a SOLDIER named Zack Fair and is captured by Shinra and used in new experiments . Meteor . Five years after he was defeated in Nibel Reactor , Sephiroth returns from the dead by exerting his will from the Lifestream . Taking over Jenova ' s body and forcing her into his form , Sephiroth kills President Shinra . Rufus Shinra succeeds his father and goes after Sephiroth . Cloud Strife and a party of his friends follow Sephiroth around Gaia , among them the last surviving Cetra , Aerith Gainsborough . During the search , Sephiroth kills Aerith and ends the race of the Cetra . Sephiroth ' s goal is to summon Meteor to inflict a massive wound unto Gaia , and take control of the Spirit Energy Gaia would summon to heal itself . With the Black Materia Sephiroth succeeds . Facing destruction , Gaia calls forth its protectors , the Weapons , but they fail to stop Sephiroth and instead destroy Shinra Headquarters ending Shinra ' s rule . Cloud and his party defeat Sephiroth , but as Meteor speeds towards Midgar it is stopped by the ultimate White Magic spell Holy that Aerith had prayed for before her death . The colliding forces destroy Midgar and some of the surrounding area , and during the confrontation the Lifestream wells up and pushes Meteor out into space , allowing Holy to destroy it . This event is known as " Meteorfall " by the survivors . Post - Meteorfall . Midgar is finished as the world capital . Shinra is replaced as the governing body by the World Regenesis Organization ( WRO ) with funding from the former president of Shinra , Rufus . Two years following Sephiroth and Jenova ' s defeat the remnants of their power come upon the world as Geostigma , a plague upon mankind . Three " pieces of Sephiroth " appear , hunting for Jenova ' s remains to revive their " older brother . " Kadaj , the leader , fuses with Jenova ' s particles in the ruins of Midgar recreating Sephiroth to rain destruction upon Gaia . Cloud battles the resurrected Sephiroth and defeats his old nemesis once more . A year later , Deepground , Shinra ' s last secret , attacks mankind . Deepground was a secret organization based below Midgar who were trapped after Meteorfall . Their return marks a conflict between the WRO and Deepground , culminating in the Battle of Midgar . Vincent Valentine , a member of Cloud ' s party and target of Deepground , descends deep into Midgar and defeats the Deepground leaders , but Deepground summons the Omega Weapon . Vincent transforms into Chaos and defeats Omega , saving Gaia . Culture . There are three known sentient races on Gaia : the Cetra and humans , and Red XIII ' s species , who have far longer lifespans but have never been known to build civilizations , existing only in small numbers . Moogles exist as legendary creatures . Outside of worship of Gaia itself , and Wutai ' s worship of the summon Leviathan , no other established religions are known , although there exists a church in Midgar Slums . The ancient epic LOVELESS mentions a goddess . Dialects exist from major towns and cities throughout the world . The world ' s calendar is the same as the real world Gregorian calendar with twelve months of the same name and 365 days . " Final Fantasy VII " takes place in late 0007 , early 0008 , about ten years after the date of its real - world release . There is a day of celebration at the end of December similar to Christmas . The world is divided into time zones since the Midgar trains run on Midgar Standard Time . Gaia is modern with television , cellphone s , cars , planes , and modern amenities that require power sources , such as Mako energy . Before Mako , the town of Corel was a coal exporter , and after Mako the people returned to fossil fuels . Only the major cities enjoy the benefits of high technology , while the smaller towns are stuck in a less developed state . Thanks to easy transportation , several towns are tourist areas , such as the beach town of Costa del Sol , the resort of Wutai Village , and the ski - slopes of Icicle Inn . During the Meteor crisis mankind sends a manned - rocket into space . Modern armies and fleets of airships have also been shown . Gameplay . In the World Map , the player can save their game at any time . They can also use tents freely . Etymology . The name " Gaia " has not been attributed to the Planet in any official " Final Fantasy VII " media , the sole use of the word in reference to the Planet being the location Gaea ' s Cliff . It has sparsely been used in promotional materials for the series . The first use of the name came in promotional material for " " , which referred to the planet as Gaia . On the official website for " Dirge of Cerberus - Final Fantasy VII - " , the hangman game in the tribute section of the website refers to the game ' s setting as the planet Gaia . In 2012 , Square Enix launched their North American website for the " Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary " , which introduced the numbered " Final Fantasy " games ; in the world ' s bio for " Final Fantasy VII " is identified as Gaia . " Final Fantasy All the Bravest " also refers to the Planet as Gaia in the description for the Ultimate Weapon enemy . Despite being known as Gaia in these materials , the Planet has only ever been referred to as in the Japanese releases and related material .