Vermilion Bird Crystal

The Vermilion Bird Crystal is one of the four Crystals of Orience in Final Fantasy Type-0. It is controlled by the Dominion of Rubrum and bestows the power of magic.
==Profile==
The Vermilion Bird Crystal is one of the four Crystals of Orience, and bestows the Power of Magic, granting its people the ability to harness the forces of nature to their whim. It glows red and is associated with the element of fire. The Dominion of Rubrum was built to adopt the Crystal and its power and thus has become the nation known for its expertise and proficiencies in the mystical arts, including the summoning of Eidolons. The Crystal's gift is passed down by Agito Cadets and succeeding generations, leading instructors propagating the Will of the Crystal. The Sorcery Division of Akademeia studies the Crystal and wills to enhance and utilize the magic power it grants, the division's quarters and Crystal itself being located in the heart of Akademeia. The floor around the Crystal has the same pattern with roman numerals to XIII inside clockwork gears as the background for the Rubicus.
The Crystal usually chooses cadets from Akademeia, the magic academy of Rubrum, to become its l'Cie. The dominion denizens revere and trust in the Crystal as the nation's benefactor and view the Vermilion Bird l'Cie as heroes.
The oldest exact verse of scripture in Akademeia is: "Unto Orience came the Crystal of the Vermilion Bird, to guide the children of Rubrum and bestow the great task upon them." The "great task" is commonly understood to mean the creation of Agito, and it is to that end that Akademeia was established. Akademeia started out small, but grew into a large military academy with numerous classes of cadets all competing to become Agito.
==Story==
The Vermilion Dawn is said to be when the Vermilion Bird Crystal was discovered, at Gel. XIII, 1 RG. It was the first Crystal discovered, and the start of the modern calendar. Akademeia was built around the Vermilion Peristylium and was, at first, single schoolhouse, a quiet sanctuary where a few cadets might bask in the light of the Crystal. As the teachings of the first chancellor spread, so did the size of the school.
By the year 100, the use of magic had become so prevalent Akademeia was responsible for both research and enrichment. The use of spells was taught to individuals enrolled as Agito Cadets who sought to actualize their magic potential, forming the basis of the modern Akademeia. The Vermilion Bird Crystal branded l'Cie who would protect the peristylium from monsters, and on Ventusmens XVII, 123 RG, the dominion was established.
Centuries ago, in around the year 270, the Vermilion Bird Crystal chose a l'Cie called Mizu'a and a l'Cie called Kayahara with a Focus of protecting it. As the nation of Rubrum served the Crystal as "her chosen people", and the Consortium of Eight was established to govern magical affairs, the l'Cie's Foci were fulfilled.
The Vermilion Bird Crystal blessed the dominion citizens with the ability to use magic, the gift passed down by Agito Cadets and cadets-turned-instructors propagating the Will of the Crystal. The state played no part in managing the transmission of magic in the dominion.
Once the four Crystal-States had been established, the dominion government had to follow the example set by the other nations, promoting and overseeing the blessings of the Crystal. No longer living in constant fear of monsters, the denizens of Orience faced a more terrifying breed of foe: each other. The dominion government thought it wise to strengthen its magic faculties to prepare against a potential assault, and in 297 Akademeia founded the Sorcery Division whose first order of business was to classify magic spells by type and unify their standards so anyone with magical ability could cast spells at will.
In the year 316 the Vermilion Bird Crystal tasked the l'Cie Yuka to surreptitiously cast the Concordian court into chaos.
Steeled and strengthened through centuries of war, each Crystal-State had developed formidable fighting forces convincing each head-of-state of the possibility of unifying Orience under one banner. The waning of the Crystals' power drove the four state leaders to expedite their war efforts, even if extracting energy from the Crystals exacerbated their deterioration. Fearing the weakening of the Crystals to be permanent, each nation sought to annihilate the others.
What became known as the Great Orience War ravaged the world in a global scale, and each nation's Crystal began deteriorating even more rapidly due to the replenishment the weapons, armor, and magic and through the creation of l'Cie. The Vermilion Bird Crystal deployed its l'Cie Kiyosaki to defend Iscah where he clashed with the king of Lorica, both perishing. As the power of all four Crystals was waning, on Ventusmens IV in the year 359, the four nations ordered a ceasefire and began preparations for a peace treaty.
In the year 842 RG the Militesi Empire attacks Rubrum to claim the Vermilion Bird Crystal, and deploys crystal jammers to the battlefield cutting Rubrum's magic-based forces off their Crystal. A group of cadets hand-reared by Archsorceress Arecia Al-Rashia are immune to the effect due to drawing their magic power from phantoma rather than from the Vermilion Bird Crystal, and are deployed to take down the crystal jammers. The capital is liberated, but the empire takes hold of many areas previously occupied by Rubrum. Rubrum sets out to reclaim the lost areas and during the campaign rumors of the Vermilion Bird l'Cie Lord Zhuyu being on the move spread, surprising many as the l'Cie don't usually intervene in mortal affairs.
Unusually for a Vermilion Bird Crystal l'Cie, Zhuyu joins the military campaign, although he posits he follows the Will of the Crystal and not any mortal commander. When Rubrum joins forces with the Kingdom of Concordia to reclaim Togoreth, Milites deploys the White Tiger Primus l'Cie Nimbus, and the Vermilion Bird Crystal deploys Zhuyu. The ensuing battle obliterates Togoreth.
When Class Zero is infiltrating the imperial magitek facility to destroy their prototype MA, the Vermilion Bird Secundus l'Cie Caetuna and Zhuyu meet in the crystal room, the latter remarking they haven't seen each other for a long time. Caetuna implores Zhuyu that something is about to happen, and that the two of them are mere puppets to a greater will. The Vermilion Bird Crystal begins to shine, and far away in the imperial capital of Ingram Queen Andoria invokes the Fabula Pact, a peace agreement made between the four peristylia of Orience that grants a short-lived ceasefire.
The King of Concordia, whose title is more of a figurehead, schemes to overthrow Andoria, and when she is assassinated, assumes control of the nation and allies with the empire to retaliate against the dominion for their supposed role in Andoria's death. Thus the Azure Dragon Crystal falls into Militesi hands, and both nations join forces to attack dominion for the Vermilion Bird Crystal, now the only Crystal in Orience not subjugated by the empire, that has engineered a device to enslave them.
The Vermilion Bird Crystal calls upon both of its l'Cie to protect itself, a maneuver unheard of in recent memory. Lord Zhuyu defeats the Azure Dragon Primus l'Cie Soryu, and Lady Caetuna sacrifices herself and the lives of a group of Akademeia's Agito Cadets and their commanding officer to summon a Verboten Eidolon to obliterate the Militesi Forces.
In Final Fantasy Type-0: Change the World -The Penultimate Truth- whose story diverges from that told in the game, Zhuyu and Caetuna crystallize when defending Akademeia from Militesi Ultima Bombs, and the Vermilion Bird Crystal brands Kurasame Susaya as its new l'Cie who annihilates the Militesi forces with the Knights of the Round Verboten Eidolon.
Rubrum launches an all out attack to take out both nations, and as the White Peristylium falls, Orience is united under the Vermilion Bird banner and Tempus Finis commences.
Pandæmonium rises from the sea whose Judge is said to deem one's worthiness of becoming Agito. If there is no Agito Orience will be destroyed and the spiral restarted in wait for another Tempus Finis. As the Rursus Army attacks Akademeia Zhuyu defends the Crystal but falls in battle and the Vermilion Bird is left without a l'Cie.
Sensing a White Tiger l'Cie in Pandæmonium, the Vermilion Bird Crystal seeks to brand new l'Cie, wanting one of its ilk to become Agito. It asks Class Zero, but if they accept they are slain by the Rursus and Orience is destroyed like in all cycles before it. If they turn down the offer, the Vermilion Bird Crystal brands Rem Tokimiya and sends her to Pandæmonium to intercept the White Tiger l'Cie. She does so, but both enter crystal stasis.
Class Zero wins against the Rursan Arbiter as mortals, and Tempus Finis is stalled. Instead of restarting the spiral Arecia listens to the cadets' souls and learns they are satisfied with the decision they made in how they met their end and do not wish to be revived. Arecia, really a fal'Cie of the god Pulse tasked with finding the gate to afterlife with the Agito, abandons the experiment and departs from Orience. As the light of the Crystals fades, the people are allowed to remember the dead, but Orience returns to "a dark age" as a world without Crystals.
==l'Cie==
*Zhuyu Voghfau Byot
*Caetuna
*During Tempus Finis, Rem Tokimiya or the original twelve members of Class Zero.
==Gallery==
Vermilion-Bird-Type-0-HD.png|Depiction of the Vermilion Bird from the Type-0 opening.
DominionIslandAboveConcept-fftype0.png|Concept art showing the shape of the Vermilion Bird on the island of Akademeia.
FFT-0_Suzaku_Crystal_Glowing.png
==Etymology==
ru:Кристалл Красной птицы
Category:Final Fantasy Type-0
Category:Crystal