Xdeath

This was one of four servers used for beta testing of the original release of FFXI for the Playstation 2 console in Japan. In February 2002, the population of Xdeath Server was merged with the population of Zande Server before being deactivated. Reason for deactivation is unknown; possibly to reduce server usage once the actual number of beta testers was known, and to make room for future testing on Glasyalabolas later on.
[please edit in the reason for the deactivation of Golbez & Xdeath servers when it becomes known] 
ID Number: N/A
Activation Date: December 17, 2001
 
Deactivation Date: February 4, 2002 (uncertain, evidence indicates around Feb 4th- 8th)
=== History in the FF Series ===
Exdeath (FFV [JP]), X-Death (FFV [EN])
Exdeath (also spelled X-Death) was the primary villain in Final Fantasy V. Exdeath appeared as a figure clad in pastel blue armor, robes, and a cape, with a knight's helmet concealing his face, ornate golden shoulder pads and several beads and other regalia on his belt, wielding a white cane. His true form, though, was that of a gigantic tree with an angry face on its trunk. He has shown the power to transform from the humanoid figure (presumably made of wood) into a giant tree or a small splinter. As bizarre as it seems, Exdeath was a sentient tree. He sought to create a world ruled by monsters and planned to accomplish that by getting an ancient, destructive power. 
He was one of the more unusual villains due to his peculiar origin. An evil spirit, sealed in a tree 500 years ago, transformed the tree into a monster. Ghido the Turtle kept the seal intact for most of the 500 years, but 30 years ago, it broke, causing the transformed tree, Exdeath, to go free (contrary to what some believe, that evil spirit was not Enuo. The sequence of events is off by 500 years and Enuo was described as being destroyed [he gave up his invulnerability to get Mu] and no allusions exist in the game to infer Exdeath is the returned Enuo). What that evil spirit was is unclear (it may have been a standard monster like any of the other monstrous bosses seen). 
The shattering of the crystals only began after meteors began to fall from the sky. Shortly after the Worus Meteor fell near Worus Tower (home of the Water Crystal), Galura, a large, normally docile, elephant-like creature, would run amok and shatter the Water Crystal. Galura had been possessed. Monsters which arrived in the Karnak Meteor stormed the kingdom of Karnak, going after the Fire Crystal. The monsters that had stormed the Wind Shrine for the Wind Crystal were presumably from the Tycoon Meteor). Queen Karnak, also possessed, put the ship into full power to overload the crystal. Later, King Tycoon was sighted around the Gorn Ruins, beneath which rest the Ruins of Lonka, an ancient floating metal fortress which houses the Earth Crystal. After the city rose into the sky, the possessed King Tycoon caused its crystal to shatter (the 4th meteor, the Gorn Meteor, was piloted by Cara, granddaughter of Galuf, also from the Kingdom of Bal). The purpose of shattering the Crystals was to break the seal on Exdeath so that he may be freed. The Meteors, operated by members of the Kingdom of Bal and Exdeath's monstrous forces had an energy warp deep inside their cores. Stepping through these warps could transport someone to another world (evidently, the warp works most likely due to the Adamant in the meteor's ore and propelling the meteor into orbit somehow allows the whole meteor to pass through the warp, acting as a vehicle to the other world). 
Shattering the Crystals was an easy task due to their over-exploitation by the people of World 1. Cid had developed technology to amplify the power of the Crystals (but that amplification would eventually cause stress to build in the crystalline structure until it reached a critical point, shattering). Karnak had used the technology to make such a surplus of weapons & armor that they could be sold far below price as well as a powerful metal warship powered by the crystal, the Fire Ship. Worus used the technology to produce a bounty of clean, flowing freshwater for their kingdom. It isn't clear how the kingdom of Tycoon was using the Wind Crystal. Cid was inspired by ancient texts from the Library of Ancients which revealed the crystals were once more powerful in the past (the crystals were weakened when they were split in 2). The Earth Crystal also had crystal-amplifying technology, though this technology was developed by the Lonkans centuries ago (presumably reversing gravity, causing the fortress to fly).
The Warriors of Dawn (Drogan, Butz's father, Galuf, the King of Bal, Zeza, the King of Surgate, and Kelga, the Werewolf of Kelb) came to World-1 30 years ago to imprison Exdeath under a powerful seal in an isolated forest near the Wind Shrine which had 4 giant stones (a place where the power of the 4 Crystals comes together). Drogan had stayed behind to make sure the seal stayed in place. He settled down and had a family (his son, Butz, was the game's hero). Galuf returned in the Tycoon Meteor (evidently monsters had stowed aboard as well) to see what was happening with the crystals on World-1 (evidently, they could monitor the status of World-1's Crystals from World-2). All 4 would eventually die, three in the effort to fight the resurgent Exdeath. At least one of Exdeath's minions was also sealed up on World-1 (Byblos, sealed in the Library of Ancients, who was described as arriving 30 years ago near the Wind Shrine). 
Exdeath had fairly advanced technology and resources at his disposal. He ruled over a horde of monsters. He had enough resources to mobilize a bridge, the Big Bridge, to be built across the ocean to connect 2 continents, and build 4 Barrier Towers, technological spires able to generate a force field which protected his castle from assault. His second-in-command was Gilgamesh, a humanoid swordsman who wore Genji Armor (he later revealed his true form to a monstrous, albeit humanoid creature with many arms, each wielding a weapon). Exdeath's forces were able to devastate the ranks of Bal's forces, allowing them free reign over much of the southwestern continent of World-2. His castle, which appeared as a sleek, white and blue crystalline castle on the outside and standard castle on the inside was actually a demonic place, filled with mist, demonic pinkish pillars made from bone, spikes, and skulls everywhere. He had an illusion cast over it to make it appear normal. 
On World-2, he uses the heroes to break the seal on the Elder Tree in the Mua Forest (the 4 Crystals of World-2 lie inside the tree). He uses the power of the Crystals to try and kill Cara, but Galuf combats their energy, causing them to shatter. The ensuing fight kills Galuf. His goal was to restore the original world, the world which has not existed in its entirety for 1000 years to get the power of Mu (the Void). 
The original world was split in 2 when the original set of Crystals was split into 2 for the purpose of sealing the power of Mu. 1000 years ago, another evil mage, this one named Enuo had gotten the power to control Mu. He used it to suck many places into the void, including the Mirage Village, but was defeated by heroes wielding the Twelve Legendary Weapons (Excalibur, Masamune, Sasuke's Katana, Yoichi's Bow, Holy Lance, Rune Axe, Thor's Hammer, Assassin Dagger, Magus Rod, Fire Bute, Earth Bell, Apollo Harp). The truth, though, was that he was sucked into the Mu (as witnessed by the inhabitants of Mirage). He traded his invulnerability to control the power of Mu, but he could not control it (besides initially) and it absorbed him. Despite Enuo's death, the Mu remained. The splitting of the world sealed Mu in the Cleft of Dimension, the gap between the two worlds. 
The Cleft of Dimension was a gap between the two worlds which was accessed by entering through the initial black hole created by Exdeath at Tycoon Castle. Inside this place was a mishmash, an assemblage of places sucked into the void. While only the Mirage Village, with its 'fantastic' ancient weapons, armor, and magic, lost to the ages, as well as "an evil forest and cave" are mentioned, a castle kingdom was also sucked into the void, as well as part of a desert, and some Lonkan ruins (The Mu also sucked up two undefeatable entities which came "from the sky" 1000 years ago, Omega and Shinryu). The Time Magic Xzone also seems to be a weaker form of Mu, able to only suck up a few targets at most (since Gilgamesh, cast into another dimension by Exdeath casting this magic, turned up in the CoD). 
When he gets the power of Mu, his first act is to suck Tycoon Castle into a black hole. When in the Cleft of Dimension, he frees all the monsters which were sucked into the void and deploys the most prominent ones to be his legions to wreak havoc and thwart the heroes across World-3, the merged world: Melusine, Stalker, Triton, Phobos, Nereid, Woodsprite, Halicarnassus, Catastrophe, Apanda, Azulmagia, Twin Tania, Necrophobia, and an unfortunate red gargoyle-like monster whose name is never revealed as he is destroyed by Leviathan. Eventually, the Library of Ancients, Istory, Worus, Karnak, the Moogle Forest, and Lix would be sucked into the void.
 
Exdeath and the legions of monsters wanted to establish a world of darkness, one controlled by monsters and not people. They thought Mu was their ticket to this. In the final battle, he uses Mu to suck up all remaining human settlements and finally the Light Warriors. However, in the strange starry void, the spirits of the fallen Warriors of Dawn visit them and use their power to hold back the Mu, causing the Light Warriors to return to the battlefield. When Exdeath is defeated, the Mu, out of his control, envelops him, absorbing him into the abyss. He is replaced with Neo-Exdeath, a separate entity (despite the name), one which seeks to erase "all memory, all existence, and all dimensions" and then erase themselves. Neo-Exdeath is apparently the Mu given sentience. Neo-Exdeath's defeat caused everything recently sucked into the void to be returned and the crystals to eventually re-form at their original locations before the world's split: the Pyramid (Earth Crystal), the Island Shrine (Wind Crystal), the Great Sea Trench (Fire Crystal), and Istory Falls (Water Crystal).
(For reference, Neo-Exdeath is a pile of monsters, demonic snakes, skeletons, monstrous heads, some women, and a gray figure with red horns at the head of the pack).
=== Historical Background ===
XDeath (sometimes translated as X-Death or Exdeath) has its name as an abbreviation for "exceeding death". The Japanese pronounciation of their rendering of the name, e-kusu-desu, sounds similar to the word "exodus". XDeath does migrate between World 2 and World 1, between World 1 and World 2, and then from World 2 to World 3 and then into the Cleft of Dimension. While that may have been a play on words, the meaning was "exceeding death". 
category:Servers