Star Sibyl

Star Sibyl is a title held by a non-player character in Final Fantasy XI. She is the Federation of Windurst's head of state and the spiritual leader of the Tarutaru. She resides in Heaven's Tower and rarely makes public appearances. Her actual name has not been revealed.
Star Sibyls guide the people of Windurst by reading the moon and the stars to foresee future events. They wear a blue orb called the Diza Star which is essential to the application of their powers. The current Star Sibyl has held her position since before the Crystal War.
__TOC__
==Story==
Hundreds of years earlier the first Star Sibyl had performed a Moon Reading at the Full Moon Fountain and foretold centuries of wealth and prosperity for her people. Her prophecy was recorded in the Star Spring at Heaven's Tower and her successors would combine it with their own Star Readings to shepherd their nation through the ages.
When the current Star Sibyl performed her first Star Reading, however, she saw a future in which Windurst had been obliterated and its people extinguished. She sought the counsel of Fenrir at the Full Moon Fountain and learned that this was the outcome the first Star Sibyl had accepted. Windurst's long golden age would end in utter destruction.
The Star Sibyl related her experience to Optistery minister Karaha-Baruha, with whom she shared a secret romance. Karaha-Baruha could not accept annihilation and devoted himself to researching means to overcome Windurst's fate. Ten years before the Crystal War he concluded that magic derived from natural sources had grown as strong as it would ever be and was no longer a worthwhile avenue of research. Instead he proposed a new discipline that would draw power from living things and thereby exceed the limits that existed in nature. Other ministers objected to this idea since it would endanger lives by its very description but the Star Sibyl understood Karaha-Baruha's objective. To defend Windurst they would require not just the power of any living creature but energy drawn from a terrible entity like Fenrir itself.
Five years later the Star Sibyl permitted Karaha-Baruha to establish a new laboratory deep in Toraimarai Canal. This so-called sixth ministry, the Animastery, allowed him to channel the energies of the Horutoto Ruins into the art he called summoning. The entrance to this study was sealed so that only the Optistery minister's ring could open it and a portal was created inside connecting directly to the Star Sibyl's chambers.
===Wings of the Goddess===
By the time the Crystal War began, Karaha-Baruha's research was nearly complete. The Star Sibyl denied him the last piece of information he required, however, as Warlock Warlord Robel-Akbel had warned her that something terrible would happen to Karaha-Baruha if he succeeded. The Optistery minister replied by reminding the Star Sibyl of her station and that the Federation's survival outweighed his own wellbeing. The Star Sibyl therefore provided Karaha-Baruha with the Book of the Gods, a text describing Fenrir's history, and her Diza Star, which was required to unlock the tome.
In the last moments before the Battle of Windurst, the Star Sibyl tearfully gave Karaha-Baruha his final order. The Optistery minister ventured onto the city's battlements and, with the assistance of Robel-Akbel, summoned Fenrir to devastate the invading Beastmen. The pair could not maintain control of the Great Beast, however, and were absorbed by it as it raged. Ultimately Perih Vashai was forced to vanquish Fenrir with the Bow of Light. Windurst was saved but Karaha-Baruha and Fenrir were lost.
As the dust settled, the Star Sibyl turned to her duties. She congratulated her troops and gifted a portion of the Federation's land to the Mithra Mercenaries that had sacrificed so many of their own in its defense. She also gathered Mithra children orphaned by the fighting and offered them a home in Heaven's Tower itself. She then stepped outside and toured the city in one of her few public appearances. Still stinging over her lost love, she ordered that Karaha-Baruha's summoning magic never be practiced again.
Fenrir's destruction rendered the Full Moon Fountain useless and robbed the Star Sibyl of her ability to see the future. Unwilling to reveal the loss of her powers, she began to create false Star Readings by which to guide her people. The years following the war were sufficiently uneventful that the people of Windurst had no reason to question the Star Sibyl's fabricated prophecies.
===Present Day===
With the Crystal War twenty years behind her, the Star Sibyl struggles to conceal Windurst's festering wounds. The magical waters of Sarutabaruta begin to dry up, the Great Star Tree rots from within, and the powers of the Horutoto Ruins are spent. Though the Federation looks well on its surface, it gradually deteriorates without the blessing of the stars and the moon. At times the Star Sibyl returns to Karaha-Baruha's Animastery and longs for his aid.
Windurst's secrets risk being exposed when firebrand Orastery Minister Ajido-Marujido obtains the Book of the Gods and becomes determined to understand Karaha-Baruha's work. Eventually he breaks into the Full Moon Fountain to confirm his suspicion that its energy is gone. This forces the Star Sibyl to imprison the minister to prevent his knowledge from spreading.
During this time a ghostly creature referred to as the bearer of darkness is spotted at various locations around Vana'diel. Eventually it comes to the Star Sibyl's chambers and locks itself inside with her. Fortunately Ajido-Marujido, having recently been sprung from his cell by Doctor Shantotto and Apururu, is able to break open the Star Sibyl's door and confront the apparition. They realize that the bearer uses the power of the moon and the stars, the power of Fenrir, and the Star Sibyl is finally able to admit to the consequences of Karaha-Baruha's summoning.
Ajido-Marujido convinces the Star Sibyl that a solution may yet exist and she pardons his previous indiscretions. The minister then departs to unravel Karaha-Baruha's research while the Star Sibyl pays a visit to the Full Moon Fountain. As she reflects upon past events she is surrounded by Joker and his rogue Cardian followers. Joker had been built with a piece of Karaha-Baruha's spirit and had been reactivated in part by the Star Sibyl's desire for the former Optistery minister to return. Owing to his connection with the Cardian, Karaha-Baruha himself had also been drawn back to life. It is revealed that the ghoulish bearer of darkness contains the essences of both Karaha-Baruha and Fenrir, whom the summoner had dominated in his final moments.
The bearer is lured to the Full Moon Fountain and, along with the spirits of Joker and the other Cardians, converges into a brilliant light. The Star Sibyl then performs a Moon Reading, expending the gathered energy to restore Fenrir to life. The Great Beast emerges and the power of the moon and the stars returns to Windurst.
In the wake of Fenrir's rebirth the Star Sibyl realizes that her Diza Star was drained of its magic during the ritual. Without it she cannot perform any further Moon or Star Readings. Even with the Full Moon Fountain regenerated her ability to see the future remains lost. She accepts this, however, realizing that Windurst had already survived two decades without prophecy and that she can serve her people well without it. Committed to a new destiny, she departs Heaven's Tower and walks among the people of Windurst once more.
==Other Star Sibyls==
A few historical Star Sibyls have been mentioned by name. This is somewhat curious considering that the name of the current Star Sibyl is a mystery.
===Rimilala===
Rimilala was the first Star Sibyl. She ensnared Fenrir and made a pact to bless Sarutabaruta with the power of the moon and the stars. Her initial Moon Reading generated a prophecy that guided Windurst through hundreds of prosperous years.
===Tabilolo===
Tabilolo was Star Sibyl in the difficult years when the Tarutaru began to harness the powers of magic. She employed Tukuku as a scribe and groomed her to become the next Star Sibyl.
===Tukuku===
Tukuku served as Star Sibyl five hundred and seventy years before the Crystal War. She was a talented Black Mage and used her powers to stop battles between warring Tarutaru tribes. At her insistence the various clans united to become the Federation of Windurst. She is therefore regarded as the nation's founder.
===Miratete===
Miratete was a Star Sibyl famous for uniting the people of Vana'diel for an unspecified purpose. Torn pages of her memoirs are found strewn about the world.
==Missions==
;Involved in Missions:
*Windurst Mission 3-3: A New Journey
*San d'Oria Mission 4-1: Magicite
*Bastok Mission 4-1: Magicite
*Windurst Mission 4-1: Magicite
*Windurst Mission 5-1: The Final Seal
*Windurst Mission 5-2: The Shadow Awaits
*Windurst Mission 6-2: Saintly Invitation
*Windurst Mission 7-1: The Sixth Ministry
*Windurst Mission 9-1: Doll of the Dead
*Windurst Mission 9-2: Moon Reading
==Other appearances==
===Final Fantasy Trading Card Game===
Star Sibyl appears in Final Fantasy Trading Card Game as Light- and Earth-elemental Backup cards.
StarSibyl TCG.png|Star Sybil [5-154R] Chapter series card.
Star Sibyl 5-091H from FFTCG Opus.jpg|Star Sybil [5-091H] Opus series card.
===Final Fantasy Portal App===
Star Sibyl appears as a Triple Triad card.
==Behind the scenes==
The Star Sibyl came in twenty-first place in a Final Fantasy XI NPC Popularity Contest held by Square Enix in June 2013. Current players were given an opportunity to vote for their favorite NPC and share ideas for stories involving these characters.
Category:Characters in Final Fantasy XI
Category:Tarutaru