In the Year 726, Old Valendian: The Larsan Folly is the most generous name given to the time of strife that befell the world after the coming of the great Mist. It is a dark time of lost history, where fiends sprung whole from the Mist and tore apart cities, men tore apart nations, and civilization's fire almost burnt out in the dark night of barbaracy. What is known is scattered and fragmented, and diligent scholarship has only uncovered the facts of the events, but few of the motivations. What is known is that Emperor Larsa of Archadia, citing the evils of manufacted nethicite and the terrible effects it took upon the armies and people of Dalmasca, undertook to destroy the sources of these tainted artifacts once and for all. It is known that Emperor Larsa and the Queen Ashe went together to the Ridoran Cataract, and the Pharos there. The events of the day are not fully known or understood; and the ruins of the Pharos remain so mist-infested that no ship, air or sea, has dared within ten miles of the island since that day. Mist poured from the Pharos; so thick it blotted out the sun, until the sky seemed to run riot with the terrible colors. A madness swept the vieran race; a rage so terrible, it is told of only in bloody, hushed whispers. Those few Viera remaining, old enough to have been alive upon that terrible time, bear scars, and few can or will speak of the horrors endured or, often, perpetuated, by them. Men and women died in the streets; torn apart by Fiends, choking on Mist so thick that every breath became a wild magic. Houses, cities, crumbled, rotted, burned. Within a month, no nation known to the world remained in existence; the centers of power disrupted, destroyed, undone by the mad Mist that swept the world. Races never before known sprung from the Mist, as confused and terrified as any other, having been born into a world gone mad. How long, precisely, the terrible Mist raged, is not entirely known. The shortest credible estimate is three months; the longest, eight years. The Mist Madness that many endured made most diaries useless; ravings of madmen, moments of lucidity, terrible despair. Two hundred years have passed since the Larsan Folly, and the city of Emberstrand has risen up near the ashes of Rabanastre. This is where our story begins. *Battle fiends with your friends. *Participate in Development Discussions and be heard. *Explore the rich theme built upon Final Fantasy XII. Come join us and add your page to the Chronicles of Ivalice. ^[1]