The Ninth, also known as the unlost world (失われざる世界(アンロスト・ワールド), anrosuto wārudo?), is a world in Final Fantasy XIV and one of the reflections of the Source. Introduced in the expansion Dawntrail, it was beset by a calamity of lightning. The reflection was initially named the "unlost world" by Wuk Lamat due to the Scions lacking confirmation of its number when it was discovered.

History[]

Before Final Fantasy XIV[]

Origins[]

The world that would come to be called the Ninth was created when the planet of Etheirys was sundered into 14 identical worlds at the end of the conflict between Hydaelyn and Zodiark. Like the others, the ninth reflection developed its own societies and history.

Over time, various peoples came to inhabit the world, such as the robust Hyune and the graceful Eldite. One of the peoples of the world were the Milalla, originally inhabitants of the Source from the South Sea Isles who escaped the Fifth Umbral Calamity, the Calamity of Ice, using a mysterious artefact known to them only as the key to seek refuge in this reflection. The peoples of the world eventually formed various nation states in the Mist Continent, including the kingdom of Alexandria, the City of Treno—where the Milalla settled—and the kingdom of Lindblum.

The Storm Surge[]

One thousand years ago, the world began to be flooded by lightning-aspected aether. Slowly over the course of several centuries thunderstorms and rainy seasons became longer and longer, with parts of the world overtaken by endless storms. The inhabitants of the world discovered a mineral called electrope that could store electrical aether, and, with use of the Milalla's arcanima, convert that aether into other elements through runes inscribed into the mineral. With this combination of electrope and arcanima, the world saw a great developments in technology and industry.

As the thunderstorms continued to expand, electrope became an ever more precious resource. Four hundred years ago a war known as the Storm Surge triggered between the nations of the world as they fought over electrope supplies. One nation, the Kingdom of Lindblum, created a myriad of weapons of war, including the Doomtrain, an arcane construct placed within a locomotive that would deliver warbeasts to the frontlines. Among their weapons of war was an electrical superweapon that destroyed parts of the neighboring country of Alexandria, triggering an even greater increase in thunderstorms that soon threatened to engulf the whole world. As the storms raged more and more out of control, Alexandria took in refugees from its neighbors and used electrope technology to protect Alexandrian's inhabitants from the calamity inside of a dome created under the massive superstructure of the Everkeep that separated them from the rest of the world.

Besides Alexandria, Treno also survived, using technology brought from Alexandria by Tuphut, royal tutor for Sphene Alexandros XIV. Beyond them, other smaller communities exist, connected by a railway, surviving in the harsh levin aspected environments.

Alexandria's preservation[]

During their time under the Everkeep's barrier, an Alexandrian organisation, known as Preservation, headed by the genious Calyx, developed technologies to save the memories of the departed and restore them as Endless, pseudo-consciousnesses that would continue to live beyond their deaths within Living Memory, the top level of the Everkeep. With their memories preserved, the deceased souls would be treated and separated from their memories, and used as currency and treated as commodities, effectively cutting off Alexandria from the lifestream. As this exchange resulted in a net loss of aether, Preservation looked toward other methods of acquiring aether to maintain the Endless.

Preservation reached out to Treno citizen Alayla, descendant of the Milalla Speaker who led their people to the Ninth and hired both her and her husband Robor in order to obtain and experiment on the key that brought the Milalla to the world. Preservation began to researched a technique known as interdimensional fusion to obtain aether from other reflections, leading to the pair to disagree with Preservation, founding Oblivion, an organisation that looked toward stopping the use of interdimensional fusion. Alayla and Robor and spirited away the key to the Source to hide it from Preservation, entrusting it and their daughter to Gulool Ja Ja and Galuf Baldesion before returning to the unlost world.

Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail[]

Alexandria's transmigration[]

After the rite of succession of Tuliyollal came to an end in the Source, the First Promise of the nation, Zoraal Ja, approached the gate to the "golden city", in reality an electrope gate that allowed dimensional travel between Living Memory from the Source through which Alayla and Robor had spirited away the key. There, Zoraal Ja came into contact with Endless Sphene, the Eternal Queen of Alexandria, who struck a deal with him to provide aether to the dwindling Endless population: using the key obtained from his father's vaults by Sareel Ja, Zoraal Ja would initiate interdimensional fusion, merging the remains of Alexandria with the Source, and he would rule alongside her as King of Resolve, counterpart to her Queen of Reason. With this, Alexandria's Everkeep and everything within its barrier "overlapped" with Yyasulani on the continent of Tural, causing the landscapes of both to partially combine, with a great rift hidden in the clouds in the sky above Everkeep remaining—linking the two worlds, leading directly to the Everkeep's topmost level, Living Memory. To those remaining in the Ninth, it appeared as if they entire kingdom had disappeared in an instant.

After the Vow of Resolve Wuk Lamat, the Warrior of Light, and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn defeated Zoraal Ja atop Everkeep, Sphene recovered the interdimensional key and used it to close the rift, escaping back to the Ninth, preparing to use interdimensional fusion to absorb aether from other reflections directly. Wuk Lamat and the Scions headed to the unlost world through the same gate through which the key was spirited away, leading to Living Memory. After the Warrior of Light defeated the Queen Eternal in the Interphos with the help of Wuk Lamat, turning off the Meso Terminal that maintained the last of the Endless, the barrier surrounding Living Memory dropped, revealing the dawning sun in the unlost world, showing no thunderstorms above Living Memory.

Promise of tomorrow[]

Following Sphene's defeat, Archon Y'shtola Rhul investigated Living Memory as part of her research into traveling between the Source and its reflections, alongside Oblivion member Shale. During their foray, the original Queen Sphene Alexandros XIV approached the pair, collapsing before them.^[1] Although Sphene was reported dead four hundred years prior, she had instead been put into cold stasis within the Meso Terminal after being diagnosed with levin sickness, and had been released upon the terminal's shut down.

The world would be visited again by the Warrior of Light, their Scion allies, and Wuk Lamat later, going deep into the Meso Terminal in order to shut down Preservation leader, Calyx's, memory bank. Using the still abundant lightning aether of the Ninth, the fear of death of the people of Alexandria, and a concept of his own design, Calyx summoned the primal Necron to attempt to defeat the party but was thwarted and forced to transfer his memories elsewhere. Weeks after his defeat, the government of Alexandria used the terminals in Living Memory to allow their citizenry to restore their memories of departed people and loss.

Into the mist[]

Wishing to know more about her people, and hoping to discover more about the key, Krile, at the suggestion of Sphene, ventured into the Ninth through Living Memory, alongside Sphene and the Scions Y'shtola, G'raha Tia, and the Warrior of Light. The party boarded a replica of Sphene's old airship in order to reach the surface of the Mist Continent below Living Memory. From the crater where Alexandria had once been before being fused with the Source, the group headed to Treno through a fiend-infested mine. Arriving at Treno, still inhabited by the Milalla, the party found it invaded by creatures; joining Treno's citizens in defense of the city. Meeting the inhabitants and the city's mayor, Miayli, Sphene and Y'shtola gave an account of their travels to the mayor, while the rest joined in efforts to help help the citizens. While the party helped the townsfolk, an alarm sounded about the approach of the Doomtrain, which still roamed the railways of the Ninth, delivering its warbeasts and other fiends all the same. The Warrior of Light joined with Lumull to stop the Doomtrain, while Lumull's sister Eyaney went to repair the barrier along with Sphene and G'raha. Krile and Y'shtola, meanwhile remained to protect the town. Eventually, they succeeded in defending the town again. Miayli revealed to the group that Alayla, Krile's mother and former Speaker of the Milalla, was her older sister, and she had taken all of their records about the key with her when she joined Preservation. Miyali warned the Warrior of Light about the key, stating that those who acted as keepers for it had the eye of fate placed upon them.

After the companions left, in the backstreet of Treno, the Ascian Halmarut and Calyx, his memory now inhabiting a mu-doll, discussed about Warrior, whom Halmarut believe noticed her during their conversation with Miyali, running away at that moment their eyes met. Halmarut predicted the Ninth was doomed to die, due to the "silence left behind by the will of the star."

Gameplay[]

Unlost world is a region in Final Fantasy XIV, home to the field areas Living Memory, Alexandria crater, Treno, and Betini Depot; as well as the duty areas Alexandria, Interphos, Strayborough, The Meso Terminal, The Ageless Necropolis, Mistwake, and Hell on Rails. In duties introduced during patch 7.4, the title card on introduction shows "The Mist Continent" rather than "Unlost World".

Behind the scenes[]

Dawntrail features many references to Final Fantasy IX, and fittingly, the Ninth reflection of the Source shares the number of the game it was inspired from. Alexandria is the primary nation represented, while other locations from the world of Gaia are mentioned such as Cleyra, Conde Petie, Daguerreo, the Iifa Tree, and Lindblum.

Prior to the in-game confirmation of the Ninth's name in patch 7.2, Naoki Yoshida was the first to mention its number in an interview.^{[note 1]}

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