Memory Transference

Hello all,

I want to ask about the process of memory transference within the lore, and if we can expect to see this continuing on throughout the various storylines. Which civilization created memory transference, how many times have we seen it in the game, and which groups of people currently use this technique.

Correct me if wrong, but I'm aware that the allagans used this. We saw it again in the First, and as well as with the ascians, and recently in the Save the Queen areas. Why is it that we keep being drawn in to this idea of memories being recalled? Does it have something to do with the echo?

The lore is simply that literally everything in the universe is comprised of aether at the base level, memories included.

Therefore, it is possible to transfer memories or even copy them (Provided you have the tech to analyze/reproduce the same wavelengths) as long as you have the proper vessel to contain them.

White auracite is noted as being very effective at containing aether of all sorts, be it soul, memories, or otherwise, which is why it's been used to trap Ascians, form the spirit vessels that took the Scions home, and was the key component of the Oversoul system in the Weapons among other things.

It's also evidently possible to transfer forged memories onto an individual, as the unsundered Ascians had been "elevating" sundered souls to fill the empty seats of Convocation by planting their memories of those particular individuals into them...which has some unusual implications we still don't really understand the full extent of, though Fandaniel's backstory is liable to clear that up in 6.0. The memories in his crystal were extremely garbled and incoherent compared to the others, which could mean all the manner of different things...

Alchemist 50-60 questline also involved transferring consciousness between bodies. It's apparently something the alchemists of Radz-at-Han can do, although it's also stated to be a nearly-impossible technique available only to the most skilled and least ethical of alchemists.

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Originally Posted by YianKutku

Alchemist 50-60 questline also involved transferring consciousness between bodies. It's apparently something the alchemists of Radz-at-Han can do, although it's also stated to be a nearly-impossible technique available only to the most skilled and least ethical of alchemists.

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I forgot about that particular quest since it's been so terribly long.

It seemed more like a proper soul transfer as opposed to simply overriding someone else's memories, though, as the "color" of the offending alchemist's soul (Which is another concept that ended up coming back much later in Shadowbringers) matched that of the body he overtook.

The Black Mage 60-70 quests also had an instance of memory transference. The Mhachi mage who first came up with Black Magic set up a spell that transferred a copy of her consciousness into one of our quest-line friends, and would occasionally take her over now and again. If I remember correctly, it started out as amnesia for the possessee, but she eventually started becoming cognizant of what was going on when she wasn't in control of her body.
It was only meant to last a short amount of time, and the transference wasn't permanent. But preserving and implanting new memories, or even entire personas, can be accomplished with a simple application of magic.

I think the earliest we encountered it was Noah possessing Koh Rabntah after CT raids.

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Originally Posted by Wolfman88

Hello all,

I want to ask about the process of memory transference within the lore, and if we can expect to see this continuing on throughout the various storylines. Which civilization created memory transference, how many times have we seen it in the game, and which groups of people currently use this technique.

Correct me if wrong, but I'm aware that the allagans used this. We saw it again in the First, and as well as with the ascians, and recently in the Save the Queen areas. Why is it that we keep being drawn in to this idea of memories being recalled? Does it have something to do with the echo?

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To answer you directly:

The Amaurotine Times society created memory storage using auracite like crystals which could even store beings as concepts. Seen firsthand in Amanesis Anyder. Seen first hand in the Convocation memory crystals.

The Echo is the first innate ability that allows memories to be transferred to us, the player. You could count every single Echo vision, barring Mikoto's futuresight visions, as being memory transference after a fashion.


The first time we see artificially induced memory transference, outside of Soul Crystals, is technically with the Allagan clones of Doga and Unei, who have the transferred memories of the real Doga and Unei.
The second is Doga and Unei activating G'raha Tia's Allagan Eye/blood.
Koh Rabntah is actually soul transference, I think, with Archsage Noah stealing her body. However, the Oneiromantic Pearls used in that weekly quest essentially allow us to remember/dream new memories of the Crystal Tower raid series, and store said new memories in each pearl, so that's another variety.

The Allagan artifacts in Azys Lla show us cloning technology time and time again, once in the ARF, and then later on the Warring Triad Extreme danger room simulations were specifically used to make Allagan Elites, so that they and their techniques could be cloned too.

This sort of ties into the alchemist quests mentioned, as they left out the part where the truly unethical part of the alchemy was the fact that in order to perfect the technique, the alchemist spent months kidnapping and cloning people, and then trying to transfer their consciousness to the clone. When it failed, the original person would die and the clone would be slotted into their place in the real world with no memories or knowledge to also die. Fairly grisly, honestly. There was something about an Allagan artifact, a rod of some sort I think? in that questline as well.

The Auracites in the Ivalice raids series contain the memories/concepts of monstrous beings and heroes alike. Playing off of that, we get to Bozja.

In Eureka we experience Drake(Gerolt's apprentice) making the Mneme generator to make actions out of crystallized soul memories (Logograms). This is the most modern creation related to memory transference, but it purely relates to battle techniques.

The Weapons of Werlyt series plays off of auracite again, first using Garlean combat data gathered from their power suits to overwrite someone's identity with the memories of the person the data was gathered from. That's another modern memory transference technology being put to use, and it gets pretty ridiculous with what happens after Diamond Weapon in regards to Alphonse and the core and all the previous test pilots of the weapon program, physically manifesting their memories.

So about a dozen times directly or implied.