Aether

[Naria]

Spoilers for Disciple for Magic Job and Class quests.

Magic is aetheric manipulation but there are a couple different ways to go about it:

Thurmaturges manipulate thier own aether to cast spells.

Conjurers use ("borrow") the aether of nature to cast spells. You can technically fuel conjury only from your own aether, but it will eventually kill you.

Arcanists use pre set patterns (arcane geometries) in their grimore's to manipulate their aether into summons and spells.

Black Mages use aether of the planet to fuel their spells

White Mages were created as a counter to Black Mages and also uses the planet's aether to fuel spells

White and Black Magic seem to use the plant's aether to a much greater extent than any other form of magic we know as the over use of these two magics are believed to have caused the Sixth Umbral Era.

Scholars use magic to bind "other worldly creatures" -- fairies to their control.

Summoners Use aether captured from defeated primals to create egis (summons).

Aether sickness has been mentioned but I have not come across anything saying what it is or how to treat it.

[gornotck]

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Aether This is what certain obsessive people have collected on the subject of aether, though it relates mostly to 1.0.

[IrisBlanchimont]

I would presume either Conjurers or Alchemists can treat people for Aether sickness, since both hve strong medical backgrounds and it is clear treatment is possible.

Most Final Fantasy games have a force that fuels magic, be it Mist, the Lifestream or so on. In this case, it's Aether. Eorzea's potent aether can be seen as a parallel to the Mist Continent in FF9.

The Lore forums have discussed some interesting theories about Aether, including the notion that it's what we Earthlings know of as 'dark energy', that it gave birth to the Twelve in the same way it does the Primals and so on.

[gornotck]

I guess the real question is: why does Eorzea have more aether than the rest of the world?

[IrisBlanchimont]

I guess the real question is: why does Eorzea have more aether than the rest of the world?

My only thought would be the Primals, but that only explains why it does now. The other thought might be the remarkably simple "The Allagans did it."

[gornotck]

A recap from a bonus disc that someone put up on youtube indicated that Eorzea has always had more aether, and the Primals are only possible BECAUSE of it.

I'd thought the Allagan did it, too. That they turned Eorzea into a giant aether prison for some reason, based on what I heard of the Binding of Bahamut.

The Allagan empire was a Third Astral civilization though. That's four ages of indeterminate length before they show up on the scene and break Bahamut on a wheel.

[Keroa]

Goodness, such lovely responses! and I have so many questions!

Thank you for the confirmation of Magic being Aether manipulation.
I am an curious about the monks questline. does anyone have any more information on how monks channel their Aether?
Considering that crystals are solidified aspected Aether, just -how- do the crystals form?

And is it possible for Aether to become corrupt? or void aspected? As we see in Labyrinth of the Ancients, you watch King.Behemoth fall over and pouf away into a cloud of what looks like void Aether.

And if Aether manipulation is possible(magic etc) would it be possible, given enough focus and knowledge to steal the Aether out of a living being? as you watch Ultima weapon do to the primals? And considering tha ether is the life sustaining force on the planet, if one were to remove all of their Aether, is it safe to assume that their body would shut down(die)?