Anyone here well versed in FFXI lore?

[appledoze]

So I think I finally understand it all a little better. So the Emptiness is basically the primordial void that existed before everything came to be. Do we know why or how Promathia was infected with emptiness at first?

[Anienai]

FFXI lore-

Beastmaster were great before the DEC 05' MPK nerf.

That is all.

[Eidolon]

FFXI lore-

Beastmaster were great before the DEC 05' MPK nerf.

That is all.

We still found a way after the nerf.

[Cabalabob]

So I think I finally understand it all a little better. So the Emptiness is basically the primordial void that existed before everything came to be. Do we know why or how Promathia was infected with emptiness at first?

He wasn't exactly "infected" by it, as the God of darkness he is kind of linked to it. Promathia wants to return all existence to emptiness, a state of complete death (darkness) Altana as the goddess of light wants to save promathia by preventing that so she created the five races to create life which is the source of their conflict.

FFXI lore is very rich and involved, it's not something you can write a 5 minute summary on and have covered almost every detail, unlike with this game. You really have to play the game and experience the story for yourself to get a real grasp on it. I mean promathia and the emptiness' story was fleshed out over 3 expansions and a couple of add ons, you can't really expect to understand it by reading a few wiki pages.

[Kotemon]

I lost interest a couple years ago, but given my brief trot through the beginning. I'd just assume the Emptiness was left over fragments of the Nothing in the Never Ending Story. I did have a couple questions. How did that song and the final verse from CoP fit into the Empty lore and what was the story of Phoenix again? Did it vanish permanently in CoP or did Tenzen know of how to revive what was embedded in his sword? And since it's been a while how did he fit in the mess with Bahamut again?

[LineageRazor]

I lost interest a couple years ago, but given my brief trot through the beginning. I'd just assume the Emptiness was left over fragments of the Nothing in the Never Ending Story. I did have a couple questions. How did that song and the final verse from CoP fit into the Empty lore and what was the story of Phoenix again? Did it vanish permanently in CoP or did Tenzen know of how to revive what was embedded in his sword? And since it's been a while how did he fit in the mess with Bahamut again?

I can't say much about the "Memoro de la Ŝtono" (the song), as I don't think it was ever made very clear just why singing this song had such mystical effects. I tend to think of it as a plot device to explain why the sister from the intro was kidnapped (she was forced by the Beastmen to sing the song before the Dark Protocrystal, if I recall correctly), and to give Prishe's friend Ulmia something of importance to do (as she was otherwise pretty much just a tag-along).

As for Tenzen's Phoenix blade, it returns to importance in Rhapsodies of Vana'diel. There's a reason why Iroha's costume has a Phoenix motif to it...

By the time of Iroha in the future, the Phoenix Blade has been awakened to such an extent that it essentially grants Iroha immortality. Each time she returns to the past, she is inevitably killed, as the universe sees her as "out of place". Each time, the Phoenix Blade revives her, so she can return to the past once more and continue her efforts to save the future, though these repeated deaths take a toll on her, mentally and physically, that shows more and more as the expansion plays out.

For the climactic battle against the fragment of the Cloud of Darkness that lingered behind when the player's character and her dark future self dispersed the rest of the Cloud, the present-day Phoenix Blade awakens and Phoenix essentially merges with Iroha. She's an assist character during the battle with the Cloud, able to cast powerful Fire spells and to Raise folks who fall in battle - including herself. It's still a pretty tough battle even with her around, though.