The Homunculi
Taxonomy: Elemental (Sprite)
Description: Essentially a mere conjoining of aether and ideal conditions, a sprite is of no relation to the powerful elementals of the Black Shroud, and are in fact as devoid of reason and sentience as the average weather pattern. The names of these particular sprites imply their artificial nature, likely generated by the Allagans by manipulating aether.
Etymology Notes: A Homunculus was a being supposedly created by sealing human sperm into a removed horse’s womb, which would supposedly grow into a miniature human being. The name has later gone on to mean many different forms of artificial life in popular culture.
Greater Demon
Taxonomy: Voidsent (Demon)
Description: Commonly referred to as ‘reapers of souls’ by the people of Eorzea, demons are particularly rife throughout the folklore of Hydaelyn. It is a common opinion amongst scholars of the Void that demons were once members of the spoken races of the thirteenth shard, corrupted into mindless soldiers of dark entities when the shard was flooded by the Void. The presence of voidsent in the Labyrinth shouldn’t be surprising, knowing the compact that Xande held with the forces of the void and his use of them in his war with Meracydia.
Valefor
Taxonomy: Voidsent (Dahak)
Description: Dahak enter the world by possessing the corpse of drakes and harbor a certain intelligence, despite not being able to speak, marshalling large stores of magical potential and physical stamina. Dahak occupy the fourth rung of the voidal hierarchy due to their strength and intellect alongside succubi, ahrimans and other similar creatures.
Etymology Notes: Valefor is an alternate spelling of Valefar, one of the Goetic Dukes of Hell who was a pseudo-patron of thieves. The reason that these drake Voidsent are named for Valefar has very little to do with the actual source material, but can instead be linked back to the design of Valefor in previous Final Fantasy games, in which it is an avian or draconic creature often available as a summon (dating back to Final Fantasy X.)
Valar
Taxonomy: Voidsent (Imp/Devilet)
Description: Low-ranking voidsent of the twelfth rung of the voidal hierarchy, imps are nimble, cunning creatures with a mischievous streak. That these are capable of magics, even minor ones, suggests that they are instead devilets, eleventh ranked variants of the imp capable of magic.
Etymology Notes: The Valar were the pseudo-Demigods of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings universe, highlighted most effectively in his seminal world-building exercise, the Silmarillion. Their name used for these imps might be in reference to their otherworldly nature, as the Valar hail from outside of Arda, the world of that setting.
Cursed Eye & Rotting Eye
Taxonomy: Voidsent (Ahriman)
Description: Fourth and fifth ranked voidsent, Ahriman are powerful creatures with a prodigious ability for manipulating aether both for propulsion and as a means of attack. These voidsent access our mortal plane by possessing the eyes of animals.
The Succubi
Taxonomy: Voidsent (Succubus)
Description: A particularly insidious variant of the voidsent which occupies the fourth and fifth rungs of the voidal hierarchy, signifying a high rank in the minds of the realm’s scholars. This may be due to their noteworthy intellect, but it should be noted that the voidal hierarchy is a construct of our realm and does not hold authority over the void’s inhabitants own perceptions of their home. Succubi such as these operate by possessing the corpses of spoken women, and can occasionally be observed as taking on certain personality traits of their deceased hosts, which is unusual even amongst the voidsent. There were two forms of succubi found in the Labyrinth by the brave adventurers that secured it, those who bore the name of Dira and those who bore the name Nemesis.
Etymology Notes: The name Dira may have two origins; it is a common appellation for species of butterfly, and it is also the Latin word for curses, bad omens or an oncoming evil. Either could apply to the succubi, as they are winged beauties like butterflies, and their existence is certainly cursed. Although the Nemesis succubi’s name origin may be slightly uncertain, it may originate with Nemesis, the goddess of revenge and hubris in Greek myth. The succubi are certainly violently petty, vengeful creatures as all voidsent are, but the name may also serve to represent the immense hubris of Xande, so bored with his own life that he sought a true apocalypse for the Source, only to have his tower sink below the earth during the Calamity he caused, aborting his plan for the destruction of the Source by removing the power sources that kept the Void portals open.
Platinal
Taxonomy: Ashkin (Wight)
Description: Dangerous creatures typically believed animated by dark sorcery, wights are skeletal undead spoken possessed by an enduring hatred of the living.
Etymology Notes: The platinals are named for their counterparts in the Crystal Tower during Final Fantasy III, in which they were a dark form of armored knight. This may imply that the name links back to the word platinum, originally platina in Spanish, due to their originally armored nature.
Bone Dragon ☠
Taxonomy: Scalekin/Ashkin (Dragon)
Description: A mainline, unspecialized dragon. These beings are immensely powerful, wise as the ages and capable of elemental aether manipulation, particularly through their breath attacks. The perception of the dragon differs from place-to-place, with most people regarding them as pseudo-mythical figures of legend and romanticized adventures, but with the inhabitants of Ishgard boasting a considerably more complex perception, due to their history with the Dravanian Horde. This dragon was likely a member of the Meracydian Horde, raised in death to be used by the Empire that oppressed its kin as a weapon of war.
Atomos
Taxonomy: Voidsent (Atomos)
Description: Amongst the rarest and most mysterious of the voidsent, these creatures were first seen by modern scholars in the preceding days before the Seventh Umbral Calamity, where they appeared and disgorged massive quantities of voidsent across the land. This has led many to theorize they represent a living link from the Void to the Source. It makes sense that the Allagans would have also exploited these creatures, with their need for bringing large numbers of voidsent into the world for their conquests.
Etymology Notes: The atomos are named for the Greek word for indivisible, that is to say inseparable. If that is the case then one might take this creature to represent the inseparable nature of the Shards, eternally linked as they are.
Sandman
Taxonomy: Ashkin (Bhoot)
Description: Bhoots are particularly dangerous variants of ghosts, driven to strangle their foes with their small hands. Some, typically priests of Nald’thal, theorize that this is out of a desire to obtain new souls and gain life once more through them.
Etymology Notes: The sandman is a figure in European folklore that brings sleep by sprinkling sand into a person’s eyes, though any rest granted by a bhoot would be dangerously permanent. This may be what is alluded to in this name.
Thanatos ☠
Taxonomy: Soulkin (Dullahan)
Description: Golems of arcane origin, dullahan such as these are suits of animated plate armor. Opinions on the origin of the dullahan vary, from magical creations to ghostly possessed armor. The general scholarly opinion seems to lean towards the former, however. This particular example was surely a creation of Allag, and judging by the fact that it stands in the Hall of the Deviant at the end of the Path of Vice and Walk of Lament, it may have been used as an executioner for those who walked the path.
Etymology Notes: Thanatos was the personification of death in Greek myth, further supporting his potential role as an executioner of those who profaned the Allagan Empire.
The Bombs
Taxonomy: Voidsent (Bomb)
Description: Bombs are an interesting example of Voidsent, occupying the eleventh rung of the Voidal Hierarchy, they are driven to constantly replenish their internal fuel stores and are thus wildly carnivorous. There were three forms of bomb found in the Labyrinth by those that gathered to cleanse it, ascending in power from balloons to bombs and napalm. Beyond these was the puroboros, a mighty bomb found as part of the defense mechanisms around the mighty behemoth.
Etymology Notes: Puroboros’ name is a clear reference to the word pyrobolus, Latin for bomb.
Vassago
Taxonomy: Voidsent (Vodoriga)
Description: The vodoriga are a species of voidsent that specialize in possessing inorganic matter such as statues.
Etymology Notes: Vassago is one of the demons of the Goetia, known for his benevolence relative to some of his demonic kin, to the extent that certain sources portray him as an unfallen angel instead of a demon. The relevance of this naming may be as shallow as a demonic name being used for voidsent, or one might read it as an allegory for how Allag believed that the voidsent were beneficial to their society until the insane plans of Xande were revealed.
Iron Giant
Taxonomy: Forgekin (Iron Giant)
Description: Some of Allag’s finest war machina, the iron giants are possessed of immense strength and durability, and have been some of the most fervently replicated creations by Garlemald.
King Behemoth ☠
Taxonomy: Beastkin (Behemoth)
Description: Behemoth are mysterious creatures, beginning to appear in the modern era deep in the mountains of Coerthas around the time of the Seventh Umbral Calamity, leading many to believe that the behemoth are the spawn of Bahamut. It is this author’s opinion that they are right in a sense, in that although these creatures are of course not the children of the great wyrm they may have emerged from the ruins of his prison, Dalamud. It is also, perhaps, plausible that they were simply lying dormant in the remote places of the Coerthan mountains and were awakened by the aetherial skewing caused by the Calamity. If so then this enough reason for people to believe them spawn of Bahamut, but it should be noted that often buried cultural memories of Allag have a core of truth, so perhaps the fearsome creatures were altered using the energies of Bahamut in the dark laboratories of Allag somehow. This particular behemoth was evidently foremost amongst its kin, judging by its royal title, and likely was imprisoned in the labyrinth just as its kin were imprisoned in another Allagan structure, Dalamud.
Iron Claws
Taxonomy: Forgekin (Iron Claw)
Description: The iron claw was an integral part of Allagan society, used in every sector from construction to transport of goods and military operation, although it was also given a specialized role – namely flying into the lands of Meracydia and kidnapping those who were tempered by the primals of the land to bring them back to Azys Lla, that they might be used to re-summon their god.
Phlegethon ☠
Taxonomy: Spoken/Chimera (???)
Description: The final guardian of the Labyrinth was also its most tragic sight. Recovered records from the time of Allag paint two stories of Phlegethon, one from the Allagan perspective which describes him as a vicious evildoer, and one from the perspective of the Empire’s common folk, which describes him as a folk hero. Regardless of the tale, the evidence is clear that he was one of the leaders of the many rebellions that rose against Allag late in its lifespan. Unfortunately, his crusade would come to an end in his capture the Empire, after which his mind was broken and then remade in the image of loyalty to the Empire, and his body was twisted and augmented in order to ensure he would carry out his new masters tasks. He seems to have been left before the entryway to the Sircus Tower proper, as a guardian of the very individuals he fought to dethrone.
Etymology Notes: Phlegethon’s name translates to ‘flaming’ in ancient Greek, and is most famously used to refer to the mythic river of fire that flowed through the underworld in the Hellenic faith. This river was certainly a barrier to those who sought to infiltrate the underworld as Phlegethon now is between the Labyrinth and the Tower, and as he might have been between the smallfolk of the Empire and its oppressive leaders. Moreover, none could deny that Phlegethon was living his personal definition of hell before he was mercifully slain.
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