The Ancient City of Giruvegan

161. Giruvegan: Ose

GENUS: Beast
CLASSIFICATION: Coeurl

[1/2] Observations

Being a strain of the coeurl easily identified by its black stripes on ashen fur and splendid crest. The patterning on its head grows more complex with age, with the coeurl possessing the most advanced whorls designated as pack leader, and those beneath it fixed in a rigid hierarchy based on their patterns. This social structure makes the ose a dangerous pack hunter.

[2/2] The Adventurer's Handbook

Ah, the famous coeurl! While one may scoff at its high-priced pelt, few are those who pass up the chance to claim one of those distinctive whiskers!

More than any monetary value, it is the sheer difficulty of obtaining this rare prize that compels the true adventurer to dust off his sword arm and take up the challenge. And what a choice! Claim the fine, expensive fur, or risk bloodying it for the chance to claim that elusive coeurl whisker?

If this seems like the perfect conundrum to you, you're a true adventurer.

162. Giruvegan: Shadonir

GENUS: Undead
CLASSIFICATION: Sleipnir

[1/2] Observations

Being a warhorse, the oldest breed known in Ivalice, once belonging to the great cavalry of an ancient state known for its love of warfare.

These majestic and terryfing creatures determined victory in battle in an age when cannon and like armaments were unknown, and they were truly loved by their handlers and the people of the land they served. For their part, they harbor an undying loyalty to their homeland, though it be naught more now than dust and echoes. They serve and protect its memory to this very day, though their bodies have faded and they are something near to spirits.

[2/2] Sage Knowledge (24 of 78)

Clans of Ivalice

Clans exist throughout Ivalice, the majority of them being quite small. Still, of thoe clans operating in the largest cities, many have earned a name for themselves through their accomplishments.

Clan Diatroma of Bhujerba and Clan Buckaboo of Balfonheim Port are some of the more famous regional clans. Of late, a young clan in Dalmasca by the name of Clan centurio has become a household name.

Along the Phon Coast, bands of hunters fulfill the role of clans, hunting local monsters and keeping the peace.

163. Giruvegan: Giruveganus

GENUS: Dragon
CLASSIFICATION: Tyrant

[1/2] Observations

Being a tyrant-wyrm driven to madness by Mist; now a violent, capricious creature.

The naturalist Merlose writes, in one of her most harrowing accounts: "...that hideous Mist which spilleth forth from its dark core raiseth a mirage before the eyes, and I am blind with fear and apprehension, for its nebulous form is madness incarnate. I pray that my skill with the blade faileth me not in this most dire circumstance."

It's eyes shine with curious luminescence, allowing it to see quite well in dark, underground corridors.

[2/2] The Adventurer's Handbook

'Tis the height of folly to brandish arms against a tyrant that has no more form than a mirage.

The broken greataxes left by those who tried and failed shold be proof enough of that.

In order to truly defeat a foe, one must know more than the foe's character and physiology. One must listen to what the dead have to say on the subject.

No one wants to be next in live to have their greataxe broken.

164. Giruvegan: Skulwyrm

GENUS: Undead
CLASSIFICATION: Plate Wyrm

[1/2] Observations

Being a dragon bound by magicks so powerful, it has forgotten to die. Its life continues, though the flesh fall from its bones, and so will it continue until its bones too are nothing but dust. Only then may it rest.

With the passing of eons, its intellect has faded to somethin primal and violent, and its dim awareness of its own decay makes it all the more unpredictably vicious.

[2/2] An Anonymous Report

A wyrm bone brought to the bazaar has reportedly begun attacking merchants.

We have received numerous other reports, and are currently investigating possible connections.

Findings to date suggest the involvement of a reanimator cult, but they have so far proven elusive and have yet to be brought to justice.

The investigation continues.

165. Giruvegan: Vivian

GENUS: Plant
CLASSIFICATION: Malboro

[1/2] Observations

Being the primordial malboro, born in antiquity of an elder witch.

All malboro alive today are said to descend from the vivian. Upon its head rests a crown, signifying its status as a queen among its kind. Over the course of its long life, its body's youthful hue has faded, now being entirely devoid of color.

There are some chroniclers who hold that the witch-mother of the malboros was indeed named "Vivian," and was no witch at all, but a plant-creature herself.

[2/2] Sage Knowledge (75 of 78)

Giruvegan

Ancient city said to lie deep within the Jagd Difohr. A dense Mist conceals its actual location. There are some who claim that if holds the secrets of a legendary civilization that flourished before men knew the workings of the world, but none remain who know the truth.

Many are the expeditions sent to find this place and record its knowledge, but most have disappeared in the Feywood, or despaired while attempting to understand what artifacts have been found. To this day, we are no closer to discovering Giruvegan, or illuminating its mysteries.

166. Giruvegan: Forbidden

GENUS: Undead
CLASSIFICATION: Zombie

[1/2] Observations

Those who are born with undying souls, filled with the purest hatred and jealousy, are wryly called the "forbidden," for what sane Creator would truly allow such monstrosities to exist?

Being zombified as a result of the gradual decay of the flesh around the eternal soul, yet these cursed beings have ever been the subject of much study by those obsessed with the ideal of eternal life. Perhaps this is why they despise Man with such venom.

[2/2] Aletap Rumors

Have ye heard? Take a broken spear 'n' some mystletainn, an' wrap 'em in a Ketu board, right? Ye ken wha'happens? They burst inta fleem!

Hard te believe, eh? Bot it's true! Why, tha's the very method fer makin' one o' them gungnir spears, so it is!

Course, ye cannae jus' burn the wee thingies. Ye have te wait 'til she flares u on her oon! Tha's all important, tha' is. One look at the fruits o' ye labors an' ye'll agree 'twas weell worth the bother.

Faren, Warrior

167. Giruvegan: Gargoyle Baron

GENUS: Fiend
CLASSIFICATION: Gargoyle

[1/2] Observations

Being a creature with giant, white gossamer wings. its head is rather small, and it has a habit of wearing a small crown set with magicite.

Wing-like ears are set far back on its head to pick up sounds from all around, and perhaps also to sense for shifts in the Mist.

Its body is covered in ashen hide, as devoid of color as its character is of warmth, its bearing being cold and merciless.

[2/2] Aletap Rumors

"One truth known is the key to one hundred magicks, and the end to one thousand lives."

If you think you understand this ancient maxim, by all means, look deeper.

Perhaps then you will gain the wisdom, if not the strength, required to wield the destructive power of the magickal shard known as the scathe mote...but I doubt it.

Elias the Sage

168. Giruvegan: Reaper

GENUS: Undead
CLASSIFICATION: Reaper

[1/2] Observations

Great reapers, takers of life, ghost-kin in name but gods of death in truth. Being originally sent from on high to work upon mortals, texts in all religions mention these beings with fear and awe.

While each account differs, all agree on one thing: that the reapers exist only to free the soul of its earlthy bonds and bear it back to the heavens.

They appear before us to foretell our deaths, appearing again only when the time for severing wordly ties has come.

[2/2] Sage Knowledge (36 of 78)

The Archadian Empire

The mightiest sovereign state in Valendia. Originally a republic governed by an active senate, the rise of the military brought about the shift to an imperial system 200 years ago. With the change in governance, Archadia began invading its neighboring lands, quickly becoming the largest realm in Ivalice.

While in the past the emperor was traditionally of military extraction, a purge of key figures in the military by the politically powerful House Solidor led to the installation of a line of Solidor emperors which continue to this day.

169. Giruvegan: Mom Bomb

GENUS: Fiend
CLASSIFICATION: Bomb

[1/2] Observations

Being a magickal construct much like a simple explosive, created by the lords of the ancient city to prevent intruders reaching its heart.

Its body is formed of a strong metal of surpassing quality, beneath which seethe magicks and Mist under tremendous pressure.

Though they are individuals, as a side-effect of their simultaneous creation they are as facets of a single consciousness, and have been known to coordinate their attacks on intruders to deadly effect.

[2/2] Sage Knowledge (37 of 78)

The Rozarrian Empire

Empire located in the west of Ordalia, possessing an army rumored to be the equal of the Archadian Imperial forces.

Though an emperor rules, Rozarria is a military state, and the armed forces carry much political power.

In recent years, the Margrace Imperial family has sought to limit the military's power, embarking on a series of reforms to restrict the scope of their authority.

Archadia's unprovoked invasion of Dalmasca sent shockwaves through the Rozarrian establishment, and many are those who see a war between empires looming on the horizon.

170. Giruvegan: Mythril Golem

GENUS: Construct
CLASSIFICATION: Golem

[1/2] Observations

Being a magickal construct fashioned of pure mythril. Though mythril's strength in the proportion to its weight surpasses any other metal, many layers of such were used to the construction of this golem, sacrificing lightness for sheer durability.

Machines of war, the destructive power of these golems is greatly feared on the battlefield.

[2/2] The Annals

In the deepest reaches of the past, an underground kingdom there was, and here did they make the metal known as mythril, a metal so strong that even magma cannot mar it.

The flame gigas saw this and were displaesed, and so did they launch a grand assault on the kingdom under the earth.

At the end of a long, brutal war, the gigas were defeated, yet the kingdom, too, fell into ruin, sinking deeper still beneath the surface, away from the light, and into obscurity until it and its prized mythril were discovered by adventurers centuries later.

171. Giruvegan: Necrophobe

GENUS: Undead
CLASSIFICATION: Ghost

[1/2] Observations

Being a particularly accursed variety of ghost, that fearing death so greatly, wanders in denial of his own demise.

So irrational is his fear, he is certain that all who cross his path mean him mortal harm, and so strikes first.

It is recorded in the annals that once, when a score of this cruelly afflicted beings appeared in a village, they were halted by magickal panels facing each of the cardinal directions, this device barring all misfortune from entering the homes of the people who lived there. Safe though they were, the villagers were nonetheless besieged. Fearing starvation as much as the violence of their enemy, many contemplated suicide, but as the sun set on the third day, they peered through their windows to find that the ghosts had vanished, never to be seen again.

[2/2] Research Notes

The Athenaeum, one of the few respectable institutes of research into Ivalice's past, has released notes on the effects of the rare substance known as ambrosia.

Though liquid, the ambrosia collected from the creature known as the necrophone is so light as to be almost vapor. All ancient records agree on its fantastic efficacy in the healing of wounds and the prevention of aging.

According to the new report, however, it is the powerful hallucinatory effects of this substanec that create these perceived benefits.

172. Giruvegan: Diakon Entite

GENUS: Diakon Entite
CLASSIFICATION: Elemental

[1/2] Observations:

In ages past, the gods took to the air and from here shone with a brilliant light, so that Man might not walk forever in shadow. The light drove out cold, thinned fear's grim pall, and purified that which was corrupt and evil.

Yet Man was not pleased. He grapsed for the light, seeking to make it his own. He wanted to be a god.

So the gods quit their heavenly seat, and created the diakon entites, whereby to judge Man with a fierce holy righteousness. Thus did Man seize light, and in so doing, lose the favor of the gods.

[2/2] The Entite Pact

The power of holiness is salvation. The power of holiness is its faith. Worship it, and it will be an absolute. Worship it, and it will know no doubt.

Yet strike it down with the power of darkness, and its eyes will open, and it shall know fear. Holiness, fearfull, shall surely offer the shining electrum to you.