The CROWN and the Castle of Ordeals

[Dignified Pauper]

Ok, we all know Astos is a DARK ELF!

We obtain the crown from the marsh cave

The crown gets us into the castle of ordeals.

Bahamut is in charge of Castle of Ordeals

Castle of Ordeals is a cause for class change (Mt. Ordeals in FFIV changes Cecil from DK to Pal, will link into this later)

Old Sage at Castle of Ordeals must be a spirit, or powerful mage that Bahamut knows nothing of. He guards the castle and obviously is why not many true warriors can go through the Castle of Ordeals...

Ok, lets start the story...

The Northern civilizations and Southern civilizations were linked to eachother. It is my belief that the South was primitive compared to the North. Castle of Ordeals was at once the center of a mighty army that had clashed with the Lufein's in the east. From here, Garland was born. This nation from which the Castle of Ordeals originated from (lets refer to it as Mysidia for now) Mysidia. Bahamut was born and raised from Dragons that had been captivated by Mysidians. He grew to be the most powerful Dragon in the universe and was granted powers far greater than normal dragons. Also, it was here that Garland was born, a great warrior, but consumed by evil.A war between Mysidians and Lufeins erupted. Each side was fairly advanced with technology, but the Lufeins were slightly farther. The war between the Lufeins and Mysidians left the Mysidian's decimated by the might of Lufeins. Although both sides lost many casualties, the Lufeins won. Garland, meanwhile was lost at a sea battle, ending up on the southern continent near the Temple of Fiends (renamed Chaos in the PSX remake). There, he unlocked the power of darkness, unsealing the fiends of darkness and claiming the power of chaos into his own. What he didn't plan for, was that the epitomy of the chaos consumed him turning him into a beast. All the while this had happened, his human form was transferred 400 years into the future. There, Human Garland kidnapped the princess and thought he was all mighty and powerful. In the future the Warriors of Light killed him, and that is the story of FF1.

Back in the past, the Elves had originated from the southern continent. After the fiend and the power of darkness was set free, some of the elves became corrupt and turned into Dark Elves. These elves were banished and sent to the ruins of the Northern Continent. The Lufein Tower of Mirage, from which they monitored the world had already been sieged by Tiamat, so they were helpless as hordes of Dark Elves raided their lands and forced them back farther east. The Dark Elves then discovered the ruined capital of Mysidia. Bahamut had already left the castle and rejoined the dragons on the island where he became their leader. He had learned of the prophecy of Luin(early ancestor of Lukahn... just imagine it), while Lukin traveled the world. He designed a plan to one day test the warriors. He took the tail of a rat and blessed it, taking it back to the Castle of Mysidia (which later he would refer to it after the Castle of Ordeals)

Meanwhile, the mighty wizard of Mysidia (ancestor of the future elder that would be the mayor of the city in FFIV, lets call him... Belthasar) met with the leader of the Dark Elves (Astoms, ancestor of Astos). Astoms demanded the old mage leave the castle to him, and give him the crown. Belthasar denied and fought with them vigorously, successfully making them flee, but leaving himself weak and frail. His magic had been mostly drained. He took the crown to the Kingdom of the Elves, leaving it in the care of the King. He then returned back to the Castle where he died, but his soul remained, leaving a curse upon the castle that only he who bears the crown of mysidia would be able to enter.
The elf King ordered his soldiers to hide the crown deep within the marsh cave, where there he placed demonic mages(piscodemons in PSX version) as a curse to protect the crown. Astoms was left clueless as the what had happened, and when he tried a second siege on the castle, he saw the spirit of Belthasar and considered it foolish to fight with him, thinking he was still alive.

Years passed, and the crown became a legend. Northern civilization was almost completely wiped out. In an attack on the Tower of Mirage by the dark elves, Tiamat was enraged and wiped almost their entire civilization out. The city of Gaia was left untouched being in its remote area, and advanced mages. the remaining Lufeins made settlement in the eastern forest, hiding from the Tiamat. Kraken took siege of the Water Palace and sunk it deep into the Ocean. The people were spared, but they were shaken by great fear. Lich began rotting the land and sent his undead vampires to ravage the land of Melmond. Choas stayed in the Temple of Chaos, closing it off and sealing himself. The only way in was through the time portal in which garland the human created upon releasing evil unto the World. To counter this Chaos closed the portal by a Black Orb that could only be unsealed by the combined forces of the four crystals of Earth. Marylith(kary) went to the volcano and relished in its flames, sleeping untill her time was to come. One remaining and brave Lufein hid his airship in the desert and left the Levistone in the ice caverns, protecting the stone with the Eye of Lufein.

The Dark Elves, after being decimated, thought of something new to do. The survivors began building massive ships and traveled south to where they were born. There, they secretly landed and built their castle (the ruins where Astos is located). After it was built they sent scouts into the Elf Lands to see how strong the elves were. Astor (Astos's father) thought they had weakened over time and led an assault. The war between the Elves lasted a few years, resulting in the Dark Elves defeat, and their castle in ruins. However, the Dark Elves learned of the ancient Mysidian crown that was hidden in the Marshes. But after being decimated with only a few survivors (astos being one of them) they believed that they had no hope to return to the Mysidian castle. Astos was the last alive and trained everyday, growing madder and madder by the defeat he saw as a child. His magic grew as the elves of elfheim let him be and later forgot of him. He then persisted to steal the Crystal Eye from Matoya, and then put a spell on the prince of Elfheim to sleep forever.

Skipping the events of FF1

After Chaos's defeat, the future changed. The dark elves were left alive as the fiends were left sealed by the death of Chaos. Lufein persisted to fight the Dark Elves, untill finally they killed them all. The Mysidians left their old castle and created a small city of advanced mages, more advanced that Gaia's, farther west. Years and amongs millions of years passed. Belthasar, after dying ages before, left his spirit at Castle Ordeals, which was later destroyed by natural causes. A mountain range rose up where the old Mysidian nation once stood, it was at this mountain where the Mysidian's of FFIV established as a holy land. The spirit of Belthasar remained, awaiting the time of new heroes to come and rid the universe of an evil that existed elsewhere... The Moon. The Lufeins created the first airship and learned much of the universe. They were visited by Lunarians, and they together created the Tower of Babil/Zot, and the Lunar Whale.

*I think I just proved all Final Fantasies are linked in some way*

*Oh, sorry if the story is choppy and not in order, it just kinda came to me as I wrote it*

[Dragonfire]

about making a prequel of FF1: it would be much better to do it in RPG Maker 2000/2003. Mainly because it can do much much more than FF Hackster especially with event making. While RPG Maker is primarily 16-bit, i guess you could make 8-bit if ya really want.

[Master_Dragoner]

Yeah, nice story Indelacio.

I just wanted to say, the castle of ordeals isn't the key to class change, it's just a series of trials for dragons (or light warriors, in this case) to prove their bravery.

At the end, the item that they collect is proof of their bravery, and Bahamut then accepts them as true warriors, or something like that.

As well, the item changes form for whoever collects it, so while the light warriors got a rat's tail, other people would have got different items.

After Bahamut saw that the warriors had received the item of bravery, he bestowed upon them more worthy names of warriors, inducing the class change.

PS. One of the dragons hinted there used to be a time where dragons and humans lived in peace. Would this tie in with your Northern Civilisation ideas?