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yulia

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Beyond being a Seventh Fonist, Tear is a direct descendent of Yulia, creator of the Score.

Yulia Jue was a Seventh Fonist of the Dawn Age who founded the Order of Lorelei and who wrote the Score two thousand years ago. Technologically-inclined, Yulia helped design and create much of the technology of the Dawn Age. Yulia, along with Doctor Southern-Cross and ten others, developed the Sephiroths and passage rings that held up the Outer Lands. Yulia also created the Key of Lorelei, a fonic weapon symbolising the pact between herself and Lorelei that was used to write the fonic glyph that created the Planet Storm.

There were seven sages who served Yulia, one of whom was named Fende. Fende and Yulia began a relationship from which at least one child was born. Yulia entrusted Fende with the most important fonstone, the Seventh Fonstone, knowing how dangerous it was. Over the generations, the Fende family were constant protectors of the Seventh Fonstone, and hid the fonstone in their place of residence. The last known location of the fonstone was in Hod, where the Fende family lived as servants to Hod's noble family Gardios. Consistently Seventh Fonists were born along the Fende line, and Yulia's Fonic Hymns were passed down to each in turn.

Tear's heritage is errivocably proved when Lorelei itself takes over her body in order to speak with Luke in the Core.

Lorelei: (...) A descendent of Yulia...! I shall borrow your power!

Further, when seventh fonons contaminated by the miasma are discovered to be flowing into Tear's body, Jade Curtiss realises there's no doubt of who Tear's ancestor is. Since Tear is the only one who the passage rings react to, Jade presumes Yulia had encoded her genetic data into the rings.

Yulia city was named after Yulia in her honour. Of all the cities in the world, it's the most unique and alarming: created from long lost technology, no one in the world knows how it was built. Yulia also founded the road of her namesake that connects Yulia City to the Outer Lands. A type of grass, "yulia grass", was also named after her, and is a favourite of Meiu's.

the score

The Score was divided into seven fonstones that held on their surfaces the future of the world as Yulia foresaw it. It was from Yulia's Score that the decision was made to lift the lands into the sky in order to save the people from the miasma. The Sephiroth were constructed and the land was lifted, resulting in the Outer Lands.

The fonstones were suspended in the sky, but over the centuries broke apart, some remaining to create the fon belt circling the planet, while others fell to the surface below. The search for the fonstone pieces eventually sparked the Malkuth-Kimlasca war in modern times. Both countries were desperate to find the fonstones, in particular the Seventh Fonstone, which Yulia herself had hidden: it foretold the destruction of the world.

Yulia's Score is so precise, it has never been proven wrong. However, it has been faithfully upheld by the Order of Lorelei through Yulia's teachings. The people are heavily reliant on the Score to direct their lives and decisions. Although a believer in Yulia's teachings and the Score herself, Tear eventually comes to question the Score. How, for instance, could the Score ever be wrong if no one ever deviated from it? Luke's existence - not foretold by the Score, and therefore a deviation - brings a whole new light to the Score. Tear, like Luke and the others, decides to reject the Score and live by her own free will.

At the end of the game, Tear recalls something Van said about Yulia's intentions towards the Score she foretold.

Tear: ...I just remembered the first time I ever learned fonic hymns from Van. He said, "Yulia wished for people to overturn the Score. Yulia loved the world. The fonic hymns are the pact that Yulia offered to Lorelei out of that love..."

The group realises that in hiding the Seventh Fonstone, which contained the Score of Destruction, Yulia may have wanted a different future to come about, one that deviated from her predictions. Although Van also realised this, his solution in creating a new future was rejected by Lorelei. Lorelei instead gives Asch and Van the power to make a new future.

fonic hymns

In her time, Yulia created seven special Fonic Hymns. Normally, fonic hymns are combined with a melody to cast fonic artes; but Yulia's hymns were embued with a power beyond normal fonic hymns, equalling fonic artes in power. Further, Yulia created her hymns such that just knowing the hymn itself would be useless: one must understand the hymn to use it.

Guy: When one who truly appreciates the symbolism and meaning sings a verse, it draws a map to hidden wisdom.

For most, Yulia's Fonic Hymns are all but a legend. Upon first using one of the hymns to save the group from the miasma at the Fubras River, Tear shocks Jade twice over: that the hymns actually exist and can be understood - and therefore used - by at least one individual.

Jade: The seven fonic hymns left behind by Yulia...I'd heard rumors of them, but...I heard they were too difficult for anyone to decipher...

As far as the game shows, only two people know of the hymns: Tear and Van. When Van is first defeated and thought dead, having fallen into the Core, he uses Yulia's fonic hymns to call forth Lorelei and save him. Doing so he survives, though Lorelei remains within him.

Van: Lei va neu kuloa tue lei lei
Tear: That's....Yulia's fonic hymn...

The culmination of Yulia's fonic hymns is the Grand Fonic Hymn, a symbol of the Order of Lorelei that allows the user to call upon Lorelei's power. The hymn is so powerful, the user doesn't need to understand its symbolism, unlike the seperate seven hymns. Used in unison with the Key of Lorelei, the user can summon Lorelei itself. Before the final battle with Van, Tear recalls the Grand Fonic Hymn; during the battle, she uses it to call Lorelei out of Van's body, fatally weakening him.

cheagles

The cheagles of the East Rugnica Plains are considered sacred to the Order of Lorelei, and like Yulia herself are symbols of the Order. Long ago, Yulia made a pact with the cheagles to garner their aid. She gave them the ring Meiu wears to be able to speak the human tongue, as well as an everlasting rule that the cheagles should be assisted if the need for help were ever to arise. The cheagles agreed to the pact, and together Yulia and the cheagles formed the basis of the Order of Lorelei.



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