The Official Plotline

Over 2000 Years Ago…
* the “Calamity from the Skies” crashes into the Planet’s northern polar cap on a meteor, creating a massive ‘wound’ that would come to be known as the Northern Crater.
* the Cetra, being the prominent race at the time, gather and seek to heal the planet.
* The Calamity emerges and gleans memories and emotions from the Cetra to take the forms of their dead relatives to get close enough to kill them, or infect them with part of its molecular structure, referred to as a virus, as it mutates the Cetra into insane monsters.
* The Planet creates six WEAPONs to defend itself from the Calamity: Diamond WEAPON, Emerald WEAPON, Jade WEAPON, Ruby WEAPON, Sapphire WEAPON, and Ultimate WEAPON, but they remain dormant, as a small, last remnant of Cetra survivors manages to defeat the Calamity and seal it in the area where it had arrived.
* The Cetra population dwindles as time advances and the human race expands, assimilating into them, yet retaining their knowledge and power.

εуλ 1867
* Bugenhagen is born

εуλ 1950
* Professor Hojo, Lucrecia Crescent and Vincent Valentine are born.

εуλ 1959
* Nanaki (RedXIII) is born
* Cosmo Canyon is attacked by the Gi Tribe, and is ultimately victorious over them; during the battle, Seto leaves the front lines to hold off a group aiming to overtake the underground cave and flank the defenders. He ends up petrified from poison arrows.
* September 23 – Shinra Inc, then known as Shinra Manufacturing Works, discovers Mako energy
* October 10 – Professor Gast Faremis unearths the Calamity from the Skies from where it was sealed in the North. He mistakes it for a Cetra (Ancient) and names it “Jenova”

εуλ 1967
* July 2 – Jenova is sealed inside the new Mako Reactor in the Nibel Mountains during its construction.

εуλ 1968
* Shinra Manufacturing Works finishes construction on the Nibel Mountain reactor
* February 22 – Cid Highwind is born in Rocket Town

εуλ 1970
* Professor Gast Faremis becomes head of Shinra’s Science Department
* Around that time, Shinra scientists Grimoire Valentine and Lucrecia Crescent make new progress in their extensive research into the legends surrounding Chaos and Omega when they discover Crystal Cave, the place where Chaos is said to awaken at the ‘appointed time.’ However, the Science Dept. scraps the project shortly after Grimoire accidentally awakens Chaos and is killed while protecting Lucrecia.

εуλ 1972
* Reeve Tuesti is born
* December 15 – Barret Wallace is born in Corel

εуλ 1976
* By this point, Shinra Manufacturing Works has become the Shinra Electric Power Company, and begins the construction of the Midgar Plate as the company’s centralized location with modern headquarters at its heart.

εуλ 1977
* Azul is born
* The Shinra Science Dept. begins the ‘Jenova Project’ – headed by Professor Gast Faremis, with the help of fellow Shinra scientists, Professor Hojo, Dr. Hollander, and Lucrecia Crescent – with the goal of studying the unearthed ‘Jenova’ who is mistakenly believed to be an Ancient (what the Cetra are now known as) in hopes of learning more of their powers and the possibility of gifting those powers to humans.
* The advancement of the Jenova project leads to the scientists deciding to genetically engineer a human with Jenova’s cells, but as Hojo and Hollander have differing opinions and methods as to how this ought to be done, the two scientists establish separate projects under the Jenova Project: Hojo begins Project S, based in a lab in Nibelheim’s Shinra Mansion, and Hollander establishes Project G, based in Banora Village.
* Grimoire’s son, Vincent Valentine – a member of the Shinra Department of Administrative Research, also known as the “Turks” – is assigned to protect the Shinra scientists for Project S as they carry out their research in Nibelheim.
* Dr. Hollander uses Shinra Science Department Employee, Gillian Hewley, as a test subject for Project G (Project Gillian) and injects Jenova cells into her body.
* Two experiments result from Project G, both using Gillian’s Jenova-infused DNA; the first experiment has Gillian’s DNA merged with that of a fetus. The second has her pregnant, the child inheriting cells directly from her body.
* The first child, Genesis Rhapsodos, is born. However, he only has the ability to create clones, and not the ability to copy other’s traits into himself – and is thus labeled a failure, and given over to the landlord of Banora for his family to raise.
* The second child, Angeal Hewley, is actually born from Gillian and unlike Genesis, is considered a success – able to create copies and absorb other’s traits. However, by this point, Shinra is no longer supporting Project G, and Angeal is left in his mother’s custody to be raised as a normal boy.
* In Nibelheim, Vincent and Lucrecia begin to get romantically involved. However, Lucrecia ends their relationship out of guilt when Vincent discovers that she not only knew his father but was involved in his death, seeking comfort in a relationship with Professor Hojo. Not long after, she shows to be pregnant.
* Hojo convinces Lucrecia to use her unborn child as a test subject for Project S, injecting her and the baby with vast amounts of Mako and Jenova cells.
* Sephiroth is born, and immediately taken from his mother for study. As the presence of Jenova cells is apparent from early on, marking him as a success.
* Meanwhile, Lucrecia has become ill from the high dosage of Jenova cells and experiments, angering Vincent who confronts Hojo – and is shot for his trouble. Hojo then performs a variety of experiments upon the Turk, increasing his body’s durability, halting his aging and giving him the power of metamorphosis. Still, the stress from the experiments is too great and Vincent dies.
* Lucrecia, despite her own frailty, seeks to revive Vincent by using his body in an experiment to make him a vessel for Chaos, infusing pure Mako in him and managing to successfully merge his spirit with Chaos’, placing the Protomateria in his chest to keep Chaos under control. This is her last act before leaving Nibelheim, locking herself away in stasis in Crystal Cave.
* When Vincent awakens in the basement of Shinra Masion, he changes into Galian Beast. Upon returning to himself, he is horrified and believes this to be a punishment for his sins of letting Lucrecia allow herself and young Sephiroth to be experimented on. Roving the manor, he finds a room of coffins in the basement of the Mansion and shuts himself inside one as punishment for his sins, remaining asleep for decades to come.
* Experiments begin in the secret department beneath the Shinra building, known as Deepground.

εуλ 1978
* Rude is born

εуλ 1980
* Professor Gast leaves Shinra on a Planet-wide journey to find answers to his questions about Jenova, the Ancients, and the Planet itself.
* During his travels, Gast visits Cosmo Canyon because of their knowledge about the Planet, and gifts Bugenhagen with scientific equipment to better monitor it.
* Gast meets a woman named Ifalna, one of the last Cetra/Ancients on the Planet. Initially his interest in her is wanting to know more about her people and the Planet, but they eventually fall in love and retire to Icicle Inn on the Northern Continent.
* In Gast’s absence a power struggle ensues within the Shinra Department of Scientific Research between Hojo and Hollander over who will be the next department head. The achievements of Hojo’s Project S being more recognized than Hollander’s Project G give the professor the coveted position.

εуλ 1982
* Reno is born
* Rufus Shinra is born

εуλ 1984
* Zack Fair is born in Gongaga.

εуλ 1985
* February 7 – Aerith Gainsborough is born “Aerith Faremis” in Icicle Inn.
* Twenty days later, on February 27th, Hojo finally tracks down Gast at his home in Icicle; Gast is shot to death by the troops accompanying Hojo, who takes Ifalna and Aerith into custody at the Shinra Building in Midgar.
* Rosso is born in the Shinra Deepground facility, the first genetically engineered child to be infused with Genesis’ genes.

εуλ 1986
* Shalua Rui is born.
* August 11 – Cloud Strife is born in Nibelheim.

εуλ 1987
* Nero is born in Deepground, the only success in a series of experiments involving the injection of stagnant Mako into fetuses.
* May 3 – Tifa Lockhart is born in Nibelheim.

εуλ 1991
* Shelke Rui is born.
* November 20 – Yuffie Kisaragi is born in Wutai.

εуλ 1992
* The Wutai War begins between Wutai and Shinra when Wutai, last major land free of Shinra influence, denies them permission to build a Mako Reactor on sacred Wutai grounds.
* Sephiroth, by now a SOLDIER 1st Class, gains his status as a world-famous war hero for his unmatched strength and skill during the Wutai War.
* Deepground SOLDIERs are given the covert task of recovering the injured from the Wutai front and bringing them back to Deepground, some nursed to health, others made victim to cruel experimentation. (SOLDIER Unit 14: Lost Force specializes in these extractions throughout the war.)
* Elmyra Gainsborough receives a letter saying her husband, a SOLDIER deployed to Wutai, will be coming home on leave and goes to the Sector 7 train station every day.
* Ifalna and Aerith escape from the Shinra building, fleeing to the Sector 7 Slums by train. Upon arrival, they run into Elmyra and Ifalna, greatly wounded in the escape, asks her to take Aerith in just before she collapses and dies.
* Elmyra’s husband is killed in action. Aerith senses his death and tells Elmyra – who doesn’t believe her – until a notice arrives a few days later, confirming it.

εуλ 1995
* Tifa’s mother dies
* Stricken with grief, Tifa climbs Mt. Nibel under the mistaken belief that she can find her mother there. Cloud follows her, and they fall from the suspension bridge along the way; she suffers severe injuries and remains in a coma for seven days. Cloud, on the other hand, suffers minor injuries only, and is blamed for the accident.

εуλ 1997
* Determined to join SOLDIER, Zack Fair runs away from his home in Gongaga and sets off to Midgar
* An anti-Shinra activist group lead by a man known as the “Death God of the Battlefield” meet with a weapons dealer to negotiate, but are betrayed and attacked by Shinra. Only the leader survives.
* Tseng, a young rookie of the Turks, is sent to Costa del Sol to investigate the kidnapping of a Shinra infantryman from one of the Mako Reactors. Finding him aboard an unmarked ship in the harbor, Tseng learns that he was being tortured for information about the reactor by members of an anti Shinra militant group that’s been stockpiling weapons aboard the ship from a black market weapon seller. Tseng abandons his mission to investigate the ship further in order to save the infantryman’s life.
* Several days after his mission, Veld – the Director of the Turks – tells Tseng that he has failed his duty as a Turk by choosing the life of the infantryman over protecting company secrets. To correct this ‘mistake’ President Shinra orders the Turks to destroy all weapons and data that the anti-Shinra Group has gathered and to locate the company leak providing the black market seller with information. To his surprise, Tseng is included in this mission.
* Tseng and Veld arrive back in Costa del Sol and infiltrate the ship, Tseng charged with deleting all the data while Veld investigates their weapons. Unfortunately, before Tseng can delete all the data, the anti-Shinra operatives make off with a hard copy of the data. In the cargo hold, Veld discovers an army of Proto Golems – robotic weapons developed by Shinra – and Tseng is faced with a hard choice; help his mentor, or uphold his duty as a Turk and retrieve the data. This time, he chooses to stick to the mission, tracking down and eliminating the operatives to retrieve the data. He then returns to help Veld fight off the robo-weaponry, but an explosion goes off within the ship just as soon as they finish them off, trapping Tseng under some wreckage. The rookie Turk insists Veld leave him and report back to HQ, but this time it is Veld who abandons his duty as a Turk and saves Tseng. They make it out, but Veld receives a permanent scar on his face.
* Tseng awakens days later in intensive care wherehe receives commendation for uncovering the stolen weapons plot and learns that the Shinra leak originates in Kalm.
* Kalm is firebombed by Shinra to eliminate the company leak, the order given by Veld himself despite the fact that Kalm is his hometown and his wife and daughter, Felicia, are there. He loses one of his arms in the firebombing, and is taken with the rest of the survivors to Shinra Mansion (Nibelheim) where they become experimental test subjects, most of them dying. Veld is given an experimental prosthetic arm with a materia slot and is allowed to go free. He is told both his wife and daughter died in the bombing, but in reality Felicia is alive and being used as an experiment where a unique materia is grafted on to the back of her hand.
* Veld helps Shinra cover up Kalm’s destruction, not letting any personal grief at losing his family get in the way of his duty as a Turk.

εуλ 1999
* Denzel is born.
* November 10 – Tseng meets the Legendary Turk, who turns out to be the ‘Death God of the Battlefield’ whom he had previously crossed paths with. Tseng is to oversee the Legend’s mission to Wutai.
* The Legendary Turk arrives at a secret Shinra military base in Wutai where he is tasked with rescuing a Shinra weapon’s trader and eliminating the anti-Shinra operatives occupying the base before any information can be leaked. As part of his mission, bombs are planted all over before he goes to rescue the dealer, where he finds a former comrade of his anti-Shinra days guarding him. The Legendary Turk defeats his former comrade and is told, as the man dies, that the one who betrayed him at the Mako Reactor in 1997 was, in fact, the weapon’s dealer. He then recognizes that the weapons dealer he is supposed to rescue is in fact the one that betrayed him, and demands the dealer confess to it. When he refuses, the Legendary Turk leaves him inside the building when the bombs go off.
* The Legendary Turk is put under house arrest in Costa del Sol for abandoning his mission to rescue the kidnapped weapons dealer, but avoids a more serious sentence by having managed to protect the company’s secrets.

εуλ 0000
* Shinra discovers the existence of Shelke Rui, a young orphan with the extremely rare gift of Synaptic Net Diving (SND) who displayed great ability as a child with the technique, allowing her to interact with different planes of existence, such as digital currents and the subconscious thoughts and memories of others.
* Shelke is kidnapped from her sister, Shalua, by the Turks to be taken to Shinra HQ to be inducted as a SOLDIER so they can develop and harvest the SND ability for a new generation of warfare.
* Thinking that Shelke will actually be of better use in Deepground, President Shinra orders a top secret mission to be executed by the Restrictors to take Shelke to Deepground.
* While Shelke is being taken to Midgar by the Turks, the military force escorting them is attacked and annihilated by Deepground SOLDIERs, led by a member of Lost Force. Shelke is then taken to Deepground.
* In late summer, around August, Sephiroth, Genesis and Angeal head to their favorite VR room for some sparring. During the training session things get out of hand, and Genesis challenges Sephiroth to a one-on-one duel that grows out of proportion, Angeal having to interfere. Because of the duel, Genesis is seriously injured and the training room sustains major damage.

Zack's Journal, August 29, 0000

Kunsel said it would help me to sit down and sort out my thoughts like this. Writing them down and keeping a record of them like he taught me on my old PHS, in the hidden files he installed for me. No one would think to look at it, anyway. Not when I got a new one, when they promoted me.

Yeah, I’m a First now. But I didn’t have a party for it. It didn’t feel right without Angeal here.

His disappearance is just one of the strange things that happened recently. First, Hollander shows up dead. I didn’t get the details, but I guess it was supposed to be a heart attack. Not that odd, considering his weight problem, but looking back I wonder. Genesis and Angeal became Professor Hojo’s patients after that, and I know he never seemed to like them, so why did he offer to take them on?

I guess it doesn’t really matter. They disappeared, without a word to me, or to Sephiroth. The company listed them as “Missing in Action” even though they hadn’t been on a mission when it happened. I’d seen Angeal the day before. We’d trained together, and he’d never once let on that anything was wrong.

Well, he was worried about Genesis. How he was hurt and wasn’t healing right. But, if anything that would have made him stay shouldn’t it? Stay where they could get help, even if it was from Professor Creepy.

I just don’t know. We were really close, and I like to think I knew him pretty well, so what do I do when my gut says he wouldn’t just up and leave me?

And then there’s Sephiroth. Losing both his best friends in one swoop cracked a bit of that icy shell he keeps, I think. Maybe not obviously to everyone, but I could tell he was hurt and confused. For a week, he spiraled down into anxiety, wasn’t sleeping, barely ate – I was real worried. And then, he drew me in his office one night. His eyes had an eerie brightness, and he told me he was going to get them back, and for me to keep SOLDIER safe. I told him I didn’t understand, and he said it might not matter, but if I needed to, I’d know what to do when the time came. And then he was gone.

He hasn’t come back.

They listed Sephiroth – SEPHIROTH – as MIA. SOLDIER plunged into chaos without a leader. It was bad enough without Angeal and Genesis – SOLDIER’s heart and fire – but now, we didn’t have our General leading the way. It was a scary time, and it lasted for two weeks before something unreal happened.

I’d been on the SOLDIER Floor, and one of the Turks – Tseng – came to get me. Took me to the board room where I was faced with the Board of Directors. They told me that with Sephiroth gone, someone had to step up. I didn’t understand.

Then they gave me the SOLDIER blacks, and I got a clue. But, it didn’t sink in until Director Lazard told me I was promoted, and asked me if I would accept the position of Acting General.

Actually, sitting here in my office – I refused to take Sephiroth’s – it’s still barely sinking in. I’m the General of SOLDIER. I, Zack Fair, First Class, am the General of SOLDIER. The men are looking to me now, the way they used to look up to Sephiroth, Angeal and Genesis. How am I supposed to fill those shoes?