Gaia (Final Fantasy VII) - Geography

Geography

Gaia is composed of three land masses; the eastern, western and northern continents.

The eastern continent is home to the city of Midgar, an industrial metropolis that, at the time of Final Fantasy VII, served as Gaia's capital city and hosted the headquarters of the Shinra Electric Power Company, the planet's de facto world government. Midgar is situated in the middle of a large plain on the north-western corner of the eastern continent. Its prosperity came about as a result of the abundance of Mako in the vicinity, but due to the use of Mako reactors, the area around Midgar soon became lifeless and polluted. Within the city itself, there was no vegetation, except a few flowers kept by individuals, a small flower bed in a church in the slums, tended by Aerith Gainsborough, and a garden on the grounds of Aerith's house in Sector 5.

Midgar was composed of a large circular plate elevated 50 meters above the ground, and supported by both a central pillar and a system of smaller columns. A network of maintenance platforms were suspended beneath the plate. The plate itself was divided into eight numbered sectors with each sector punctuated by two walls and a Mako reactor. Each of these sectors once had a specific name, but by the time of Final Fantasy VII, no one remembers those names. Shinra headquarters (Sector 0) was located at the center of the plate, and was the tallest structure in the city, with 70 floors. Following construction of the plate, the land beneath was taken up by the poorer residents of Midgar, who couldn't afford property on the plate itself. This area quickly turned into a slum. Like the city above, the slums were divided into eight numbered sectors punctuated by walls and gates. The quality of life in the slums was very low due to the upper plate trapping all the pollution underneath it and blocking the sun from reaching the slums. The slums were strewn with wreckage, including pillars of Greco-Roman design, and components of various dismembered mecha. The majority of the buildings were made of scrap shaped into dwellings. There were, however, scattered buildings left behind from before the plate's construction, such as Aerith's church in Sector 5. At the commencement of Final Fantasy VII, the slums beneath Sector 6 were comparatively wealthy, having services such as restaurants, bars, shops, and clubs. This is because that part of lower Midgar had yet to be adversely affected by the construction of the upper plate, as the Sector 6 plate was still under construction. During Final Fantasy VII, Reno, under orders from President Shinra, destroyed the pillar supporting the plate above Sector 7's slums, where the terrorist group AVALANCHE was based. This caused the plate to collapse and crush the slums below, killing everyone trapped there.

At the end of Final Fantasy VII, Midgar was almost completely destroyed by Meteor, and a new town called Edge was built on its northern outskirts. Edge is the setting of both Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII. It is where most of the inhabitants of Midgar relocated after the Meteor incident, including the protagonist of Final Fantasy VII, Cloud Strife. Edge is also home to the headquarters of the World Regenesis Organization.

The second largest city on Gaia is Junon. During Final Fantasy VII Junon was Shinra's major military base, and the only port on the eastern continent. Junon was originally home to the powerful artillery cannon Sister Ray, before it was moved to Midgar. Another settlement on the eastern continent is Kalm, a small town inspired by medieval Europe. In addition to the eight Mako reactors in Midgar, Shinra also had two other reactors built on the eastern continent. One was located at Fort Condor, but was no longer operational as it had been colonized by nesting condors and the mercenary fighters who protected them from Shinra's attempts to destroy them. The other reactor was located on the seabed beneath Junon. The eastern continent is also home to a chocobo ranch.

The western continent features the Gold Saucer, a combined amusement park and casino, financed and built by Shinra in the middle of an inaccessible quicksand desert. As such, the only access to the Gold Saucer is via cable car. Corel Prison is located at the base of the Gold Saucer. Just outside the desert is North Corel, a shanty town built largely from scrap and other junk. North Corel is home to the surviving inhabitants of the former mining village Corel, Barret Wallace's hometown, which was razed to the ground by Shinra troops in reprisal after members of the original AVALANCHE attacked the new Mako reactor at the nearby Mt. Corel. The cable car to the Gold Saucer is accessible from North Corel.

Also on the Western continent are Costa Del Sol (a seaside resort), Rocket Town (the location of Shinra's failed space rocket launch), Mt. Nibel, and the nearby village of Nibelheim, hometown to Cloud and his childhood friend Tifa Lockhart. Mt. Nibel is home to another Mako reactor. There is also a reactor at Gongaga, Zack Fair's birthplace, but it suffered a meltdown three years prior to the beginning of Final Fantasy VII. Another location on the western continent is Cosmo Canyon. The tribe inhabiting the Canyon emphasize living in harmony with nature and dedicating themselves to Gaia's well-being. Their settlement features an observatory and serves as a research facility for those who wish to participate in a philosophy known as the "Study of Planet Life", a lifestyle that encourages deference for nature and teaches that the Planet has a life and energy of its own.

Occupying a large island off the westernmost continent is the city of Wutai, hometown of Yuffie Kisaragi. Several years prior to the beginning of Final Fantasy VII, Yuffie's father, Godo Kisaragi, led the city in a struggle for dominance against Shinra, but they ultimately lost. This conflict serves as the background for Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. Wutai is based upon pre-modern Japan and China, and features a pagoda and a large Buddha-like statue called "Da Chao".

The northern continent is heavily glaciated, except for the southernmost areas, which are temperate enough to support boreal forests. This area contains an excavation site at Bone Village and beyond that, the mysterious Sleeping Forest. Beyond the forest is the Forgotten City, the capital of Cetra (also known as the Ancients) civilization. North and west of the Forgotten City are mountains, beyond which is a polar region. The only settlement in this area is Icicle Lodge, a ski resort town and Aerith's birthplace. Beyond Icicle Lodge is the Northern Cave, also called Northern Crater, the impact site of Jenova. Here, the WEAPONs slept under the ice, encased in frozen Mako for thousands of years following their creation. The remaining portion of Sephiroth'a body emerged here after traveling through the Lifestream and became encased in a Mako crystal. The crater is also the site of the Jenova Reunion and is where Final Fantasy VII's climax takes place.

Located on an island in the southern ocean of Gaia is the Temple of the Ancients, a large structure into which the Ancients transformed the Black Materia to prevent its use. Whoever wishes to turn the building back into the Black Materia must sacrifice their life by solving a series of puzzles that ultimately shrinks the temple back to its original size, crushing whoever is inside. To the south-east of the Temple lies the only other inhabited island on Gaia, Mideel, a sub-tropical area where the Lifestream sometimes breaks through to the surface.

The Promised Land is a place sought after by the Cetra. Aerith told Cloud that the Promised Land may not be a specific place, but Shinra believed otherwise and were intent on using Aerith to find it. President Shinra believed the Promised Land would become a "Neo-Midgar", a land abundant in Mako to such an extent that it would flow out of the ground, without the need for Mako reactors to siphon it, which would, in turn, increase Shinra's profits exponentially. Upon reaching the Northern Crater, Rufus Shinra believes they had found the Promised Land due to the vast quantity of natural Mako. In actuality, both the game and the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Ω guidebook suggest that the Promised Land is not a specific place or thing, but rather something unique to each individual, which brings that individual supreme happiness.