For thousands of years, Eorzea has been victim to a catastrophic cycle of destruction and rebirth that periodically envelops the realm and threatens all who live upon her soil; each time faced with a tragedy seemingly worse than the last, however, the peoples of Eorzea have found some way to persevere. One method, seemingly going back hundreds of generations, has been the establishment of comprehensive command centers which combine the military, economic and technological resources of a city-state in order to better prepare it for the coming doom. These are the Grand Companies of Eorzea.
The last recorded of emergence of the Grand Companies was nearly 1,500 years ago, at the end of the Fifth Astral Era and the arrival of the great deluge which triggered the dark period known as the Sixth Umbral Era. It was through these companies that the then warring city-states were able to put aside their bitter differences and join together to form an alliance and ensure the realm survived.
With the recent attacks by the Garlean Empire seen as an imminent threat to the realm, there have been scattered talks of restoring the Grand Companies to their former glory, but conflicting agendas on all sides have slowed progress. That is, until the appearance of an adventurer who set in motion the wheels of hope.
