Zanarkand

Lying at the most northern point on the world map, Zanarkand is the destination of all summoners who wish to defeat Sin. The city is said to be in ruins, and has lain so for one-thousand years since it was struck down by Sin for its offenses. Among the ruins, summoners receive the Final Aeon which they may use to defeat Sin and bring unto Spira a short time of peace, the Calm, even though it cost them their lives. For these reasons, it is a holy place, the culimination of a sacred pilgrimage.

[Zanarkand Ruins]
Indeed, resting on the far side of the snowy Mt. Gagazet, the once-great city is nothing but ruins and memories. This Zanarkand was destroyed an eon before by Sin, and was once ruled by Yevon himself. A city of summoners, Yunalesca also resided here, as did her husband, Zaon. It is filled with pyre-flies which swarm and weave on the broken paved streets which lead to the Zanarkand Dome, where Yunalesca awaits to bestow upon successful summoners the Final Aeon. She lives there as an unsent. Yet, there is another Zanarkand, one full of live and light, one where the people are said to never sleep. It looks exactly as Spira's did one-thousand years ago. It is from here which Jecht and Tidus hail and it is not the distant past, as each both first believed. It is the Zanarkand of Dreams.

[Jecht's Zanarkand]
Full of action and care-free citizenry, Jecht's Zanarkand is one which is built entirely on the dreams of the fayth gathered on Spira's Mt. Gagazet. Based upon the city they knew years before, Zanarkand is filled with machina, a dazzling nightlife and, of course, blitzball. The people are not haunted by the shadow of Sin looming in the waters, nor of unsent fiends emerging. When a fiend finds their way into the city, it's a big deal, not a usual occurence as it is in Spira. Since no other place exists except for Zanarkand, the massive city is divided into letter-and-direction sectors and each sector has its own blitzball team. Life here is brilliant and busy and breathtaking.

Jecht's Zanarkand is very much different from Spira on the whole. Of course, this is because Jecht's hometown is a dream, a summoned figment of of the fayth's imagination, based on what their Zanarkand had been like 1000 years ago. And there is one great problem with this city: once the fayth stop their dreaming, it -- and all its inhabitants -- cease to exist. And after so long, the fayth are tired of dreaming.

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