Extinction Of the Cetra

jazzflower92

jazzflower92

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The Girl With A Strong Opinion
I haven't noticed that the Compilation and the original game didn't focus on the fact that with Aerith's death that the Cetra became extinct and the fact that they are the ones that keep the planet in bay doesn't bode well for future catastrophes. It's really kind of a downer way to end one subplot on, and not reflect on that fact. I wonder if anyone could have suggested that there could have possibly been someone other than Iflana or Aerith.
 
The Twilight Mexican

The Twilight Mexican

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TresDias
I thought it was addressed rather directly, with the point being that ordinary humans had to take responsibility to avert future disaster.
 
Octo

Octo

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Yeah, what Tres said. I still don't know what the hell the Cetra actually do It was all a bit vague. Presumably they work with nature instead of against it. But "settle" the planet? What does that mean? The planet should have its own natural balance anyway - unless humans interfere.

Tbh I think the Cetra are full of shit :monster:
 
LicoriceAllsorts

LicoriceAllsorts

Donator
I have come to the conclusion that the point is, anybody can be a Cetra if they just put the time and effort into listening to the planet. Bugenhagen could hear the planet and he was able to let Avalanche hear its whale song cries of distress. Human beings are descended from Cetra, so they just have to put their self-centred busy-ness aside, and concentrate on listening.
 
Obsidian Fire

Obsidian Fire

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The Engineer
Aerith being the "The Last of the Cetra" is another one of those "I ignore how that kind of stuff works in real life to enjoy the game" things. Mostly because of how long ago the Cetra were supposed to be around and how they were wiped out by Jenova. And how we only have Sephiroth's word on what humanity was doing at the time (which isn't all that reliable). Most populations don't go extinct by breading down to one person, but dispersing their distinctive traits into another population.

Rather then Aerith being the Last Cetra in terms of genetic lineage, she's most likely the Last Cetra in terms of cultural beliefs. It's pretty likely that the surviving Cetra intermarried with the more numerous humans and a large portion of the population at the time of FFVII have Cetra genetics back in their family trees. They just don't know what to do with it. My personal take on it is that Gast and Ilfana had more Cetra genetics then normal and Aerith is a thowback who just so happens to know what do with her stronger-then-normal Cetra traits.
 
Roger

Roger

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Well Ilfana would have been the throwback, Aerith was considered an 18% inferior specimen.
 
C

Clement Rage

Pro Adventurer
Aeris has no real exposure to Cetra culture, though. Her childhood was in a lab, and then she was raised by Elmyra.

The Cetra weren't wiped out by JENOVA, just damaged. I reckon there was another war of extinction more recently that we never heard about.

Anyone can hear the Planet (with specialised equipment?), but that doesn't mean they understand it. You can recognise a scream from a horse or a dog, without understanding specific information like the Cetra can. Those little white balls in the City of the Ancients just disorient/hurt Cloud.
 
Flare

Flare

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Reading this thread, I kind of guess that Aerith just was born with a more adept ability to be a Cetra. Like she got the right genes in her to make her more in-tune to the Planet unlike most humans are. Maybe it's like someone being born a genius vs. someone who takes more years to learn?
 
C

Clement Rage

Pro Adventurer
The Twilight Mexican said:
Aerith lived with her mother in that lab for seven years, though. She remarks that Ifalna taught her things.
Click to expand...

When is this? Honest question. All I remember is that in the Shinra building she says the only place she heard the voice of the Planet was the church, and she also heard her mother's voice there. She also says 'I thought it would fade as I grew up', which doesn't suggest she had to learn how to hear the planet.
 
ForceStealer

ForceStealer

Double Growth
I suppose you could look at the Cetra like the Neaderthals. Gone, strictly speaking, but mostly just apart of humans, as Engineer says. But maybe they're like the white rhino, and Ifalna really was the last full-blood one :monster:
 
LicoriceAllsorts

LicoriceAllsorts

Donator
Actually, was Aerith in a lab, or was she just held in the Shinra building. Did Ifalna say they were escaping from a lab, or escaping from Shinra?

Nobody knows how old Ifalna is.

I think the planet guided Ifalna to the railway station so that Aerith could be adopted by Elmyra, the one woman in the whole of the slums with a garden (what are the odds?) Aerith's being in constant contact with the earth not only revived the soil (maybe her presence drew Lifestream to that place?) but also developed her Cetra abilities.

President Shinra was wrong about the promised land. Hojo was wrong about so much. They were wrong about the Cetra - they're not a unique race distinct from human beings, but a culture, a set of values, a set of beliefs, a set of skills.
 
Roger

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LicoriceAllsorts said:
Actually, was Aerith in a lab, or was she just held in the Shinra building. Did Ifalna say they were escaping from a lab, or escaping from Shinra?

Nobody knows how old Ifalna is.

I think the planet guided Ifalna to the railway station so that Aerith could be adopted by Elmyra, the one woman in the whole of the slums with a garden (what are the odds?) Aerith's being in constant contact with the earth not only revived the soil (maybe her presence drew Lifestream to that place?) but also developed her Cetra abilities.

President Shinra was wrong about the promised land. Hojo was wrong about so much. They were wrong about the Cetra - they're not a unique race distinct from human beings, but a culture, a set of values, a set of beliefs, a set of skills.
Click to expand...

Lab or Shinra building, what's the difference? Aerith was taken from Ifalna and Gast as a baby, and then Ifalna died right after rescuing her. How can there have been a massive amount of time to teach Aerith an entire culture's worth of skills, values and beliefs that Shinra remained completely ignorant towards? They were taken to be studied, Hojo got a lot wrong, doesn't mean everyone involved was blind and deaf. Aerith is a Cetra despite never really having been exposed to their culture, proving that there is just something inheritely special about their being. They can commune with the Lifestream. And all President Shinra saw the Promised Land for was a big Mako reserve. Aerith could've probably helped with that, given the time.
 
Lex

Lex

Administrator
^You're assuming Ifalna and Aerith weren't together between Aerith being a baby and the scene at the train station. They were taken captive at the same time, when Gast was murdered and Aerith was just a week or so old. Do we have an official age for train-station Aerith when Ifalna dies? Because I assumed they were held together in Shinra captivity of some sort.

I'd be interested to learn more about Aerith's actual lineage tbh. Like, who were Ifalna's parents? Why didn't they have more children? Why didn't they have siblings? When and how did they die? If Ifalna was "pure Cetra" and it's a genetic thing, how did the last two find each other? Were they brother and sister? Or maybe they were both half-cetra and Ifalna just got the lucky genes, and there are actual Aerith relatives in VII's world that just aren't genetically attuned or whatever.
 
Roger

Roger

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Minato
Lex said:
^You're assuming Ifalna and Aerith weren't together between Aerith being a baby and the scene at the train station. They were taken captive at the same time, when Gast was murdered and Aerith was just a week or so old. Do we have an official age for train-station Aerith when Ifalna dies? Because I assumed they were held together in Shinra captivity of some sort.

I'd be interested to learn more about Aerith's actual lineage tbh. Like, who were Ifalna's parents? Why didn't they have more children? Why didn't they have siblings? When and how did they die? If Ifalna was "pure Cetra" and it's a genetic thing, how did the last two find each other? Were they brother and sister?
Click to expand...

Like I said, they were kidnapped to be studied. Hojo being wrong about everything is one thing, maintaining his wrongness while Ifalna is teaching Aerith the truth in front of his researchers for 7 years quite another.
 
The Twilight Mexican

The Twilight Mexican

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Clement Rage said:
The Twilight Mexican said:
Aerith lived with her mother in that lab for seven years, though. She remarks that Ifalna taught her things.
Click to expand...

When is this? Honest question. All I remember is that in the Shinra building she says the only place she heard the voice of the Planet was the church, and she also heard her mother's voice there. She also says 'I thought it would fade as I grew up', which doesn't suggest she had to learn how to hear the planet.
Click to expand...
I think I was remembering what she said here as something her mother told her while they were in captivity. :monster:

Still, Ghost Mom told her a few things.

EDIT: It also seems silly to me that in seven years, Hojo wouldn't have had the two interact -- for the purposes of research if nothing else.
 
C

Clement Rage

Pro Adventurer
Certainly, but why would she feel like obliging Hojo (a man that murdered her husband and kidnapped her) by giving insights into Cetra culture, especially as this would make Aeris a more valuable research specimen? Seems like in those circumstances, she would teach as little as possible.
 
The Twilight Mexican

The Twilight Mexican

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TresDias
Maybe. But I guess I'm thinking about the way captive or enslaved members of religious and ethnic groups have responded to their circumstances in real life. They do tend to keep passing on their traditions as much as possible, especially if there's a spiritual element to it all. For comfort and the promise of better times ahead if nothing else.

We have no way of knowing how much of that took place pre-Ghost Mom (or even after), though, so I guess it's a moot point.
 
C

Clement Rage

Pro Adventurer
Generally, that's because whoever the oppressor is wants to crush the relevant culture, though. In this case, Shinra actively wants the culture to continue so they can exploit it, so for the same reason, one would expect Ifalna to do her best to thwart them, especially if she really does care about the Planet. How much could Aeris really have learned before age 7

Did Elmyra have a garden before Aeris started living with her?

Come to think of it, the Cetra would be some of the first people to realise that Mako reactors were bad for the Planet, which would have brought them into conflict with Shinra. Which would explain why so few of them survived, until the Prez realised he would need a Cetra to scout for new reactor sites.
 
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