Cloud Never Cared About the Planet and Never Will

[Jiro]

In Kalm, Player!Cloud can give opinions on mako, Shinra and SOLDIER. The pro-"bad" things are still pretty diplomatic responses though, from what I remember, which probably means they're likelier to be canon. I mean, he might not care about the planet but he certainly doesn't try to speed it along once he finds stuff worth fighting for.

 

[ForceStealer]

Small bump, just getting around to these posts.

As far as inciting the planet to produce more spirit energy goes, I don't know that there is any way to artificially speed that process up. The energy is derived from the memories lifeforms accumulate as they experience life. The only way to make more of it is for more things to live, make memories and die. Increasing the overall population of the planet would be the only way to do it -- but that would also lead to requiring the use of more mako energy to support the additional population.

That's what the Cetra did, wasn't it? By cultivating the land to create more spirit energy. Ifalna says that's what they tried to do around Northern Cave to help the Planet heal the wound but the Planet was simply using too much.

But yes, I don't know how you could do that to produce enough to work a profit with a reactor nearby. As you say, you'd need more power to support it. It'd be like trying to make a perpetual motion machine.

Gast: "Ifalna, what exactly does Planet-reading entail?"

Ifalna: "...I can't explain it very well, but it's like having a conversation
with the Planet... It said something fell from the sky making a large wound.
Thousands of Cetra pulled together, trying to heal the Planet... But, due to
the severity of the wound, it was only able to heal itself, over many years."

Gast: "Do the Ancients, rather, the Cetra, have special powers to heal the
Planet?"

Ifalna: "No, it's not that kind of power. The life force of all living things
on this Planet becomes the energy. The Cetra tried desperately to cultivate
the land so as not to diminish the needed energy..."

Gast: "Hmm, even here so close to the North Cave, the snow never melts. Is
that because the planet's energy is gathered here to heal its injury?"

Ifalna: "Yes, the energy that was needed to heal the Planet withered away the
land...

(I've always wondered whether the icy fields were really the cause of the lack of spirit energy vs being north pole and therefore farther from the sun, or if that was only part of it and the other part was the Cetra just not knowing about science.)

 

[Jiro]

I find it confusing that spirit energy would cause the planet to wither while it is actually trying to heal a wound... I guess that it works like Mako Reactors then, in a sense; healing the planet involves absorbing the energy from nearby areas in order to rejuvenate.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

That's what I assumed, Jiro. Lack of Lifestream in an area causes plantlife to wither, so it seems odd that a concentration of Lifestream would do the same - unless it's a question of balance. I always understood Ifalna's line to mean that they farmed in a way that minimised the consumption of Lifestream, so that the Planet could use what was left over to heal itself.

 

[ForceStealer]

I took it the opposite. They planted plants and trees and such to cultivate life and create more spirit energy for the Planet to use. I don't think a concentration of Lifestream would do the same, it's that the Planet is pulling Lifestream from across the Northern Continent to the Northern Crater to repair it.

All of

Spoiler: this

should normally be spread across the continent, but is instead gathered here.

 

[Mage]

Probably 'cos I'm a plant geek, but I took what Ifalna said to mean that the living energy went inwards to concentrate energy the way a bulb does when it dies back. Not being able to see the foliage doesn't mean that there isn't a living plant there.
If that doesn't make sense I don't care, I'm poorly sick again. :/

OT EDIT: I don't think Cloud cared about the planet per se, he seemed more bothered about his money to begin with, then kinda got caught up in how the others felt about saving the planet. IMO he wanted revenge with Sephiroth more than being able to save the world, it just happened to tie in nicely. Just my two penn'orth anyway.