spira 101

Meet Spira, a land of magic and fear of machina. Spira's history itself is very old, spanning over a thousand years, but it seems not much development was made until Sin's defeat.

A thousand years ago there was a great Machina War. Bevelle and Zanarkand fought, but Zanarkand and its summoners had no chance against Bevelle's powerful machina. Zanarkand was reduced to ruins, Sin was created and because of this people began to fear machina and the terrible destruction it had the habit of bringing with.

Sin's creation brought upon Yevon's worshippers and summoners were given an alltogether new meaning. They made a pilgrimage, gathering strength to acquire the Final Summon and to defeat Sin. But Sin was always reborn and the spiral of death kept going.

The Places
Just some places important to the storylines and Rikku.
Bikanel Island
Al Bhed used to have a home on an island, far away. Then Sin came a destroyed it, and Al Bhed were scattered all over Spira. Cid finally built a new home and brought his race together again. Their new Home was built on Bikanel Island, a place full of sand and away from Yevon's searching eyes. In Final Fantasy X their Home was yet again destroyed, but this time by Seymour's orders.
Bevelle
A center of power no matter what the time. In ancient times, Bevelle was full of machina, and one of the most powerful cities of its time. They abolished Zanarkand with their machina during the war. After the war and the emergence of Sin, Bevelle became a center for the religion. But it has many secrets deep within itself still....
Zanarkand
Once a great city of machina, but reduced to shambles by Bevelle. After the tradition of summoners going on a pilgrimage, it became the place to acquire the Final Summon, which would defeat Sin. In FFX-2 it was turned into a tourist attraction, but since Yuna so highly objected to it, it has now been taken over by monkeys.

The People
Spira is a world of many races, living in moderate peace with each other.
There's the Hypello, who are a race of aquatic creatures. They are quick in water, but slow on land. They would make fine Blitzballers, except it is not in their nature to compete. As it is, they take care of the Shoopuf on Moonflow and help Tobli with his promotions.
The Ronso are a powerful and proud race greatly resembling lions. Kimahri was belittled quite a bit because of his less than tall frame and broken horn. The horn on a Ronso's head is a sort of status symbol, the bigger the horn, the more powerful the warrior -and thus more respected. The Ronso are loyal and righteous, and didn't hesitate to give their lives to protect Yuna on Mt.Gagazet.
The Guado used to live in seclusion, until they opened up to the outside world a couple of decades past. They live mostly in Guadosalam, and by appearance they resemble trees. The Guado were blinded by faith and followed Seymour to destroy the Al Bhed home, and were shunned by the rest of Spira. Towards the end of Final Fantasy X-2 they found the courage to come out of hiding from Macalania Woods and return to Guadosalam with peaceful intentions.