Final Fantasy VII/Preface/Story/Before the game

Arrival of Cetra
The Cetra, also known as the Ancients, were an ancient peoples who go from planet to planet, searching for the 'Promised Land'. It is possible that the 'Promised Land' is, in fact, the afterlife; where the Cetra return to the planet. In the meantime, it seems their mission is to settle on planets to maintain and protect that planet's lifestream and to enrich the world with their knowledge. Long in the past, a group of Cetra arrived on the planet and settled amongst the indigenous humans there.

Calamity from the Sky
Shortly after the arrival of the Cetra another lifeform landed on the planet, possibly following the Cetra. Later known as JENOVA this creature appeared to the Cetra of Knowlespole, near the north crater where it had landed. It presented itself as one of the Cetra, and brought a message of peace. The truth is, JENOVA was a malicious viral lifeform. JENOVA's cells infected the Cetra of Knowlespole, turning them into monsters. JENOVA and it's virus spread among the Cetra, though it left the indigenous tribes unharmed.

WEAPONs and the defeat of JENOVA
In response to the wound JENOVA inflicted upon the planet the lifestream created 5 huge monsters: Sapphire WEAPON, Diamond WEAPON, Ultimate WEAPON, Emerald WEAPON and Ruby WEAPON. The WEAPONs' sole function was to destroy everything in its path, thereby absorbing as much spirit energy as possible to heal the wound. However, before the WEAPONs could fulfil their mission, a few surviving Cetra managed to seal JENOVA somewhere near the Nolespole(Northern Continent),or in MOUNT. Nibel Over the next 2000 years the Cetra dispersed around Earth and their numbers slowly dwindled. The WEAPONs went into hibernation in the North Crater for when JENOVA should return. The planet continued its efforts to heal the wound JENOVA left.

The Rise of Shin-Ra
Around 50 years ago, President Shin-Ra founded the Shin-Ra Weapons Company. They quickly grew in influence in a world made up of tiny townships with no substantial form of government. In this period, Shin-Ra developed a space program culminating in a manned space-flight plan. The rocket was to be piloted by Cid Highwind, a renowned Shin-Ra pilot. However, on the day of the launch an engineer named Shera (Sierra in Japanese version) stayed below-deck trying to fix an oxygen tank. Cid chose to abort the launch even as he ignited the rockets instead of letting Shera burn to a crisp. Having missed their launch window, Shin-Ra abandoned the mission and put its space program on hold.

At some point in their weapons research, Shin-Ra discovered the fuel potential of the lifestream and dubbed it Mako energy. Shin-Ra realized the profit potential in this cheap and abundent energy source and poured more and more funding into it. Soon the major towns depended upon Mako energy, and with their existing armed forces controlling the operations along side the corporate divisions, Shin-Ra was poised perfectly for world domination.

The Shin-Ra company designed and built the vast Metropolis of Midgar in the Mako-rich plains near Kalm. There, eight reactors tunnelled into the Earth, drawing vast amounts of energy from the lifestream there and subsequently causing all the wildlife around Midgar to shrivel and die. It seems there were already towns where Shin-Ra wanted to build its city, their solution was to simply build over them. As a result, Shin-Ra built the city into two parts: A massive plate was erected, where Shin-Ra employees and the rich from around the world could live a life of luxury. Underneath, the old towns transformed into overcrowded, dark slums. The names of the old towns were forgotten as the original inhabitants of the land died and were replaced by the poor, seeking a new life in Midgar but finding only misery.

Above, Shin-Ra let the people elect a Mayor to keep the people happy. Shin-Ra still held all the power, and people didn't complain as long as things were good. All around the world the same happened, Shin-Ra built reactors in every human settlement on the globe, making the populace dependent on the company whether they liked it or not. Where there was resistance, Shin-Ra countered with force. In Corel, a coal-mining town whose livelihood had been wiped out by the rise of Mako, Shin-Ra troops burnt down the town claiming the people had attacked the reactor. A mineworker named Barret Wallace, who had the reactor's construction, and his friend Dyne were returning from negotiations with Shin-Ra when they saw their town in flames. They were attacked by Scarlet and a group of soldiers. Barret caught Dyne before he fell off a bridge, and Scarlet's troops opened fire on them. Barret lost his right arm trying to hold on to Dyne's, and Dyne lost his left arm trying to hold on to Barret's. Dyne plummeted from the cliffs near Corel and was assumed dead. Returning to Corel, Barret found Dyne's infant daughter Marlene in the rubble, he took her with him to Midgar and swore to take revenge against the Shin-Ra. Barret chose to graft a gun onto his arm stump. The Golden Saucer theme park was built over the ruins of Corel, invested in by Shin-Ra (a possible reason why Shin-Ra burnt the town). The survivors of Corel moved to the ropeway station taking people to the Golden Saucer, scavenging and selling junk to tourists.

Shin-Ra also struggled to bring the Eastern continent and Wutai under its control. Wutai, a large and influencial state was governed by Godo Kisaragi who refused to allow a Mako reactor to be built. Shin-Ra waged war upon Wutai, reducing the great civilization to a small tourist resort. During this war Shin-Ra built the city of Junon, once again, simply building over the original inhabitants. Junon was built as a military port, presumably to defend the western continent and Midgar from invasion by Wutai, it contained the giant cannon 'Sister Ray' as well as numerous artillery installations which would later be used to defeat WEAPON. This war was costly, and as a result of this Shin-Ra made the final move from a weapons manafacturer to a power company.

Sephiroth: One-winged Angel
2000 years after JENOVA was imprisoned by the last surviving Cetra, a brilliant but inexperienced Shin-Ra scientist named Professor Gast discovered what he thought was an ancient, preserved in the rock on Mt. Nibel.