Yulia Jue

Yulia Jue (ユリア・ジュエ) is a female prophet and seventh fonist who lived during the Dawn Age of Auldrant, around 2000 years before the start of Tales of the Abyss. She left an enduring legacy through the recording of her predictions, which represented a highly accurate history of the world's future spanning over two millenia, known as the Score, which eventually became the centerpiece of the religion led by the Order of Lorelei.

Childhood
Yulia was born in BD 2693, as recorded under the "Before Dawn" yearly reckoning system used during this era. She was born in the kingdom of Hod, one of the six major civilizations within the world. Yulia was seen as a child prodigy in the arts of technology and fonic manipulation, and she had the ability to see into the future. But because of this, she was regarded as a deviant and shunned by her peers, leading her to have a lonely childhood. Her loneliness was overcome by her love of cheagles, creatures which were used for experimental research by the human population.

She eventually studied under Dr. Southern Cross, the scientist who first proposed the Planetary Storm theory two decades years before Yulia's birth, and discovered the seventh fonon shortly afterwards when observing the outer rim of the fon belt. Under his tutelage, she showed great promise through her abilities, and a great capacity for knowledge in their field of science.

The Fonic War
By the year BD 2699, a devastating war broke out throughout the world, over the use of the seventh fonon as a means of reading the planet's memory to determine the future. Two factions existed during this war: the "Forseers" who advocated for reading the knowledge of the future, and the "Deniers" who were against this knowledge. This war featured the use of recent advancements in fonic weaponry to disastrous effect. These devices disrupted the machinery that controlled the artificial Planetary Storm within the planet's core, creating vibrations within the core that caused the ground to shift, and eventually leading to the release of miasma from below the planet's surface. Within a month, half of the world's population died, and the kingdoms of Hod and Kether were completely destroyed.

The war persisted for several years, and in BD 2707, a 14 year old Yulia, joined by her ten disciples, took it upon herself to form a pact with Lorelei, the aggregate sentience of the seventh fonon of Sound. Her pact with Lorelei was sanctified through her Grand Fonic Hymn, and through this hymn, she was able to restore the kingdom of Hod. She then created the Key of Lorelei to hold the power of Lorelei, using it to reform the structure of fonons and rebuild the Planetary Storm. After completing this task, Yulia left the Key to float within the planet's core.

Two years later, in BD 2709, Yulia chanted the prophecy of the world's future, and her words were etched onto seven massive fonstones. Her premonitions held that the world was doomed to be consumed by miasma at a much faster rate if the fighting was to continue, and the remaining kingdoms declared a ceasefire, leading to the end of the war.

The Float Project
Yulia and her followers eventually created a plan known as the "Float Project", a system through which the entire surface of the world would be raised into the sky using the Sephiroth Trees as pillars, in order to keep the miasma confined below the surface itself. Many countries adopted this plan, but two opponents, the kingdoms of Ispania and Frank, feared for the political influence Yulia held over the world, as she was already being viewed by the populace as a living goddess.

The two countries plotted to remove Yulia from her position, and they bribed one of her disciples, Francis Daath, into betraying her location to them. Knowing this, Yulia informed Daath that his betrayal was foretold within the Score, telling Daath that she will not stop him. Daath proceeded to steal six of the seven fonstones, founding the Order of Lorelei to preach their teachings. However, as he began to read the engravings upon the stones, he started to fear Yulia's powers, especially after discovering that his own fate was already recorded.

Ispania and Frank captured and imprisoned Yulia under the charge that she was "turning the land which they walk on into Qliphoth". The other countries which supported Yulia's plan rose up in arms over the treachery of the two countries, creating a new conflict known as the Float War. However, the might of the other countries could not match that of Ispania and Frank, and they easily claimed victory within a single year. Two of Yulia's original ten disciples died during the war, and due to the exclusion of Daath after his betrayal, her remaining followers became known as the "Seven Sages".

Yulia was found guilty and sentenced to death by the "International Court of Judgment", a court in name only. Daath, regretting what he had done, rescued Yulia from her imprisonment before committing suicide to atone for his betrayal. Meanwhile, Ispania and Frank took control over Yulia's Float Project, and they proceed to raise the surface of their own territories while leaving all of their opponents in the newly created Qliphoth. Yulia joined the people who were left behind as the project was put into effect, and she did her best to rescue them from the miasma, eventually founding a single bastion of civilization within the Qliphoth which came to be known as Yulia City.

The New Dawn
The raising of the surface and the creation of the Outer Lands led to the start of the "New Dawn" era on BD 2714, thereafter known as ND 0001. By ND 0006, another of Yulia's disciples, Freyr Albert, became the first Fon Master of the Order of Lorelei, leading the organization with Yulia's guidance. Yulia herself made her way to the surface world, believed by the public to be traveling in exile now that the remaining lands are controled completely by Ispania and Frank.

Yulia and Albert eventually were married and settled at Hod, founding the first generation of the House of Fende to pass her hymns through the generations, eventually to be learned by their descendants Van and Tear Grants. The missing six fonstones, having been recovered from the Order of Lorelei, were broken into several pieces and sent into the fon belt through the Planetary Storm, while the seventh fonstone remains in a single piece to be guarded by their family lineage. Albert's half-brother, Walter Sigmund, served as their guardian and protector, founding his own House of Gardios. After an inderterminable amount of time, the positions of both families were reversed in order to veil the truth about both families' histories, leading to the Fende family becoming the protectors of the Gardios nobility of Hod, a relationship that showed itself through Van's secret vassalage and honored servitude to Guy Cecil, the successor to the Gardios family.

Tales of the Abyss
The spirit of Yulia is seen floating past the atmosphere of Auldrant, within the planet's fon belt, during the first animated scene at the start of the game. She recites her own prophecies of the current era starting with ND 2000, declaring the birth of the "Light of the Sacred Flame", eventually revealed to be Luke fon Fabre, and the destruction of Hod two years later by "The One Who Would Sieze Glory", her own descendant Van Grants. These events set the stage for the unfolding story of the game, which starts on ND 2018.