the House of Margrace. Al-Cid is seen during the game attempting to keep Rozarria and Archadia from fighting a costly war, as well as informing the main characters of political developments in Archadia. Although he succeeds in keeping the two countries from fighting for most of the game, Rozarria does join the resistance in a strike against Vayne at the end of the game. Al-Cid made an appearance in Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift when Vaan requests his aid. After Vaan and Penelo join Luso's party, Al-Cid requests membership as well to lie low from his duties as royalty. Al-Cid was initially given only a small role in the original storyline, but Norio Wakamoto, his Japanese voice actor, had "voiced Al-Cid in such an interesting way" that the developers decided to expand on Al-Cid's role. He was voiced in English by David Rasner. Occuria The are a small group of immortal beings, often called (by both themselves and others) . Referred to as gods by some, but unknown to the major religions in Ivalice, the Occuria race played a vital role in the history of Ivalice such as the creation of the Espers and granting power to King Raithwall to conquer the countries of Ivalice with the Dawn, Dusk, and Midlight shards of nethicite. The Occuria were first designed to be a race of Mindflayers, a type of enemy monster in the game. Earlier concept artwork portrayed these "Mindflayers" as wearing luxurious robes and turbans and lounging in a bar and smoking pipes. The design was changed during development and the Mindflayer was placed as a special monster, retaining the initial design; the Occuria were then given a different design of glowing eyes in a mist-like form. The Occurian with the greatest influence on the story is , one of the primary antagonists of Final Fantasy XII, who rebels against the other Occuria and tries to give the people of Ivalice the power to not be manipulated by the Occuria; for its defiance it is labeled a heretic. Venat taught Doctor Cid the secrets of nethicite, allowing them to manufacture it themselves; it also convinced Cid and Vayne to seek out the nethicite shards originally cut from the Sun-Cryst by Raithwall. In the game, Venat is seen talking to Cid both while visible and not. Venat's ambitions were ultimately fulfilled when Ashe resisted the Occurians' plans and