Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
Also, I at least had enough class to use the German "Morgenstern." Sounds cooler, if no less blatant and silly.
Leingod's Ideas Thread
- Thread starter Leingod
- Start date
Also, I at least had enough class to use the German "Morgenstern." Sounds cooler, if no less blatant and silly.
- Location
- Leeds
26 hours after I posted and you're still defending it. That post must have cut deep.
Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
No, I'm just petty like that. Case in point: I made that response about 4 hours after the original post, and thus about 2 1/2 hours after actually seeing it.
- Location
- Leeds
And I'm petty to bring it up. But seriously why Satan? I can't think a of a single thing about you that makes me think you'd relate more to satanism than basing your theme around a historian or archeologist.
Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
Well, in part it's because I wanted my SI to actually seem like they fit in with the "character rules" of RWBY, which means both a name that can be related to a color and, ideally, some level of inspiration in aesthetics/design from a particular story, be it true or fictional. Historians usually don't figure into actual stories that people care about, and when we do it usually has to do with being mutilated or killed.
Since I really like light-based superpowers (having always been a big Green Lantern fan, for instance), I wanted to give my SI a Semblance on it (and though I didn't really get far enough to show it, I was planning on making it develop in a way distinct from Roy/Raine in ROYL), and since the SI was going to be more like what I was at that actual age than at the age I actually wrote it... well, suffice to say I was kind of an arrogant little shit when I was 17, with the pronounced hatred of authority and authority figures you might expect of an arrogant shit of a 17 year old who read Milton without actually reading Milton. I also dabbled a bit in occult works like the Lesser Key of Solomon and the Hermetic corpus, but that's neither here nor there. And while I did like history at the time, it wasn't really my main interest; I was actually a Psychology major until halfway through sophomore year. Oobleck was totally going to be his favorite teacher and class, though.
Plus, I kind of had plans for a particular form of magic that he would possess that would work well with the light-based iconography and the themes that "Lucifer," rather than simply "Satan," kind of brings to mind.
And as an aside, I hate fictional depictions of archaeologists (except in Jackie Chan Adventures), since 99% of the time the writers don't realize that archaeology and tomb robbing are two very different pursuits these days.
- Location
- Leeds
Well I can't argue with that reasoning and it sounds like I should be complaing to seventeen year old Liengod. When I'm done baffling him about why this stranger is critising him for something he'll write years from now you can borrow my time machine and explain Milton.
Yeah for some reason seem to think Indiana is more interesting than Time team. And even less interesting is the research and theories on why something might be somewhere rather than just putting holes in the ground until you find whatever you're looking for.
Yeah for some reason seem to think Indiana is more interesting than Time team. And even less interesting is the research and theories on why something might be somewhere rather than just putting holes in the ground until you find whatever you're looking for.
Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
I'm talking more about robbing everything that looks valuable and isn't nailed down.
Like, take the first scene of Indiana Jones, where he replaces a gold idol with a bag of sand so he can take it without tripping a centuries-old trap that's somehow still working. That's not archaeology, it's looting. He's encountering an engineering marvel of a long-dead civilization, but does he actually take notice of that as anything but an obstacle to him making off with a big gold statue, the least interesting but most economically valuable item? Of course not, because he's not an academic or a researcher or a scholar, he's a thief. At least Lara Croft dispenses with the pretenses and just stars in a franchise called Tomb Raider. I'm fine with that, since they're not dressing it up as anything but some bored rich bitch engaging in theft. It's like Catwoman without the spandex.
If you wanted to portray archaeology with the exciting Indiana Jones action without it just being a bunch of looting, all you'd really need is for the archaeologist to express fascination with the mechanisms of the traps he's encountering, treat the gold idol as just a relic that's conveniently small enough that it can be carried back for preliminary studies, maybe speculate a bit on what its symbolism and placement in the room might mean, and later make an offhand mention of colleagues who are really interested in the paper you wrote about the traps and your findings on that culture's religious observances once you got back.
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- Pronouns
- They/Them
You know, Leingod. You should bookmark all of those explosition/"Random facts about China" posts and the like, so they're easier to find. 
ROYL II - Semblance Ideas
Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
Purple
[] Iris: A Semblance of light; when "Purple" activates Iris, they can control light itself. They can bend and shift light to create and control holograms and illusions, even making objects invisible to the naked eye, though this requires a great deal of concentration. They can also affect the intensity of light, empowering a light source to make its light bright enough to blind or dimmer to make it harder to see; they can even "eat" the light source to snuff out its light entirely.
[] Arcus: A Semblance of light; when "Purple" activates Arcus, they can manifest light itself. They can create constructs of solid light and set them into motion with a thought, or simply grab and use them by hand. These constructs and the path of their movement must be very simple and straightforward, and creating many in a short time or making a particularly large one saps "Purple's" strength very quickly. When dismissed or expose to great force, these constructs shatter like glass and then fade from existence.
Blue
[] Orguia: A Semblance of gravity; when "Blue" activates Orguia, a faint blue light seems to wash over them in waves. When "Blue" strikes an enemy or object, its gravity seems to increase slightly. Initially, this is hardly enough to even be noticed, but repeated strikes strengthen this increased hold that gravity seems to have, as if a greater and greater weight is acting upon the affected being. Eventually, object and enemy alike begins to bow under its own weight, movements growing sluggish as though under several feet of water; it can feel like the crushing weight of the ocean itself is upon you.
[] Ochyroma: A Semblance of immovable defense; when "Blue" activates Ochyroma, the defensive power of their Aura rises to extreme levels, accompanied by their Aura Shield becoming visible to the eye, far brighter and stronger than it should be. This comes at the cost of hindering their movement and speed of motion (though it also makes it harder for outside forces to move them), an effect that scales with the increase to defensive power. At its greatest extent, "Blue" becomes a literally immovable bulwark.
White
[] Geist: A Semblance of stealth; when "White" activates Geist, a thin, wispy mist begins to emanate from their form, and all means of detecting them become far more difficult. Whether those senses be organic or electric, they are hindered in their attempts to detect, identify and track "White," though it in no way becomes impossible. To the eye, their form becomes blurry and indistinct, as though glanced from the corner of the eye. To the ear, whatever noise they make becomes dim and hard to make out, as though being heard from far away. Should one try to smell them, they could find the scent faint and easily masked by others, and so on.
[] Fetch: A Semblance of a doppelganger; when "White" activates Fetch, wisps of vapor and mist pours from their body and coalesces into a perfect replica of "White," though any object (including weapons) that the copy carries are nonfunctional, and are useless for anything but selling the illusion that the replica, called a fetch, is the original. The Fetch can act at "White's" mental command as a puppet, and is capable of semi-autonomous action to carry out a specific directive, such as dodging gunfire if ordered to flee as a distraction, but it has no actual mind of its own and cannot perform any complex action of its own volition, nor can it speak or make sounds. The fetch is a solid, yet interacts with "White" as though it were completely ethereal, even able to hide within their body by mimicking all their movements perfectly, allowing "White" the element of surprise by seeming to grow a third arm to strike a foe that thought it dodged the initial blow. However, even a slight impact will destroy the fetch, dispersing it back into a mist and forcing "White" to create another.
Gray
[] Riastrad: A Semblance of berserk fury; when "Gray" activates Riastrad, their strength and speed rise sharply, accompanied by sparks of electricity coursing harmlessly through their body. This comes at the cost of heightening their aggression and clouding their capacity for rational thought, an effect that scales with the boost to physical attributes. As "Gray's" emotions writhe and roil more strongly, both of these factors continue to grow; at their strongest, "Gray" becomes almost bestial, scarcely able to tell friend from foe as lightning arcs from their every mighty blow.
[] Liath Macha: A Semblance of charging power; when "Gray" activates Liath Macha, they shoot off at great speed in whatever direction they happen to be facing, their form becoming a blur of gray. These bursts of great speed can carry "Gray" about 10 meters, and if an object or enemy is in the way then it terminates with "Gray" slamming into the enemy at high velocity, creating a shockwave of force that protects "Gray" and leaves the object struck to take the brunt of the impact. Other living beings cannot be carried along with Liath Macha, and "Gray" cannot carry much more than their own clothes and equipment with them, either. In those cases, it simply fails to work.
Dude, I wouldn't even know where to start with that. I'd have to make it it's own thread.
[] Iris: A Semblance of light; when "Purple" activates Iris, they can control light itself. They can bend and shift light to create and control holograms and illusions, even making objects invisible to the naked eye, though this requires a great deal of concentration. They can also affect the intensity of light, empowering a light source to make its light bright enough to blind or dimmer to make it harder to see; they can even "eat" the light source to snuff out its light entirely.
[] Arcus: A Semblance of light; when "Purple" activates Arcus, they can manifest light itself. They can create constructs of solid light and set them into motion with a thought, or simply grab and use them by hand. These constructs and the path of their movement must be very simple and straightforward, and creating many in a short time or making a particularly large one saps "Purple's" strength very quickly. When dismissed or expose to great force, these constructs shatter like glass and then fade from existence.
Blue
[] Orguia: A Semblance of gravity; when "Blue" activates Orguia, a faint blue light seems to wash over them in waves. When "Blue" strikes an enemy or object, its gravity seems to increase slightly. Initially, this is hardly enough to even be noticed, but repeated strikes strengthen this increased hold that gravity seems to have, as if a greater and greater weight is acting upon the affected being. Eventually, object and enemy alike begins to bow under its own weight, movements growing sluggish as though under several feet of water; it can feel like the crushing weight of the ocean itself is upon you.
[] Ochyroma: A Semblance of immovable defense; when "Blue" activates Ochyroma, the defensive power of their Aura rises to extreme levels, accompanied by their Aura Shield becoming visible to the eye, far brighter and stronger than it should be. This comes at the cost of hindering their movement and speed of motion (though it also makes it harder for outside forces to move them), an effect that scales with the increase to defensive power. At its greatest extent, "Blue" becomes a literally immovable bulwark.
White
[] Geist: A Semblance of stealth; when "White" activates Geist, a thin, wispy mist begins to emanate from their form, and all means of detecting them become far more difficult. Whether those senses be organic or electric, they are hindered in their attempts to detect, identify and track "White," though it in no way becomes impossible. To the eye, their form becomes blurry and indistinct, as though glanced from the corner of the eye. To the ear, whatever noise they make becomes dim and hard to make out, as though being heard from far away. Should one try to smell them, they could find the scent faint and easily masked by others, and so on.
[] Fetch: A Semblance of a doppelganger; when "White" activates Fetch, wisps of vapor and mist pours from their body and coalesces into a perfect replica of "White," though any object (including weapons) that the copy carries are nonfunctional, and are useless for anything but selling the illusion that the replica, called a fetch, is the original. The Fetch can act at "White's" mental command as a puppet, and is capable of semi-autonomous action to carry out a specific directive, such as dodging gunfire if ordered to flee as a distraction, but it has no actual mind of its own and cannot perform any complex action of its own volition, nor can it speak or make sounds. The fetch is a solid, yet interacts with "White" as though it were completely ethereal, even able to hide within their body by mimicking all their movements perfectly, allowing "White" the element of surprise by seeming to grow a third arm to strike a foe that thought it dodged the initial blow. However, even a slight impact will destroy the fetch, dispersing it back into a mist and forcing "White" to create another.
Gray
[] Riastrad: A Semblance of berserk fury; when "Gray" activates Riastrad, their strength and speed rise sharply, accompanied by sparks of electricity coursing harmlessly through their body. This comes at the cost of heightening their aggression and clouding their capacity for rational thought, an effect that scales with the boost to physical attributes. As "Gray's" emotions writhe and roil more strongly, both of these factors continue to grow; at their strongest, "Gray" becomes almost bestial, scarcely able to tell friend from foe as lightning arcs from their every mighty blow.
[] Liath Macha: A Semblance of charging power; when "Gray" activates Liath Macha, they shoot off at great speed in whatever direction they happen to be facing, their form becoming a blur of gray. These bursts of great speed can carry "Gray" about 10 meters, and if an object or enemy is in the way then it terminates with "Gray" slamming into the enemy at high velocity, creating a shockwave of force that protects "Gray" and leaves the object struck to take the brunt of the impact. Other living beings cannot be carried along with Liath Macha, and "Gray" cannot carry much more than their own clothes and equipment with them, either. In those cases, it simply fails to work.
You know, Leingod. You should bookmark all of those explosition/"Random facts about China" posts and the like, so they're easier to find.
Dude, I wouldn't even know where to start with that. I'd have to make it it's own thread.
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- Location
- Leeds
Teamwork semblance?
Leingods storytime quest.
Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
Hah. Nice catch.
If I ever hold "story time," it's going to be to read "Go the Fuck to Sleep" a la LeVar Burton.
I don't know if you ever watched Reading Rainbow growing up, but if you didn't I assure you it makes this video 100x better.
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ASOI&F/Suikoden V Crossover
Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
So, I literally have not yet seen people use the plotline of the potential for lands beyond the Sunset Sea except for LOTR crossovers. And while Middle Earth is all fine and good, it feels like that potential for crossover just hasn't been taken advantage of properly, you know? I mean, yes, I'm sure I could find them somewhere, but that's not really the point I'm making.
Then I started thinking: what setting would I use this potential crossover hook for, then? If it's going to be a fanfiction that takes itself even remotely seriously, it should be a setting that isn't wildly OP compared to Westeros, isn't totally incongruous in terms of tone and genre, but still provides enough of a contrast in outlook and tone for the crossover to actually matter. Culture clash isn't much of a thing if the cultures fit together too well.
Probably due to the fact that it used to be one of my favorite games, the answer I came to, for multiple reasons, was the Queendom of Falena from Suikoden V. It only requires a few tweaks to its setting to be roughly in line with Westeros's low fantasy power levels with occasional epic fantasy old magic, it's more idealistic in tone and cultural outlook but still has its own societal flaws, and even outright atrocities and terrible things done for the sake of political gain, which would keep it from always having the moral high ground over Westeros (which would probably start to get tiresome for some), and it has its own unique aesthetic that isn't a straight rip of any real life culture but borrows from several and makes for a very lovely cultural mélange. What's more, certain aspects of Falena's society, its people and its history connect/intersect with Westeros in interesting ways, or at least could be tweaked so as to do so.
What do I mean by that? Well, for one, the royal family of Falena, the House of Falenas, is of mysterious origin, with their first queen having just… appeared in Lunas out of the Ashtwal Mountains as far as anyone can tell, bearing the Sun Rune about 600 years before the timeline of the game. So, mysterious origin that's hard to trace, during a time when the Valyrian Freehold would still exist, an association with the sun and fire (though the first queen apparently took more after the nurturing aspects of the sun), and did I mention that the Falenan royal family has a hereditary look about them? A look that happens to include silver/gray hair and blue eyes?
Forgive the quality and the size; Sialeeds spends most of the game with her hair dyed blonde, so there aren't many images of her with her actual silver hair.
He's got three names that can be considered "canon;" the novelization calls him Freyjadour ("Frey" for short), the manga calls him Faroush, and the promotional save games call him Ardil. Normally, I (and the majority of the fandom, it seems) go with the first one, but given that House Frey is a thing I'd probably go with Faroush or Ardil for this crossover.
Not saying that a possible Valyrian connection would necessarily be a big part of a possible crossover, but it's a thread that could easily be picked up on if one wanted to, and at the very least would be a fun source of speculation in-universe, with people debating whether House Falenas is in fact of Valyrian stock.
Or, hey, maybe Brandon the Shipwright didn't die when he sailed out into the Sunset Sea, but got stuck and decided to colonize some island that later became part of the Island Nations Federation? The Egans have a bit of a wolfish look to them.
From left to right: Admiral Skald Egan of the Island Nations Federation Navy, King-Consort of Falena & Commander of the Queen's Knights Ferid Egan, Vice-Captain Bernadette Egan of the Island Nations Federation Navy.
Go with both, and the marriage of Arshtat and Ferid actually means that you've got Valyrian/First Men blood mingling...
And then there's some interesting similarities and contrasts in their structure. Westeros has the Kingsguard, an elite unit of seven bodyguards drawn from the best (and/or most loyal) of the knights in Westeros, meanwhile Falena has the Queen's Knights, who are basically the same except that there isn't a solid required number (though by tradition it's less than 10 including the Commander, who is by law and tradition the queen's consort) and it allows women (though it didn't always).
Funny enough, their number includes an old veteran highly respected by all as a great warrior despite his advanced age, whose loyalties are often tested because his devotion to honor clashes with the circumstances around him:
An irreverent blond swordsman who is secretly having an affair with a member of the royal family:
A rather quiet, creepy motherf*cker that no one really likes:
And an incompetent idiot whose constant failures make you wonder how they got their position in the first place.
Though to Alenia's credit, she's good at fighting (and nothing else), and can at least put on an appearance of not being a miserable failure.
Then I started thinking: what setting would I use this potential crossover hook for, then? If it's going to be a fanfiction that takes itself even remotely seriously, it should be a setting that isn't wildly OP compared to Westeros, isn't totally incongruous in terms of tone and genre, but still provides enough of a contrast in outlook and tone for the crossover to actually matter. Culture clash isn't much of a thing if the cultures fit together too well.
Probably due to the fact that it used to be one of my favorite games, the answer I came to, for multiple reasons, was the Queendom of Falena from Suikoden V. It only requires a few tweaks to its setting to be roughly in line with Westeros's low fantasy power levels with occasional epic fantasy old magic, it's more idealistic in tone and cultural outlook but still has its own societal flaws, and even outright atrocities and terrible things done for the sake of political gain, which would keep it from always having the moral high ground over Westeros (which would probably start to get tiresome for some), and it has its own unique aesthetic that isn't a straight rip of any real life culture but borrows from several and makes for a very lovely cultural mélange. What's more, certain aspects of Falena's society, its people and its history connect/intersect with Westeros in interesting ways, or at least could be tweaked so as to do so.
What do I mean by that? Well, for one, the royal family of Falena, the House of Falenas, is of mysterious origin, with their first queen having just… appeared in Lunas out of the Ashtwal Mountains as far as anyone can tell, bearing the Sun Rune about 600 years before the timeline of the game. So, mysterious origin that's hard to trace, during a time when the Valyrian Freehold would still exist, an association with the sun and fire (though the first queen apparently took more after the nurturing aspects of the sun), and did I mention that the Falenan royal family has a hereditary look about them? A look that happens to include silver/gray hair and blue eyes?
Forgive the quality and the size; Sialeeds spends most of the game with her hair dyed blonde, so there aren't many images of her with her actual silver hair.
He's got three names that can be considered "canon;" the novelization calls him Freyjadour ("Frey" for short), the manga calls him Faroush, and the promotional save games call him Ardil. Normally, I (and the majority of the fandom, it seems) go with the first one, but given that House Frey is a thing I'd probably go with Faroush or Ardil for this crossover.
Not saying that a possible Valyrian connection would necessarily be a big part of a possible crossover, but it's a thread that could easily be picked up on if one wanted to, and at the very least would be a fun source of speculation in-universe, with people debating whether House Falenas is in fact of Valyrian stock.
Or, hey, maybe Brandon the Shipwright didn't die when he sailed out into the Sunset Sea, but got stuck and decided to colonize some island that later became part of the Island Nations Federation? The Egans have a bit of a wolfish look to them.
From left to right: Admiral Skald Egan of the Island Nations Federation Navy, King-Consort of Falena & Commander of the Queen's Knights Ferid Egan, Vice-Captain Bernadette Egan of the Island Nations Federation Navy.
Go with both, and the marriage of Arshtat and Ferid actually means that you've got Valyrian/First Men blood mingling...
And then there's some interesting similarities and contrasts in their structure. Westeros has the Kingsguard, an elite unit of seven bodyguards drawn from the best (and/or most loyal) of the knights in Westeros, meanwhile Falena has the Queen's Knights, who are basically the same except that there isn't a solid required number (though by tradition it's less than 10 including the Commander, who is by law and tradition the queen's consort) and it allows women (though it didn't always).
Funny enough, their number includes an old veteran highly respected by all as a great warrior despite his advanced age, whose loyalties are often tested because his devotion to honor clashes with the circumstances around him:
An irreverent blond swordsman who is secretly having an affair with a member of the royal family:
A rather quiet, creepy motherf*cker that no one really likes:
And an incompetent idiot whose constant failures make you wonder how they got their position in the first place.
Though to Alenia's credit, she's good at fighting (and nothing else), and can at least put on an appearance of not being a miserable failure.
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Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
And if, instead of a distant country far across the Summer Sea, you instead want to incorporate Falena directly into Westeros, that's actually pretty easy. I'll get into that, but first of all, some background on the Queendom:
Originally, the continent was ruled by the Ancient Armes Dynasty, which draws a lot of inspiration from Ancient Egypt. With the power of the Sun Rune, the rulers of Armes controlled a vast empire and considered themselves the height of culture and civilization. But the last ruler of Armes went mad and used the power of the Sun Rune to lay waste to Armes and the continent.
About 600 years before the game's timeline (around the year -250 by the series' calendar), a mysterious woman appeared, bearing the Sun Rune. According to legend, she descended from the sky and landed at the now-holy site of Lunas; less fanciful accounts say that she appeared from out of the Ashtwal Mountains (which in the game are revealed to house an extensive ruined temple complex that the villain of the game used to learn the secrets of the Sun Rune). At some point, she must have either been killed or relinquished her control of the Sun Rune, because the bearer of a True Rune neither ages nor dies of natural causes, and the Sun Rune became more of a holy relic housed in the royal palace, and the accompanying Dawn and Twilight Runes were placed in shrines to the east and west, respectively (it should be pointed out that this was probably a wise choice; True Runes, and a few of their more powerful and unique "child" Runes, like the Dawn and Twilight, are sapient to some degree and can choose their wielder, and unless you have control of the Dawn and Twilight Runes, the Sun Rune becomes unstable and tends to drive those who bear it to destructive madness and megalomania. This is probably what happened to the last ruler of Armes; he either didn't or couldn't keep control of all three Runes and thus went mad).
Writings attributed to the first queen seem to stress treating the role of queen (and bearer of the Sun Rune) as that of a benevolent and loving mother to her people. This probably explains why, instead of using the Sun Rune's power to make an empire like Armes did, the Queendom of Falena expanded more peacefully and organically over the next 300 years, at which points its eastern border pressed up against a number of tribal chiefdoms who engaged in raids against the Falenans. One of these clans, however, saw the value of an alliance with Falena. Halaad, chief of the Ishvaak, proposed an alliance with the reigning queen at the time; in exchange for assistance from Falena, he would protect its borders from the raiders. The queen agreed, but Halaad intended to be much more than Falena's guard dog; he used Falena's assistance not just to defeat and drive off hostile raiding parties, but to attack and subdue rival clans. Over the course of 14 years, he took full control of the region and proclaimed himself the king of a new tribal confederation. To give his reign legitimacy, he claimed cultural and genealogical continuity with Armes, and his kingdom was named the Kingdom of New Armes. Since Falena uses their possession of the Sun Rune to make the exact same claim, this led to a certain cooling of relations between the two powers. So now, instead of a collection of raiding tribes, Falena had a powerful and not particularly friendly kingdom on their eastern border. In the series' calendar, the dates on this are 140-154.
The New Armes Kingdom's aesthetics are an interesting mix of Middle Eastern and Indian cultures. Though Halaad of the Ishvaak unified them, its governmental structure is less a true monarchy and more a tribal confederation ruled by the Grand Council of Chieftains, in which the royal family is more a "first among equals" than an undisputed ruler. The five most powerful tribes are represented in this council, and each is divided into many families. Of these clans, the only ones talked about in the game are the royal clan of the Ishvaak, the Darja (of which the Sparna family are members), and the Madra (probably the most relevant in-game, as the clan of the Valya family).
About 60 years after that (212), Queen Khorshed moved the royal capital from the military stronghold of Stormfist to the newly-built and much more beautiful city of Sol-Falena, which is built on a series of artificial islands in the middle of a great lake fed by the Feitas River. She gave the rule of Stormfist over to the House of Aethelbald, but about a hundred years later they were supplanted as its rulers by the House of Godwin. It's not really known how exactly this happened; the last scion of the Aethelbalds calls it a "usurpation," but he's not exactly a reliable source on the Godwins.
In the year 337, Falena first made contact with the Island Nations Federation. This is pretty much the only major foreign contact Falena had that never turned hostile (which helps explain why Falenans tend to be rather isolationist and distrustful of foreigners), and it led to the establishment of a trading colony at Nirva Island.
At some point before the year 360, a bunch of small city-states and minor kingdoms fell under the sway of a new religion, which created the Theocracy of Nagarea (named after the religion, the Holy Nagarist Order), a violent and expansionist power which by 360 was intent on sending an armed "missionary" force to "convert" Falena. Standing in their way was the still-independent city-state of Sauronix, which thus became their first target.
Sauronix had maintained its independence both from Nagarea and Falena due to its special bond with the Dragon-Horses; Dragon-Horses are horse-sized, amphibious lizards that bear some superficial resemblance to true dragons. They're superior to regular horses, though, because they're much tougher (what with their armored scales and their sharp claws, teeth and horns), more aggressive, and able to travel through water just as swiftly and easily as overland. But they're much harder to tame; the people of Sauronix discovered a way to craft flutes that make sounds out of the normal human hearing range to captivate and tame the Dragon-Horses, and used these to make a force of elite amphibious cavalry. But even with these Dragon-Horses (which the Nagarist religion now claim to be unholy demons, BTW), Sauronix couldn't drive off Nagarea on their own, so the Queendom offered to assist them in return for Sauronix being peacefully incorporated into Falena as a self-governing region. This led to the creation of the Feitas Dragon Cavalry, which patrols the Feitas River to ensure safe passage and acts as an independent military unit in the event that Falena faces outside invasion (but not civil war, which becomes a plot point in the game).
Now for the more contemporary stuff: in the last years of the reign of Queen Olhazeta, a power struggle emerged between her two daughters. The legitimate heiress to the throne was of course the elder sister, Shahrewar, but her younger sister Falzhram started making plays to supplant her. This was largely at the instigation of the two major noble houses in Falena; the House of Godwin had secured a marriage to Shahrewar, while their bitter rivals, the House of Barrows, had married one of their own to Falzrahm; Falzrahm's ambition was stoked by the head of the Barrows faction, Sarum Barrows.
You see, Falena has a senate, made of the major noble families of Falena. Officially (and originally), the senate is a purely advisory body that deliberates on policy and sends suggestions and recommendations to the queen (in fact, at least one queen forbid the senate to send any official recommendation she hadn't already decided to implement), but the Godwins and Barrows discovered the joys of bipartisan politics, and used the Senate to polarize the nobles into two factions, with themselves as leaders, allowing them to turn their personal political struggles into matters of national policy that could force even the royal family to take sides. Lord Rovere of Lordlake eventually founded a powerful moderate, loyalist faction to check their power, but, well, more on that later perhaps.
So with the two princesses married to a Godwin and a Barrows, the succession became an extension of the struggle between the two. In 433, with the full backing of the Barrows faction, Princess Falzrahm and Lord Sarum prevailed upon the aging Olhazeta to break with royal tradition and give Falzrahm's eldest daughter Arshtat her own Sacred Games before Shahrewar's daughter, Haswar.
What are the Sacred Games? Well, those writings of the first queen I mentioned state that just as the queen of Falena must be a benevolent mother to the people, her consort must be a stern and protective father who can act as the sword and shield of the Queendom. Thus, the husband of the queen is both the commander-in-chief of Falena's military and the Commander of the Queen's Knights. To ensure the consort has the necessary qualities to do this job, the Sacred Games were created; a tournament to choose the man who marries into the royal family. Every female member of the royal family has a Sacred Game to choose her husband (since you can't really choose who ends up living long enough to inherit, after all).
Well, that's the theory. In reality, since a man can have a champion represent him, in practice the nobles of Falena have always dominated the Sacred Games by being able to afford the best champions, and most of them never really took their official duties seriously. In addition to the break in royal tradition (which should have seen the older Haswar get her Games first), the Barrows faction almost certainly did everything they could to stack the deck to ensure either they or one of their allies won Arshtat's hand, thus securing a stronger position in the struggle for the throne.
Just imagine their faces when, for the first time in living memory, a non-noble and a foreigner won the Sacred Games. Ferid, a warrior of the Island Nations, had met Arshtat when she visited Nirva once, and he competed in the Sacred Games not for power and wealth, but for love. Being a total badass, he mopped the floor with all the competition and ensured the undying enmity of most of Falena's noble class.
Though, technically, Ferid is a noble. He's one of Admiral Skald Egan's (many) children. But because Falenans are deeply suspicious of any possible foreign influence in their politics, Ferid kept his heritage a secret and competed under the guise of a common mercenary who happened to be born in the Island Nations. Since Skald has so many children (born over such a long period of time; Skald's youngest isn't even that much older than Ferid's son) that even they don't really keep track of each other all that well, this deception managed to hold even past Ferid's death.
So yeah, Arshtat and Ferid married, and shortly after their first child - a son - was born. Since princes in Falena are nothing but bargaining chips for political marriages, this was seen as a disappointment by Falzrahm and the Barrows faction. Arshtat and Ferid didn't care, and showed their son the same love and affection they later showed to their daughter Lymsleia (and in fact later groomed that son to be active in the kingdom's administration despite the opposition of the nobles of both factions).
Anyway, in 438 Queen Olhazeta died and there was immediately a succession struggle of Shahrewar and the Godwins v. Falzrahm and the Barrows. Rather than outright civil war, both sides resorted to political intrigue and assassination, particularly the use of Nether Gate.
What's Nether Gate? Falena's answer to the Faceless Men, sort of. Originally, nether Gate were a secret organization of spies, saboteurs and assassins working for the Falenan crown. They developed a bunch of secret techniques (many involving bodily manipulation and brainwashing) and drugs/poisons (with names such as Raging Nostrum and Dark Arcanum) to better do their jobs, and recruited from young orphans taken and trained/brainwashed in total secrecy to become hardened killers by about age 10. Yes, it's all very messed up. Per their "loyalty" to the royal family, Nether Gate refused to assassinate any born members of the royal family, thus the princesses and their children could not be targeted, but they showed unabashed glee at being ordered to kill their noble supporters, and countless partisans on either side died. This even included relations by marriage; the husbands of both princesses were assassinated, along with several other members of the Godwin and Barrows family (most notably Marscal Godwin's wife and Sarum Barrows' eldest son).
After a few months of this, Shahrewar just couldn't bear the constant bloodshed anymore, and surrendered all claim to the throne to make it stop. To make sure she didn't change her mind at some point, Falzrahm had her killed. Yeah. Not the nicest woman, Falzrahm. So this short shadow war ended with the "victory" of the Barrows faction... for about 3 years.
Queen Falzrahm died after reigning for just 3 years, and her eldest daughter Arshtat took the throne. Even though her father was a Barrows, Arshtat wasn't any more kindly disposed toward Sarum Barrows than she was to Marscal Godwin, as she blamed the horrors of the political struggle that killed her father and so many others squarely on the two of them. Traumatized by that succession struggle, Arshtat's sister Sialeeds and cousin Haswar both publicly renounced all claims to the throne and vowed never to marry. With their political bullsh*t having earned neither faction anything in the end, both of them chose to learn absolutely dick-all and instead went right back to each others' throats, which threatened to bloom into civil war.
Enter salvation from an unlikely source. Sensing weakness in Falena, New Armes invaded in 441, but this actually threw all support firmly behind the crown (much like Greyjoy's Rebellion did for Robert, funny enough). Ferid proved to be the first commander-in-chief in centuries to actually take his duties seriously and do it well, and become a war hero beloved by Falena's commoners and lower nobility; there were a lot of others who won acclaim in this war, but that's not really relevant at the moment. The point is that Armes was repelled and Arshtat's reign was secure. But just like with Robert's reign, all the underlying political problems didn't actually go away and civil war was just put off for a little under a decade.
-x--X--x-
Hopefully you can see some of my reasoning now for choosing Falena for a crossover. Falena is very distinct culturally, aesthetically, and in terms of its government and religion from the rest of Westeros. But it's not some perfect Mary Sue-land where they'll constantly hold the moral high ground; that sh*t gets tiresome fast, which is why I have a hard time enjoying all the LotR crossovers. A crossover isn't fun when it's just one side constantly upstaging the other and wagging its finger from a position of constant superiority.
Falena seems better at first glance, in much the same way that the North does in canon. You see it through the lens of a ruling family who you later realize is deeply atypical in how well-meaning, egalitarian and loving towards each other they are. Falena is actually deeply divided when you look under its seemingly unified surface, and the squabbles between its nobility is often self-centered and pointlessly destructive, and any claims of differences in outlook and ideology are more an excuse than an actual reason for the conflict, which is really just about both sides wanting to take charge and make the royal family into a puppet and mouthpiece.
And just like Ned Stark's attitude toward Arya and the presence of the Mormonts might give the impression that the North is more woman-friendly, the reality in both cases isn't quite that simple. In Falena, the Queen's Knights only very recently began allowing women into their ranks, and the Dragon Cavalry still don't. Commoners like Ferid and Raja (a famous woman admiral who was also a war hero when Armes invaded) can rise high on occasion, but in both cases they're deeply resented by the nobility for it. The royal family has traditionally treated its princes as nothing but political marriage tokens with no place in any actual decision-making, and even the women have their hand in marriage basically put up for grabs in a blood sport that doesn't even serve its stated purpose. Falena has its own problems that are often just different from those of the rest of Westeros.
Originally, the continent was ruled by the Ancient Armes Dynasty, which draws a lot of inspiration from Ancient Egypt. With the power of the Sun Rune, the rulers of Armes controlled a vast empire and considered themselves the height of culture and civilization. But the last ruler of Armes went mad and used the power of the Sun Rune to lay waste to Armes and the continent.
About 600 years before the game's timeline (around the year -250 by the series' calendar), a mysterious woman appeared, bearing the Sun Rune. According to legend, she descended from the sky and landed at the now-holy site of Lunas; less fanciful accounts say that she appeared from out of the Ashtwal Mountains (which in the game are revealed to house an extensive ruined temple complex that the villain of the game used to learn the secrets of the Sun Rune). At some point, she must have either been killed or relinquished her control of the Sun Rune, because the bearer of a True Rune neither ages nor dies of natural causes, and the Sun Rune became more of a holy relic housed in the royal palace, and the accompanying Dawn and Twilight Runes were placed in shrines to the east and west, respectively (it should be pointed out that this was probably a wise choice; True Runes, and a few of their more powerful and unique "child" Runes, like the Dawn and Twilight, are sapient to some degree and can choose their wielder, and unless you have control of the Dawn and Twilight Runes, the Sun Rune becomes unstable and tends to drive those who bear it to destructive madness and megalomania. This is probably what happened to the last ruler of Armes; he either didn't or couldn't keep control of all three Runes and thus went mad).
Writings attributed to the first queen seem to stress treating the role of queen (and bearer of the Sun Rune) as that of a benevolent and loving mother to her people. This probably explains why, instead of using the Sun Rune's power to make an empire like Armes did, the Queendom of Falena expanded more peacefully and organically over the next 300 years, at which points its eastern border pressed up against a number of tribal chiefdoms who engaged in raids against the Falenans. One of these clans, however, saw the value of an alliance with Falena. Halaad, chief of the Ishvaak, proposed an alliance with the reigning queen at the time; in exchange for assistance from Falena, he would protect its borders from the raiders. The queen agreed, but Halaad intended to be much more than Falena's guard dog; he used Falena's assistance not just to defeat and drive off hostile raiding parties, but to attack and subdue rival clans. Over the course of 14 years, he took full control of the region and proclaimed himself the king of a new tribal confederation. To give his reign legitimacy, he claimed cultural and genealogical continuity with Armes, and his kingdom was named the Kingdom of New Armes. Since Falena uses their possession of the Sun Rune to make the exact same claim, this led to a certain cooling of relations between the two powers. So now, instead of a collection of raiding tribes, Falena had a powerful and not particularly friendly kingdom on their eastern border. In the series' calendar, the dates on this are 140-154.
The New Armes Kingdom's aesthetics are an interesting mix of Middle Eastern and Indian cultures. Though Halaad of the Ishvaak unified them, its governmental structure is less a true monarchy and more a tribal confederation ruled by the Grand Council of Chieftains, in which the royal family is more a "first among equals" than an undisputed ruler. The five most powerful tribes are represented in this council, and each is divided into many families. Of these clans, the only ones talked about in the game are the royal clan of the Ishvaak, the Darja (of which the Sparna family are members), and the Madra (probably the most relevant in-game, as the clan of the Valya family).
About 60 years after that (212), Queen Khorshed moved the royal capital from the military stronghold of Stormfist to the newly-built and much more beautiful city of Sol-Falena, which is built on a series of artificial islands in the middle of a great lake fed by the Feitas River. She gave the rule of Stormfist over to the House of Aethelbald, but about a hundred years later they were supplanted as its rulers by the House of Godwin. It's not really known how exactly this happened; the last scion of the Aethelbalds calls it a "usurpation," but he's not exactly a reliable source on the Godwins.
In the year 337, Falena first made contact with the Island Nations Federation. This is pretty much the only major foreign contact Falena had that never turned hostile (which helps explain why Falenans tend to be rather isolationist and distrustful of foreigners), and it led to the establishment of a trading colony at Nirva Island.
At some point before the year 360, a bunch of small city-states and minor kingdoms fell under the sway of a new religion, which created the Theocracy of Nagarea (named after the religion, the Holy Nagarist Order), a violent and expansionist power which by 360 was intent on sending an armed "missionary" force to "convert" Falena. Standing in their way was the still-independent city-state of Sauronix, which thus became their first target.
Sauronix had maintained its independence both from Nagarea and Falena due to its special bond with the Dragon-Horses; Dragon-Horses are horse-sized, amphibious lizards that bear some superficial resemblance to true dragons. They're superior to regular horses, though, because they're much tougher (what with their armored scales and their sharp claws, teeth and horns), more aggressive, and able to travel through water just as swiftly and easily as overland. But they're much harder to tame; the people of Sauronix discovered a way to craft flutes that make sounds out of the normal human hearing range to captivate and tame the Dragon-Horses, and used these to make a force of elite amphibious cavalry. But even with these Dragon-Horses (which the Nagarist religion now claim to be unholy demons, BTW), Sauronix couldn't drive off Nagarea on their own, so the Queendom offered to assist them in return for Sauronix being peacefully incorporated into Falena as a self-governing region. This led to the creation of the Feitas Dragon Cavalry, which patrols the Feitas River to ensure safe passage and acts as an independent military unit in the event that Falena faces outside invasion (but not civil war, which becomes a plot point in the game).
Now for the more contemporary stuff: in the last years of the reign of Queen Olhazeta, a power struggle emerged between her two daughters. The legitimate heiress to the throne was of course the elder sister, Shahrewar, but her younger sister Falzhram started making plays to supplant her. This was largely at the instigation of the two major noble houses in Falena; the House of Godwin had secured a marriage to Shahrewar, while their bitter rivals, the House of Barrows, had married one of their own to Falzrahm; Falzrahm's ambition was stoked by the head of the Barrows faction, Sarum Barrows.
You see, Falena has a senate, made of the major noble families of Falena. Officially (and originally), the senate is a purely advisory body that deliberates on policy and sends suggestions and recommendations to the queen (in fact, at least one queen forbid the senate to send any official recommendation she hadn't already decided to implement), but the Godwins and Barrows discovered the joys of bipartisan politics, and used the Senate to polarize the nobles into two factions, with themselves as leaders, allowing them to turn their personal political struggles into matters of national policy that could force even the royal family to take sides. Lord Rovere of Lordlake eventually founded a powerful moderate, loyalist faction to check their power, but, well, more on that later perhaps.
So with the two princesses married to a Godwin and a Barrows, the succession became an extension of the struggle between the two. In 433, with the full backing of the Barrows faction, Princess Falzrahm and Lord Sarum prevailed upon the aging Olhazeta to break with royal tradition and give Falzrahm's eldest daughter Arshtat her own Sacred Games before Shahrewar's daughter, Haswar.
What are the Sacred Games? Well, those writings of the first queen I mentioned state that just as the queen of Falena must be a benevolent mother to the people, her consort must be a stern and protective father who can act as the sword and shield of the Queendom. Thus, the husband of the queen is both the commander-in-chief of Falena's military and the Commander of the Queen's Knights. To ensure the consort has the necessary qualities to do this job, the Sacred Games were created; a tournament to choose the man who marries into the royal family. Every female member of the royal family has a Sacred Game to choose her husband (since you can't really choose who ends up living long enough to inherit, after all).
Well, that's the theory. In reality, since a man can have a champion represent him, in practice the nobles of Falena have always dominated the Sacred Games by being able to afford the best champions, and most of them never really took their official duties seriously. In addition to the break in royal tradition (which should have seen the older Haswar get her Games first), the Barrows faction almost certainly did everything they could to stack the deck to ensure either they or one of their allies won Arshtat's hand, thus securing a stronger position in the struggle for the throne.
Just imagine their faces when, for the first time in living memory, a non-noble and a foreigner won the Sacred Games. Ferid, a warrior of the Island Nations, had met Arshtat when she visited Nirva once, and he competed in the Sacred Games not for power and wealth, but for love. Being a total badass, he mopped the floor with all the competition and ensured the undying enmity of most of Falena's noble class.
Though, technically, Ferid is a noble. He's one of Admiral Skald Egan's (many) children. But because Falenans are deeply suspicious of any possible foreign influence in their politics, Ferid kept his heritage a secret and competed under the guise of a common mercenary who happened to be born in the Island Nations. Since Skald has so many children (born over such a long period of time; Skald's youngest isn't even that much older than Ferid's son) that even they don't really keep track of each other all that well, this deception managed to hold even past Ferid's death.
So yeah, Arshtat and Ferid married, and shortly after their first child - a son - was born. Since princes in Falena are nothing but bargaining chips for political marriages, this was seen as a disappointment by Falzrahm and the Barrows faction. Arshtat and Ferid didn't care, and showed their son the same love and affection they later showed to their daughter Lymsleia (and in fact later groomed that son to be active in the kingdom's administration despite the opposition of the nobles of both factions).
Anyway, in 438 Queen Olhazeta died and there was immediately a succession struggle of Shahrewar and the Godwins v. Falzrahm and the Barrows. Rather than outright civil war, both sides resorted to political intrigue and assassination, particularly the use of Nether Gate.
What's Nether Gate? Falena's answer to the Faceless Men, sort of. Originally, nether Gate were a secret organization of spies, saboteurs and assassins working for the Falenan crown. They developed a bunch of secret techniques (many involving bodily manipulation and brainwashing) and drugs/poisons (with names such as Raging Nostrum and Dark Arcanum) to better do their jobs, and recruited from young orphans taken and trained/brainwashed in total secrecy to become hardened killers by about age 10. Yes, it's all very messed up. Per their "loyalty" to the royal family, Nether Gate refused to assassinate any born members of the royal family, thus the princesses and their children could not be targeted, but they showed unabashed glee at being ordered to kill their noble supporters, and countless partisans on either side died. This even included relations by marriage; the husbands of both princesses were assassinated, along with several other members of the Godwin and Barrows family (most notably Marscal Godwin's wife and Sarum Barrows' eldest son).
After a few months of this, Shahrewar just couldn't bear the constant bloodshed anymore, and surrendered all claim to the throne to make it stop. To make sure she didn't change her mind at some point, Falzrahm had her killed. Yeah. Not the nicest woman, Falzrahm. So this short shadow war ended with the "victory" of the Barrows faction... for about 3 years.
Queen Falzrahm died after reigning for just 3 years, and her eldest daughter Arshtat took the throne. Even though her father was a Barrows, Arshtat wasn't any more kindly disposed toward Sarum Barrows than she was to Marscal Godwin, as she blamed the horrors of the political struggle that killed her father and so many others squarely on the two of them. Traumatized by that succession struggle, Arshtat's sister Sialeeds and cousin Haswar both publicly renounced all claims to the throne and vowed never to marry. With their political bullsh*t having earned neither faction anything in the end, both of them chose to learn absolutely dick-all and instead went right back to each others' throats, which threatened to bloom into civil war.
Enter salvation from an unlikely source. Sensing weakness in Falena, New Armes invaded in 441, but this actually threw all support firmly behind the crown (much like Greyjoy's Rebellion did for Robert, funny enough). Ferid proved to be the first commander-in-chief in centuries to actually take his duties seriously and do it well, and become a war hero beloved by Falena's commoners and lower nobility; there were a lot of others who won acclaim in this war, but that's not really relevant at the moment. The point is that Armes was repelled and Arshtat's reign was secure. But just like with Robert's reign, all the underlying political problems didn't actually go away and civil war was just put off for a little under a decade.
-x--X--x-
Hopefully you can see some of my reasoning now for choosing Falena for a crossover. Falena is very distinct culturally, aesthetically, and in terms of its government and religion from the rest of Westeros. But it's not some perfect Mary Sue-land where they'll constantly hold the moral high ground; that sh*t gets tiresome fast, which is why I have a hard time enjoying all the LotR crossovers. A crossover isn't fun when it's just one side constantly upstaging the other and wagging its finger from a position of constant superiority.
Falena seems better at first glance, in much the same way that the North does in canon. You see it through the lens of a ruling family who you later realize is deeply atypical in how well-meaning, egalitarian and loving towards each other they are. Falena is actually deeply divided when you look under its seemingly unified surface, and the squabbles between its nobility is often self-centered and pointlessly destructive, and any claims of differences in outlook and ideology are more an excuse than an actual reason for the conflict, which is really just about both sides wanting to take charge and make the royal family into a puppet and mouthpiece.
And just like Ned Stark's attitude toward Arya and the presence of the Mormonts might give the impression that the North is more woman-friendly, the reality in both cases isn't quite that simple. In Falena, the Queen's Knights only very recently began allowing women into their ranks, and the Dragon Cavalry still don't. Commoners like Ferid and Raja (a famous woman admiral who was also a war hero when Armes invaded) can rise high on occasion, but in both cases they're deeply resented by the nobility for it. The royal family has traditionally treated its princes as nothing but political marriage tokens with no place in any actual decision-making, and even the women have their hand in marriage basically put up for grabs in a blood sport that doesn't even serve its stated purpose. Falena has its own problems that are often just different from those of the rest of Westeros.
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Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
Now, one problem that might emerge in a crossover is how you'd have Falena have any meaningful impact on Westeros when it's across the Sunset Sea?
Well, you might choose to transplant it to Westeros instead. You could say that 600 years ago, the first queen of Falena found herself facing a lot more hostility than she did in canon, and rather than commit genocide with the Sun Rune chose to take her followers and GTFO, pulling a Nymeria and sailing off to lands unknown, eventually ending up in Westeros.
In fact, there are some interesting comparisons between Falena and the Rhoynar/Dornish. Both have been shaped, culturally and geographically, by great and mighty rivers (the Feitas for Falena and the Rhoyne for the Rhoynar; the Dornish have the Greenblood, though that's considered a poor substitute), and both have ruling families with solar motifs. In fact, one might find them too similar.
In ASOI&F, Nymeria landed at several places before Dorne; one could have one of the many setbacks they faced on the way prove their demise, or have them be more successful rather than less. Perhaps the Rhoynish water magic allowed Nymeria to successfully colonize and establish a powerful kingdom in Sothoryos? Or maybe instead of Dorne the journey ended with them finding Braavos, and now the Rhoynar make up a significant portion of its populace?
Alternatively, you could say that Nymeria did indeed land at Dorne and, through marriage to House Martell (creating the House of Nymeros-Martell), ended up unifying Dorne 1,000 years ago. But then 400 years later the Falenans landed in the west, perhaps marrying into the Daynes (whose martial focus with their "Sword of the Morning" schtick would fit well, and which might help explain why they look Valyrian even though they explicitly aren't via WoG) to make a House of Falenas-Dayne to either carve out their own kingdom, take over Dorne, or peacefully integrate.
Personally, though, I'd prefer to keep both and instead have the Falenans land in the Riverlands. The Riverlands are fertile and home to many large rivers, much like Falena. It's got a huge island in a huge lake that would make the perfect spot to place Sol-Falena in the form of the God's Eye. Of course, the Green Men are there and they don't like visitors, but that just makes it work better because you get to include an epic clash between the power of the Sun Rune vs. the power of the Old Gods (the power of Runes should probably fade to coincide with the general fading of magic, BTW, with True Runes like the Sun Rune going dormant and such).
The deep internal divisions of the Riverlands and its history of being the stomping grounds of Westeros due to being smack in the middle of the continent with borders to every kingdom except Dorne (being essentially Westeros's Poland) also helps to keep Falena's political fracturing and its distrust of foreign influence.
The history of the Riverlands already has plenty of foreign conquest, after all. Unlike all the other kingdoms, they were never unified for longer than a few centuries at a time; first the Mudds got wiped out by Andals who turned into a bunch of squabbling petty kingdoms, then the Justman dynasty (who were started by a bastard son of a Blackwood and a Bracken) ruled for about 300 years before the Ironborn attacked and made them extinct, at which point they immediately fell apart into squabbling petty kingdoms that got kicked around by their neighbors for another 100 years. Then the Teagues took over, but everybody hated them, and eventually several of the riverlords supported the Storm King in wiping them out, after which the Riverlands was a part of the Stormlands for another 300 years (which ended up being more a of a headache to the Storm Kings than anything, because those damn riverlords just can't go a single generation without pitching a fit about something). Then the Ironborn (again with riverlord assistance) beat the Storm Kings and took the Riverlands, ruling for 3 generations before Aegon came and burnt Harren the Black until his color matched his name.
A Falenan exodus can fit into this timeline pretty well with some minor tweaking. If we, for example, push back the Justman dynasty two or three centuries (which isn't all that long in Westerosi time, funny enough) and we can have the first queen arrive while the riverlords are divided into a bunch of minor river kings during the interregnum of the Justman and Teague dynasties. In fact, the founder of the Teagues, Torrence Teague, was a man of uncertain birth who unified the Riverlands by first somehow launching one of the few successful raids on the Golden Tooth and Lannisport (only narrowly being driven away from Casterly Rock itself) in history, then using the money to buy up a bunch of sellswords to conquer the divided Riverlands. Sounds like a good warrior consort for a queen mother, don't you think? The first queen's making a big deal of benevolent rule might offset some of the bad blood that Torrence Teague sparked, and would help keep a lot of the major houses of the Riverlands around (and to swell their heads enough to keep them acting like a bunch of disrespectful cunts, most likely).
Funny enough, that 600 year mark matches up with the founding of House Frey. Which… Freyjadour, Frey… Oh God.
Shaking off that horrible thought, let's move on. We have a location for Sol-Falena in the Isle of Faces at the center of the God's Eye; or you could place it where Harrenhal would be if you'd prefer. Let's see if we can't also transplant a few key places along with it, shall we?
First, there's Stormfist, the original capital of Falena, a key military fortress along the Feitas River and the center of power of the mighty Godwin family.
Now, with Stormfist's name in mind, and its stated military importance (as well as the later invasion from the Stormlands), we might assume that in the Riverlands it would have been founded as a deterrent to invasion by the Storm Kings and/or a staging point for attacks on it. There's an unnamed town (referred to as "Lake Town" in the above map) placed where the God's Eye feeds an also-unnamed river that feeds into the Blackwater Rush and thus to Blackwater Bay, an area that was long disputed territory between the Riverlands and Stormlands. So Stormfist could thus have a history as the "gateway" that guarded the Riverlands from the Storm Kings, as well as the staging point for various minor wars over control of the Blackwater.
Next is Rainwall, the center of power for House Barrows. Rainwall is very prosperous and a hub of trade, but isn't particularly militant despite its relative proximity to a hostile border (with New Armes, whom the Barrows advocate trade relations with). With that in mind, I think Rainwall could replace Lord Harroway's Town, which is shortened to "Harroway" on the map. By scooching it over a little bit, Rainwall would thus be located right where the Red Fork joins up with the conjoined Blue and Green Forks and from there drains into the Bay of Crabs, thus making it a good hub of trade. The Vale might replace New Armes as the potentially hostile border that the Barrows are friendly with; either the Vale itself, mind you, or the Mountain Clans that live in the foothills of the Mountains of the Moon. The latter fits more with the often unsavory nature of the Barrows' foreign connections. Since Lord Harroway's Town and its canonical ruling house (House Roote) has very little bearing in canon, replacing it with Rainwall and the Barrows won't lose you much, if anything.
That's all you really need to transplant over, honestly. You can add others, but they'd be strictly optional. The martial border town of Sable (ruled by House Raulbel) could be slotted at the border with the Westerlands, perhaps somewhere along the Tumblestone River (one of the two tributaries of the Red Fork that Riverrun is built at the confluence of). The naval stronghold of Doraat could be built in Ironman's Bay so that Seagard isn't the only deterrent to an Ironborn invasion. The oft-flooded port town of Estrise (which in happy accident seems clearly derived from "east rise," and is ruled by House Wilde; the similar name with House Wylde of Rainwood could be either amusing or interesting) can be placed pretty much anywhere in the Bay of Claws, perhaps replacing Saltpans or Maidenpool. Lordlake (the demesne of Lord Revere) could be placed anywhere around the God's Eye, as it was often used by the royal family as a sort of vacation spot before about 3 years prior to the game. Raftfleet is a makeshift "town" which is actually a fleet of fishing boats that can be lashed together when they set up shop somewhere; a lot of the Trident would have to be deepened to make that idea work, sadly, or it'd just be reduced to puttering around in circles in the God's Eye or removed entirely. I kind of like it, so that's rather sad. I could probably find places to stick Sauronix, Lelcar, Haud Village, etc., but you get the idea. Point is, there's enough blank space/places that really don't figure into the story that you could drop a lot of Falena in wholesale without really losing anything of value.
As for Ferid and the Egans… I suppose you could make Skald Egan into one of the few still-living Ironborn with two brain cells to rub together. Given his age and outlook, Skald would probably have been a close friend and ally of New Way advocate Lord Quellon Greyjoy, and thus an outspoken critic and rival of his dipsh*t son Balon. Given that Skald Egan is presented in-game as politically canny (despite his outwardly bombastic personality) and an excellent admiral, I could see him being a major thorn in Balon's side. And hell, with a name like "Skald," it would almost feel wrong to put him anywhere else.
Orkmont might be a good spot to place the Egans; it's rich in ore (and used to be rich in timber), and during the time the Hoares ruled (who featured a lot of kings who weren't dumbasses obsessed with raiding everything in sight) the fleets of Orkmont were a common sight all along the western coast and even as far as the Free Cities as traders rather than reavers. The fact that no one really likes or trusts the Ironborn would give Ferid Egan a somewhat valid reason to hide his family ties.
Well, you might choose to transplant it to Westeros instead. You could say that 600 years ago, the first queen of Falena found herself facing a lot more hostility than she did in canon, and rather than commit genocide with the Sun Rune chose to take her followers and GTFO, pulling a Nymeria and sailing off to lands unknown, eventually ending up in Westeros.
In fact, there are some interesting comparisons between Falena and the Rhoynar/Dornish. Both have been shaped, culturally and geographically, by great and mighty rivers (the Feitas for Falena and the Rhoyne for the Rhoynar; the Dornish have the Greenblood, though that's considered a poor substitute), and both have ruling families with solar motifs. In fact, one might find them too similar.
In ASOI&F, Nymeria landed at several places before Dorne; one could have one of the many setbacks they faced on the way prove their demise, or have them be more successful rather than less. Perhaps the Rhoynish water magic allowed Nymeria to successfully colonize and establish a powerful kingdom in Sothoryos? Or maybe instead of Dorne the journey ended with them finding Braavos, and now the Rhoynar make up a significant portion of its populace?
Alternatively, you could say that Nymeria did indeed land at Dorne and, through marriage to House Martell (creating the House of Nymeros-Martell), ended up unifying Dorne 1,000 years ago. But then 400 years later the Falenans landed in the west, perhaps marrying into the Daynes (whose martial focus with their "Sword of the Morning" schtick would fit well, and which might help explain why they look Valyrian even though they explicitly aren't via WoG) to make a House of Falenas-Dayne to either carve out their own kingdom, take over Dorne, or peacefully integrate.
Personally, though, I'd prefer to keep both and instead have the Falenans land in the Riverlands. The Riverlands are fertile and home to many large rivers, much like Falena. It's got a huge island in a huge lake that would make the perfect spot to place Sol-Falena in the form of the God's Eye. Of course, the Green Men are there and they don't like visitors, but that just makes it work better because you get to include an epic clash between the power of the Sun Rune vs. the power of the Old Gods (the power of Runes should probably fade to coincide with the general fading of magic, BTW, with True Runes like the Sun Rune going dormant and such).
The deep internal divisions of the Riverlands and its history of being the stomping grounds of Westeros due to being smack in the middle of the continent with borders to every kingdom except Dorne (being essentially Westeros's Poland) also helps to keep Falena's political fracturing and its distrust of foreign influence.
The history of the Riverlands already has plenty of foreign conquest, after all. Unlike all the other kingdoms, they were never unified for longer than a few centuries at a time; first the Mudds got wiped out by Andals who turned into a bunch of squabbling petty kingdoms, then the Justman dynasty (who were started by a bastard son of a Blackwood and a Bracken) ruled for about 300 years before the Ironborn attacked and made them extinct, at which point they immediately fell apart into squabbling petty kingdoms that got kicked around by their neighbors for another 100 years. Then the Teagues took over, but everybody hated them, and eventually several of the riverlords supported the Storm King in wiping them out, after which the Riverlands was a part of the Stormlands for another 300 years (which ended up being more a of a headache to the Storm Kings than anything, because those damn riverlords just can't go a single generation without pitching a fit about something). Then the Ironborn (again with riverlord assistance) beat the Storm Kings and took the Riverlands, ruling for 3 generations before Aegon came and burnt Harren the Black until his color matched his name.
A Falenan exodus can fit into this timeline pretty well with some minor tweaking. If we, for example, push back the Justman dynasty two or three centuries (which isn't all that long in Westerosi time, funny enough) and we can have the first queen arrive while the riverlords are divided into a bunch of minor river kings during the interregnum of the Justman and Teague dynasties. In fact, the founder of the Teagues, Torrence Teague, was a man of uncertain birth who unified the Riverlands by first somehow launching one of the few successful raids on the Golden Tooth and Lannisport (only narrowly being driven away from Casterly Rock itself) in history, then using the money to buy up a bunch of sellswords to conquer the divided Riverlands. Sounds like a good warrior consort for a queen mother, don't you think? The first queen's making a big deal of benevolent rule might offset some of the bad blood that Torrence Teague sparked, and would help keep a lot of the major houses of the Riverlands around (and to swell their heads enough to keep them acting like a bunch of disrespectful cunts, most likely).
Funny enough, that 600 year mark matches up with the founding of House Frey. Which… Freyjadour, Frey… Oh God.
Shaking off that horrible thought, let's move on. We have a location for Sol-Falena in the Isle of Faces at the center of the God's Eye; or you could place it where Harrenhal would be if you'd prefer. Let's see if we can't also transplant a few key places along with it, shall we?
First, there's Stormfist, the original capital of Falena, a key military fortress along the Feitas River and the center of power of the mighty Godwin family.
Now, with Stormfist's name in mind, and its stated military importance (as well as the later invasion from the Stormlands), we might assume that in the Riverlands it would have been founded as a deterrent to invasion by the Storm Kings and/or a staging point for attacks on it. There's an unnamed town (referred to as "Lake Town" in the above map) placed where the God's Eye feeds an also-unnamed river that feeds into the Blackwater Rush and thus to Blackwater Bay, an area that was long disputed territory between the Riverlands and Stormlands. So Stormfist could thus have a history as the "gateway" that guarded the Riverlands from the Storm Kings, as well as the staging point for various minor wars over control of the Blackwater.
Next is Rainwall, the center of power for House Barrows. Rainwall is very prosperous and a hub of trade, but isn't particularly militant despite its relative proximity to a hostile border (with New Armes, whom the Barrows advocate trade relations with). With that in mind, I think Rainwall could replace Lord Harroway's Town, which is shortened to "Harroway" on the map. By scooching it over a little bit, Rainwall would thus be located right where the Red Fork joins up with the conjoined Blue and Green Forks and from there drains into the Bay of Crabs, thus making it a good hub of trade. The Vale might replace New Armes as the potentially hostile border that the Barrows are friendly with; either the Vale itself, mind you, or the Mountain Clans that live in the foothills of the Mountains of the Moon. The latter fits more with the often unsavory nature of the Barrows' foreign connections. Since Lord Harroway's Town and its canonical ruling house (House Roote) has very little bearing in canon, replacing it with Rainwall and the Barrows won't lose you much, if anything.
That's all you really need to transplant over, honestly. You can add others, but they'd be strictly optional. The martial border town of Sable (ruled by House Raulbel) could be slotted at the border with the Westerlands, perhaps somewhere along the Tumblestone River (one of the two tributaries of the Red Fork that Riverrun is built at the confluence of). The naval stronghold of Doraat could be built in Ironman's Bay so that Seagard isn't the only deterrent to an Ironborn invasion. The oft-flooded port town of Estrise (which in happy accident seems clearly derived from "east rise," and is ruled by House Wilde; the similar name with House Wylde of Rainwood could be either amusing or interesting) can be placed pretty much anywhere in the Bay of Claws, perhaps replacing Saltpans or Maidenpool. Lordlake (the demesne of Lord Revere) could be placed anywhere around the God's Eye, as it was often used by the royal family as a sort of vacation spot before about 3 years prior to the game. Raftfleet is a makeshift "town" which is actually a fleet of fishing boats that can be lashed together when they set up shop somewhere; a lot of the Trident would have to be deepened to make that idea work, sadly, or it'd just be reduced to puttering around in circles in the God's Eye or removed entirely. I kind of like it, so that's rather sad. I could probably find places to stick Sauronix, Lelcar, Haud Village, etc., but you get the idea. Point is, there's enough blank space/places that really don't figure into the story that you could drop a lot of Falena in wholesale without really losing anything of value.
As for Ferid and the Egans… I suppose you could make Skald Egan into one of the few still-living Ironborn with two brain cells to rub together. Given his age and outlook, Skald would probably have been a close friend and ally of New Way advocate Lord Quellon Greyjoy, and thus an outspoken critic and rival of his dipsh*t son Balon. Given that Skald Egan is presented in-game as politically canny (despite his outwardly bombastic personality) and an excellent admiral, I could see him being a major thorn in Balon's side. And hell, with a name like "Skald," it would almost feel wrong to put him anywhere else.
Orkmont might be a good spot to place the Egans; it's rich in ore (and used to be rich in timber), and during the time the Hoares ruled (who featured a lot of kings who weren't dumbasses obsessed with raiding everything in sight) the fleets of Orkmont were a common sight all along the western coast and even as far as the Free Cities as traders rather than reavers. The fact that no one really likes or trusts the Ironborn would give Ferid Egan a somewhat valid reason to hide his family ties.
Tales of Symphonia Quest Brainstorming
Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
Started playing Tales of Link recently, which started giving me more ideas for the Tales of Symphonia quest idea I had, namely using some of the OC heroes from the game as possible PCs/extra characters to fill things out/possible party members for the Dawn of the New World portion (because the monster-taming thing was fun, but doesn't really replace having actual new characters to interact with IMO), etc. A lot of them are pretty easy to slot into either Sylvarant or Tethe'alla, and have some kernels of interesting story or character in the short little bio that's pretty much all most of them get.
But the thing with starting to figure out where characters fit into the world is that you start looking at the world. And I absolutely love the Tales series, but my God do they just not give anything approximating a sh*t about building a world that makes sense on even a purely internal logic. And I get that that's really not something the game's stories are about or care about, and I don't mind that necessarily when I'm actually sitting down and playing the game, but when I start thinking about doing a quest or story set in it I just have to think of ways to make it make some damn sense.
Probably the biggest one, the one big question that threw me right out of my immersion even as a 12 year old kid who considered this the best-told video game story ever made, is how the hell there are so many damn half-elves when there's exactly one tiny-ass village of elves we ever see or hear about, and no full-blooded elves ever appear or are mentioned outside of it. Does Heimdall just invite a bunch of humans over for a human/elf orgy every couple of years and then quietly dump the resulting bastard children in human slums somewhere? How are there so many half-elves that they can stock the slums of most major cities and apparently make up the entirety of the Desians' numbers, since every Desian's dying breath is apparently spent to call you an "inferior being."
This and other questions starting racing back to my mind when I started playing a mildly entertaining gatcha game. Yes, this is a normal thing for me. I'm probably going to make a few rambling posts now about how I'd go about making Sylvarant and Tethe'alla a bit more fleshed out (and perhaps make a bit more sense), and also some ideas on characters to include from Tales of Link.
But the thing with starting to figure out where characters fit into the world is that you start looking at the world. And I absolutely love the Tales series, but my God do they just not give anything approximating a sh*t about building a world that makes sense on even a purely internal logic. And I get that that's really not something the game's stories are about or care about, and I don't mind that necessarily when I'm actually sitting down and playing the game, but when I start thinking about doing a quest or story set in it I just have to think of ways to make it make some damn sense.
Probably the biggest one, the one big question that threw me right out of my immersion even as a 12 year old kid who considered this the best-told video game story ever made, is how the hell there are so many damn half-elves when there's exactly one tiny-ass village of elves we ever see or hear about, and no full-blooded elves ever appear or are mentioned outside of it. Does Heimdall just invite a bunch of humans over for a human/elf orgy every couple of years and then quietly dump the resulting bastard children in human slums somewhere? How are there so many half-elves that they can stock the slums of most major cities and apparently make up the entirety of the Desians' numbers, since every Desian's dying breath is apparently spent to call you an "inferior being."
This and other questions starting racing back to my mind when I started playing a mildly entertaining gatcha game. Yes, this is a normal thing for me. I'm probably going to make a few rambling posts now about how I'd go about making Sylvarant and Tethe'alla a bit more fleshed out (and perhaps make a bit more sense), and also some ideas on characters to include from Tales of Link.
Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
Let's start a bit by fleshing out the two world of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla themselves. I suppose I should warn you that there are going to be spoilers about stuff that is central to the games' plot and are all very shocking revelations to the characters in-universe, but well, the games have been out for years and you can't even play them on current-gen consoles, so...
Pay no attention to the blue and yellow numbers.
If you're looking at the topography here and thinking that it doesn't make a lick of sense, trust me you're not the first or last. There's only a single tundra that isn't even the furthest northern landmass, a single desert that is actually very close to said tundra once the two worlds recombine (spoiler alert, I suppose). In this case, however, the nonsensical topography has an in-universe justification, unlike most fantasy games made by people with no grasp of basic geography.
So with that out of the way, let's talk about current state of the world(s) of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla. Which... oh man, this is going to get complicated.
Got all that? No? Good, let's move on to actual describe the settlements in the game. There's an even 8 for each world, which isn't really enough, but come on, what do you expect for a game that originally came out on the damn Gamecube? Even 16 cities is pushing it; the game needed two discs with just that much. We'll start with the declining world, Sylvarant.
Ooh, Palmacosta; I like this place. By far the largest, wealthiest, and most powerful city in Sylvarant, Palmacosta is regarded as the only city that can fight the Desians on even footing (though in-game that's very swiftly proven false), and its reach (officially or unofficially) extends as far as Hakonesia Peak, since they're the ones who issue the passes that allow you to get through the checkpoint there.
Like Venice, Palmacosta is built out at sea; specifically, on a series of small islets connected by stone bridges. This is likely a big reason why the Palmacostans can face the threat of Desians more effectively than most; there's only one approach to the city by land that can quickly become a bloody chokepoint, and the huge-ass warship just sitting in the harbor probably indicates a powerful navy. It's also got a thriving port market (which has to be trading with Izoold, since that's the only other damn city located on the coast as far as the game's concerned), and co-sponsors a trade/pilgrimage route up north through Hakonesia Peak and on to Asgard.
Because of its security and wealth from trade, Palmacosta has a lot of things unseen anywhere in Sylvarant. The Church of Martel's only cathredal is in Palmacosta, as well as the only known university, the University of Palmacosta. Because of this, the city is a center of not just trade, but also of intellectual and spiritual clout.
Palmacosta's leader is titled the "Governor-General," which implies that Palmacosta was originally just a province of some greater empire or kingdom; at a guess, it might have been a part of the Balacruf Dynasty in Asgard that kept its leader's title despite becoming an independent city-state. I figure the title has probably become at least semi-hereditary, due to events in-game. Palmacosta is also the only city in Sylvarant shown in-game to have a genuine military; or at least, it's city guard either doubles as such or is seriously overdressed for their job, because they wear full plate and wield spears. The current Governor-General, Dorr (first name unstated in the game) is very popular for espousing an aggressive stance against the Desians, which is apparently partly motivated by his wife's death at their hands.
Pay no attention to the blue and yellow numbers.
If you're looking at the topography here and thinking that it doesn't make a lick of sense, trust me you're not the first or last. There's only a single tundra that isn't even the furthest northern landmass, a single desert that is actually very close to said tundra once the two worlds recombine (spoiler alert, I suppose). In this case, however, the nonsensical topography has an in-universe justification, unlike most fantasy games made by people with no grasp of basic geography.
You see, the world (which is called Aselia once Sylvarant and Tethe'alla recombine) was originally a barren, lifeless, airless rock. That's because Aselia does not naturally have or produce mana, which is the source of all life in this universe. So how did it get the mana that now allows it to sustain life?
Well, a really long-ass time ago, the elves lived on a big comet called Derris-Kharlan, which was comprised almost entirely of mana and fed a constant supply of more mana by the Great Kharlan Tree. Eventually, the comet's travels through space brought it into proximity with Aselia, and the elves decided for whatever reason to park Derris-Kharlan in its orbit, transplant the Great Kharlan Tree onto it, and move down onto the once-barren planet. I guess even a really big comet gets a bit too cozy at some point.
In other words, the entire ecology of Aselia is artificial, with all life essentially being powered by a big magic tree. What's more is that the elements that allow for life are represented by Summon Spirits, beings of pure elemental mana who make their homes all over Aselia, and whose presence can impact the local climate drastically. Both the Triet Desert and the Flanoir Tundra are the result of the presence of the Summon Spirits Efreet and Celsius, respectively. If a Summon Spirit decides to move to another area, that can actually dramatically change the planet's topography; by the time of Tales of Phantasia (which despite being the very first Tales game is chronologically set 4,200 years after the Symphonia games), Efreet has moved away from Triet and made another desert elsewhere, and in his absence the Triet area became a chilly steppe.
So yeah, the actual topography of the world(s) doesn't bother me, since it's entirely artificial in the first place; it's a barren rock that was magically terraformed by elven colonists, and the interactions of mana with the planet then gave rise to all the native non-elven lifeforms, including humans (though I suppose some species may have originated on Derris-Kharlan with the elves; it's not really clear how they sustained themselves, but since "mana is life" and Derris-Kharlan is literally just a big ball of the stuff, they might not have even needed to eat).
Well, a really long-ass time ago, the elves lived on a big comet called Derris-Kharlan, which was comprised almost entirely of mana and fed a constant supply of more mana by the Great Kharlan Tree. Eventually, the comet's travels through space brought it into proximity with Aselia, and the elves decided for whatever reason to park Derris-Kharlan in its orbit, transplant the Great Kharlan Tree onto it, and move down onto the once-barren planet. I guess even a really big comet gets a bit too cozy at some point.
In other words, the entire ecology of Aselia is artificial, with all life essentially being powered by a big magic tree. What's more is that the elements that allow for life are represented by Summon Spirits, beings of pure elemental mana who make their homes all over Aselia, and whose presence can impact the local climate drastically. Both the Triet Desert and the Flanoir Tundra are the result of the presence of the Summon Spirits Efreet and Celsius, respectively. If a Summon Spirit decides to move to another area, that can actually dramatically change the planet's topography; by the time of Tales of Phantasia (which despite being the very first Tales game is chronologically set 4,200 years after the Symphonia games), Efreet has moved away from Triet and made another desert elsewhere, and in his absence the Triet area became a chilly steppe.
So yeah, the actual topography of the world(s) doesn't bother me, since it's entirely artificial in the first place; it's a barren rock that was magically terraformed by elven colonists, and the interactions of mana with the planet then gave rise to all the native non-elven lifeforms, including humans (though I suppose some species may have originated on Derris-Kharlan with the elves; it's not really clear how they sustained themselves, but since "mana is life" and Derris-Kharlan is literally just a big ball of the stuff, they might not have even needed to eat).
So with that out of the way, let's talk about current state of the world(s) of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla. Which... oh man, this is going to get complicated.
Okay, so about 5,000 years ago there were two superpowers, Sylvarant and Tethe'alla, who got into a war for supremacy over each other which lasted a thousand years (presumably they weren't on a full war footing that entire time). The two superpowers caused untold damage by developing more powerful weapons of war, eventually including the development of magitechnology (a mixture of magic and technology powered by mana); the worst were the Mana Cannons, which consumed such vast amounts of mana that they actually killed the Great Kharlan Tree, dooming Aselia to a slow and horrible death. Yet despite that, the war continued.
Enter four heroes: Mithos and Martel Yggdrasil, two half-elven siblings and exiles from the close-minded elven village of Heimdall; Yuan Ka-Fai, a fellow half-elf and former Sylvaranti commander, who later became Martel's fiance; and Kratos Aurion, a sympathetic human mercenary. Together, these four traveled the world so that Mithos could make pacts to gain the power of the Summon Spirits to enforce peace on Sylvarant and Tethe'alla and restore the Great Kharlan Tree by planting the Great Seed it had left behind. And it worked!
Except there was another human who had helped them on their adventures. For reasons unknown, he betrayed the party, and Martel was killed. With the loss of his sister, Mithos's ideals and faith were shattered, and he grew obsessed with reviving his sister, whose soul was trapped within a magitechnological marvel later known as a Cruxis Crystal; to keep her soul from fading away, Mithos broke his pacts with the Summon Spirits by refusing to plant the Great Seed, and instead used it to feed Martel's soul. To keep the Summon Spirits from withdrawing the power they'd given him, Mithos created a seal on Origin, the greatest of the Summon Spirits, that would keep anyone, even Origin himself, from withholding Origin's power from Mithos; for reasons known only to his unstable mind, Mithos used Kratos's body and mana as the key to the seal; only with the release of Kratos's mana (i.e. his death) would the seal be freed. But with the power of the Summon Spirits and the Cruxis Crystals, neither Mithos and Kratos will never die natural deaths.
Here's where it gets a little convoluted. Mithos no longer believed in peace between Sylvarant and Tethe'alla, nor did he care to maintain it except to serve his own ends of restoring Martel to life and fulfilling her wish of a world free of discrimination (which, in his twisted mind, he interprets as depriving all living beings of free will and thought to make them all the same). He needed a vessel for Martel's soul and mana, but not just any body would do; in fact, only a perfect match for Martel's own mana signature would be able to restore her to life. So he would need humanity to remain alive and free for the time being until they could provide such a vessel, and he couldn't allow any more destructive wars fueled by magitechnology.
So he used the power of Origin (who is variously known as the Spirit of All Things, the King of Spirits, and the Great Spirit of the Void) to make Aselia two worlds: Sylvarant and Tethe'alla, and to obscure Derris-Kharlan from both. Only a few key points of access between the three worlds exist, known only to Mithos and his agents. Then, he created a two-tiered organization: on his home base of Derris-Kharlan, he used the Cruxis Crystals to create beings called "angels" from half-elves (the only beings Mithos feels worthy of such ascension, with the exception of Kratos); these angels are the farthest thing from holy. Devoid of all feeling (physical or emotional), all needs, wants and desires, and all free will or thought, they cannot truly be called living, yet Mithos regards them as the model on which he will remake the world once Martel is returned to him and has made of them an organization called Cruxis. The second tier is the Desians, who remain mere half-elves and are gifted with a lower form of the Cruxis Crystal, called Exspheres, which do not grant the "perfection" of the angels, nor the power, but do provide a great boost in power both physical and magical.
The task of the Desians is to rampage freely on one (and only one at a time) of the two worlds; they destroy any society that grows too advanced, and keep the populace oppressed and terrified. They also kidnap and enslave human beings, bringing them to their "Human Ranches" to use them as living fuel to create new Exspheres. Through the ravages of the Desians, the history of the two worlds that were once one is lost, allowing Mithos to plant his own history... and start his own religion.
The Church of Martel preaches that at the end of the Ancient War, the hero Mithos, who was beloved of the goddess Martel, gave his life to end the fighting. Grieved at the lost, Martel entered a dormant state to isolate herself from the pain. However, with the death of the Great Tree of Mana, Martel would need to infuse the world with mana anew every now and then. At her orders, the angels who served her bore a holy bloodline, the bloodline of the Chosen of Mana, who must go on the Journey of Regeneration to wake the goddess Martel to bring mana back to the world and suppress the threat of the Desians until Martel sinks back down into slumber, staring the process over again. The Church of Martel, acting on the will of the angels, carefully manages the bloodline of the Chosen to ensure the blood of angels remains pure and survives to providing more prospective Chosen to attempt the dangerous Journey. When a Chosen succeeds, they ascend into heaven as angels to attend to the goddess Martel in perfect happiness.
In reality, the bloodline of the Chosen is actually a eugenics program managed by Mithos to try to provide a perfect vessel for Martel; the Church of Martel are mostly dupes who act on his behalf without knowing it. The Journey of Regeneration is actually just a way of providing the necessary stimuli (strong emotions, danger, etc.) to awaken the Cruxis Crystal each of the prospective Chosen are given at birth so that they can become the vessel; so far, of course, none have been good enough to serve.
What's actually happening with the Journey of Regeneration is that Mithos is allowing only a trickle of mana to either of the two worlds at a time to leak out from the Great Seed; this puts the two in a duality where one world is in decline while another is ascending. When a Chosen completes the Journey, the two switch, and the declining world begins to flourish and vice versa; the Desians pack up and move to the other world to start terrorizing it accordingly. This furthers the illusion of the Church of Martel's teachings, thus providing Mithos with a constant influx of potential vessels for Martel and buying time to continue the eugenics program that creates them, and it also keeps both worlds too weak to rediscover magitechnology, which would create a drain on the Great Seed that could destroy Martel's soul.
Currently, Sylvarant is the declining world, and Tethe'alla the flourishing one; in fact, in a run of bad luck, Sylvarant has been on the declining end for far too long because none of its Chosen can complete their Journey, and is at actual risk of dying entirely in a few more centuries if nothing changes, while Tethe'alla has been flourishing for so long that it's begun to rediscover and redevelop some of the magitechnology and has actually learned about the nature of the two worlds (though it doesn't have anywhere near the real and complete picture of what's going on; just that Sylvarant is another world and that Tethe'alla can only flourish as Sylvarant dies). Mithos has grown too haughty and detached from the world(s) below to really pay attention to this, however.
Enter four heroes: Mithos and Martel Yggdrasil, two half-elven siblings and exiles from the close-minded elven village of Heimdall; Yuan Ka-Fai, a fellow half-elf and former Sylvaranti commander, who later became Martel's fiance; and Kratos Aurion, a sympathetic human mercenary. Together, these four traveled the world so that Mithos could make pacts to gain the power of the Summon Spirits to enforce peace on Sylvarant and Tethe'alla and restore the Great Kharlan Tree by planting the Great Seed it had left behind. And it worked!
Except there was another human who had helped them on their adventures. For reasons unknown, he betrayed the party, and Martel was killed. With the loss of his sister, Mithos's ideals and faith were shattered, and he grew obsessed with reviving his sister, whose soul was trapped within a magitechnological marvel later known as a Cruxis Crystal; to keep her soul from fading away, Mithos broke his pacts with the Summon Spirits by refusing to plant the Great Seed, and instead used it to feed Martel's soul. To keep the Summon Spirits from withdrawing the power they'd given him, Mithos created a seal on Origin, the greatest of the Summon Spirits, that would keep anyone, even Origin himself, from withholding Origin's power from Mithos; for reasons known only to his unstable mind, Mithos used Kratos's body and mana as the key to the seal; only with the release of Kratos's mana (i.e. his death) would the seal be freed. But with the power of the Summon Spirits and the Cruxis Crystals, neither Mithos and Kratos will never die natural deaths.
Here's where it gets a little convoluted. Mithos no longer believed in peace between Sylvarant and Tethe'alla, nor did he care to maintain it except to serve his own ends of restoring Martel to life and fulfilling her wish of a world free of discrimination (which, in his twisted mind, he interprets as depriving all living beings of free will and thought to make them all the same). He needed a vessel for Martel's soul and mana, but not just any body would do; in fact, only a perfect match for Martel's own mana signature would be able to restore her to life. So he would need humanity to remain alive and free for the time being until they could provide such a vessel, and he couldn't allow any more destructive wars fueled by magitechnology.
So he used the power of Origin (who is variously known as the Spirit of All Things, the King of Spirits, and the Great Spirit of the Void) to make Aselia two worlds: Sylvarant and Tethe'alla, and to obscure Derris-Kharlan from both. Only a few key points of access between the three worlds exist, known only to Mithos and his agents. Then, he created a two-tiered organization: on his home base of Derris-Kharlan, he used the Cruxis Crystals to create beings called "angels" from half-elves (the only beings Mithos feels worthy of such ascension, with the exception of Kratos); these angels are the farthest thing from holy. Devoid of all feeling (physical or emotional), all needs, wants and desires, and all free will or thought, they cannot truly be called living, yet Mithos regards them as the model on which he will remake the world once Martel is returned to him and has made of them an organization called Cruxis. The second tier is the Desians, who remain mere half-elves and are gifted with a lower form of the Cruxis Crystal, called Exspheres, which do not grant the "perfection" of the angels, nor the power, but do provide a great boost in power both physical and magical.
The task of the Desians is to rampage freely on one (and only one at a time) of the two worlds; they destroy any society that grows too advanced, and keep the populace oppressed and terrified. They also kidnap and enslave human beings, bringing them to their "Human Ranches" to use them as living fuel to create new Exspheres. Through the ravages of the Desians, the history of the two worlds that were once one is lost, allowing Mithos to plant his own history... and start his own religion.
The Church of Martel preaches that at the end of the Ancient War, the hero Mithos, who was beloved of the goddess Martel, gave his life to end the fighting. Grieved at the lost, Martel entered a dormant state to isolate herself from the pain. However, with the death of the Great Tree of Mana, Martel would need to infuse the world with mana anew every now and then. At her orders, the angels who served her bore a holy bloodline, the bloodline of the Chosen of Mana, who must go on the Journey of Regeneration to wake the goddess Martel to bring mana back to the world and suppress the threat of the Desians until Martel sinks back down into slumber, staring the process over again. The Church of Martel, acting on the will of the angels, carefully manages the bloodline of the Chosen to ensure the blood of angels remains pure and survives to providing more prospective Chosen to attempt the dangerous Journey. When a Chosen succeeds, they ascend into heaven as angels to attend to the goddess Martel in perfect happiness.
In reality, the bloodline of the Chosen is actually a eugenics program managed by Mithos to try to provide a perfect vessel for Martel; the Church of Martel are mostly dupes who act on his behalf without knowing it. The Journey of Regeneration is actually just a way of providing the necessary stimuli (strong emotions, danger, etc.) to awaken the Cruxis Crystal each of the prospective Chosen are given at birth so that they can become the vessel; so far, of course, none have been good enough to serve.
What's actually happening with the Journey of Regeneration is that Mithos is allowing only a trickle of mana to either of the two worlds at a time to leak out from the Great Seed; this puts the two in a duality where one world is in decline while another is ascending. When a Chosen completes the Journey, the two switch, and the declining world begins to flourish and vice versa; the Desians pack up and move to the other world to start terrorizing it accordingly. This furthers the illusion of the Church of Martel's teachings, thus providing Mithos with a constant influx of potential vessels for Martel and buying time to continue the eugenics program that creates them, and it also keeps both worlds too weak to rediscover magitechnology, which would create a drain on the Great Seed that could destroy Martel's soul.
Currently, Sylvarant is the declining world, and Tethe'alla the flourishing one; in fact, in a run of bad luck, Sylvarant has been on the declining end for far too long because none of its Chosen can complete their Journey, and is at actual risk of dying entirely in a few more centuries if nothing changes, while Tethe'alla has been flourishing for so long that it's begun to rediscover and redevelop some of the magitechnology and has actually learned about the nature of the two worlds (though it doesn't have anywhere near the real and complete picture of what's going on; just that Sylvarant is another world and that Tethe'alla can only flourish as Sylvarant dies). Mithos has grown too haughty and detached from the world(s) below to really pay attention to this, however.
Got all that? No? Good, let's move on to actual describe the settlements in the game. There's an even 8 for each world, which isn't really enough, but come on, what do you expect for a game that originally came out on the damn Gamecube? Even 16 cities is pushing it; the game needed two discs with just that much. We'll start with the declining world, Sylvarant.
First of all, f*ck "village," it's the Town of Oracles now. After all, in-game it isn't really any smaller than most of the supposed "cities," so why not? Anyway, Iselia is at the northernmost peninsula of the southwestern continent; this region is mostly comprised of the Iselia Forest, and in-game Iselia itself is filled with and surrounded by trees. It's also one of the only places in-game where you can buy grapes, and it appears to have a vineyard, so I guess lumber, grapes/raisins and wine are its major industries. At first I thought that maybe it's distance from Efreet gave it a Mediterranean climate, but then I realized that nobody in Iselia is really dressed for that kind of weather, so I guess their grapes are more like American than European grapes. Maybe they're like Concords, which grow well as far north as the Great Lakes.
Anyway, Iselia's main claim to fame is in the name: the nearby Martel Temple (also called Iselia Chapel) is where every Chosen must receive their Oracle to begin the Journey of Regeneration; for convenience's sake, it is thus where the main branch of the bloodline of the Chosen resides (though other branches exist, spread out so that one bad incident won't extinguish the bloodline and leave Sylvarant screwed).
To protect the temple and the Chosen, the Church of Martel has "somehow" managed to leverage enough force to get the Desians to accept a non-aggression treaty where, so long as no Iselian acts in a manner hostile to Desian operations, the Desians will themselves make no hostile moves either on Iselia or the Martel Temple. This safety is the main reason I think it's ridiculous that Iselia is still just a village, when it's one of the only places in Sylvarant that's safe from Desian aggression.
Iselia's design is a very natural one; trees, vines, grass and vines are everywhere. The town almost looks overgrown, and even the Martel Temple, one of the only stone buildings, looks half-reclaimed by nature. Thus, I'd portray the Iselians as a people with a reverence for nature that drives them not to impose more on it than they must; they've only driven back the forest as much as they need to live comfortably, and allow a lot more nature onto their doorstep than most outsiders would be comfortable with. Of course, nature can still be hostile, and thus Iselia has a town guard to keep away any hostile wildlife or monsters and head off the very rare crime that occurs in town. Being the Town of Oracles and home to the main bloodline of the Chosen, the Iselians are also very devout followers of the Church of Martel.
Anyway, Iselia's main claim to fame is in the name: the nearby Martel Temple (also called Iselia Chapel) is where every Chosen must receive their Oracle to begin the Journey of Regeneration; for convenience's sake, it is thus where the main branch of the bloodline of the Chosen resides (though other branches exist, spread out so that one bad incident won't extinguish the bloodline and leave Sylvarant screwed).
To protect the temple and the Chosen, the Church of Martel has "somehow" managed to leverage enough force to get the Desians to accept a non-aggression treaty where, so long as no Iselian acts in a manner hostile to Desian operations, the Desians will themselves make no hostile moves either on Iselia or the Martel Temple. This safety is the main reason I think it's ridiculous that Iselia is still just a village, when it's one of the only places in Sylvarant that's safe from Desian aggression.
Iselia's design is a very natural one; trees, vines, grass and vines are everywhere. The town almost looks overgrown, and even the Martel Temple, one of the only stone buildings, looks half-reclaimed by nature. Thus, I'd portray the Iselians as a people with a reverence for nature that drives them not to impose more on it than they must; they've only driven back the forest as much as they need to live comfortably, and allow a lot more nature onto their doorstep than most outsiders would be comfortable with. Of course, nature can still be hostile, and thus Iselia has a town guard to keep away any hostile wildlife or monsters and head off the very rare crime that occurs in town. Being the Town of Oracles and home to the main bloodline of the Chosen, the Iselians are also very devout followers of the Church of Martel.
Also called the "Flower of the Desert." As the name and location implies, Triet is built upon a large oasis in the middle of the Triet Desert. Triet has a fairly good-sized market in-game, which leads me to believe that like actual oasis cities it thrives on trade; in this case, it would be the main point of trade Iselia and Izoold/Palmacosta; the House of Salvation (which are essentially churches and roadside inns in one) between Iselia and Triet probably sees a lot of traffic and might look like a small town in its own right during times when Sylvarant is flourishing.
The current Triet is actually the second city to bear the name; the Triet Ruins on the desert's western edge was once a thriving city and was built around the Seal of Fire, which is both the home of the Summon Spirit of Fire, Efreet, and one of the Seals that the Chosen has to pray at during the Journey of Regeneration before ascending the Tower of Salvation. Records indicate that when a Chosen named Nova was praying at the Seal, one of their companions became violent, and the "wrath of heaven" fell upon the city and destroyed everything except the Seal itself. Most likely, whatever angel was assigned to carry on the charade of a benevolent Martelian doctrine slipped up and said something they shouldn't have, and Cruxis decided to go with the nuclear option to keep their secret safe.
As for its own industries, I suppose the Triet Oasis would allow them to grow dates, palm wood, etc.; all the typical good stuff you get out of desert oases. Due to the cosmpolitan nature of a trade city, and their own history of being quite literally burned historically, in an even they call "Efreet's Wrath" these days, the people of Triet probably aren't quite as devout as Iselians, though they'd certainly not be at all questioning of the Martelian doctrine.
The current Triet is actually the second city to bear the name; the Triet Ruins on the desert's western edge was once a thriving city and was built around the Seal of Fire, which is both the home of the Summon Spirit of Fire, Efreet, and one of the Seals that the Chosen has to pray at during the Journey of Regeneration before ascending the Tower of Salvation. Records indicate that when a Chosen named Nova was praying at the Seal, one of their companions became violent, and the "wrath of heaven" fell upon the city and destroyed everything except the Seal itself. Most likely, whatever angel was assigned to carry on the charade of a benevolent Martelian doctrine slipped up and said something they shouldn't have, and Cruxis decided to go with the nuclear option to keep their secret safe.
As for its own industries, I suppose the Triet Oasis would allow them to grow dates, palm wood, etc.; all the typical good stuff you get out of desert oases. Due to the cosmpolitan nature of a trade city, and their own history of being quite literally burned historically, in an even they call "Efreet's Wrath" these days, the people of Triet probably aren't quite as devout as Iselians, though they'd certainly not be at all questioning of the Martelian doctrine.
Ugh, Izoold. Despite apparently being second only to Palmacosta itself in terms of yearly fishing catch, and famous worldwide for its seafood, Izoold is a "small town." This despite being perfectly located for trade between Palmacosta and the entire southwestern continent. In the first game there's apparently a sea monster problem that makes traveling into the open ocean dangerous, but screw that, Palmacosta's got a giant warship just sitting in the harbor.
Izoold needs to be at least a small city. Maybe the closing down of the nearby Ossa Mines set them back a bit, but they should still be a thriving port of trade because Palmacosta is a thriving port of trade, and it can't exactly be trading with itself, now can it?
So yeah, Izoold is a thriving port of trade as the key point of contact between Palmacosta and Triet (and through Triet, Iselia). It used to be even richer, until the Ossa Mine got played out and abandoned and the Ossa Trail started becoming more dangerous (though not so dangerous that armed caravans can't get past). Recent problems with sea monsters might have put the town in a bit of a slump recently, but that just means it's a port city facing hard times, not a puny fishing village despite having almost every possible advantage in placement.
Izoold needs to be at least a small city. Maybe the closing down of the nearby Ossa Mines set them back a bit, but they should still be a thriving port of trade because Palmacosta is a thriving port of trade, and it can't exactly be trading with itself, now can it?
So yeah, Izoold is a thriving port of trade as the key point of contact between Palmacosta and Triet (and through Triet, Iselia). It used to be even richer, until the Ossa Mine got played out and abandoned and the Ossa Trail started becoming more dangerous (though not so dangerous that armed caravans can't get past). Recent problems with sea monsters might have put the town in a bit of a slump recently, but that just means it's a port city facing hard times, not a puny fishing village despite having almost every possible advantage in placement.
Ooh, Palmacosta; I like this place. By far the largest, wealthiest, and most powerful city in Sylvarant, Palmacosta is regarded as the only city that can fight the Desians on even footing (though in-game that's very swiftly proven false), and its reach (officially or unofficially) extends as far as Hakonesia Peak, since they're the ones who issue the passes that allow you to get through the checkpoint there.
Like Venice, Palmacosta is built out at sea; specifically, on a series of small islets connected by stone bridges. This is likely a big reason why the Palmacostans can face the threat of Desians more effectively than most; there's only one approach to the city by land that can quickly become a bloody chokepoint, and the huge-ass warship just sitting in the harbor probably indicates a powerful navy. It's also got a thriving port market (which has to be trading with Izoold, since that's the only other damn city located on the coast as far as the game's concerned), and co-sponsors a trade/pilgrimage route up north through Hakonesia Peak and on to Asgard.
Because of its security and wealth from trade, Palmacosta has a lot of things unseen anywhere in Sylvarant. The Church of Martel's only cathredal is in Palmacosta, as well as the only known university, the University of Palmacosta. Because of this, the city is a center of not just trade, but also of intellectual and spiritual clout.
Palmacosta's leader is titled the "Governor-General," which implies that Palmacosta was originally just a province of some greater empire or kingdom; at a guess, it might have been a part of the Balacruf Dynasty in Asgard that kept its leader's title despite becoming an independent city-state. I figure the title has probably become at least semi-hereditary, due to events in-game. Palmacosta is also the only city in Sylvarant shown in-game to have a genuine military; or at least, it's city guard either doubles as such or is seriously overdressed for their job, because they wear full plate and wield spears. The current Governor-General, Dorr (first name unstated in the game) is very popular for espousing an aggressive stance against the Desians, which is apparently partly motivated by his wife's death at their hands.
Asgard is filled with ruins of a dead civilization, as the former capital of the once-mighty Balacruf Dynasty; in fact, these ruins have in many places been repurposed by the city's current inhabitants, either as housing or as tourist attractions. Most famous of the latter is the Stone Dais, where the greatest ruler of the Balacruf Dynasty, Cleo III, supposedly once held a ritual of sacrifice to the Summon Spirit of Wind to quell a storm that had raged for a week. In reality, it was actually just a monster, as you discover in-game. The actual Summon Spirit(s) of Wind, the Sylph, are located in the Balacruf Mausoleum, which is either the burial ground or simply a memorial of Cleo III.
The Balacruf Mausoleum reveals that the Balacruf people believed themselves to be "children of the wind;" with their first breath they were "born of wind," and with their last they "became as wind" when they died. Cleo III was honored posthumously, believed to have become the "King of the Winds," to fly and flow with the Summon Spirit of Wind for all eternity. To this day, Asgard is filled with windmills, and in-game the sound of wind is heard everywhere outside. This great reverence for the wind probably carries over to the present day; I wouldn't be surprised if the Asgardians practiced sky burial, with corpses being brought to a mountaintop to be exposed to the elements. They might phrase this as "returning to the wind." This focus on wind might be seen as odd by the Church of Martel, but probably isn't directly in conflict with any of their precepts and so is quietly tolerated as a local quirk.
As for its environment, Asgard is actually built into the side of a cliff. It's accessible only by a narrow road that hugs a mountain and opens up into a plain that appears to ahve been cut into the mountain, with several stone structures carved from and into the surrounding mountainside. Thus, Asgard appears to be an artificially created city, perhaps built because the single point of access makes it as hard for Desians to invade as Palmacosta.
Funny enough, Palmacosta is one of the only cities in Sylvarant that is never really seen or stated to be attacked by Desians; I figure that might partly be because of how inaccessible it is, but with the Desians' technological edge that alone wouldn't protect them. Like Palmacosta, they'd need some kind of military force.
So, here I'm proposing a completely original organization: a knightly order that claims continuity with the military elite of the Balacruf Dynasty (whether that's true or not is hard to say), called the Knights of Asgard. I figure giving them a knightly theme might help make a contrast with the Palmacostan military (as I see it); where Palmacosta recruits (or in times of emergency drafts) and trains soldiers, the Knights of Asgard still hold to a master-apprentice model with knights taking on squires and training them personally, though there's no stigma against having a fellow knight or even an outside expert help out if they're willing. That said, there isn't really much of an established noble class in Sylvarant (there really isn't the resources or political climate for it), the Knights of Asgard aren't particularly elitist in their recruitment policies despite their storied origins and their appeal to a chivalrous ethos.
The Balacruf Mausoleum reveals that the Balacruf people believed themselves to be "children of the wind;" with their first breath they were "born of wind," and with their last they "became as wind" when they died. Cleo III was honored posthumously, believed to have become the "King of the Winds," to fly and flow with the Summon Spirit of Wind for all eternity. To this day, Asgard is filled with windmills, and in-game the sound of wind is heard everywhere outside. This great reverence for the wind probably carries over to the present day; I wouldn't be surprised if the Asgardians practiced sky burial, with corpses being brought to a mountaintop to be exposed to the elements. They might phrase this as "returning to the wind." This focus on wind might be seen as odd by the Church of Martel, but probably isn't directly in conflict with any of their precepts and so is quietly tolerated as a local quirk.
As for its environment, Asgard is actually built into the side of a cliff. It's accessible only by a narrow road that hugs a mountain and opens up into a plain that appears to ahve been cut into the mountain, with several stone structures carved from and into the surrounding mountainside. Thus, Asgard appears to be an artificially created city, perhaps built because the single point of access makes it as hard for Desians to invade as Palmacosta.
Funny enough, Palmacosta is one of the only cities in Sylvarant that is never really seen or stated to be attacked by Desians; I figure that might partly be because of how inaccessible it is, but with the Desians' technological edge that alone wouldn't protect them. Like Palmacosta, they'd need some kind of military force.
So, here I'm proposing a completely original organization: a knightly order that claims continuity with the military elite of the Balacruf Dynasty (whether that's true or not is hard to say), called the Knights of Asgard. I figure giving them a knightly theme might help make a contrast with the Palmacostan military (as I see it); where Palmacosta recruits (or in times of emergency drafts) and trains soldiers, the Knights of Asgard still hold to a master-apprentice model with knights taking on squires and training them personally, though there's no stigma against having a fellow knight or even an outside expert help out if they're willing. That said, there isn't really much of an established noble class in Sylvarant (there really isn't the resources or political climate for it), the Knights of Asgard aren't particularly elitist in their recruitment policies despite their storied origins and their appeal to a chivalrous ethos.
With a name like that, you know the place is f*cking doomed even before it happens. Luin is a town that, like Palmacosta, is built upon the water, though instead of out on the coast it's at the center of Lake Sinoa, on a series of islets connected by (wooden) bridges; there's about three different entrances into town, incidentally. Being the nearest settlement to the northernmost Human Ranch (which for some baffling reason is called the Asgard Human Ranch in-game even though it's never stated to menace that area and is much closer to Luin anyway), Luin has its nickname because it's well-known to give refuge and support to escapees from the Human Ranch. Eventually, this comes to bite them hard; the Desians utterly destroy Luin and enslave, kill or scatter all of its inhabitants, and the city is renamed "Luin, City of Devastation."
There's actually a sort of sidequest in the first game where you spend money to rebuild Luin; each time you spend a certain amount of money (which varies depending on the tier), the city progressively gets repaired (becoming "Luin, City of Rebirth") until you can actually make it even better than it was at the start of the game, with cobbled streets, covered stone bridges, tasteful statues of party members at public venues, etc (at this stage it becomes "Luin, City of Water"). This is apparently canon, since that's what it looks like during the sequel. The final cost of all this, BTW, is 485,500 Gald. I think it's well worth it, if only because once you get to a certain point the weapon shop has some of the best weapons in the game. I really liked this quest as a kid; there are a lot of RPGs where it feels like your characters' actions have basically no bearing on the world itself until the very end of the game. It was nice seeing my characters legitimately making Sylvarant a better place in the present, not some future I'd never get to see.
Anyway, at a guess I'd say Luin was actually started by refugees from the nearby Human Ranch, which may explain why it isn't the "Luin" Human Ranch. Whatever trade might exist with Hima and Iselia to Asgard probably goes through Luin (I say "whatever trade" because that particular part of the map is rather dangerous, with stronger monsters), which might be one revenue stream (and certainly explains its western and southern entrances). Other than that, Luin probably thrives on fishing and maybe even maritime trade with smaller fishing villages not on the map, since Lake Umacy and the rivers that feed into it are apparently deep and wide enough for ocean-going vessels, to the extent that it was the home port of the pirate Aifread.
Luin, given its name, nature and roots, is probably characterized most by stubborn determination and bitterness against the Desians; it's probably not a safe place for any half-elf, even more than most places in Sylvarant. It might even do more than merely take in refugees from the Asgard Human Ranch; pirates like Aifread may actually be more like privateers who rescue captives the Desians take overseas rather than through the land routes, and would defend the city from Desian attempts to get into the river and onto Lake Umacy. Of course, that apparently isn't enough, but that's living in Sylvarant for you.
There's actually a sort of sidequest in the first game where you spend money to rebuild Luin; each time you spend a certain amount of money (which varies depending on the tier), the city progressively gets repaired (becoming "Luin, City of Rebirth") until you can actually make it even better than it was at the start of the game, with cobbled streets, covered stone bridges, tasteful statues of party members at public venues, etc (at this stage it becomes "Luin, City of Water"). This is apparently canon, since that's what it looks like during the sequel. The final cost of all this, BTW, is 485,500 Gald. I think it's well worth it, if only because once you get to a certain point the weapon shop has some of the best weapons in the game. I really liked this quest as a kid; there are a lot of RPGs where it feels like your characters' actions have basically no bearing on the world itself until the very end of the game. It was nice seeing my characters legitimately making Sylvarant a better place in the present, not some future I'd never get to see.
Anyway, at a guess I'd say Luin was actually started by refugees from the nearby Human Ranch, which may explain why it isn't the "Luin" Human Ranch. Whatever trade might exist with Hima and Iselia to Asgard probably goes through Luin (I say "whatever trade" because that particular part of the map is rather dangerous, with stronger monsters), which might be one revenue stream (and certainly explains its western and southern entrances). Other than that, Luin probably thrives on fishing and maybe even maritime trade with smaller fishing villages not on the map, since Lake Umacy and the rivers that feed into it are apparently deep and wide enough for ocean-going vessels, to the extent that it was the home port of the pirate Aifread.
Luin, given its name, nature and roots, is probably characterized most by stubborn determination and bitterness against the Desians; it's probably not a safe place for any half-elf, even more than most places in Sylvarant. It might even do more than merely take in refugees from the Asgard Human Ranch; pirates like Aifread may actually be more like privateers who rescue captives the Desians take overseas rather than through the land routes, and would defend the city from Desian attempts to get into the river and onto Lake Umacy. Of course, that apparently isn't enough, but that's living in Sylvarant for you.
In-game, Hima is a "quaint village" on the side of a cliff. In-game, "quaint village" is a drastic overstatement; it's a single inn and like two guys selling stuff out of lean-tos. F*ck that.
I've gone over this in this thread before, and I'm inclined to use the explanations offered by @EmpirePlayer where the "town" of Hima is actually various houses and other buildings built on terraces jutting out a spiraling path up to the top of Mt. Hima, with small farms built on whatever flat ground they've found or made to grow hardy foods like potatoes and leeks and such.
Hima is the only settlement from which one can see the entirety of the Tower of Salvation, and some guy there has managed to tame wyverns and lets you ride them to go on tours. With those facts in mind, I figure Hima actually lives up to its name by being home to both tamers and hunters of dangerous monsters, which provide a source of food, security and revenue, all in one. After all, you can probably make all sorts of cool sh*t from a dead wyvern and sell that for a mint out at Luin, Asgard or Iselia.
I've gone over this in this thread before, and I'm inclined to use the explanations offered by @EmpirePlayer where the "town" of Hima is actually various houses and other buildings built on terraces jutting out a spiraling path up to the top of Mt. Hima, with small farms built on whatever flat ground they've found or made to grow hardy foods like potatoes and leeks and such.
Hima is the only settlement from which one can see the entirety of the Tower of Salvation, and some guy there has managed to tame wyverns and lets you ride them to go on tours. With those facts in mind, I figure Hima actually lives up to its name by being home to both tamers and hunters of dangerous monsters, which provide a source of food, security and revenue, all in one. After all, you can probably make all sorts of cool sh*t from a dead wyvern and sell that for a mint out at Luin, Asgard or Iselia.
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Ready, Playa Two? (Saint's Row)
Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
"Welcome to Stilwater… and it's with one "L," bitch." -A billboard near Wardill Airport
Stilwater, Michigan was incorporated in the early 1800s and became a prosperous city. In the early years of the 1970s it was at its peak, with thriving manufacturing and export sectors and a burgeoning tourism industry; the historic Saint's Row district in particular was considered a marvel of architecture and urban planning.
Then, at around the same time that many of Stilwater's major businesses started to slump as the economy took a downward turn, a man named Alejandro Lopez moved in, backed by Colombian drug cartels. Taking advantage of the beginnings of urban poverty and decay, Alejandro created Stilwater's first street gang, Los Carnales, and immediately took control of the city's fledgling vice trade.
Within months, Los Carnales had spread through Stilwater like a plague. Even the affluent Sunnyvale Gardens neighborhood was facing demands for protection money and having drugs peddled in its dark corners. Sunnyvale local Benjamin King organized the youth of Saint's Row to push back against the Carnales; the first to join was his best friend, Julius Little. As Ben King's group grew, they took on the trappings of a gang themselves, adopting their own colors and engaging in illicit activities to fund what was now a full-fledged gang war between them and the Carnales; it was at this time that they took on the name "Vice Kings."
Eventually, the Vice Kings ground down Los Carnales into a shadow of their former self, but at a very high cost: the city was left fractured and destitute, and Ben King had grown too used to the power and affluence of being a crime boss to care. Disgusted by the change in his friend and the group they had founded, Julius Little dropped his colors and lived a quiet life of obscurity in Saint's Row, which had borne the brunt of the gang war and become a destitute slum in almost record time; without hesitation, King moved the epicenter of his operations to the city's still relatively affluent northern districts, leaving the now thoroughly ruined Sunnyvale behind.
Later in life, Benjamin King started to move his own attention from maintaining his hold on the streets to legitimate ventures and the white-collar crime they allowed him to perpetrate, such as his founding of Kingdom Come Records. Though it made the already-affluent Vice Kings even richer, his territorial claims, and the people of Stilwater, suffered from his inattention; not only did Los Carnales experience a resurgence under Alejandro Lopez's two sons, but a third gang, the Westside Rollerz, cropped up to start taking chunks of Vice Kings territory themselves.
The Vice Kings, the Carnales and the Rollerz began a new age of bloody gang warfare on the streets of Stilwater, even spilling out into Saint's Row. For Julius Little, this was the final straw. Like Ben did 30 years ago in Sunnyvale, Julius organized the people of Saint's Row to take back their streets from the gangs, this time by founding the 3rd Street Saints on the very steps of the near-abandoned church that had once been the crown jewel of the neighborhood.
---X---
You all caught up on the history lesson, Playa? Good, let's start. What colors you flying?
[] Yellow
Though their near-unquestioned sovereignty in Stilwater's gang scene has taken a hit, the Vice Kings still control most of the northern island, as well as the Red-Light District and the Projects. Originally, the bulk of their profits came from their control over prostitution and gambling as well as some minor arms dealing on the side, but recently Benjamin King has been focusing on building up "legitimate" power and wealth as a philanthropist and businessman. From his crown jewel, the Kingdom Come Records building in Downtown Stilwater, King has made numerous connections to local business and politics that has made the Vice Kings damn near untouchable by legitimate authorities, but his control over the city's seedier elements seems to be slipping from his fingers as a result. The Vice Kings have no strong racial affiliations, though most of its leadership and a slight majority of its street membership are African-American.
Tanya Winters, William Warren, Benjamin Motherfucking King, Anthony "Big Tony" Green
The leader of the Vice Kings is and has always been the King, but as of late he's found that his concerns elsewhere have led to him delegating a lot more authority than he used to while he deals with prominent local figures like the alderman and chief of police.
Benjamin's right-hand man and numbers guy handles most of the gang's (semi)legitimate business ventures. Warren Williams, formerly known by his rapper handle EZ Money, became King's protégé when he founded Kingdom Come Records, and deserves a great deal of credit for its success. Still very much wrapped up in the hardcore gangsta persona of his recording days, Warren is growing increasingly frustrated with King's focus on legitimacy and refusal to take to the offensive in Stilwater's gang wars.
The Vice Kings' interests in the world's oldest profession fall to a woman who was once a ho on the streets herself. Tanya Winters' rise through the ranks might make for an inspirational success story, except that she's a cold-hearted bitch who wrings money out of her former coworkers without an ounce of compassion or sympathy, and her "methods" of getting the attention of the gang's leadership in the first place means few of the Vice Kings pay her much respect, or attention.
In lieu of giving street warfare his own attention, King has given that task to his most trusted lieutenant, Anthony "Big Tony" Green, who personally leads the Vice Kings' violent acts and defense against the same. With a relationship that borders on father and son, Big Tony also acts as King's bodyguard on the rare occasions he leaves the safety of Vice King territory. While it would be unfair to say that he's just dumb muscle, Big Tony knows where his value lies, and he fulfills his role with enthusiasm and talent.
[] Red
Luz Avalos, Victor Rodriguez, Hector Lopez, Angelo Lopez, Manuel Orejuela
Learning from the mistakes of their father, the sons of Alejandro Lopez have led Los Carnales to new heights in recent years, reconnecting with the Colombian cartels that have allowed them to corner the market in Stilwater's drug trade – and to a lesser extent, to dabble in arms-dealing. To maintain those ties and the control over shipping to take advantage over them, the new Los Carnales has focused the bulk of its attention in taking and keeping southern Stilwater, particularly the Airport and Docks. Despite these strides, the gang's Colombian backers continue to deal condescendingly with their child organization, which has begun to wear on Los Carnales' leadership. The gang is primarily Hispanic in makeup, but due to the gang's new policies, an increasing number of its members on the streets are Caucasian.
Hector Lopez is the man who inherited Los Carnales from his ailing father and turned it into what it is today. Observant and cunning with a cold, calculating ruthlessness, Hector meets any challenge to the gang's authority eventually, and avenges any slight to himself or his family in due time.
Angelo Lopez is his brother's right hand, though the cold and calculating Hector must often force his hot-headed younger brother from causing Los Carnales undue trouble. Angelo's propensity toward pointless machismo make him a poor planner, but he has a knack for inspiring the gangsters on the streets that his elder brother lacks, and provides a less distant face to the gang for its members to connect to.
Victor Rodriguez is a close friend to the Lopez brothers and is their top enforcer and occasional bodyguard. This isn't remotely rooted in cronyism; Victor is widely considered to be the toughest son of a bitch in Los Carnales, if not all of Stilwater. The Vice Kings and the Rollerz have each tried to kill Victor over a dozen times, and no matter the injuries dealt, Victor has gotten right back up each time; even being run over by Joseph Price's custom Attrazione or filled with more lead than a Chinese children's toy by Big Tony Green couldn't keep him down for long. To the Carnales, he is a figure of awe; to the rest of Stilwater, he inspires terror whenever he takes to the field in a gangland conflict.
[] Blue
Warren Sharp, Joseph Price, Donnie Wong
Until the emergence of the Third Street Saints, the Westside Rollerz were the youngest, smallest and weakest of Stilwater's gangs. With a membership largely rooted in wealthy and middle-class youth from the Suburbs and disaffected punks from Chinatown, the Rollerz are often derided as posers and punks, whose obsession with cars is the result of watching too many movies. Despite that, the Rollerz have become an organized and powerful force in Stilwater, controlling, as their name suggests, much of Stilwater's western districts, having successfully wrested territory from both the Vice Kings and Los Carnales and kept it. Though they dabble in the typical extortion and dealing in illegal substances, the Rollerz primarily make money through dealing in stolen auto parts, and in gambling on the underground street racing circuit that so many of them take up as a hobby. The gang's members are mostly Caucasian and Asian-American.
The brains and bank behind the Rollerz is William Sharp, a wealthy and influential attorney with deep roots in Stilwater's political scene who uses the Rollerz both as a moneymaking scheme and a way to leverage more power into his own hands. A polite, genial philanthropist in public, Price is, as expected of a lawyer, cold and utterly ruthless, intent on nothing more or less than his own personal gain. He makes liberal use of his legal background and local connections to keep the Rollerz from facing reprisal for their actions, frequently keeping members of the gang out of jail with copious amounts of "paper and pussy," as many of his rivals put it.
The brawn of the Rollerz is Sharp's nephew, Joseph Price. A top-class driver and fighter, Price provides the charismatic face that keeps the Rollerz together and acting in line with his uncle's plans for greater gain, though he himself is in it more for the thrill than the profits. A top-class driver and fighter, Price has little respect for anyone other than his uncle and his best friend and personal mechanic, Donnie Wong. Very few gangbangers in Stilwater can boast of having survived a fight with either Big Tony Green or Victor Rodriguez; Joseph Price has come out of multiple encounters with both men, though the results are always inconclusive.
[] Purple
Troy Bradshaw, Ji-Hoon "Johnny" Gat, Julius Little, ???, Dexter "Dex" Jackson
The 3rd Street Saints ain't much right now. Hell, they don't even control much of the Row itself; their only safe haven right now is Mission Beach, home to the church where Julius Little founded the gang to take back Stilwater from the warring gangs tearing it apart and is currently their main headquarters. Critically low on territory, funds, and numbers, the Saints have little going on for them except, perhaps, for their leadership.
In the days when gangs first came to Stilwater, Julius Little was Ben King's best friend and right hand in the early days of the Vice Kings; he knows the game in a way few others do, and despite being out of the loop for so long is still something of a legend in the eyes of many Stilwater natives, even if the other gangs write him off as a washed-up relic of the past.
Troy Bradshaw is the de facto #2 of the Saints, despite being a relative newcomer to Stilwater. Native to Steelport, whose crime scene is sometimes called "Bangkok's mean, drunk dad," Troy is well-acquainted with the ins-and-outs of all manner of criminal activity, with a knack for figuring out the inner workings of both local gangs and police.
Despite being one of the gang's younger members, Dexter "Dex" Jackson is considered the premier tactician among the Saints, with a cool head and smarts that could have seen him excel in more legitimate fields if he'd had the chance. Currently, Dex runs what few revenue streams the Saints actually control. This responsibility, combined with his intelligence and youth, might be swelling his head a bit.
Seoul-born Ji-Hoon "Johnny" Gat has spent most of his life in America, and a great deal of that life has been violent and bloody. Hot-headed, abrasive and simple-minded, Johnny would be long dead if he weren't almost supernaturally good at killing and avoiding being killed, and if it weren't for the many, many problems with his personality, each of Stilwater's three gangs would have eagerly snapped him up. Somehow, Julius Little is able to put up with his attitude and keep him pointed at whatever targets that he really, truly needs to die.
Word on the streets is that there's another lieutenant among the Saints, but no one outside the gang has any concrete info on them. Rumor is that they're a woman, but that's about it.
-x--X--x-
Alright, so those are the flags you're running. But who the hell are you, Playa?
[] A Nobody… For Now
You're just some random fuck who got in over your head and got bailed out by some guys in the gang you're now running with. Right now, you haven't really come to your leaders' attention, but that might change if you can prove yourself; luckily for you, you've always been a pretty quick learner, so hopefully you can pick up the skills you need quickly if you don't have them yet. And besides, anonymity can have its own rewards in a gang scene as violent and vengeful as Stilwater's, so it's not all bad.
If you're running with the Saints, their smaller numbers and rather desperate situation means that you're likely to shoot up in the ranks more quickly, so long as you can back yourself up. You got picked up by Julius and Troy along with some mute motherfucker whose physical description eludes you for some reason, and you're about to be "Canonized." Hope you're good in a fistfight, or at least know how to tuck up and protect your vitals.
[] Not Quite a Nobody
You're a seasoned veteran in your gang. You aren't one of the guys on top of the heap, but you're not some chump on the streets. You're what might be called a "street boss," running a smaller crew within your gang in whatever specialized pursuits you've been assigned to, and report directly to one of the lieutenants. You've got plenty of experience in the ins-and-outs of thugging, and you excel enough in whatever specialties your gang prizes to have earned something of a reputation that might see you on the fast-track to greater rewards… if you manage to keep living up to that rep.
If you're running with the Vice Kings, you've learned from Benjamin King's example that the right connections to the right people can often prove more useful than just waving a gun around, and watching and waiting before you act can make all the difference. Of course, you aren't exactly in a position to have dinner with the police chief, so you're working with what you've got. Currently, that means teaming up with some crooked lawyers to commit insurance fraud for mutual benefit and to ensure some legal representation and protection in the event that you or your boys get yourselves in hot water that Mr. King isn't able or willing to make "go away." Not exactly glorious, but if anyone has a problem with it, well, Mr. King isn't afraid to show motherfuckers who question him who's boss, and neither are you.
If you're running with Los Carnales, you've got a real knack for drug running and dealing. You've got a real creative streak when it comes to finding new and unexpected ways to hide and move product to make sure it isn't found, and your fellows call your talent for pushing the stuff nothing short of an art. You even take up the initiative and get the junkies who can't pay in money to pay in favors that can't easily be traced back to you. Of course, sometimes the little shits try to back out on you and skip payment entirely, but while you're no Victor Rodriguez, well, sometimes you exercise your wonderful creativity in making examples. That usually does the trick long enough for you to come up with a new way of "expressing yourself." Wouldn't do to repeat yourself, after all.
If you're running with the Rollerz, you've noticed that most of your peers are either good at racing or good at fixing and modding. Unlike them, you're pretty damn good at both, consistently doing well in underground races with your own personally suped-up ride. You're no Joseph Price on the track, and you're no Donnie Wong in the garage, but unlike the two of them, you're as good at one as the other, and more importantly, you're more than willing to go out and do the drudge work of finding and jacking the cars and parts your gang's mysterious clients demand. It's guys like you who keep the Rollerz in business. Maybe they'll recognize that at some point.
If you're running with the Saints, well, you're no Johnny Gat, but you're still one hardass mo-fo. So long as guns don't come out (and, depending on the circumstances, even if they do), between you and any dozen average thugs, the safe money is always on you.
[] A Somebody
You aren't at the very top of your gang, but you've got the ear of the guy who is. You're one of your gang's lieutenants, providing a valuable service and a position of leadership among them. You're an irreplaceable member of the gang, and whichever gang you've joined is very fortunate to have acquired your services, which have smoothed out some of their problems already.
If you're running with the Vice Kings, you are Ben King's personal attorney officially, and unofficially a lot of other things. Namely, you're handling a lot of the tiresome busywork of keeping King's public record spotless and his relationships with the city's major players nice and mutually beneficial, essentially being the person in charge of all the gang's white-collar operations. The time freed up from having to deal with those time sinks has given Mr. King the opportunity to keep a more watchful eye on his criminal empire as a whole and stamp down more effectively on any signs of dissent. Warren and Tanya hate your guts, but they know to step lightly around you; you've got a mind like a steel trap and a disposition oft compared to a snake, and besides Big Tony, there's no one in the Vice Kings that King trusts more.
If you're running with Los Carnales, you're the gang's main liaison with the Colombians who supply most of the product that gets sold here in Stilwater; neither of the Lopez brothers are particularly diplomatic people, sad to say. But you? You have a knack for knowing just what to say, just what compromises to offer and how to couch your terms to keep a bloated ego satisfied and a business partner feeling like he's gotten the better of you after giving you everything you wanted and more. But more than anything, you excel at using a person's vices against them; once you figure out a person's own personal foibles and failings, you've basically got them by the balls, and you've got a grip like the Goddamn jaws of life. Hector Lopez would be a tough nut to crack, but Manuel Orejuela? That sleazy Colombian is so easy it's almost boring to make him dance like a puppet and feed his many addictions. And Angelo… heh.
If you're running with the Rollerz, you're the guy who actually gets stuff done on the streets while Joseph Price spends his time messing around on the track. While Warren Sharp handles all the legalities and long-term planning, you're more or less in charge of all the money-making operations on the ground. Stealing the right cars, taking them to the right places, and even going out and causing mayhem when the other gangs start getting too big for their britches; you've got it all running like a well-oiled machine, and you lead from the front while you do it. You're practically a legend in racing circles among the Rollerz, and when you decide the time is right for a nice drive-by or three, you're in and out of enemy turf almost before the bodies have time to hit the ground.
If you're running with the Saints, you're a mix of brains, balls and badass that most gang leaders would find deeply worrying; being intimately familiar with the ins and outs of committing and getting away with just about every crime in the books, and with a propensity for ass-kicking that few can match, they'd be right to. But Julius Little has a knack for dealing with difficult subordinates, and for now you're at least nominally cool with just being one lieutenant among several; unlike fellow master of ultra-violence Johnny Gat, you're not quite as cool with a life of unrestrained bloodshed, and the idea of a Stilwater free of gang violence is one you actively work toward, whether or not you think you'd be able to really live in such a world. For now, Julius has assigned you to help out the other lieutenants as they work to first push the other gangs out of the Row, then muscle in on their territory proper and take Stilwater back one neighborhood at a time. Oh, and he wants you to take that weird mute along for the ride, help show him the ropes.
Stilwater, Michigan was incorporated in the early 1800s and became a prosperous city. In the early years of the 1970s it was at its peak, with thriving manufacturing and export sectors and a burgeoning tourism industry; the historic Saint's Row district in particular was considered a marvel of architecture and urban planning.
Then, at around the same time that many of Stilwater's major businesses started to slump as the economy took a downward turn, a man named Alejandro Lopez moved in, backed by Colombian drug cartels. Taking advantage of the beginnings of urban poverty and decay, Alejandro created Stilwater's first street gang, Los Carnales, and immediately took control of the city's fledgling vice trade.
Within months, Los Carnales had spread through Stilwater like a plague. Even the affluent Sunnyvale Gardens neighborhood was facing demands for protection money and having drugs peddled in its dark corners. Sunnyvale local Benjamin King organized the youth of Saint's Row to push back against the Carnales; the first to join was his best friend, Julius Little. As Ben King's group grew, they took on the trappings of a gang themselves, adopting their own colors and engaging in illicit activities to fund what was now a full-fledged gang war between them and the Carnales; it was at this time that they took on the name "Vice Kings."
Eventually, the Vice Kings ground down Los Carnales into a shadow of their former self, but at a very high cost: the city was left fractured and destitute, and Ben King had grown too used to the power and affluence of being a crime boss to care. Disgusted by the change in his friend and the group they had founded, Julius Little dropped his colors and lived a quiet life of obscurity in Saint's Row, which had borne the brunt of the gang war and become a destitute slum in almost record time; without hesitation, King moved the epicenter of his operations to the city's still relatively affluent northern districts, leaving the now thoroughly ruined Sunnyvale behind.
Later in life, Benjamin King started to move his own attention from maintaining his hold on the streets to legitimate ventures and the white-collar crime they allowed him to perpetrate, such as his founding of Kingdom Come Records. Though it made the already-affluent Vice Kings even richer, his territorial claims, and the people of Stilwater, suffered from his inattention; not only did Los Carnales experience a resurgence under Alejandro Lopez's two sons, but a third gang, the Westside Rollerz, cropped up to start taking chunks of Vice Kings territory themselves.
The Vice Kings, the Carnales and the Rollerz began a new age of bloody gang warfare on the streets of Stilwater, even spilling out into Saint's Row. For Julius Little, this was the final straw. Like Ben did 30 years ago in Sunnyvale, Julius organized the people of Saint's Row to take back their streets from the gangs, this time by founding the 3rd Street Saints on the very steps of the near-abandoned church that had once been the crown jewel of the neighborhood.
---X---
You all caught up on the history lesson, Playa? Good, let's start. What colors you flying?
[] Yellow
Though their near-unquestioned sovereignty in Stilwater's gang scene has taken a hit, the Vice Kings still control most of the northern island, as well as the Red-Light District and the Projects. Originally, the bulk of their profits came from their control over prostitution and gambling as well as some minor arms dealing on the side, but recently Benjamin King has been focusing on building up "legitimate" power and wealth as a philanthropist and businessman. From his crown jewel, the Kingdom Come Records building in Downtown Stilwater, King has made numerous connections to local business and politics that has made the Vice Kings damn near untouchable by legitimate authorities, but his control over the city's seedier elements seems to be slipping from his fingers as a result. The Vice Kings have no strong racial affiliations, though most of its leadership and a slight majority of its street membership are African-American.
Tanya Winters, William Warren, Benjamin Motherfucking King, Anthony "Big Tony" Green
Benjamin's right-hand man and numbers guy handles most of the gang's (semi)legitimate business ventures. Warren Williams, formerly known by his rapper handle EZ Money, became King's protégé when he founded Kingdom Come Records, and deserves a great deal of credit for its success. Still very much wrapped up in the hardcore gangsta persona of his recording days, Warren is growing increasingly frustrated with King's focus on legitimacy and refusal to take to the offensive in Stilwater's gang wars.
The Vice Kings' interests in the world's oldest profession fall to a woman who was once a ho on the streets herself. Tanya Winters' rise through the ranks might make for an inspirational success story, except that she's a cold-hearted bitch who wrings money out of her former coworkers without an ounce of compassion or sympathy, and her "methods" of getting the attention of the gang's leadership in the first place means few of the Vice Kings pay her much respect, or attention.
In lieu of giving street warfare his own attention, King has given that task to his most trusted lieutenant, Anthony "Big Tony" Green, who personally leads the Vice Kings' violent acts and defense against the same. With a relationship that borders on father and son, Big Tony also acts as King's bodyguard on the rare occasions he leaves the safety of Vice King territory. While it would be unfair to say that he's just dumb muscle, Big Tony knows where his value lies, and he fulfills his role with enthusiasm and talent.
[] Red
Luz Avalos, Victor Rodriguez, Hector Lopez, Angelo Lopez, Manuel Orejuela
Hector Lopez is the man who inherited Los Carnales from his ailing father and turned it into what it is today. Observant and cunning with a cold, calculating ruthlessness, Hector meets any challenge to the gang's authority eventually, and avenges any slight to himself or his family in due time.
Angelo Lopez is his brother's right hand, though the cold and calculating Hector must often force his hot-headed younger brother from causing Los Carnales undue trouble. Angelo's propensity toward pointless machismo make him a poor planner, but he has a knack for inspiring the gangsters on the streets that his elder brother lacks, and provides a less distant face to the gang for its members to connect to.
Victor Rodriguez is a close friend to the Lopez brothers and is their top enforcer and occasional bodyguard. This isn't remotely rooted in cronyism; Victor is widely considered to be the toughest son of a bitch in Los Carnales, if not all of Stilwater. The Vice Kings and the Rollerz have each tried to kill Victor over a dozen times, and no matter the injuries dealt, Victor has gotten right back up each time; even being run over by Joseph Price's custom Attrazione or filled with more lead than a Chinese children's toy by Big Tony Green couldn't keep him down for long. To the Carnales, he is a figure of awe; to the rest of Stilwater, he inspires terror whenever he takes to the field in a gangland conflict.
[] Blue
Warren Sharp, Joseph Price, Donnie Wong
The brains and bank behind the Rollerz is William Sharp, a wealthy and influential attorney with deep roots in Stilwater's political scene who uses the Rollerz both as a moneymaking scheme and a way to leverage more power into his own hands. A polite, genial philanthropist in public, Price is, as expected of a lawyer, cold and utterly ruthless, intent on nothing more or less than his own personal gain. He makes liberal use of his legal background and local connections to keep the Rollerz from facing reprisal for their actions, frequently keeping members of the gang out of jail with copious amounts of "paper and pussy," as many of his rivals put it.
The brawn of the Rollerz is Sharp's nephew, Joseph Price. A top-class driver and fighter, Price provides the charismatic face that keeps the Rollerz together and acting in line with his uncle's plans for greater gain, though he himself is in it more for the thrill than the profits. A top-class driver and fighter, Price has little respect for anyone other than his uncle and his best friend and personal mechanic, Donnie Wong. Very few gangbangers in Stilwater can boast of having survived a fight with either Big Tony Green or Victor Rodriguez; Joseph Price has come out of multiple encounters with both men, though the results are always inconclusive.
[] Purple
Troy Bradshaw, Ji-Hoon "Johnny" Gat, Julius Little, ???, Dexter "Dex" Jackson
In the days when gangs first came to Stilwater, Julius Little was Ben King's best friend and right hand in the early days of the Vice Kings; he knows the game in a way few others do, and despite being out of the loop for so long is still something of a legend in the eyes of many Stilwater natives, even if the other gangs write him off as a washed-up relic of the past.
Troy Bradshaw is the de facto #2 of the Saints, despite being a relative newcomer to Stilwater. Native to Steelport, whose crime scene is sometimes called "Bangkok's mean, drunk dad," Troy is well-acquainted with the ins-and-outs of all manner of criminal activity, with a knack for figuring out the inner workings of both local gangs and police.
Despite being one of the gang's younger members, Dexter "Dex" Jackson is considered the premier tactician among the Saints, with a cool head and smarts that could have seen him excel in more legitimate fields if he'd had the chance. Currently, Dex runs what few revenue streams the Saints actually control. This responsibility, combined with his intelligence and youth, might be swelling his head a bit.
Seoul-born Ji-Hoon "Johnny" Gat has spent most of his life in America, and a great deal of that life has been violent and bloody. Hot-headed, abrasive and simple-minded, Johnny would be long dead if he weren't almost supernaturally good at killing and avoiding being killed, and if it weren't for the many, many problems with his personality, each of Stilwater's three gangs would have eagerly snapped him up. Somehow, Julius Little is able to put up with his attitude and keep him pointed at whatever targets that he really, truly needs to die.
Word on the streets is that there's another lieutenant among the Saints, but no one outside the gang has any concrete info on them. Rumor is that they're a woman, but that's about it.
-x--X--x-
Alright, so those are the flags you're running. But who the hell are you, Playa?
[] A Nobody… For Now
You're just some random fuck who got in over your head and got bailed out by some guys in the gang you're now running with. Right now, you haven't really come to your leaders' attention, but that might change if you can prove yourself; luckily for you, you've always been a pretty quick learner, so hopefully you can pick up the skills you need quickly if you don't have them yet. And besides, anonymity can have its own rewards in a gang scene as violent and vengeful as Stilwater's, so it's not all bad.
If you're running with the Saints, their smaller numbers and rather desperate situation means that you're likely to shoot up in the ranks more quickly, so long as you can back yourself up. You got picked up by Julius and Troy along with some mute motherfucker whose physical description eludes you for some reason, and you're about to be "Canonized." Hope you're good in a fistfight, or at least know how to tuck up and protect your vitals.
[] Not Quite a Nobody
You're a seasoned veteran in your gang. You aren't one of the guys on top of the heap, but you're not some chump on the streets. You're what might be called a "street boss," running a smaller crew within your gang in whatever specialized pursuits you've been assigned to, and report directly to one of the lieutenants. You've got plenty of experience in the ins-and-outs of thugging, and you excel enough in whatever specialties your gang prizes to have earned something of a reputation that might see you on the fast-track to greater rewards… if you manage to keep living up to that rep.
If you're running with the Vice Kings, you've learned from Benjamin King's example that the right connections to the right people can often prove more useful than just waving a gun around, and watching and waiting before you act can make all the difference. Of course, you aren't exactly in a position to have dinner with the police chief, so you're working with what you've got. Currently, that means teaming up with some crooked lawyers to commit insurance fraud for mutual benefit and to ensure some legal representation and protection in the event that you or your boys get yourselves in hot water that Mr. King isn't able or willing to make "go away." Not exactly glorious, but if anyone has a problem with it, well, Mr. King isn't afraid to show motherfuckers who question him who's boss, and neither are you.
If you're running with Los Carnales, you've got a real knack for drug running and dealing. You've got a real creative streak when it comes to finding new and unexpected ways to hide and move product to make sure it isn't found, and your fellows call your talent for pushing the stuff nothing short of an art. You even take up the initiative and get the junkies who can't pay in money to pay in favors that can't easily be traced back to you. Of course, sometimes the little shits try to back out on you and skip payment entirely, but while you're no Victor Rodriguez, well, sometimes you exercise your wonderful creativity in making examples. That usually does the trick long enough for you to come up with a new way of "expressing yourself." Wouldn't do to repeat yourself, after all.
If you're running with the Rollerz, you've noticed that most of your peers are either good at racing or good at fixing and modding. Unlike them, you're pretty damn good at both, consistently doing well in underground races with your own personally suped-up ride. You're no Joseph Price on the track, and you're no Donnie Wong in the garage, but unlike the two of them, you're as good at one as the other, and more importantly, you're more than willing to go out and do the drudge work of finding and jacking the cars and parts your gang's mysterious clients demand. It's guys like you who keep the Rollerz in business. Maybe they'll recognize that at some point.
If you're running with the Saints, well, you're no Johnny Gat, but you're still one hardass mo-fo. So long as guns don't come out (and, depending on the circumstances, even if they do), between you and any dozen average thugs, the safe money is always on you.
[] A Somebody
You aren't at the very top of your gang, but you've got the ear of the guy who is. You're one of your gang's lieutenants, providing a valuable service and a position of leadership among them. You're an irreplaceable member of the gang, and whichever gang you've joined is very fortunate to have acquired your services, which have smoothed out some of their problems already.
If you're running with the Vice Kings, you are Ben King's personal attorney officially, and unofficially a lot of other things. Namely, you're handling a lot of the tiresome busywork of keeping King's public record spotless and his relationships with the city's major players nice and mutually beneficial, essentially being the person in charge of all the gang's white-collar operations. The time freed up from having to deal with those time sinks has given Mr. King the opportunity to keep a more watchful eye on his criminal empire as a whole and stamp down more effectively on any signs of dissent. Warren and Tanya hate your guts, but they know to step lightly around you; you've got a mind like a steel trap and a disposition oft compared to a snake, and besides Big Tony, there's no one in the Vice Kings that King trusts more.
If you're running with Los Carnales, you're the gang's main liaison with the Colombians who supply most of the product that gets sold here in Stilwater; neither of the Lopez brothers are particularly diplomatic people, sad to say. But you? You have a knack for knowing just what to say, just what compromises to offer and how to couch your terms to keep a bloated ego satisfied and a business partner feeling like he's gotten the better of you after giving you everything you wanted and more. But more than anything, you excel at using a person's vices against them; once you figure out a person's own personal foibles and failings, you've basically got them by the balls, and you've got a grip like the Goddamn jaws of life. Hector Lopez would be a tough nut to crack, but Manuel Orejuela? That sleazy Colombian is so easy it's almost boring to make him dance like a puppet and feed his many addictions. And Angelo… heh.
If you're running with the Rollerz, you're the guy who actually gets stuff done on the streets while Joseph Price spends his time messing around on the track. While Warren Sharp handles all the legalities and long-term planning, you're more or less in charge of all the money-making operations on the ground. Stealing the right cars, taking them to the right places, and even going out and causing mayhem when the other gangs start getting too big for their britches; you've got it all running like a well-oiled machine, and you lead from the front while you do it. You're practically a legend in racing circles among the Rollerz, and when you decide the time is right for a nice drive-by or three, you're in and out of enemy turf almost before the bodies have time to hit the ground.
If you're running with the Saints, you're a mix of brains, balls and badass that most gang leaders would find deeply worrying; being intimately familiar with the ins and outs of committing and getting away with just about every crime in the books, and with a propensity for ass-kicking that few can match, they'd be right to. But Julius Little has a knack for dealing with difficult subordinates, and for now you're at least nominally cool with just being one lieutenant among several; unlike fellow master of ultra-violence Johnny Gat, you're not quite as cool with a life of unrestrained bloodshed, and the idea of a Stilwater free of gang violence is one you actively work toward, whether or not you think you'd be able to really live in such a world. For now, Julius has assigned you to help out the other lieutenants as they work to first push the other gangs out of the Row, then muscle in on their territory proper and take Stilwater back one neighborhood at a time. Oh, and he wants you to take that weird mute along for the ride, help show him the ropes.
