nick-schippers

[ecclectricity]

    There are conflicting stories to tell just when Almyra vanished.The fact still remains that one day, Almyra neighbored Fódlan as it ever had, and the next, a lifeless crater existed in its space, it’s people untraceable, all knowledge of their kind stripped away. Some say there was internal conflict, leading to the extinction of the Almyran people. Some say they merely left. Where? No one knows. The fact remains though that they, along with nearly every trace of their kind, vanished, nary a scarce relic and stories to deign that they ever existed to begin with.

    Until twenty years ago. A young woman, Alliance born, vanished during her stay at a well known but politically autonomous Garreg Mach Monastery, leading a church-run program to close until her whereabouts were discerned. Due to political strife and unrest, the academy was never given the chance to do so. Rumors flew- a runaway noble? An attempt on the only living heir to Riegan’s noble house? While neither were confirmed, one thing was certain: a power among titans was weakened, and the three countries, divided, could not stand idly side by side for long.

    Between the growing tensions of unrest, of possible war, and the spreading of what has come to be only known as Dragon Scourge, Fódlan has known very little of peace in the hundreds of years since the Almyran’s disappearance. . .

    But Cedrial, Fire Emblem is already a fantasy universe, why would you write a fantasy universe for it And to that I say: shush. I’m inserting a hefty amount of high-fantasy D&D style bull because it is super fun.

  Some key features:

    1) MOST of what will be established from the perspective of the Kingdom, because that is what @endlesscacophony​ and I built this universe from. I’m eager to maybe talk to some people about Empire view, but Alliance is, honestly, majorly collapsed or annexed to Kingdom/Empire territory at this point. I believe the last remaining vestiges of the Alliance are Edmund and Goneril territory, the rest having either defected or fled. No heir existed to take over, and Gloucester maintained for as long as they could, but ultimately chose to prioritize their people over politics ( reasonably enough ).

  2)  The Kingdom, at present, is seeking a cure for the ever pervasive Dragon Scourge. No one knows what the cause is of the illness, but two major things are known: it is not transmissible by any known means, and it has a 100% fatality rate. It’s not a matter of if it will kill you, but when you will ultimately transform and need to be put down ( if people let you get that far ). The Duscur rebellion transpired quite a bit differently: King and prince both survived, and rather than die, Glenn actually turned due to previously unknown affliction from Dragon Scourge. He has yet to be found. Following the attack, the King and leader of Duscur were able to convene in secret to arrive at an accord of peace.

    Of course, there are always those who will not stand for peace ( and those who would stoke a minor voice to action ). The insurrection still occurs years later. However, Dimitri is required to stay out of it by his father’s decree, due to the appearance of Dragon Scourge on his back. Felix, instead, is sent to represent the Fraldarius family. At news of his apparent death, the Scourge worsens, and does not recede despite the heavily wounded but living Felix returning days later. The insurrection was quelled, however, and Duscur and the Kingdom remain peaceful. 

    Five years later, the Scourge on Dimitri has progressed, taking over a large amount of his torso and the right side of his face with black, painful scales. In a desperate bid to seek a cure, Felix, Sylvain, and Dimitri set out on a journey with a painful ultimatum: find a cure for Dimitri, or do what must be done.

    3) The Church is SIGNIFICANTLY MORE LIMITED in this verse. It is a typical church, but much like in major fantasy lore, Seiros and Sothis are but one path among a throng of many, and while they tend to be more judgmental of other religions, there are several gods, goddesses, and beyond that are worshipped and respected, even in the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus. Where previously they seemed to have an iron in every fire in canon, here they could be seen more as a Vatican in the distance that many ascribe to, but personally is its own city state that is loud, but ultimately unable to affect the politics and practices of the other countries directly. 

    4) Almyra, without a better analogy, is basically the land of elven kind, down to the iconic ears, which some people still recall as a staple feature. Almyra is rather similar to the Feywild, existing in an extraplanar place above Fódlan after literally drawing itself from the earth with magic and transposing itself elsewhere due to strife and disagreements with the “Empire” ( more than likely actually TWSTED masquerading as Empire, but we haven’t fully ironed that out ). These people are extraordinarily gifted in magic innately ( think like a sorcerer in D&D ), and do not need much in the way of education or tutoring in order to be able to cast impressive spells. There is still a royal hierarchy in Almyra, and they are still known to be quick to anger and fight, but quick to lay down arms and allow the water to pass beneath the bridge. The difficulty is succession; the royal family, the Dahrei’s, are known throughout their exceptionally long history to have particularly bloody and messy successions. These are infrequent, as Almyran people tend to live much longer than others, but when they do happen, they are practically public affair, neigh dinner conversation, until succession is decided.

    5) Magic does not operate as one would expect. Everything in the world is created from the same base Formula, something that Almyran people can innately see, harness, and manipulate into magic. For people of Fódlan, being able to decipher and utilize the Formula is a very extensive process requiring a ton of study and practice ( again, think wizards in D&D ). However, the existence of this Formula is also not known to Fódlish people, as this was a good chunk of the knowledge taken with the Almyran people upon their exodus. What they know are Crests! These Crests, which unbeknownst to them are fractions of Formula placed in an array to create magic, bestow upon the user certain effects: Blaiddyd is known for massive augmentation of strength, Gautier for fire manipulation, Fraldarius for speed and agility, etc. 

    6) Dragon Scourge - this is a magical illness caused by the Formula of a person’s soul essentially deciding to consume itself. This is a product of internal, unmanageable conflict. Because trauma and internal strife affect people differently, there is no one cause. For example, Glenn Fraldarius had been in several major battles and lost friends and comrades, and while this of course hurt him, he did not develop Scourge because he could reconcile the loss with reality. During Duscur, the idea of failing Dimitri broke his spirit so severely that it took him from healthy to Draconic nearly immediately in a panicked and ditch effort to save Dimitri’s life. Dimitri, likewise, had lived through several attempts on his life from his uncle and other arguably difficult and stressful circumstances growing up, but Duscur and Glenn’s transformation was ultimately what he could not reconcile ( why for me? ), and because of his inability to cope with the loss and guilt, the Formula began to etch away.

    All is not lost, though! Dragon Scourge, known as Blight to Almyrans, is not incurable. Almyran people, however, took all of their knowledge of magic when they left, including the ability to cure this. They also know the specific cause of this: as one’s heart gives in to what it cannot change, what it cannot reconcile and release, the Formula of one’s True Name ( the unique Formula that makes a person them ) begins to be unravelled from reality, leaving only a shell of grief and pain in its wake. For most, if caught early, this is an exceptionally easy thing to alleviate, and alerts those around you that there is something wrong that needs to be sorted. If left to it’s own devices, it gets progressively harder and harder- only the strongest of magic-users could returns a dragon’s True Name, after all.

    7) Fódlan’s Throat - Fódlan’s Throat vanished with Almyra, and is now the only way that someone from Almyra can return to the world below. Not that anyone would want to. After centuries of displacement, the only knowledge left of the world below are rumors of horrific, warlike barbarians- a true Hell for anyone to have to endure, and near impossible for anyone to survive. There is no communication between the two locations, so rumors only grew, and even the oldest of Almyrans can remember the days Before Ascension.

    The Throat itself is deep within the King’s Hunting Grounds, a bramble of interwoven branches nestled in the far reaches; many assume this was orchestrated to keep Almyrans from seeking to return, or from accidentally happening upon it and curiously wandering through. The portal is a yawning maw of black nothing, and for all that anyone knows, once you go through? You don’t come back.

    8) TWSTED - You know ‘em, you hate ‘em, and they’re still the antagonist. Their experiments into Crests has not changed, and anyone impacted by those experiments very likely are still affected in this universe. However, in addition to that, the main source of strife and conflict that lead the Almyran people to leave Fódlan, was their experimentation into the source of magic Almyran’s call upon. Since Fódlish people typically need either crests or extensive study to be able to wield magic, this painted quite the target on those magically inclined people. Many were used for experiments to siphon this magic, essentially deteriorating innate Formulas and severely injuring, impacting the lifespan, or outright killing those involved ( again, very much like the canon research they conducted ). When the Almyran people left, they attempted to destroy whatever machinations or war machines their magic had lent to the creation of. Rumor has it, though, that there may still be an active portal or two lying around the world somewhere - ones that could lead you right to Almyra. Were there only anyone would could operate it. . .

    I will update this as time goes along, but eventually below will be links to each of my affected characters’ verse! I’ll be working on that soon!

    Claude Von Riegan  |    Felix Hugo Fraldarius  |    Caspar Von Burgliez

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    I would like to clear up a couple things I know are missing from this verse that I would be elated to plot with someone:

Where is Dedue? Just- just where is he? I’ve always had him as a main attendant of the guard, and one of the major people in charge of training Royal guards. The thought process was that, since Duscur happened differently, he and Dimitri may not have met the exact same way and he is instead working with the Kingdom as an Ambassador from Duscur rather than a vassal to Dimitri, but I’m super interested in anyone’s thoughts/opinions on this.

Fódlish people are obviously my equivalent of ‘humans’ in this universe, but I’m eager to consider what other specialities and abilities could go to other countries! I want to think about how Sreng could have adapted, Albinea, how the spirits of Brigid could interweave with the magic of this world!

What’s up with the Empire? Is the Empire the one really in charge of these experiments, or has it again been TWSTED and Edelgard again is using them as an ends-justify-the-means kind of thing? How is her opinion of their mutually-assured-destruction-agreement when the church has significantly little to no sway on the world? Would her target, rather than the church, be the people who host the magic TWSTED is attempting to recreate instead? Or would she sympathize with them as victims of experimentation much like herself?