#Seiros the warrior did the same for lycaon

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Seiros the Warrior needs ketchup?

it's from the last fodlan nonsense where all rheas + billy (from swimsuit!Rhea) didn't like Seteth's veggies

Seiros the Warrior is younger and more of a brat to her big bro but also more spontaneous, this is Cichol, he deserves to be picked on, he keeps on telling her the outfit she picked is lame, Willy is not trustworthy and stupid, and her swordswomanship is ridiculous.

As she grew older, Rhea acquired a taste for more refined dishes, and doesn't need ketchup anymore.

It's just a coincidence Cyril wants some - even if he is too shy to ask for it!

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Random Rhea HC : Nap time.

Back when she was a wee litle thing, she used to nap, like her siblings, in both human or lizard form, on Zanado's warm benches when there was some sun or anywhere, even if she prefered, as always, to sit next Sothis who would always find a way to hum her lullaby and have her sleep on her lap.

When it was cloudy and Sothis wasn't available, Cichol had to put her to "sleep" for naps, and while she always refused to, listening to his stories always did the trick (helped by Cichol tucking her to bed first), to the point where putting Cethleann to sleep was very easy for him, because he had to deal with Rhea for years previously (something he often teases her about when she pretends she's alright and doesn't need to sleep when she's Archbishop Rhea).

As Seiros the Warrior, Rhea has trouble sleeping, because even if she is Seiros the Warrior, whenever she falls asleep, she becomes the Rhea who couldn't do a thing in Zanado again, and her nightmares/memories are so frightening that she refuses to sleep.

Whenever she feels like she has too - else she will collapse - at first, when she still cannot trust humans, she escapes to the most secluded place she can find (a mountain, the top of a tree, a forest, some secluded place where no human can find her, or a cave) to rest but her nightmares mean she cannot really rest/sleep.

When she trusts them a little more (but still not that much!) she allows herself to rest for a few hours, but always alone, in a closed space, and with her weapons at hand. When she "rests" like this, she is a very light sleeper and, coupled to her nightmares, it means she cannot get effective sleep.

Willy does his thing, and while she still has some nightmares she finally manages to get some sleep, even if Willy is annoying because while he may be as warm, or even warmer, as the warm rocks from her childhood, he snores and his heartbeat is loud.

Besides, they rarely sleep when they're together because he has to polish his sword or whatnot.

When Cichol'n'co join her quest, she finally feels "safe" enough to sleep in Enbarr's palace without Willy. It's thus a common occurence during the sunny days, to see Saint Seiros sitting on a bench, or against a column, or even in the gardens, "meditating" for the most devouts. Her nightmares are still there, but knowing some of the others survived "lessens" them.

Lycaon and his friends of course pretend to "meditate with Saint Seiros" whenever they want to escape their tutors, they bring their toys and play next to her, until they fall asleep. Rhea was always puzzled to see those children sleeping next to her when she woke up, but was so amused and touched, because it reminded her of her younger days with Sothis, that she never told them to, uh, stop "missing" their lessons.

(To Cichol's great disarray, why are they always running away from his important "philosophy and life lessons" classes? To which his wife would often reply that to a bunch of 5 years old his classes are way too boring.)

Post War of Heroes, once the monastery is built, Rhea isn't "afraid" anymore to sleep because of humans, but her nightmares came back in full force, "updated" with the WoH and her "new" losses, her brothers, Cichol's wife, Lycaon, Willy, etc etc.

Jeralt once spot her asleep at her desk, he tried to wake her up gently by pushing her shoulder, but she broke his jaw as a "reflex" startled.

Sitri worries about her sleep schedule, so she arranges some time in her planning when she would be free to nap, especially when there's sun outside! However, she later discovers that Rhea's sleeping issues are caused by "nightmares" and while she never prays, she introduces her "not mom" to chamomille, maybe it can help her relax, if not sleep?

Cichol returns and while he knows she has nightmares (even since her Seiros the Warrior days) she refuses to talk about them. Ultimately Seteth, with his years of experience, pulls out the same tricks he used in his youth, giving her his reports at night, while she's tucked in bed, and making sure she drank her chamomille.

It's an old method, but it works.

Hanneman once surprised him with a book about nightmares, and asked him if he needed help, which of course attracted Manuela who gave the advice to "drink so much that you pass out and don't remember what happened when you fell asleep".

Cyril refuses to "nap" next to Rhea, or put his head on her lap despite her insistence, because that's way too embarassing and damn, he's not a kid anymore! Catherine doesn't mind at all though, and takes his turn, which annoys him even more, but for some weird reason, Lady Rhea doesn't seem to mind.

AG!Wise, Shamir catches her, Seteth and Flayn (and even that new merc who joined?) sleep in the Camulus Cathedral, when there'd be a ray of sun peering through the windows.

"They are all in deep religious meditation", says a random monk. Shamir knows better though, they're having a nap.

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Fort Merceus was built back when the Empire was only about the size of Hresvelg territory. They constructed the massive military base in order to subdue other clans in the area. After that, it ended up serving as the guardian of the Imperial capital, and kept getting updated and expanded. The rest is history.

From a Nopes Adrestian NPC

Which means

(graphic design is not my passion)

Between -41 and 0, we know Enbarr existed, but Willy Hresvelg was a Lord/the Lord of Enbarr.

Jury's out on what Enbarr encompassed - if it was just a city or a city + provinces, but in 0, Adrestia is founded with Enbarr as its capital, officially due to the presence of Seiros, but if it was Willy's domain/city to begin with, I can see why they picked it as the capital of the Empire.

Was it at that point that Enbarrian territory stopped being "Enbarr Provinces" and started to become "Hresvelg Territory" or it happened earlier (Willy conquering neighbour provinces before become Emperor, for Enbarr, but ultimately for him/the Hresvelg house?), or did the "Hresvelg Territory" encompass the conquests, between 0 and 32 of the most southern parts of what is now Adrestia, Boramas, Rusalka, etc, with the river with Aegir being a kind of natural border?

32 : Willy wants to unify the world

It'd make sense to have Merceus built around that time, both to protect what was already Adrestian/Enbarrian/belonged to the Hresvelg, and to have a base of operations closer to the new "lands to be conquered" than Enbarr.

Someone on Redshit made a detailed map thanks to Nopes's informations (and some guessing) and placed Fort Merceus here :

At the exit of the sort of "canyon" that is identified as "Merceus" in the general map, near the source of a river (there is a fork thing). It's kind of a strategical point, given how any army, to reach Enbarr, would have to cross the "Merceus canyon", because east of that canyon there is the Aegir River, and west of said canyon there are some mountains.

46 : Battle of Gronder 1

Things were going well for Adrestia between around 32 and 46, if they were able to reach Gronder in 46.

Sure, compared to the fast war that happens in the game, you'd have to wonder why the fuck did they take 14 years to reach Gronder, but it kinds of make sense with the idea of Adrestia building its strength slowly to ultimately be strong enough to challenge Nemesis, or the Empire wanted to make sure the newly conquered provinces were "correctly Adrestianised" before pushing forward, so they wouldn't rebel and stab Willy in the back or turn against a defenseless Enbarr if the main army is fighting up north?

Myrrdin

Ignatz notes how the Bridge of Myrddin was made during the War of Heroes - it has the same strategical value as Fort Merceus, making a fort in the only chokepoint (mountains on one side and huge river on the other) both to protect what is already Adrestianised, and to have a new base of operations.

91 Tailtean 1 : Rhea turns Nemesis in a pincushion

Between Gronder - which more or less took 14 years to reach from Merceus to Tailtean, the Adrestian army either accelerated their pace, or stopped taking a crap lot of time to "pacify/Adrestianise" the newly conquered provinces, given how in 45 years they managed to cross the Alliance and a large part of what is now Faerghus.

However, given how in 98 it is said the Empire is in control of "most" of Fodlan, I suppose they also spent time "conquering/Adrestianise" the Eastern parts of the continent, like Eastern Adrestia and Eastern Faerghus, because I sure as hell don't see Willy+Lycaon+Seiros rushing to Tailtean if half of Fodlan is still siding with Nemesis, and "pacifying/conquering" this half in the 7 years following Nemesis's defeat.

(and given how this other half encompasses Rhodos, where Cichol lived and how Seiros met him and his family there per Flayn's support, either she went like a ninja to meet them, or it was "safe enough" for her to walk from Enbarr to Rhodos - or Seiros the Warrior, just after Zanado, first went to Rhodos before going to Enbarr?)

Tl; dr : Adrestia started slowly, at least until the new Empire reached Myrrdin. Willy Seiros built forts in strategical positions/chokepoints to protect what was already Imperial Land, and also to have new bases of operation as the army moved up north.

However, we don't have any clues or info about forts and bases being built post Myrrdin (which can only have been built post 46), so it can be assumed post 46, when the Adrestian Army started to fight the Elites and their allied clans, they didn't have the same motivation anymore, even if taking roughly 50 years to reach the Tailtean Plains, given how fast the war happens in the Fodlan games, either means they were all foot units and had a crap mov stat back then, or the Adrestian Conquests of back then weren't just "kill the leader and move forward" like we see in Tru Piss (and Supreme Bullshit?) but might have been something closer to "kill the leader, bring enough 'order' to the newly conquered lands and Adrestianise them so they won't rebel, maybe let Seiros do her thing with her church stuff, ask people around if they know about "golden weapons", and then move forward".

It's all conjecture, of course, given how we don't have enough intel, but with the presence of those forts and the abnormaly long time it took for the Adrestian Army to conquer Fodlan and deck Nemesis, even if he and his Elites put up a fight with the help of Mole People, I can't really explain nor understand why it took around 65 years for Willy to conquer Fodlan.

In comparison, Supreme Leader "only" takes 5 years in FE16 (and that's only because she was "very sad uwu" when Billy fell in a ravine in Tru Piss), but Nopes shows how starting the War of Unification when her home base/state isn't "orderly" enough bites her, in Nopes Aegir Sr who wasn't "dealt with" rebels and we have bits of pseudo civil wars (even if it's always subdued thanks to the Supreme rule of thumb regarding the Fodlan games), in AG she ultimately becomes Supreme Puppet because dealing with evil lizard lady was more important than making sure Uncle'n'pals were "dealt with", which also happens in Supreme Bullshit.

So, in a way, Supreme Leader conquered Fodlan way faster than her stupid ancestor did (5 years vs 60) but she had to face opposition and rebellions within her own forces, let it be by people she deposed and called a day (Aegir Sr) or her embarassing allies - she either "deals" with them after the Conquest, or forgets to deal with them and it destroys Adrestia (AG) or is another surprise force she has to fight against (but ultimately succeeds because she has a plot mc guffin siding with her, or an imbecile who does all of the heavy work for her).

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Thinking a bit more about Carol the Imperial General who wonders why the Church isn’t helping Adrestia like it oughts to -

I find it funny how Carol notes :

A thousand years ago, Saint Seiros appeared in Enbarr and guided the founding of Adrestia. She also built Garreg Mach, though in the end she left the Empire entirely

Per Carol’s recollection, Seiros popped up in Enbarr, helped create Adrestia, built Garreg Mach and then completely left the Empire.

Bar the blatant Willy erasure - which might be deliberate, we’re shifting the blame and role on the CoS here, not on the Imperial line, thus no mention of Wilhelm’s line having to “protect the people of Adrestia”, nah, that stupid stuff is just something Seiros and her Church should do, else some people might wonder why Wilhelm’s descendant dgaf about her people’s lives - to Carol and some Imperial Nobles, the timeline goes WoH -> Garreg Mach -> end of Seiros in Adrestia?

Or did she left Adrestia at the same time Wilhelm did, after Lycaon’s death?

Like 

98 : Lycaon kicks the bucket - the War of Heroes ends

Wilhelm leaves Adrestia, he and Seiros travel to Indech’s hamlet to return Cichol’s shield.

Around the same time (or shortly after?) Seiros starts to build GM, which is rumoured, by a NPC, to have taken around 100 years to build with magic, meaning Rhea roughly started around that time.

Are we supposed to guess that after Lycaon’s death, both Wilhelm and Rhea left Adrestia - Wilhelm left Adrestia to its own devices, and Rhea started her rez Sothis plan - when she could have done so for the last 7 years.

I know it’s just an AU and all, but given how Lycaon’s death meant the end of the War, thus for Rhea, the end of her hunt for the Elites (Momo escaped!) and the start of the rez Sothis plan, idk what he was to her, but his death was “important” enough to make her stop “avenging” her dead siblings and seek to return the Creator to this world asap.

The pieces kind of fit : What would be a better reason for Rhea to stop hunting the Elites - thus saving Momo - than the realisation that her quest for vengeance and justice for her dead relatives cost her her living son ?

Immediately feeling like dirt - Seiros the Warrior was supposed to be the Protector and Guardian of Fodlan, but Seiros the Warrior couldn’t even protect her own kid - she’d start to build the Monastery, and work on the Sothis Rez plan, Seiros the Warrior is a fraud, only Sothis the Progenitor God can guide and lead Fodlan and its inhabitants.

It’d suck for the Adrestia though - the second Lycaon dies they lose their heroic founding figures ? - but it’d be the start of their descent and loss of the Mandate of Heaven, especially if Lycaon didn’t die from “a sudden illness” but was rekt’d at home by relatives or the Adrestians he was supposed to help.

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Sorry, Church War organizer asking again and clarifying: If we take Edelgard at her word that Rhea and her cohorts are the only ones needed to be removed (so no lizards in power) it would make more sense to remove her through inner church politics than continental warfare. Literally all of the other churches have reasons to hate Rhea, and if she gets removed by their judgement, then warriors like Catherine don't get to fight unless they want to make it worse. I guess it boils down to the schrodinger's world building, where the alliance both does and does not give a shit about the religion, and where the faith is so vague we don't know the tenants. I'd take a fake Lizard Bible over the thousands of years of sekrit history, just so we could actually know how anyone is supposed to be behaving.

Nah don't worry !

To be fair, we are told many times people in Fodlan are religious and all, and while we have some subtext suggesting it, what we are shown is the contrary, both in Nopes and FE16.

What we see though, is how several people expressedly serve Rhea, and not the Central Church, like Catherine.

Say, if, in an ideal world, Rhea stepped down like she planned and someone didn't start her war, would Catherine have followed and served Billy, or remained by Rhea's side? Ditto for Cyril and actually, Shamir.

Given how people worry a lot about Rhea herself, idk if she can be effectively "voted out" of the Church - because to the faithful we hear in Fodlan, Rhea is the figure of the Church, central or not. Is it because she's more popular than Bishop Racist from the Western Church, Varley or Bishop Useless from the Eastern Church ? idk.

What we know about successions in the CoS (don't be mean, Cichol's dyejob wasn't that bad!) is that it isn't hereditary.

But I suppose an Archbishop "disappears"/"dies" and she would have left a will, noming her successor, a woman who appeared out of nowhere but oddly looks like her, but maybe with a different hair colour.

For Billy, the second Seteth says Billy's Rhea's chosen heir, I think everyone accepts it, because Billy was picked by the previous Archbishop. Maybe, in the same ideal world, much like what Rodrigue does with Felix or what Wilhelm apparently did with Lycaon, Rhea would appoint Billy her heir, but still be around to help them.

I honestly love AUs where an Adrestian Emperor has a major crest of Seiros, forgot the "true history" that Seiros wasn't his ancestor, and thinks they can be the religious power in Fodlan because they descend from the Prophet and are more "qualified" than the nobody living in Garreg Mach who has no blood ties to Saint Seiros herself.

Watch out for the lizard bible though, given how the lolcalisation lolcalised the 5 tenets we could have something like "the Goddess wants you to eat live babies every friday" instead of "the Goddess blesses every child that is born in this world".

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More about Derick von Aegir, Ferdie’s ancestor 

He mentions :

It's about a pair of nobles, living about a hundred years after the founding of the Adrestian Empire.

About a hundred or years after the founding of the Empire more or less matches the end of the WoH, that happened after Lycaon’s death in 98.

Or is he talking more approximatively “around 100″, like this might have happened in 110 or 120?

One was Derick von Aegir. People called him the Warrior Prime Minister. He bravely led soldiers into battle, and mowed down his enemies.

But if the story happened in 110 or 120, why would Derick von Aegir be mowing down enemies? The War already ended, so there was no point to lead soldiers into battle?

If this event happened in 98 - 100, Adrestia, at War since 32, already was developed enough to have a prime minister? But for some dumb reason, the Prime Minister AND the Emperor are both fighting? Then who is in charge of the Empire? Vestra 5 ?

Edel’s line is more ominous 

Was the emperor of the time. She wagered the throne in a duel against Derick and won.

Lycaon is expressely cited to be Wilhelm’s successor. Meaning Lycaon was the second Emperor.

So the Emperor after Lycaon, Edel’s ancestor - waged the throne in a duel?? It was possible, in 100-120, for the third Emperor of Adrestia, to lose her throne to a duel?

Also, it also meant that in 100-120 she thought it would be accepted that an Emperor wouldn’t be a Hresvelg nor one of Wilhelm’s descendant, but the descendant of a person who was “blessed” by Cichol - when Cichol himself “died” after the War of Heroes, but Seiros was still around? There was no rule about having a Hresvelg on the throne?

Rhea completed her monastery in 185 (did Seiros die in 185 or before, or after? IIRC Seiros performed the first rite of rebirth in GM?), which would be after this fateful duel - would she have been okay to see Lycaon’s successor wager her throne, Adrestia and what it was supposed to be/mean in a ... duel?

Like, if Derick won, would he still have to recite the same oath Edel does 1000 years later or not?

Or... alternatively, Rhea, seeing how 100 years after the birth of Adrestia it becomes something that can wagered upon a duel, thinks humans are hopeless, and ushers the creation of the monastery, calls her siblings and performs the first Rite of Rebirth in hopes of bringing back Sothis.

Willy swore to guide Fodlan and work for its people as Emperor of Adrestia, and his granddaughter (well, the third emperor who might not be his granddaughter but great great granddaughter or something) thinks Adrestia, and her title/role as one who will help guide the world, can be lost or won in a duel. 

Yikes.

(not to say the hereditary inheritence is better, but guiding Fodlan/the Empire is a role that has to be passed on and accepted, not won in a duel. Presumably, the Hresvelgs would always accept this role - until they didn’t. FE has always supported the idea of a “true” ruling line or a legitimate bloodline on the throne, the mandate dictates that heaven removes it when the dynasty starts to suck, it isn’t transfered to some other dude because other dude can smash things better.)