#even if the population was cut in half by the calamity 5000 as a low estimate is a lot

[umbralstars]

OK.

I am going off complete on wishful thinking but I don't believe that all of the Nabateans, besides the obvious, who lived in Zanado are dead. Do I have much evidence? No, but I do have speculation from evidence and headcanons. If you're still interested let's go.

The two pictures above are most likely depictions of Zanado before the massacre. They don't 100% line up with the Zanado/Red Canyon we see in-game, but Nabatea could very well have been spread all over the Oghma Mountains include the snippet we see. The first one can be seen in the opening flashes but Sothis, in her original physical form, is there and the second is from the SE art book but from what I understand it's not 100% confirmed to be Zanado or part of Nabatea. I'm sure most people in the Fandom have seen seen these by now.

My main point with them is that Zanado as a city is pretty big. Due to the Nabateans being dragons one could argue they would likely need to build bigger architecture to accommodate their dragon forms, but it seems to me that the Nabateans are in a more Laguz type situation vs an Archanean Manakete. Where most primarily lived in their smaller humanoid forms, only few chose to be in their dragonic forms most of the time, and this has always been part of the Nabatean physiology with no Cataclysm induced dragonstones. For instance: Indech and Macuil choose to live in their dragonic forms 100% but could likely shift back if they wished, Rhea can go back and forth, and don't ask me about Seteth and Flayn. I still don't know why they can't transform at all as they claim.

I say this because, outside of the Gods, most modern depiction of Divine Dragons or other Dragon races aren't that much larger than humans. Tiki in FE Warriors is big in her dragon form, but she's no Rhea. There's a clear difference in FEH as well with the Manaketes vs Dheginsea, Seiros, and even Ena as the majority of the playable and NPC Manaketes are smaller than the Lazguz not go mention Seiros' sprite who's part of the gigantic club. In 3H the Nabatean dragon forms are consistently sized as huge compared to humans.

The Nabateans living in their own city would likely choose to live in their humanoid forms since they have the choice. They wouldn't need to build structures as gigantic just so they can accommodate people, thus the city could be less spread out, they likely wouldn't need to eat as much, and it would be easier to live with humans in humanoid forms as the Nabateans were want to do in the past. Even Sothis seems to primarily live in her humanoid form as that's the form we see in a very brief flash of her looking over Zanado, and if the Goddess feels safe doing that her Children would as well.

This is all to once again point out that Zanado from these depictions is a pretty big city. Nabatea itself could've ranged from a city-state (with Zanado as the heart with surrounding territory, often farm land and small settlements dependant on the city) or even a small country with Zanado and other smaller cities and towns. The population of Nabateans from this seems to be pretty big even if you think humans lived in Zanado too. I do have a feeling that after the Calamity, which Sothis healed Fódlan from, the population may have been cut down by a lot, but not enough to where all of them could be killed all at once in Zanado.

Even though they could've been virtually trapped within that canyon, I don't believe (and I hope) Nemesis, the Elites, or the Agarthans killed every single Nabatean in that city or any Nabatean settlements beyond Zanado. Given that the Agarthans needed bodies for the Relics (and Nemesis was actually there with his Elites) I assume they didn't use the Javelins of Light but I will admit it's a possibility. If they did not, there is a distinct possibility some Nabateans could've gotten away even if the number is as low as only a few hundred or under even that.

As for where they went, and why the Nabateans we know don't know that some of their kin are still alive is because they likely all fled Fódlan. I believe there is a possibility of diaspora communities in Almyra to various countries across Dagda. All hidden among humans to keep themselves alive.

The most interesting possibility I think lies with Morfis. The Traveller's Journal Issue 1 states:

(Picture of the text from FE Datamine)

As far as I remember we know next to nothing about Morfis except from this little bit of text tucked away in a lore book. I believe that it's possible Morfis may house the largest community of Nabatean diaspora or may have been founded as a result of the diaspora. Morfis is fairly close to Fódlan, but still disconnected from it via the ocean and so would discourage Nemesis or the Agarthans from pursuing the survivors.

Morfis was also known as the 'City of Illusion' and seems to still be unknown to outsiders despite the trade networks. The Nabateans, as the Children of the Goddess, would be quiet connected to magic and may have know how unknown to mankind. After they fled their homeland and traveled deep into the desert the survivors hid their settlement via illusions and re-established their lives best they could. Zanado is also consistently shown as a rather arid environment, so the Nabateans could perhaps easily adapt themselves to life in the desert using skills they already had from Nabatea.

Any other survivors back in Fódlan wouldn't know of Morfis since they, justifibly, hid themselves and were disconnected completely from the outside world. The Journal also makes it seem like Morfis is still incredibly mysterious with their trade routes only bringing rumors of the city, nothing more. Even if the city or country now is more open to outsiders, perhaps in hopes of bringing more Nabateans to them for safety, they may still be wary of Fódlan. It's possible they know nothing of what has been happening in Fódlan for the past centuries, unaware of Seiros and Cichol's presence, and assume the religion worshipping Mother Sothis to just be a human continuation of bygone days if they even know of that.

I don't think it's farfetched to believe that some Nabateans may yet live somewhere outside of Fódlan. Perhaps I'm a bit optimistic in believing they were able to re-establish themselves in Morfis, but I want to believe it even if the chance is next to non-existent. Also, even if this is a possibility, it doesn't negate the sheer horridness of what happened to them, and doesn't undercut Rhea's continued grief over the genocide.