#khalid bonding with the lions

[iturbide]

I could've sworn I sent something in a while back, but I guess Tumblr Is Tumblr so that got lost to the void. Anyway, GA!Anon here and don't worry, I absolutely LOVE what you're doing with Golden Attempt! It's so fun seeing someone take my idea run so wild with it! To be honest, it makes it a little tempting to try writing myself! Though on that note, I give you this idea: can you imagine how Nader could have played into this? Say, perhaps sent out as a force by the king of Almyra to find out what's REALLY going on; because he knows Khalid would never have killed his brother under really any circumstances, unless he had absolutely no other options.

You know that sounds like Tumblr it's a little like the Bermuda Triangle of myth: sometimes things make it through, sometimes they don't, and nobody knows what the fuck determines which outcome.

also re: this statement:

To be honest, it makes it a little tempting to try writing myself!

DO IT. DO IT DO IT DO IT AND SEND ME A LINK BECAUSE I NEED TO SEE IT because as you might have noticed I'm kind of obsessed with this idea and I am vibrating with excitement at the thought of you showing exactly what you had in mind for it! I've had a blast with the core concept, but it's just my take on it (complete with all of my very niche hyper-specific headcanons), so I'd absolutely LOVE to see your vision come to life!!

Also I am living for that idea about Nader's motives for being there. I have a major soft spot not only for the (apparently canon!!) idea of Khalid being his dad's favorite, but also that they have a really good relationship -- enough so that the king of Almyra is not going to just accept that his son would do something like that. He knows Khalid set out to change Fodlan, and the idea of Fodlan changing him instead is unthinkable -- so it makes perfect sense that he would tell Nader to keep an eye on things and figure out what's really going on.

(Nader himself might not have the same strength of conviction that the king does, and as much as it pains him, he would think it possible that Fodlan really has changed Claude to the point that he's turning his back on his heritage -- he became the king of Leicester, binding him to the land west of the Locket, after all...plus the imposter doesn't speak Almyran, and cautions Nader not to do so even in private "for fear of being overheard," which would sound like he's really trying to bury those connections even as he takes temporary advantage of them.)

[zevfern]

More M!Byleth (named Rorann in my playthroughs) headcanons, this time with the Golden Deer:

In this route, Rorann's best friend is the House Leader himself, Claude. What is initially a relationship where the two hold each other at arm's length turns into the most intimate friendship Rorann or Claude ever foster. Their unbreakable bond ends up saving the entirety of Fodlan, and connects it to Almyra and the rest of the surrounding nations.

(While Claude appears to be cool and collected in his post-timeskip reunion with Rorann, when he goes off to eat with Rorann he's internally screaming, "I can't believe it, we might be able to win this war after all!")

During his time as a professor at Garreg Mach, Rorann tries his hardest to get to know all of the students at the Officer's Academy. While some of the more antisocial students evade his best efforts, Bernadetta von Varley isn't one of them. The two unexpectedly bond, and Bernie leaves the Black Eagles to join the Golden Deer. Her decision changes her life, as she does not join the Empire military during the timeskip, instead enduring house arrest with her father until escaping near the date of the millennium festival. Reunited with Rorann, Bernie realizes she loves her former teacher, and is quite literally at his side throughout the entirety of the Alliance's campaign against Adrestria and Faerghus. For his part, Rorann always held a quiet affection for Bernie, but much like her, he didn't realize to what degree he did until the war.

(While Bernie initially balks at filling her duties as queen of Fodlan, Rorann's determination to be a good king despite feeling completely out of his depth in the position inspires her. The Bear Queen is remembered fondly for centuries past her and Rorann's lives.)

While Claude takes some time to really start opening up to Rorann, students from both inside and outside the Golden Deer warm to Rorann very quickly, liking the friendly young man hidden underneath the professor's calm and stoic face. In particular, Ferdinand von Aegir is very appreciative of the professor, as he feels welcomed by Rorann, unlike when he's with his own house leader. Ferdie and Bernie joining the Golden Deer, as well as Flayn's rescue, is part of a turning point for Claude's perception of Rorann, seeing him now as someone truly special due to his ability to bring people together.

Rorann's relationship with Leonie is a complex one. While Leonie is certainly impressed with her professor's skill, and she enjoys his company outside of class, she's frustrated at Rorann for taking her personal hero, his father, for granted all his life. This changes completely after Jeralt's murder, as Rorann sheds his first tears for his dad. Rorann and Leonie grieve together, and reach an understanding of each other. No harsh words are spoken, and no feelings are hurt.

(God I hate the Byleth/Leonie B support so much, so we're striking it from the record. This is my headcanon, they're gonna cry together instead of fight)

Post-timeskip, Rorann rallies his old students to fight off the Empire, but at Grondor, he's forced to fight, and kill some of the students not in his class. Felix is the hardest to kill, not only due to his skill, but because he often asked to be added to his class. Rorann never did, as he considered him too unfriendly and uncooperative, and the result was unnecessary bloodshed.

(I didn't recruit any of the Blue Lions during my VW route, as I don't feel any outside of maybe Ingrid or Annette fit in with the Deer. That, and I didn't meet the recruitment requirements for any of them except Felix, who I didn't want to recruit.)

Post-game, Rorann is shocked when he's given the title of King of Unified Fodlan, imagining that Claude would have taken up the title, only for Claude to reject it and leave the country. Once Khalid returns to establish diplomatic ties to Fodlan as the new king of Almyra, he's greeted by a very miffed (but still happy to see him) Rorann and Bernie.

(Much like with the Flame Emperor reveal, I was surprised to see Claude revealed to be the heir to the Almyran throne. My headcanon for Almyra is that it's similar to what Al-Andarus was in real life, except the Almyrans speak modern Spanish, much like Fodlanese is modern English. Claude's just like me fr!)

Notable Endcards and Pairings from my VW run:

Rorann/Bernadetta (the Ruler of Dawn and the Bear Queen.)

Claude/Marianne (very underrated pairing, a prince in disguise for this game's Disney princess)

Lorenz/Leonie (one of my favorite couples in the game, despite being so different they're just meant for each other. Shout-out to @readythefanons and her incredible Leorenz fanfic titled The Lorenz of Doubt. It's my favorite fanfiction of all time regardless of fandom)

Ferdinand/Hilda (probably the least popular pairing for Ferdie, which is weird to me because it's so genuine and sweet. Someone please write more fanfiction for these two.)

Ignatz solo (poor dude got benched before the time skip, so he didn't get enough support with anyone to get a pairing.)

Ralph/Flayn (really silly, was expecting something a bit different for the two)

Shamir/Catherine (their marriage is officiated by Rhea/Seiros before she passes, a final gesture of love for the two Knights who served her)

[thedivergingpaths]

The Diverging Paths: What Could Have Been

So in light of a post I reblogged recently (and also just other discussions elsewhere) I’ve decided to tackle my ideas and opinions about how Three Houses could have done a more solid job at diverging paths (hehe because of my blog name).

These opinions are both my own and my own as developed by reading stuff, some of which I have reblogged here and some of which I just read. Just a sort of disclaimer and FYI.

So here we go!

White Clouds

I think the differences should have been more prominent, not just in the occasional cut scenes, with changes in lord dialogue and group dynamics. Important, especially for the shared beats of the game, but each route should have had distinct beats and not just shuffled up dialogue for the same beats.

To clarify, what I mean by beats is story beats - i.e. like scenes and the content that goes with it.

I do think White Clouds should still have similar missions and objectives across all routes, because I think it would help demonstrate how divided Fódlan became following the war and five years during Byleth’s absence.

So there should have been more distinct missions, or even if they were the same, maybe shuffle what exactly happens. Like while leading the Black Eagles, maybe instead of confronting the church invades in the tomb, they are confronted elsewhere because of a failed diversion by Edelgard and Hubert.

And some of the missions that really should be Faerghus missions - Miklan and Lonato - should be Blue Lions exclusive. There are other rumblings going on in the grand politics of the three nations, as seen in paralogues. Maybe instead of Hilda’s being the main one to discuss the conflict with Almyra pre-timeskip, maybe there’s a mission because of civilians at the border during a skirmish and the Golden Deer are sent to deal with it. It would be a good way to plant the seeds of Claude’s dream of open borders by actually, you know, exposing us to the wider world and having to make opinions based on people and not boogey-men. For the Black Eagles, we could actually do things in the Empire and meet the main players there rather than them just being mentioned or randomly appearing once the war begins.

Certain things I feel would need to happen to keep the main plot of the Empire vs Everyone Else going, such as Flayn’s rescue, Monica’s reveal as Kronya, the Battle of the Eagle and Lion, etc., etc.

Verdant Wind

Verdant Wind should have been grander in what it achieved. Claude wants to open up the borders of the world and foster understanding, and while some of the insulation and the whole war isn’t really something he can control, the world should have felt bigger in the Golden Deer route.

The Almyrans become allies and Claude is their Prince Khalid and yet we get very little of them and only one Almyran character appears in the second half of the route. I think it would have been interesting, and fun, to have had a few diplomatic-ish (tho because it’s fire emblem, inevitably having some sort of battle) missions with other nations, like Almyra, but maybe even Dagda and Sreng and a few other close nations that we even no less about, like Albinea.

For the Fódlan war, I think that the confrontation with Edelgard should be a little different. The cutscene doesn’t really fit, so maybe a different one where Claude and Byleth get ready for the final death match, but then Byleth holds Claude back as Dedue appears to avenge Dimitri and Duscur, even though Edelgard didn’t cause the Tragedy of Duscur, Dedue doesn’t know that and she’s also working with those who caused it so. I just think that it’d be good closure for Dedue before he leaves to mourn. Also ~collaboration~ in toppling the war.

And so, after the war in the immediate fall-out, I think the confrontation with the Agarthans/Those Who Slither in the Dark should still happen, but not culminate in Nemesis’ resurrection. As great as that cutscene is, I think having more efforts to try and reconcile with the Agarthans would be more interesting. Let there be non-homicidal Agarthans who just want to live in their caves with the shiny tech in peace.

Azure Moon

I feel like the route should have started more in Faerghus. Part of that country was annexed to the Empire during the five years of Byleth’s absence, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable for Edelgard to make appearances there.

And in some ways, that would be more heartbreaking because Dimitri is in his kingdom, and his friends and followers are trying to get him to save their nation, but all he sees is Edelgard. It would be more of a blow to what choice he makes. He’s choosing vengeance over salvation. Until, of course, he begins to recover and really looks at what has become of Faerghus and figure out what he must do to end the suffering.

Also Dedue should be more involved once he returns because not only is he Dimitri’s retainer, their bond is a lot deeper than Dimitri and Byleth’s so Dedue should have had a stronger hand in Dimitri’s recovery arc.

Crimson Flower

It would be interesting if the route split wasn’t decided whether to betray the Church or turn on the Empire, but how to handle the war once Byleth returns from their five-year absence.

Like, let us either embrace the villain route - and potentially show how our allies who have a very different sense of morals start cracking under the banner of the empire - or let us challenge Edelgard’s motives and morals and goals.

I’m pretty sure that a lot of Edelgard’s anti-church and crest stance is really just nonsense fed to her by the Agarthans - particularly Thales - so that she could set Fódlan on fire for them. There were possibly similar lies told to Nemesis, honestly. And I think that should affect the trajectory of the game.

Embracing the villain route entrenches the Agarthans deeper into Fódlan politics, even though Hubert and Edelgard says it leaves a bad taste in their mouth, but both groups are taking advantage of each other. And obviously this would culminate in the battle with Rhea and her death. Basically, keep the route more or less intact but really drive home that this maybe isn’t the good and moral choice.

On the flip side, a Byleth who challenges but still cares for Edelgard might succeed in Edelgard at least considering she’s on the wrong path. And here I think the main foes should be the Agarthans. Essentially, abandon the war for a more internal one. I feel that the Kingdom and the Church would still be thorns in the Black Eagles’ side - because they’ve been at war for five years and Rhea is very angry at Edelgard and Byleth’s actions - but they’re not the focus. I think this route would be interesting to find out more of the depth of the Agarthans’ manipulations throughout history, their experiments, and maybe have a moral crisis when Edelgard realizes she’s just been an attack dog all this time.

Silver Snow

Really two big things:

1) I think the catalyst should be for this route is a Byleth who would not choose a house back in the pre-timeskip era. They end up a sparring master (replacing Jeritza once he leaves, but is like, a supporting teacher with him prior to that) and so we can forms bonds across all of the houses.

yes, this is to make it more painful when the war happens and all those kids you knew are grown up and killing each other

2) Byleth’s background should also be revealed in this route, and the history of the Nabateans as a whole. There’d be something poetic about returning to Zanado and having at least some of the battles, if not the climatic one, there. A sort of closure.

I’m not sure whether Rhea’s dragonic feralness should still happen or not, depends on how things go with the whole “well, time to talk about genocide and a dead society” goes I guess.

A Final Thought

I  think it would be appropriate if Byleth, the avatar character, could decide whether they became the supreme ruler of Fódlan/the archbishop (since it varies what they are by route) because while I get why the characters would hoist this onto Byleth, it seems to be more following “remember the past games where people were fulfilling their divine destiny as king, guess we’ll keep going with that!!! :)”

I just think it’d be neat to go “nope” and be able to nope off into the woods or something haha.

And it wouldn’t change anything but the ending slides, so it would really just be an Aesthetic choice, but it could give even more variety to the ending slides since most are basically the same, just some phrases swapped out depending on the route and pairing. Some are outright different which is cool, but most aren’t.

[businessliveme]

Selling Aramco: The Wall Street A-Listers on the Oil Giant’s IPO

(Bloomberg) –Saudi Aramco has enlisted the help of a former Donald Trump national security adviser and an ex-House of Representatives majority leader to pull off the world’s biggest IPO.

One-time Trump staffer Dina Powell, a partner at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and Moelis & Co. Vice Chairman Eric Cantor are among scores of Wall Street veterans hired to sell shares in the kingdom’s state oil firm. The roster of bankers reads like a who’s who of finance, underscoring the importance of Saudi Arabia a year after the murder of government critic Jamal Khashoggi prompted a brief spell of skittishness over doing business with the country.

Read more: Aramco Showcases Major Recovery Post Oil-Attack Within A Month

At the end of the month, many of Aramco’s bankers are expected to converge at the Future Investment Initiative — an annual jamboree to showcase the kingdom’s aspirations that’s been dubbed Davos in the Desert. The Saudi government is set to give the official green light for the IPO at a meeting on Thursday, aiming to raise about $40 billion for the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, and a formal announcement is expected to follow on Sunday.

Friends Matter

Aramco has hired about 25 institutions to sell the stock. Many bankers have spent years wooing officials to get a lucrative spot on the listing, making intense pitches multiple times to Aramco executives and maintaining ties even as it was delayed. While the selection of firms such as HSBC Holdings Plc and JPMorgan Chase & Co. — which have long dominated dealmaking in the kingdom — was expected, other mandates were more surprising and highlight how personal relationships and loyalty matter more than ever.

The IPO’s financial advisers Moelis, Lazard Ltd. and Michael Klein have all played a key role in selecting banks and working to ensure Aramco can secure its valuation expectations, Bloomberg News has reported. Klein, a former Citigroup Inc. executive with longstanding ties in the kingdom, has been especially instrumental in pulling the deal together. Even though many investors are expected to come from inside the kingdom, more than 300 bankers are now working on selling the deal worldwide.

BofA Surprise

Bank of America Corp.’s appointment to one of the top roles on the IPO was a big surprise, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The U.S. bank — a latecomer to business with Saudi government entities — wasn’t expected to win a place on the deal until Chief Operating Officer Tom Montag intervened, the people said.

Montag personally covers the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, and has a good relationship with its governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who also chairs Aramco. He got more of the firm’s New York bankers involved in the process and helped convince Aramco’s IPO committee to give them a role, the people said. Julian Mylchreest, who’s worked on blockbuster oil deals including Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s roughly $50 billion acquisition of BG Group Ltd., is playing a big role.

Other key bankers working on the Aramco IPO:

JPMorgan: Carlos Hernandez, head of global banking and one of its most senior bankers globally, was directly involved in pitching and is actively working on the deal. Achintya Mangla, head of equity capital markets, is also involved.

Morgan Stanley: Franck Petitgas, head of international operations and potential successor to CEO James Gorman, led the pitch in Dhahran in August. Patrick Delivanis, head of investment banking in MENA, is handling the day-to-day work with global head of ECM Henrik Gobel.

Moelis: As well as Ken Moelis and Cantor, Yorick Van Slingelandt, co-head of Europe, head of ECM Alexander Hageman and Middle East head Rami Touma are working on the IPO. Citigroup: Top dealmaker Tyler Dickson has been instrumental in leading the bank’s charge to get mandates in Saudi Arabia, including Aramco. Also on the deal are co-head of Middle East investment banking Hamza Girach, oil veteran Doug MacKenzie, EMEA head of energy, and Carmen Haddad, chief country officer for Saudi Arabia.

HSBC: Samir Assaf, CEO of global banking and markets, was among the few top banking executives to show up at Riyadh’s FII conference last year. His commitment was rewarded when HSBC was reappointed on the IPO. Matthew Wallace, global corporate finance co-head, and Christopher Laing, head of ECM for central and eastern Europe, the Mideast and Africa, are also involved.

Credit Suisse Group AG was another surprise name on the roster. While the bank has been trying to beef up its Saudi operations and secured a banking license in the country earlier this year, it has little track record on local IPOs and isn’t one of Aramco’s key lenders.

The pitch team was led by CEO Tidjane Thiam. The strength of Credit Suisse’s private banking business was also a key factor for Aramco — offering access to the many billions they manage for ultra-rich investors. Jim Peterkin, head of the EMEA energy practice, and local CEO Khalid Al Ghamdi are heavily involved in the deal.

For Moelis, the mandate is seen as a further sign of the boutique bank’s strong ties with the kingdom and its upper echelons. CEO Ken Moelis and erstwhile Republican politician Cantor were two of a handful of Western bank executives that showed up at last year’s investment forum, which was mostly shunned by other U.S. bank CEOs due to the fallout of the murder of Khashoggi.

Lazard’s selection is a particular boon for the bank, which wasn’t one of the advisers on Aramco’s first listing attempt. The boutique bank’s work on Aramco’s debut bond sale earlier this year, which attracted more than $100 billion of orders, put it in pole position to secure an IPO role. Their team is led by Francois Kayat, the Paris-based banker who opened the doors for the bank in the kingdom after working on the sovereign bond.

Top Roles

Two of the nine joint global coordinators, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, are managing the lion’s share of the deal including work around tax, royalties and the company’s dividend policy, the people said.

Goldman Sachs, which also secured a top role, has been making a push into Saudi Arabia as the bank’s Middle East operations face fallout from the corruption scandal in Malaysia involving the 1MDB investment fund. Egyptian-born Powell, Trump’s former deputy national security adviser for strategy, was spearheading the effort to win the deal alongside CEO David Solomon and international banking head Richard Gnodde.

Suhail Sikhtian, global energy co-head at Goldman, is one of the bank’s key people on the deal along with senior London-based energy banker Andrew Fry and growth-markets ECM head Jonathan Penkin.

Representatives for Aramco and the banks declined to comment or didn’t immediately respond to requests to comment.

The Aramco IPO is key to Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plans to fund the diversification of the kingdom’s economy away from its reliance on oil. The proceeds from the IPO will also help boost the firepower of the OPEC nation’s sovereign wealth fund, which already has investments in funds managed by Blackstone Group Inc. and SoftBank Group Corp.

The post Selling Aramco: The Wall Street A-Listers on the Oil Giant’s IPO appeared first on Businessliveme.com.

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[iturbide]

You don't even have to ask! Details please!

Well I always like to ask just in case you guys are the ones who have to see it on your dashboards

I’m very glad you’re exited though so crossover details go

The Starters

Because we have different lords heading up the titular three houses, and each one leans heavily into certain color and element themes similar to the common starter trio in mainline Pokemon games, it becomes almost a no-brainer to say that the Lords from Three Houses are your starter choices in this game.  For Edelgard, you have Embird, a fire-type eagle; for Dimitri you have Parcub, a water-type lion; and for Claude you have Fawnceal, a grass-type deer, reflecting both their house color schemes and emblems.

These starters, however, are unique in many ways.  To begin with, no matter which one you pick, they will always have a set gender, nature, and characteristic; they will also have perfect IVs and their hidden ability, rather than the standard one.  Since they are meant to reflect specific people, you’ll also have a limited choice on nicknames, similar to the original Red/Blue giving you options for your name and your rival’s: for Embird, it would be along the lines of “Edelgard” and “El”; for Parcub, it would be things like “Dimitri” and “Dima”; and for Fawnceal, you would have choices like “Claude” and “Khalid.”

Whichever starter you pick is also going to be your companion throughout the entire game.  As with Pokemon Yellow and the Let’s Go games, your starter will follow you outside of its pokeball, and you’ll be able to turn around and interact with them whenever you want to build your bond and get a feel for their mood.  Unlike these games, though, your starter cannot be put into a box, traded, or left at the daycare: they’re your companion, and they will stay that way throughout the game.  To give players more opportunities to train pokemon other than their starter, though (and to allow more freedom for people who like to play hardcore styles like Nuzlocke), there is a special “starter slot” that effectively allows you to bring seven pokemon with you; however, only your starter is allowed to take this extra slot, and while they’re in it they cannot be used in battle and will not gain experience or IVs even if the ExpShare is being used: they’ll just follow you around in the overworld so that you can interact with them.  To swap your starter back into your team, one of the other six will need to be returned to the PC.

In addition, each starter has a unique talent allowing them to access things that are normally unavailable: for Embird’s line, you can engage any NPC in the wilds to a battle, including those who normally are just there to offer advice or healing (since if they’re past the tall grass, they have to have pokemon); for Parcub’s line, they can detect secret entrances to the evil organization’s bases (which otherwise can only be found through either trial and error or by talking to people for hints on where to look -- plus they’re likely randomized every time a new game is started); and for Fawnceal’s line, they can locate areas well off the beaten path with new people to talk to, secrets to uncover, and pokemon to befriend. 

The Rivals

Much in the way that the starters are all based on the Lords from the game, the rivals are based on their retainers: Hubert will always choose Embird for his starter, Dedue will always choose Parcub for his, and Hilda will always choose Fawnceal for hers.  Byleth, of course, throws a wrench into the system, since they will be picking one of those three pokemon as their own starter, meaning that you end up with two rivals (one for each of the two you didn’t select) while the last will become the professor’s assistant, who will occasionally seek you out on Hanneman’s behalf.

Each rival also has unique information to share as the game progresses.  Hubert knows a great deal about the evil organization, and informs you of their existence and misdeeds; Hilda’s older brother Holst is a gym leader, so she tells you about the gym challenges; and Dedue is quite well traveled, and can point you toward special locations yielding rare items like high quality berries or pokemon that only appear at certain times/on certain days.  During the main path of the game, you’ll come across two of these characters routinely and therefore gain insight into your chosen starter’s evolutionary path, along with some extra challenges or exploration opportunities; however, the last rival will only give you that information if you backtrack to Hanneman’s lab to talk to them, something that can be tiresome and challenging in the early game before you have access to transport moves like Fly.  Ultimately, this means that you’ll likely have one gameplay challenge that goes unexplored until very late in the game or after the credits roll.

Along with the information they provide, each rival also has unique interactions with you.  Hubert is highly competitive and will always fight you when you cross paths, only giving you information after you beat him; he also gives you the occasional item to strengthen your pokemon, like Protein or Iron.  Dedue is much more peaceful and will give you a choice about whether you want to battle or not (though you have a limited window where you can change your mind if you say ‘no’); he gives you information regardless of whether you choose to fight him or not, and frequently gives you special berries when you meet him.  Hilda considers battling to be way too much effort and will only battle you a few times under normal circumstances (though with Embird’s special talent you can induce a challenge against her), preferring to give you information instead and usually giving you a held item “accessory” when you meet her.

The Challenges

Unlike the usual mainline Pokemon games, this game's traditional objectives -- the gym challenge, fighting the evil organization, completing the pokedex -- can be prioritized and tackled in a more focused manner, with incentives to do so dependent on your starter choice, since each starter’s evolution is tied to a specific narrative element.  For Embird, you need to acquire six badges in order to evolve her into Empyre; for Parcub, you need to beat three executives of the evil organization to evolve him into Soverain; and for Fawnceal, you need to talk to 500 people throughout the region before he’ll evolve into Camaradeerie. 

Given the nature of Three Houses, it only makes sense that certain key figures take on prominent roles in this pokemon offshoot:

Hanneman is the region’s Pokemon Professor

The eight gym leaders you’ll face include Manuela, Lonato, Rodrigue, Holst, Alois, Gilbert, Catherine, and Shamir

The Elite Four is made up of the Four Saints: Macuil, Indech, Cichol (Seteth), and Cethleann (Flayn)

Rhea is the region’s champion, and has been for ages

The Agarthans are the evil organization you’ll face: Cornelia, Monica/Kronya, and Tomas/Solon are the executives, while Arundel/Thales is the boss

If you pick Embird as your starter, facing the gym challenge is going to be your top priority so that you can have her final evolution (which fits Edelgard’s route in Three Houses perfectly).  Hilda will give you information on the different gyms when you meet her, and Dedue will give you info on rare pokemon you might want to incorporate into your team; however, the evil organization will be much harder (though not impossible) to access and engage with until after the gym challenge is cleared, and they will be much more difficult to deal with after being put off for so long, with run-of-the-mill members having significantly stronger teams and the executives and leader being incredible challenges.

If you pick Parcub as your starter, uprooting the evil organization is going to be first on your list of things to do so you can have his final evolution.  Hubert will give you information on where to find their bases (and notably, Dimitri will face Arundel as the boss rather than Thales, just as he does in Azure Moon), and Hilda will still give you information on the different gyms so you can level your team more and more; however, it will be more challenging to find and access hidden areas until very late in the game, so completing the pokedex will be more of a chore and the legendaries will be significantly more challenging when you finally do face them.

If you pick Fawnceal as your starter, exploring the world and working on the pokedex will be your primary focus to secure his final evolution.  Dedue will tell point you toward all kinds of places off the beaten path where obscure pokemon appear, and Hubert will still point you toward the evil organization since many of their bases are out in the wilds where you’ll be hunting for pokemon; however, leaving the gyms will result in a greater challenge, with different and stronger pokemon on each leader’s team and an even more intense Elite Four and Champion (drawing on both Claude’s paralogue against Macuil and Silver Snow’s endgame boss of the Immaculate One, since it’s mostly a copy-paste of Verdant Wind anyway).