Archanea (continent): Difference between revisions

[[File:FESD Archanea.png|thumb|250px|Map of Archanea, as of the era of {{FE11}}.]]

'''Archanea''' (pronounced {{IPA|ɑɹkəˈneɪə}}<ref>''Fire Emblem Warriors'' dialogue</ref>; Japanese: {{hl|アカネイア|Akaneia}} ''Akaneia''), later known as '''Ylisse''' (Japanese: {{hl|イーリス|Īrisu}} ''Iris''),<ref>{{Cite|{{lang|ja|イーリス大陸の者とはどこか違う、凛とした古風な雰囲気を持つ。}}|Say'ri's roster description|Awakening}}</ref> is a continent which is the primary setting of six games in the {{FES}}. It is situated to the east of the continent [[Valentia]]/[[Valm]], also existing in the same world as [[Jugdral]]. Archanea's history stretches across thousands of years, passing from an ancient dragon rule into the hands of countless human nations which have risen and fallen over the millennia, the most enduring of which is [[Archanea (country)|a mighty, holy kingdom]] which bears the continent's name as its own.

==History==

In the centuries following the earth dragon war, the dragonkin's hold on Archanea rapidly diminished and Naga died, though not before leaving behind [[Falchion (Archanea)|Falchion]] and the [[Binding Shield]] in the [[Fane of Raman]] for humanity to use in future. Human populations steadily increased as the dragonkin waned, giving rise to humanity as the dominant race of Archanea.

===Rise, fall, and rise of the holy kingdom===

[[File:Cg fe11 i2.png|240px|thumb|right|[[Anri]], wielding [[Falchion (Archanea)|Falchion]], confronts [[Medeus]].]]

730 years after the earth dragon war, the thief [[Adrah]] broke into the Fane of Raman and stole the Binding Shield , breaking off its five spheres to sell for money. Within ten years Adrah had raised a powerful army and created the [[Archanea (country)|Holy Kingdom of Archanea]], a human nation of unparalleled power with himself as its founding king; he henceforth rechristened the Binding Shield as the "Fire Emblem", adopting it as a symbol of his new kingdom. The Holy Kingdom's foundation became the [[wikipedia:Calendar era|central point]] of the [[Timeline of Archanea, Valentia and Jugdral|calendar of Archanea]], with the years counted relative to the kingdom's foundation.

The rise of Archanea finalized the landmass's shift into the hands of humanity, many of whom persecuted and abused the Manakete survivors of the dragonkin. In retaliation against the betrayal of those they had once fought to protect, Manaketes from across Archanea came together to forge a new nation of their own.<ref>{{Cite| Y'see, I don't like humans. I've got nothin' but contempt for those who treated the defenseless Manaketes like insects. So I can understand why Medeus despised you humans so. Medeus, an Earth Dragon prince, was the only one of his tribe who become a Manakete. And, as ordered by Naga, he guarded the Dragon's Altar. But the once peaceful human race, drunk with power, began to rule with tyranny. They oppressed the dragons who had done nothin' wrong. Furious at their betrayal by humans, the Manaketes gathered in Dolhr, and they created a nation for their people. Then they fought to conquer humanity.|Xane|New Mystery of the Emblem}}</ref> This nation was [[Dolhr]], under the rule of Emperor Medeus, whose years of watching humanity abuse his kin had embittered him toward the species.

Within three years, Dolhr's army had conquered the entirety of Archanea and wiped out almost the entire royal family of the Holy Kingdom, with only Princess [[Artemis]] surviving to eventually ally with the scattered resistance forces opposing Dolhr. Medeus's rule lasted five years in a bitter conflict known as the [[War of Liberation]], but Dolhr's army was ultimately defeated by the Archanean heroes [[Caldas]] and [[Ordwin]], and Medeus himself was struck down by [[Anri]], a rural hero wielding Falchion. In the years following the restoration of Archanea, the heroes of the War of Liberation founded several new kingdoms of their own, and the nations of [[Aurelis]], [[Altea]], [[Grust]] and [[Macedon]] were founded. They were joined by three more nations within the following century: [[Gra]] was founded thirty-four years later after Anri's death, the sorcerous city [[Khadein]] was established in the northern deserts by [[Gotoh]], and over seventy years after the war, [[Talys]] was forged by [[Mostyn]] with the unification of several eastern islands. Seven of the post-war kingdoms&nbsp;– Archanea, Aurelis, Altea, Gra, Grust, Macedon and Talys&nbsp;– would eventually became collectively known as the "Seven Kingdoms"<ref>{{Cite|It was General Ordwin, one of the Three Heroes of the War of Liberation, who put Grust on the map. His peerless knights tamed their neighbors the barbarians in the kingdom’s infancy, securing its place as one of the greatest of the Seven Kingdoms.|Opening narration of [[Camus the Sable|Chapter&nbsp;20]]|Shadow Dragon}}</ref> or "Seven Realms".<ref>{{Cite|Hear me, O ruler of ancient Altea and true lord of the Seven Realms... I summon thee, Marth, the Hero-King! Come forth and grant us your protection!|[[Old Hubba]]|Awakening}}</ref>

===Resurrection of the Shadow Dragon===

[[File:Cg fe12 c20.png|240px|thumb|right|[[Marth]] leads the charge against Emperor [[Hardin]] in the [[War of Heroes (Archanea)|War of Heroes]].]]

Ninety-nine years after his original demise, Medeus was resurrected through the machinations of [[Gharnef]], a bitter sorcerer who soon came to be known as the Dark Pontifex. Medeus restored Dolhr and amassed a new army of both Manaketes and humans, and coerced Macedon and Grust's rulers into allying with him, then with this might launched a new war against the rest of Archanea. Within two years of Dolhr's restoration, the Holy Kingdom fell and nearly the entire rest of Archanea followed; the sole surviving member of Archanea's royalty, [[Nyna]], entered Dolhr captivity under General [[Camus]], and Falchion was taken by Gharnef following the death of Anri's descendant, King [[Cornelius]].

Following two years of exile in Talys, the last surviving nation, Cornelius's son [[Marth]] emerged with the remnants of the Altean army and soon became the leader of a successful liberation army opposing Dolhr, with the full support of both Nyna and Prince [[Hardin]] of Aurelis. Marth's army, the united Archanean League, won successive victories over Dolhr and its allies in the Aurelis, the Holy Kingdom, Gra, Altea, Dolhr and Macedon, and with the assistance of Gotoh, Marth's army found two of the Fire Emblem's gemstones and used them to forge [[Starlight]], enabling them to pierce Gharnef's dark protection and defeat him to reclaim Falchion. In the war's closing days, Marth led the march on Dolhr Keep and slew Medeus, putting an end to the war.

Although the War of Shadows had ended, the Seven Kingdoms spent the next three years struggling to heal from the scars Medeus's rule left behind. At first, the marriage of Hardin and Nyna, and Hardin's new Archanean Empire, greatly accelerated the restoration process, but soon Hardin fell victim to Gharnef's machinations and was twisted into a malevolent ruler, waging holy war on the rest of Archanea. Having tricked Marth into leaving Altea to perform a mission for him, his army conquered Altea and pursued Marth, but were unable to catch him as he embarked on a long quest north for Gotoh: to gather the five gemstones and re-assemble the Fire Emblem back into the Binding Shield. On his return, he took back Altea and led a final assault on the Archanean capital, defeating Hardin, claiming [[Darksphere|the last gemstone]] and restoring the Shield, only to learn that while he had been distracted by Hardin, Gharnef had abducted Empress Nyna and three other priestesses for the purpose of resurrecting Medeus. On Gotoh's counsel, he traveled to the [[Dragon Altar]] in Dolhr, defeated Gharnef to reclaim the stolen Falchion, and slew Medeus a second time.

The sheer brutality of this second war, the [[War of Heroes (Archanea)|War of Heroes]], had taken a considerable toll on its survivors. Following her rescue, Nyna ceded rule of the Holy Kingdom to Marth before vanishing, and all of the other surviving monarchs followed suit, entrusting the future of their lands to Marth as a result of his valorous leadership in the war. As a result, Marth unified the Seven Kingdoms into the Archanean Alliance, and ruled as its first king.

===Heirs of the exalt===

An unspecified time after Marth's reign, the Alliance broke up again into several smaller nations. Roughly a thousand years after the War of Heroes, a [[Founder of Ylisse|a hero descended from Marth]] put a stop to the rise of the Fell Dragon [[Grima]] using Falchion and the Binding Shield (now again called the Fire Emblem), he founded a successor nation known as [[Ylisse]]. Afterward, in an unknown event dubbed the Schism, the Fire Emblem was broken for a second time, and four of its gemstones were lost and spread among the nations of both Archanea and neighboring [[Valentia|Valm]].

 

==Geography==

 

In terms of environment, Archanea is split roughly in two distinct halves. The southern portion is largely dominated by plains, forests, and mountains, and prior to the Ylisse-era Ferox, was the only part of Archanea to be widely inhabited by humans. In contrast, the territories north of Aurelis&nbsp;– collectively known as [[Anri's Way (location)|Anri's Way]]&nbsp;– are composed of harsh environments ranging from volcanic terrain to deserts to ice fields, and while these were inhabited by various barbarian clans during Marth's era, no widely populated human states existed there until these barbarian clans eventually evolved into the people of Ferox.<ref>{{Cite|'''Tiki:''' After all, I slept there within the ice for several centuries. As I recall, it was a frozen hell plagued by barbarians and mage dragons.<br>'''Flavia:''' So the legends go. I can tell you the barbarians, at least, are still around.<br>'''Tiki:''' They are? But how do you keep them at bay? Are your villages not harassed day and night?<br>'''Flavia:''' Ha ha! I mean we're descended from the barbarians—the Feroxi people.|[[Tiki]] and [[Flavia]]|Awakening}}</ref>

 

There are four oceans bordering Archanea: Oceanus North to the north of [[Thabes]], Oceanus Archanea along the western coast, Oceanus Galder to the north of the Kingdom of Archanea, and Oceanus Pyrathi to the east near [[Talys]] and [[Pyrathi]].

 

 

 

Founded by the hero [[Anri]], slayer of [[Medeus]] and one of the Three Heroes of the Liberation War. It and Gra were originally one country, but when Anri died with no heirs, the kingdom in two; his younger brother [[Marcelus]] ruled over Altea, while a faction unhappy with Marcelus's rule left and founded Gra, though the two kingdoms always kept on good terms with one another. [[Marth]] is descended from Marcelus, and is therefore Anri's indirect descendant.

 

Originally part of Altea, Gra was formed by a radical faction after rows with Altea's succession, but nonetheless remained a close ally of Altea for many years. Under the reign of King [[Jiol]], however, Gra betrayed Altea and played a big role in its downfall in the dawn of the [[War of Shadows]], and for years afterward his successor [[Sheena]] struggled to overcome this past.

 

Aurelis was forged as a kingdom in the aftermath of the War of Liberation, with King [[Caldas]]'s conquest of the northern plains, and was granted to his brother [[Marlon]]. Prince Hardin and his [[King of Aurelis|brother]] are his descendants.

 

 

 

 

===Khadein===

 

 

===Chiasmir===

 

===Anri's Way===

{{main|Anri's Way (location)}}

A collective of untamed northern lands of widely varying terrain, which fall outside the control of any nation. These became known collectively as Anri's Way after the [[War of Liberation]], named for the hero [[Anri]] who became the first human to traverse it in his quest for [[Falchion (Archanea)|Falchion]].

* '''Mamorthod''', dubbed the Desert of Death, is a vast desert covers the northwestern portion of the continent. Anri visited it on his legendary quest to obtain Falchion. It is unclaimed by any nation, and inhabited only by various barbarians and wild [[wyvern]]s.

** [[Thabes]] was an ancient city that now lies buried underneath the sands of Mamorthod. It is supposedly the final resting place of [[Naga]].

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

{{refbar}}

 

[[Category:Locations in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light]]

[[Category:Locations in Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem]]

[[Category:Locations in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon]]

[[Category:Locations in Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem]]

[[Category:Locations in Fire Emblem Awakening]]