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History of the Emblem: The Dragon War


Lhyonnaes
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The 25th Anniversary of the Fire Emblem series is rapidly approaching. To commemorate this momentous occasion, I have decided to write a series of pieces which analyze or speculate about the series lore.

I have a few topics in mind that I'm sure I want to write about - if there are topics that you all want addressed, let me know and I will see what I can do.

I can't promise any sort of consistent schedule for these - as you can see, I tend to be a bit... verbose, and I've got other things on my plate. But I will try to have one every couple of days for the next three weeks. Maybe less, if I'm feeling really excited (for example, when I get to more speculation).


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Before we start with the rampant lore speculation, though, we need to review several important lore events, because we'll be referencing them and speculating on them later. It's likely that for many of you, I won't be presenting any information here that you're not already aware of, but it's important to get the basics out of the way. And perhaps the best starting point is the chronologically earliest major event in the Archanea/Jugdral/Valentian timeline - The Dragon War.

There is, sadly, no official name for this conflict. I have previously sometimes referred to it as the Divine Dragon / Earth Dragon War, but that's a mouthful, not entirely accurate, and honestly there aren't any other wars fought between dragons. So we'll abbreviate things for now, and call it the Dragon War.

The war ended around 1,100 years before the birth of Marth of Altea, and began at a nebulous point perhaps a couple centuries before its end. At the time, humans were not a large presence on the Archanean continent. They existed in scattered and disunited tribes, without a great deal of technological sophistication. They probably were not entirely ignorant of magic (after all, it was hardly an unknown quantity in Jugdral at the same time), but there was certainly no formalized instruction in the arcane arts that could be found. No, Archanea was dominated by the dragon "tribes,"1 whose civilization was approaching the close of a long golden age.

For centuries, even millennia, the dragons had flourished in Archanea. They built great temples and cities, and gained a mastery over all sorts of magic. Yet, for all of their power and majesty, they avoided contact with humanity. Why? We cannot say without resorting to speculation. But there was an unspoken agreement amongst the dragons not to interfere with the humans. Certainly, the scattered human clans knew of the dragons of Archanea, but they did not have any sort of understanding of who these godly beings were.

Alas, this golden age of draconic rule over Archanea came to a slow end from perhaps an unlikely source. You see, dragons, not unsurprisingly, are creatures with a very intimate relationship with the forces of magic. Not only are they able to breath elemental energy and the discover and manipulate the secrets of even life and time itself, but they also passively require magical energy to sustain their grand and powerful forms. Dragons need magic somewhat like humans need air - they do not consciously interact with it, their utilizing of it does not have an effect on its supply, but if there isn't enough of it in the environment, there are dire consequences. Lack of magic does not kill dragons, though. It drives them mad.

What precisely caused the innate background magic in the world to fall in strength is not known (And it will be speculated on further in subsequent posts). Perhaps it was some great catastrophe elsewhere, or perhaps it was something that the dragons inadvertently brought upon themselves. But the effects quickly became clear, and the first signs of mental and physical degradation began to be seen. As a result, the elders among the dragon races assembled together and deliberated. They were faced with a grim paradox - by continuing to live as they were, they faced the seemingly unavoidable doom for their people. In the end, a sobering conclusion was reached - the dragons could survive, if they discarded their draconic identity. The essence of their innate elemental power, the part of them that drew upon the fading magic and empowered them, that power could be expelled from their bodies, externalized as dragonstones. In doing so, the dragons would change form, become akin to the humans. They would become manaketes, only able to tap into their dragonstones and transform into draconic form for short periods at a time.

Though it represented their salvation, support for casting off their draconic bodies and living and something similar to humans was mixed among the dragons. Certainly, it was a decision made in full knowledge of the stakes and the challenges. Yet, the dragons of Archanea had achieved incredible advancement in magic. No doubt some of the dragons trusted that some other solution would be found, that through magic they could avoid the degradation without casting off their draconic identity. They were, sadly, mistaken.

Of the dragon tribes, only the Divine Dragons, who were lead by the Dragon Queen Naga herself, were unanimous in support for this plan. Many of the other dragon tribes were divided, with some members becoming manaketes and some remaining dragons. The Earth Dragons, though, who primarily lived in the southern areas of the continent, were adamantly opposed to forsaking their draconic identity. Only a single Earth Dragon became a manakete - Medeus, Prince of the Earth Dragons. Undoubtedly, Medeus had been one of the dragons who met to discuss the crisis, and who had agreed upon the solution. Undoubtedly, his kinsmen saw him as a traitor.

One wonders what the days were like on Archanea as the degradation continued to set it. For Naga, the Divine Dragons, and the rest of the Manaketes, it must have seemed a tragedy played in slow motion, to see former friends and allies slowly lose themselves. Perhaps Medeus suffered worse than they, looking at his people, whom me might have thought himself unable to save. One wonders what desperation the stubborn dragons felt, seeing their numbers dwindle every day from the madness, watching their friends degrade into something akin to beasts, trying incessantly to find some way to put a halt to the curse and failing at every turn, feeling the ever-present darkness slowly creep in at the edges of their mind. When they ultimately began to attack the scattered humans of Archanea, one wonders if it was because of bestial madness, or because they believed that it could be their salvation.

Regardless, reckless violence towards the humans of Archanea put an end to the tearful peace between the Manaketes and the Dragons, and truly spelled the end of draconic rule over the continent. Seeking to prevent further slaughters, the Manaketes went to war with their cousins and former friends. It was a war that would rage on for several hundred years.

We know little of the precise events of the war. We know of no specific battles, no great acts of heroism or stirring acts of sacrifice. The Manaketes learned to fight in their new forms, though, crafting weapons such as those which would one day become known by humans as the Regalia of Archanea. But if anything other than tools of war were crafted by the manaketes during this period, record of such is lost to time. When the dust of battle cleared after centuries of war, draconic civilization in Archanea was a shadow of its former self.

Though the manakete armies were victorious, they had triumphed over an enemy who could no longer negotiate, could no longer surrender. Reluctant or unable to eradicate the Earth Dragons, Naga instead crafted a powerful artifact of sealing. With her power, she created - or acquired - the Five Orbs, draconic artifacts of significant power. Though each had its own abilities, when combined, they could be used as a powerful force that could effect the very spirits, the very souls, of the dragonkin. Naga crafted from a fang a pedestal for these five orbs, their combined power forming a powerful seal that imprisoned the Earth Dragons. They were locked away at the Dragon's Altar, an ancient Earth Dragon structure that laid at the heart of their territory. Perhaps the location was chosen for its significance, or perhaps the Earth Dragons had retreated to the Altar and were still resisting when they were sealed. Regardless, the sealing of the Earth Dragons ended the Dragon War, the remaining degenerated dragons scattered in the wild places of the continent.

Peace was returned to Archanea, but the cost was dire. The glories of draconic civilization were forever lost. The Earth Dragons, too, were gone from the world. With them went the tribe of winged dragons who, fully lost to war and degeneration, became the famed and ferocious wyverns of Macedon. Many Fire Dragons and Ice Dragons came to dwell in the far wilderness, terrorizing or being subjugated by the barbarian clansmen who came to live in the same places. The manaketes dwindled in number, and other dragon tribes, if they existed, faded from the world, and into myth and legend.

The Dragon War spelled the end of the age of the dragons. The humans, who had looked to the conflict in wonderment and awe, seeing the manaketes and the dragons as gods and demons that they scarcely understood, would slowly begin to grow and expand and develop, taming the wild continent of Archanea and learning its mysteries, piece by piece.

Naga, for her part, enshrined the five orbs and their pedestal - together known as the Shield of Seals or the Pedestal of Flames - within the Fane of Raman. Along with them were placed some of the remaining treasure of the Dragon Tribe, and Naga's daughter Tiki, ensorcelled under an enchanted sleep so that she would not wake until of an age when her power could be controlled and the threat of degradation avoided. Alongside with the leaders of the remaining Manakete, Naga also ventured across the sea of Jugdral, where humanity was more advanced, and gave up her dragonstone in an event that would forever change the future of humanity and their relation with the dragonkin (we'll be hearing more about that soon). Then, her work done, Naga discarded her physical body. Like many of the dragonkin with her power, she would live on as a spirit, or something slightly more, with a limited ability to interact with the physical world, and even the ability to give of her blood and perhaps her fangs without a persistent physical form. Some of the other leading manakete followed her into the death of the body, but some remained, and would continue to live their lives or to carry out her wishes, and safeguard both humans and manaketes throughout the future.

Medeus, Prince of the Earth Dragons, traitor to his people and last of his kind, remained in solitude in the ruins of their glory. In time, in his despair and his solitude, he would look upon the humans as they came to dominate the land, he would look upon how they mistreated the manaketes who fought a terrible war for their protection, how they plundered their treasures, and how, in their ignorance, they risked even ruining the peace that had been won for them. He would grow to hate the humans, and long for the past glory of the dragonkin. But that, as they say, is a story for another time. The tale of the Dragon War ends here.

1: A side note - this is an interesting quirk of translation. The "-zoku" suffix is commonly used in Japanese fantasy works to connote race/species and such, but due to real-world connotations of the same word it's often translated as "clan" or "tribe". Also, I'm basing this on something I saw on the Dark Souls 2 subreddit a good while ago, so if this is incorrect I apologize, I myself know basically nothing about Japanese.

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If you've read this whole thing, well, thanks for reading. I hope it was entertaining or educational or both. Of course, I'm not perfect, so feel free to call me out on any factual mistakes, presenting speculative material as absolute truth, or general poor writing. Also, feel free to ask questions, though I reserve the right to say "Hrmmm, interesting, wait and see". And finally, if you do have any bits of lore that you'd like me to write about, please let me know. Feedback is always appreciated.

Edited by Lhyonnaes
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I dunno. Should it be? Further "installments" will have more lore speculation, I just felt that, if this is going to be a series, I should start by talking about facts so I have them to refer back to when the speculation rolls around.

That being said, I suppose I should probably put them all in a single topic.

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