Spoiler Warning: Alternate Scenarios For Fodlan History

[Kalken]

I'm sure you already know the big book of backstory (dragons or at least Sothis coming from Blue Star, sharing their stuff with humans, some humans possibly reverse engineer it and make empire until Sothis smacks them down with world nuked/flooded for it, Sothis rebuilds world and the dragons lord over humans until the Slithers use Nemesis for some genocide, Seiros did her thing so now there's Church). Well, I'm asking to consider other scenarios.

The scenarios I have for consideration are the following:

A. Once the dragons are properly settled on Fodlan, they figure to convert it or a at least a decent of it into theirs with no humans allowed (at least not without their numbers kept in check). No sharing knowledge, instead using said knowledge to seize their new country and fortify it once the humans were wiped out (or at least the fighting age ones are exterminated when caught)/expelled.

B. Back when Nemesis' army is beaten, rather than making Da Church Rhea just has her new theology centered on the empire with the emperor either the god-king or the high-priest who represents Sothis on earth. Going in line with this, assume that the Slithers succeed in breaking away the Holy Kingdom from the empire and have a much stronger presence there than in canon.

For the former, I'm reminded of something like Judge Dredd or Beneath a Steel Sky where tribesmen in the wasteland live alongside a dystopia megacity. For the latter, just think of either post-Augustus Rome or Pre-Islamic Persia.

Edited March 19, 2021 by Kalken

[SnowFire]

For option B: Well, in the game as is, the Archbishop already really is the priest who represents Sothis here on Earth - see all of Rhea's dramatic denunciations of Western Church members / Edelgard / etc.  Just not everybody agrees with this, of course.

One of the unanswered questions in the backstory of the game is...  what was Seiros doing, exactly, for the ~900 years post Nemesis's defeat but before "Rhea" resurrects a dying Jeralt ~100 years or so ago?  Was she "awake" the entire time, but changing names every 100 years or so with a new Archbishop to disguise that the leadership of the Church of Seiros was ageless?  Or did she take long naps like Seteth / Flayn did?  How many if so?  The game makes clear that the Church was happy with and endorsed Loog breaking away from the Empire, hence giving him a fancy title and the honor of being a Holy Kingdom, but was Rhea around to specifically endorse this move?  Anyway, I think that would be an important point to iron out in your scenario B - is this Rhea setting herself up to be absolute ruler?  Or is this Rhea dubbing the first Adrestian Emperor & his kin absolute rulers, then taking a nice long nap?

I will say that, much as everyone agrees that the Slitherers are not great, part of the clear goal with them was that they were international and could be anywhere, trust no one, etc.  Making them the intelligence arm of one particular power would have a very different "feel" to it.

[Kalken]

It's the latter. The advantage here is that rather than giving an easy target for someone like Edelgard in the Church, it'd be the empire itself that's the "center of the faith." With a local priesthood I imagine.

It's not that the Slithers here are "the intelligence arm of one particular power", it's that from the differing circumstances they were unable to infiltrate the empire as deeply as they did in canon.