Society's Level of Development in FE

[KMT4ever]

So I've been thinking recently, and I suddenly realized that we know almost nothing about Fire Emblem society, the life of the common peasant folk. Almost all of our glances into this are from the views of nobles, who obviously have very skewed opinions. What is the economy centered on? How common is education? What sort of medicine is there besides healing staves? How many people are there?! Basically, what do YOU think FE life is like? Archanea, Elibe, or wherever, any continent is fair game.

[Irysa]

contemporary medicine exists because vulneraries are in like, every game.

economy seems to be as you'd expect, mostly agricultural but they're developed to the point that they have some luxury too (else dancers and travelling preformers wouldn't be getting paid). population size is too difficult to accurately guess at other than reffering to medieval european populations.

[Topazd]

Societies in FE have never been fleshed out extensively well, and that area IMO still has the most room for improvement.

That said, I'm not too much for speculation, so judging by what's already there, I liked how Sacae and Thracia were handled. We get to know (through supports) about the religion of the Sacaen people, and we have a comparatively unequivocal idea of their peculiar housing and lifestyle, etc.

Thracia was the first example of the country "archetype" that consisted mainly out of land unfit for agriculture and lacking in natural resources, and therefore got its primary income out of mercenary work for foreign countries. I'm a bit tired at the moment (I can barely produce any coherent sentences by this point) so I won't go into too much detail, but long story short, I do think Travant is one of the better antagonists in the series, as his character is quite central to the Thracian setting. I've yet to finish FE5, so I cannot comment all that much on what it added to the mixture.

Edited November 5, 2014 by Topazd255

[Anacybele]

I'd say that the focus of the economy should depend on each country. In Tellius, for example, Crimea seems more devoted to its farms and such than anything else (Brom and Nephenee are such people since they're country folk). Daein looks to be more focused on military (and a bit of religion given Palmini Temple). Begnion seems to be highly religion-focused, what with the Mainal Cathedral, the Apostle being the voice of the goddess, many of the Senators being priests/bishops (even though some are crazy lunatics), and other such things.

The laguz nations are more similar to one another, but still have some differences as well. The raven laguz are pirates, as are the hawks, though the hawks only go after Begnion ships. The heron laguz are focused on peace and their forest (well, they were before the massacre). The beast laguz are professional hunters and kind of military driven. The dragon laguz are more about...themselves. :P Hatari is the only one that's really up in the air due to it being kind of detached from the rest of the continent and the fact that the wolves seem to be as few as the herons are.

So there is SOME development in the societies, at least in Tellius. We even see a bit in Awakening despite the bad story and world building. Ylisse is more about peace and religion, Regna Ferox is about the military. But that's really it there. Everywhere else, I'm not sure.

Edited November 5, 2014 by Anacybele

[Kysafen]

So South Thracia is to North Thracia what North Korea is to South Korea?

...too soon?

[Nobody]

idk, fire emblem's society reminds me of the very end of the middle ages, and the beginning of the renaissance, since there are already absolute kings and kingdoms with defined borders, bards, bourgeoisie and commerce, but still no firearms, with most armies being made of knights, cavaliers, archers and nothing even close to an industrial revolution.

This is made quite obvious in FE8, where there's carcino, a clear reference to the many mercantile societies in italy during that time period.

Like, somewhere between 1350 and 1600?

Edited November 5, 2014 by Nobody

[Alertcircuit]

I always assumed it was just medieval times but with magics. I'm sure people make their money how people did then I guess.

That's why I used to never really listen to theories about all the continents taking place in the same universe, because all that time and you never invented a gun?

Edited November 5, 2014 by Alertcircuit

[Dragoncat]

I'd say that the focus of the economy should depend on each country. In Tellius, for example, Crimea seems more devoted to its farms and such than anything else (Brom and Nephenee are such people since they're country folk). Daein looks to be more focused on military (and a bit of religion given Palmini Temple). Begnion seems to be highly religion-focused, what with the Mainal Cathedral, the Apostle being the voice of the goddess, many of the Senators being priests/bishops (even though some are crazy lunatics), and other such things.

The laguz nations are more similar to one another, but still have some differences as well. The raven laguz are pirates, as are the hawks, though the hawks only go after Begnion ships. The heron laguz are focused on peace and their forest (well, they were before the massacre). The beast laguz are professional hunters and kind of military driven. The dragon laguz are more about...themselves. :P Hatari is the only one that's really up in the air due to it being kind of detached from the rest of the continent and the fact that the wolves seem to be as few as the herons are.

So there is SOME development in the societies, at least in Tellius. We even see a bit in Awakening despite the bad story and world building. Ylisse is more about peace and religion, Regna Ferox is about the military. But that's really it there. Everywhere else, I'm not sure.

Pretty much this. I'd say the hawks are less piratey than the ravens though...judging from how Tibarn is more apt to help out where he's needed. And Naesala is just...worried about gold and himself, won't do much unless it benefits him.

Daein might also have some reliance on farming. They're not going to import most of their vegetables and stuff like that from Crimea. Begnion would have less farms, it seems to be more urbanized in most places. I can see the Begnion economy being based on trading different goods and whatever, mostly, with a bit of military. They'd have things that are considered valuable and make money off of that, kinda like how there was the silk road in Asia, another example would be the beaver pelts in the wild west. Maybe they mine gems...idk.

That's why I used to never really listen to theories about all the continents taking place in the same universe, because all that time and you never invented a gun?

They have magic tomes, they don't need guns.

Edited November 5, 2014 by Dragoncat

[Topazd]

Well, the FE universe functions with its own rules and isn't necessarily comparable to the real world, even if it does take influence from its historical events. Thus I don't see a problem with the absence of the invention of guns.

The Thracia-Korea analogy actually isn't that far off, haha.

[NinjaMonkey]

They have magic tomes, they don't need guns.

I would have thought guns would be a lot more easier to use.

[Anacybele]

Pretty much this. I'd say the hawks are less piratey than the ravens though...judging from how Tibarn is more apt to help out where he's needed. And Naesala is just...worried about gold and himself, won't do much unless it benefits him.

Daein might also have some reliance on farming. They're not going to import most of their vegetables and stuff like that from Crimea. Begnion would have less farms, it seems to be more urbanized in most places. I can see the Begnion economy being based on trading different goods and whatever, mostly, with a bit of military. They'd have things that are considered valuable and make money off of that, kinda like how there was the silk road in Asia, another example would be the beaver pelts in the wild west. Maybe they mine gems...idk.

Daein is supposed to be in a cold part of the continent though, like Ilia is in Elibe. I can't imagine that they can grow much there. But it DOES make you wonder where they would get fruits and vegetables...

Edited November 5, 2014 by Anacybele

[Roivann]

I would have thought guns would be a lot more easier to use.

I think that having magic in a society would stunt a lot of technological growth, because said society would rely on magic to solve all the problems that we, a society without magic, had to invent various machines to solve.

[Dragoncat]

Daein is supposed to be in a cold part of the continent though, like Ilia is in Elibe. I can't imagine that they can grow much there. But it DOES make you wonder where they would get fruits and vegetables...

Derp. Forgot about that. Maybe they rely more on hunting and fishing/raising animals for food. And there are some things that can grow in colder areas.

I think that having magic in a society would stunt a lot of technological growth, because said society would rely on magic to solve all the problems that we, a society without magic, had to invent various machines to solve.

Exactly.

Edited November 6, 2014 by Dragoncat

[Anacybele]

Yeah, that's definitely a possibility. And yeah, I think magic would be able to do a lot of things that our modern technology can do. Our machines are our "magic."

[Jave]

Daein is supposed to be in a cold part of the continent though, like Ilia is in Elibe. I can't imagine that they can grow much there. But it DOES make you wonder where they would get fruits and vegetables...

Greenhouses.

If we're going by the assumption that FE takes place in medieval times, then we can assume that artificial methods of growing crops were possible, since those date back to the times of Ancient Rome.

[Cymbalina's Revenge]

Yeah, that's definitely a possibility. And yeah, I think magic would be able to do a lot of things that our modern technology can do. Our machines are our "magic."

Actually as far as Archanea goes, IIRC the designers' notes said that when the dragons ruled everything, they had way cool technology, and when the friendly dragons yielded the continent to humans they taught them magic to make up for the technology. And then two thousand years later we get Ylisse and it's pretty much at the same level as Marth's Archanea except they have spectacles instead of monocles. So yeah, magic makes up for technological advances and once you have that, there's no real pressure to improve.

Like, who needs a machine for heavier-than-air flight when you have wyverns and pegasi? I will say that Thracia 776 does mention new weapons being developed after Leif unified the country so I have to wonder what advances they made there...

Edited November 6, 2014 by Cymbalina's Revenge

[Dragoncat]

Greenhouses.

If we're going by the assumption that FE takes place in medieval times, then we can assume that artificial methods of growing crops were possible, since those date back to the times of Ancient Rome.

Yep. Ancient Rome also invented indoor plumbing. I like to assume they have that in FE...cholera spread so easily because of the dumped out chamber pots everywhere, and there's no mention of cholera, or any plague for that matter. People in FE seem to be pretty healthy mostly.

[Jotari]

Daein is supposed to be in a cold part of the continent though, like Ilia is in Elibe. I can't imagine that they can grow much there. But it DOES make you wonder where they would get fruits and vegetables...

It can't be that cold. They do boarder a pretty significant (non polar) desert to their north. Most of what we see of Daein in Path of Radiance takes place during winter from what I can recall and in Radiant Dawn the only snowy looking area that I can think of are the CGs for the capital, which looks sort of mountainous overall. In fact Fiona's country, Marado, looks quite green and I think that was in the northern half of the country.

Yep. Ancient Rome also invented indoor plumbing. I like to assume they have that in FE...cholera spread so easily because of the dumped out chamber pots everywhere, and there's no mention of cholera, or any plague for that matter. People in FE seem to be pretty healthy mostly.

Restore staves'll do that for you. Get one healer in with a restore stave and stop the plague before it spreads.

[Axie]

But in FE9 Rhys has an unnamed sickness and Rolf even laments that they can heal big axe wounds but not the sickness in their support. Some form of non-staff medicine would have to exist

[Dragoncat]

It can't be that cold. They do boarder a pretty significant (non polar) desert to their north. Most of what we see of Daein in Path of Radiance takes place during winter from what I can recall and in Radiant Dawn the only snowy looking area that I can think of are the CGs for the capital, which looks sort of mountainous overall. In fact Fiona's country, Marado, looks quite green and I think that was in the northern half of the country.

Yeah. But mountains do tend to be less good for most crops, so greenhouses would still be used.

But in FE9 Rhys has an unnamed sickness and Rolf even laments that they can heal big axe wounds but not the sickness in their support. Some form of non-staff medicine would have to exist

This. I don't think even a restore staff can get rid of nasty viruses like cholera...which brings up the question: the poison condition. What is it exactly? What kind of chemical is on the venin weapons? It can't be a virus, because staves can heal it.

[Cymbalina's Revenge]

But in FE9 Rhys has an unnamed sickness and Rolf even laments that they can heal big axe wounds but not the sickness in their support. Some form of non-staff medicine would have to exist

Yeah, and the vast number of characters who are orphaned, half-orphaned, or have dead siblings indicates that life is nasty-brutish-short for a lot of people even when there's not a war on. Staves may well be too expensive for the average village but even the wealthy die of illness (ex: Hector's whole family) when they could easily retain healers to keep them alive. It just doesn't seem like magic is all that effective there.

[Irysa]

I'd hazard a guess that their healing magic relies on proper understanding of the ailment in question, in order to fix what's wrong. So basic anatomy knowledge is enough to heal battle wounds, but if they don't know all that much about viruses or bacteria they're probably incapable of correcting the problem via magic.

[Anacybele]

I would say that in those cases, it's that the illness is so severe that not even the magic that they have can help it. It's like how some diseases in our world still don't have cures. And sometimes illnesses that do just progress too quickly or come back stronger after having been "cured" such as cancer.

I've also formed a headcanon that when a staff heals broken bones, it's like patchwork and the person that broke a bone has to be careful or else the bone can easily re-break. The staff just speeds up the healing process by a whopping amount so that the person that broke a bone can get back to the battlefield in a short time.

Lissa actually seems to confirm this in Awakening too. She says something along the lines of being the one to mend or stitch your bones back together at the beginning of the prologue. It could just be a figure of speech, but yeah.

[Jotari]

I'm sure healing has some influence in the level of disease in the world. I can't think of a single instance where plague is a plot point in Fire Emblem which is honestly surprising giving the setting. Just because some illnesses are around in specific cases doesn't mean healing staves are utterly useless when it comes to non poison/berserk status.

[Anacybele]

Blood pacts caused plagues of sorts in Tellius. First in Kilvas, and then Ashnard used one to kill his family so he could rule Daein. But this is a little different than some nasty illness naturally spreading like wildfire and killing people.