#Noa and the others were nabateans

[slotumn]

Re: whether some Nabateans might have had multiple Crest stones and the effects of that

I hc it's sort of a single core processor vs multi-core processor situation, and that had also effects on the lifespan of the Nabateans. Single Crest stone Nabateans may not be as flashy but they're energy-efficient and are focused on longetivity, multi-Crest stone Nabateans can execute more complex and flashy (magical) tasks but aren't as energy-efficient.

The Five Saints are single stone Nabateans, the Apostles are multi-stone Nabateans. The biggest accomplishment of the Five Saints is establishing the bread and butter type things for Adrestian (Fódlani human) society and military, while the Apostles were gathered to attempt a miracle (reviving the dead) even Seiros couldn't do on her own.

Textual evidence, if you can call it that (all this assumes the Apostles were Nabatean + there is only one dragon for each type of Crest btw):

The implication from Rhea/Immaculate One seems to be that for Nabateans, destroying Crest stone = death

However there are two Relics with Timotheos Crest stones (Hrotti, Dark Creator Sword) and Timotheos was mentioned to be alive to do the Rite after the war and to found the village Hapi is from, but he doesn't seem to be around now = he had more than 2 Crest stones but losing those two impacted his lifespan?

Vajra-Mushti are gauntlets, and the pairs both have Crest stones, thus the above applying for Chevalier as well

Aubin had at least one Crest stone taken from him, he lived for a long time but he was mentioned to have physically aged, unlike Rhea/Seteth/Flayn = losing that Crest stone resulted in more rapid physical deterioration?

For Noa, she had a Crest stone taken from her for the Dark Creator Sword, and we know that she had blood descendants in the form of House Nuvelle, which also tends to "not marry with outsiders" to keep their Crest a secret. I assume this means the extended Nuvelle clan is numerous enough on their own that the distant cousins can marry without too many genetic issues, and if we extrapolate a bit further from that, maybe this means Saint Noa had a lot of F1 offspring to make thid easier? And reproduction is something that takes a lot of energy, so maybe the combination of losing a Crest stone + having those kids also resulted in her dying young for a Nabatean

+all this is tied to my other headcanon that Nabateans are biocomputers/bioroids made by Sothis but yeah

[deathbirby]

Hero's Relics Origins - Part 1

Trigger warning here! This post gets quite graphic.

What are Relics?

Alright, I'll speedrun the explanation.

The Goddess used her own blood to create her children, who would come to be known as the Nabateans. The Nabateans are dragons who can turn into humans. Rhea, one of these Nabateans, explains what the Relics are.

"The same is true of the Crests of the 10 Elites and the other Crest Stones... They were born of the blood and hearts of the progenitor god's children." - Rhea

The Crest Stones are their hearts, and the Relics are their bones.

Now, lets take a look at the Heroes Relics, their associated crest, what dragon they are, what their Nabatean Title is, and what arcana they belong to.

Some parts are left out because of missing information!

Heroes Relic - Crest - Dragon - Title - Arcana

N/A - Ernest - Thorn Dragon - ? - The Fool N/A - Macuil - Wind Dragon - The Wind Caller - The Magician Aymr* - Seiros - Sky Dragon - The Immaculate One - High Priestess Crusher - Dominic - Crusher Dragon - ? - The Empress Aegis Shield - Fraldarius - Shield Dragon - The Steadfast - The Emperor N/A - Noa - Bloom Dragon - ? - The Hierophant N/A - Cethleann - Light Dragon - The Benevolent One - The Lovers Lúin - Daphnel - Flame Dragon - ? - The Chariot Areadbhar - Blaiddyd - Grim Dragon - The Vigorous - Strength Thyrsus - Gloucester - Craft Dragon - ? - The Hermit Freikugel - Goneril - Kalpa Dragon - ? - Wheel of Fortune N/A - Cichol - Earth Dragon - The Hammer of Judgment - Justice Fetters of Dromi - Aubin - Ice Dragon - ? - The Hanged Man Lance of Ruin - Gautier - Fissure Dragon - ? - Death N/A - Indech - Water Dragon - The Immovable - Temperance Blutgang - Beast - Storm Dragon - ? - The Devil Thunderbrand & Suttungr's Mystery - Charon - Lightning Dragon - ? - The Tower Hrotti - Timotheos - Dark Dragon - ? - The Star Failnaught - Riegan - Star Dragon - ? - The Moon Vajra-Mushti - Chevalier - Snow Dragon - ? - The Sun Rafail Gem & Ichor Scroll - Lamine - Aegis Dragon - ? - Judgement Sword of the Creator - Flames - ? - The Beginning - The World

* Aymr is unique because Seiros is still very much alive. This is possible because it's made out of Agarthium and probably not out of any Nabatean.

Notes:

Crusher is made out of the Crusher dragon.. I wouldn't be surprised if its title was "The Crusher" at this point.

Why is the Aegis Shield not made out of the Aegis Dragon??

One could assume that Sothis is a Divine Dragon.

The Immaculate One is called The White One in Japanese.

Okay, so what exactly is this post about? I just told you their origins, right? Yes, but I like to ramble. That means that I'll also be talking about which body part the Relics are potentially made out of, and what animal the dragon form could've looked like.

Let's unpack!

WARNING: HEAVY SPECULATION FROM HERE ON OUT AKA: I MADE IT THE FUCK UP

Crusher

Crusher Dragon

That's a lot of fingers. It's like the hands have been crushed together. What kind of animal even has bones like that? I don't know.

Aegis Shield

Shield Dragon

Is that a face? There are two eye sockets and a mouth that has been melted shut. It even has the part that normally shows a crest on it. Maybe it has been flattened to work better as a shield, or maybe the Shield Dragon's head was always a bit flat?

What about the back of the shield?

Look at that. It's like it has been fused together with the breastbone. What if it's made out of the chest of the Shield Dragon? It could've had a shield there. But where are the ribs?

Maybe it's a mix of both? The face/head is used as the front of the shield, with the breastbone making it more sturdier.

From this angle, it looks like it's smiling!

Or maybe it's trying to scream.

Lúin

Flame Dragon

When I saw this, the first thought that came to my mind was "That's a weird bird."

You've got the hole for the eye and a massive beak. And hey, what animal better fits the "Flame Dragon" than something like a phoenix? Sure, it might be flat, but who doesn't flatten a skull when turning it into a spearhead?

It could also be something like a fang or the femur that has been sharpened. Who knows?

Areadbhar

Grim Dragon

It looks like a very, very long hand. What animal has a hand like that? Well, usually aquatic animals do. Think of dolphins.

Cetacean's hand

Or even a mosasaur!

Look at those hand bones!

This animal was said to be very powerful, and would fit with both the Strength Arcana and the grim concept. Grim can also mean things like ferocious and ruthless. It doesn't always have to mean something gloomy. And even then, it could still work with this extinct creature.

And hey, it's an aquatic animal. It fits quite well with the 'Blue' part of the Blue Lions , and Dimitri could be the Lion.

Of course, you can also argue that the Grim dragon looked like a lion and that Areadbhar was made out of its ribs. These ribs could be fused together to make a spearhead.

Thyrsus

Craft Dragon

Spine! Those are vertebrae with spikes coming out of them. For some reason it's bent around the Crest Stone. I am not sure what the bottom part of the bone is. It doesn't look like any bone I know.

Not sure what the Craft Dragon looked like. All I know is that it probably had some spikes.

Freikugel

The Kalpa Dragon! Now, before we look at the mutilated corpse, you need to know what Kalpa actually means.

(in Hindu and Buddhist tradition) an immense period of time, reckoned as 4,320 million human years, and considered to be the length of a single cycle of the cosmos (or ‘day of Brahma’) from creation to dissolution.

Got it? Good! Lets look at the relic.

Kalpa Dragon

That looks like a sail! Now, you might say that no sail in existence has bones between the spikes. That makes no sense. That's soft tissue or something, not bone.

WELL.

Dead dragon in FE: Echoes

Fire Emblem dragons are just built different!

But yeah that's it. It's made out of the sail of the Kalpa Dragon. What animal does the Kalpa dragon look like? No clue. Let me just type "Animals with sails" in Google Search..

Alright. A Dimetrodon, a Sailfish, a Spinosaurus, an Edaphosaurus, and a whole lot more.

I would say that one of the dinosaurs fits best. Mainly because Kalpa means an immense period of time. There were no dinosaurs around 4320 million years ago, but you get the idea.

Of course, you could also say that the Kalpa Dragon looked like any other dragon and just had a sail. That's also possible. I mean, look at the picture of the dragon from Echoes. That thing even has horns and everything! If you were to take the sail from it, you wouldn't know that it looks like a pretty normal dragon.

Reminder

This entire post is speculation. The Heroes Relics aren't enough to say what the original dragon could've looked like. They only gives us bits and pieces. A relic might've had a feature that is seen in one animal, but it can still look like a completely different animal even with that feature.

Areadbhar might be a hand, but that doesn't necesarrily mean that it looked like a marine reptile. Maybe it looked like a fusion between a lion and a mosasaur. Maybe it just takes a little inspiration here and there. They are still dragons in the end, even if they might have the features of some normal animals.

I probably should've made this clearer at the start of the post, but I believe that my explanation works best with the image I have shown earlier.

In short, the Relics may be made out of a body part that usually belongs to a certain type of animal, but it can still look completely different from that animal. What I come up with is pure speculation.

Let's keep going.

Fetters of Dromi

Ice Dragon

That sure is a hand.

Yeah... I don't know what animal this could even be. It's the Ice Dragon. What ice-related animals look like they have hands like that?

I have no idea.

Lance of Ruin

Fissure Dragon

The spearhead could be made out of another bone like the fang, tailbone or another spike.

What about the spikes? Are they fangs?

Well, Miklan turned into a Black Beast, which gives us the chance to examine him. The shape of demonic beasts are nearly always the same, so we won't be looking at that. Instead, we'll be looking at the more unique features of this Black Beast. Take a look.

Those spikes coming out of its back look like the spikes on the Lance of Ruin. It also has 'rocks' covering its back.

This part looks like the vertebrae with the spikes still attached to it. You may notice that there are more than one attached to one vertebrae. This isn't the case with Miklan, but he isn't exactly a carbon copy of the Fissure Dragon.

I believe that the Fissure Dragon had multiple spikes on its back protruding next to each other, much like a Kentrosaurus.

If you were to look at it from above, it would look somewhat like a fissure. Other features of the Fissure Dragon would likely be that it's covered in black scales or 'rocks' like on Miklan's Black Beast form.

It might also have wings. Why do I say this?

Look at this.

Compare that to the Immaculate One's little back sail.

It says that it's used to mantain stability in flight. This could mean that Miklan's Black Beast form simply doesn't have a fully formed sail yet.

Before I move on. I have no clue what this text says, and I would appreciate it if someone could translate.

Google Translate says something like "If you get transformed by a Heroes Relic, a part of your body will be covered in armor. This is because there is a component of the bone used for the blade." or something like that.

Whoops!

This post is getting too long. It gets continued in part 2.

[yanderefairyangel]

I think the reason why Engage is less discussed then 3H is because it's a much less divise game. 3H had more mysteries to it.

Huh.. I am not entirely sure about that.

I mean, 3H gives the impression it's a higtly discussed game in terms of theories and analysis but not really, it's more that it had a gift to stir the controversy.

Such as "Eww, look at F!Byleth's design" or "Eww look at Dimitri's noody hair !" or "Ewww look at Edelgard's crown horns". You also had much more ship wars between the people not happy that Byleth can marry their students after a 5 year timeskip where they are no longer professor and teacher, people upset about Flayn and Sothis because they are loli dragons, people going through mental stretch to prove that Byleth is related to any of the Nabatean since for them marrying a relative = losecest... never mind that all humans are relative to each other to varrying degree I guess, or people upset that F!Byleth had more/better marriage option, or people expending the Eddie controversy to the ship between the 3 lords, the infamous "Eddie did nothing wrong discussion" that is still not over and... remember when Byleth was added into Smash Bros ?

In comparison Engage doesn't have much controversy material in context. Yes, in context since the complains about Alear' S support are from outsider that never played the game or simply didn't liked it from the get go and/or decided that they oh so needed to read inexistant romantic implications in support that were not romantic, make a scandal about NoA censoring every inch of romance although the dialogue aren't THAT different but they defo added a "friend " that never existed in Céline S support. Oh and the DLC debate but from what I saw that really isn't from Engage fans, but from people who already didn't like the game and had nothing better to do... actually all of the debate around Alear's S support are from THOSE people.

But in terms of theories and analysis you'll find people theorizing about Sombron and his offspring, character analysis on the main cast etc.

[randomnameless]

I need help understanding something. Constance says in one of her supports that house Nuvelle helped Ionius in the insurrection of seven and that the other noble houses abandoned them and declared the house dead after Dagda attacked them to punish them for it. Why on earth would house Nuvelle help the bastard that's trying to take thier power away when Constance says they kept out of political feuds?

Ooh!

That's something I thought about it a few, uh, months ago !

Ionius wants to centralised power and remove the powers of the 6/7 Great Houses + remove some power accorded to his consort's kin.

So maybe House Nuvelle wasn't directly concerned by his reforms, thus didn't really care? Like, as long as it's not my power that's targeted, I'm fine?

Or there's also some kind of bond/oath* between House Nuvelle - founded by Noa herself! - and the Hresvelg ; maybe Noa and Noa's scions swore to help House Hresvelg through thick and thin - forgetting that he might have been because they were "sort of" cousins eons ago - and regardless of what House Hresvelg was doing, House Nuvelle still wanted to help/support them as is the tradition?

I'm sure I read somewhere Constance refering to the Goddess as the "Progenitor God", something only Nabateans calls her so, uh, there's definitely something weird with House Nuvelle - are they more connected to their Nabatean roots or didn't completely forget them - and that something could explain why they are so "loyal" to House Hresvelg, idk.

*of course this assumes and goes in the direction of one of my fav HC, that the Apostles were Nabateans, and Constance is 1/867th nabatean herself.

Maybe Noa didn't get the memo, after the failure of the Rite of Rising that Rhea will still try to rez Sothis using other methods, and thought she could still support her "line"**, the Hresvelgs, because they're family?

**in the AU where Lycaon is a half-lizard, Noa would like to support his descendants because they are blood family, and also because he's a Nabatean hybrid, like her own kids, and maybe they'd face the same difficulties so they should stick together? But that'd imply Aunt Noa believed the bullshit about "Lycaon's sudden illness" or thinks the succeeding Emperor is his daughter...

We don't really know, and that's annoying lol. But imo the first answer is the most plausible and the less HC dependant - House Nuvelle didn't give a fig because it wasn't the one being targetted, and to them it was just "damn those losers are usurping the Emperor let's help him" with the results we knew.

[reyneluvirith]

that is definitely a possibility!! i could also see the Apostles being a mix of Nabateans and humans granted significant amounts of Crest blood, akin to Jeralt. i think humans granted Crests in that manner still age, just very slowly:

Rhea: When I first met Jeralt, he was quite young. Why, he could not even grow a full beard at that point!

Byleth: When did you meet? Rhea: It was a long while back. At the time, Jeralt was a soldier of the Kingdom. He was injured in battle, and I saved him just as he was about to perish. That was our first meeting.

so he was young enough to not be able to grow a beard when he received her Crest, but has clearly aged in the 300-ish years since then. Aubin is described by Yuri as:

Can't quite remember how old I was, but my mother had taken in an elderly man wandering the town.

so i could totally see Aubin being a human who received a Crest at a young age, and has aged enough in the past thousand years to finally be old, just as Jeralt grew from young adulthood to middle age over the course of 300 or so years. to be fair, i don't think there are any other cases of someone who was granted a Crest later giving it to someone else via blood transfusion, but given that they're able to pass it on to their descendants, i don't think it's impossible.

i tend to headcanon Aubin, Chevalier, and Timotheos as having been just humans who received Crests, and thus weren't quite Enough for Rhea to include as proper Saints with the real Nabateans. Noa, on the other hand, i like to think was a Nabatean, though there's admittedly little to back that up. perhaps the strongest evidence is actually from a meta perspective: the Four Saints get their names from the mythological Fomorians, who were said to have been descended from Noah. none of the other three are connected at all there, so it makes Noa stand out to me in that regard.

do people have thoughts on like. the normal hierarchy of the church of seiros. what do bishops do?? how many bishops are there?? how does one become a bishop? what about like, parish priests or the equivalent?

[benisasoftboi]

Unorganised Thoughts on Cindered Shadows:

Spoilers! All the spoilers!

Yeah it took me a week to finish it, as always, I’ve been busy

It’s possible that someone will remember that I’ve made a few of these, and that I said I’d be doing Crimson Flower next, but haven’t. I have finished that route. I wrote something up. It ended up being over 8000 words long. I decided no one would want to read 8000 words of me complaining about fantasy politics, and did not post it

If anyone is interested in knowing in detail what I think about any or all of the following: Edelgard (short version: good in concept, but severely let down by the writing), Fodlan’s politics (surprisingly complex! Which is why the main characters’ having such simple and naive politics is so frustrating!), Rhea and the church (she creeps me out), general opinions on minor things (most controversial: I actually like F!Byleth’s outfit) or various shipping opinions/headcanons (I like pretty much any pairing except Dimitri/Anyone, and Linhardt and Caspar with anybody but each other), give me a shout and let me know. I won’t be holding my breath, but like... if you want me to ramble I wouldn’t say no

Anyway! Cindered Shadows!

New characters ranked by how much I like them as characters, most to least: Yuri, Hapi, Constance, Balthus 

Reasoning: I love pretty boys because I am, emotionally, still 12, stoic-type girls are also great and I love her design, she annoyed me a little at first but I thought the sunlight thing was interesting and she eventually grew on me, and I don’t dislike him at all, he’s just the least interesting to me

New characters ranked by how much I like them as units: Balthus, Yuri, Constance, Hapi (ugh, I really like her but she was total deadweight for me)

I’ve always really, really loved the concept of both underground cities and groups of people who have nothing in common aside from being outsiders, bound together by that one shared trait - so I. Love. Abyss. I wish the whole game was set there, it’s so cool

Some really good maps! Actually, let’s review each level:

1: Good intro to the Wolves. Aside from the ‘secret fourth house’ line, which is bad and makes what is otherwise a great concept sound really dumb. But the map itself makes for a very good demonstration of each of the Wolves’s deals. Bit messed up that you kill a bunch of Abyssians and no one really addresses that again, though

2: Even the game comments on the fact that releasing four waves of enemies in a circle gets tiresome. Least favourite

3: Wish the game had been a little clearer of the exact requirements for finishing the map. Also, enough reinforcements to almost be too annoying, but it managed to just avoid that, for me at least

4: This fucking level. I love an escape map in concept, but that goddamn doll at the start. I don’t know how I would have beat it if I hadn’t realised Edelgard can be reclassed out of her armor for better movement (speaking of deadweight units... was the same on Crimson Flower, Lord ranking in terms of actual usefulness in battle is Claude > Dimitri >>> Edelgard, and I say this as someone who normally loves defense-based units in video games). Anyway, despite the fact that it took me like six tries, this was my favourite of the lot - partly because it was so satisfying to finally beat, and partly because, like I say, I just love the concept

5: Breather level, thankfully. Cool to see Metodey again. But... why is he there??? I made Edelgard kill defeat him

6: Starts out really hard and gets easier. Biggest problem for me was the Bolting mages. I found that the trick was to use Ashe’s battalion gambit on Byleth and counter from afar with the Sword of the Creator. Map’s a cinche after they’re gone

7: A really, really cool final boss fight, and really great to just get to fight a big monster without having to slog through hundreds of other enemies as well (two per turn is fine, gives characters like Ashe who are too weak to fight the boss something to do). And there’s no way I could find to cheap it like on Crimson Flower (something I had to do then because of Cyril and his goddamn Murder Axe). Only wish it wasn’t the case that half of the Wolves can basically never touch the boss without being insta-killed. Hapi and Constance should have been able to do more than Phantom Aelfric Clean-Up

It was really nice getting to have all the Lords work together. I had Edelgard and Dimitri do a Gambit Boost and it was weirdly emotional

Am upset that no supports were available. Primarily because this would have been a great opportunity to add some side-story exclusive supports between the Lords. I get why they couldn’t do that in the main game, but I think the lack of any connection between them (besides the mostly one-sided Dimitri->Edelgard) is one of the game’s biggest downfalls, and this could have at least compensated a little

At least we got a few conversations in Abyss

Oh I wonder who the traitor could be, who is it, of the five characters we’ve met it couldn’t possibly be the really generic looking old guy who wasn’t in the trailer oh my god I’m so shocked it WAS him this is an unprecedented twist the likes of which we will never be graced with again

Liked getting some back story and an actual name for Byleth’s mother

I want to know how ‘Noa Fruit’ became a thing. Linhardt alludes to it, but I want that lore. Give me the Fruit Lore, Intsys

Also give me Mysterious Woman lore

I’ve said this before, but Gatekeeper x Abysskeeper OTP

Why can’t Yuri and Linhardt support I want them to bond over being smart bisexual pretty boys with grappler best friends (I have a very long mental list of characters who should have had supports together but don’t) 

Yuri’s make-up is gorgeous. Love that design choice

The ‘Nabatean Chalice’ reminded me - I’ve kind of always wondered if Nabatea is meant to be a call back to Nabata from the Elibe games, or if it’s just coincidence that they sound similar

Will we ever find out anything about the Crest of Ernest or nah? (Fiver says if ever, it’ll be randomly explained in a Forging Bonds in FEH like three years from now. Wouldn’t put it past them) 

So Byleth’s nickname was the ‘Ashen Demon’. And these guys are the ‘Ashen Wolves’. I kind of figured that would come up? Was it a translation thing?

I love how the reasons for each of the Wolves being in Abyss were “I barely escaped execution by the Church for the crime of murder”, “I was experimented on and now have dangerous magical powers”, “I’m the last surviving member of a collapsed noble family” and “I’m in like, so much debt, lol”. Kind of makes me wonder if Leonie ends up down there in some of her endings

Although I hear that there’s actually a little more to Balthus, as revealed by supports. I haven’t seen all of them yet, the only one I’ve looked up was Dimitri and Hapi because those two interacting intrigued me and... I know what I said above, but this might actually be a Dimitri pairing I don’t dislike? What is this???

I’ll watch the rest at some point, but won’t be starting a new 3H playthrough. Rune Factory 4 Special finally comes out next week and the moment my pre-ordered Archival Edition shows up at my door, it’ll be Fire Emblem who? The only dragon I know is Ventuswill, and the only empire I’m worried about is the unfortunately named ‘Sechs Empire’

Although, the fact that Kiel and Caspar have the exact same voice might end up being... hmmm

Eh, I got over Doug and Yosuke Hanamura. It’ll be fine :)

[electricprincess96]

Is there a prevailing theory on the Apostles?

No because the game gives so little information, half of it we are told is none canon apparently and the other half contradicts itself left and right, like if Yuri has a longer lifespan like in his Maleth Supports then they had to have been Nabateans cause Aubin would have to have been the one to give Yuri his Crest. If Yuri doesn't have a longer life span like in other supports then we don't know what they were.

Noa is referred to as a Saint so the whole "Nabateans get called Saints not Apostle" shit doesn't work because she at the very least is a Saint (which continues the trend of Adrestia having the Crests that are associated explicitly with Saints).

It's possible some were Dragons, some weren't. But that's the first time I've seen anyone claim they were humans so if there's any prevailing theory it isn't that one cause everyone I'd spoken to until today all basically agreed they were Dragons but disagreed on what happened to them after the war, some say bad things happened to them after they left Rhea's protection (and didn't go into Dragon Mode like Indech and Macuil) and others claim they lived long enough to make a patient zero in Yuri.

[lady-byleth]

The demonic beasts are always so chilling to me because there's only one crest stone per Nabatean obviously, but there are so many demonic beasts. That's a lot of Nabateans who've been kept, for centuries perhaps, to have what's left of their bodies be used for that. The Agarthans have kept them for so long. Meanwhile Rhea managed to keep 20 of them. 21 including Sothis. Those were her family and friends and she can't even lay them to rest. I'm not a fan of Rhea but even my heart aches for her.

You know, I don't actually think they're Nabateans cuz like, when Rhea dies you have remains. She doesn't dissolve, she closes her eyes in Byleth's arms and that's it.

If Nabateans disappeared after their deaths, there wouldn't be any remains left to make Relics with and no matter how quick Nemesis was, I doubt he'd manage to tear out Sothis's spine without waking her up before he made the first cut

Meanwhile, Edie's artificial demonic beasts do dissolve, the game even makes it a point to show this in the Decent cutscene after one falls off the cliff

My theory is that the Agarthans created artificial Crest Stones that weren't perfect and used them to make demonic beasts. When they managed to get their hands on first Lysithea and the other kids, and later Edie and her siblings in Enbarr, they worked on that technique and after Edie took up the Flame Emperor disguise they perfected it together

And I also don't think there were like hundreds of Nabateans in the world, there's probably only the ones the characters have and the lost ones or there'd be a lot more than the ones shown in game and the graphic with all the Crests shows even Noa and Timotheos, which we do know to be in possession of the Agarthans

That is the only thing that makes sense within the given facts of the story and believe me, I've been thinking about this a lot because the demonic beasts having Crest Stones never made sense to me

[randomnameless]

okay I had the wildest Fodlan AU that ultimately is just an AU because who gives a fig about that verse ; not the devs that’s for sure

House Nuvelle had always been on #teamIonius since inception, because House Nuvelle is actually Noa’s family - initially full of hybrid Nabateans - and they swore to always help the Hresvelgs - who were also supposed* to be hybrid Nabateans.

So, come the Insurrection, Ionius is defanged and Aegir and the other Nobles are in power, something that is unconceivable for House Nuvelle, who have long forgotten why they were loyal to the Hresvelgs, but just remember they always supported the Emperor.

In a bid to help Ionius and restore Adrestia to the state it was before the Insurrection, they make a pact with foreign states, Dagda and Brigid.

Dagda and Brigid would “invade” Adrestia and make a beeline for the capital, maybe killing Aegir in the way, Ionius is freed and in exchange Dagda and Brigid maybe end up with commecial exclusivity rights, or maybe can become Adrestian nobles and seize lands who belonged to the Seven who deposed the Emperor.

Of course this plan was crappy, because the second the Dagdan forces landed in Nuvelle (with a welcome drink and all), they double crossed House Nuvelle, razed their city and started to invade for good - because Dagda is, per Shamir, all about liberty and freedom.

Bergliez used his holy loincloth and knuckles to send them all flying away, and as a retaliation Adrestia killed Petra’s parents and had her “moved” to Adrestia as a hostage.

Enbarr finally learning what House Nuvelle’s involvment in this mess was has their House erased (Constance mentions she lost her family, is it just the House Nuvelle name or they died?) and she ends up in the sewers.

Tl;Dr : #teamIonius sucks 

* in the lycaon was a half-nabatean AU continuation - Lycaon was killed because he was a half-lizard by his siblings/nephews who wanted to sit on the throne - but this truth is a carefully hidden one, both by Rhea (who wants to hide the existence of Nabateans while not knowing why her son died) and the Hresvelg family (the ones who usurped the throne and fucking killed Saint Seiros’s son!).

[randomnameless]

Hybrid Nabatean headcanon?

Uh...

Well, if you insist

HC Nabateans are made of magic.

Sothis made them using “magic” since she is the reason why “magic” spread through the land (Fodlan+other countries), after her arrival in Fodlan.

Flayn is a special case - because she was born when Sothis was still alive. 

That is why she can transform, and have a different crest from her dad.

Sothis blessed her mom with a longer life than what patient 0 would get from a simple crest transfusion. That's why Cethleann is closer to a Nabatean than any other hybrid - Sothis lit gave her mom more “magic” to make her offspring close to a Nabatean.

Nabatean pregnancy takes more time than a normal human one (and is more dangerous if the mother is human, that’s why Sothis “strengthened” Cethleann’s mom even if she had Cichol’s crest). Flayn is thus closer to a Nabatean than other hybrids, she can transform, have her own crest and has the longer lifespan. She can even be cut for parts.

Roughly it is equal to more or less 10 years (Ena took around 20 years to give birth to her son?). This is partly why it was more or less codified that Nabateans has to give their blood to their human partner, so the human could spend time with their offspring.

Post Sothis hybrids are different -

With the Progenitor God dead, there is less magic in the air, only the Nabatean can pour his magic, but they cannot gather it on Sothis’s levels, so the kid ends up as a strengthened version of a human, with a few Nabatean traits.

As a result, post-Sothis, Male Nabateans have a lot of difficulties to “create” a hybrid, because they cannot pour magic constantly to the baby who isn’t in their bodies. As a result, interbreeding with a male Nabatean rarely produces a viable offspring, and if it does, the baby is much more closer to a human than a baby born to a Nabatean Mother.

Ditto for second gen children, hybrid Mother can pass on more “magic” and Nabatean genes than a hybrid father.

Hybrid Nabateans would have a crest stone instead of a heart, but age faster than a pure blooded Nabatean and wouldn't be able to use as much magic as a Nabatean could. They share the same crest as their Nabatean parent, but their bones aren’t shiny and cannot be used to craft relics. However, they are still “super-human” as in, uh, being able, idk, to tank 1 nuke (instead of 5 like Rhea), jump 20 meters high and have a way more “magic” than a human, even a crested one.

They still have the traditional pointed ears, green eyes and green hair.

Second generation children (1/4th Nabatean) have varying hair color and eye color, but round ears. They only share a crest and have a very slightly longer lifespan, but not the additional Nabatean traits.

---

Hybrids were actually common before the first Agarthan War - but afterwards, they became ultra rare - some Nabateans thought humans were arrogant, greedy and full of hubris, so Cichol is the only odd loser who grew fond a human.

Of course, everyone loves Cethleann, so maybe humans aren’t bad and all.

But then Nemesis happens.

Noa's children were born after the Chalice - I mean, Noa's kid (rumour says she had a son, who had a lot of difficulties to get a child, so she got a daughter too, but then, both managed to get a child). She expressly wanted to avoid to have more than two kids, and told her kid(s) not to have large families too.

With time, of course, her decree was forgotten - at least the "why" - but House Nuvelle still tried to have the fewest heirs possible, and tried to hide/keep their crests pure, i.e. not intermarrying with other crested families. Actually, their obsession to become “purer” was to return to Noa’s first kid, who was able to do “inhuman” feats - they wanted to gain a closer concentration of Nabatean blood - but sadly it didn’t happen.

By the 4th generation, all Nabatean traits disappeared save for a pronounced affinity for magic.

Constance still has stomach-aches after eating a Zanado Fruit, but she doesn’t immediately throw up like “regular” humans. (The Noa fruit was engineered based on Zanado fruits, they are supposed to be Zanado fruits but tempered to be able to be eaten by humans because Noa wanted to share a Nabatean recipe with her grandchildren, who cannot eat Zanado Fruits, so she made the Zanado Fruits edible by humans!).

Willy the Loser might have tried to get a kid, but given how Seiros the Warrior kept on being a Warrior and always depleted her magic when she was fighting, none could be allocated for a kid who couldn’t “grow” post conception.

Seiros the Warrior never knew about this, naturally.

Wilhelm’s heirs, and House Hresvelg members, are thus 100% human.

When creating Citrus’n’co, Rhea thought about hybrids but thought creating an artificial body out of human and Nabatean materials wouldn’t be able to host Sothis’s powers and/or consciousness, so she only used her own, uh, fluids/materials to create her artificial beings.

Billy, born from an artificial Nabatean and a human, is able to host Sothis’s consciousness and powers, was a welcomed surprise. Granted, Billy might also have worked because they were born “naturally” and not “artificially”.

However, given how Citrus was not a “real” Nabatean, Billy has no hybrid powers nor abilities (but then they merge with Sothis).

Post Sothis fusion!Billy, should they have children with the Nabateans and Flayn, would create beings on Flayn’s levels, for all intent and purposes, a Nabatean.

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Serious thoughts on Wilhelm, was he a friend of the lettuce fam or a power hungry human?

Pff what's wrong with fodlan nonsense

Rhea is biaised when it comes to talk about the human she blood-bonded with - but even Flayn, when she talks to Seteth, mentions how he and her mother used to spend time and fight with their "friends", so to the nabateans (at least to them), Wilhelm and the Adrestians they blood bonded with were friends.

The Lolcalisation lolcalised a lot, but while the "in 32 he set out to unify the continent" is unchanged, in the lolcalised version there is the "he crushed anyone who dared to seek more power" when in the og one it's just "he crushed the houses who wants power".

There's no "dare" or "more" - maybe it's a useless lolcalised thing, if people want power it’s obvious they want “more” power than what they already have... So the meaning more or less is the same.

Or not. The “dare” part?

I wrote about it earlier, but given how the localisation added more flair to what was supposed to be a boring text I wonder why they added this. To play in the NoA!Seiros agenda, her allies are as bloodthirsty/knight templars as she is?

Wilhelm went to unify the continent - meaning Nemesis was called King but had no political “kingdom”?

The loser modeled his crown after Rhea’s horns - is it like that post I rb’d, the Elites, who knew what were those beasts, wonder why this guy adopts one as his sigil? Is he opposing them? By wearing this and siding with Seiros, who wants them dead, and the Immaculate One, is he declaring war on the Elites ?

Did Wilhelm set out to “unify” Fodlan to kick Nemesis, or because he wanted to rule over the land, or because he wanted to protect the remaining dragons thus thought that anyone who might know how relics are made should be disposed of?

We don’t know.

What we know is Wilhelm died before the War of Heroes ended. We know Wilhelm knew what Seiros was, and did not turn on her to get a shiny bone club, he “saved and supported” her.

He set out to unify Fodlan and opposed Nemesis, to the point where “he gave his all” to the cause of defeating him.

Now, was he really on the Nabatean’s side or using them to get a country?

While I reckon it would have been nice to have a schemer who used the dragon’s plight to advance his pawns and become super king...

I don’t think it would thematically make sense.

I called FE16 earlier the game where Eliwood/Chrom’s descendants start a war against Naga.

We’re in a series where coexistence between species is always sought after - Rhea/Seiros would have been right to have trusted that human, and humans in general, after Zanado to get justice for her family members, just like she was right to spare the children of the Elites, because they are not their parents.

And this is why CF should be a gut punch, or the most adequate punch - The descendant of Adrah turns against dragons? Oh, colour me surprised, the dragons never trusted him and he in turn brought shit to the world.

The descendant of Anri, who was bestowed Falchion by Naga thus has the dragons’s approval, turns against them? Well, this is more complicated.

If Wilhelm had been a person who planned on using the dragons to reach his goals - then the morale of the story would be “Rhea should never have trusted him with her power and secrets”. Humans and Nabateans were never supposed to interact, or at least to trust each other. So when Edel comes with Aymr, it is normal, as in, she should never have done this and look, here is the consequence.

If Wilhelm had been a genuine good person who sided with dragons because he wanted to help them, and to get rid of Nemesis (with a bonus country?) - then Rhea would have been “right” to trust him with her powers and secret, the man never betrayed her. When Edel comes with Aymr, it is a tragedy, but a foreseeable one, “children aren’t their parents”, so while Dimitri isn’t Blaiddyd, Edel isn’t Wilhelm.

CF (because it’s only here where coexistence is outwardly rejected) is an anomaly in the series, because the one who wants to end this status quo... wins. Zephiel loses, but Edel wins.

Should Rhea have trusted Wilhelm? Yes, he had been on their side and advocated for harmony between humans and dragons. Should Rhea have trusted Edel? No, she had never been on her side, and advocated for strict separation between humans and dragons.

Or Maybe Wilhelm had been both, a friend to the dragons but also a human who wanted his own country - but why did he want his own country? To build a place where everyone can smile, like L!Billy? Or because he wanted to be King and not to share power with anybody, save maybe for Seiros?

Oh, and I nearly forgot - Wilhelm was a Holy Knight.

I meme a lot about it, and while HK isn’t a bishop on a horse but a more offensive unit - there’s still the WTF. Hartmut was a hero. Roland was a Paladin. Why Wilhelm was a Holy Knight? Is it a nod to Sigurd’s title? A nod the the healing hands of the King/Emperor? Or just, holy Knight because Seiros is a Saint, so they “sort of” match?

Why the dude used white magic instead of having a more mundane, and more badass, class like Paladin, or Hero?

I vote on “genuine loser who wanted to help” or friend of the Nabateans, to oppose Nemesis and more importantly, his own descendant. Rhea knows children aren’t their parents, but when it comes to the Hresvelgs, she made a fatal mistake and thought they would all be on her side, or at least never work with the people who sought to erase her kin in the past.

Welp ? Ultimately idk

[golde-silvere]

The demonic beast/dragon transformation mechanic always intrigued me. I like the idea of demonic beasts taking physical traits from the dead dragons the crest stones came from. Because we know there were far more Nabateans than there were crests and crest weapons. So there could be many different forms a demonic beast could take. I think Agarthans could produce them artificially. Hence why the flame emperor would attack the Holy Tomb to steal more crest stones. The army and Agarthans could benefit from different varieties of monsters.

Having a crest stone inserted in your body also had a mental effect on Byleth as well as a physical one. In that they struggled to emote (as a baby they didn’t cry or laugh) until Sothis reawakened. Hence a person having two souls in one body complicates them mentally and emotionally. Also, once a Nabatean awakens, they can imbue their host with extra abilities (if they are willing) like Sothis allowing Byleth to manipulate time. Could Dimitri having the crest stone of the Grim Dragon in his body have other abilities apart from super strength?

Constance’s S-support has flowers spontaneously blooming from the Goddess Tower. A spellcraft she claims to have discovered. Her crest of Noa comes from the Bloom Dragon, and Constance is a powerful magical user, so this could be an ability that she has unlocked after much experimentation that her dragon blood conjures.

If a Nabatean’s soul still lies in a crest stone, could they regain some awareness of their state as a weapon if their still connected to their bones, or could it be nerves. The Lance of Goneril and Freikugel move and twitch.

Whilst Byleth wasn’t born with dragon bones, they did fuse with Sothis. Byleth was able to survive falling from a ravine and slept for five years to heal from their injuries. This could mean that fusing with Sothis has effected their body more than than their hair and eye colour, so their bones may also have changed. Meaning them turning into a dragon, wether it be like Sothis or something unique to them, is possible.

Something’s Funky with Monstrous Transformations

fe3h // Theory/Discussion // Very Heavy Lore Spoilers (aka don’t read unless you’ve played all the way through GD, BE and Church routes) // Long Post But i mean if you have played those routes, or just don’t care for spoilers, go right on ahead! Edit: Thanks to @golde-silvere for correcting me on that Crest of Gautier inherits from the Fissure Dragon, not the Grim Dragon (which instead possessed the Crest of Blaiddyd)!

Keep reading

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3 Nopes spoilers

So apparently there are other relics?

3 Nopes added tomes, so it'd make sense if tomes relics were a thing, Lysithea has one, just like Mercedes and hapi.

Which also confirms, in the 3 nopes canon, that there used to be more than 1 thunder dragon, one was turned into Thunderbrand while the other became Lysithea's relic.

Constance not having a relic but a prf tome with the figure of a Saint who shares Rhea's outfit's colors gives more credence to Noa being - a lizard? - someone affiliated to the church and Adrestia, bcs as we know, every weapon tied to lizards who had a link to Adrestia isn't a relic, but a sacred weapon.

Granted, with the confirmation that more than 1 nabatean of the same kind can exist, it means that, maybe, somewhere, an earth dragon was slaughtered to make a relic without automatically meaning this nabatean was Seteth.

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Interesting FE16 world-building (?) tidbits, found through food and menus

or i was hungry : the post

Nabateans have no taste, Zanado fruit is described as “inedible” but apparently golden Zanado fruit is rad, so idk. Is it a Zanado fruit specially harvested for human tastes?

Saghert & Cream :  “ A baked confection with Noa fruit cream and a currant reduction, often enjoyed as a dessert at family gatherings.”

Noa fruit --> smthg smthg Noa, and Noa’s crest is apparently making Constance able to grow flowers (or to make plants bloom)? Are Noa fruits specific to Western Adrestia, or are they found everywhere? But since it’s a common dessert enjoyed at “family gatherings” I suppose Noa fruits are kind of common and/or not that expensive. Noa crested people make a lot of fruits and control the production of Noa fruits in the continent? But even if they have a monopoly on Noa fruits they think it’s more profitable to sell them at a rather low price than to treat it as a delicacy?

Sweet Bun Trio : “ Traditional pastries from Faerghus, known for their subtle sweetness. The dough is made with eggs and sugar.”

Important to note : this is made with Noa fruits (lel) and Albinean berries. So, traditionaly, Faerghus traded with Albinea to get fruits to fill their donuts/buns? Otoh, if the taste is rumoured to be subtle, Sylvain apparently doesn’t find it so awesome because he has that infamous “food from my own country sucks”. And yet he still like Faerghus’s sweet buns, so...

Pheasant Roast with Berry Sauce : “ Well-roasted Fodlan pheasant drizzled with a berry reduction sauce”.

Again, made with Albinean berries. Are they sweet or sour? Pheasants are eaten by a majority of nobles, but some commoners like it too, Raph (duh), Mercedes, Cyril and Flayn.

Peach Sorbet : “ A sorbet made with thin slices of magically frozen peach, dusted with bean flour”.

Made with, uh, peaches, and chickpeas (?).

Here comes Fodlan’s magic, in that world, people waste i mean use magic to bake/make funny food. If peaches are “magically frozen” then they musn’t be “naturally frozen” (well...) so this dish wasn’t originally from Faerghus. Maybe it’s an Adrestian delicacy and imperial mages are used, during peaceful times, as hired freezers?

Beast Meat Teppanyaki : “ A dish that tastes like wilderness. Thick slices of meat covered with Noa fruit and grilled on a hotplate”

Here another menu graced by House Nuvelle’s graces

Otoh, “beast meat” like... are they using meat from the various monsters? Or, worse, demonic beasts? But then, given what they used to be... not so odd to note, no nabatean likes this meal

Pickled Rabbit Skewers : “ Hunks of rabbit meat are pickled in bacchus, skewered, and roasted over an open flame to create this flavorful dish”

Finally someone cooking something with wine i mean - The only other mention of bacchus we had in the game was in the description of the Feast in Rhea’s trashy novel, apparently “fine bacchus” comes from Boramas, a territory of the Empire not that far from Enbarr. Given how Faerghus’ climate seems a bit too cold for wine, it must grow in the alliance/empire. So this dish is a southern (well) one?

Daphnel Stew :  “Minced poultry and onions boiled with salt. The simple recipe lets high-quality ingredients speak for themselves.”

We have high-quality ingredients in Daphnel, like Raddest Chicken (tm) and Best Salt (tm)? Or onions, you can’t cook without onions.

Or was Daphnel a great cook back in the day? Idk. Still, the alliance seems to be proud of their local products? First Count Gloucester with his sheep, and now Daphnel and their salt - i mean poultry! No one’s famous for their salt, save for, maybe, the guys from Bergliez with the Kingdom and the Alliance said “thks bye” to Adrestia

Gronder Meat Skewers : “ Fatty hunks of Gronder fox cooked slowly on skewers. The meat is magically aged for a full flavor.”

??? Fodlan people eat foxes? Ingredient list requires “wild game” and onions, but still... We all know how Guinivere’s baby fox would have ended then, or an AU where Kaden pops up in Fodlan.

However, here’s the second instance where Magic is used to alter an ingredient’s flavour. How do they “magically” age meat? Can that spell be used on living things to make them decay? It is a Hel “lite”?

Apparently, Cichol was rumoured to have blessed the Gronder Fields with good harvests, but randoms were tired to eat bread every day so they wanted to eat foxes. Not so oddly enough (?) Nabateans aren’t fond of that dish.

Derdriu-Style Fried Pheasant :  “ Pheasant meat is pounded flat and fried. Can be served as a sort of sandwich, with cheese between two strips of meat.”

Fried chicken comes from the Alliance people, and from Derdriu that is to say, from the Riegans. They created fast food, or KFC’s Double Down.

Edel made a wise choice in attacking them and removing the Riegans from the continent in CF

Interesting to note, Hanneman, Manuela and Seteth are fond of this. You cannot write a modern AU without them ordering something at KFC now, you cannot.

Vegetable Pasta Salad : “Pasta with a blend of fresh vegetables from various regions of Fódlan. This popular dish sells out almost instantly.”

Much more healthy! And also more popular? Everyone loves pasta! And does it mean everyone in Fodlan makes their own version of this dish with their local variants (cabbage in Faerghus?) or there are trading routes in the continent where Faerghus’ cabbage can be easily bought by Dude Von Random in the Empire if he wants to eat that salad?

Onion Gratin Soup :  “ Onions stewed with white trout and baked with a layer of cheese on top. Will warm you up from the inside out.”

The trout. Why the trout. Given how nearly everyone from Faerghus is fond of this dish (Linhardt and Marianne are the only non-kingdom students to like it) I’d say it comes from the North, and I remember Gautier being a famous place for “Gautier Cheese”. Also a dish that warms you from the inside would be conceived in a place where it’s cold? Or it’s some sort of comfort food.

Country-Style Red Turnip Plate :  “ A balanced meal including red turnip and verona stew, red turnip salad, and sautéed red turnip with garlic.”

Mostly appreciated by Imperial students, this meal looks healthy, again. Maybe they have a lot of turnips in the Empire, idk. Cichol mixed beetroots and turnips and thought they could give sugar to the empire with all those beetroots but welp they have a crapton of turnip fields now and you can’t make anything with turnips but those silly humans still found a way to accomodate them?

Vegetable Stir-Fry : “A dish of dried tomatoes, cabbage, chickpeas, and other vegetables, stir-fried with eggs. Nutritious and very filling. “

Not specifically tied to a country. tomatoes would suggest it doesn’t come from Faerghus though. But cabbage? Or it’s some sort of fusion food. Sounds tasty though (unlike the turnip salad)

Grilled Herring : “ Herring caught off the coast of Albinea, shredded and grilled in an earthenware pot with sliced turnips.”

what is wrong with the devs and their love for turnips

This dish uses herring from Albinea, so, unless Fodlanese fishers regularly hang out near a foreign nation’s shores to fish, they must trade. I don’t know if Albinean herring is expensive or if Garreg Mach uses a lot of its budget on Albinean herrings but I suppose there’s at least a main line of supply for this kind of fish.

First you trade fish, next we have exchange students from Albinea

Fish and Bean Soup :  “ A soup made by simmering white trout and chickpeas. A simple yet wholesome dish.”

Only Faerghus students love this meal (and Marianne). It seems plain but if Word of God says it’s wholesome, who am i to criticize?

Fruit and Herring Tart : “ A baked tart with stewed herring and Noa fruit mixed into the batter. Popular in Enbarr, the Imperial Capital.”

To contrast with the previous dish, this pie sounds complicated to make and is, of course, popular in Enbarr. You could make a caricature out of this. Oddly enough, no BE student is fond of this dish. Lorenz is though, previsibly.

Fisherman’s Bounty : “ Freshly-caught fish are cut into chunks and stewed together to make this hearty dish.”

Sponsorised by Indech since it requires a Teutates Loach. Flayn likes it. You only need fish and fish to make this dish which is, uh... well. Dedue’s the only guy to like this.

Fish Sandwich : “A simple dish. Airmid pike is pickled in vinegar and served with cabbage between two slices of bread.“

You average random sandwich, with pickled fish. Petra and Manu are the only non BL people to like this but now that i think about it, since it has cabbage, it must be a dish from Faerghus ? Or Faerghus exports cabbage to the rest of the world, and the rest of the world came up with this idea for a sandwich.

Two-Fish Saute : “Two types of fish are cut into strips and sauteed in butter. This lavish meal hails from Embarr, the Imperial Capital.”

It needs Caledonian Gar and Albinean Herring. Of course it’s lavish, it comes from Embarr. A lot of people are fond of this, Lorenz included, of course. Oddly enough, Leonie likes it too so it musn’t be that expensive?

Bourgeois Pike : “ A gourmet fish dish with Airmid pike, vegetables, and a sprinkle of expensive spices. Popular among nobles.”

It doesn’t come from Enbarr??

It needs a carrot and Airmid Pike. Dedue, Seteth and Manu are the only commoners fond of this dish, but I wonder what are those expensive spices needed. Saffron? Does it even exist in Fodlan? And why is it considered a gourmet dish? The ingredients aren’t that rare.

Calling it now, between Sitri’s resting place, the coffin where Seiros’s supposed to have been laid to rest and the storage room where Rhea does her monthly maintanance for golems, there is a specific room in the Monastery where randoms look after jerky, to make sure it ages properly and doesn’t develop mold or something like that.

Sautéed Jerky : “Jerky aged in the monastery and sautéed for a delightfully salty flavor. A perfect snack to go with your favorite drink.”

Now, Dimitri’s fond of this dish, but since he can’t taste it can it really be said he likes it? OTOH, Hubert likes it too, so our local evil chancelor drinks coffee while munching on chicken jerky. I still don’t understand why chickpeas are needed though.

Spicy Fish and Turnip Stew : “ Spicy stew made with Teutates loach and turnips. The monastery’s unique recipe features spices from Dagda.”

Turnip again

This dish has different local variations, given how the monastery’s one uses spices from Dagda. Is it because Garreg Mach can import spices from Dagda and the other places in Fodlan cannot or aren’t allowed, or because whoever is in charge of the meals in the monastery thought the turnip would taste good with Dagdan spices? Idk. Petra likes it, but Shamir isn’t particulary fond of this dish.

Sweet and Salty Whitefish Sauté : “ Whitefish is coated in spices and sautéed with dried tomatoes to bring out an addictive salty-sweet flavor.”

Dried tomatoes aren’t “sundried tomatoes” so maybe it’s an oversight, or there is a process (magical or just using an over) to dry tomatoes in Fodlan. This dish is exclusively liked by members of the BL house. Teutates is in Faerghus, but given how the climate is harsh, I don’t think tomatoes grow there? Or maybe they had some sort of magical greenhouses?

Super-Spicy Fish Dango : “ A light snack, popular in the Empire. Small, spicy balls of fried dough packed with white trout and dried tomato.”

This is the opposite of a gourmet or a lavish dish, but it is enjoyed in the Empire and not exclusively in Enbarr. Oddly enough, Hanneman is the only Adrestian fond of this. Leonie and Ingrid are fond of it, is it cheap? Given how it’s a snack and popular, I’d say it is.

c’est un acras de truite à la tomate?

Sautéed Pheasant and Eggs : “Thin slices of bird meat and shredded cabbage, mixed with scrambled eggs and sautéed spices. Invention of a certain noble.”

“a certain noble” WHO??

Ferdie’s fond of it, but I can’t see Aegir peeps inventing meals, and given the ingredients used, I cannot pinpoint an origin. It sounds like a snack. Claude is fond of it.

Garreg Mach Meat Pie : “A crispy-brown pie packed with tomatoes, cheese, and tender chunks of meat.” 

... This is totally comfort food, isn’t it?

Fittingly enough, Manuela is fond of it. Maybe she eats those pies when she has a hangover or something. OTOH, if it wasn’t evident enough with the previous recipes, Garreg Mach develops its own gastronomy, different from what we could find in the Alliance, the Kingdom or the Empire. I actually wonder how they are supplied with food, is everything made in the monastery or are they importing stuff from other places in Fodlan? Since they have Dagdan spices, they also import from Dagda or they grow their own brand of Dagdan spices?

Cheesy Verona Stew : “A rich dish consisting of verona and sautéed Teutates loach. These ingredients are boiled and served with two kinds of melted cheese.”

Dimitri is fond of this dish with all the reservations i expressed above. Hanneman is the only Adrestian fond of this dish, but damn, two melted cheeses in a fish dish? Is it a fish fondue or something?

Pickled Seafood and Vegetables : “A Dagdan dish of raw fish and turnips pickled in a vinegar-based seasoning liquid. Rarely eaten in Fodlan.”

It may be rarely eaten in Fodlan but a lot of students and staff members like this dish! Shamir isn’t part of them, but Hubert is. Since it’s pointed out here, raw fish sounds to be something only people in Dagda eat, or at least, Fodlanese randoms do not eat raw fish. So the pickled fish used in the fish sandwich is actually cooked fish? They made pickles from cooked things? Odd.

Gautier Cheese Gratin : “A gratin of bird meat topped with heaps of Gautier cheese, which is famous for its low fat content. It has a unique flavor.”

Low fat content cheese what kind of insanity - this uses a Noa fruit, even if Nuvelle and Gautier are geographically opposed if you look at a Fodlan map. But whoever invented this dish thought it’d be nice to put a Noa fruit in it, so why not. Dimitri’s fond of it, actually can it be that he likes whatever is cooked with cheese?

dimitri is a cheese lover so automatically dimitri = best lord

Cabbage and Herring Stew : “ Cabbage and Albinean herring stewed whole. The fish guts lend this hearty dish a superbly bitter kick.”

Again thanks to Albinean exports, Hubert can eat his bitter stew. Lorenz is fond of it too, just like Flayn, Manu and Hanneman. i don’t have a lot of things to say about this dish

Scrambled Eggs with Vegetables : “ Fried eggs mixed with tomatoes, cabbage, and chickpeas along with other vegetables and legumes. A highly nutritious dish.”

Again with the joke about hangover food, but Manu likes this “highly nutritious” dish. Given how it is enjoyed by various students across Fodlan, I’d say this dish isn’t tied to one region, but is actually eaten everywhere in the continent.

that’s it no more dishes

[randomnameless]

damoselcastel replied to your post “Talking with @juliansolo made me realize I didn’t bother to check the...”

Only Nabateans get called Saints, at least that's how the OG four go (Cichol, Cethlean, Maciul, Indech). Noa is called a Saint in the description of the Noa fruit, and considering Yuri seems to be a Paitent Zero crest bearer (can live hundreds of years in a Byleth epilogue) I'm guessing ditto for Aubin. SO to me, the Aspostle are more dragons... sad that they all seems to be implied to have died before the game begins (where Relics/crestones come from is lethal)

So other wandering Nabateans were around, but for some reason, they didn’t join Seiros/Cichol/Indech/Macuil/Cethleann in her quest for revenge. They still wanted to rez Sothis though, given how they participated in the Chalice experiment.

Rhea learns that some of her siblings went on their own ways and then hears about new relics, ouch. It explains the length of her self-preservation in crafting “The History of Fodlan” or the Church’s dogma, to her, the Fetters of Dromi are proof that Nabateans can’t live in the wild without any care about humans turning them into smoothies and/or deboning them first to get shiny weapons. Maybe she pays a visit every 10 years to Macuil and Indech to see if they’re still alive and haven’t been turned into Aymr or something...

Balthus’ paralogue reveals Big B thinks the Church wants to find and seize every new relic they could hear of - to prevent people from Miklan’ing maybe, but also due to Rhea’s personal reasons “damn who died this time :’(”.

[lady-byleth]

hello!! I’m popping in with an ask (again) but also a Thank You!! god knows I send you so many asks, I really hope I’m not sending you too many, but your insights are always so delightful to hear and you’re an absolute darling overall haha, I hope youre happy and healthy. anyhoo, for the ask, and it’s really angsty so I’m super sorry in advance :,, but it just struck me that flayn and seteth could become relics only recently and that they probably knew the other relics when they were alive. (1/2

Oh Goddess, keep being such a sweetheart and I'll crawl through your screen to give you a hug! And you could never send me too many asks, I'm always happy to answer any questions!

I would say that aside from Seteth's overprotective tendencies - which is probably half this and half Flayn being asleep for so long to heal - there's probably mostly the knowledge that their loved ones aren't allowed to rest in peace.

They don't have bodies to bury, their remains are being passed around like they're just objects and even though they trust Rhea completely and believe she knows what she's doing, that's still painful I'd wager

Just the knowledge that the people they used to talk to and joke around with were used to kill their own family and friends and are now still used by the descendents of those who killed them and abused their corpses...I wouldn't be surprised if Seteth might be a bit, let's call it resentful towards humans

Flayn is a much kinder and more forgiving soul so she probably tires to not let it bother her but her excitement about Byleth's transformation speaks volumes for how lonely she is. She doesn't have a place to really visit the ones turned into Relics and if we assume that they chose the most powerful Nabateans to turn into Relics, it's not far off that Flayn would've known them too. So she probably, instead of being resentful, latches onto Byleth being more like her to have some connection to the people she lost at Zanado

And if they're killed in Crimson Flower...it's possible that they're turned into Relics but I doubt it. They managed to kidnap Flayn once and didn't try to kill her, they just wanted her blood. I'd not put it past them to keep both Flayn and Seteth as test subjects or basis for blood experimentation...

Those who slither in the dark don't view the Nabateans as people, they see them as vermin, an infestation that needs to be exterminated and the Relics are a means to achieve that. So they wouldn't be above using them for experiments since they apparently still have Crest Stones and means to forge Relics with - just look at the Dark Creator Sword, it has the Crest Stones of Noa and Timotheos in it, and the copies of the other Relics for the Ten Elites.

And they used Flayn's blood for what happened in Remire and didn't apparently get to finish that, they probably be very happy to have more blood.

So while I don't think they'd use them specifically to make Relics they'd probably use them as a basis to COPY their Crests and make fake Relics

Man, those who slither in the dark sure are the worst, eh? I hope this answers your question somewhat? I kept getting distracted while writing cuz the dog wanted to play xD

And don't apologize, I appreciate the hell outta you, hon! ❤️