#aka the nabateans

[randomnameless]

FFS man you were there too, you are supposed to be as broken as your fool of a sister relative -

"please player chan, everyone counts on you"

"only you plz"

And then the fights ends with Billy being rekt'd, Claude making a diversion and Billy finally managing to rekt the zombie.

"only you can do this"

Come on Seteth, just tell us you were too busy to lend a hand.

Interestingly, contrary to SS, Seteth doesn't out himself as a Nabatean to Billy.

Maybe it's the wisest decision to make, since Claude is busy telling everyone Nemesis and the Mole People were ruining things/are targetting the monastery to get revenge against Sothis and Rhea...

[deathbirby]

Sorry for a bit of venting but god people like Dolphin and Rax really make me hate 3H so much. Which is funny since I actually started off liking the game quite a bit. But now? I cannot separate 3H from the horrendous discourse surrounding it. It’s really soured my opinion on the game and made me look at it in a different light.

The dumb 3H shit also affects other games that aren’t it like Engage, which is a shame since I love Engage and yet it was plagued by controversies— including being constantly compared to 3H and its “brilliant writing”.

Honestly yeah. It's hard for some people to enjoy a game when its fandom has such garbage people in it. It's hard for me to look at Edelgard in a positive light (even in the rare instances I defend her) because of how unhinged her stans are.

And 3H constantly being compared to Engage is just... ugh. They're different games. Different story, setting, world, characters, gameplay, etc. 3H was the exception in FE games, not the norm.

[ym-loreposting]

Saints, Gods and Dragons in the murals of Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is a large game that has subtle world building and thematic details hidden all over and in this post I want to point a few out, mainly concerning the depictions of Seiros, Sothis and the four Saints, as well as some related things. Major spoilers for Three Houses and Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes after the cut.

The hooded Saint

Saint Seiros is the identity Archbishop Rhea of the Church of Seiros originally went under during the War of Heroes, which ended with the Adrestrian Empire and Church of Seiros coming to rule over Fódlan. The war ended in the Imperial year 98, but Seiros stuck around for at least a century more until the completion of Garreg Mach Monastery in Imperial year 195.

Some time after this, Seiros would "die" and the Church of Seiros went on to be led by Archbishops, of whom at least a substantial portion were alternate identities of Seiros. This is made most apparent in Sylvain and Ignatz's support line in Three Hopes, where they discuss a painting of an Archbishop who ruled around the Imperial Year 961. During the support line, the painting is noted to bear a resemblance to Rhea and it also looks the part.

Saint Seiros meanwhile is a religious figure revered throughout Fódlan, but she is never noted to look like Rhea despite them being the same person, so why is that? The answer lies in a piece of promotional art for Three Houses that depicts an in-universe mural. Near the bottom of the mural, a hooded figure can be seen that is the Saint Seiros. This is evident from the clothing she wears under her robe being the garb Seiros wears, as well as the wavy Sword of Seiros she holds.

This is further driven home by the murals shown at the start of each chapter in Three Houses, some of which depict the hooded Seiros as well. The one for Chapter 10, Where the Goddess Dwells, for example, shows a variation of the promotional mural. This variation also depicts the Immaculate One, Seiros's Nabatean form, which are thought to be separate beings in the religion of the Church of Seiros.

The mural at the start of Chapter 2, Familiar Scenery, meanwhile shows a statue of the hooded Seiros defeating Nemesis. The familiar Sword of Seiros can once again be seen wielded by the hooded figure.

In-universe, it seems the face of Saint Seiros isn't known, likely a deliberate choice so that Rhea could continue to lead the Church of Seiros as its various Archbishops even after the 'death' of Saint Seiros.

The depiction of the Goddess and the Saints

While she appears as a child throughout Three Houses and Three Hopes, in the murals of the Church of Seiros, Sothis is depicted as a grown woman. In the large promotional mural, she seems to be the winged woman that takes up the bulk of the mural, as Seiros is depicted near the mural's bottom. Whether the mural depicts an idealized version of Sothis or the actual form she took prior to her murder by Nemesis is something I am not sure of yet. This depiction of Sothis can also be seen in the murals at the start of Chapters 9 (The Cause of Sorrow) and 4 (The Goddess's Rite of Rebirth). Of note is that Sothis is often depicted alongside a star symbol, likely representing the Blue Sea Star, her place of origin.

The mural at the start of Chapter 4 shows several other figures alongside Sothis, which are Seiros in her usual hooded depiction and the Four Saints that fought alongside her in the War of Heroes. The Saints in the mural resemble the statues that were built of them, not necessarily their true appearance (as is the case with Cethleann/Flayn).

The Saints, who are in truth Nabateans, also seem to appear elsewhere, specifically in their Nabatean forms. The crest of the Church of Seiros has a dragon depicts a white dragon that one at first may assume to be the Immaculate One (aka Seiros). However, this dragon lacks some key features of Immaculate One, most notable the Immaculate One's curled horns. Its head shape is also subtly different.

Instead, this may be the otherwise unseen Nabatean form of Saint Cichol/Seteth, which is indicated by the rest of the symbol of the Church of Seiros. Atop the symbol rests a mitre resembling the one worn by Cichol in his statue. In Three Hopes, it was revealed the name of this Nabatean form is the "Hammer of Judgment".

The flags of Knights of Seiros, as well as the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, depict a Griffon-like creature on their flags. This may be the Wind Caller, Macuil's Nabatean form, though there are some differences in their designs, most notably the tail, hind legs and head horns. They could just be generic Griffons, which have appeared in Fire Emblem: Awakening and Fire Emblem: Engage, but those settings are distinct from the setting of Three Houses/Three Hopes and generic Griffons do not appear in Fódlan. Thematically at least it would make sense for Macuil to be depicted on the Knights of Seiros's flag, given Macuil made weapons for Seiros and the other Saints during the War of Heroes and the Knights of Seiros act as the protectors and metaphorical weapons of the church. The design differences remain notable however.

[archiepiscopus]

Rhea from Fire Emblem Three Houses || Archbishop of the Church of Seiros || written by dewa (24, she/her)

muse ◆ mun ◆ stats ◆ affiliation ◆ supports ◆ threads ◆ application ◆ guidelines

For the general rules, I've created a guidelines page that's linked above as well as a mun page.

Notes on portrayal under the cut

Rhea is the Archbishop of the Church of Seiros, aka The Boss! Generally very kind and patient, she'll hear you out if you need someone to talk to. Will be delighted to, even!

A bit obvious but just making sure, this portrayal assumes Rhea as she is in White Clouds, without any route chosen. She cherishes all students and faculty equally.

SPOILERS: as most of us know, she's also a dragon- one of the last individuals of her kind, the nabateans. This fact is not known by the general public and is strictly kept secret. The only muses privy to this knowledge are Seteth and Flayn. Muses who are laguz/dragons however may at least sense that she's not human/is simply assuming a human form.

REGARDING EPIPHANY: When the monastery was attacked, Rhea was quickly relocated to Camulus, in the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus. She stayed there throughout the entirety of Epiphany and only now has received clearance to return to the monastery as it has been considered safe for her. She's focusing on returning to her duties, managing the restoration of the monastery and offering spiritual aid for those returning to Garreg Mach. Any muses can come to her for guidance.

REGARDING RELIGION: discussions about religion are a bit unavoidable as she's the archbishop, and if any thread or meta goes deeply into that subject I'll be tagging them accordingly. That being said, a reminder that while Rhea is the leader of the Church of Seiros, she will never be "preachy" or force this faith into any muses- however, if facing disrespect towards this faith, she will react to it accordingly!

Please invite her to tea time, she's lonely :(

[randomnameless]

Chimming in,

The Agarthans being humans is hinted at, as you pointed out, but in a way, they're also the "reason why everything sucks" (TM) in the greater plot, if you don't drink too much tea.

And... that sucks.

Take Manfroy, he wasn't the one who told Chagall to get rid of Eldie, or if he did, he played on preexisting animosity, just like the Langobalt/Reptor/Arvis coup against Kurth.

Sure Manfroy (or was it Veld?) told Travant when Quan was going to cross the desert, but in the end, Quan died because Travant had his own beef against him (and the Manster district at large).

But no, in Fodlan, Agarthans are the cause for everything wrong, while the other "humans" can't be held liable for anything.

As for them looking like, well, they do...

Remember how Kusakihara was in charge of SoV, and Jedah (and his goons) suddenly turning blue/purple?

While I could see some dark humour/irony in Thales'n'co claiming to be original or the only real humans around, despite looking inhuman compared to Raphael'n'co, I wonder if their appearance wasn't modified through Nabatean Technology, aka Kronya having a "stone heart" and/or Solon's weird eye thing.

We know Agarthans developed some sort of magitech thanks to Sothis sharing her knowledge, so maybe their appearance is a result of this ?

Nopes could have shed more light on Agarthan and Agarthans through Larva, Barney and Epipen - but in the end, we just know that Epipen, while thinking Nabateans are a blight upon humanity and must be erased, disapproved with Thales' plan to use Nemesis, and that Epipen was "brought back" through some sort of liquid, to ultimately inhabit Barney through his proxy Larva.

Bar that?

Zilch.

FE Fodlan refused, for a certain reason, to fall back on usual clichés like "what does it mean to be human" when at least two factions pretend to be humans to justify their hatred of the third one, but through the course of both games, we see how the third faction (the nabs), despite never claiming to be human, seem to be the most "humane" ones.

There's no Sara or Salem in FE16/Nopes to try to flesh out a bit Agarthans, the closest character we have to them is Barney, and we know how much relevance they have in the greater plot (aka, no one gives a flying fuck save for 3 lines about Shez's ties to Agartha and it has no influence over the plot, compared to Billy being part Nabatean-Sothis' vessel in SS and arguably CS).

In the end, too, another flaw of FE3H is that it isn't able to make itself stand without making the Agarthans so... wildly inhuman

Like how Kronya's heart not being a heart is just. Never explained. It's just there. Fuck you if you care I guess, but also, it's a detail, and it's another detail in a pile of detail that detach the Agarthans from their supposed humanity. Because that's... who they are supposed to be. The humans who got exiled underground by Sothis after destroying the Fodlan, leading her to take her deadly nap.

The worst part is... I kinda love the Agarthans ? I don't think they are really good as a story element, because their presence undermines a lot in terms of world building, but at the same time they are so stupid fun. I love the techno-magic, I love the dubstep, I love their fucking over the top dialogue. It's fun ! It's genuinely kind of dumb honestly ! I like Thales, he's an horrible man !

And it's ... They are supposed to be human. And frankly I think humans can be disgustingly evil the way the Agarthans are, sometimes. But... FE3H puts them in a position where they just don't look human.

I think the introduction of SF-like elements to FE is, genuinely, kinda cool ! But it just never goes beyond that, and beyond being kind of a weird crutch to Edelgard's story. Hm. Not quite that. But it's like they took inspiration from Arvis and Manfroy and missed what made it interesting ? without letting Arvis get away from his actions ? And in that case, Manfroy is not a weird underground guy whose heart is not a heart and whose appearance is almost undead-like (and also no shapeshifting plot).

Then again. As I said. I like Thales. I like Thales' design, in particular, I think he looks great, and he genuinely does have some really over the top, awful, horrible dialogue that I like because sometimes I want to see a terrible stain of a guy being terrible. But man. I think it kind of removes something from the story to have everything having to be linked back to him and his dubstep people. Makes it all feel kind of detached from what sounds like the main conflict is supposed to be about, when you think about it for too long.

[fayesemblemring]

Rhea for the "send me a character" w/ the "first impression, impression now, etc." ask game!

Cringefail pope my beloved💚

First impression

The days of 3H pre-release are long gone, but from what I remember I didn't think much of her beside her being another Mikoto archetype which I didn't have any interest in. (especially because this was back when I was still on Reddit and by extension the Fates Bad™ circlejerk)

Then I think I remember seeing a screenshot of an official tweet that went something like "fight/destroy the Church of Seiros in Fire Emblem Three Houses" (nevermind it happens in only one of the four routes and the most villainous one at that) so I was something like "welp. guess she's the villain of another Evil Religion™, whatever."

Impression now

fgdgdfgdfgdfgsdfgshfgifuhg

She's my favorite Fodlan character, something I never saw coming.

While I have my issues with how she's treated as a character (mainly being relegated to the red herring for Edelgard in Part 1 and the late Nabatean infodump only to then die in Part 2. You know, when she's not completely absent or treated as the scapedragon. In general she's treated with the "tell don't show" approach Fodlan writing loves) they are definitely mitigated by all the small details that make her so interesting. And while I find her lack of spotlight and moments where she shines at her best incredibly frustrating, I'll admit that digging beneath the surface and starting to see who she actually is as a person is quite fun in its own right.

She's a truly kindhearted, deeply flawed and quite cringe woman. Of course I love her.

Favorite moment

Funnily enough, her weed quest. Not just because the sheer concept of the pope indirectly giving weed to her students is hilarious, but because if you look closer you'll notice that every herb she gives seems to fit the specific students a bit too well to be a coincidence (for example Bernadetta's herb is said to give her the courage to strike a conversation, Marianne's gives her a more positive outlook on life and Ignatz's boosts his self-confidence).

This shows that while she feels unable to get close to the students on a deeper level, she's clearly paying enough attention to them to know the general things they struggle with and tries to secretly help them, and it's really sweet!

Idea for a story

I've been entertaining the idea of a Silver Snow rewrite (AKA a scenario where getting an A support with her changes the entire route instead of just the ending) where Rhea is rescued early and becomes the de-facto lord. Featuring character development where she finally starts to actually talk to the students and her loved ones, Dimitri in a secondary role because I think the dynamic between her and early-timeskip Dimitri, not to metion in a context where Edie's already dead, has some insane potential (also makes for a nice foil to CF).

Also changing from her requirement to survive from being A Rank with Byleth to being A rank with all of her support partners. AKA overcoming her fatal flaw allows her to not only survive, but live.

Basically her learning to stop compulsively keeping secrets, openly talk and get close to others again and rely on other people on a deeper level. You know, the good stuff!

Don't count on it ever actually getting written beyond a few posts though. I know my limits :(

Favorite relationship

Romantically with Catherine, platonically with Cyril!

Unpopular opinion

I mean, this is Rhea we're talking about.

Liking her to begin with and not treating her like she's responsible for everything wrong in Fodlan is already unpopular to begin with.

Also people severely overestimate the political power she actually has.

Favorite headcanon

As a joke headcanon: Rhea has been every single archbishop in the past as well, so to keep humanity from finding out she's a dragon she faked her death every few decades... in increasingly ridiculous ways.

It got to the point where the Seiros faithful believe the position of Archbishop is cursed, and whenever people act concerned about her because of it Rhea is grateful for it but at the same time is internally laughing her ass off.

[deathbirby]

there's an irony in the people thinking the Nabateans have to atone for their "sins" because they think Rhea is irredeemably evil compared to Seiros letting the families of the Ten Elites live despite all the problems their ancestors caused

lmao now that you mention it, theyre basically saying what they wanted rhea to do so that their claims would be 100% correct

[randomnameless]

I guess Fodlan, as it's written, would imply that the "sudden illnesses" hitting Maurice's scions would be Agarthans doing Agarthan things, because per Nopes, they're the root of everything wrong (tm) in this verse.

Even if Houses suggested, with the rando who insults Marianne in her paralogue, that normal people, aka Bob and Carol, would also be ones to hunt Maurice's descendants believing them to be cursed (a throwback to the Loptyr blooded people and the witch hunts from Jugdral?).

However, Catherine in her support with Linhardt mentions something similar to Momo's ramblings, Catherine says she feels the relic "eating away" her soul, Maurice blames his urges on his "nabatean blood" and in the notes believed to have been written by him, there's a mention of a body falling to "ashes" and "evil", would the "evil" here mean the Nabatean/Relic "eating away" at the wielder's soul? 10k years of lore are 10k years of lore so we will never know the end of this story, but I don't think Momo or the Nabatean he "borrowed power" from are special in this situation, it's possible Catherine after overusing her sword could become a sentient black beast, much like Claude and his gang after, just like Maurice, bathing in the blood of a saint (in Nopes).

But as you noted, there's a link between Thales, Supreme Leader and the Crest of the Beast.

Is it only metaphorical, as in Supreme Leader is doubly called a beast, first by Dimitri (more explicit in the JP version of Tru Piss) and, in a way, by Thales who gave her a "beast" themed weapon, which is actually a mockery of a relic, since Aymr is fake one (it needs Agarthium to be repaired!) - sure it'd be part of the all those clues taking inspiration from buddhism telling the player that Supreme Leader's path is the wrong one that completely flew over the localised versions (granted I wonder how you could accurately localise the "beast path" in a game without adressing the entire context!) for a Doylist reason...

Or it's maybe Thales who realised how Momo still managed to keep his sanity after transforming unlike other random crest beasts (but Maurice is specifically noted to have been the only one who transformed with his relic!) so he thought "why not" and designed Hegemongard to work around a similar crest stone?

It'd be the cheapest explanation, but come on, we're talking about the same devs who gave Marianne the power to speak to animals... when Linhardt and Hapi's support chain mention that this power was originally Timotheos'... Was the DLC retconning Marianne's existence 8 months after the release of the base game, or what?

--

As for Luca not having a crest, maybe he shared his crest with another Nabatean (maybe he was another water dragon but Indech was more well-known around?) so every "water dragon sign" became "Crest of Indech" instead of being "Crest of Luca".

The identity of the Saint said to have been slained by Maurice, Nopes implies Momo killed them during the battle of Gronder (in 46? 45 years before Tailtean?) but concerning the number of saints, well, the FE16 artbook has this thing :

The first coffin on the left mentions... 16 saints???

(the one below mentions 4 "holy warriors", I guess they're the 4 Saints aka Cichol'n'co).

Was Luca one of the "16 saints"? Was he a shifter, who were the other 15 ? Gajus, Marcelle and Iris and the other named golems, were all saints Nabateans or some of them were hybrids or even humans with crests? Was Flayn's mom one of those 16 saints?

Everything's fair game since we won't have confirmation about this stuff (but we sure needed umbrellas or Fraud's real name revealed in an interview bcs who gaf about lore from the game, especially when it concerns nabateans?)

That all those accidents are just them going after anyone who may have actual Nabatean heritage.

That's maybe me cooking nonsense with the Nuvelles being Nabateans hybrids, but that'd fit with their "need" to hide who they are, aka Noa's scions from the Empire itself, if they think the Empire is compromised by Agarthans.

Or, if we want to hc a Fodlan where "everything wrong" doesn't have a single cause, I hc'd that humans would be worried about hybrid nabateans existing, since their existence would threaten/ruin the classicist system they tried to base their countries on (especially Adrestia) : if Rhea's perfectly happy living on her rock, who's to say a Nabatean hybrid, even if it's not one who has a crest of Seiros, wouldn't be a threat to the Emperor who's supposed to rule over Fodlan because of the covenant of the red blood and white sword + claiming to be Seiros and Willy's descendants?

(then Faerghus happens, and they're even more pissed because instead of sitting on her rock doing nothing but preaching nonsense, Rhea now meddles in "human affairs" to prevent further escalation especially since Loog defeated/killed the Emperor instead of supporting Adrestia's right to continue their blood games with northern barbarians)

We know at some point Emperors became paranoiac about Nabateans "sekritly controlling humanity", but I guess, due to their resentment towards Rhea after Faerghus + Agarthans telling them stuff + maybe the entire hybrid!Lycaon fallout that is only kept secret to the masses, I could see them participate and/or hunt everyone who has a chance to be Nabatean!blooded, and not just with a "crest".

@randomnameless

Something caught my eye with Maurice the other day. According to Hopes, in the document titled Crestological Mysteries,

“Whenever it became known that someone possessed this detestable Crest, they would suddenly fall ill or meet their end in an untimely accident. Inevitably, the Crest became an unspoken curse...“

“Suddenly fall ill” or untimely accident at this point makes me curious about the involvement of TWSITD. If someone is exposed to have this Crest, TWSITD step in to remove them from the gene pool, like out of all the Crests they want this one to die out. Not helping matters is that they used the Crest Stone of Maurice when making Aymr, and Thales chucks it at Edelgard when he captures her in Azure Gleam.

At this point, I’m willing to bet that Edelgard’s Hegemon Husk form is the result not just of bringing out the full power of her two Crests, but also the Agarthans using it to transform her (And then Thales using their techniques to control Edelgard like a typical Crest Beast). Something about that Crest in particular, one that gives Marianne the ability to communicate with animals, turns even people with Crests into Crest Beasts but still allows them to retain their minds (though Edelgard seems off after her transformation, likely due to her Crests not matching). Maybe what happened to Maurice isn’t because he overused his Relic, but simply because of the specific Crest he had?

Also, it mentions Maurice killing a “holy warrior.” So, a Saint. Thinking he was the one who killed Saint Luca, considering we know the other Saints and Apostles survived. But the strange thing is, there is no Crest associated with Luca and he was implied to be a shapeshifter.

“...As another example, though much said about him is likely fiction, we have Saint Luca and his many offspring. The man loved love, and had great affection for the many children he brought into the world. However, appearances can be deceiving. Was he truly the comely saint? If we consider that perhaps he was simply using some sort of power to change his appearance, then...”

What happened here? If he had many offspring, you’d think his Crest would be a little more common, and this is based on how they were seen by the people of the Empire. Luca was having children with humans. And then there’s Maurice and his sons being said to have sown his wild oats, which is why his Crest just pops up from time to time...

Sothis refers to Flayn as “The Kind One,” but it comes off as she assumes Flayn is another Nabatean in a body she doesn’t recognize. It’s implied Sothis confused Flayn for her mother, The Kind One that Sothis created. We also know there are at least two Crest Stones of Maurice, while there are two Relics associated with the Crest of Lamine (the Rafail Gem and the Ichor Scroll) and the Crest of Charon (Thunderbrand and Suttungr's Mystery). Think the best explanation for this is that Blutgang was made out of one of Luca’s childre with another Nabatean, then Luca fought Maurice during the War of Heroes and died. The Saint that had many children died to a weapon made out of one of his.

The Crest of Luca becomes known as the Crest of the Beast.

“...The Crest of the Beast was inherited by the wild oats sown by Maurice and his sons. They lived on in the shadows of various clans and families, and in particular lords who bore a grudge towards the Empire.”

But at the same time, people who are known to have the Crest end up dying due to the Agarthans. Maybe the answer to why they target the Crest isn’t because of the Crest, but because it could also come from Luca himself. That all those accidents are just them going after anyone who may have actual Nabatean heritage.

[fantasyinvader]

Here's one.

Edelgard's poison is attachment via ego aka her arrogance. When it comes to the ego, Buddhism teaches it can be dangerous to cling to. It limits our ability to adapt as we hold things as being unable to change. Some things are just permanent. Edelgard treats her war as necessary, and will always pursue it. She can't let it go.

Dimitri calls out Edelgard's path as the path of the beast in Safflower, a hint towards how her path would lead to her turning into the Hegemon Husk, a beast unit. It's spiritual regression, as people are reborn as animals when they kill or harm innocent beings through obliviousness or ignorance. When it comes to karma, a running theme is people being wilfully ignorant.

According to Hubert, Edelgard knows her father was a puppet for Thales yet she still clings to the version of history Ionius passed onto her. She will still treat Nemesis as a hero despite Thales himself calling him a thief, while demonizing Rhea despite knowing Thales and the Agarthans hate the Church. Her own ancestor was supposedly tricked into betraying humanity, putting mankind under the control of Rhea and her family but she ignores how much influence the Agarthans have had in the Empire. She claims that she had nothing to do with Duscur despite knowing it was done for her benefit, how she keeps the Agarthans hidden and is willing to work with the kingdom lords who eliminated Lambert and subjugated the country. She claims she had no knowledge of what TWSITD were planning with her experiments, but Jeralt calls her out on her empty words, Hopes makes it clear she knew about the experiments to turn people into monsters and she lends aid to Flayn's kidnapping.

Edelgard is either lying or simply ignoring the truths she doesn't want to hear.

The animal world is one governed not by reason, morality or thought, but instinct and impulse. Those in this world fear the strong but also prey upon the weak. To go down the animal path is considered one of the four evil paths, diametrically opposed to Nirvana, the path of liberation.

A world for humanity leads to people becoming animals.

But on the other hand, this could just be the path Byleth and the Black Eagles follow, but not Edelgard herself. Again, while she might be wilfully ignorant she could just be lying and keeping others in the dark. Just look at Arianrhod. Another one of the evil paths leads to a world of animosity and anger. A world dominated by egotistical pride, compelled by the need to feel superior in all things, putting value on themselves while devaluing others. It would fit with the whole arrogant thing.

This world is the Asura world. Asura being Shez's second unique class, and the Asuras were being banished by the Bodhisattva to an underground place called... Agartha.

The Japanese endings for Caspar state that an often “out of control” Imperial army conducts military expeditions, they conduct missions in other countries. We also know from the Constance/Byleth ending in Safflower that Edelgard takes Agarthan technologies in order to maintain peace within her empire, but think about all the weapons they have at their disposal to conduct those expeditions with. Or how Edelgard is said to retire and disappear after she chooses a successor, while the Agarthans are implied to bodyhop. Edelgard was the Flame Emperor who bared her fangs at the Goddess, while the Agarthans attacked Sothis and the resulting war left the Earth scorched to the point Sothis needed to flood it to heal the world. They both believe they are making a world for humanity, both refer to Nabateans as “beasts” with the Agarthans extending that to non-Agarthans while Edelgard looks down on other nations. The Agarthans spilling the blood of others was what earned them Sothis's anger, while at the end of Safflower her Crest Stone (read: Heart) disappears from Byleth's chest and she says it's been “shattered” in the S support. It's implied by the Agarthan records that she's returned before, while Hopes makes mention of her getting revenge when she gets a new body. Thales mentions the Empire ruling the world at the end of Safflower, with Edelgard saying she'll do what she can to that end (again, military expeditions are considered a form of invasion) while she specifically mentions ruling the world when she assumes the Hegemon Husk form. Agarthans viewed themselves as gods, while Edelgard is shown in both Safflower's endings and in Hopes to control her own Church, making her own ideals out to be the teachings of the Goddess. Edelgard is even accused of wanting to replace Sothis with herself.

Part of Nirvana is supposed to be breaking out of the cycle of Samsara, the cycle of birth, life and death repeating through reincarnations. Flower is suggesting your actions warrant being kicked down to the level of an animal in your next life, with Byleth losing their powers associated with Nirvana as a result of Sothis, the real Bodhisattva, unfusing with them. But from a story perspective, it's what Dimitri says in Azure Moon. The world Edelgard in her arrogance wants to create isn't going to break the cycle of the weak being oppressed by the strong, all she's doing is becoming a successor not to the empire as intended by it's founder, but one for the Agarthans she takes out.

The Agarthans are implied to actually be weak in spite of their tech advantage, hence why they can be taken out despite Edelgard marching her army to other countries (plus, you know, keeping their existence a secret). This “world for humanity” is Agartha 2.0.

Safflower is... pretty much calling you an idiot if you finish it. It's almost like Spec Ops The Line, the only way to really win Safflower is to not play it, otherwise you become the monster with Edelgard's final boss theme playing in it's last map. And if you pick Edelgard for your S support, she mentions her path has been hadou, the path of supremacy/military rule/hegemony up until this point but swears it's over now that she has you/Byleth and you'll be the light to guide Fodlan to a better age, but that only works... if you remain ignorant of what character endings specific to her route say. Your romance with her ends with one last lie.

But hey, you know what they say. Ignorance is bliss. Don't look behind the curtain and ruin Safflower's magic. Maybe even make up your own lies to justify what you did, because obviously you're the hero. It's not like the whole animal path thing would mean you've been going after innocent beings after all, they had it coming.

[fireemblems24]

Scarlet Blaze Ch 15 (Final)

Last one, everyone! After this, I finally get to play Spiritfarer which I got on . . . Christmas 2022.

NARRATION

Last chapter. Finally. Killing so many people in this route is really awful. Especially since you just . . . don't in the other two.

I think the last chapter will take place at the monastery.

Oh, great, does this mean I have to protect Bernie's dad in this route? I hope Rhea kills him, like gets this badass cut scene where she cuts him down for perverting her faith by using it as a propaganda tool.

So TWSITD showed up and is attacking Rhea and the Empire.

They're mostly after the "beasts" (aka Nabateans? Or humans?)

I wish this meant that we teamed up with Rhea, but we know Edelgard would team up with TWSITD first.

Catherine and Rhea got a cool moment together though.

Yep, we have to protect Count Varley, gross.

MAP

No side battles! This final chapter will be super quick, which is nice.

I'm VERY curious what the Golden Deer students say after Claude's moment last chapter lamo.

And if any Lions mention Sylvain :((((

OMG, Ignatz is savage. He only cares about painting the battle. No mention of Claude.

Yuri wishes he could kill Varley instead of save him. Good for him. He really feels more suited for AG/AM/SS/VW than SB/CF/GW.

Well, at least Mercedes mentioned Sylvain. And Ingrid and Annette. Saying they died for what they believed in and admires them for it, since she could never.

Poor Ashe is having a crisis. Still had no idea wtf he's doing in the Empire's war camp. Honestly, this game made him so much more interesting.

Linhardt also has no fucking clue why he's here. I swear he does nothing but complain every map (in a funny way) and wish he was doing literally anything else.

Lorenz is more concerned about his future bc of Claude than worried about him. Man, guy really has no one loyal to him lol.

DOROTHEA & CASPAR C

I swear I did a much better job getting supports in GW and AG.

Caspar has a bunch of books, and Dorothea's horrified by the idea that he'll use them in training.

Caspar plans to read them. Dorothea teases him. Apparently Lin made similar comments.

Dorothea makes him promise not to hurt the books. A woman after my own heart.

Caspar's like, did you know my dad reads! Dorothea's like, yeah . . . how do you think he got his role if he didn't.

Dorothea tells a story about an unlearned commander who studied strategy in books and improved to become legendary.

The only stupid part of this is thinking you can read and understand complicated books in 5 days and become an expect in 5 days. For once, Caspar was the smart one being like, uh, I need more time.

MERCEDES & LYSITHEA B

This support is SB locked, but neither characters are Eagles. It may be the only support like that in the game. But, hey, new Mercie content, I'll take it!

Mercedes comes across Lysithea in the kitchen, trying and failing to cook.

The fruits she wanted to use are moldy though. Lysithea has an idea to use something else for the fruit - a sugar syrup.

Lysithea has dedicated her time to learning how to cook because of how good Mercedes' cooking was, so she credits Mercie for the sugar syrup, which she learned because of that.

Baking also helped Lysithea learn the importance of taking breaks.

Mercie calls her a wizened old grandma, lol.

They arrange a tea party.

SHEZ & LINHARDT A

It starts with Linhardt saying they haven't learned anything about Shez's powers. I wonder how funny this sounds if you get it after the special chapters.

Linhardt says it's find because the war is almost over, so there's less need and chance for the powers to go out of control.

Shez pretty consistently wants to continue working as a mercenary after the battle.

He also seems to have no desire to stay in Enbarr lol.

Linhardt wants Shez as a personal bodyguard. Honestly, not a bad choice.

Then Linhardt says something like "spending the rest of my life with some random bodyguard" and then makes an excuse to leave. so he wants to stick with Shez for life. It's kind of sweet.

EDELGARD & PETRA A

Their only support

Edelgard comes across Petra praying to Bigid gods. In Brigid they pray in nature rather than in churches in Fodlan.

Edelgard asks Petra why she's risking her life in the war because it's bad for Brigid.

So Brigid will only be freed if Petra remains alive.

To be fair, it's because she doesn't know the new leader. Still feels a bit icky for Petra.

Edelgard warns about "tricks" the enemy will use. She really has a beef with anyone using tactics.

Petra just says she's happy to fight and can't run while everyone else remains and fights.

Edelgard says she can't back out, which true, but she could've just not started one. But that's in the past I guess.

Overall, came across better than the Houses one where Petra didn't seem like an equal.

EDELGARD/LYSITHEA/HAPI PARALOGUE

My plan is to have Edelgard and Shez make the other two adjuncts and see if I can't beat the paralogue that way.

It's about TWSITD, which isn't surprising given that character list.

God, I've made SB Shez so fucking stupid. Never understanding anything. It's so funny.

So is this about Cornelia? They found one of her old hideouts.

I had Shez shrug about joining. Hapi got offended.

They're talking about Hubert. I wish he was here. He's my best unit.

I wish Cornelia showed up. She's so fun, but sadly she did not.

They didn't find anything. Hapi was mostly chill about it. Edelgard and Lysithea were more bothered.

Shez could show concern or change the subject. Obviously I made him change the subject since SB!Shez is not intelligent.

CASPAR/LINHARDT PARALOGUE

Like the last time, I just plan to adjunct Caspar and let Shez and Linhardt do all the work.

They're arguing if Caspar saw a ghost or not. Linhardt remains unconvinced.

Lamo, their dads showed up and Linhardt's dad called him a "fountain of positivity" when he brought up their could die any day.

Linhardt is also upset that he has to help.

We're hunting down Empire people who've turned against Edelgard.

I had Shez not want to go lol.

The main battle changed to defeating their dads. I don't think I'm supposed to take this paralogue seriously.

Linhardt had no fun.

Bergliez gave Caspar some gaunlets, and I could either be happy for him or jealous. I obviously picked jealous since it's fun to pick the dick answer lol.

FINAL BATTLE

Why is the S rank reward Edelgard's axe? This is the last battle, right? Is there some post game stuff? Because I'm so ready for this to be done (I don't think I'll do it).

Funny, Edelgard is the one defending the monastery this time, and Varley. Imagine your final battle being about protecting Varley. Ugh.

Only 40 points for the final battle?

Just killed Catherine :(

Cyril just showed up. Rhea's so concerned. Not looking forward to killing a child :((( He died too. This is by far the bloodiest route. I swear no one even dies in AG, and in GW it's only Sylvain's dad.

This can't be it, right? That was too easy. And Cyril as the final boss makes no sense. I'm betting it's a Thales and Rhea fight.

Rhea turned into a dragon. Badass. Glad she was the final boss poper and not Thales.

Spoke too soon. I think they're both here now.

Think I beat it. We're at a cut scene now. Thales is doing magic shit. Rhea attacked him and just ignored Edelgard and Shez like they weren't worth her notice lol.

Wait, that's it?

Rhea pushes Thales off a cliff? So RHEA's the hero??

There's no way they could've survived that - Edelgard. My girl, Rhea is a fucking dragon and Thales can warp. I have bad news from you. Also, Byleth survived a fall too so . . .

What happened to Dimitri? I don't think I killed Claude either?

Is that really it? The war just keeps going. The war just keeps on with no end in sight. Hahahaha. You mean I played how many hours for THAT? I'm going to laugh my ass off if all 3 routes end like this. What a cheap way to avoid killing any of the lords.

OMG. What a stupid ending.

Except for Rhea. She got the big hero moment lol.

I kept waiting for another battle. Esp since there's an S rank reward that's Edelgard's axe, so Idk what's going on.

OMG, this is going to take FOREVER. They're showing the MVP of every single side battle and not just the main ones. I'm only at ch 6.

There was a lot more variety in MVP than I thought. I thought it would be the Hubert show, but it's pretty varied.

Ok, so around ch 10 turns into the Hubert show. I like seeing battle data though, so I sat through it.

Ok, so you get a letter from the person you get a whistle from. Aww, I eventually won Hubert's trust, and he admits he and the army needs us. Glad I picked him.

Wait, no paired endings? That blows. I hope this isn't a new trend since Engage didn't do that either (I love paired endings)

Ok, so it looks like some stuff would carry over to another playthrough on this file. So, in the future, I'd replay AG over my GW or SB playthrough to at least get 2 on the same one. I can't see myself replaying SB or GW. It's not like the story would matter since I could just skip it, but the gameplay is pretty much the same, so why not play the route with my favorites and the most unit choices on top of that?

So you can carry over supports and even unit level. So I could play Dimitri as the absurd level he's at in level one if I saved over my AG file? Because that would be funny. Probably boring. But funny.

Still feels good. One down. Two to go.

xxxx

[problematic-fodlan]

other translation anon :

there is another instance where the localisation edel's bias against naabteans, it's in the final fight when the immaculate one roars, in the localised version she says this "So it’s true. You don’t value human life at all. Isn’t that right, Immaculate One?" but in the japanese version she says this "Sure enough, what you consider important isn’t humanity, after all. “Immaculate One”…kin of the goddess!" aka she's saying rhea indeed doesn't value human life because she is a nabatean, when the localisation removed the nabatean mention.

the translation is available on teaspoon translation websites, but i don't know if i can add a link?

Links to other websites are fine.

[spiritsoulandbody]

#DailyDevotion When The LORD Has Had Enough Of A People

#DailyDevotion When The LORD Has Had Enough Of A People 1The vision of Obadiah. The Lord GOD says this about Edom. We have heard the news from the LORD. A messenger is sent among the nations saying, “Come, let us go and fight against her.” Who was Obadiah? Many scholars think he was an Edomite prophet sent by the LORD to warn Edom of their coming judgement if they didn't repent. There is a lot of debate as to when Obadiah existed. Some claim it was during the time of the Assyrians, others at the time of Babylonians and still others, when the exiles from Babylon began returning from exile and started rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. You may remember Edom is the descendents of Esau (Gen. 25) who was the brother of Jacob aka, Israel. Jacob Jacob bought Esau's inheritance for a pot of beans and then deceived Isaac into giving him Esau's blessing. So there was strife between these two nations even in the womb, hence the name Jacob. Edom would grow into a nation during the time Israel was in Egypt. Their kingdom was south, south west of Israel, whose border had very high cliffs. During the time of Jehoram they bought Judahite captives. It was during this time, Edom broke off its servitude from the kings of Judah. During the time of the Babylonians, the Edomites took advantage of Judah. They attacked it, took spoils and captives. They killed men fleeing from the Babylonians. When the Jews returned from exile, they harrassed the Jews while they were trying to rebuild the wall. Since Edom was still a kingdom during this time, I tend to believe Obadiah was written around this time. It is written in Mal. 1:2, ““I have loved Jacob, 3but Esau I hated.” The LORD now warns Edom, He is sending the nations against her. This is because of Edom's treatment of his brother Jacob, i.e. Israel and Judah. So Edom eventually falls. During the Persian period, the Qedarites, followed by the Nabateans, ran the Edomites out of their territory into southwestern Judea. They would lose their name as the Greeks and Romans take control of the area they resided calling it Idumaea, then receiving the name Idumeans. You may recognize this name as the Herods were called Idumeans. These people either by choice or force, became converts to Judaism, while retaining a separate identity. Ultimately, as we can see today, they are no more, according to the prophecy concerning them. Some commentators take Edom to be a figurative naming, for they see the call for the nations to go against them as something not quite fulfilled, at least, not at any one point in time. Now I do think we can use this to some extent for ourselves in our day. Edom can stand for the false Church which persecutes those who preach and teach the Gospel. If you will, we can see it as Babylon in the book of Revelation, whom the nations eventually turn against. If we take it as such, then we as the true Church can take comfort in the midst of our trials and tribulations as we stand firm, preaching and teaching repentance for our sins and the free gift of forgiveness, salvation, righteousness, and holiness bought for us by Jesus Christ by the shedding of His blood and His innocent suffering and death. Just as Jesus was humiliated, suffered and died, we as His Bride can expect nothing less. But also, as Jesus is risen from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father, we can look forward to our own resurrection and the inheriting of the Kingdom of God and being seated with Him on His throne. Heavenly Father, always give us the sight to see in the midst of our trials and tribulations, the ultimate purpose for which You called us and redeemed us in Christ Jesus, so we may persevere in the faith. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Read the full article

[fayesemblemring]

Engage sequel idea has been buzzing over my head so im jotting it down here before i go to bed and forget it

Takes place at least a millennia after Engage

Elyos has been doing better than ever, with the four countries having forged strong friendships and Gradlon having been reformed under Veyle's rule;

But recently there have been a lot of strange happenings: people seemingly from other words just getting dropped to Elyos out of nowhere (and then became refugees turned denizens of Gradlon), the Emblems are apparently reawakening but acting weird, some new Emblems have been sighted and... The landscape itself seems to have changed?

Story would have two routes taking place in the same continuity similar to Echoes: Alear's, where they once again gather the royalty from Elyos to investigate the sudden changes and the old Emblem's strange behavior, and Veyle's, where the Fell Queen and her band of adopted immigrant misfits tries to solve the mystery behind what is pulling people from all the other worlds, the new Emblems' origin.

Concluding with a final story where the Fell Family come to face the truth behind the Emblems, their true origin and existential nightmare and a dark page in the history of Elyos that predates even Sombron's arrival.

AKA Emblems are fucked up. Addressing their seeming alterations in personality to make them more compliant, them being allowed to remember but never truly miss their loved ones and homeworld, and most importantly the fact they're replicas of existing people doomed to live in a ring and in servitude for the rest of their life and being painfully aware about it, as well as the fact they'll never be able to go home. Again, Emblems are fucked up.

New Emblems are created in a much more amateurish way by forging and using the Bond Rings from Engage. So yay, Emblems of secondary more obscure characters!

Btw, headcanon I literally just came up with, but this comes with the idea that Emblems are able to change the landscape of Elyos to reflect their memories, and do so subconciously. Hence the Paralogue maps.

Technically of smaller scope compared to Engage since there's no war going on... Which is not a bad thing imo

Both Alear and Veyle filling a role of mentors and actually alive parents. Older, wiser and with a tone of melancholy

Speaking of Veyle's group, all of them can be traced back to their home world if you pay close enough attention, although it's way more subtle than the Emblems ever were. Personally I'm down for an at least half-Nabatean who survived the Zanado massacre as that mysterious dragon orphan from Veyle's end card.

The Fell Twins are there too. Also Veyle has the Pact Ring, bite me

[randomnameless]

Yuri being associated with the CoS means he should have been lolcalised too, to a certain extent and I found an example in his paralogue :

Pat's Yuri : It's useless for the Church to keep the Relic, it's more practical for me to use it than to stock in their stinky treasury.

JP!Yuri : I'm the only one who can use it, it's more practical and safer if I use it, rather than putting in the monastery's treasury.

Given how this paralogue can only be accessed in White Clouds (between chapter 8 and 11), I'm pretty sure Yuri already got the intel from Rhea and/or benediction to use the Relic, but, of course, there's no mention of keeping the Relic (who might, or not, be his beloved tutor's remains!) safe in the localised version, instead, Yuri is a bit more teasing/joking about the treasury of the Monastery and basically says it's useless for the CoS to keep it, when he never says this in the JP version.

Hell, the "as far as the Church knows" mention could be interpreted as "they will allow me to use it since no one else can use it" -> it's indeed pratical for him to use it, but there's no nod to the "it's useless if it sleeps here, let me use it instead" thing that Supreme Leader tells Fraud about the crest stones in the Holy Tomb!

Yuri says it's safer for him to keep the relic than to let it in the Treasury - especially after how he grilled and threw shade at Gerth for acquiring it in the JP version

aka he had them gift the relic to negotiate peace...

Back to the main point - Yuri wants to keep the relic safe and believes it'll be safer with him than in the Treasury, but Pat's Yuri says it's practical for him to use it and it'll be uselessly in a vault.

JP!Yuri is concerned about the Relic's safety, when Pat's Yuri is more preoccupied about using it...

Given how Yuri is close to the Nabateans (CS is basically his and Rhea's show and in Nopes he has a support that distorts the "official history" with Seteth, and he was saved by Apostle Aubin himself who might or not have been a Nabatean but at least was close to Rhea and one of Seteth's old friends!) and how religious he is, it makes a lot of sense he doesn't see Relics as tools to be used but wishes to keep them safe.

Hell, if there is one human the Nabateans could trust with "The Truth" bar plot shenanigans, it'd be Yuri.

But the localisation removed that meta-bond (Yuri who is close to Nabateans unknowingly does the same thing they would have done, aka try to protect the remains of a fallen Nabatean!) he shares with the pointy ears...

To instead borrow a page from Supreme Leader's book, aka let's use those tools (granted, I doubt Yuri knows what crest stones and Relics are since he's isn't consorting with Agarthans) instead of letting them take dust here.

That's a choice lol

[deathbirby]

K here are some terrible takes I have collected. Short thoughts for each one.

"Rhea intentionally caused famine by not sharing knowledge with Faerghus"

We have no idea what kind of knowledge she shared. And pick a side! Rhea has to stay out of human affairs because she's not human, OR she has to involve herself with human affairs because otherwise she's bad?

"The Church is homophobic"

Nowhere is it even implied that same-sex relationships are frowned upon in Fodlan. Hell, the archbishop, goddess, and many devout characters are queer, and nobody raises a fuss about their love lives in their endings.

Their holy book also says that the goddess does not deny love.

The whole crest stuff is not the church's fault. They tell you not to abuse crests, and had no hand in the creation of them. Humans did. And speaking of humans, Edelgard says that the people are the ones who elevate crest bearers, not the church.

The Church also has no control over the nobles, who would be the homophobic ones in this scenario??

"Cyril is Rhea's slave"

Cyril was an actual slave at House Goneril until Rhea saved him, something he is expresses his gratitude for by doing chores. He wants to feel useful in some capacity. This is a child who wants to feel useful and takes on extra chores because of that. He's a stubborn little lad, and we love him for it.

"Rhea keeps Cyril uneducated on purpose"

Cyril says in his and Lysithea's support that he keeps his illiteracy a secret because he doesn't anybody to feel like he's not up to a task because of it. AKA: He wants to help out!

"Seteth is doing propaganda"

I'm guessing this refers to the Shadow Library. Seteth removes books there that are either inappropiate or have information that's extremely dangerous if it got out. Some books talk about bans, but since those books are in the shadow library, that likely means they're outdated.

Or this refers to him calling Edelgard mean things?? She declared war against them; of course he's not happy.

"Byleth regains their humanity in CF"

Byleth was never human. Their mother is VERY much implied to have been a Nabatean, and their heart belongs to their (likely Nabatean) mother and the goddess.

Byleth also embraces their Nabatean heritage. Remember that Silver Snow is called Byleth's Route.

Byleth's Legendary Alt in FEH is their Enlightened One version.

Byleth's Brave Alt in Feh is Sothis's regalia, and they sing the Song of the Nabateans.

Byleth's Halloween Alt is a Duo with Sothis.

Byleth's Summer Alt is a Duo with Rhea.

Byleth's Khadein Alt talks about the Goddess's hand in events.

Byleth's Fallen Alt's Forging Bonds has Sothis taking over their body to protect them.

This argument also implies that it's bad for someone to be Nabatean, which is like... yikes.

"Seteth kills the western church members cuz theyre heretics"

"Indeed. The Western Church is attempting to seize sacred ground by force."

- They explain it to you in the exact same paralogue!

"The Nabateans benefit the most from the current state of events" / "The Nabateans are the ruling/top class in Fodlan"

How does the nearly extinct group benefit most from a system where their people's bones are used as WMDs?

They are walking on glass, y'all. If the truth (or even a lie) got out, they would get hunted down.

"Lonato is a good man"

He incited an armed rebellion against a church and would've mowed down villages to get there. He also goes around the knights to attack the students. No, he is not a good man.

"Nabateans ruled over humans in the past and their rule was bad" / "Nemesis did the right thing by taking out the Nabateans"

The word the devs use for the Nabatean rule is apparently something like "cure."

It is also NEVER stated that their rule was bad? Just that the Agarthans hated it (because they hate everyone).

Even the Agarthans talk shit about Nemesis. Nobody liked him.

And you can't... justify genocide? What?

"Sothis and her kids are colonizers and the Agarthans are the natives who got wiped out"

Fun fact! Despite all my theories, it is never made clear whether or not humans already lived on Fodlan when Sothis got there! The beginning cutscene flashes (Sothis's memories) show us a gorilla first, which implies that either life was not advanced, or humans did not exist by then.

Let's say humans did exist then. Sothis landed there and just started her own family. She never took any land by force? She shared knowledge with the humans which allowed them to build modern cities. That's not colonization. Please look up cases of actual colonization; I beg of you.

Sothis is more accurately an immigrant who shares her own culture with others.

"Sothis is not a god but a space alien"

It's never confirmed if Sothis is a space alien so that's actually just theory/headcanon.

Even if, all of her feats (and the dev's words) say that she's a god.

There are many more takes like these, but these are the ones I remember from the top of my head.

[fantasyinvader]

So, I was thinking more about Edelgard's Japanese line in Hopes about her getting rid of Fodlan's "absurdity." I recalled another line changed from the Japanese, how Edelgard is said to want to "reforge" the world. Or rather, how it's supposed to be that Edelgard wants to put the world back to what it once was. And I was thinking on this, what was the world like before the Empire and Church? The answer is the Fodlan ruled by Nemesis, who Edelgard sees as a champion of humanity. That's when it hit me.

Nemesis was an Agarthan puppet, and the Agarthans don't see most people as humans. From what the game says during it's info dumps, they got drunk on their own power and viewed themselves as gods.

Rhea:Eventually people began to think of themselves as gods and challenged the progenitor god herself to battle.

Adding to this is the note from an Elite, who viewed his Relic as "sacred".

My life, along with my sacred weapon, will unquestionably be forfeit. My dear son and daughter… I hope you can forgive me one day.

(Also I like how in the Japanese, the final page says "What exactly did King Nemesis do to Seiros? Was it a mistake to go along with his story?" Aka, should I have believed what this guy said?".)

The usage of "sacred" is consistent with the Japanese, which would connect it with some sort of religion. This era, which we were led to believe was an era of humanity ruling itself, had it's own gods of sorts. The Agarthans gave the Elites the Relics and the Crests, the former we know they viewed as sacred, which would connect it to their religion as well as Rhea's claim that the Agarthans thought themselves as gods.

Edelgard wants to get rid of the Nabateans, the Church and any influence they've had on Fodlan. But that just means she wants to go back to a time when the Agarthans were viewed as gods by the people. Sure, she'll get rid of the Agarthans themselves when she has no more use for them, but society will still be based on her trying to return things to the way they were during the time of Nemesis. It'll be based on Agarthan ideals. Suddenly, a "world for humanity" makes a lot more sense.

Just trading the teachings of the goddess, stuff like not abusing your power and using it to help others, for the teachings of a bunch of racist dickheads, that's all Edelgard is doing. No wonder Mercedes doesn't support her new church in Flower.