#next up: headcanons about why i think elusia ended up worshipping the fell dragon

[slotumn]

In a break from my usual 3H in-universe international relations posting, I come bearing: Engage in-universe international relations posting.

Namely, why aren't any of the other countries doing something about Brodian invasions on Elusia?

Well, for Firene and Solm, it's very simple: those two fighting keep them from being threats to their own nation.

Firene is a bountiful land, one that a more rugged country like Brodia would probably love to conquer... if they could. Judging by Celine, despite their peaceful image, Firene doesn't slack on security/military. Combine that with more productive farmlands, etc and it's possible Brodia could get their ass kicked if the war goes on longer. That's probably why Brodia picks on Elusia instead, as the comparatively easier target that still has resources they want.

Still, Firene isn't unaware of Brodia's general attitude on foreign policy, so they choose to let Brodia stay distracted with Elusia instead; why risk trying to make them stop if they might turn to you instead, you know? It helps that Firene is religious and Elusia worships the Fell Dragon, so they have an extra excuse to continue letting that happen (even if they don't outright dispatch their own troops for it).

As for Solm, I think they've seen Elusia as a threat for a while. During the Solm chapters, Timerra says they've already gathered intel on them reviving the Fell Dragon, which probably means they've been spying on/monitoring Elusia pretty extensively while gauging them as potential enemies. And if Brodia keeps that potentially-enemy neighbor in check from the opposite side of the continent for free, why refuse it? Also note that in the Fell Xenologue, where Brodia isn't attacking Elusia, Solm is the one that does, in a very "strike them before they strike us" way.

(Speaking of, you might notice that Timerra pokes at Alfred and Ivy in their A supports from a more political position/as a future ruler— like asking if Firene would invade Solm or admitting she was also trying to find out Ivy's weakness. But she doesn't do that to Diamant in their A support because Brodia doesn't border Solm.)

Now for the biggest question: why didn't Lythos, both the geographical and spiritual center of Elyos, step in? Even as Elusia worshipped the Fell Dragon?

My headcanon is that it's a combination of two reasons:

One, on principle Lythos and the Divine Dragon(s) only steps in when the threat is unmanageable by humans. The war with Sombron was one; there was no way humans could win against that by themselves, that was a war for the dragons. But in a conflict between humans, it's possible that one wrong intervention by the dragon-pope-god could actually make the situation worse; accused of being biased by certain parties, others riding on it to push their own nefarious agendas, etc, which could shake people's faith even more than if they'd just stayed quiet. At most I think they send humanitarian (dragonitarian...?) aid to the affected areas, but I don't think they'd go for military intervention.

You could argue that letting Elusia worship the Fell Dragon on state level ultimately led to the revival of Sombron, but judging by the fact Solm doesn't seem to be super religious to Divine Dragon(s) either + Pandreo wanting to pray to Veyle, it might be considered acceptable (like Lythos doesn't send orders to hunt them down or anything; albeit some people might still be prejudiced against the faith) to worship Fell Dragons if it's just a purely spiritual thing, and not, you know, literally trying to revive Sombron and also stealing the magic ghost ring nukes that help balance power between the nations.

Again, up until Elusia was puppeteered into reviving Sombron, the whole thing was 1000(+) years ago; I'd say that's enough time that figures from the war, no matter the side, could be treated and revered as more of an abstract folk deities (or formalized deities) than real historical figures. It probably helps that Sombron was "dead," so that put even more distance between humans born post-war and the actual threat that he was.

Second is: Lumera, who appears to be the last of her kind (until Alear steps up), has grown weaker due to transferring her powers to Alear. She still seems to be pretty strong because, well, she's still a dragon, but it's possible that she's not "singlehandedly stop a war" strong anymore.

Meanwhile most legends/scriptures about her are probably from when she was at full power. So, uh... it's probably a bad look if she chooses to intervene directly, only for it to just show how much she's weakened. I think Four Hounds/Fell Dragon worshippers trying to revive Sombron would probably have gone around recruiting and causing havoc earlier and on a far wider scale if they learned of this.

In other words, something like "let humans figure out their own problems, dragons will step in if it's a threat they can't handle alone" is both a good policy for the development of humanity in general + doesn't make Lythos, Lumera, and Alear look incompetent/weak and therefore give room for legitimately dangerous groups to recruit more openly.

(I also like to think Alear's solo end alludes to this, because it talks about a blue haired Emblem fighting the Corrupted; like it's easy to forget gameplay-wise because we kill them all the time, but the Corrupted are fucked up zombie puppet soldiers who are explicitly associated with Sombron/Fell Dragons, aka not things humans would regularly encounter or know how to deal with)