"Feral" is an odd title, since we're not dealing with Feral Ones today. I think this is a mistranslation of just "beast"?
"You live like this?"
Maybe that expansionist theory holds water after all...
Reyson has come to meet with Naesala.
Lorazieh is also a survivor of the Serenes Massacre. He is never depicted on screen and has zero impact on the plot. He survives the events of both games and recovers in the ending of Radiant Dawn. I guess at least they didn't fridge him for anything?
He's had it bad enough as it is.
Naesala has come to meet Reyson.
Not that remarkable.
Reyson hasn't been to Kilvas often. So what made him change his mind?
Reyson wants to know what Naesala's deal is. As do many people.
Reyson is really fond of Tibarn. I wouldn't take it to the extent of homosexual content, but some people do. He is pretty justified to be defensive of him, though, as his primary caregiver.
Naesala cites how he used to look after Reyson and "his sister". Reyson has multiple sisters, but I assume he's talking about one in particular...
Reyson is having none of it.
He doesn't like negotating with beorc. If Naesala would just be more of a good man, perhaps the two could get along?
Naesala says no.
Reyson doesn't seem open to keeping this friendship.
Naesala has a huge burden on his shoulders. Like all kings, I suppose. Not sure if Naesala is doing what he says here, but...
A Senator! Wait, Tanas?
Oh, it's you. I wonder what Sanaki knows of these backdoor shenanigans. Probably none of it.
He noticed Reyson on the way in. When was the last time he saw a heron, you reckon?
Naesala has no time for Oliver's shenanigans.
Naesala stole cargo from Begnion for the benefit of Begnion. Well, Senate petty squabbles. This has some implications.
Oliver has a new request.
Oliver loves his art. He is a lover of all things beautiful, after all.
Oliver would probably pay any number Naesala asks here. But the game is interested in not giving numbers to these backdoor shenanigans.
Hm...
If Ike isn't perplexed yet, he definitely is now.
I'm not sure how much the Greil Mercenaries are supposed to know about Gashilama's slaving habits, but we as the player know that this cargo is probably the "cats, tigers, and a few crows" he mentioned in his opening line.
Ike is not fond of Diplomacy with a capital D.
Elincia, Caineghis and Kurthnaga don't play these games! Honestly not a really good sample size here, for reasons Titania is about to expand on in Elincia's case but apply equally to Kurthnaga. Caineghis, though... sorta?
Whether or not it is exclusive to the beorc class system, beorc definitely play it better. At a certain point, a laguz is just going to flip the table and kill the other guy because it gets too complicated.
...OK, beorc will do that to, they just have much higher tolerance thresholds.
Ike is already dismissively calling them "beorc nobles". Definitely a laguz in the body of a beorc.
Lethe, you have done a great service for the good of humanity. And you also knocked out a lot of slavers, too.
Hey, look at our "Gold Earned" tab- somebody slipped us some cash on the quiet! Sanaki did pay us! This legitimately has no pop-up like Caineghis's cash injection, but if you look at my "Spent" tab, you can see I definitely needed the boost. At least I'll have plenty of Steel Weapons to throw around.
Two Support conversations for the main playthrough today- the first is increasing Mist/Titania to B. This sets them at [Atk +1, Def +2, Hit +5]. Not too shabby.
Mist is too work-focused to have enjoyed her day out with Titania.
Poor Mist.
It's probably nice, for Mist to hear something about her mother. I can definitely see Elena doing this, too. Not that Elena gets that much of a personality, she's far too posthumous for that.
Titania Best Mum Older Sister.
Our other Support pairing today will be Jill/Lethe, which gives [Def +0.5, Hit +5, Avo +2.5] per rank. The Heaven Affinity gives +5 Hit per rank, which is kind of overkill.
Jill does not seem like she's entirely sure about this conversation.
She is the one that started it, though.
She's trying so hard.
This line supports Nasir's thing about "the laguz having once dominated the beorc". It would have been difficult for ancient humans (our kind) to fight off laguz, and it is highly likely that there is a period before the beorc developed weapons of iron where the laguz dominated the beorc. I just don't feel 100% certain there is such a period in the ancient history of the beorc and laguz as told by the game.
This is a decent question to Jill, probably, but it has a key flaw.
Namely, it focuses on why the laguz hate the beorc, when there are so many reasons to point to in living memory. Understanding the feud requires a deeper reading.
Jill does not seem prepared to do that.
Lethe has no time to spare for people with no critical thinking.
Jill realises she did an uh-oh, but isn't sure where. Again, she's trying so hard.
Two Info conversations today. Well, actually, three: We just missed our first Info conversation. If we had recruited Makalov rather than leaving him for dead, he would have an introductory Info conversation here. I'll append it to the end.
Here's the servant.
He says this...
But seems very insistent that we find ourselves lucky to be in Mainal. Yeah, very prosperous for some...
I don't think the Zunanma come up again until Radiant Dawn endgame, but think about what a "predecessor race" might mean in the context of the world of Tellius and take a few guesses what they are.
If PoR ever gets voiced, I want Ike to deliver this line deadpan.
...We are being paid to deal with these bandits, sir. Do your research!
This is the gameplay clue in this conversation. This line is the only hint in the game about how one goes about recruiting Stefan.
Ike talks with Sigrun about the map in more general terms. For the people who started with Three Houses and have no other FE experience, you might want to take some notes.
Because today's mission is the Fire Emblem Desert Map. The capital letters mean these maps have a Reputation!
We won't be choosing our companions with care, of course, we will be using the same ones we always use, regardless of their merits.
What is a desert, anyway? If you've got no experience with one, it's tempting to think of them as just beaches without water.
They're a little more difficult than that. At least we don't have to worry about dehydration or anything.
Ike muses that normally Soren does this sort of exposition for him, which prompts this line from Sigrun. What exactly is up with Soren hasn't come up yet in the story, but the game sorta acts like it has...
It doesn't help that we're not clear on what it is. Sigrun decides to continue.
Deserts are open terrain, with very little in the way of cover. PoR's desert is probably the worst offender.
Physical footsoldiers have their movement cut down to 3. Cavaliers? 2.
This is a bit of a weasel word, and I didn't exactly count squares, but I think these units are usually not affected at all. Maybe they lose one square or something.
Ike doesn't understand the "mage" clause. This is I think an artefact from FE1, with the only real explanation in that game possibly being that there's a magic school in the desert of Khaedin. I think mechanically, it was to make a Gharnef encounter more terrifying.
This is Tellius's explanation.
Even the game doesn't seem to consider it likely for you to believe this story.
Sephiran is the one who made the claim. Would you believe it was a joke, coming from him?
Sigrun says "yes".
Flying units, obviously, can just ignore desert, same as any terrain.
I think this is actually halved movement, so not that much better than infantry footsoldiers, laguz just have so much more Move.
Ike asks about why Sanaki and Sigrun always say laguz.
I believe that there is some religious teaching that says this. But even without the religious angle, this is a very valid reason to be opposed to laguz persecution: it's basically "we're all people" in more words.
You said it, not me, sister.
Well, that certainly doesn't mean anything at all. This line never gets revisited, but I'm sure Three Houses would have a field day with this line.
Ike is Ike again. Sigrun just sighs and moves on. At least it's not insulting her. And she probably knows several dozen people who it does insult that deserve it.
Oh yeah, hidden treasure. Deserts and their hidden treasure.
(It's Skill in PoR.)
So hope you enjoyed your briefing on the Fire Emblem Desert Map. Low move for your most common units, often high-intensity objectives, hidden treasures to run around and nab. Three Houses only has one mission take place in the Sreng Desert map- Claude's paralogue- and while it keeps the desert movement rules and the spirit of the hidden treasure/high intensity objectives with the Other Enemy thieves, it doesn't really have the bite of a classic Fire Emblem Desert Map.
...Oh yeah, Makalov.
---
Already my mood is ruined.
Ike has come to have a chat. Makalov continues on his way.
You call that a cough? One out of every five jobs, you'll never pay your debts that way.
At least find a game of skill and get good at it.
Perfect.
This man has no cunning.
In debt to slavers. How do you manage that?
How does he know that one?
Good things in life don't come cheap, fella.
Half the known world probably would be richer if Makalov paid all his debt.
Soren helps him out of a jam. This is probably the first clue things are about to get ugly for Makalov.
Even Makalov seems to have caught on.
This is not reflected in the game mechanically. No in-game usable money is lost for recruiting Makalov. Even if you guess this came from Sanaki's paycheck, you don't get a bigger one for not recruiting him. And all the better for it.
Hooray indentured servitude!
Who says Ike is incapable of being heartless?
Yeah, honestly, I think Makalov is better off in the main file.
---
Today's levels. I only levelled Astrid up once? Well, I guess it is a desert map and she's a cavalier. Mist is nearing promotion and Ilyana is more or less ready.
Ike asks Soren if he's OK.
Soren does not seem to be aware of the issue.
Ike tried to distract him with work and it failed. Now Ike is definitely on top of it!
...Not that we have much time to talk it over.
Say hello to best boy.
Ike, you don't just blurt that out, for different reasons than usual!
Well, that was a very short "intro to intrigue" turnover.
These guys seem to be not very fond of the slavery thing. As are most people.
The artbook claims that the Laguz Emancipation Army is comprised of two people: This boy and that laguz behind him.
THEN WHO THE HELL ARE THESE PEOPLE?
There are a few entries that, for some reason or other, read like the person who wrote them was working backwards from the content of the game rather than truly fleshing out the world as much as I might have liked. The Laguz Emancipation Army is a case where I think this is most damning, although after having written a story with Tormod as the lead and some of these laguz getting names and personalities, I'll freely admit I'm probably biased on the topic.
It's probably worse in universe. Right now, they all look like random people.
This is the map, and you can count the physical impediments on one hand.
And this map (from Serenes Forest) is where all the treasure is. If you guessed that I want the Boots, Silver Blade, Guard, Physic and White Gem, you are correct. The rest of it is if I get the opportunity.
Here is the boss. He has a Demi Band.
All of these laguz have different TP gauges. Laguz transforming at the start of their turn also has a bit of a nasty effect in that you can't really reliably use the "enemy range" readout.
This laguz, in particular, will teach us an important fact about laguz attack ranges in the desert. Namely, that beast laguz can cross three tiles unshifted, and four shifted.
Sothe must stand here if we want him to avoid being clawed at. Also, he digs up the Coin here.
Thieves can dig up treasure 100% of the time. I could not bring the thieves and rely on the [Skill+1%] chance of digging up treasure naturally, but I also value my time.
This raven up here has 16 TP and will transform this turn too. Bird tribe laguz get two extra movement from transforming, not one, in desert. I don't think this guy can reach Sothe from here, but considering they're on opposite ends of the map, it's a closer shave than you'd hope.
Untransformed laguz are so pathetic that Jill can't not kill this one. Probably for the best, I need to attack him at the exact correct moment.
Our first laguz falls, and with him goes 300 BEXP for not killing a single enemy other than Muarim (the map is Defeat Boss). As much as I love the Laguz Emancipation Army, and my original characters that are members of it, this just isn't worth it for your sanity and also collecting all the treasure. Besides, the CEXP is more than fine. If there's a laguz you can't kill, each one you spare is worth 40, but I wind up going for a rout.
First time I played this game after inventing those characters, though, I felt a little worse about it.
This laguz attacks Titania, and does not die in return. Titania is starting to reach the point where she is no longer a safety net sort of unit.
Physic heals the same amount of HP as Heal, but from up to Mg/2 spaces away. Because of the way Three Houses treats magic, it's on practially everybody worth turning into a healer, but here it's a little more rare. If you're using thieves, though, you can steal the enemy's. I won't be doing that.
Titania picks up some Strength she desperately needs to stay relevant. I mean, look at that stat. My other characters are starting to match or outpace that.
Desert movement is a terrain thing, and I think the way the formula works for Paladins, there's an extra point of movement that you don't use up when moving 2 spaces. So the game invites you to move again, but you don't have the remaining movement to go anywhere. Keep this in mind, because the game won't let you do anything else until you stop this movement.
Volke grabs the Silver Blade. He already has Guard, but I don't think I screenshotted that one. It's not that important, I guess.
Marcia is currently holding Sothe and using a 1 use Steel Lance. This tiger must be thinking it's Christmas.
Despite the fact he is currently standing in the danger zone, this is actually the safest spot I could find for Sothe. I wish I could've switched Marcia off the Javelin, but honestly, her only other weapon right now is a Laguz Lance.
Ilyana stumbled onto the Shine tome. Light magic tomes are only usable by Bishops, and the only Bishop you the player can get is Rhys. Most people wind up selling their Light spells, since Mist is so much better than Rhys.
So much Resistance, and yet not a mage to block.
Ah yes, it starts. Nephenee does a lot of not killing things this chapter. Wasn't there a pacifist goal or something?
Lethe does not double this cat. I mean, fair, class mirror match.
Marcia's getting close to promotion. How close? Well, there's a cat in front of her she can finish off...
Oh, that did it. Pictured, the weird black weapon thing.
Fates justified the class name "Falcon Knight" as being named after Falicorns. Also, that's why Falco mounts have a horn and pegasi don't. Me? I just admire the pegasus stats and move on.
Also, Falcons also have the "Falcon Blade" from Dragon Quest, which I'm fairly sure is named after something but I don't know what. Falcon Blades are good equips associated with high speed, though, so I'm a fan. I like Dragon Quest in general, though.
Sothe lets Marcia switch to that Iron Sword Marcia was carrying in her fourth slot. Falcon Knights gain the ability to use Swords, which isn't that useful, but it could come in handy, so I want a rank or two. Good thing I still have some spare Iron Swords.
I'm fairly sure this was one kill.
Mist heals Nephenee, because I apparently don't want to proc Wrath at all this run.
Volke uses this chance while the enemies are all still on 12 TP to nab the Boots. Boots grant +2 Movement to a character when used.
You can see I switched from the Iron Lance to Steel to avoid this. Should've gone to Reginleif.
No Strength is not helping.
So, uh, remember what I said about attacking this guy at the exact correct moment? Mia hits him with a one use Steel Sword.
(And does not roll the 1 in 4 chance to murder him, that's good)
And, since the laguz was on 18 TP, transforms him on the player phase. This raven charges you and stays in your range being annoying, and you do not want him transforming on the enemy phase.
Astrid finishes him off for the EXP he's worth.
More healing, this time in range of some enemies! Nephenee needed it a little more, though. Mist is standing in range of Jill, at least.
Turn 5 means that all the laguz who have not yet transformed will be doing so now. That land above this laguz is not Desert, but Plain, and he has considerably more than 4 move across that. Sothe must be careful.
Here's a tiger I can kill, though. I think this is the one by the Statue Frag.
So much for that Strength cap. I think Lethe can still make it missing one or two levels. We'll see.
Mist took a hit from this tiger.
Jill doesn't double a cat, of course, but this'll be an issue in terms of finishing the cat off next turn.
Mist does not get hit by this Hawk. I don't know if she could've lived it.
Here's the hawk while it's on-screen. We haven't really seen hawks in battle yet.
Ilyana takes a hit from a cat, in another "mages in range of enemies" moment.
And Nephenee leaves another laguz alive.
So, we have four enemies, four units I want getting EXP right now, and some units who want to be away from enemy presence. Let's see if we can't make things easier for them.
First step, kill the hawk laguz with Astrid, since bows.
Ilyana can't reach the cat with 16 HP, so this tiger it is.
Nephenee kills this cat with her Javelin. Part of the reason I've been healing her is because Mist is trading her from a Javelin to a melee weapon- she got a lot of use of it this map.
And some Strength!
Jill gets the last one.
So yeah, the square labelled "Vague Katti" on Serenes's map does something... interesting if Lethe stands on it.
Lethe isn't sure what.
Oh, hello, it's Stefan!
Lethe is as confused as we are about where he came from.
Stefan is very fun to talk to. Probably more frustrating than Sanaki, honestly. At least you can tell Sanaki is up to something when she talks. Stefan is just doing it for kicks.
And nothing more, said no one ever.
"Well, if that's all there is to your story, don't let me stop you."
Stefan decides to be weird.
And he decides to come along to learn about Gallia. I wonder what he hopes to learn.
Lethe is not going to sit down and have tea with him now, though: there's a battle going on!
Stefan decides to help with the battle so he can get started with those conversation. He's very helpful, if obstinate.
Yeah... sounds about right.
Marcia comes along to prevent that cat from killing Sothe.
And continues to become even stronger.
Stefan hands the Vague Katti over to Sothe mostly so I don't have to take it from him later. Convenience!
Incidentally, the Vague Katti is the S Rank Sword. Mia will probably be its sole wielder, but anyone who can use Swords can get the S Rank to pick it up. I think PoR is "only one S Rank".
Ilyana drops a thunderbolt on Muarim. She has slightly less than a 3% chance of just finishing the map on the spot right here.
Alongside the nature of this line of dialogue being about the persecution of the poor on trumped-up charges being very well done commentary, I would like to applaud this line for using "could not care less" in the grammatically intuitive way.
Amidst all the damage I do is this Javelin hit from Jill. I was hoping this would actually make Nephenee win on the counterattack.
It also gives Jill an awesome level.
But the Nephenee curse continues. That Iron Lance has got to go.
Mist reaches level 20 on this note. She'll get a Master Seal next time.
Nephenee gets the Muarim kill for some more Strength, because I am really sick of all these enemies she left on 1-2 HP this map.
Ike seems to have forgotten the little boy that did all the talking when they arrived.
There's a few moments across the series where an enemy general demonstrates how good a person they are by asking that they be killed and their soldiers spared. This honestly just makes the player army come across as assholes for trying to kill the soldiers anyway. Not that we're mechanically innocent of this.
Oh, there he is. Tormod is amazing.
And sadly, he has jumped to this conclusion very quickly.
The first two sentences are factual statements. The third is a lie Muarim came up with to try and get Tormod to avoid getting any punishment from the Senate.
Tormod is having none of it. He wants the Laguz Emancipation Army to live and die on his terms.
Ike is having none of this argument.
Ike has completely the wrong idea and is completely confused as a result. Tormod and Muarim share a glance and start storytime.
Yeah. Laguz slavery. There's a reason Gallia decided to secede violently. And why the laguz still hate Begnion as much as the reverse.
Illegal for thee, not for me.
"You mean there are people that commit crimes?"
And yep, if you're rich enough, you can either hide the slaves or bribe the police.
Bastards are probably guilty of it too.
The law is only as good as the people who enforce it. If your law enforcement is crooked, what crimes are punished can go in any direction.
Ike points out that railing against the heavens and freeing laguz is not going to stop the slavery system any faster.
And Tormod says a futile effort is better than no effort. He refuses to stand back and watch the laguz suffer while the nobles lounge in comfort and reap the benefits.
Ike is happy to help.
I feel like this might make a cool desktop or something. Probably is some desktop picture somewhere, I doubt it was drawn specially for this game.
Not the sort of thing you want to find yourself saying.
Welcome to the ancestral home of the heron tribe, Serenes Forest. Also the name of the most complete website for Fire Emblem mechanical information. Try and keep on top of which one you're talking about.
...And Reyson has never seen this before? He's sat here steaming about how awful the beorc are for destroying his home and has never actually seen his destroyed home?
Naesala is off going "...". Because that's always nice to see people doing.
Reyson is seeing red seeing all this grey.
Ancient Tongue! This is the first instance of it in the game, and it is an older language that modern speech (English, or whatever language you selected) has almost entirely supplanted. Despite apparently being harder for laguz to master than beorc, it is mostly the heron tribes that speak it, and also mages for spells. I imagine it's the equivalent to Latin back in an era where "speaks Latin" was something you could put on your resume in the "special skills" section rather than the "interesting facts" section.
Ancient Tongue is also just a fancy font, and can be translated relatively easily. Translations for all the Ancient Tongue lines exist. This one is [Sacred trees! Seed, root, and trunk! Awake from your slumber and heed my cry! Answer the call of the green, mighty ones!].
They really build up this devastation before revealing what caused it to the player.
Naesala riles Reyson up, teaching him why the beorc are so despicable in a way Reyson probably never had before and still hated beorc with every fiber of his being.
Yeah, I can think of some beorc that are like that.
The reason Reyson has for forgiving Naesala here is that Naesala has proven he hasn't forgotten humanity's crimes while he's being chummy with them.
Just because Naesala engages with people he doesn't like doesn't mean he supports them, after all. Having interests align means working towards a shared goal. And then shanking them in a dark alley.
Naesala then brings up the worrying problem of how they're going to get home- or more accurately, how they are not.
He suggests finding and "borrowing" an empty nobleman's manor for the evening.
Reyson objects, but Naesala is correct on this point. This is even included in the games mechanically: bird tribe laguz have 1 vision in Fog untransformed and 0 transformed. Not that we'll be seeing this happen in Path of Radiance. Or in Radiant Dawn, for that matter.
Naesala's being all relaxed and friendly.
Naesala and Reyson, friends again?
Yeah, I was happier without that mental image in my life too.
From Wikipedia:
Suet is the raw, hard fat of beef, lamb or mutton found around the loins and kidneys.
That one, too, could've gone unsaid.
So much to think about in so few words. Naesala is off being Naesala. Kilvas will thank him later, I'm sure of it.
No pacifism bonuses at all and I lost a turn- again, due to a boss kill. Still, though, the CEXP we got was nothing to scoff at- wait, did we not promote Ilyana? I should've given her a kill somewhere...
Next time: Sanaki meets us without the senators present.
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