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Prologue: The Fall of Renais

As anyone who has played any Fire Emblem can tell you, having someone's country fall to an evil invader is something of a staple of these games (and their plots).















Of course it wouldn't. Without a war, how else will the noble children run around doing heroic things?

So, that was our history lesson. Nothing particularly new for an FE plot although I do appreciate that the title and its significance is explained so quickly and concisely.

Next, we get into modern day geopolitics for Magvel.



For some 800 years, a quiet peace reigned in the absence of the terrible darkness. The Sacred Stones have been passed from generation to generation. Nations have been built around their power and their legacy.







I really like characters with vibrant red hair. It's just so eye-popping. And happy.



If you added the previous and this country together, you'd get a fusion that's sort of similar to Begnion.



He looks evil. I bet he's evil.

These five countries house the power of the Sacred Stones.



Apparently, the king or leader here is such a non-entity, he doesn't even merit a one line introduction of his name and title.

In these times of peace, tales of past conflict have drifted into legend, and memories of the ancient dark arts have all but evaporated.

It is now the year 803... In an instant, the whole of Magvel is threatened by an unexpected atrocity. The Grado Empire, the largest of the Sacred Stone nations, has invaded the kingdom of Renais under orders from Emperor Vigarde. A longtime ally of Grado, Renais is caught off guard, unable to mount any resistance.



This sounds depressingly like Crimea's plight, except Crimea had the ignominy of losing their capitol and king in one fell sweep. Not that the actual result of this war is any better for Renais.









How cheery.



A soldier runs into the throne room.



: The castle gate has been breached. Emperor Vigarde's forces are within the castle walls.

: I understand.

: The garrison has fallen. We've lost contact with Prince Ephraim and can expect no aid from his men. Your Majesty, what are we to do?

: ... What else can we do? Order your men to lay down their arms.

The soldier runs out to carry out his orders.



: Eirika. Are you wearing the bracelet I gave you?

: Yes, I have it right here.

: Good. Seth.



: Take Eirika and head for Frelia. King Hayden is an honorable man. I trust he will keep you safe.

: Understood. And what of Your Majesty?

: Me? I shall remain here. We have long held Grado among our dearest allies, yet now, they attack? I must know why. Am I somehow responsible for this? Have I erred in my leadership? Renais is mine to guide ... How could I have failed her so?

: Father, you can't stay! You mustn't! If you remain behind, then so shall I!

Listen to Eirika. Sometimes, it's not you. It's the crazy bastards running the other side. Don't be like Marth's sister and pointlessly sacrifice yourself for no good reason!

: Go now, Seth! Ride! Take her to safety!

Seth grabs and carries Eirika.



: Forgive me, Your Highness.

Seth rides out with another cavalier. Just a few moments later, Grado's forces break in and surround the throne room.



This must be a huge throne room to accommodate all these troops. And their horses!









: A single rider has better odds of passing unseen by Grado's men. Convey to the throne all that has happened here and petition for reinforcements.

: U-understood!

Franz rides off.







This really, really feels like FE9. Or, I suppose, FE9 feels like FE8. The creepy, gender-swapped version of Petrine has shown up. Yeah... I love Fire Emblem and all its ... subtle... visual clues as to whether a character is important (or not) and good (or not).

: Well, this must be my lucky day. You're a dead man. The wench goes with me.

: Never!



More like creepiest.



Ouch. This is a rather serious wound. Valter's got a high hit rate here, significantly more than Seth's.



: No!

Seth grabs the princess and rides off, grimacing.



: How entertaining. Fly away, little man. Fly away. Try to outrun death. More time to savor the hunt ... and the kill.

On the one hand, sending crazy types like this means they'll never give up. On the other hand, they're crazy and arrogant and do stupid things like letting the princess go because it's entertaining to chase them down.

The princess and Seth end up in a mountain pass, just before a bridge on the outskirts of Renais. It makes me wonder how small Renais is if they can travel to its borders within a day.



: If we've made it this far, we've surely earned a moment's rest. Please forgive my grabbing you so... brusquely earlier.

: Don't be foolish, Seth. If it weren't for you, I would never have made it out of the castle. You are the reason I'm still alive. You have my gratitude. And whoever that man was, he was clearly after me... It's my fault you received such a grave wound. Allow me to treat it, I --

: Your Highness, I can't allow an injury like this to be an obstacle. We have more important matters to attend to. We must press on to Frelia. We must fulfill His Majesty's wishes.

: ... I wonder how my father fares alone in the castle. Do you think he's safe? And what of my brother on the Grado front? We've heard nothing from him for days.

Eirika's pretty hopeful.

: King Fado and Prince Ephraim are both valiant and brave men. I doubt even the might of the Grado Empire can hold them in check. More important to me, Your Highness, is that you look to your own safety. How sad the two of them would be if something were to happen to you. We must reach Frelia to ensure the day of your happy reunion.

Seth is sort of odd. He's like the archetype for Geoffrey in FE9, duty bound and feels responsible for the princess. He is also, however, our Jagen, that is, the early promoted unit that people can depend upon in times of trouble in the early chapters. You don't want to depend upon him too much since he'll suck up exp from the lower leveled characters who need it though. Like Titania, he'll be pretty good later on.

That aspect of being older though as opposed to the same age tends to give their interactions a slightly different feel than Elincia and Geoffrey's and those last few line in particular feels like Caeda from FE1/FE11 could have said it. Plus, Seth looks cooler and he's slightly more warm and less awkward than Geoffrey.

: Yes, of course. You're right. Until I'm reunited with my father and brother, I must not despair. Come, Seth. Let us go.



: Let us proceed, Princess Eirika.



: Please, take this rapier. If something should happen to me, you must continue to Frelia, alone if need be.



Glad we got a rapier because just as we do so, some enemies show up.





: Stand back, Princess Eirika.

: It's all right, Seth. My brother has taught me something of swordplay. I will stand with you.

With that said, we start the battle! Player Phase first so we get the first attacks.

Let's take a look at our units.



Our lord! If she dies, the game ends. Looks sort of like Lyndis from FE7, a fast speedy character who can't take a lot of damage. Next page shows items (our aforementioned rapier and a vulnerary) and equipment stats. Last page shows our weapon level (E in swords) and support levels (none at the moment).



And here's Seth. Paladin is the promotion for cavalier so you can see his stats are noticeably higher than Eirika's. He has a steel sword, a silver lance, and a vulnerary and A ranks in both swords and lances.

Our enemies are three fighters, two mundane units and the boss character O'Neill. All of them wield axes, which is handy since Eirika uses swords and swords have an advantage against axes.



No grid lines unfortunately. Blue is our range for moving, red is where we can attack. Everything outside of that is unavailable, either due to lack of movement range or it's not a tile we can move on.



This is the complicated version. Blue side is our stats. Red side is enemy stats. Most of the info is fairly easy to understand but AS stands for attack speed. After I minus the enemy defense from Eirika's attack (12 - 5 = 7), we do less damage than the soldier but since our AS is so much better than his, we're going to double and actually do 14 damage. Hit and crit are both percentages. We're definitely going to hit at 100% with a 14% chance of getting a critical. The fighter might miss though since he has a 39% chance of hitting.



Or we could just look at the simplified one. Same info, just condensed.



Eirika stabs the soldier with our rapier. She actually crits on the first attack so the second one finishes off the soldier fairly easily.

We don't need Seth's help so we just end turn.

On the enemy phase, the second soldier attacks. He misses and we do 14 damage, bringing him down to 1. Boss doesn't move so it's our turn again.



We promptly kill the second soldier.



We end turn.



:: Come! It's time you high-and-mighty knights learned to respect a true warrior!

He rushes up to Eirika.





Ouch. He hits us for 10 damage bringing us to 6 hp - this, despite the fact, that he only has a 25% chance of hitting! Bah. On our turn, we crit and finish him off.



You really showed us, O'Neill. Eirika levels up.



Pretty good level up! Strength is nice for Eirika since she probably won't get a lot of it.



: What? Oh, no... I'm fine, Seth.

: But you look so pale...

: I'm fine... Fine.

She's not fine.

: ... This is war, isn't it? It's not at all like the games I used to play with my brother or Lyon. I never thought - I didn't know it would be this... savage. Are words useless? Is strength all that matters? It's so sad... Why would the Grado Empire do this? To what end would they start a war?

: Princess...

: ... Don't worry, Seth. I won't give in to sorrow. Let's get moving. I'm not broken, and I won't stop until I see Renais restored. I won't stop until I'm reunited with my father and brother.

That marks the end of the prologue. So, our new characters are:

Eirika

Rocking that rapier.

A princess of Renais on the run, Eirika's a bit naive so far but her heart's in the right place. She's similar to myrmidons or Lyndis, high speed, skill and luck to dodge and crit a lot with pretty good HP. She needs it to make up for her low defense and resistance.

Growth Rates:
HP: 70%
Strength: 40%
Skill: 60%
Speed: 60%
Luck: 60%
Defence: 30%
Resistance: 30%

Seth

Seth just looks awesome.

General of the Knights of Renais, Seth acts as guardian and adviser to Eirika. He's a pre-promote with the disadvantages that brings but he does have supports that should help, including Eirika.

Growth Rates:
HP: 90%
Strength: 50%
Skill: 45%
Speed: 45%
Luck: 25%
Defense: 40%
Resistance: 30%

Speaking of supports, if we want to get one between Seth and Eirika next chapter, we can. Don't feel that it's necessary to get one right away though! We are only allowed 5 support ranks for every character and there are plenty more characters coming. Taking the C support rank between Seth and Eirika will limit both of them to only 4 more support ranks. We can always wait and decide to support them later after looking at some other options.

C Support
Seth and Eirika: Attack +1, Defense +1, Accuracy +2, Avoid +2, Critical +2, Critical Evade +2