Historical Lore 10 / 10
It was a close call between Tellius and Archanea but I feel like Tellius takes the win in terms of historical lore. Tellius is the only continent whose creation is actually explained. Having a creation myth makes the world feel more...mythical (for lack of a better term). We also have a massive continent ending flood going on along with the consequences and aftermath thereafter. Then after that we get the formation of each of the various nations, a golden age for Rome Begnion, the rebellion which lead to the creation of the laguz nations and two major wars. We also get treaties, an emancipation act and a massacre. Tellius literally has everything that I could want when it comes to lore and it pulls it all off very well. It really is that fleshed out and any further comments made by me won’t do it justice.
Politics 9 / 10
While Tellius never achieves the dark Machiavellian heights that Jugdral does it can still set itself apart from the rest of the continents. Tellius does a great job at establishing the alliances and politics between each nation. Tellius also benefits from the racial tensions between nations which add an extra layer of politics. One of the highlights in Tellius politics comes in Part 2 of Radiant Dawn where we see Elincia handle a civil war. She manages to pull off being both strong and compassionate and does a pretty good job of bringing down Ludveck. Part 1 does well in establishing why Begnion took over Daein and why Daein had to overthrow them. It gets extra points for putting Jarod in a tight spot. Having Sanaki hear about all of the bullcrap going on in Daein added a great touch to the politics as it proved that not all of Begnion was evil.
Unfortunately Tellius does squander its potential with the introduction of the Blood Pacts. Instead of having enemy generals clash due to their ideologies we get Begnion forcing Daein and Kilvas to do its bidding. I won’t spend too much more time on this since the Blood Pacts get bashed enough as is but it does hurt Tellius as it oversimplifies what could have been some nice morally ambiguous conflict. Still, I’d much rather take the worst of Tellius than the best of Fates, Awakening or Magvel.
Family Tree / Relationships 8 / 10
Solid category for Tellius. Granted, there are other continents that do this category better but overall I think Tellius does a fine job with what its given. The character relations chart is well developed and multiple groups of different characters are connected with each other. Some of the highlights here are:
- The Greil Mercenaries
- The Daein relationships (Ashnard + Almedha = Soren plus the Four Riders)
- The Gallians
- Elincia & her retainers
So yeah, Tellius is decent in connecting whole groups of people together. There’s also Zelgius’s connection to Ike, Greil and Sephiran (I’m surprised this doesn’t get mentioned in the character relations chart). Unfortunately characters like Devdan, Zihark or Stefan tend to lower the score, but they’re an exception rather than the rule.
Nation Development 10 / 10
Nation Development, like historical lore, is one of those areas where Tellius and Archanea were neck and neck but I felt like Tellius took the edge again. Every nation in Tellius, except for Hatari, actually has a wonderful amount of development. The lore explains in detail why each nation (except for Hatari and Goldoa’s formation is vague) was formed. What’s more is that they also have distinct geographies which helps to make them all stand apart from each other. Here are a couple of examples to demonstrate my point:
The Begnion Empire
- Begnion became an Empire about 132 years after Yune got sealed by Lehran’s Medallion
- It’s the largest nation in Tellius. In fact Begnion’s borders touch all the borders of the other nations
- It has a huge number of diverse terrains (this will be covered in the “Geography” section)
- It’s a stratified society that’s very racist.
- The Begnion Central Army is the largest military body in Tellius
Phoenicis
- Established in 385. The first Hawk King was Horus.
- Phoenicis is isolationist.
- Phoenicis cuisine mostly consist of berries and seafood.
- They hate ravens and beorcs.
Phoenicis’ development is impressive considering the fact that we never get to visit it in-game and yet we know quite a bit about it. Begnion and Phoenicis aren’t the only countries that get this treatment. Gallia, Crimea and Daein also get some wonderful development as we know why these countries were founded, when they were founded, what their cultures are like, and their diplomatic ties. The only countries we don’t know that much about are Goldoa and Hatari. The nations with development more than make up for the ones that don’t and Tellius is the most consistent in its nation development which is why it gets first place in this category.
Geography 9.5 / 10
Tellius has the second best geography in the series. Every nation has distinct terrain. FE Wiki refers to Begnion as “the most bio-diverse nation in Tellius”. Begnion has two rivers, with one of them being a tributary of the other, a desert, a mountain range and a coastal region to the south. The border between Begnion, Gallia and Goldoa feature rare volcanic caves too. In fact I think Begnion is the most bio-diverse nation in the series. Phoenicis and Kilvas are island nations so it’s easy to tell what their geographies are. Crimea has well established borders with each of its neighbors. Riven Bridge marks its border with Daein and the Blue Mountains mark its border with Begnion. Despite rarely seeing Goldoa we know it has a coastline and the Kaku Caves mark its border. If all these examples don’t convince you that Tellius doesn’t do an awesome job with geography then I don’t know what will.
Magic Critters 10 / 10
Tellius curbstomps the rest of the series in this category. Laguz are the golden standard by which the other continents are measured against when it comes to magic critters. The laguz are critical to the plot of both of the Tellius games and they’re intertwined with the themes that the Tellius games present. They’re all varied and they have sentience so they’re not mindless monsters. The laguz even have their own nations and histories too. Each nation stands out from the others and they’re all memorable for all the right reasons. What’s even better is that each tribe have their own further sub categories and distinctions. The Beast Tribe have cats, tigers, lions and wolves while the Bird Tribe have hawks, herons and ravens and there are three kinds of Dragon Laguz. Not much else to say other than Tellius rocks this category.
BONUS CATEGORIES
Connections to Other Worlds 0 points
Tellius is not set in the same universe as any other Fire Emblem continent.
Women Rulers + 5 points
Tellius easily gets first place in this category. Sanaki, Elincia and Micaiah are enough for Tellius to secure the win. Not only are each of them the rulers of their own nations but each of them have meaningful contributions to the plot. As if that weren’t enough we also have:
- Petrine: Rider of Daein.
- Titania: Deputy Commander of the Greil Mercenaries
- Lethe: Shown leading troops as a captain
- Sigrun and Tanith: Both high ranking commanders of Begnion’s Holy Guard
- Naliah: Sole ruler of Hatari.
- Ashera & Yune: Even the deities here are women.
Yeah you get the point. Tellius has plenty of kick butt female rulers and commanders.
Racism + 3 points
Racism is a notable theme within the Tellius games. It brings up laguz as former slaves, mentions an emancipation proclamation (gee that sounds familiar. Where have I heard about an Emancipation Proclamation before?) and even has an underground slave ring going on between fat, corrupt nobles. Prejudice is also something that can be found even among the main members of the cast with some supports featuring character arcs revolving around this very issue. Tellius does a great job and I never felt preached at and I think the narrative of the games do a good job of integrating the theme of racism.
Blood Pacts - 2 points
Yeah Blood Pacts are pretty stupid. They’re vague plot devices that are designed to force characters to do things they wouldn’t normally do. It would have been nice if the rules were a little more established (see this thread in serenesforest.net for more details: https://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?/topic/55386-what-are-your-gripes-with-the-plot/&page=4)
I am a little more merciful toward the Blood Pacts now that the crystal ball in Conquest’s story-line is out, but that still doesn’t change the fact that the Blood Pact oversimplifies what could have been an interesting clash of ideologies.
OVERALL SCORE: 62.5 / 60. Yep, Tellius is so awesome at its world building that it actually broke the rating scale. Get on Tellius’s level! I think the reason why the score is so high is because of how consistent its world-building is. When the worst score it gets in the major 10 point categories is an 8 you know that Tellius is doing something outstanding. Tellius never makes a major misstep and does a phenomenal job weaving and integrating everything in so that its world feels real. Tellius has all the right details in all the right places and it shows. The narrative of the games is written in such a way as to naturally allow all of these to be woven into the plot so you never feel like you’re getting a major info-dump. As a result it gives it’s really interesting world more time to shine which makes it all the easier to love it.
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