Landed lords
Landed lords (Japanese: 領主, Hepburn: Ryōshu; lit. lords), or just lords, were people who ruled over vast areas of land in Midgard throughout the 10th century AD. In the year 998 AD, four lords ruled over four lands: Lady Cerulea ruled the Land of Seas, Lord Beis ruled the Land of Sands, Lord Gray ruled the Land of Mountains and Gray's son, Lord Shahor, ruled the Land of Forests. However, their reign came to an end by the end of the year at the hands of the Intoners.
History
Rise to power
The origins of the landed lords lies in the Church. In 890 AD, the Church set up the Church Survey Team in order to take control of the Cathedral City's surrounding self-governing territories.[1][1.1] In 904 AD, the Church took control of the entire Iberian Peninsula. However, it also became common practice for members of the Church Survey Team to stay in conquered areas after their expeditions. They established self-governing regions, and became known as the landed lords.[1.1]
Relationship with the Church
Beginning in 938 AD, the Church formed mutually beneficial relationships with the landed lords. This further expanded and stabilised their power.[1.1] By 951 AD, it had become common practice for the landed lords to bribe powerful people within the Church, and also to war amongst themselves. The lands the lords governed became known as the "Land of Mountains" and the "Land of Forests."[1.1]
Nine years later, in 960 AD, a landed lord had been appointed as the director of a Magic Academy, one of many institutions set up by the Church dedicated to the study of magic. That upset the wizards, as the lord was not familiar with magic whatsoever.[1.1] Eleven years following that, some young wizards led a revolt against the continued election of landed lords into positions of power within the Magic Academy. Unfortunately for them, their uprising was suppressed overnight.[1.1]
Because the food supply chain into the Cathedral City was disrupted over the years, the city's government and the Church began trading money, weapons, women and children to the landed lords in exchange for food.[1.1] 986 AD thus saw the formation of the Blue Order, an underground revolutionary group dissatisfied with the corruption in the Magic Academy and the Church. In four years, they garnered support from wizards and lords alike.[1.1] They enacted their plan a year later, staging a massive revolt in the Central Magic Academy in the Cathedral City. This was once again met with suppression, albeit via magic means. The use of sealing magic resulted in eighty percent of the citizens living within two of the city's wards to die. Meanwhile, the survivors went insane, and were subsequently buried alive.[1.1]
Following that incident, which came to be known as the Blue Revolt, the Church became even more dependent on the military might of the landed lords.[1.1] Meanwhile, the landed lords began funding their own independent magical research.[1.1] In 994 AD, no landed lord acted as the director of a Magic Academy. Although the academy gained its independence, the lack of support from landed lords led to its decline.[1.1]
Deposition and death
In May 998, five young magical girls with the Power of Song (later known as Intoners) made their way to the castle of the cruel lord of the Land of Sands.[2][2.1] They faced him in battle and killed him, ending his ruthless reign.[2.2]
After hearing of this, the remaining three lords gathered together in the Cathedral City. They arrived there on June 6, 998 AD, and tried to open an ancient door known as Mercury's Door, which was said to protect all the world's knowledge and power.[2.3][3][3.1] Their attempts proved to be fruitless however, so they lay in wait for the Intoners.[2.4]
When the Intoners came, the lords launched their attack. After decimating nearly all of the Intoners, the surviving Intoner One shattered Mercury's Door and unleashed the black sludge that was trapped behind it. All three of the lords died in the ensuing chaos.[2.5][2.6] Their soldiers and subjects would remain unaware of their deaths for the next few months.[4][4.1][3.1]
Legacy
The Intoners routed out and killed all who remained loyal to the landed lords. On the New Year, Intoner One triumphantly returned to the Cathedral City, where the people celebrated the beginning of the Intoners' rule.[5][5.1]
References
- ↑ Drag-On Dragoon World Inside. Released by Square Enix as part of the Drag-On Dragoon 10th Anniversary Box on December 19, 2013.
- ↑ Drag-On Dragoon Utahime Five. Written by Jun Eishima. Illustrated by IsII. Supervised by Yoko Taro.
- ↑ NieR 10th Anniversary Livestream. Broadcast live on April 22, 2020.
- ↑ Drag-On Dragoon 3 Setting Document Collection + The Complete Guide. First edition produced by ASCII Media Works and published by Kadokawa Future Publishing on April 10, 2014.
- ↑ Page 130: Record of Flower, #5: Related Materials.
- ↑ Drakengard 3 - Prelude. Released by Square Enix as part of the Drakengard 3 Collector's Edition on May 20, 2014.
- ↑ One: Visitors.
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