Post by Kudzu Aura on Nov 11, 2011 13:14:38 GMT -5
Long ago, Sylvarant and Tethe'alla were united as a single world that drew strength from the Great Kharlan Tree. Divine intervention tore them apart, however, and the World Tree withered and died. It was eventually left to a boy named Lloyd Irving and his friends to restore the world to its true form. At their journey's end, a new World Tree was planted to replace the old one and to hold the two worlds together. This was the story of the Journey of Regeneration.
Together once more, the world is now entering a new era. However, its people are still faced with many problems. After the lands became one, maps were rendered useless and the climate went through many vast changes: desert towns became frozen wastelands and lakes dried up into valleys. All of this stems from an overlooked factor in the unification of the worlds: the spirit of the old Kharlan Tree, Ratatosk, still exists somewhere, and its slumber has sent the world into chaos.
However, Ratatosk is not the only problem: the people of the two worlds are starting to hate each other. The citizens of Tethe'alla look down upon the citizens of Sylvarant due to their inferior technology, and the citizens of Sylvarant fear the citizens of Tethe'alla because of their power. Two years have passed since the worlds were first merged, and the people of Sylvarant have created the Vanguard which is supposed to rise against the Church of Martel and the people of Tethe'alla.
Six months prior, the Church of Martel, led by the hero Lloyd Irving, attacked the Sylvaranti city Palmacosta because members of the Vanguard were meeting there. Countless innocent people died and Palmacosta was consumed in a terrible fire. This event came to be known as the "Blood Purge," a bloody massacre caused by the Church of Martel.
Emil Castagnier, a Palmacostian boy, whose parents were killed by Lloyd, is sent to Luin to live with his aunt and uncle after this traumatic incident. He suffers continual mistreatment from them, however, and he is further ostracized by the people of the city, who view Lloyd as a hero.
Emil's life takes a dramatic turn when he befriends Marta Lualdi, a girl who is being hunted by the Vanguard and the enigmatic Richter Abend alike. Determined to protect her, Emil confronts Richter and helps Marta escape with the aid of Tenebrae, a Centurion spirit who serves Ratatosk. Tenebrae states that there are other Centurions who lie in a dormant state: to restore balance to the world's environment, all of them should be awoken in order to revive Ratatosk. Emil forms a pact with Tenebrae, and in so doing becomes a Knight of Ratatosk. So it is that Emil and Marta embark on their journey of revenge and restoration.
Later on in the story it is discovered that Emil is not really Emil Castagnier, but actually a personality created by Ratatosk who was implanted with false memories. The name Emil belongs to a person who most likely died during the Blood Purge. Ratatosk assumed the form of Aster, possibly because he was the last human he saw before Richter reduced him to core form. Ratatosk/Emil were awakened by Marta Lualdi as she called for help in Palmacosta. In a ruse to escape, he implanted her with a fake core to draw attention away from himself while he regained his power. Exhausted, Ratatosk became dormant while the personality Emil took it's place. The new Emil, in the guise of Aster, wandered upon previous Emil's dying parents and Emil's mother Lana, now blind, mistook him for her son. Emil then followed her directions to escape to his aunt in Luin.
With the "spirit" of Emil and physical form of Aster, he was able hide after being attacked by Richter Abend. The Emil who acts as the protagonist in the story is the personality Ratatosk created which grows from his experiences after fleeing Palmacosta. Some clues that other characters are aware the new Emil does not look like the real Emil despite taking on his identity are when the player meets Ms. Dorr, the widow of Palmacosta's governor-general, and Thomas, Emil's apparent next-door neighbor, both stated that they didn't recognize Emil, but eventually let it slide.
Tenebrae chose to let Emil/Ratatosk live for a while without telling him the truth, even letting him believe the core on Marta's forehead is real so the gathering of the other Centurion's cores would be easier. The pact with Ratatosk and the title of Knight of Ratatosk that go with it in fact do not exist, and are fabrications by Tenebrae.
In the end, Ratatosk ended up battling Lloyd and Marta in his rage, and lost to them. This caused him and Emil to battle within his mind, which Emil won. Richter and Ratatosk will have a conversation where it seems like Richter switches place with Ratatosk in the job of guarding the Ginnungagap. Richter then suggests that Ratatosk, here noticed to be able to maintain a physical form along with his core one, divides himself in a Emil and a Ratatosk form. Ratatosk tries to refuse, but after some arguments from Richter, Tenebrae, and Aqua, he thanks them and the credits roll on. After the credits, there will then be a cutscene where Emil appears before Marta in Palmacosta, smiling.
Together once more, the world is now entering a new era. However, its people are still faced with many problems. After the lands became one, maps were rendered useless and the climate went through many vast changes: desert towns became frozen wastelands and lakes dried up into valleys. All of this stems from an overlooked factor in the unification of the worlds: the spirit of the old Kharlan Tree, Ratatosk, still exists somewhere, and its slumber has sent the world into chaos.
However, Ratatosk is not the only problem: the people of the two worlds are starting to hate each other. The citizens of Tethe'alla look down upon the citizens of Sylvarant due to their inferior technology, and the citizens of Sylvarant fear the citizens of Tethe'alla because of their power. Two years have passed since the worlds were first merged, and the people of Sylvarant have created the Vanguard which is supposed to rise against the Church of Martel and the people of Tethe'alla.
Six months prior, the Church of Martel, led by the hero Lloyd Irving, attacked the Sylvaranti city Palmacosta because members of the Vanguard were meeting there. Countless innocent people died and Palmacosta was consumed in a terrible fire. This event came to be known as the "Blood Purge," a bloody massacre caused by the Church of Martel.
Emil Castagnier, a Palmacostian boy, whose parents were killed by Lloyd, is sent to Luin to live with his aunt and uncle after this traumatic incident. He suffers continual mistreatment from them, however, and he is further ostracized by the people of the city, who view Lloyd as a hero.
Emil's life takes a dramatic turn when he befriends Marta Lualdi, a girl who is being hunted by the Vanguard and the enigmatic Richter Abend alike. Determined to protect her, Emil confronts Richter and helps Marta escape with the aid of Tenebrae, a Centurion spirit who serves Ratatosk. Tenebrae states that there are other Centurions who lie in a dormant state: to restore balance to the world's environment, all of them should be awoken in order to revive Ratatosk. Emil forms a pact with Tenebrae, and in so doing becomes a Knight of Ratatosk. So it is that Emil and Marta embark on their journey of revenge and restoration.
Later on in the story it is discovered that Emil is not really Emil Castagnier, but actually a personality created by Ratatosk who was implanted with false memories. The name Emil belongs to a person who most likely died during the Blood Purge. Ratatosk assumed the form of Aster, possibly because he was the last human he saw before Richter reduced him to core form. Ratatosk/Emil were awakened by Marta Lualdi as she called for help in Palmacosta. In a ruse to escape, he implanted her with a fake core to draw attention away from himself while he regained his power. Exhausted, Ratatosk became dormant while the personality Emil took it's place. The new Emil, in the guise of Aster, wandered upon previous Emil's dying parents and Emil's mother Lana, now blind, mistook him for her son. Emil then followed her directions to escape to his aunt in Luin.
With the "spirit" of Emil and physical form of Aster, he was able hide after being attacked by Richter Abend. The Emil who acts as the protagonist in the story is the personality Ratatosk created which grows from his experiences after fleeing Palmacosta. Some clues that other characters are aware the new Emil does not look like the real Emil despite taking on his identity are when the player meets Ms. Dorr, the widow of Palmacosta's governor-general, and Thomas, Emil's apparent next-door neighbor, both stated that they didn't recognize Emil, but eventually let it slide.
Tenebrae chose to let Emil/Ratatosk live for a while without telling him the truth, even letting him believe the core on Marta's forehead is real so the gathering of the other Centurion's cores would be easier. The pact with Ratatosk and the title of Knight of Ratatosk that go with it in fact do not exist, and are fabrications by Tenebrae.
In the end, Ratatosk ended up battling Lloyd and Marta in his rage, and lost to them. This caused him and Emil to battle within his mind, which Emil won. Richter and Ratatosk will have a conversation where it seems like Richter switches place with Ratatosk in the job of guarding the Ginnungagap. Richter then suggests that Ratatosk, here noticed to be able to maintain a physical form along with his core one, divides himself in a Emil and a Ratatosk form. Ratatosk tries to refuse, but after some arguments from Richter, Tenebrae, and Aqua, he thanks them and the credits roll on. After the credits, there will then be a cutscene where Emil appears before Marta in Palmacosta, smiling.