Milites Empire

The Militesi Empire is a Crystal Nation in Final Fantasy Type-0 that neighbors the Dominion of Rubrum. The Militesi Empire's capital is Ingram where the White Peristylium, an organization that conducts research into the energy from the White Tiger Crystal, is located. Different from the Crystals of other countries, whose power can be wielded only by a select few—like the students of Akademeia—the power of the White Tiger Crystal is used to create weapons and magitek for both military and domestic affairs.

Rubicus
''Nominally speaking, the Militesi Empire is a totalitarian Crystal-State with an emperor at its helm. However, when the current emperor pulled a mysterious disappearing act, Marshal Cid Aulstyne conveniently stepped in to take control.''
 * The Militesi Empire

''Unlike the other nations of Orience, the people of Milites do not serve the White Peristylium. Rather, the White Tiger Crystal exists solely to provide abundant energy to the populace. When Cid Aulstyne seized reins of power, one of his first orders of business was absorbing the Peristylium into the imperial government. As expected, his proposal was met with resistance.''

''In other nations, only those chosen by their respective Crystal have access to its power. In Milites, however, scientists developed teknology by which they could extract energy from the White Tiger Crystal and harness it to mass-produce guns, magitek armor, and other armaments. Thanks to this nigh unlimited source of power, the empire has succeeded in mobilizing millions of troopers and overwhelming the other Crystal-States with their incredible numbers.''


 * Annals of Orience
 * Marshal Cid Aulstyne Seizes Control of the Empire
 * Imperial Invasion of Rubrum
 * The Imperial Militia
 * Imperial Dreadnoughts
 * The Empire's New Magitek Armors
 * The Empire's Enhanced Soldier Project

Story
When the Militesi Emperor went missing in 832, Marshal Cid Aulstyne took over all government affairs as well as the White Peristylium. In truth, the marshal had had the emperor imprisoned, and enacted a coup d'etat to become the nation's ruler. During this time the White Tiger Crystal fell into his hands, and the marshal came up with a way to subjugate it and thus enslave its l'Cie.

In 842 Cid used the Militesi government to break the Pax Codex and sparked a war by ordering the Ultima Bomb to obliterate the Lorican Alliance. Afterward, the empire recovered the Black Tortoise Crystal from the ruins. Cid Aulstyne declares Militesi will choose a new path for Orience and become the Agito to garner support from his own people for the war.

The empire moves to invade Rubrum to obtain the Vermilion Bird Crystal, and deploys White Tiger l'Cie Qun'mi Tru'e and two crystal jammers, disabling the Rubrum army's magic by cutting them off from their crystal. Cadets from what would become known as Class Zero are deployed to deal with the crystal jammers as they can wield magic independent of the Crystal, and Qun'mi and the Militesi forces are driven out of Akademeia. Impressed by Class Zero's prowess, the cadets are deployed to help regain Rubrum Region from the empire.

Rumors spread that the White Tiger Crystal is fading and the empire wants to siphon energy from the other Crystals as they are lacking many resources, unlike Rubrum whose Vermilion Bird Crystal still shines strong. The White Tiger Crystal powers the empire's armaments making them the premier military power in Orience. Militesi Empire is the only Crystal Nation to have subjugated their Crystal, and thus, its l'Cie, who are deployed to war to support the Militesi troops. This shocks the other nations, as l'Cie are known to not meddle with mortal affairs. The other Crystals respond by deploying their l'Cie against the empire as well.

Class Zero is deployed to destroy the imperial prototype magitek armor in the Steelworks manufacturing plant near the imperial capital of Ingram. They infiltrate the factory and destroy the Brionac designed to deploy the Ultima Bomb, but are accosted by the White Tiger Crystal Primus l'Cie, Nimbus, who overpowers the cadets. Queen Andoria of the Kingdom of Concordia invokes the Fabula Pact forged between the peristylia of the nations hundreds of years ago. Nimbus ceases his attack on the cadets and the queen declares an armistice in the name of the god Pulse. Marshal Cid Aulstyne watches the spectacle from a balcony, finding the queen invoking the pact "quaint."

Chancellor Khalia Chival VI of Rubrum travels to Ingram to partake in the peace talks, but the ceasefire is short-lived when Queen Andoria is assassinated and the blame placed on the cadets of Class Zero who had been given leave in the city. The chancellor and his entourage depart back to Rubrum as the war is to continue immediately, but the cadets are ambushed in the hotel by imperial troops and must fight their way through Ingram to escape.

The Concordian King, whose title is more of a figurehead, schemes to overthrow Andoria and when she is assassinated, assumes control of the nation and forms an alliance with the Militesi Empire to retaliate against the Dominion of Rubrum for their supposed role in Andoria's death.

Military
The Militesi Empire has the largest military of all of Orience with numerous armies with hundreds of thousands of troops under their command. The army is strengthened by the White Tiger Crystal that augments the imperial armaments. Officers usually stay back and issue commands to their subordinates and provide their troopers with various enchantment sera.

Some of the troops are enhanced by special armor created from engineering a device that extracts energy from the Crystal, resulting in augmented supersoldiers. The test soldiers from this project are known as "freaks" as they tended to lose their sanity.

The empire has a fleet of magitek armor that often serve as the main offensive force of the armored divisions, and an artillery squad, navy and an air force, as well as advanced weapons like the crystal jammer and the Ultima Bomb.

The imperial military's dreadnoughts are officially designed as "airborne warships" and have been included as the empire's primary source of aerial firepower ever since the founding of the imperial air force. Unlike the dominion military, the empire utilizes its airships to provide air-to-ground offensive support as well as transport magitek armor and soldiers, so these craft are bigger and more heavily armed than the ones employed by the dominion.

The crystal jammer was invented by Marshal Aulstyne himself and cuts the opposition forces off their Crystal. This weapon does not work against Class Zero cadets, who use magic independent of the Vermilion Bird Crystal.

The Ultima Bomb is the empire's ultimate weapon, able to annihilate entire countries if set off. However, the bomb detonated over the Black Peristylium was augmented by the l'Cie Qun'mi and one that exploded over Ingram airspace didn't seem like it had equivalent power leading to speculation about the the real potential of the prototype weapon.

The military is led by Marshal Cid Aulstyne himself, who can even deploy White Tiger l'Cie to do his bidding because he holds the White Tiger Crystal thrall. Numerous generals work under him to lead the campaigns on the ground.

Etymology
The nations of Orience are based on the Four Symbols.

Trivia

 * The country's attributes and qualities are symbolism to one of the animals of the Four Symbols.
 * Representing the west, the nation is situated in the westernmost region of Orience.
 * Representing the season of Autumn, the nation boasts a continuous overcast sky, with an upper continental climate.
 * Aligned with the Wu Xing element of Metal, the White Tiger Crystal manifests its use through technology and machinery, as metal is a material common in innovative uses. Metal also being the prime material for weaponry, it is also symbolic of martial force and death, both of which Milites has much of and causes greatly, respectively.
 * The White Tiger traditionally represents the general and military might in Chinese tradition.
 * The Militesi Empire uses a writing system that resembles Norse runes.
 * The Militesi Empire's use of the Ultima Bomb on the Lorican Alliance is similar to that of use of atomic bombs by America on Japan.