A bitterly cold region in the northern reaches of the continent of Storm. It was originally home to the Mothercrystal known as Drake's Eye, around which a series of small nations sprang up—nations whose belligerence proved troublesome for Rosaria over the centuries.
The Northern Territories used to be a loose collection of small nations in the north-western Valisthea in Final Fantasy XVI, which had a strained relationship with the southern border nation, the Grand Duchy of Rosaria. The Northern Territories are a cold region consumed by the Blight and considered uninhabitable, as nothing grows on the deadlands. The former residents of the region have thus dispersed, many entering Rosaria as refugees.
The region used to have a Mothercrystal, Drake's Eye, around whom the northern tribes gathered and formed their nations, until the crystal was destroyed in the Year of the Realm 790,[1] presumably by the Blight. The Motes of Ice tribe used to inhabit this region in the time immemorial, and among their descendants arose the Dominant of Shiva. Not much is depicted of the Northern Tribes, but it is known that some warriors used to tattoo their arms and legs in religious imagery with ink made of wyvern tail root even if the ink is venomous: should the tattooing kill the warrior, it was believed that he had "failed to find favor among the heavens".[2]
The elusive frost wolf is native to this region, a species of canine animal who imprints on Dominants and is able to channel aether. Silver chocobos may also be native to the former Northern Territories, as it used to be custom to make charms of their feathers to welcome newborns to the family.[3]
A region in the eastern shores of the northern territories, Mysidia, has been resettled by the surviving descendants of the Motes of Water, who placed a glamour around it to remain hidden from the rest of Valisthea due to their Bearer population and to escape Sanbreque's persecution.
History[]
Lay of the Land background.
A legend tells of a northern "Queen of the Snows" and Dominant of Shiva, who had a powerful follower and protector in the magical wolf Fenrir.[4] In the year 450, the Northern Territories became integrated.[1]
In more recent memory, the Northern Territories went to war with Rosaria and their Eikon, the Phoenix, in 790 when Drake's Eye fell in an attempt to invade the still Blight-free duchy. Infighting broke out and the northern tribes were ultimately forced to retreat.[1] With the Blight encroaching on their territory, the remaining tribes were united and pacified by Archduke Elwin Rosfield of Rosaria in the year 854. The northern tribes' chieftain's daughter, Jill Warrick, thus came to be kept as a ward for House Rosfield, the ruling family of Rosaria, as guarantee for peace. When the area began to be viewed as inhabitable, the tribesmen migrated to Rosaria as refugees.
In the years following Rosaria's annexation by the Holy Empire of Sanbreque, a combination of both the Blight's ever-continuing advance and Sanbreque's lack of interest in the territories has destabilized the region ever more.[5]. The remnants of the northern thegns used to raid Sanbreque's shores for resources, but the raids stopped once the Blight consumed them.
During the five years after Drake's Head's fall and the emerge of "Cid the Outlaw", Joshua Rosfield traveled the Northern Territories with Jote, presumably looking for an apodytery of the ancient Circle of Malius faith. It is unknown what they find, however, if anything.
Citations[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Final Fantasy XVI Ultimania, Timeline
- ↑ Final Fantasy XVI, A Complete Botany of Banes
- ↑ Final Fantasy XVI, "Silver Linings" quest
- ↑ Final Fantasy XVI, Mysteries of the Realm "Frost Wolf"
- ↑ Final Fantasy XVI, Lay of the Land "The Northern Territories"