PART I: BEFORE THE SEALING OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 2: The World of Grandis

Grandis was the one of the three worlds created by the Overseers, separated from Maple World and Tynerum by a dimensional barrier. Grandis was a much different place from Maple World, with one year on Grandis being roughly equal to ten years on Maple World. Because of the countless wars over the eons, Grandis was also known as the Graveyard of Warriors. Similar to Maple World, Grandis was a planet with several moons, one of which being named Verdel. Grandis was split into three regions - Western Grandis, Central Grandis, and Eastern Grandis.

(A/N: Originally when Grandis came out, it was simply composed of Pantheon and Heliseum, which were individual planets in the realm. Afterwards, the release of Vulpes created the concept of Grandis being a system of planets, with more and more being added over the years. After the Glory update, it was revealed that the dimension of Grandis was composed of the planet Grandis, with Vulpes, Verdel, and the others being moons that orbited continental Grandis. In Ark’s storyline, an Apostle meeting was shown that had the Apostles give a rallying cry: “For the true world under the thirteen stars!”, with many speculating that the “thirteen stars” were a poetic way of suggesting that Grandis had thirteen moons.

During the NEXT update, however, a major retcon was made with Grandis, which turned all the moons except Verdel into regions on Continental Grandis. The distinction between continental Grandis and its moons was then removed, with all of Grandis being a single world just like Maple World, as Nexon felt like there were too many layers and levels in Grandis that would confuse players, especially with Grandis having become the new focus of the game since 2018.

Grandis was then split into three regions, each with a different focus within the game. Western Grandis is home to a variety of cities and cultures with historical significance, such as Cernium and Tallahart. Central Grandis is the heart of the High Flora nation, as well as Savage Terminal being a central hub for travel, along with areas like Angler Company headquarters and Sefirot as areas which aren’t directly accessible outside of special content like Epic Dungeons and the Grand Athenaeum. Finally, Eastern Grandis is home to the starting areas for classes, many of which were originally moons before they were retconned into towns on the planet.

Verdel remains the only named moon on Grandis because of its importance in Ark’s storyline as a satellite, which does bring up a weird plot hole with Grandis and its planetary system. Almost all the background assets for Grandis maps have multiple satellites in the sky, and Shade’s storyline even has Grandis having multiple moons, versus Maple World’s singular moon, as a major plot point - in particular, his name in KMS (Eunwol) means ‘hidden moon’, which is a name that he was given because he comes from a world with only one moon, versus how typical it is for Grandis to have many. It’s likely that there are indeed multiple moons on Grandis, with Verdel being the only named one, and it’s possible that they’ll add more moons as starting areas later on, but for now, it’s definitely a weird idiosyncrasy from the constant retcons.)

Grandis was home to many species, but the three largest were the Flora, the Nova, and the Anima. In the time of the Ancient Gods, a cult called the Black Nova worshiped one of the Ancient Gods of the Nova called Satiras the Devil Dragon, who had fallen to evil in his quest for power. Through Satiras, the Black Nova gained the power of Malice, allowing them to conquer all of Grandis. In order to keep the other Nova, the remaining dragon gods created a holy relic called the Outrigger. This relic contained the will of the Ancient Gods of the Nova, such that it could only be used for the protection of the Nova.

After the Transcendents were created, the Ancient Gods were cast down, including Satiras. Without Satiras to protect them, the Black Nova were hunted down to near extinction. The surviving cultists eventually made a decision that resulted in their horns, wings, and tails being lost to both them and their descendants, thereby ensuring that they would be not be identified as Black Nova, after which they fled to a remote part of Grandis and founded a hidden village for their people.

(A/N: Although it would make more sense that the Black Nova would have just cut off their features, it’s implied by the dialogue that it was the Black Nova ancestors who did something to permanently prevent their Nova features from manifesting in their future descendants.)

The Celestials were a race of demigods who followed the Sun God, Mitra, after he descended from the heavens. Proclaiming himself as the “god of gods”, Mitra began a war against Tynos, the Ancient God of disaster. After a long battle, Mitra and the Celestials defeated Tynos and his descendants, after which Mitra split Tynos into three pieces, sealing each of those three pieces deep beneath High Mountain, Tynos’ seat of power.

Following the battle, Mitra and his Celestials claimed High Mountain for themselves, where the Celestials built and settled into a city atop the three seals of Tynos. Mitra would later be defeated in battle by his Adversary, with the Celestials moving his body to a temple somewhere on Grandis. After the fall of the Ancient Gods, the Celestials lost their powers and remained trapped on Grandis, settling in High Mountain and founding an order of Templars, who guarded Azor - the holy sword of Mitra.

Meanwhile, various faiths gathered at the scar of the earth, the site of the final battle against the gods, which had been carved with the blade of the divine. Amongst those who had gathered, the strongest was a priest named Masra, a worshiper of Mitra. Masra used his strength to overpower the priests of all other religions and founded the holy city of Cernium as a temple dedicated to Mitra, founding the Order of Mitra in the process.

Many people gathered together in Cernium, including the followers of the Sun God and those who merely wished to flock towards Masra and his power. In the process of establishing governance over these various factions, a great war was waged that resulted in the establishment of Cernium as its own nation with its own laws. Masra then became the first king of Cernium, serving also as the first High Priest, and began the tradition of members of the royal family carving the pattern of the Sun God upon their foreheads, which reflected their dedication to serving Mitra.

Despite Cernium being established as a nation, the large number of believers who worshiped the Sun God soon began to fragment into different sects, each creating different practices of worship. Of these sects, one began worshiping Mitra as Spisa, based on the sun’s position at sunset, believing that Spisa brought flaming passion. Those who followed Spisa became known as the Flame Priests, who chose to honor their god with loud explosions using gunpowder, meant to mimic their flame powers that were lost to them after Mitra’s disappearance.

Another sect worshiped Mitra as Nerota, claiming that she brought hope at dawn and dusk. The followers of Nerota - the Dawn Priests - believed that their god’s spirit lived inside everyone, for which they would gather together in order to pray to each other, even using a mirror to pray to their own reflection if they were alone. They also believed that Nerota only appeared to those with a tranquil heart in the form of a dark blue deer, with the sun rising between its antlers if one stared long enough without blinking, for which they trained themselves not to blink in order to show their devotion.

As a result of these internal divisions, Cernium was engulfed in civil war as these various sects attempted to gain control over the city. At one point, the Order of Nerota was able to gain footing in the city, resulting in them creating a temple dedicated to their god. In the end, however, Masra and the Order of Mitra became the dominant power in Cernium, thus ending the civil war. Though many hoped for peace to return, external enemies began invading the holy city, which had grown weak from the infighting.

With the land that Cernium was built upon - the scar of the earth - being a holy site for many gods, not simply Mitra, those who hoped for the return of their respective gods continued to gather in Cernium. As the outside threat continued besieging the city, Masra chose to step down as High Priest and appointed a new High Priest to rule in his place, after which he continued ruling solely as the king. By separating out religious and state duties, Masra was able to focus on the war effort.

However, the war continued endlessly, and many citizens began turning against Masra and his ineffectual leadership. Even after Masra was succeeded by other kings, the infighting continued for centuries. Over time, the various sects of Mitra began to lose sight of their origins and came to believe that their gods, Spisa and Nerota, were entirely separate gods from Mitra. As a result, the Orders of Spisa and Nerota were viewed as heretics by the Order of Mitra, which continued attempting to push out the followers of all religions except their own.

After the fall of the Black Nova, the most powerful race became the Flora of Central Grandis - magic users with brilliant red wings and mastery over the mytocrystals that they used to cast their magic. Through their wings, they channeled the flow of mana into the mytocrystals embedded on the back of their hands, allowing them to cast powerful spells. The Flora were a caste-based society, with the God-King on top, followed by the Gods, the Priests, and the powerless commoners on the bottom.

The last God-King of the Flora had once been a kind man, protected by the Knights of the Einherjar. Several years into his reign, however, he inexplicably underwent a dramatic change of personality. Many of his subjects, including the knights, were alarmed by his madness, unsure of its cause. Unbeknownst to them, however, the God-King’s insanity was brought about by an illness instilled into him by his son, Prince Gerand Darmoor, who hoped to break the balance of life on Grandis in order to awaken as the new Transcendent of Life.

(A/N: As a disclaimer, it’s not explicitly confirmed that Darmoor was responsible for his father’s madness, but it’s like 99% suggested to the point that you can safely assume it to be canon unless they ever retcon it.)

In his belligerence, the God-King attempted to incite a war against the other races of Grandis. A faction of Flora opposed the God-King’s mandate and asked that he strive for peace with the other races. However, when it was revealed that the faction had plans to share their power with the commoners, they were accused of treason. They had their wings and magic stripped, and they were then exiled. They became known as the Verdant Flora, while the ruling faction became known as the High Flora. (A/N: In non-GMS translations, they’re called the High Lef and the Wooden Lef.)

Within the Knights of the Einherjar, there was similar growing dissent. One of the God-King’s most loyal knights, Adelaide, struggled with her loyalty to the God-King and her own morality in waging an unjust war against the other races of Grandis. When she declared that she could not follow him into battle, the God-King ordered her arrest and threw her into prison. (A/N: Adelaide is Adele’s full name. Her liege, Jerome, calls her Adele for short after they start working together in Ristonia in the present day.)

In exile, the Verdant Flora struggled to create their own society without their powers. Eventually, the God of the Verdant Flora discovered a way to combine technology with their residual crystal magic, allowing them to regain much of their old power through mechanical blue wings. (A/N: The word God here refers to his caste rank, not him being an actual god.)

Their God, who would later be known as the Ancient Master, also created a powerful artifact called the Elder Crystal, upon which he imprinted his consciousness and his power. Through unknown means, he was also able to create a pocket dimension in Maple World, which would later be known as the Sanctuary of the Ancient God, through which he could speak with one who had fused with him through the Elder Crystal.

(A/N: Nexon has an obsession with using the same word to describe different things. Despite the pocket dimension being called the Sanctuary of the Ancient God, the God of the Verdant Flora isn’t actually an Ancient God. His caste rank is ‘God’, and he later became known as an ‘ancient God’ because he existed centuries before the present day. The lack of capitalization in ‘ancient’ is important for the distinction, but since the entirety of the phrase ‘Sanctuary of the Ancient God’ is a proper noun, everything got capitalized when most of it wouldn’t have otherwise.)