#aesfrost

Up the Norzelia River and past a handful of craggy mountains lies the Aesfrosti capital. Despite the blizzards off swirling about it, the city itself is orderly and well maintained, and the people who swell there spirited and undaunted. But working together, they have managed to thrive in one of the most inhospitable places in the realm. It is this fortitude that has allowed Aesfrost to grow into a nation to be reckoned with.

Aesfrost’s Ironstone was carved out of a rocky mountainside—which is unusual, but fitting for a land with countless iron mines within its borders. It functions as both a castle and an iron factory.

Skilled artisans in the Grand Duchy are brought to the castle, where they mass-produce ironworks and engage in technological research. Thanks to an enormous forge as large and as hot as the mouth of a volcano within the castle, they are able to create huge quantities of ironware and weapons on a daily basis for Aesfrost’s pride and joy, the Blackirons.

Perhaps this is a bold claim, but I am nearly certain that everything one would want to know about Norzelia could be learned in the north. Yes, in the Aesfrosti Archives. Generations of archdukes pursued knowledge and technology in order to transform the remote duchy into a mighty force to be reckoned with. They gathered texts from every corner of the realm, and these Archives are the result.

The large collection of books and scrolls grows ever larger by the day, rendering organization nigh impossible. Though that means wisdom believed lost to the ages may very well be slumbering among the stacks. Containing the very history of Norzelia itself, the Archives are a treasure house of knowledge and potential.

At the top of a steep mountain path loom the two towers and a giant gate that give this Aesfrosti stronghold its name: Twinsgate. Situated on the border with Glenbrook, it defends the only passage into the Grand Duchy. For generations, command of Twinsgate had been entrusted to an army general, until recently, when Minister Svarog Aesfrost was inexplicably given the role.

For a giant gate made of iron, it can be opened or shut with surprising speed. I’m not sure of the exact mechanisms that enable this swiftness, as it is a heavily-guarded military secret, but according to an Aesfrosti soldier with whom I struck up a friendship, they have somehow harnessed the power of the subterranean source of the Norzelia River.

That's it, that's the post. Yes, I've only made it to Chapter VII (which was one of two chapters in the OG demo) but Aesfrost isn't doing itself any favors, and judging from the very sparse spoilers I've read, even with other potential turns that are genuinely gray, Aesfrost still sucks.

Also, while I love Frederica, she's frustrating me some - she can be seen as a lower-rung princess of Aesfrost d/t being the daughter of a concubine who also happens to be of an oppressed ethnic group, and being betrothed to a powerful House of Glenbrook means she's probably trying not to step on any toes, but...I don't know. I feel like she won't pull anything epic or extreme against her douchebag older brother.

Benedict is sus.

I recruited Picoletta by sheer chance, and as it turns out, this completely random, sassy lost child trivialized the Chapter V battle (the one where you have to get Roland safely across the castle gardens); I tried the map without her and had far harder time. 10/10, you go girl.

Gotta love how Frani chastised Roland for impulsively coming to his family's aid, only to get done in by impulsively pissing Avlora off.

I feel like I will really not like Avlora, and it hardly has to do with Maxwell either.