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In addition to everything else wrong with it, Archanea has a little issue of "barbarian" tribes. These are apparently not the same thing as the formerly enslaved plainsmen of Aurelis. Barbarians are a particular issue in western regions of the archipelago, extending up through the desert; Grust is cited as former barbarian land, as King Ordwin drove them off. Grust seems to remain something of a demarcation line for civilization, if the "frontier" part of Lena's "frontier angel" sobriquet is to be taken literally.
The barbarians are defined by association with different species of dragons:
"The Fire Tribe are nasty stuff. If we don’t hurry up, we’ll become dinner for their Fire Dragons."-- Xane, Ch 12, FE3 Book II.
Degenerated Fire Dragons are now the "pets" of the Fire Tribe. The assassins subplot of FE12 seems to have a lot to do with the Dark Tribe, who presumably worship(?) Dark Dragons. There aren't many of these-- Medeus is the only one identified as such-- so I doubt the the tribe keeps any pets.
The games aren't interested in telling us much more than this, and somehow I doubt the FE12 material is very positive toward the barbarians, either. But the barbarian threat does explain why Grust would have such an emphasis on their military, even in "peacetime" between the Medeus-led wars. A frontier nation on stolen land is in a precarious position.
[As to why Altea, which is so nice it doesn't even have scary dark forests, much less Dark Tribes, has (OK, had) a sizeable army as well: I suspect the Archanean kings used the Altean knights as a kind of western police force, much in the way Hardin ordered Marth around at the beginning of FE3 Book II.]
The barbarian issue is not solved by the accession of Prince/King/Emperor Marth. In fact, I'd wager that it's battles against these barbarians, as opposed to Hardin loyalists or various independence movements, that afford Wolf his chance to kill himself after the continent is allegedly at peace.
They are probably conquered. I wonder what becomes of their pets.
The barbarians are defined by association with different species of dragons:
"The Fire Tribe are nasty stuff. If we don’t hurry up, we’ll become dinner for their Fire Dragons."-- Xane, Ch 12, FE3 Book II.
Degenerated Fire Dragons are now the "pets" of the Fire Tribe. The assassins subplot of FE12 seems to have a lot to do with the Dark Tribe, who presumably worship(?) Dark Dragons. There aren't many of these-- Medeus is the only one identified as such-- so I doubt the the tribe keeps any pets.
The games aren't interested in telling us much more than this, and somehow I doubt the FE12 material is very positive toward the barbarians, either. But the barbarian threat does explain why Grust would have such an emphasis on their military, even in "peacetime" between the Medeus-led wars. A frontier nation on stolen land is in a precarious position.
[As to why Altea, which is so nice it doesn't even have scary dark forests, much less Dark Tribes, has (OK, had) a sizeable army as well: I suspect the Archanean kings used the Altean knights as a kind of western police force, much in the way Hardin ordered Marth around at the beginning of FE3 Book II.]
The barbarian issue is not solved by the accession of Prince/King/Emperor Marth. In fact, I'd wager that it's battles against these barbarians, as opposed to Hardin loyalists or various independence movements, that afford Wolf his chance to kill himself after the continent is allegedly at peace.
They are probably conquered. I wonder what becomes of their pets.
