Loptrian Empire

The Loptrian Empire (ロプト帝国 Lopt Empire) was an ancient empire that ruled Jugdral for over two centuries before the events of Genealogy of the Holy War, featuring prominently in the backstory of both Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War and Fire Emblem: Thracia 776. Founded by Emperor Galle I, it was ruled by a lineage of seventeen consecutive Emperors Galle, all acting as humans hosts of the Earth Dragon Loptous, who had the land worship him as its Dark Lord.

History

The Empire was founded in the year 448 by the bishop Galle after he returned from Archanea to Jugdral, having made a blood pact with Loptous, an Earth Dragon survivor of the war against the Divine Dragons. Using his new-found power, Galle, in eight years of Loptrian infiltration and supplanting of the culture of Jugdral, quickly toppled the established Kingdom of Gran with the aid of the Deadlords, erecting the Loptrian Empire from the ashes of the conquered kingdom.

With the Loptrians instated as the official religion of the Empire, a strict caste system was imposed upon the society of Jugdral, condemning followers of other faiths to the lowest caste of society and to slavery unless they were capable of paying enough money to themselves join the Loptrians.

For the next several years, Emperor Galle I and the Empire would commit multiple atrocities, such as the Great Purge, where a hundred thousand people were killed, the Sorrow of Miletos, where numerous children were sacrificed to Loptous and the Massacre of Edda, where tens of thousands of people were slaughtered.

After Emperor Galle I's death, each of his successors would take on his name, inheriting his cursed pact he had made with Loptous in exchange for power through outright possession. Thus, for two centuries and seventeen emperors, the Loptous Empire dominated Jugdral. During that period, the people of Jugdral were subjected to innumerable horrors, including numerous major massacres and the rise of the practice of child hunts, where children were rounded up to be sacrificed to Loptous.

In the year 535, Maera, brother to the ruling Emperor Galle, and his priestly followers staged a rebellion against the Empire, attempting to end their brutal practices and create a new sect that ended discrimination by harmonizing the existence of the Loptrians with the prior religions of Gran. Regarded as a saint by many, Loptous rejected his work, and Maera was eventually defeated nonetheless and banished along with his followers to Orgahill, where they continued to work to protect people from the Empire, unwittingly securing Loptous' genealogical link to Jugdral's future.

The first true concentrated effort of resistance against the Empire were seen in the year 611, as several other rebellions sprung up and united against the Empire. However, by the year 632, the resistance had been mostly crushed by the Empire's immense armies and confined to Darna, where in that year the Twelve Crusaders were born in the Miracle of Darna after Naga learned of Loptous' role in the misery facing Jugdral. Sixteen years later, in 648, the Loptrian Empire finally fell with the defeat of Galle XVII, and the remnants of the Empire were forced to go into hiding, primarily beneath the Yied Shrine in the Yied Desert.

In following centuries, the survivors organized into the Loptr Church under Archbishop Manfroy and others, who sought sought the reinstatement of the empire and the birth of a viable new host for Loptous, nearly succeeding in 777 with Grannvale's Loptous-possessed Prince Julius twisting the kingdom into a semblance of the old empire, but the effort ultimately failed as a result of the efforts of Seliph and Julia.

Known Figures

• Emperor Galle (and his numerous heirs)
• Saint Maera
• Deadlords