This is about the Spiran Empire (mentioned a few times, without much detail, in the rulebook) and the narrative purposes it serves. Think of this as a few guardrails for if/when people start writing about it in the Setting Wiki.
First, it’s indeed ancient history (over 1500 years!), ancient enough that it’s basically out-of-scope for most political plot in the game. Some things might reference it (say, a plot hunting down Spiran artifacts — but most of those would have been “found” in the 950 years between the fall of the empire and the start of the Great Shimmer), but the powers-that-be in Ihlathi aren’t really thinking about the Spiran Empire.
Second, as per the worldbuilding guide in the wiki/rulebook, don’t make it into a caricature. In particular, though “Spira” is indeed a FFX reference, don’t make the city or the old empire into “FFX land” or anything so explicit. Similarly, while the Roman Empire is one of the inspirations (a big empire that dominated the continent many centuries ago…), it’s also not very Rome-like. In some ways, it also has a connection to the British Empire (more on that later).
Third, they didn’t have FFX-style “fayths” or “aeons” or summoner magic. While pyreflies are the FFX equivalent of “mist,” our metaphysics aren’t really like that. And in-so-much as summoning can be a mechanic in ENT, it’d be mist/shimmer-based and something we build plots around, not something common, past or present.
Fourth, while we don’t use a real-world tech tree, the Spiran Empire would have been less advanced than the current world, not more — significantly so, given that it fell over 1500 years ago, and there is somewhat-regular technological progression. (“The past was more advanced” is another fantasy trope we’re not borrowing from FFX or anywhere else, despite any lost/irreproducible artifacts we put in.)
On to the “narrative purposes”:
It’s worth noting that the game world (or at least Ihlathi the continent) doesn’t really have colonialism, especially the imperial form of colonialism. It also doesn’t have slavery (which isn’t even mentioned) or a few other, related things.
Out of game, we’re not making a game about those, thematically or otherwise.
The in-game rationale is, more or less, “most everyone agreed to stop doing that after the Spiran Empire fell.” The implication is that the empire was engaging in all sorts of undefined exploitative things, which was (just) one of several reasons it fell.
And its fall was so impactful that the entire continent dates its calendar from that fall. Also, the common language spread via the empire, but a foreign tongue, perhaps in spite of the empire.
This is where the british empire reference comes in: note the modern joke about how many countries in the world celebrate their independence from the british…
Basically, plot will avoid addressing the empire, because it was so long ago, and the cultural lessons learned are so ingrained. The rulebook doesn’t even try to address every piece of plot-relevant worldbuilding, let alone the plot-irrelevant bits. It’s probably safe to assume that people don’t really talk about the Spiran Empire, and they certainly don’t have old imperial plots…
Furthermore, we’d rather not draw too much attention to bad worldbuilding elements (like slavery and racism and the like), even by their absence, so we’re not gonna run “nazi/confederate ghosts in the shimmer” plot. Thematically, we don’t talk about the empire because we don’t want to suggest the game is “about” the empire.
Lastly, we also avoided any “return of the old order” plots or history: Gelephia wasn’t a “New Spiran Empire” or other sort of throwback; the shimmer or whatever caused it isn’t connected Spira (or really a matter addressed by plot at all, usually). This game isn’t really about ancient history, bloodlines, or knocking down strawman versions of real-world problems.
This is about the Spiran Empire (mentioned a few times, without much detail, in the rulebook) and the narrative purposes it serves. Think of this as a few guardrails for if/when people start writing about it in the Setting Wiki.
First, it’s indeed ancient history (over 1500 years!), ancient enough that it’s basically out-of-scope for most political plot in the game. Some things might reference it (say, a plot hunting down Spiran artifacts — but most of those would have been “found” in the 950 years between the fall of the empire and the start of the Great Shimmer), but the powers-that-be in Ihlathi aren’t really thinking about the Spiran Empire.
Second, as per the worldbuilding guide in the wiki/rulebook, don’t make it into a caricature. In particular, though “Spira” is indeed a FFX reference, don’t make the city or the old empire into “FFX land” or anything so explicit. Similarly, while the Roman Empire is one of the inspirations (a big empire that dominated the continent many centuries ago…), it’s also not very Rome-like. In some ways, it also has a connection to the British Empire (more on that later).
Third, they didn’t have FFX-style “fayths” or “aeons” or summoner magic. While pyreflies are the FFX equivalent of “mist,” our metaphysics aren’t really like that. And in-so-much as summoning can be a mechanic in ENT, it’d be mist/shimmer-based and something we build plots around, not something common, past or present.
Fourth, while we don’t use a real-world tech tree, the Spiran Empire would have been less advanced than the current world, not more — significantly so, given that it fell over 1500 years ago, and there is somewhat-regular technological progression. (“The past was more advanced” is another fantasy trope we’re not borrowing from FFX or anywhere else, despite any lost/irreproducible artifacts we put in.)
On to the “narrative purposes”:
It’s worth noting that the game world (or at least Ihlathi the continent) doesn’t really have colonialism, especially the imperial form of colonialism. It also doesn’t have slavery (which isn’t even mentioned) or a few other, related things.
Basically, plot will avoid addressing the empire, because it was so long ago, and the cultural lessons learned are so ingrained. The rulebook doesn’t even try to address every piece of plot-relevant worldbuilding, let alone the plot-irrelevant bits. It’s probably safe to assume that people don’t really talk about the Spiran Empire, and they certainly don’t have old imperial plots…
Furthermore, we’d rather not draw too much attention to bad worldbuilding elements (like slavery and racism and the like), even by their absence, so we’re not gonna run “nazi/confederate ghosts in the shimmer” plot. Thematically, we don’t talk about the empire because we don’t want to suggest the game is “about” the empire.
Lastly, we also avoided any “return of the old order” plots or history: Gelephia wasn’t a “New Spiran Empire” or other sort of throwback; the shimmer or whatever caused it isn’t connected Spira (or really a matter addressed by plot at all, usually). This game isn’t really about ancient history, bloodlines, or knocking down strawman versions of real-world problems.