Raphtalia's World

Raphtalia's World in The Rising of the Shield Hero is the world which Naofumi Iwatani was summoned to in order to be the Shield Hero. It is the home world of many characters, including Raphtalia, Filo, and Melty.

History
Not much is known about the ancient history of Raphtalia's World. It is known that this world was once four separate Worlds - the worlds of the Legendary Shield, Bow, Sword and Spear. However, due to the waves of calamity (which has been happening a reoccurring even since ancient times), these worlds have merged. First, the Shield world merged with the Bow world while the Sword world merged with the Spear World. Afterwards, the Shield/Bow world merged with the Sword/Spear world. The Shield/Bow world is where demi-humans and beastmen come from while the Sword/Spear world is where humans come from.

In the past, heroes have been summoned many times to fight the waves. After their work was done, some chose to go back to their original world while many chose to stay in the world they were summoned in. They often had many children and had an impact on the world's culture, society, and technology. For example, a previous shield hero was responsible for creating the country of Siltvelt, while another, named Keichi, left ancient writings in the nation of Reiki. Unfortunately, in addition to many heroes, a large amount of vanguards of the waves have been reincarnated to reduce the world's defenses. They are suspected to be responsible for destroying most historical documents, especially those regarding the waves or Guardian Beasts, as well as orchestrating the decline of Hengen Muso.

Within the last hundred years before Naofumi's summoning, several events have taken place:
 * A "genius" as a Hengen Muso attempted to take over the world and was eventually defeated. This however, nearly destroyed the style.
 * Siltvelt and Melromarc fought against each other in a terrible war. Aultcray was eventually able to defeat Siltvelt's champion, Tyran, and the two nations forged a tenuous peace agreement.
 * The Heavenly Emperor of Q'ten Lo slowly died of old age. As the royal family fought in a desperate power struggle, the resulting backstabbing killed everyone in the family except for Raphtalia's Father and Ruft. The corrupt Makina took charge and kept the country from fulfilling its role as a pacifier.

Culture
The culture in Raphtalia's World varies greatly - often by country. While Melromarc often seems like a European nation from a typical RPG, other countries like Siltvelt and Reiki have a more Chinese aesthetic. Q'ten Lo was noted to have a distinctly Japanese feel to it. Compared to the other countries, Faubrey is much more technologically advanced and seems like a steam-punk society and is heavily influenced by multiple heroes.

Religion
Closely related to culture, religions also vary greatly across the world. There are four main religions which use the Legendary Weapons as holy symbols due to their incredible power and protective nature.
 * The Church of the Three Heroes: Celebrates the Legendary Bow, Spear, and Sword Heroes, but demonizes the Legendary Shield Hero. This was the former official religion of Melromarc, which gained power in Queen Mirellia's absence.
 * The Church of the Four Heroes: The successor to The Church of the Four Heroes and the current official religion of Melromarc. Celebrates all heroes equally. Was created and used by Queen Mirellia as a political tool to protect Naofumi and to ease tensions with countries with views that oppose the Church of the Three Heroes.
 * The Church of the Shield: Worships only the Legendary Shield Hero while often having a poor view of the other three Heroes. This is the official religion of Siltvelt and Shieldfreeden.
 * Heavenly Emperor: The Heavenly Emperor of Q'ten Lo is as much of a religious figure as a ruler to the isolationist country. The nobility are considered priests in their various roles and the Water Dragon holds an important place in the religion.

Technology
Compared to other worlds like Glass' World or the worlds with Japans like ours, Raphtalia's World has a fairly low level of technology. However, they are also noted to have a high level of craftmanship compared to Glass' World. There are some notably advanced pieces of technology in this world due to influence from Heroes and other reincarnators.
 * Guns: The country of Faubrey produces several types of guns, including rifles and machine guns.
 * Airplanes: Cutting-edge technology introduced by Takt. These can be used with bombs and machine guns to great effect.
 * Wave Teleportation Accessory: After Hickwaal was able to successfully reverse-engineer an accessory from Glass' World, which allows anyone to teleport to the location of a wave, he was able to mass-produce and sell this accessory.

Humans
One of the main dominant races within the world of The Rising of the Shield Hero and on the currently known continent. Humans are known to be very adaptable in various environments. They come in a wide range of personalities from kindness and compassion to cruelty and heartlessness. Examples: Melty Q Melromarc, Malty S Melromarc, and Erhard.

Demi-Humans
Demi-humans are a human-like race of beings. In Raphtalia's World, these demi-humans have animal-inspired characteristics. Similar to humans, they have a wide range of personalities from kindness and compassion to cruelty and heartlessness. One unique feature of these demi-humans is that if they level-up at a young age, they will mature rapidly. Some demi-humans also have the ability to transform into a more animal-like "therianthrope form". Some countries, like Melromarc, discriminate against demi-humans while others, like Siltvelt, express demi-human supremacy. A demi-human and human can also have children together. Examples of Demi-Humans: Raphtalia, Atla, Fohl, and Keel.

Beastmen
Beastmen are similar to demi-humans except that they have much more beastial features and cannot transform. They are also discriminated against like demi-humans. Examples of Beastman: Imiya Leuthurn Reethela Teleti Kuwariz and the Lizardman Slave.

Magic and Combat Styles
Each world has a slightly different magic system. While Raphtalia's World may not be as technologically advanced as other worlds, magic has seen widespread use in this world.

Ritual Magic
Ritual magic is the most common type of magic used by far in Raphtalia's World. This magic is characterized by element and function and requires a verbal component. Upon speaking the description of the magic spell used, magic power is consumed in order to produce the effect. Every person is given a specific magic affinity which they are restricted to. However, there are a small number of people who can cast all types of magic. The classes (of power) of magic can be cast at different classes going from First, Zweite, and Drifa-class. Heroes have access to an exclusive class called liberation magic.

Ritual magic can be cast by multiple individuals resulting in something called ceremonial magic. These spells are complex and difficult to create. However, they can have incredible power.

Way of the Dragon Vein
Way of the Dragon Vein magic is a rare type of magic technique which can only be unlocked by high-class monsters such as dragons or Guardian Beasts. Instead of using the caster's own magic power reserves to cast the spell, Way of the Dragon Vein uses the power within the surrounding environment to cast spells. Using this magic gives the user the ability to "read" magic, which is especially useful for counter-spells and cooperative magic. However, the type of magic available depends on what is available in the surrounding environment.

Way of the Dragon Vein magic can also be cast by multiple individuals to create a technique called cooperative magic. This is often easier to perform than ritual magic. However, all casters must have the blessing that allows them to use Way of the Dragon Vein magic.

Hengen Muso
Hengen Muso is not a type of magic, but rather a combat style which manipulates a person's life force (or chi). This combat style specializes in allowing even the weakest practitioner to fight against the strongest opponents. As such, even the basic teachings of the style includes defence-rating attacks, which inflicts increasing damage with the target's defence. Seeing this as a threat, the vanguards of the waves nearly extinguished the style as one of them used it to attempt to take over the world. In the aftermath of the battle, hardly any of the practitioners remained. Elrasla Grilaroc seemed to be the last remaining practitioner who decided to take the style to the grave. However, after she was inspired by Naofumi, she started teaching the heroes, including his party, how to utilize the style.

Legendary Heroes
The four Legendary Weapons of Raphtalia's World are the Legendary Shield, Sword, Spear, and Bow. Due to their incredible power, these weapons and the wielders of these weapons are often worshipped by various religions around this world.

The current wielders of these weapons are Naofumi Iwatani, Ren Amaki, Motoyasu Kitamura, and Itsuki Kawasumi respectively. While Naofumi took his position seriously and was summoned as the subject of much hate, the other three heroes had respect and wealth lavished upon them. Due to interference from an organization behind the waves, the games the three heroes play in their original world greatly resembled Raphtalia's World, which led them to believe that they were in a game. This caused them to act without considering the consequences and nearly led to their deaths. Upon the return of Queen Mirellia, Naofumi was pardoned and the false nature of his crimes were revealed. Eventually, all four heroes started to take their roles seriously and cooperated to fight against the waves.

Vassal Heroes
As of the four heroes summoning, many of the Vassal or "Seven Star" weapons were either missing or inactive. The Vassal Claw hero was the only supposedly active hero within Siltvelt and there were a few rumoured to be within Faubrey. However, they never participated in the waves or fighting against the first Guardian Beasts. However, it was later revealed that nearly all of them had been obtained by a false hero named Takt who had the power to steal both Vassal Weapons and Legendary Weapons. Upon his defeat, the Vassal Weapons were released to the worlds. Some chose proper heroes, while others were taken and controlled by the Third Army.

The Vassal Weapons of Raphtalia's World are the Vassal Axe, Vassal Hammer, Vassal Gauntlet, Vassal Claw, Vassal Staff, Vassal Projectile, Vassal Whip, and Vassal Carriage. Known heroes who wield Vassal Weapons include Fohl (Vassal Gauntlet), Trash (Vassal Staff), Rishia (Vassal Projectile), and Fitoria (Vassal Carriage).

Guardian Beasts
The Four Guardian Beasts of Raphtalia's World are based on the four benevolent animals of Japanese folklore. They are meant to act as a last defence in case the Legendary Heroes are either not powerful enough or unwilling to defend against the waves. However, protection from the guardian beasts come with a great cost. In order to fully protect a world from the waves, the guardian beasts must kill and collect the souls of about 2/3 of life in their world. They then use these souls to power a barrier to keep other worlds away. Unfortunately, the first Guardian Beast - the Spirit Tortoise - was unsealed by an otherworldly villain, which started a chain reaction of the other Guardian Beasts awakening. The four guardian beasts are: the Spirit Tortoise, the Phoenix, Kirin, and the Dragon King.

Faubrey
Faubrey is on the main world continent surrounded by some of the most powerful kingdoms on the continent: Melromarc, Shieldfreeden, and Zeltoble. The main distinguishing feature of this country is its long history with heroes, which have greatly influenced its culture and technology. Compared to other nations, Faubrey is much more modern and steampunk. Various car-like things run on steam-based engines. Faubrey has asphalt roads and cars. They were quite old, but there were other vehicles apart from carriages. They were introduced by a past hero.

Faubrey has had a long tradition of marrying the Four Legendary Heroes, the Seven Star Heroes, and their children into their royal family. Because of that, they're known worldwide as the bloodline of Heroes. Male heroes often have more successful families than female heroes due to their ability to have much more children. Children of Heroes are said to have superior looks and abilities, which increases the nation's power. This, combined with Faubrey's power, means that they are an incredibly powerful country.

Faubrey is also the centre of the Church of the Four Heroes and the Church of the Seven Star Heroes, which serve the Legendary Weapon wielders and Vassal Weapon wielders respectively. These churches have the ability to tell when a Legendary or Vassal Weapon is used and had ancient texts regarding these weapons - however, these texts have recently been destroyed.

Melromarc
Melromarc is the largest nation in Raphtalia's World and is surrounded by some of the most powerful kingdoms on the Continent: Shieldfreeden, Siltvelt, Zeltoble, and Faubrey. In this country, the Queen is the true ruler so she holds power over the king, but gives him authority to rule as she sees fit while she is away dealing with diplomatic relations. The country is matriarchal under the Queen, who holds the high authority. Women hold higher social value and power. Any violence against women is considered to be an offence of the death penalty.

Melromarc also has old history with Siltvelt - a nation of demi-humans. Many years ago, Siltvelt attempted to take over the world and Melromarc stopped them. However, this long and bitter war left prejudices on both sides. While Siltvelt worshipped the Shield Hero, Melromarc followed the Church of the Three Heroes and practiced heavy demi-human discrimination - including slavery. Recently, the Queen had attempted to resolve past issues with Siltvelt by creating a demi-human territory, which included Lurolona Village and was lead by the popular Lord Seaetto. However, while the Queen was gone during a world-wide conference, the first wave appeared. This devastated the demi-human territory and killed the lord. The king, who was left in charge (and who hated demi-humans due to the war), ravaged the lands, removed demi-human friendly nobles, and summoned the four Legendary Heroes to protect only Melromarc. This created huge political tensions since the heroes are supposed to be shared across all of the countries. Queen Mirellia was forced to stay at the conference to negotiate peace with the other countries, which allowed King Aultcray and Princess Malty to enact their plans to ruin the Shield Hero. Eventually, the Queen returned and attempted to make peace with all parties involved

Siltvelt
The Siltvelt Kingdom is on the main world continent surrounded by some of the most powerful kingdoms on the continent: Melromarc, Shieldfreeden, and Zeltoble. Siltvelt was mentioned to have been founded by a Shield Hero in the past and exists only for the sake of the Shield Hero. It was once under the control of four great races, the Hakuko, Genmu, Shusaku, and Aotatsu. However, after the war with Melromarc, the Hakuko's forces were greatly ravaged. As a result, they, as a race, fell from a position of authority, but they still hold some influence. Those of the Shusaku race tend to be pro-Shield Hero radicals, while those of the Genmu race are of the moderate faction. The moderates prefer not to depend too much on the hero, while the radicals devote themselves to the hero. The previous Shield Hero met his end less than a month inside the country. Whether he was weak or stuck in a conspiracy is unknown and Siltvelt had difficulty in swallowing it.

Shieldfreeden
The Shieldfreeden Republic is on the main world continent surrounded by some of the most powerful kingdoms on the Continent: Melromarc, Siltvelt, and Zeltoble. In The Reprise of the Spear Hero, it was mentioned that the country was formed due to the discontent of the bloodline politics of Siltvelt and discrimination of races in every nation as well. However, nothing much was mentioned about the country.

Zeltoble
Zeltoble is a mainly mercantile nation on the Main World Continent it lies east to Melromarc and shares a border with Siltvelt. Zeltoble has a dark history involving constant warfare. Like most countries, they also have a Dragon Hourglass, but they don't give class ups. It was initially established and is still lead by a council of Merchants to attract profits. It is a country with questionable morals and circulates an unbelievable amount of money circulates. Whether it be the shopping district or the slums, the people here seem to move with more energy than those in Melromarc. One notable feature of Zeltoble is its many coliseums, which are used for entertainment.

Reiki
Reiki is an isolationist nation that lies east of Melromarc and actually lies on the back of the Spirit Tortoise's shell. This nation was the first nation to be ravaged by the Spirit Tortoise's unusual awakening and was ultimately destroyed. The culture of the nation is distinctly Chinese and it includes inscriptions from an ancient hero who had previously sealed the Spirit Tortoise.

Q'ten Lo
Q'ten Lo is an island which is only accessible through Siltvelt and is surrounded by a protective barrier set by the Water Dragon. This isolationist country is distinctly Japanese and is led by a religious figure called the Heavenly Emperor. The heavenly emperor acts as this world's pacifier whose role is to ensure that the Heroes are not falling astray. As such, they are given magic specifically tailored to fight against Heroes. However, in recent years, as the old Heavenly Emperor was dying of old age, his family started vying for the position. In the aftermath of the battle, nearly everyone had died except for Raphtalia's Father, who had fled the country, and Ruftmila, a very young boy at the time. Ruftmila was crowned Heavenly Emperor, but was controlled by the corrupt Makina, who had caused the country to stray from their purpose as the pacifier. The country had eventually forgotten their purpose due to their isolation and wars.