The Holy Empire of Sanbreque - Final Fantasy XVI Database

Named for the highest of its “peaks,” Sanbreque’s Belenus Tor is a region of rolling, grassy hills slightly inland of where the Strait of Autha meets the Sea of Grace. In the year 873, it was the site of a decisive battle in the Kingdom of Waloed’s failed bid to regain a foothold in Storm.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

An imperial stronghold located along the southern fringes of Sanbrequois territory, far from its capital of Oriflamme. It occupies a key strategic position adjacent the Crystal Belt, and is suitably formidably fortified as a result. Within its walls there are living quarters, a church, a gaol, and sufficient storehouses to see the occupants through a lengthy siege.

• South Sanbreque.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

A lance-wielding knight of the Holy Empire of Sanbreque. The dragoons are trained in a unique, acrobatic fighting style modeled after the movements of dragons, which is characterized by sudden thrusts and disorienting leaps and dives. Greagorian scripture hold the creatures to be divine—a gift from the Goddess herself—and so too are their namesakes revered by the populace.

• They often appear as bosses through the main story.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

Basic Information

A Mothercrystal situated on the Sea of Grace in northern Sanbreque. Drake’s Head towers over the Holy Capital of Oriflamme, its mighty form a testament to the power and permanence of the empire. However, mysterious aetherfloods and the specter of the ever-encroaching Blight have led some in power to call that permanence into question.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

A key strategic point in central Sanbreque. Its location just south of Oriflamme makes it a vital first line of defense against any assault on the Holy Capital. The road from Northreach to Caer Norvent and beyond to the Crystal Belt bisects the area, ensuring a constant traffic of Sanbrequois soldiers and traveling merchants.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

Basic Information

A settlement located in central Sanbreque, on the northeastern edge of the Greatwood. Having initially found prosperity as a stopover point for traveling traders, it fell from favor when newer, better roads bypassed it, and eventually fell off the map entirely. The village is built both in and around Fallen ruins that the people of Lostwing claim was once called an “airship.”

A Village with a Secret

A settlement located in central Sanbreque, on the northeastern edge of the Greatwood. Having initially found prosperity as a stopover point for traveling traders, it fell from favor when newer, better roads bypassed it, and eventually fell off the map entirely. Presently, its obscurity serves as cover to mask its burgeoning status as a safe haven for Bearers who work the nearby vineyards for Quinten—ealdorman and co- conspirator of Cid’s—while casks of Gaultand Rouge aged in Lostwing’s cellars provide the village with much needed income.

A Target for the Empire

A settlement located in central Sanbreque. It had fallen almost entirely into ruin after new roads bypassed it— that is until Quinten, a co-conspirator of Cid’s, took it upon himself to rebuild it. His chief aim in doing so was to amass enough manpower to take revenge on the Lord Chief Justice of Sanbreque, and he found no shortage of others who had suffered at the man’s hands willing to join him. Fearing this coming retribution, the Lord Chief Justice set the Black Shields to seek out the village in order to destroy it.

Following the Flood

At one time, this small village in central Sanbreque boasted a thriving winery, with the Gaultand Rouge produced there being prized by connoisseurs across the land. Alas, all the years of hard work were brought crashing down in an instant when the Black Shields, sent by the Lord Chief Justice of Sanbreque, turned Akashic, sowing death and destruction in their wake. However, before those few villagers who survived the assault could rebuild, an aetherflood descended, forcing them to take refuge in the vineyards to the east. There, Ealdorman Quinten seeks to start a new village 4111. with his “family.”

• Central Sanbreque, northeastern part of the Greatwood.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

A farming village located in the rye fields of the Royal Meadows not far from the Sanbrequois capital of Oriflamme. Her residents harbor a strong hatred for Bearers—more even than elsewhere in the empire— making it a very dangerous place to visit for those who bear the brand.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

Basic Information

A town which doubles as a defensive gateway to Sanbreque’s Holy Capital of Oriflamme. It was originally a purely military outpost—a towering bastion constructed to prevent land-based assaults on the capital from the southwest. To this day, a heavily guarded checkpoint ensures that none can pass through the wall without prior authorization, and as such, the need to linger here prior to entering has led to the rise of a thriving market and various other commercial enterprises on the wall’s southern side. The garrison, however, along with the inns and brothels most of the soldiers frequent, as well as the residences of the nobles who make Northreach their home, remain on the northern side.

Following the Fall of Drake’s Head

When Sanbreque moved its capital to the Crystalline Dominion, Northreach went from being a vital gateway to the seat of the empire to a forgotten country backwater in a matter of moons. And with the fall of Drake’s Head, the aether was soon leached from the lands around it, leaving the fields fallow, and the once-thriving environs barren and lifeless.

Following the Attack of the Thralls

A town which once acted as a defensive gateway to Sanbreque’s Holy Capital of Oriflamme. Not long after the skies took a turn for the ominous and most of the old capital was lost to an aetherflood, the Imperial High Cardinal arrived with designs to build a new empire, but at great cost to the citizens of Northreach. It was at this time Ultima’s thralls descended upon the fields both north and south of the great wall, forcing those citizens to choose between abandoning their town, or fighting—and possibly dying—for those they loved. The people chose the latter, and after a hard-earned victory, the High Cardinal was finally convinced to join hands with Madame Isabelle, and a modicum of order was at long last restored.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

An expansive river valley that cuts through southern central Sanbreque. The fortress of Caer Norvent rises along its eastern edge.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

In southwestern Sanbreque where the Greatwood ends, lie the secluded meadows of Orabelle. Here, the soil is rich and the climate temperate, while the sloped terrain provides ample runoff for rain, making the location perfect for the growing of wine grapes—something the residents of nearby Lostwing take very seriously.

• In the southwest part of the Sanbreque region just on the edge of the Greatwood.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

The capital of the Holy Empire of Sanbreque, located in northeastern Storm on a peninsula that dominates Oillepheist Bay and is home to the Mothercrystal known as Drake’s Head. All the empire’s major institutions are located here, including Whitewyrm Castle, seat of the Holy Emperor, and meeting place of the cardinals.

Capital No Longer

Former capital of the Holy Empire of Sanbreque. After its Mothercrystal was destroyed in an attack by Cid the Outlaw in the year 873, the decision was made to move the throne and her armies south to the Crystalline Dominion—regardless of whether or not the Dominion’s citizens approved. Oriflamme has since fallen gradually into decline, having lost the Mother’s blessing and all the benefits it brought.

• Northeast Storm with the backdrop of the Mothercrystal Drake’s Head.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

Holy Emperor Sylvestre Lesage handed power to Olivier, his second-born son and only child by the Empress Anabella, in a turn of events that shocked a nation. None was more shocked, however, than his first-born son Dion, who was presiding over troop movements in the area surrounding the Crystalline Dominion when the news first reached him.

Hidden Truths

Holy Emperor Sylvestre Lesage handed power to Olivier, his second-born son and only child by the Empress Anabella, ostensibly in recognition of the part he had played in the agreement of a peace between the empire and Dhalmekia. While the accession of one so young was unprecedented, Emperor Sylvestre reassured those bold enough to express doubt at the wisdom of such a choice by maintaining that as “Great Greagor made flesh” he would merely serve as an advisor to the young new emperor until he came of age. Prince Dion, the Emperor’s first-born and rightful heir to the holy throne, was violently opposed to the plan, but his objections fell on deaf ears.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

The Battle of Belenus Tor was a conflict fought between the Holy Empire of Sanbreque and the Kingdom of Waloed in the year 873. Having lost vital territory to Sanbrequois forces eight years earlier in the Battle of the Twin Realms, the Waloeders launched an assault on the eponymous peak, looking to regain a foothold in the imperial lands on the opposite side of the Strait of Autha. Both sides fielded their Eikons, and in the ensuing showdown between Odin and Bahamut, an entire Sanbrequois legion was lost, and the Waloeders regained their outpost on Storm.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque
, The Kingdom of Waloed

Basic Information

An order of knights instituted by Empress Anabella in one of her first acts as vicereine of the newly established imperial province of Rosaria. They are tasked with “purging the impurities” from the province—which in practice primarily involves slaying Bearers upon the slightest pretexts.

The Main Host

An order of knights instituted by Empress Anabella in one of her first acts as vicereine of the imperial province of Rosaria. While they most often march in small groups, their main host has been known to rally together to conduct large-scale raids. They are tasked with “purging the impurities” from the province, to which end they conduct cullings of both Bearers and those judged to be ducal loyalists.

After Anabella’s Death

An order of knights instituted by Empress Anabella in one of her first acts as vicereine of the imperial province of Rosaria. They were tasked with “purging the impurities” from the province, to which end they conducted cullings of both Bearers and those judged to be ducal loyalists. After Anabella died and the Black Shields were left without a leader, many returned to Sanbreque, entering the service of the former Lord Chief Justice and keeping watch on Lostwing.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

A region overlooking the Strait of Autha in the eastern part of Sanbreque. The bounty provided by its rich soil fed the empire for generations, until the ever- encroaching Blight intervened, displacing thousands in the process—a disturbance which played no small part in the troubles that were later to engulf the imperial capital.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

Advisors to the Holy Emperor of Sanbreque, and the highest body of government in the empire. The council consists of five Cardinals of the Greagorian church, who are intended to rule in the emperor’s stead. The emperor, meanwhile, is expected to serve as constitutional monarch, but there is little to prevent one who wishes to impose their will upon the council from playing a more autocratic role.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

A gently sloping plain stretching east from the Sanbrequois checkpoint of Northreach. As the name implies, it is heavily populated with all manner of wild wyrms, and as such the lands remain relatively unspoiled by mankind.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

Basic Information

A raging vortex born upon Benedikta Harman’s descent into madness and loss of control over her Eikon, Garuda. Its power is such that not only are entire villages swept up by its passing, but the very ground beneath it is gouged and disfigured.

Garuda Fallen

Here once did rage a storm born of a Dominant’s madness—a storm within which the Eikons Garuda and Ifrit clashed…and from which only one would emerge. Their struggle saw the landscape razed as holts, farms, and villages that had stood for ages were in but mere moments struck from existence. Now all that remains is a blackened waste somehow even more lifeless than the blighted deadlands.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

In the year 873, Cid the Outlaw, along with certain of his allies, infiltrated the Sanbrequois capital of Oriflamme, bringing down its Mothercrystal in a daring and unprecedented attack. Investigations after the fact concluded that the infiltrators took advantage of the disturbance caused by an aetherflood to gain entry to the empire’s holy sanctum. In the aftermath of the incident, Cid was declared a wanted man, and the faction he led a criminal enterprise, to be hounded across Valisthea.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

The senior statesmen that make up the highest office of government in Sanbreque after the Emperor himself—the Council of Elders. The council is comprised of the High Cardinal, representative of central Sanbreque and the Holy Capital Oriflamme, and the four cardinals who administer the outer provinces—the northern, southern, eastern, and western sees.

• Based in the capital of Oriflamme.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

The state religion of the Holy Empire of Sanbreque, whose followers worship the goddess Greagor as the one true deity. At the church’s head stands the holy emperor, voted into office by his fellow cardinals, and supposedly their equal—though this is widely recognized to be a convenient fiction. The followers of Greagor worship dragons as sacred servants of their goddess, and since the founding days of the empire, have both doted and depended upon them.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

A vast forest in the southwestern part of Sanbreque. Wildlife thrives here, but the delicately balanced ecosystem has been thrown into disarray in recent years by the encroachment of the Blight, and the beasts driven before it. So dangerous has it become that travelers rarely venture here anymore.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

Quinten’s tavern in Lostwing. It is very much the beating heart of the village—not only do the villagers congregate here to eat, drink, and make merry, it is also frequented by traveling traders seeking to load their wagons with Lostwing’s famous wine.

• Found right at the heart of Lostwing.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

A nation occupying the northeastern reaches of the continent of Storm, with the great city of Oriflamme as its capital. Sanbreque is the realm’s largest theocracy, and home to the Mothercrystal Drake’s Head. Under the rule of the holy emperor, the people of Sanbreque enjoy a life of plenty thanks to the crystal’s blessing, which they believe to be a gift from the goddess Greagor Herself.

Following the Annexation of Rosaria

A nation occupying the northeastern reaches of the continent of Storm, with the great city of Oriflamme as its capital. Political power in the empire technically resides with the five cardinals, but even they are bound to the whims of the holy emperor in those manners of state in which he takes interest. In the year 860, at Emperor Sylvester’s behest, the cardinals agreed upon a plan to “liberate” Rosaria from the marauding forces of the Iron Kingdom, after which the duchy had little choice but to bend the knee and become an imperial province.

Faith in the Goddess

A nation occupying the northeastern reaches of the continent of Storm, with the great city of Oriflamme as its capital. Sanbreque is the realm’s largest theocracy, and home to the Mothercrystal Drake’s Head. The empire is ruled by the holy emperor—the one true goddess made flesh, according to the Greagorian faith—who is served unquestioningly by the sworn knights of the blessed dragon, known more commonly as the dragoons.

After the Fall of Drake’s Head

A nation occupying the northeastern reaches of the continent of Storm. After suffering the ignominy of losing Drake’s Head to an audacious assault by the outlaw Cid in 873, the empire set its sights on the Mothercrystal of its nearest neighbor, the Crystalline Dominion. Sanbreque’s legions duly stormed the historically neutral territory, and installed the imperial capital at Twinside. This brazen act of conquest sent shockwaves across Valisthea, and heightened the already considerable tension between the empire and ai the Dhalmekian Republic.

Following Olivier’s Ascension

A nation occupying the northeastern reaches of the continent of Storm, with Twinside as its capital. Apparently not content with the upheaval caused by removing his court to the recently seized Crystalline Dominion, Sylvestre Lesage chose to compound the uncertainty by installing his second son, Olivier, as holy emperor while still a child.

A Son’s Betrayal

A nation occupying the northeastern reaches of the continent of Storm. After its administrative capital moved to Twinside in the neighboring Crystalline Dominion in the year 873, an insurgency led by Prince Dion Lesage upended the political and military order, spreading unrest and disruption across the land. This disruption was further worsened when Ultima unleashed Primogenesis, obliterating Twinside, and plunging the realm yet deeper into chaos.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

Elite troops of the Holy Empire of Sanbreque, led by Prince Dion Lesage. Drawn largely from the nobility of the realm, their status as knights of the sacred dragon affords them still higher standing in the eyes of the people. In the Battle of the Borderlands in 873, as in so many conflicts down the years, they proudly led the charge as the empire entered the fray.

Revolt

Elite troops of the Holy Empire of Sanbreque, led by Prince Dion Lesage. Drawn largely from the nobility of the realm, their status as knights of the sacred dragon affords them still higher standing in the eyes of the people. In the Battle of the Borderlands in 873, as in so many conflicts down the years, they proudly led the charge as the empire entered the fray. However, Prince Dion’s opposition to the machinations of the Holy Empress Anabella spurred the dragoons to rise up against their emperor in an insurgency which saw them fall suddenly and decisively from grace.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque
, The Holy Knights Dragoon

The official name of the order of knights established in the Imperial Province of Rosaria, who persecute and purge Bearers and those who shield them. Commonly known as the Black Shields after the color of their armor—a hue seemingly chosen to differentiate this new elite order from the silver-clad dragoons. Unlike the heroic dragoons, however, they are feared and loathed throughout the imperial province.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

The assembled forces of the Holy Empire of Sanbreque. While officially under the command of the cardinals, it is Holy Emperor Sylvestre Lesage whom the legions truly serve. On the battlefield, the dragoons—peerless lancers renowned throughout the realm—are the empire’s keenest weapon, descending from the skies to sow terror and disarray among their hapless foes.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

Located in western Sanbreque near the Rosarian border, the Kingsfall is a towering cataract fed by the waters of multiple converging tributaries. Though these waters long played an integral part in the lives of nearby settlers, an influx of displaced beasts fleeing from the Blight has forced many to abandon their claim to the resource.

• Northwestern Sanbreque.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

Northreach’s premiere house of companionship. While it is frequented mainly by Sanbreque’s nobility and military, Lady Isabelle welcomes all with the desire— and the coin—to partake of the pleasures her skilled “courtesans” and “courtiers” offer. Few establishments in the empire are as well-loved, or as oft-visited.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

After the incorporation of Rosaria into the empire, Emperor Sylvestre elected not to rule the new province directly, but to make of it a viceregency with Rosalith as its provincial capital.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

The towering citadel from which the holy emperor of Sanbreque rules over the entirety of his demesne. With the Mothercrystal rising above it and the imperial capital of Oriflamme spread out below, this ivory edifice is truly a wonder to behold.

• The home of the Emperor and Cardinals of The Holy Empire of Sanbreque.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

A rebellion of the Holy Order of the Knights Dragoon that took place in the Crystalline Dominion. It was provoked by Emperor Sylvestre Lesage’s decision to overlook his eldest son, Dion, and make his second- born, Olivier, child of the Empress Anabella, crown prince in his place. Seeing this as yet another victory for Anabella in her long campaign to subvert Sanbrequois politics for her own ends, Prince Dion ordered the dragoons into action. But having lost control of his Eikon, he inadvertently laid waste to the city he had tried to save.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque

The highest ranking judge in the Sanbrequois judiciary. Quinten served under the previous holder of the office, and respected the man deeply for supporting him in his crusade to rid the ranks of corruption. However, all this was to change when he discovered that his idol hunted Bearers for sport—the Lord Chief Justice’s backing for Quinten no more than a veil of morality to disguise the rot beneath. Quinten turned his ire upon the man, only to be met with swift and severe retribution—the slaughter of his entire family.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque