April 2024 Update
Hello JRPG Fans!
Spring is finally here. Great weather, beautiful cherry blossoms, and some awesome JRPGs being released as well.
Campaign Updates
Discord Roles
As mentioned in previous updates, we are working through any customer service requests that come in to pr@yukikaze.ltd and providing roles for mismatched survey responses or capitalization issues. You should be seeing more and more people with these roles and soon we’ll be creating a specific channel for both backers and premium backers to communicate in.
Development Updates
April is here! This month’s update is brought to you by Sekiya.
ARMED FANTASIA April 2024 Project News
Hello. I’m Sekiya, the director of Armed Fantasia. We’re past the Spring Equinox, and it’s still cold, but suddenly the cherry blossom trees nearby have started blooming, and now it feels almost hot. The temperature differences have been really crazy lately.
Speaking of crazy temperature differences, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire was released. Since the Japanese subtitle is “Frozen Summer,” a senseless thought crossed my mind: “Since it’s set in summer, why don’t they just release it in summer?” I also thought that a movie where the Ghostbusters run around seems to fit New York better than Oklahoma.
If there’s something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call?
In Londenium, you would call not the Ghostbusters, but the Order of the Sacred Key.
Therefore, in this month’s update, I’d like to reveal a little bit more about the Order of the Sacred Key, since it has very deep ties to the story and worldbuilding of Armed Fantasia.
Overview of the Order of the Sacred Key
In the ever-spreading wilderness of Londenium, all communities that were once called nations have disappeared. Instead, people huddle together in villages and do their best to live day by day while facing the threats of the harsh environment, the Anomalies disasters that frequent it, and the incurable disease known as wilderness syndrome.
In a world where lawlessness prevails and people can devolve into beasts at the drop of a hat, the Order of the Sacred Key exists as a governing body that strives to bring order, infrastructure, and daily security to the world.
The Order was supposedly established nearly 1000 years ago, and worships as its symbol the “and it worships as its symbol the Holy Maiden of the Blade who is said to have saved mankind from the threat of the “white darkness.” Although the Order is technically a church, it contains next to no religious elements, and the people of Londenium don’t particularly consider it an object of worship. The Order simply exists to teach people the skills and knowledge they need to survive in the wilderness.
As the words engraved on its emblem suggest, they believe humanity is the key to the future of mankind. Thus, they have not flinched from donning iron and shedding blood in order to raise the flag of their ideals, embodying love, courage, and hope as they remain focused on their practices.
Currently, the Order has become such an integral part of the people’s lives that they would not be able to make a living without its help. This is why the Order is sometimes referred to as the “World Management Organization.”
Structure of the Order of the Sacred Key
The Order dispatches necessary personnel from its home base, the Sacred Citadel, and maintains administration and security in districts that have been divided up based on existing settlements.
In some districts, the Order is fully in charge of all operations, while others have their own leaders who govern themselves with assistance from the church, such as one that contains an arena where spectators delight in watching bloody duels.
The former case is the norm for comparatively new settlements that were formed from groups of drifters, such as Lostave, Ingram’s hometown.
The head of each district is named the “district sage” and receives special consideration from members of the Order.
The highest authority in Order who leads the gurus is the “Pope”…but this seat has currently been vacant for a long time, and actual commands are instead issued by the “cardinals”.
The Order’s Roles: Anomalies Disaster Relief
The most important mission of the Order is to provide relief for Anomalies disasters. The Order maintains a large army of knights and dispatches combat-trained church knights to each district.
These church knights patrol the areas they’re assigned to and take the initiative in protecting people in the event of a Anomalies appearance.
In addition, Pathfinder Guilds and ARM Shops sponsored by the Order and run by their employees have been set up in each district. These facilities support Pathfinders in a variety of ways, such as providing intel on kaiju and selling/providing ARMs to those who have been approved by the Order, and also paying out rewards to those who exterminate Anomalies.
The Order’s Roles: ARM R&D
As the years go by, Anomalies mate, adapt to their environments, and become more powerful. To counter these threats, the Order also aims to strengthen the ARMs used by church knights and Pathfinders.
The ARM development bureau of the church continually develops additional modules and new versions based on the battle data they collect in order to keep evolving ARMs and discovering more effective ways to exterminate Anomalies.
The Order’s Roles: Ruins Exploration and Management
As ruins from prehistoric civilization are scattered throughout Londenium, every now and then someone may unexpectedly come across over-technology that has been lost in modern times or dangerous ancient alchemy that is beyond human control.
One of the duties of Order employees is to discover these dangerous ruins in cooperation with Pathfinders. When particularly dangerous relics are found, the relevant sites are sealed off with a designated Order seal. Managing such things so that they do not fall into the hands of unknowing people is yet another important role of the Order.
In addition, the Order has proactively gathered talented experts from around the world to form a research team that researches technology obtained from the ruins and feeds it back into infrastructure and ARMs. The restoration and further development of civilization is always on their mind.
Types of Order Employees
To facilitate the administration in each district, the Order maintains a large number of employees, including clerks and technicians, who support people’s lives with their respective skills.
In addition, there are different ranks and types of church knights with differing missions who represent the Order’s military presence. The “Knight Commander” leads the church knights. Alicia’s father once held this position, but has since retired. “Standard knights” are the most common, and are dispatched to various districts under commands to carry out specific duties. After passing a promotion examination, a standard knight can become an “elite knight” and earn the right to act alone and command a platoon, enabling them to carry out their duties in a more spontaneous manner. “Special duty knights” wear red surcoats and are assigned special missions removed from the general chain of command.
They have a wide range of knowledge and leadership skills as unit leaders. It’s difficult to become an elite knight unless you’re skilled at using a particular type of ARM.
Since they rarely participate in operational activities with ordinary Order knights, the nature of their work is shrouded in mystery.
That concludes this month’s update.
Next month’s update will be released during Japan’s Golden Week holiday.
