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The Mother of Nisan
Sophia - (Greek) Wisdom. | Nissan - (Japanese vocabulary) One's own older brother, or "brotherhood".
Nisan is a fairly small nation, with little influence or power besides its strong spirit. It was the same five hundred years ago - until a woman named 'Sophia' rose to power as the head of the Nisan sect and 'Mother' of the church. | All we know for sure is that Sophia -- or Elly -- held power over a huge population of people that migrated to Nisan to hear her teachings. Instead of the traditional teachings of the Ethos and other Solarian organization, Sophia taught her people self-reliance and a strong faith in god. Whether she intended it or not (and I'm willing to bet she didn't), she became the strongest symbol of "the people", in essence becoming the "heart of the people". Roni put Aveh behind her, and somehow Shevat threw it's power behind her as well, and Solaris finally took notice of the woman leading the Lambs in rebellion against them. Sophia's knowledge of Solaris probably came from Shevat, and Zephyr. At that time Shevat's military power and technology equaled that of Solaris, and Nisan's growing power and influence was most likely their best oppertunity to oust Solaris and gain the power for themselves. Zephyr may or may not have thrown her support behind Sophia for the power she might gain, but that was clearly Shevat's goal later in the war. (That's the problem with being part of an aerial country - you tend to lose sight of the problems "below" you. Shevat just forgot why it was really there.) In any case, with Shevat's air and gear forces, and Aveh's surface resources (including the Yggdrasil!), the army massed under Sophia's reign was probably bigger than anything the world had seen -- at least, the largest united force. (During the Zeboim Era the entire world was at arms. ^^) This war between Sophia and Solaris only lasted a couple of years. During these years she, Lacan, Krelian, and Roni found and aligned themselves with their Anima Relics, thereby bringing Omnigears into the fray to fight Solaris. (It isn't specified - that I know of - whether Solaris had Omnigears during this war or not. All I remember is hearing that most of these machines appeared when the Diabolos Invasion was underway......) With that power, and the people behind her, she was matching, and maybe even overwhelming Solaris's forces, and it appeared that she might actually win the war and gain freedom for part of the surface world. In the last stage of the war, Shevat was approached by Solaris. The deal was this - if they agreed to hand Sophia over to the Ministry, Solaris would give Shevat rule over half of the surface. Zephyr and her Ministers agreed to the proposition, and betrayed Nisan by giving Solaris the location of a planned ambush. When Sophia arrived with her forces, Solaris had the battlefield surrounded, and began closing in on her army like a vice. Everyone would have been killed if it had not been for Sophia's sacrifice... One side of the battlefield was covered by the Solarian flagship. Sophia evacuated everyone on Shevat's leading ship and took control of it herself, plowing right into the Solarian flagship and destroying it -- and herself. The explosion opened an escape route for her army, and the forces of Nisan escaped from Solaris and returned to their countries. Understandably, Sophia is revered as Nisan's greatest leader, and the founding Mother of Nisan's religion, even in present day Xenogears.
Historic Parallels...... |
This war doesn't really parallel any specific revolution in earth history...... It's similar to a number of points and religious prophecies/histories, so the best I could say at the moment (until I get a little more research done that is) is that bits and pieces of this were taken from real events on our planet. |
It did remind me of one thing though...... And please note that I am far from an expert on religious prophecies and issues -- I haven't been to church in a long time, so I don't have any special authority in this field (and it just seems wrong to look in the Bible just for this, when Guardian Angels isn't even a religious page!). So don't flame me for this one -- just donate your valid opinion. ^_~ Anyway...... this situation with Sophia reminded me a lot about what I've heard about the Antichrist. ^^ You would have to reverse it though, because while the Antichrist was evil, Sophia obviously was not. Maybe she represented the opposite...... but either way, she was an obscure person who rose to religious as well as political power, with thousands of followers who put their faith in her and her teachings...... The people thought she was god's messanger, just as people will think the antichrist is god's messanger. Of course, they'll be wrong according to my beliefs, but the case in Xenogears was obviously different -- not to mention non-existent at this time. ^_~
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