Hod

Hod (ホドを) was a city-state that was once independent and then part of the Malkuth Empire in Tales of the Abyss. It hosted a royal family known as House Gardios.

Geography
Being a city-state, Hod was comprised of a large city and its surrounding territories. Geographically, it was an island located in the Outer Lands close in proximity to Yulia City in the Qliphoth below, being supported by a Sephiroth Tree. The Isle of Feres was a relatively smaller island located nearby that was considered to be part of Hod. No trace of either islands remains today due to historical events.

History
Hod was once one of the great kingdoms of the world, along with Ispania, Frank, and Keter, which was Hod's closest ally. At some point, Keter allowed Hod to examine the Absorption Gate near its territory. The great prophet Yulia Jue was born in Hod, and not many years after her birth, the Fonic War took place, with Hod and Keter left devastated in the aftermath, while the war itself extinguished roughly half of the world population. As a result of the war, a deadly substance known as miasma began seeping from the planet's core. Yulia herself managed to protect Hod with a Fonic Hymn, thereafter proposing the Float Project to raise the land and support it with the Sephiroth in order to seal the miasma and save humanity. After the Float Project's success and cooperation of the remaining kingdoms, Hod became part of the Malkuth Empire.

The Dawn Age ended, and nearly two centuries passed before the Hod War erupted between Malkuth and Kimlasca-Lanvaldear. Around the same time, Van Grants, a resident of Hod, became the test subject for hyperresonance experimentation. Using a machine, he was forced to activate his hyperresonance and inadvertently destroy the Sephiroth Tree supporting Hod in the Outer Lands. Hod collapsed and fell into the Qliphoth, sinking into the miasma and eliminating the remainder of its population. The Isle of Feres was destroyed by a tidal wave created through Hod's destruction and sank into the sea. During the events of the story, Van manages to replicate both Hod and the Isle of Feres, Hod now being known as Eldrant.