Rieze Maxia

File:ToX Rieze Maxia.jpg

The map of Rieze Maxia in Tales of Xillia.

Rieze Maxia (リーゼ・マクシア, Riize Makushia^?) is a continent in Tales of Xillia and Tales of Xillia 2. During the events of Tales of Xillia, Rieze Maxia is separated from the rest of the world via a powerful arte known as the "schism". In Tales of Xillia 2, the barrier that separated the continent from Elympios is gone, and the continent is in the middle of cultural change, along with Elympios.

Geography

Rieze Maxia is a continent, which, in comparison to Elympios, is the size of a large island. Throughout the course of both Tales of Xillia and Tales of Xillia 2, roughly sixty-percent of the continent is available for exploration, all around a large bay where, in the middle, lies the mining island of Leronde. While the continent is mostly covered in mountains, there are several open plains. Of particular interest is Nia Khera, a village whose residents are followers of Maxwell, the Great Spirit who created Rieze Maxia; Milla's Shrine, where Milla Maxwell, an incarnation of Maxwell, resides; and Nia Khera Hallowmont, atop of which lies a portal to the Temporal Crossroads, a realm between Rieze Maxia and the Spirit Realm. The Fezebel Marsh is also a notable location due to the events that occurred there twenty years prior to the events of Tales of Xillia, known as the Battle of Fezebel. The Fezebel Marsh is also considered by Rieze Maxians a land border of sorts between Auj Oule to the north and Rashugal to the south. There is also an Elympion ship, E.S.S. Zenethra, from where Exodus commands their agents working on their way back home.

History

Birth of Spyrix and the Schism

After the creation of the world, humans and spirits coexisted together, with humans unaware of the latter. However, there were legends that spoke of being able to commune with spirits to use abilities known as "spirit artes". The spirit artes were not that effective in people's eyes, as their power and the time required to cast them was variable due to the mana lobe in the human brain. In time, humans invented technology known as spyrix, which bypassed the limits of the mana lobe, allowing people to wield the same power indiscriminately. However, there was a drawback to using spyrix technology: its usage killed spirits. Maxwell saw this and contacted Kresnik, who he informed about the matter. Despite Kresnik informing her people of spirits, few people believed her, and the usage of spyrix continued. After some time, Maxwell decided to create a sealed world where there would be no spyrix technology, and in turn, the spirits would not die. He gathered his believers, animals, and spirits, all of which he hoped to use in repopulating the world after Elympios dies. This resulted in the creation of Rieze Maxia, as well as the forming of the protective barrier known as the schism.

Formations

After setting on Rieze Maxia, Kresnik and her followers worked hard for their world to forget about Elympios. Many regulations were being considered during this time, including discussion concerning the topic of Elympios being taboo and active discouragement of world explorations. About two-hundred years after setting on Rieze Maxia its map was mostly complete. Five-hundred years after completing Rieze Maxia's map, the descendants of Kresnik's followers established six states on the island's southern side, forming the country of Rashugal; they were: Banya, Fenn, Ilbert, Travis, Sharil, and Zumay. Seven-hundred years later, there appeared seven more families claiming to be descendants of Kresnik's followers, and they established their tribes in the north. 1,800 years after the formation of Rieze Maxia, the existence of spirits was finally confirmed in Dr. Howe's thesis. From this point forward, Rieze Maxia's culture began to truly flourish.

Hole in the Schism

Twenty years prior to the events of Tales of Xillia, a hole appeared on the schism, and Maxwell left his hiding place, the Temporal Crossroads, to deal with the matter, only to find Elympions within Rieze Maxia, who he fought. He then created the Great Spirit Muzét from part of schism with the task of destroying the rest of the Elympions. Her later assignment was protection of the schism, in which she killed anyone with knowledge of the schism. Through the hole, the Elympios ship, E.S.S. Zenethra, came to Rieze Maxia; however, the reluctant Maxwell decided to not reveal himself, instead creating a decoy whose task was to lure the people who were aboard the ship out in the open and kill them. The decoy was a human woman named Milla Maxwell, who was created believing she was Maxwell. Initially, the Elympions attempted to blend with Rieze Maxians, but their inability to cast spirit artes resulted in them retreating to an island, where they established a small community. Around this time, Exodus was created by an ex-soldier as a means of supporting the civilians, but after Gilland became its leader, their goals changed.

Trivia

• Rieze derives from the German word riese, which translates to giant, whereas Maxia is of Gaelic origin and translates to magic.