Caldea

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Kingdom of Caldea
Japanese	カルデア
Rōmaji	Karudea
Ruler	Caldea's Grand Elder
Located In	Southern Continent
Smaller Locations	Caldea Palace Caldea Town Caldea Temple Magritte Cemetery Matia Mine
Nearby Regions	Lestava

Caldea (カルデア, Karudea; alternatively spelled 'Caldia' or 'Kaldea') is an island nation east of Lestava, it is a kingdom of magic, inhabited by MÄR Heaven's most magically advanced people and is the source of all ÄRM with magical properties & their twins the magical stones (all kept in the land's two highest towers).

Toponymy and Origin

The name of Caldea and its alternate spellings is derived from Chaldea, a Hellenistic designation for a country situated in southern Babylonia recorded in ancient scripts, whose scholars were found to be extraordinarily versed in all forms of incantation, sorcery, witchcraft and magical arts, beside being masters in writing and reading.

The name Chaldaea is a latinization of the Greek Khaldaía (Χαλδαία), a hellenization of Akkadian māt Kaldu or Kašdu. The name appears in Hebrew in the Bible as Kaśdim (כשדים) and in Aramaic as Kaśdāy (כשדי).

The Hebrew word possibly appears in the Bible (Book of Genesis 22:22) in the name "Kesed"(כשד), the singular form of "Kasdim"(כַּשְׂדִּים), meaning Chaldeans. Kesed is identified as son of Abraham's brother Nahor (and brother of Kemuel the father of Aram), residing in Aram Naharaim. Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (37 – c. 100) also links Arphaxad and Chaldaea, in his Antiquities of the Jews, stating, “Arphaxad named the Arphaxadites, who are now called Chaldeans.”

Government

Caldea is ruled by a Grand Elder, who resides in Caldea Palace, a large palace that floats above one of the country's villages. This country prospers in isolation from all other kingdoms: it heavily restricts both cultural & economical exchanges, and no outsiders is allowed to trespass upon its territory without permission.

At times, the government of Caldea can be a tyrannical towards those whom have broken their sacred laws and those that do often fall into a depravity from the government who than leaves the punishment to the family of the offender to carry out. However their are still instances of near mercy that could also be seen as final moments or physiological torment towards those that need carry out the punishment, as seen with Phantom's parents who were forced to spend their last happy times together with their son and took it as a heavy-weighted torment as opposed to mercy, and committed suicide to save him.

Other instances show a more compassionate side to the government with the leaders believing that their extremes are necessary for the good of their people. It is possibly that some of their more extreme actions are because of Unwetter's actions many years prior to the Chess Piece's war.

Laws and Punishment

According to Dorothy the people of Caldea are born with powers not present in the rest of the world, and it is necessary for the laws of Caldea to be abound by else their powers would swindle out of control and cause anarchy. However these powers have yet to actually be seen outside of the tremendous potential of the witches. Though the laws of Caldea have only been lightly touched upon it is clear that their are rather strict and uncompromising regardless of the innocence or accidental motive behind the actions. Even young children are not exempt from the criminal justice system.

In its own community, Caldea legislates strictly against felony (or more accurately, defamation upon a family): anyone who sins against the law must be executed by his/her own family members/friends. The death penalty is the most commonly seen form of punishment and the law states clear that it can only be carried out by a family member, preferably one close to the offender, but if it is not possible than a more distant relative that may or may not even be familiar with the offender will be given the responsibility of recompense for the law. Should the prosecuted have no relations than he/she is imprisoned and left to suffer and rot. Apparently, they are than left and forgotten by all and their records keep quiet about (given that Dorothy did not know of Phantom's origins despite their importance and her originating from the same country). It is unknown if these conditions are special for the severity of the death sentence or it if extends to other less extreme punishments as well.

Though Caldea mostly means well the punishments have ironically caused more harm than good to come from the overall result, provoking tremendous devastation and revenge against the world as a whole especially in regards to death sentences which can only be carried out by a close family member and nobody else. Caldea's Orb took full advantage of the idiosyncrasies in Caldean tradition and law to mold Phantom and Diana against their homeland with the government only playing into the Orb's hands even more so than they ever realized.

Geography and Notable Locations

Map of the Kingdom of Caldea.

Caldea consists of three major islands: Caldea Island itself, Torneå Island to the northwest, and Aunt Island to the northeast. While only Caldea Island is visited in the anime and manga, the rest of it is explored in the third installment of video games, MÄR Heaven: Devil of Caldea, as well as additional smaller locations on Caldea Island itself.

Caldea Island

(カルデア島, Karudea Shima)

Much of Caldea Island is covered in a dense forest. Numerous rock spires are scattered throughout the country, towering in between the various settlements also spread throughout the forests.

• Caldea Palace: Floating above the center of the town is Caldea Palace, where Caldea's ruler, the Grand Elder, lives.
• Caldea Town: The main settlement depicted in Caldea, it is closest from the ground in proximity to Caldea Palace.
• Caldea Forest: A thick forest covering the western half of the island.
• Iffy Hermitage: A log cabin on the northern edge of Caldea Forest, it is the residence of Iffy and Izune.
• Matia Mine: A mine in the northwest of the island, it is overseen by its newest manager, Garnish.
• Caldea Investigation Team (カルデア調査隊, Karudea chōsa-tai)
• Checkpoint (関所, Sekisho)
• West Cave (西洞窟, Nishi Dōkutsu)
• East Cave (東洞窟, Azuma Dōkutsu)
• South Cave (南洞窟, Minami Dōkutsu)

Aunt Island

(アウント島, Aunto Shima)

The second largest island in the archipelago, Aunt Island consists of two major biomes divided by a large mountain range in the middle. Both the western wetlands and the eastern desert hold locations that are important to Caldeans, and the island as a whole is known to have been blessed with an even higher concentration of magic power than even Caldea Island itself.

• Caldea Temple: A sacred temple used by Caldea for many rituals. It is overseen by its priest, Schweitzer.
• Aunt Town (アウントの街, Aunto no Machi)
• Claydon Forest: A beautiful swamp that covers the western half of the island.
• Undersea Volcanic Cave:

Torneå Island

(トルネア島, Torunea Shima)

While the third largest island, Torneå Island is mostly uninhabited, as its tundra ecosystem is not ideal for a large number of settlements. However, its climate was favored for using magic to create the snow cloud-based graveyard in the sky, Magritte Cemetery.

• Magritte Cemetery: The final resting place of all Caldeans, it is overseen by its caretaker Fault.
• Torneå Investigation Team (トルネァ調査隊,)

Torneå North Island

(トルネア北島, Torunea Kitajima)

• Pilgrimage Stairs (巡礼階段, Junrei Kaidan)
• ÄRM Shrine (アーマほこら, Āma no Hokora)

Phantom Tower

(幻影の塔, Gen'ei no tō)

Demographics

Caldea is populated by a group of magically advanced witches. The term 'witch' is used to describe both the male and female spellcasters, rather than just the female, (making it more similar to the real-life and historical concepts of witchcraft and witches as opposed to the general only-women are witches notion). Given that the "witches" of Caldea do no exhibit any powers beyond abnormally high magical power that are present within all citizens of the world it is possible that "witch" refers to the citizen's as a nationality rather than a rank or profession. As pointed out by Alviss, large levels of magic can be felt within even the children.

Culture

Caldeans prefer to outcast themselves from the rest of the world, but some have been known to become ÄRM thieves.

As witches, Caldeans rely heavily upon magic in their daily lives, as the vast majority make use of the Dimension ÄRM, Andata, to move about across the country. In ages past, they used covered wagons as transportation, but have not done so since Andata was invented and thus have lost adequate skill in driving these vehicles.

The most common career among Caldeans is being a chaser, otherwise known as an ÄRMsmith. While foreigners can be chasers as well, the practice of chasing, carving, and engraving ÄRMs originated in Caldea, and because of their magic potential, the craft of creating ÄRMs is highly regulated. Some of the most dangerous and controversial ÄRMs are put on a special ban list known as the Pandora Records (パンドラ・レコード, Pandora Rekōdo), which are "forbidden ÄRM engraving recipe that records the darkness of Caldea's ÄRM engraving". Among these forbidden ÄRMs are an entire class known as Ghost ÄRMs, and due to this ban Ghost ÄRMs are only manufactured outside of Caldea.

History

How long Caldea has been around is unknown but it has some considerable amount of history with no less than 300 years of records. Witches turning rogue is rare but a few have since at least the time of Unwetter.

Some of its most recent scandals involve the stealing of 798 powerful ÄRMs from its vaults, an act conducted by a witch of royal bloodline, Diana and her subsequent flee, which took place 10 years prior to the current storyline. In accordance with its law, Diana's younger sister Dorothy has been sent after her to put an end to Diana's actions.

Trivia

• In MÄR Heaven: Devil of Caldea, the player (as Ginta) can speak to an NPC in Caldea City standing in front of a parked covered wagon for inquiry. Ginta recognizes the wagon as something that his world had as well, and the man tells him that it's called a "schooner" (スクーナー, Sukūnā). A schooner is an entirely different vehicle on Earth, however covered wagons have historically been referred to as "prairie schooners".

Gallery