WORLD / SETTING PRIMER

Five years before the story begins, the Old Arcadia Empire fell in a coup led by Count Atismata, aided in secret by a mysterious figure called the Black Hero, who single-handedly destroyed 1,200 of the Empire's Drag-Rides in one night. The Empire was replaced by the New Kingdom Atismata, currently ruled by Queen Raffi, with Lisesharte Atismata as First Princess.

Drag-Rides are ancient mechanized armor recovered from Ruins scattered across the world — ruins of a much older, more advanced civilization. Standard types include Wyvern, Wyrm, and Drake-class units, used by most Drag-Knights (the pilots). Above these are Divine Drag-Rides: unique, named, vastly more powerful units tied to specific individuals — Bahamut, Tiamat, Fafnir, Typhon, Lindwurm, and others. Each Ruin also holds Lost Technology and is fiercely contested between nations, with mock tournament battles sometimes used to decide investigation rights.

The Abyss are hostile creature-monsters that emerge from or are tied to the Ruins. The most powerful Abyss are called Ragnaroks — near-unkillable, recurring threats that resurrect after defeat. Royal Officer Academy is the elite, all-female institution in the New Kingdom's capital that trains Drag-Knights, where the campus politics, noble houses, and Ruin expeditions of the story mostly play out.

Underneath the surface-level academy drama sits a much older conspiracy involving the Arcadia bloodline, an immortal named Fugil Arcadia, his Divine Drag-Ride Ouroboros (capable of rewriting the world's memories), and the ruin-system Avalon — but that's deep-lore territory, not day-one material.