In this section, we will discuss and explain some of the mysteries surrounding Freya's home town, Burmecia, and shed some light on it's extreme weather patterns and as to how it got invaded so easily by the Black Mage army. But first, we'll start with the most prominent and easily recognisable feature of Burmecia - the rain.

As any meteorologist will tell you, excessive amounts of rain will eventually lead to flooding, which will lead to:

• Destruction and damage to numerous buildings and monuments
• High numbers of casualties due to drowning, leading to epidemics and diseases spreading throughout
• Contamination of the city's water supplies
• Destruction and shortages of crops and food supplies

So, how is it that Burmecia is able to sustain a large-scale settlement, whilst withstanding the harsh weather? Or more importantly, why choose such a location in the first place? Well, there are several theories to back this up.

As we all know, Burmecia is located in the northern pocket within the Aerbs mountains, in the Daines-Norse Basin. Now, unlike Lindblum, Alexandria and Treno, Burmecia is located on the ground below the mist as opposed to montainous areas and plateaus above it. This, however, would provide no real advantage to choosing where to live, as monsters thrive within the mist. And if that's the case, then the constant rainfall would be the least of Burmecia's worries.

So why live there? Well, there is the possiblility of the area surrounding Burmecia being rich in metals such as Mythril. Remember when the party visits Burmecia towards the end of Disk One, Mythril weapons and equipment start to appear in shops and other places, plus the fact that Freya picks up a Mythril Spear in one of the storage rooms in the city square outside the palace. So a Mythril mine nearby or within the city sounds like a plausable reason to settle there.

It's also possible that the geology beneath where the city currently stands has the unique ability to support larger, heavier buildings such as the palace. Perhaps a rocky foothill formed during a landslide many centuries ago, creating some kind of island within the surrounding silt. This might not apply to all areas of the city, so only the outskirts are exempt from this kind of land formation. This is also something of an advantage - it would be rather difficult for construction workers to dig out new catacombs and sewers for city expansion if the whole area was built on top of a giant rock, so it's primarily for the "main" parts of the city, like the afforementioned palace.

There is also the likelyhood that, like Cleyra's sandstorm, Burmecia is protected by rain as a measure to fend off from invasion, which we will address later, and any unwanted businessmen turning it into a tourist trap. Though that doesn't really provide any real advantages than taking those away that would ease the comfort of living in such a harsh place.

With all that out of the way, it still leaves the following question unanswered: How did Alexandria invade such an inhospital place with such little effort? If the combination of bad weather, muddy silt, and exhausted invaders are enough to repel a good portion of attackers, then how did Burmecia allow itself to be conquered so easily? Fourtunately, Eudemic, our resident millitary know-it-all, provides an explanation:

"We concluded that Beatrix sent the human portion of the Alexandrian army around the Mist continent by sea, landing them near Cleyra, and then marching towards the city of Burmecia (slowly). In response the Burmecian army is mustered, and marches out to meet them. The battle fought between them would have been somewhere between the Burmecia/Cleyra border and the landing site, taking away the advantage the light infantry the Burmecian army had over the heavy infantry of the Alexandrian on soggy ground. (If that was akward and confusing, basicaly the More lightly armored (armed?) Burmecian force would be better suited to combat on the soggy, muddy ground of Burmecia proper; while the Alexandrian forces would prefer more solid ground because of their greater weight.)

"This attack would be deversionary, tiring out the majority of the Burmecian army and moving them away from the location of the actual origin of the invasion: The North Gate. Burmecia would commit a great portion of her forces to countering the large human invasion force coming from the sea, because they don't know that Alexandria has an army of Black Mages which they are marching 'under mist' at the fortress that is the Melda Arch. This would be an even less expected avenue of attack because of the bad effects that mist exposure supposedly has on people.

"Easily overpowering the garrison at the North Gate, the Black Mage army would meet the main Burmecian force who were marching back from the battle near Cleyra to intercept them (if the Burmecians were victorious); meaning they would be very tired. Slaughtering the main body of the Burmecian army they would then move in on the City of Burmecia, sending a small force against Gizmaluke (led by Zorn and Thorn, as they would be needed to counter Lord Gizmaluke and open the bell gates) to cut off that avenue of escape."

Very nicely answered, good sir!

Hopefully, this covers up a lot of things about Burmecia's strange environment. More may come in future updates!