So its come to my attention that I keep bringing up what I call ‘culture theory’ in arguments about where the remaining McGuffins are without having ever fully writing down what that is. So I guess I’ll do that now.

Essentially, a while back Latte, myself, and others figured out to some degree of accuracy the metaphysics for the elements. Essentially the lower elements are aligned to the four classic elements in their tarot interpretation or Fire=Spirit, Wind=Mind, Earth=Body, and Water=Heart (Defective Gods, Chinese Destiny and Sept Terrion, Seven Elements, Ideals and the Tribes that Strive for Them). The higher elements are more complicated but they do have a clear heaven-earth-underworld dichotomy. If I were to give them specific words, it would be Creation/Power, Humanity/Justice, Destruction/Change (Zemuria’s Darkest Day) which seems to be at least somewhat supported by the flower symbolism on Ao’s arts cards (In Bloom: the Master Cards’ flowers).

With all this meta floating around, I felt like there also had to be some link between the metaphysics, the element locked orbment slots, and personality. After cross-referencing with Hajimari’s 40+ characters, I found a pretty clear pattern character attitudes and character motivators between the double and single elemental slots, respectively. This has been documented and publicly available on google drive for the last few years (Kiseki Element Slots Guide). It has been through six or so revisions and could probably still be updated further, but its still pretty accurate even in Kuro too. The gist is that there are certain personality traits associated with each element:

Earth – Stubborn, unmovable (in opinion), grounded, down-to-earth, family-oriented, a protector. 

Water  – Expressive, extroverted, connected, compassionate, emotional, irrational, empathetic. 

Fire – Reckless, proud, aggressive, driven, motivated, action-oriented, duty-bound, firebrand.

Wind – Calm, Aloof, introspective, introverted, mindful, wise, rational, self-interested, suppressed emotions, whatever else is in the Godai. 

Time – Anxiety/Fear, depression, outcasts, outsiders, changing, obsession, deviancy, ‘stuck-ness’. 

Mirage – Blending-in, niceness, pleasant, agreeable, easy to talk to, judgmental, strong sense of right and wrong. 

Space – Enlighted, passionate, inspiring, awe, inspired, idealism, radiant, high-energy.  

In the theory, Seven Elements, Ideals and the Tribes that Strive for Them, Latte argues that each of the seven tribes have a specific set of values defined by the elemental metaphysics. Culture theory states that not only did the seven tribes have these specific set of values, but said values extend into present Zemurian society and that the national character matches with the personality traits of the housed Sept-Terrion element. Going through the nations we have already been to:

Liberl comes from the word liberal or liberalism, an enlightenment era movement, has a constitutional monarch, a legal system that gives the arts, sciences, and business leaders a say in the daily governance, and a reputation for good relations with surrounding nations even Erebonia only 10 years after being at war. They are a technological leader in airship technology and its people are described as having a sense of dignity above that of other nations. 

Crossbell has historically been under the control of differing nations and its people have gained the ability blend-in with both Erebonian and Calvardian societies and are easy to work with. At the same time, Crossbellians are extremely frustrated with the present situation and strongly wish for justice. You even play as a police officer. 

Erebonians are stubborn and proud, strongly value history and tradition, prefer to put all their technological development into bolstering the military, and have a strong martial tradition among the nobility. They also have a rich history of art and craftmanship and value family and lineage. 

While it hasn’t necessarily been confirmed yet, that overflowing amount of time imagery makes it pretty obvious that Calvard has Time. Looking at its culture:

Calvardians value progress, change, and diversity, have practically zero interest in history or tradition preferring to look toward the future,  have a powerful underworld society that heavily overlaps with surface. There is a constant air of fear and anxiety due to the constant change (democracy), terrorism, influential underworld, etc. Furthermore, it has a higher tolerance for sexual deviancies like homosexuality than the rest of Zemuria. has a large immigrant population, and gets dark money from all over Zemuria. There is generally a big ‘ends justify the means’ attitude among the populace. 

So the expectation is that the remaining two Sept-Terrion countries follow the same rules. Water should be a place with good relations with and a presence across the entire world as well as a reputation for compassion and humanitarian aid. The only places that fit this rule are Remiferia for its medical reputation or the Free Cities region with the Septian Church and Epstein Foundation. Coincidently all four of the free cities have names associated with the heart or love.

• Arteria – (Latin) arteries, a heart valve.
• Leman – (Old English) an illicit mistress of lover.
• Emerose – (Flowers) Love.
• Taslim – (Arabic) Devotion or subservience to god.

As a bonus, the symbol of the Septian Church is a cup (water symbol in the tarot deck) and the original primal ground is described as a spring of water.

Wind should be in a place that is isolated and mysterious, possibly a harsh environment where people need to rationalize to survive. My prediction is that this is the former Holy Iskan Empire. In general easterners tend to be more reserved and are often crafty business men. The east also has a history of people leaving for a better life. There also seems to be a bird naming theme with Iska and Ikaruga and both the Eight Leaves and Black God styles focus heavily on the state of mind.