Bastian

Crimea's Keystone
Bastian
Species	Beorc
Class	FE 9 Sage FE 10 Arch Sage
Affiliation	Crimea
Hair color	Blonde
Base	Crimea
Debut	Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

Bastian is a playable unit in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and its sequel, Radiant Dawn.

Background

Bastian was a count who served as a retainer of House Crimea. He was one of the few who knew of Princess Elincia's existence. Bastian was a talkative fellow, but he spoke in an eloquent manner like a poet reciting poetry. He often hit on Lucia, a fellow retainer of Elincia, but she rejected his advances. Bastian also sometimes argued with another retainer, Geoffrey, who was quite stressful and blunt compared to the more calm and elegant Bastian. He may have had some shadiness in his past, as he knew the assassin Volke. Aside from his magical prowess, his main strength was his tactical genius.

Path of Radiance

Daein invaded Crimea. Elincia went missing after Geoffrey's men were defeated in battle. Afterwards, Geoffrey and Lucia posed as merchants, while Bastian posed as a street performer, to hide from the Daein soldiers. they used the cellars of Castle Delbray as their hidden meeting place. During this time Bastian mourned his fallen country and longed for the day that Crimea was restored.

Eventually, word came that Elincia was alive and bringing a Crimean Liberation Army to liberate Crimea. Lucia and Bastian set out with a group of soldiers to investigate. They eventually found the Crimean forces in "Chapter 23: The Great Bridge". Bastian then returned to Castle Delbray to alert Geoffrey, and together they prepared a celebration of Elincia's return. However, this backfired when Daein forces began advancing on Castle Delbray in "Chapter 24: Battle Reunion". Geoffrey was left behind as a decoy, while Bastian returned to Lucia and the Crimean Liberation Army to alert them of the attack and redirect Elincia to a new hiding place.

However, Elincia disagreed with allowing one of her men to sacrifice himself. The army's leader, Ike, also agreed and lead the Crimean Liberation Army to save Geoffrey and defeat the Daein forces at Delbray. Bastian and Lucia remained behind to watch over Elincia, but they eventually saw the wisdom in Ike's words and joined in on the battle against Daein. After the army successfully defeated Bertram, one of Daein's Four Riders, in "Chapter 26: Clash!", it was Bastian who realized that Bertram was actually Renning, who was believed dead but actually had been warped by the drugs used to turn laguz into Feral Ones. He did not want to raise false hope, so Bastian told no one else and had Renning secretly taken back to Castle Delbray so he could look into finding a cure.

Afterwards, they decided to follow Elincia's request and to ensure that they lived to see the new tomorrow alongside Elincia rather than offering their lives to make Elincia's lives easier. The three retainers rededicated their vows to Elincia and to restoring Crimea. After the war ended, he cheered for Crimea's victories and praised the goddess for sending Ike to save their land.

Radiant Dawn

Over the next three years, Bastian became a retainer of Queen Elincia. At the same time he continued secretly trying to cure Renning and enlisted the aid of the assassin Volke to find a cure, but Renning's condition continued deteriorating and it seemed they did not have much more time. Bastian was later appointed an envoy to Daein after Pelleas took the throne in "Part 2: Of Countries and Kings". However, he was sent there also to investigate the rumors that the Black Knight was still alive, and Bastian continued his ulterior motives of searching for a cure for Renning. Before leaving, however, Bastian had found out about Ludveck's plan for rebellion against Elincia and thought that Ludveck would strike after he left, so Bastian hired Ike and the Greil Mercenaries to help Elincia in case she could not handle the rebllion alone.

Volke had found that Izuka, who was an aide to Daein's new king, created the Feral One process and might be able to create a cure. So Bastian and Volke were able to captured him and held him prisoner while interrogating him vigorously. They learned much of his experiments, but Izuka claimed he would make an antidote only in exchange for freedom. They refused this offer because they did not think a beast like Izuka should be allowed to walk free. Additionally, they hypothesized their own cure: the herons' galdr of rebirth. Geoffrey eventually met up with him and helped him to find the camp of the Hawk Army, which contained Elincia and Reyson in "Chapter 5: Unforgivable Sin" of "Part 4: Of Gods and Men". However, at that point Izuka escaped, and Bastian called for the help of the Hawk Army in subduing him. After Izuka was killed, Bastian told them the story of Renning, and Reyson was able to successfully heal Renning with the galdr of rebirth.

After the war, Bastian's diplomatic skills resulted in the signing of many peace treaties throughout Tellius. If he had an A Rank Support with Lucia, it is mentioned that the two had an ongoing affair but never married.

Support Conversation Summaries

In Path of Radiance, Bastian is capable of having Support conversations with three other characters.

• Lucia- In the first conversation, Bastian attempts to sweet-talk Lucia into dating him, but she reminds him that she knows his tricks and advises him to give up. However, Bastian decides to redouble his efforts. In the second conversation, Lucia comes to Bastian because she had heard that a funny-looking man with a mustache had been injured. Bastian says he was not the one injured but takes this as a sign that Lucia cares about him, but Lucia had told him already how she felt, but Bastian refuses to listen to her reasoning, much to Lucia's chagrin. In the third conversation, Lucia admits to Bastian that he is not so bad and notes that his psychotic behavior appears to be just an act, at which point she decides she might consider Bastian's proposal after the war's end. Lucia then quickly excuses herself to help Elincia, at which point Bastian foresees a bumpy road ahead for them.
• Makalov- In the first conversation, Makalov meets Bastian and thinks of him as nothing more than a comedian street performer and laughs at everything he says. Afterwards, a Crimean soldier approaches Makalov and chastises him for laughing at Bastian, saying Bastian is actually a count of Crimea (possibly the only time a third character appears in a Support conversation). Makalov is intrigued by this news and decides to use his charm to get Bastian to give him money. In the second conversation, Makalov attempts to convince Bastian to join him in going to a gambling den together since they have become close friends. But Bastian says he will only watch and refuses to play games while Crimea is suffering. In the third conversation, Makalov had lost everything he had gambling to Bastian. Bastian claims he did not lie about never having been to a gambling den, but he says that he played a similar game with other nobles. Bastian had no need of the money, and against Makalov's demands he decides to contribute it to the army's funds. Makalov says Crimea doesn't need the money with someone as lucky as Bastian on their side, and Bastian promises to shower Makalov with gold if Crimea wins the war, prompting Makalov to take his fighting more seriously.
• Volke- Volke finds Bastian following him around and apparently the two knows each other and are quite familiar with each other. Bastian inquires about Volke's current job, and Volke says only that he is serving Ike and will say no more unless he is paid ten thousand gold. Bastian decides to investigate this manner himself. In the next conversation, Bastian indicates having heard some secret knowledge to Volke, but instead of appearing interested, Volke asks Bastian if, with all his sneaking around and playing the puppeteer, he ever considered a change in employer, at which point Bastian says he is happy serving Crimea's royal family. In the final conversation, Bastian asks Volke when his contract with Ike expires, claiming he wants Volke to take care of some delicate job for him. Volke says his business with Ike will end after the war, and that he will find Bastian afterwards to take up his job. Bastian warns him not to dawdle, as his job is a manner of utmost urgency.

Bastian also has inbuilt Support bonuses with Geoffrey (which increases his chances of delivering a critical hit when Geoffrey is nearby and vice-versa) and Elincia (which protects Bastian from enemy critical hits when Elincia is nearby).

In Radiant Dawn, Bastian has an automatic Bond Support with Geoffrey.

Stats

Path of Radiance

Base Stats

• Class: Sage
• Lvl: 13
• HP: 35
• Str: 12
• Mag: 19
• Skl: 21
• Spd: 16
• Lck: 15
• Def: 12
• Res: 20
• Wlv: Wind A, Fire B, Thunder C, Knives
• Affin: Wind

Growth Rates

• HP: 55
• Str: 40
• Mag: 65
• Skl: 65
• Spd: 55
• Lck: 30
• Def: 35
• Res: 50

Radiant Dawn

Base Stats

• Class: Archsage
• Lvl: 10
• HP: 45
• Str: 21
• Mag: 35
• Skl: 27
• Spd: 24
• Lck: 21
• Def: 20
• Res: 32
• Wlv: Wind SS, Fire S, Thunder A, Staff B
• Affin: Wind

Growth Rates

• HP: 25
• Str: 20
• Mag: 30
• Skl: 70
• Spd: 40
• Lck: 40
• Def: 25
• Res: 50

Trivia

• Unused Support data from Path of Radiance indicates that Bastian was originally intended to also have support conversations with Gatrie and Geoffrey.

External Links

• Bastian at the Fire Emblem Wikia