Nilfgaardian Empire

The Nilfgaardian Empire (Ceas'raet aep Nilfgaard in the Nilfgaardian speech) is the most powerful empire in the history of the known world. It is located in the southern part of the Continent and boasts both a thriving economy and a strong, well-trained army with talented commanders. It has expanded mostly through the conquest of foreign countries, which were then turned into provinces of the Empire. The Empire's inhabitants believe that "real" Nilfgaardians are only those born in the heart of the Empire, and not those born in the conquered provinces.

The provinces are ruled by either stewards or kings (in cases in which a king willingly surrenders, he retains his throne but is subject to the Emperor or just a vassal). The empire has expanded throughout the years, conquering new lands and going as far to the north as the Yaruga River during the reign of Emperor Emhyr var Emreis.

In the Witcher saga, the Empire is portrayed as an overarching antagonist, with many free people of the North expressing hatred towards it with passion. It is introduced in, when it invades Cintra.

Heraldry


The current coat of arms was created by our resident heraldry and witcher Mboro, based on descriptions in the novels. The second and third come from CDPR's The Witcher game series while the drawing is the Czech concept.

Flag


The current flag was created by Mboro, based on the description in the novels. The four banners above were taken from.

Notable Nilfgaardians
Emperors


 * Torres
 * Fergus var Emreis
 * Usurpator
 * Emhyr var Emreis
 * Morvran Voorhis
 * Jan Calveit

Others


 * Ardal aep Dahy
 * Assire var Anahid
 * Cahir Mawr Dyffryn aep Ceallach
 * Carthia van Canten
 * Ceallach aep Gruffyd
 * Cynthia
 * Declan Leuvaarden
 * Fringilla Vigo
 * Henry var Attre
 * Jediah Mekesser
 * Joachim de Wett
 * Joanna Selborne
 * Lamarr Flaut
 * Menno Coehoorn
 * Peter Evertsen
 * Prince Voorhis
 * Reef
 * Roderick de Wett
 * Shilard Fitz-Oesterlen
 * Stefan Skellen
 * Tavar Eggebracht
 * Vattier de Rideaux
 * Xarthisius

Territories, vassals and provinces
Main
 * COA Nilfgaard core.png Nilfgaard (region)

Other places
 * COA Daerlan.svg Daerlan
 * COA Magne.svg Magne
 * Eiddon
 * Ruach
 * Winneburg
 * Tarnhann
 * Liddertal

Vassals Provinces
 * COA Ebbing Nilfgaard.png Ebbing
 * COA Salm.png Salm
 * COA Metinna Nilfgaard.png Metinna
 * COA Maecht books.svg Maecht
 * Mag Deira
 * COA Toussaint1.png Toussaint
 * COA Vicovaro Nilfgaard.png Vicovaro
 * COA Cintra Nilfgaard.png Cintra
 * COA Attre Nilfgaard.png Attre
 * COA Etolia Nilfgaard.png Etolia
 * COA Gemmera Nilfgaard.png Gemmera
 * COA Geso Nilfgaard.png Geso
 * COA Mag Turga Nilfgaard.png Mag Turga
 * COA Nazair czech.png Nazair
 * COA Rowan Nilfgaard.png Rowan
 * COA Ymlac Nilfgaard.png Ymlac

Cities and towns

 * City of Golden Towers
 * Armeria
 * Assengard
 * Belhaven
 * Carcano
 * Cintra
 * Claremont
 * Dun Dâre
 * Baccalà
 * Fano
 * Forgeham
 * Jealousy
 * Malhoun
 * Mayena
 * Metinna
 * Viroleda
 * Neunreuth
 * Nilfgaard
 * Razwan
 * Tegamo
 * Thurn
 * Unicorn
 * Vidort

Keeps

 * Winneburg Castle
 * Rhys-Rhun
 * Loc Grim
 * Darn Rowan
 * Darn Ruach

General information
Nilfgaardian society has always been indicated as far more modern than the ones of the Northern Kingdoms: unlike the latter, they do not believe in any mythological beasts such as vampires, and have adopted a monotheistic religion: the cult of the Great Sun, whose highest priest is the Emperor himself. However, unlike the North, Nilfgaardians still use slavery, which has now became the cheapest workforce in the Empire.

Nilfgaardian society also always showed much respect towards the figure of the woman: in Nilfgaard, women have far more rights and freedom than in the North, and according to the Nilfgaardian etiquette, even the Emperor out of his palace must show them respect and bow to them first.

While great power is given to them in Northern Realms, in Nilfgaard mages are under the total control of the Emperor, and are severely punished after every mistake.

Names
Names of Nilfgaardian men are usually composed by different elements: first comes their name, than the one of their mother, the one of their great-grandfather and for last the name of their father, usually preceded by the preposition "aep", which can be translated as "of".

Women's name is shorter and presents less elements. When a woman get married however, the name of her husband is added at the end of her name, after their surname.

Fashion and clothing
In Nilfgaard the prevailing colors used for clothes are the ones appearing in the Empire's coat of arms, hence black and gold. Nilfgaardians rarely use other colors within their fashion, especially the most bright ones. Nobles usually wear black and golden doublets, often decorated with golden embroideries (or usually with a white one resembling a cross) and white cuffs, trousers and shoes/boots. The ruff is also a very common accessory often used by Nilfgaardians.

Beards are considered in Nilfgaard hard on eyes, hence few men let it grow.

Greetings and manners
There are a lot of greetings in the Nilfgaardian society. The most common is probably a simple "hael", which can just be translated as "hello / greetings". Other more sophisticated greetings are for example "gloir aen Ard Feainn" or "gloir aen Nilfgaard", translated as "glory to the Great Sun / Nilfgaard". Within the army, soldiers use among them greetings like "e'er y glòir", which can be translated as "honor and glory", and "tuvean y gloir", which can be translated as "death and glory".

Towards the Emperor, Nilfgaardians use expressions like "hael Ker'zaer" or "glòir aen Ker'zaer", which can both be translated as "glory to the Emperor". As mentioned before, men must bow not only before the Emperor, but also before women. The procedure for a formal bow in Nilfgaard is: left leg extended, right leg and head flexed down, right hand on chest, left hand extended.

Food and drink
Little is known about the Nilfgaardian diet: food seem to be similar to the ones in Northern Kingdoms, although sometimes some products may be better depending on the place of origin. During the Northern Wars a naval blockade was established between Nilfgaard and the Northern Kingdoms, which prevented the trade of food among the countries, particularly seafood like oysters, making it quite rare in Nilfgaard during this time.

As for drinks, Nilfgaard imports the world famous wines from the province of Toussaint. The Lemon is also a very famous alcoholic beverage used in Nilfgaard.

Armed forces


The army count during the 2nd Northern War was ca. 320,000, as 300,000 attacked the Northern Kingdoms, while the remaining 20,000 - 50,000 remained in the Empire.

Army Groups
 * Center Army Group
 * East Army Group
 * Verden Operations Group

Smaller groups Siege weapons
 * 3rd Army
 * 4th Cavalry Army
 * Zerrikanian fire scorpion
 * Mangonel
 * Rot tosser

Smaller units Divisions and brigades
 * Sievers Battle Group
 * Vreemde Battle Group
 * Morteisen Battle Group
 * Impera Brigade
 * Vrihedd Brigade
 * Deithwen Division
 * Venendal Division
 * Magne Division
 * Frundsberg Division
 * 7th Daerlan Brigade
 * Black Infantry
 * 2nd Vicovaro Brigade
 * Nauzicaa Brigade
 * Ard Feainn Division
 * Alba Division
 * Winneburg tactical company
 * 7th Ymlats Infantry Regiment
 * Nazairi Brigade


 * The Nilfgaardian Empire is a powerful and ancient realm in the far south. Its capital is the city of Nilfgaard, located on the river Alba. The Empire arose through conquests, assimilating nearby kingdoms. Only the inhabitants of lands near the river Alba have the right to call themselves Nilfgaardians. A significant amount of elven blood runs in the veins of the people, while their language is a variant of the Elder Language. The Empire is aggressive and willingly invades neighboring lands. Its war with the Northern Kingdoms ended five years ago, yet in spite of the peace treaty, Nilfgaard has failed to give up its claims on the northern territories.

Source

 * Foreign Lands

The mighty Nilfgaardian Empire is still ruled by Emperor Emhyr var Emreis, and represented in the game by Shilard Fitz-Oesterlen, the Empire's cunning and eloquent emissary and ambassador.

Shilard is present in the Prologue, Act 2 (on both paths) and Act 3. In the Prologue, we can potentially see Nilfgaard playing its own game already if Geralt killed Aryan La Valette. Shilard persuaded the Baroness La Valette to accept Nilfgaardian protection. Already Nilfgaard can be seen projecting its influence. We furthermore see in Act 2 that Shilard captured Triss Merigold, Geralt's friend / lover, which as we learn later was to extract the name of members of the Lodge and as "evidence" of the Lodge's guilt with regards to the assassinations. We also find out that Shilard was the one who ordered Count Maravel to ambush the convey escorting Foltest's children and heirs, Boussy and Anaïs (which accidentally resulted in Boussy's death) and to give her to Dethmold of Kaedwen, most likely to make sure that Temeria remains divided. Morever, Shilard revealed to King Radovid of the Lodge's complicity in the royal murders, using the captive Triss Merigold as evidence, and worked with them to bring down the Lodge. And as we have already seen, Nilfgaard was in fact behind the assassinations to pave the way for its third invasion attempt, by promising Letho that it would re-establish the Viper School. In Act 3, if Triss Merigold was not saved (which requires Geralt to storm in the Nilgaardian camp and it ends up with Shilard dead), Shilard Fitz-Oesterlen pretended to have captured Letho, who subsequently "confessed" that the Lodge was behind all the assassinations at the Loc Muinne conference. Which led to exactly what Nilfgaard wanted, the elimination of the Lodge and the blaming of mages. If Geralt chose to save Triss, he opted to take Shilard hostage, but Renuald aep Matsen, an imperial bodyguard, killed the emissary himself, showing that he is in fact expendable in the Emperor's plans. Triss revealed in the conference the Lodge's guilt, but dissociated the mages in general from it, which allowed for the Conclave to be created.

How much the Emperor's plan succeeded depends on Geralt's choices, but it was more or less successful, and at the end it is revealed that the Nilfgaardian empire's army crossed the Yaruga river and is marching North. The Third Northern War had begun.

Nilfgaard is the aggressor. As a result of the fighting with the kingdoms of the North, it has encountered considerable turbulence - Radovid invaded Kaedwen (see Winter War), becoming a force able to defeat the Empire. Emhyr had not reached an agreement with corporations, so he devised a plan: he wanted to abdicate in favor of his daughter, Ciri. Depending on the player's choices, the Empire can follow one of the following courses:


 * 1) Emhyr var Emreis loses the war and Radovid or Dijkstra unites the entire North. Ciri's status won't matter here as Emhyr will be killed by conspirators for losing the war and subsequently she'd lose any right to the throne. Morvran Voorhis is then named emperor.
 * 2) Nilfgaardcity.png in TW3 (ending cutscene)]]Emhyr var Emreis wins the war. Depending on the player's previous choices, Emhyr stays in power if Ciri either dies or is a witcher (in which case he is convinced that she died), or abdicates to Ciri to become Empress.

The North can thus be conquered by Nilfgaard (and Temeria becomes a fief section), or Redania (in which all northern realms become part of Redania). The only exceptions are Skellige Islands and Kovir and Poviss.

Trivia

 * Nilfgaard draws many parallels with the Roman Empire of the real world: a vastly powerful empire that, with the use of disciplined armies, assimilates other "barbarian" cultures into itself through hard conquest. Also similar is the feeling of superiority among its delegates and subjects (who like to believe they are all of the Elder Blood - descendants of Lara Dorren). The cult of the Great Sun amongst Nilfgaardians can be related to the cult of Sol Invictus ("Invincible Sun") within the Roman Empire. Furthermore, the Witcher 2 clearly lampshades this idea. In one of the quest descriptions in chapter 1, Dandelion uses the phrase "When in Nilfgaard, do as the Nilfgaardians do" in exactly the same manner as we would use "When in Rome, do as the Romans do."
 * Origins of the capital's and therefore the empire's name are unclear. "Nilf" seems to be corrupted version of Icelandic "nifl" (fog, darkness, mist; like in "Niflheim"), while "gaard" could be either Dutch "gaard" (yard, garden), Danish "gaard/gård" (farm) or Old Norse "garðr" (yard, enclosure).
 * Nilfgaardian Lemon is one of the strong alcohols available for Geralt's consumption in but is non-consumable in The Witcher 3, where it's used only as an ingredient.
 * Tw3 icon gwent hero nilfgaard.png The Witcher 3 there are four armor sets inspired by Nilfgaard: the Nilfgaardian Armor set, the Great Sun armor set, the Impera Brigade armor set, and the Nilfgaardian guardsman armor set; there is also a Nilfgaardian Empire gwent deck.
 * In terms of color scheme and armor design, the Nilfgaardian military is very reminiscent of certain parts of the military of the Holy Roman Empire (not to be confused with the earlier Roman Empire), specifically their royal armor.