Nilfgaardian Empire

The Empire of Nilfgaard or the Nilfgaardian Empire, also simply known as the Empire or Nilfgaard, 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.

The major religion in Nilfgaard is the cult of the Great Sun.

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

Heraldry


The first coat of arms was created by our resident heraldry and witcher Mboro, based on descriptions in the novels. The second comes from CDPR's The Witcher game series.

Flag


This flag was created by Mboro, based on the description in the novels.

Known Nilfgaardians
Emperors

Main article: Emperor of Nilfgaard
Aristocracy

Intelligence

Army

Mages

Bailiffs and Greeves

Concubines, Mistresses and lovers

Others

Main article: Nilfgaard Military
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.

Smaller groups

 * 3rd Army
 * 4th Cavalry Army

Siege Weapon

 * Fire skorpion
 * Mangonel
 * Rot tosser

Source

 * Foreign Lands

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
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 Anais (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.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
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. Depending on the player's choices, the Empire can follow one of the following courses:


 * 1) Emhyr var Emreis losing the war, and Radovid uniting the entire North. Cirilla dead or alive, but she is a witcher. Emhyr is convinced that his daughter was killed.
 * 2) Emhyr var Emreis losing the war, and Dijkstra uniting the entire North. Cirilla dead or alive, but she is a witcher. Emhyr is convinced that his daughter was killed.
 * 3) Emhyr var Emreis winning the war, Cirilla is dead or alive and, depending on the player's previous choices, is the Empress as a result her father's abdication, or is a witcher, and Emhyr is convinced that she died.Nilfgaardcity.png in TW3 (ending cutscene)]]

North can thus be conquered by Nilfgaard (then Temeria become fief section), or Redania (if all countries of Nordlings are part of the "Empire of the North"). The only exceptions are Skellige Islands and Kovir and Poviss. Nilfgaard losing the war means the death of Emhyr at the hands of the conspirators and replacement by Morvran Voorhis.

Trivia
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 * 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 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."
 * Nilfgaardian Lemon is one of the strong alcohols available for Geralt's consumption.
 * Tw3 gwent card back nilfgaard.png The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 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, specifically their royal armor.