Quote Originally Posted by feioncastor View Post
Actually, he and Balbanes weren't on opposite sides during the Fifty Years War. That war was between Ivalice and some other country (I think called Ordalia or something, I'm not sure). The war where you have Larg/Hokuten vs. Goltana/Nanten (the Lion War) takes place after the Fifty Years War ended. The Lion War was a civil war between different regions of Ivalice, competing for the throne. As you know, Balbanes died at the tail end of the Fifty Year war, a bit before the Lion War broke out.
You have a point. Still, the Nanten and Hokuten may have been allies during the Fifty Year's War, but I doubt they were chummy. No doubt they were used by Larg and Goltana to curry favor with the King. Ivalice may be a single country on paper, but it still has strong regional identity within.

I imagine that Balbanes and Orlandu were friendly rivals who didn't share their underlings' antipathy. Considering that Orlandu let a young Ramza try to wield his sword.

Ordalia lies to the east of Ivalice. The only other foreign country that appears in the game is Romanda, to the north.