Memories of the Name Empire
Ruins called peace

A diplomat who inherited the memory of his predecessor,
Jump into a massive battle that will shake the fate of the empire!

In the distant future, Lessel Station still maintains sovereignty on the edge of the ever-expanding Teixcalan Empire, which occupies most of the universe.
This artificial base, which specializes in mining and is home to 30,000 people, suddenly comes under imperial pressure.
The request was to send a new ambassador without any proper explanation of the whereabouts of the former ambassador, Iskandar Agaven, with whom contact had been lost.
The station government selects Mahit Dizmar, who has outstanding knowledge of the Teixcalan language and knowledge, and implants an imago, a device that stores a person's memories and personality and allows them to coexist (and eventually merge) with the minds of others, into his brain and dispatches him to the Empire.
This technology was a national secret essential to maintaining the Russel Station, which had to survive by pioneering the barren space with a small population. Coincidentally, the previous ambassador, Iskander, had not returned home for a long time and was unable to update the data, so Mahit heads to the Empire's capital, 'City', with his imago implanted in his head, 15 years younger than his current age.


But what awaited Mahit there was Iskander's corpse, frozen to a crisp! What on earth was Iskander doing in the Empire? Mysterious about his cause of death, Mahit works with "Three Strands of Seaweed," a cultural officer dispatched from the Imperial Intelligence Service, to unravel the mystery. This leads him deep into a dark conflict involving high-ranking officials, the heir to the throne, and even the Emperor himself.

How far can 'we' expand?
The grand questions posed by a space empire where the old and the new coexist

Arkady Martin, a science fiction writer with a background in history, climate policy, and urban planning, has crafted a sophisticated space empire that feels both futuristic and retro.
The city-planet 'City', which the Empire has designated as its capital, is a place governed by highly advanced artificial intelligence and algorithmic technology, with a police force that acts through collective intelligence and citizens equipped with monocles that give them direct access to a network overflowing with all information.
On the one hand, poetry is revered here as the foundation of knowledge and a core value that permeates all culture, and non-citizens are treated as 'barbarians' and looked down on, and archaic rituals such as sacrificial rites that have been passed down since before the Empire's expansion into space persist.
Like the great empires of history that greedily expanded their territories, Teixcalan's internal affairs are complex and chaotic.
Not only did they captivate the colonists with their military prowess but also with their superior culture, which became mainstream, but the unbridgeable gap between center and periphery, citizen and non-citizen, constantly gave rise to conflict.
This contradiction is also organically portrayed through the character Mahit, who is treated as a 'barbarian' by the people of the empire and coexists in the mind of another person called Iskander.
Having spent most of his life studying Teixcalan literature since childhood, Mahit finds himself frustrated and complex as an outsider within the empire, questioning the categories of 'you' and 'us'.

Mahit had now fallen into the Teixcalan pattern of dividing everyone into civilized and uncivilized, but in the opposite direction, backwards.
She was as human as they were.
They are as human as she is. (Memories of the Empire, p. 86)

I could understand about half of the allusions and quotations in their stories.
I felt jealous even though I knew I was being childish.
The foolish longing of non-citizens to be recognized as citizens.
Teixcalan is designed not to satisfy cravings, but to instill them further.
Mahit knew that too.
But every time I swallowed my words, every time I didn't know the exact meaning of a word or phrase, jealousy seeped into me. (Memories of an Empire, p. 195)

No matter how hard they try, 'savages' cannot become true citizens of the empire, and even if friendly feelings blossom between individuals, there are limits to their ability to fully understand others.
Given the inherent differences between imperial and colonial bases like Teixcalan and Leschel Station, establishing an equal relationship is even more difficult.
This theme of identity inevitably extends to relationships with others with whom it is not even clear whether communication is possible in 『Ruins Called Peace』.
Set in the outskirts of the empire, Mahit and the now-envoy "Three Strands of Seaweed" re-establish their relationship in a reversed situation from the previous game, while also attempting to negotiate with an unknown alien race that perceives humanity as "meat."
Is it possible to establish a peaceful relationship with an unknown entity with which communication is impossible because they do not speak the same language? The characters' persistent efforts to explore the other's language and engage in dialogue, without giving up on the possibility of communication, evoke a sense of wonder and emotion. Despite being set in an unfamiliar universe in the distant future, this film demonstrates the virtue of science fiction, which concretizes vast and complex real-world issues in unprecedented ways.