IN-PROGRESS. Also, I haven't finished RF4, so I'm missing a lot of new stuff. Also also, I haven't finished all routes/subplots in RFF and that game is a bitch and a half to progress in, so if you have any information straight from that source, by all means contact me with it.

PREMISE
-- JRPG-like world in which player characters are both farmers and warriors, working and fighting to protect and provide for their homeland and its residents.
-- Therefore, power comes from growing things and making friends.
-- Therefore, the source of magic is love and life.

MYTHOLOGY
-- Once upon a time, four elemental dragon gods battled the being of destruction known as the Ancient Golem in a war that wiped the old world clean. After defeating and sealing the Golem beneath the new sea, the dragons rebuilt the world with their powers.

-- Known as the Elder Dragons (Natsume), Native Dragons (XSeed RF4), or simply as the dragon gods (interchangeable), the four are:
--- Terrable, the dragon of earth, who presides over resurrection.
--- Fiersome, the dragon of fire, who presides over destruction.
--- Aquaticus, the dragon of water, who presides over transformation.
--- Ventuswill, the dragon of wind, who rules the abyss of time.

-- "Grimoire" is a name given to many different things in the world of Rune Factory. The most important is the powerful dragon that is the juvenile form of the Native Dragons (they all look alike in their infancy), but it has also been assigned to books, songs, and powerful sorcerors. It seems to simply be a name of power in Noradic tradition, inherited by the most arcane, mysterious, and powerful legends. <- THIS IS PARTIALLY SPECULATION, based on observations from canon and interpretation of a rough translation of information from Official Memoirs.

PLACES
-- Adonea: The continent upon which the Rune Factory series takes place. (Planet/world name assumed to just be "Earth" based on idiomatic usage - "what on earth", etc.)

-- Kingdom of Norad: Setting of most of the RF series. A mountainous, verdant country that relies on agriculture and has maintained its sovereignty for thousands of years. Has south-facing (Alvarna) and east-facing (Sharance) ocean borders. Said to be the land where the human race originated. Also home to the four elemental dragons. As of RF1, ruled by King Gilbert.

-- Sechs Empire: ("Zzyzx" XSeed Frontier - acknowledged in RF4 manual.) A large, militaristic empire that has been aggressive towards Norad in small bursts for years, seeking the power of the dragon gods and Norad's magical resources. Possesses advanced technology, including computers and tanks. Propaganda drives a constant push for invasion and expansion, asserting a belief that Emperor Ethelbert (Eiselbard, XSeed RFF) and the people of his country are "chosen", intrinsically superior to foreigners, and are entitled to rule all the world.

-- Kingdom of Roland: ?? Mentioned in Official Memoirs. Some character's home country. Possibly from RFF? That bathhouse dude...?

-- Republic of Eucraft: ?? Mentioned in Official Memoirs. Some character's home country. I'm going to guess this is another RFF thing because that game is denser than a fucking black hole and nobody seems to have any comprehensive knowledge of how many storylines there are in it exactly.

-- Other Adonean countries: They exist, they are smaller than the above four, but they go unnamed and unmentioned.

-- Eastern nation (I think its actual name is Yamato, XSeed? Frontier): Fantasy Japan, Sengoku/Edo aesthetics. Basically full of the usual Japanese fantasy tropes.

-- Elven country: A large, forested island nation, to the north, governed by a queen and an elder council. The dark elves may inhabit a separate country on this island or may simply be a race within the elven nation - only Tides talks about this at all, and they're very vague. As of the end of RFF, Minerva is the Queen of the Elves.

-- Kardia: Setting of RF1. Mountain city in Norad, near the border with the Sechs Empire. The dragons Grimoire and Terrable were summoned here during the plot of RF1.

-- Alvarna: Setting of RF2. A coastal city with a port and many roads leading inland. The dragon Fiersome apparently lives here, but I never finished the game so I'm not clear on the details.

-- Sharance: Setting of RF3. A small town/area with few permanent residents, located on a major trade route. Has historically been something of a cultural crossroads, the area home to many different races and people from far-flung locations. The land's vitality here is supported by the sacred Sharance Tree. The dragon Aquaticus dwells in a cavern beneath a lake here.

-- Selphia: Setting of RF4. A small but important castle town in Norad, home to the Native Dragon Ventuswill and typically ruled directly by a member of Norad's royal family due to its cultural and magical significance. The magical heartland of Norad, which feeds the flow of runes throughout the entire kingdom. (I'm still playing rf4 hold on)

-- Trampoli: Setting of RFF. A very small, very remote mountain village that once hosted rune research facilities and to this day is teeming with spirits. A floating island in the shape of a whale moves slowly through the sky above.

-- Fenith Island: Setting of RF:ToD. Probably not within Norad's territory, due to being a remote island in a large ocean. Hosts a shrine to the four dragon gods, protected by a lineage of Dragon Priestesses and the race of monsters known as arch-dragons. The sea nearby is where the Ancient Golem was sealed.

PEOPLE
-- Humans: Originated in Norad. A populous race of Earth, possibly the most widespread, with no particular inherent skills or affinities. Identified Earthmates in the series have come only from the human race.

-- Elves:

-- Dark Elves: Maerwen in Tides of Destiny is the sole representative. It's unclear whether dark elves are simply a racial subset of elves or whether they're their own people with their own separate country. Distinguishing feature is...well, dark skin and pointed ears.

-- Dwarves: Homeland unknown; they seem to occupy most of the same areas as humans with little trouble, however. All of the dwarves met in RF live in predominantly non-dwarven settlements, but several of them mention and identify strongly with a "clan" or "tribe" of dwarves, suggesting that their native social structure is based on extended family relations. Distinguishing feature is pointed ears, though the point tends to be less sharp/long than on elven ears. They are notably NOT short or necessarily bearded, which can make it hard to tell whether someone with pointed ears is a dwarf or an elf. They do, however, seem to really like clothing with ruffly fur or feathers - if someone has pointed ears, checking for fur trim or ragged edges in general is a quick dwarf tell, as elves prefer a more elegant style. Most, but not all, dwarves are skilled craftsmen; probably a learned social thing rather than an inherent trait, if Doug is any example.

-- Mermaids: Minimal detail given; Pia from RF3 is the sole representative, and she lived alone before coming to live on land. Presumably not a monster, and thus native to Earth. If Pia is a standard mermaid, mermaids' tails become legs when they are out of the water - being in the rain or submerged in water returns Pia to a full mermaid form. It is not known whether there are mermen in RF.

-- Monsters: Beings native to the Forest of Beginnings. They come in all shapes and sizes, and in variable intelligence. Most are animal-like, but there are a few instances of ~telepathy~ with Earthmates, and some monster species are noted in item descriptions to be capable of creating intricate tools (gunpowder?!). Some individual monsters (Micah, Tides' Goblin Captain) are much more communicative than others and aren't reacted to with any kind of shock, so it's reasonable to assume that monsters in general are just really weird and variable and anything goes so long as you came from the Forest of Beginnings or are descended from the Forest of Beginnings. In Frontier, monsters can breed, though it's by magical parthenogenesis, not the regular way.

-- Univir:

-- (whatever the hell Iris is): ??

CULTURE
-- World operates on a 120-day year. In Norad, there are four seasons of 30 days each, and a solar calendar starting on the first day of spring is used.
--- All games use a 24-hour clock in the Japanese version; in all games but RF4 (due to technical limitations), it was changed to a 12-hour AM/PM clock in the localization.

MAGIC
-- Earth spirits: ACCORDING TO LOCALIZED FRONTIER, the essential energy that flows through the land and living beings. The activity of earth spirits determines the health of the earth and its potential to support life in a region.

-- Runes: ACCORDING TO LOCALIZED FRONTIER, the crystallizations of earth spirits into a usable form, which appear as glowing spheres. In gameplay, runes are produced by ripe crops and (in RF3/RF4) by harvesting them from special "rune flowers" and "rune crystals".

NOTE: The way the word "runes" is used in RF4 makes me think that the term is conflated with "earth spirits" in that and other RF titles that aren't Frontier. I don't know what the original terms used were, but considering how much of the RF world mechanics are "whatever works best for this particular storyline", it's entirely possible that the distinction is unclear even in-universe.

-- Rune energy: Not often mentioned in a non-meta way, but occasionally used to refer to the stage after a rune has been absorbed by a human or other entity and is being actively used as energy for some purpose.

-- Runeys: Known as rune spirits in some Natsume titles. (May or may not be the same thing as the rune spirits from Tides of Destiny - need someone who's played the Japanese versions to confirm.) ACCORDING TO LOCALIZED FRONTIER, another form that crystallized earth spirits may take, instead of becoming runes. Instead of becoming a chunk of raw energy that living beings can use, they become an entity that can direct the flow of the earth spirits to specific ends, affecting the environment around it. A "rune wonder" is a particularly miraculous application of many runeys' power; in Frontier, these can be used to change the weather, spawn more lumber, etc.

-- Rune spots: RF4 SPOILERS RF4 SPOILERS

-- Elements: A property inherent in many things in RF, including items, monsters, gates, spells, and occasionally people, sort of. Elements are resistant to themselves and weak against their opposite, with the exception of Love, which has no pair.

-- Forest of Beginnings: Known as the First Forest in RF1. The abstract otherworld from which all monsters originate. As of RF4, there are two confirmed cases of a human entering the Forest and returning alive - it is a very hazardous place for humans, essentially an endless wilderness with no easy path back to "Earth".

-- Gates:

-- Retornen: Known as Tamitaya in RF4.

-- Tomes:

-- Staves:

-- Omnigate:

-- Spirit songs:

TIMELINE
???? fuck i don't know, let me get back to this one. I know RF4 gives a specific calendar year (sixteen-something I think) and is a certain number of years after RF1, and Tides has a rough timeline going on too, but idk