Emperor Mateus Palamecia

:"Reluctance to forgive has long been a human failing. It is man's nature to sin, yet you answer sin with violence upon violence. Is that not itself a sin?"
::-The Emperor
Emperor Mateus Palamecia is the main villain of Final Fantasy II, and the second Final Fantasy villain to be introduced in Domus Facina. He was introduced in Episode 0003.
== Traits ==
=== Appearance ===
Mateus's design is based solely on his Dissidia artwork, which is based entirely on Yoshitaka Amano's original concept art of him.
Bearing the color scheme of royalty, the Emperor's design consists primarily of purples and golds. He has long hair that is naturally lavender, but currently dyed blonde, arranged in a spiked pattern around his head, resembling sunlight (a symbol of holiness in Christian art). He also features two gold horns on the sides of his head, another cultural feature of godliness. He wears wing-shaped shoulder pauldrons, accenting his cape, which is blue on the outside and pink on the inside, which portains to his individual anima, and symbolizes an encompassment of both genders, yet another sign of godliness.
=== Personality ===
Mateus is a very calm, cynical person who thinks only of himself in every situation. He is ridiculously cocky and dishonorable, and will break his word on the spot in order to get what he wants. He believes that if anyone else is truly sentient, he wouldn't be able to manipulate them; in other words, he thinks very little of everyone else, including those closest to him.
=== Weapon ===
While not often used as a weapon, Mateus's Malice, as it is called, is a long, 7-ft. sceptre made of gold with a black handle in the middle. The bottom resembles three symmetrical claws with the tips meeting at the very bottom. The top of the sceptre features a serpentine dragon wrapping itself around a spherical jewel, making it resemble a Gemron.
=== Powers ===
A Sage. The Emperor has many, many magical powers and little experience in physical combat (contrasting the villain before him). His list of spells include Barrier, Blink, Thunder, Haste, Slow, Blind, Curse, Dispel, and Flare. What's more is that his attacks can all drain health from his enemies. He also possesses the power to warp peoples' minds, summon giant cyclones, and raise armies of the undead to do his bidding. He can create energy explosives and magical crests that drain his opponents' strength and harm them in the process. His ultimate attack is Starfall, which summons an enormous meteor that traps its targets in its range by firing smaller meteors at them as it slowly crashes on top of them.
== Story ==
=== Final Fantasy II ===
Emperor Mateus Palamecia was once the ruler of the Palamecian Empire, a desert continent that covered half the hemisphere. So invincible and impenetrable was his fortress, that he held a contest to see if anyone could break into it. The prize was his daughter, whom would be forced into marriage with the winner. However, all who tried failed. Then, one day, a thief named Paul used a flying apparatus to fly to the top of the fortress, which was severely lacking in security. Outraged by this unfair tactic, the Emperor ordered his immediate execution, but Paul flew off with the princess, who was never heard from again.
Quickly developing a fierce hatred for thieves and rogues, Mateus took it upon himself to unite the world under one rule, his rule, and end all forms of brigandry and rebellion. Using unknown Dark Arts, he made a pact with Satan, and was granted the ability to raise an undead army at the cost of his soul. With this power under his command, he proceeded to occupy the other kingdoms through force. He burned down Fynn, poisoned Deist, enslaved the people of Bafsk and Salamand, and killed almost everyone in Kashuan. Since Fynn was the only other kingdom with a chance of standing against him, he had it rebuilt and occupied by his minions as a secondary headquarters. He then forced the people of Bafsk to build a giant warship, dubbed the Dreadnought, with which he may rain destruction upon those who would oppose him. His two newest servants, Duke Borghen and Leon, were charged with seeing to the ship's construction.
Once the Dreadnought was complete, they immediately used its great power to heavily damage Altair, Gatrea, Poft, and Paloom. Soon after, they captured the leader of the Wild Rose Rebellion, Princess Hilda, and her airship driving escort, Cid. The Emperor anticipated their immediate rescue however, and replaced the real Princess with an imposter; a Lamia Queen in disguise. The real Princess was brought back to his personal Coliseum, where he would lure the rebels to him the only way he knew how: by offering their princess as a prize in a contest, just as he did with his own daughter years before.
As soon as the rebels discovered that their princess was fake, the announcement of the Emperor's tournament was made public. They immediately rushed to the Coliseum to participate, and were pitted against a Behemoth. After winning just one battle, the Emperor declared them the winners, as they were the only participants remaining. But as they stepped forward, Mateus sprung his trap and they were captured and imprisoned. With the Wild Rose Rebellion's key factors all imprisoned, he began construction of his next mobile weapon.
It was a giant Sky Palace kept aloft by a never-ending tornado that surrounded it. Using this tornado, he completely levelled the towns of Poft, Paloom, Gatrea, Altair, and Bafsk, leaving no survivors. Next, he targetted Fynn, which had been reclaimed by his enemies. Before he could reach the city, however, the rebels he'd previously imprisoned broke into his Sky Palace and assassinated him. Normally, because of his pact with Satan, he'd go straight to Hell to suffer for all eternity. But as he died, he separated the light and dark halves of his soul, so that only the dark half would go to Hell, and the light half would go to Heaven. Once there, he killed the original rulers of each world and usurped them, becoming the dominant ruler of the Afterlife.
With the Emperor supposedly gone for good, his right-hand servant, Leon, saw this as the perfect opportunity to ascend the Palamecian throne and continue the work Mateus started. But just as Leon's former friends, the rebels, showed up to stop him, Mateus came back from the dead in the form of a hideous, medusa-esque demon. One of the rebels, Ricard Highwind, held him off while Leon and the others escaped. The Emperor used his powers to destroy his castle, and replaced it with the palace of Hell, Pandemonium. The palace was only an illusion, however, and the only way in was through the Jade Passage, where hordes of Hell demons now poured from. Now that Mateus was in full control of Heaven and Hell, his plan was to kill the remaining denizens of the world, so they'd be under his absolute rule in the afterlife.
But... the Emperor was teleported to Domus Facina shortly after he raised Pandemonium, and will have to wait until he returns to carry out his final plans.
=== Domus Facina ===
Mateus is severely annoyed that he must remain in Domus Facina for the entertainment of others, especially since he was so close to achieving his goals. He can't complain though, as being in Domus Facina will give him the chance to get revenge on Kefka and Sephiroth. Why? Kefka and Sephiroth are the two most popular villains in the series, mainly due to the heinous deeds they committed. But Mateus did everything that both of them did first, and doesn't get any of the credit for it. In his own words, Mateus plans to "make their lives a living Hell".
In Episode 0016, Mateus threatened the Landlord, wanting to know what was stopping him from being tortured until he returned him to his original world. It was then that the Landlord whispered the contents of The Door in the Emperor's ear, reeling in his loyalty for what is predicted to be a long time.
He was most recently seen teaching Xande how to play his tabletop roleplaying game, but it turned out to be a trick so he and Kuja's characters could grow stronger. Xande interprets their plans and quits, thus foiling them.
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==Gallery==
Paramekia.png|Paramekia, the imaginary character Mateus based upon his Playstation self.
Mateus.jpg|Mateus's character sheet
Mateus front.png|Mateus, facing forward
Mateus DG card.png|Mateus's Downgrade card
== Trivia ==
*The name of Mateus's sceptre is derived from the name of his ultimate weapon in Dissidia.
*Mateus's name is never spoken in-game, but was first used in the official novellization of Final Fantasy II. His incarnations in the Ivalice Alliance also use this name.
*The Emperor's Dreadnought and Tornado Sky Palace were both re-used in Final Fantasy XII by Judge Ghis and Vayne Solidor, respectively.
*Mateus was the first character in the Final Fantasy series to use Meteor, which has the unique name Starfall.
*It is theorized by the author of the comic that Leila the pirate is the kidnapped daughter of Mateus. The theory can be read here.
Category:Characters