Timber

Timber is a city in Final Fantasy VIII. It is under martial law by the Galbadian Army, and has many resistance groups struggling to regain Timber's independence. Notable features include its many train lines and its television broadcasting studio. It is also the home of Timber Maniacs, a publishing company.
The city's name was derived from the surrounding woods. An atmosphere of new and old blends in the city, with houses and stores having a stone-made look, while the TV station has a more futuristic appearance, and the mixture of Timber and Galbadia's crests within the city allude to the town's complicated history. The town has four train stations, but due to the citizens' disobedience with the current government, the town has never truly prospered under Galbadian regiment.
For a long time, Timber's mass media reflected local political ideology, but was later heavily censored by the government. Timber used to have its own military troops while an independent nation, but following Galbadian occupation that body was largely dissolved and Galbadian soldiers serve as the peace-keeping force. To give its government a firmer presence, the Galbadian army has some of its troops stationed in Timber.
== Story ==
According to Anarchist Monthly, Galbadia, under the new leadership of President Vinzer Deling, invaded the area following the "2nd Sorceress War". This is the only part in the game where it is implied there would have been more than one Sorceress War, and elsewhere the term Sorceress War is used to refer to the war Galbadia waged against Esthar reigned by Sorceress Adel.
Under Galbadian occupation the woodland decreased dramatically. Prior to its occupation, those in the resistance were hunted down, and many citizens were killed and imprisoned leading to the deep-seated hostility in the local consciousness. Many of Timber's citizens have, or presently belong to, the resistance, although the resistance remains largely inactive owing to the strong Galbadian occupancy.
The newly graduated SeeD members are sent to Timber as their first mission to help the Forest Owls, a subversive group resisting the Galbadian occupation. During the mission Squall Leonhart meets Rinoa Heartilly for the second time, following their dance at Balamb Garden. Squall and his party are to aid the Forest Owls in kidnapping of the Galbadian President, Vinzer Deling, but the mission fails when it is discovered that the president they were attempting to kidnap is only a body double called Gerogero.
It is discovered that the president's business in Timber is to broadcast the announcement of a sorceress becoming Galbadia's new ambassador. During the broadcast Seifer Almasy appears, and holds the President hostage, until he is lured away by Sorceress Edea. In the incident's aftermath the G-army searches the town and destroys the Forest Owls' base. Squall and his teammates lay low and avoid capture, and escape to the Galbadia Garden.
== Geography ==
=== Overview ===
Timber is located within the Galbadian Continent and is a crossroad for the transcontinental railroad system. It is to the north of the Winhill Cape and to the south of Obel Lake. The city is also close to a lake and to the seaside, and has a large forest just north of it. The Timber Manics office is the most prominent building seen when viewed from the world map.
Timber's architecture is a blend of new and old. While many houses and stores have a stone-made, European appearance with patterns painted into the walls in many cases, other buildings such as the TV station and parts of the railroad station have a more futuristic look.
=== Timber Forest ===
Timber Forest is a temporary location visited in Laguna's dream. The area is a thick forest filled with grass and trees, with a few fires and fallen trees throughout. A path is cut along the grass, which Laguna and his party traverse through.
The location consists of five areas. The first has a dirt road upwards through light grass with some trees. The second is a path cut along thick grass with a Cure draw point halfway along, leading up and bending to the right. The third area has a river cut through the dirt path, as a fallen tree forms a path across the river connecting to the path on the other side. The fourth area continues the dirt path to the left, running alongside a river to the right. The fifth area continues the path forward alongside the river, with a Water draw point halfway along, before reaching Laguna's car at the end.
The enemies in the Timber Forest are a mix of Funguar and Geezard. Geezards are particularly weak enemies with low HP, and only Cure and Thunder can be drawn from. Funguars are slightly tougher, and allow Sleep and Scan to be drawn from them. However, they themselves can cast status effects damaging, and then cast spells to deal damage to the party while either in Sleep or Confuse, meaning it is important to either junction defense against Sleep, or draw-cast Sleep on the Funguars first.
=== Timber Railroad Station ===
Timber's railroad station is one of the major rail stations in the world. Rail lines from the station are connected to Balamb Town, Deling City, East Academy Station, and—at one time—Esthar Sea Side Station. The railroad station has a more futuristic design, in contrast to much of the rest of the city, and has neon blue lights dotted along the walls.
The station's lines are marked by sign posts, where the line at the very back is the line to Balamb. A stairway leads down to a plaza below, and to the left of it is the Timber Pet Store, which sells many items for Guardian Forces as well as a Pet Pals magazines for Rinoa's Limit Break. Below this are smaller stairs to the Galbadia line on the right (the Forest Owls use this line for their base). The player can interact with the souvenir shop, but not buy anything, and the map they provide is not much help.
Heading down from here leads to an overpass viewing several trains, which then connects to a town square. (After the storyline events at Timber are over, an NPC gives the party infinite Potions if Rinoa and/or Quistis are in the party.) Heading to the right instead just in front of the Galbadia line leads to the Timber Maniacs office.
During Galbadia's occupation of Timber, G-Soldiers and Elite Soldiers can be fought in the area. They are unchanged from previous encounters with them, and are relatively weak, though they present a good opportunity for Rinoa to draw Fire, Thunder, Blizzard, and Cure.
=== Timber Maniacs office ===
The Timber Maniacs office is the central administration for most magazines circulating the globe. They publish "battle series" magazines, such as Weapons Monthly Magazine, and photobooks, such as "Jacket Over Skin: The Beautiful Women Edition". They also published Timber Maniacs that focused on freelance writings. It is a tall, round, stone building, and is the most prominent building as seen from the world map. The office is located just to the right of the Galbadia line in the railroad station. To the right of it is the lady's house, attached to it.
The man in green outside the publishing house gives the party a Pet Nametag if the player returns to Timber after leaving it the first time, and encourages him to become a journalist. If the player leaves Timber by train, they can walk back to Timber rather than going through the forest toward G-Garden. Later, after the player can travel freely on the world map with the mobile Garden, the man will give the party the Pet Nametag item.
Inside the Timber Maniacs office, in contrast to its old stone appearance from the outside, the interior has a sleek, modern design, with a chrome finish to the walls. The first room contains a receptionist along with many old magazines on the floor, including The Girl Next Door magazine. A door on the left from the main leads to a small, dimly lit room filled with magazines and boxes, with a hidden Blizzaga draw point which never refills. The door at the back of the main room leads to an office room, with piles of books stashed across the desks and shelves, and a Timber Maniacs magazine. The room also contains two editors, one of which will ramble on if the player asks them about anything and causes the party to leave.
=== Lady's house ===
The lady's house is located just to the right of the Timber Maniacs' offices. The first floor contains a kitchen and a round table in the middle. The lady and her daughter are here, and the lady will simply advise the party to use the window on the second floor to reach the TV station. The second floor contains a bedroom, with the bed located on the left below a window with curtains being moved by the breeze. The room contains two children, as well as a kitten sleeping on the bed despite not belonging to the house. The window at the back allows the party to look down and view the back alley below. Doing so is not required to gain access to the TV station. The cat on the kid's bed in the Forest Fox's base has grown bigger if the player visits the house after they get the mobile Garden. 
To the right of the lady's house is a bridge the leads either down to the Aphorora Pub or right to the eastern train platform.
The player needs to hide in this house as part of the story, after the TV Station incident. The lady will give the party a stock of battle items as well. If the player returns to the house later, the cat napping upstairs is bigger than before.
=== Eastern train platform ===
The eastern train platform to Dollet is reached two screens right from the Timber Maniac's building, after passing through a door at the end of a short bridge with a bench along it. The door leads into a bottom concrete floor with train tracks close by, and a staircase just down from the entrance leads up to an elevated area. From here, the Old Man's house can be reached through a door at the back, heading down leads to another screen with a train conductor who will explain how the trains from Timber operate, and a bridge across the tracks leads to another side of the platform, where the train can be caught from Dollet on another screen.
After returning to Timber after acquiring the mobile Garden, a girl plays on the train tracks. If the player saves her before the train comes, the screen fades to white and the party gets a free stay at the hotel. A model train will roll into the room, and examining it gives a news bulletin saying that a young girl was rescued from the train tracks by a brave young man.
=== Old Man's house ===
The Old Man's house is a small house with a single floor, located on the left of the eastern train platform. It has a red carpet, a red sofa on the right, a TV at the back of the room on the right, a cupboard at the back of the room, and a faucet on the left near the front. When the hotel is inaccessible right after the train mission, the party can drink from the faucet to restore HP. Checking the cupboard repeatedly can find the old man's stash of 500 gil. There is no option to return it, but no penalty for taking the money either.
=== Aphorora Pub ===
The Aphorora Pub is a prominent bar located near the railroad station, by heading right of the Timber Maniacs' office and then down a set of stairways at the end of the bridge on the next screen. After heading down the stairs first, a fixed encounter with two G-Soldiers will occur, and once defeated, the party will have access to the small plaza outside the pub and will obtain a Buel card.
The small plaza outside the pub contains the Timber Shop stall located on the left, three barrels near the back to the right of the pub's entrance, a Cure draw point in front of the barrels, and a small train platform to the desert on the right.
Inside, the pub has a sleek modern design, is dimly lit by purple lights, with a TV attached to the top of the wall on the right, and a bar serving patrons on the left. Patrons can walk through the pub to a door at the very back which leads into a back alley, granting access to the Timber TV station. At first, this door is blocked by a drifter.
The after the player talks to him and gives him the card obtained after the fixed battle outside the pub. The player also gets him to move by buying him a drink of the same type he is already drinking; the player can figure out the type needed to buy by observing him and talking to the pub staff. If the player shows the drifter the Buel card they got outside, he will move and give the player a Tonberry card. If the player talks to drifter without any Buel cards in the inventory, he will still move and give the party a Funguar card. If the player buys the drifter his favorite drink instead of showing him the card, he will move and give the party a Forbidden card. 
The back alley of the pub is small area with several abandoned boxes barrels and boxes around the outside, as well as a drunk man. It has a Scan draw point and a save point. To the left is another screen filled with abandoned barrels, with a cat perched on top of two, graffitied walls, and a gate providing a back entrance to the TV station up a flight of blue stairs. These stairs eventually lead to a large outdoor screen, before continuing left to reach a long bridge into the station.
The drinks for at the pub sale are named after greens found in other Final Fantasy games. If the player examines the magazine stacks in the Dollet pub upstairs "secret room", they may find an expired discount ticket for Aphorora Pub.
Later on when the player is free to travel the world map, they can take part in the Queen of Cards sidequest. After losing Alexander to the queen and talking to her in the Dollet pub afterwards, the bartender at the pub plays Doomtrain's card, albeit it sometimes takes him a very long time to use in a hand.
=== Timber TV Station ===
The TV station is a large, blue, futuristic-looking building, with neon green lights and flashlights around it. Before the Sorceress War's end radio transmission broadcasts were broadcast from Timber's TV Station. Now, 17 years after all transmissions became static, the station still stands ready for use.
The station is accessed through the back alley of the Aphorora Pub, after taking a flight of stairs and eventually reaching a bridge to the station. Inside is a round broadcasting room with several cameras around President Deling's podium. A path to the left leads to a circular backstage room with recording equipment.
=== Timber Hotel===
The Timber Hotel is found directly south of the Timber Railroad Station on a small street. It is a medium-sized building with cogs and machinery visible just above the entrance and decorations along its walls. To the left of the hotel on this street is the Timber Junk Shop (labeled as a weapons store), and heading right to the end of the street leads to a small street with a gate at the end to leave the city.
Inside, the hotel foyer features a scaled train model in the foyer on the left, as well as an actual rail-crossing bar named "Gatey" that prevents people from entering without paying first. The party can stay here for free if they rescue a girl from an oncoming train at the train station. The room has a Timber Maniacs magazine the player can read.
== Shops ==
=== Timber Store ===
Recovery Item	Cost
Potion 	100
Hi-Potion 	500
Phoenix Down 	500
Antidote 	100
Eye Drops 	100
Soft 	100
Echo Screen 	100
Holy Water 	100
Remedy 	1000
GF Item 	Cost
G-Potion 	200
G-Returner	500
Ammo 	Cost
Normal Ammo 	20
Shotgun Ammo	40
Miscellaneous	Cost
Fuel 	3000
=== Timber Pet Store ===
GF Item 	Cost
G-Potion 	200
G-Hi-Potion 	600
G-Returner 	500
Magic Scroll 	5000
Draw Scroll 	5000
GF Scroll 	5000
Item Scroll 	5000
HP-J Scroll 	10,000
Str-J Scroll 	10,000
Vit-J Scroll 	10,000
Mag-J Scroll 	10,000
Spr-J Scroll 	10,000
Amnesia Greens	5000
Group Item	Cost
Pet House 	1000
Magazine 	Cost
Pet Pals Vol. 3	1000
Pet Pals Vol. 4	1000
=== Souvenirs Shop ===
Souvenir 	Cost
Owl's Tears 	Out of stock
Model Train 	Out of stock
Map of Timber 	Out of stock
Naughty Magazine	Out of stock
=== Aphorora Pub ===
Drink 	Cost
Krakka	100
Mimett	100
Tantal	100
Reagen	100
Curiel	100
Sylkis	100
=== Junk shop ===
Weapon remodeling can be done at the Junk Shop, located next to the hotel.
== Quests ==
=== Train hi-jacking ===
During the mission to capture the president's train car Squall, Selphie, Zell, and Rinoa jump over to the presidential train, and the player has to input three codes. The player should go down when there are no guards, and go back up if a guard gets near. In the next segment the player must input five codes and will not get a warning for the guards.
During the train mission, if Squall is never detected by the guards, he gains a SeeD rank. Being detected fewer than 10 times has no effect on Squall's rank, but if the guards spot him the tenth time, his rank will drop.
===Drifter in Aphrora Pub===
When the player defeats the Galbadian soldiers outside the pub during their endeavor to get to the TV Station, they will obtain a Buel card. This card can be shown to a drunk man in the pub who will tell the player that they can keep that card and also give them a Tonberry card. If the player modifies/loses all Buel cards in their inventory before talking to the drunk man, he will give the player the Funguar card instead.
The player can also get him to move by buying him the drink he is currently drinking, yielding a Forbidden card. Talking to the guy at the table learns the combinations of drink names, label colors, and tastes. The player can then check which color label the drunk man has. The bartender will say the drifter prefers bitter ones. If the drifter has a sweet drink, he says it "stinks" but the correct option is to still buy him the drink he already has. If the player buys him the wrong drink, he says "Hey hey hey, I may be no connoisseur, but I got my favorite. I wanna drink more of the same thing I'm drinking right now." If the player buys him the correct drink, he says "Hey, punk, you got good manners! I ain't the rude type either. Here, take some o' this! Ha ha ha...(hic)", moves and gives Squall the Forbidden card. If the player leaves the screen and returns, the drifter may vary the drink he has, but the answer will always be either Reagan, Tantal, or Mimett.
===Infinite Potions===
A man near one of the stations will continually give Squall's party a Potion if either Rinoa or Quistis is in the party.
=== Triple Triad ===
Timber plays with Galbadia region rules, where Same is the sole starting rule.
Doomtrain is won from the pub owner as part of Queen of Cards sidequest. However, it may take a long time for him to use it in a hand.
== Musical themes ==
"Martial Law" is the theme song played in Timber. This song uses percussion and has a jazzy feel to it. "Timber Owls" is the song for the Forest Owls resistance group.
== Other appearances ==
=== Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade ===
FFAB Timber Town FFVIII Special.png|Timber (Special).
FFAB Timber Forest FFVIII Special.png|Timber Forest (Special).
FFAB Timber (Pedestrian Overpass) FFVIII Special.png|Timber (Pedestrian Overpass) (Special).
=== Final Fantasy Record Keeper ===
Squall and his party make their way toward Timber, site of their first assignment. Once there, they are to assist the Forest Owls resistance in abducting President Deling.
==Behind the scenes==
On Squall's first visit to the Timber TV Station, several repeating phrases are shown on the huge screen, including "IAMALIVEHERE" (I am alive here), "IWILLNEVERLETYOUFORGETABOUTME" (I will never let you forget about me), and "BRINGMEBACKTHERE" (Bring me back there). These are believed to be the thoughts of Sorceress Adel confined in space. A sign near the Timber TV Station also reads "Bropaganda Tower." In the original Japanese version, the smaller screen on the Outdoor TV displayed scrolling text: "Galbadia TV Station. We broadcast important information regarding the future of Galbadia and Timber. Every citizen must stay informed everyday."
The Timber soldiers' weapons and uniforms are similar to that of American Civil War era soldiers, tying into the antiquated, industrial-era appearance of the town.
All known resistance groups fighting for Timber's independence are compound terms and all have the word "Forest" as their first word in their names, e.g.: Forest Owls, Forest Fox, and The Forest Duck.
During a Laguna dream Laguna Loire, Kiros Seagill and Ward Zabac trek through the burning woods during Galbadia's invasion of Timber. The area is actually revisited as Squall's present day party when the party is on their way to G-Garden and Squall and his friends fall asleep in the woods leading to the Garden, implying the Timber woods would have encompassed a large chunk of Galbadia. There is a woman on the Timber train station who talks about Laguna having once saved her.
== Gallery ==
Timber Train President's Cabin FFVIII Art.jpg|Concept art of the president's cabin in the train.
Forest Owls Train Interior FFVIII Art.jpg|Concept art of the Forest Owls' train.
Timber Pub FFVIII Art.jpg|Concept art of the pub.
Timber Maniacs Office FFVIII Art.jpg|Concept art of the Timber Maniacs office.
Timber Hotel FFVIII Art.jpg|Concept art of the hotel.
Girl playing on train tracks in Timber from FFVIII Remastered.png|Girl playing on train tracks.
FF8ScreenshotTrain2.jpg|Trains on the world map.
FFRK Presidential Train JP FFVIII.png|The Japanese dungeon image for Presidential Train in Final Fantasy Record Keeper.
== Etymology ==
de:Timber
es:Timber
it:Timber
Category:Locations in Final Fantasy VIII
Category:Towns
Category:Organizations in Final Fantasy VIII