St. Mercurius International School

St. Mercurius International School (聖メルクリウスインターナショナルスクール) also called Mercurius is a Garden in Kamakura, Japan. It is one of the "Big Five Gardens" of Kamakura. Based in Yokusuka, the entire city is built akin to a castle town with the Garden as its castle, and the entire city, Garden included, resembles a massive fortress.

Mercurius is best known for its use of seven massive gunships called Arks (方舟 hakobune). Because the Arks allow Mercurius Lilies to reach areas other Gardens can't, it's often said that while Yurigaoka is the strongest Garden in Kamakura, Mercurius is the most important. In fact, there's a long-standing rivalry between Yurigaoka and Mercurius derived from the colors of their uniform. "Yurigaoka in Black, St. Mercurius in White."

School Culture

While Yurigaoka tends to recruit (headhunt) skilled Lilies from around the world, Mercurius prefers a cultivation style of teaching. In practical terms, this means training Lilies in groups with girls of their own age. Mercurius has a proven track record of being able to grow even the most talentless Lily into a world-class one through this method, with the current crop of 1st and 2nd year high school Lilies demonstrating the effectiveness of this approach. In fact, some of the current 1st years are known for being the first team from Mercurius to ever beat Yurigaoka in the middle school reserve team evaluations.

The Garden has a reputation for being "an institute of learning for nobles and sovereigns." They call their method of teaching a "noble upbringing," and it's from this that students will call one another "Sir" (卿 kei) if addressing someone from the same year or younger. (Though not officially stated, one might assume they still refer to older students with -sama like other Gardens, and in this specific context, that might be translated as "Lord.")

Due to its tendency to allow Lilies to bloom on their own merits, Mercurius has produced many Phantasm-awakened Lilies.

The Minne Oath

St. Mercurius has its own style of sisterhood system, called the Minne Oath (ミンネの誓い minne no chikai). This binds together two Lilies of any age (even same-age) in a special relationship. To perform the Oath, one Lily takes on the role of Ritter (knight) and swears herself in service to her Adelheid (lady), which in this case is the other Lily.

Minne is the Middle High German word for love, specifically, courtly love. The idea was that a knight would pledge their fealty and service to a noble lady at court and often galavant off to perform quests in her name. Though the image of a knight of course projects strength, it's important to realize that in this relationship, it was the lady who held the power. After all, it was only by accepting their pledge of service that the knight would have someone to serve.

However, as Fumi puts it, "what's important is that it's like a vow between lovers."

Sky Wings & Arks

Rather than using a "top legion" or "instructor approval" legion system, St. Mercurius uses a "Sky Wing Strike Force" system. Each Wing is made up of three legions (labeled 1st Unit, 2nd Unit, and 3rd Unit), for a total of at least 27 Lilies. Each Wing is assigned to one of the Garden's massive gunship Arks, which has enough room to carry all three legions worth of Lilies in it. A Wing usually sorties together aboard their Wing's Ark, with the assumption they can take out an Ultra-type Huge all on their own, however a single Unit may engage in combat on its own if a small battle is close enough

Each Ark is a massive ship which doesn't resemble the usual Lily gunships, more like a large blimp or even ocean-going vessel. Furthermore, the Arks come equipped with powerful onboard weaponry that can be used to kill even Large-type Huge (notably, these weapons still need to be supplied with magie by a Lily or Arsenal).

• 1st Sky Wing "Michael" (Captain: Altea Alessandrini)
  • Unlike other Wings, only homegrown Mercurius Lilies (meaning, those that have been at the Garden since elementary) can join Wing Michael.

• 2nd Sky Wing "Gabriel" (Captain: Lélia Inghelbrecht; Vice Captain & Commander: Mirabelle Inghelbrecht))

• 3rd Sky Wing "Raphael" (Captain: Beatrice Berlioz)
  • Wing Raphael still uses the "Five Tops" formation for their Neunwelts, a holdover from when that was St. Mercurius's favored formation. Legion Hakolberand from Irma also use this formation, but Raphael is noted to be far more passionate about using it.

• 4th Sky Wing "Uriel" (Captain: Sharlotta Svetlanov)
  • Wing Uriel is known as a gathering of fanatics, who are all devoted to the charismatic and popular captain, Sharlotta.

• 5th Sky Wing "Raguel" (Captain: Tithia Paumgartner)
  • Wing Raguel is often charged with rescuing Boosted Lilies from GEHENA. They are in fact said to be the model for Legion Rossweisse.

• 6th Sky Wing "Zachariel" (Captain: Nagano Shizuki)
  • Wing Zachariel is usually charged with evacuating refugee civilians from fallen zones.

• 7th Sky Wing "Remiel" (Captain: Pulmu Sibelius)

Because Yokosuka, where Mercurius is located, is a walled city fortress, the Garden does not employ a legion to defend it at all times (such as Yurigaoka's Legion Schwertleite). However, they do always make sure that at least one Wing remains on standby at the Garden.

Trivia

• The family names of Mercurius Lilies are all themed after classic music composers and conductors.
• St. Mercurius has a sister-school partnership with Odaiba Girls' School.
• The construction of Mercurius' defensive wall is done by Shirai Construction, owned by Shirai Yuyu's family.
• Because of the fortifications at Yokosuka, St. Mercurius doesn't have a dorm like Yurigaoka does; instead, Lilies get their own places to live in the city.
• Kaede Johan Nouvel and Ishikawa Aoi attended Mercurius together during middle school. At that time, they lived together at the same apartment.
  • Assault Lily Rubellum features an alternate timeline story which focuses on Kaede and Aoi as the protagonists, and treats them as if they never left St. Mercurius.
• Being an "international school," Mercurius serves a wide variety of international dishes made by first class chefs.
• St. Mercurius is famous for its very lax rules regarding its uniform. While Lilies like Louloudis Blomstedt wear the basic uniform largely unmodified, there's examples at the other end as well, such as Tithia.
• Yokosuka is one of the port cities opened to foreigners during the Sakoku period in Japan after the Convention of Kanagawa. Present day Yokosuka, where St. Mercurius is located, hosts the United States Fleet Activities Yokosuka, garrison for US Navy 7th Fleet.