Reole

Reole (spelled Liore in the 2009 anime and Lior in the 2003 anime’s English dub) is one of the first places visited by the Elric brothers in their quest for the Philosopher's Stone. The State Military's lack of oversight in Reole, combined with the strong religious sense of the citizens (in this sense Reole is similar to Ishval), made it possible for an ambitious man named Father Cornello to institute a sort of theocratic government with himself as the unquestioned ruler. Fashioning himself as a prophet of Leto, the solar god of Reole, and as a miracle worker, Cornello promised riches and everlasting life, even resurrection of dead loved ones, for those who followed him. Though the people of Reole believed he could truly perform miracles, Cornello was merely performing alchemy, using a small Philosopher's Stone, mounted on a ring he wore, to violate the Law of Equivalent Exchange. This attracted the attention of the Elric brothers when they visited Reole, as they initially thought what he had on his ring was what they were looking for.

Another notable inhabitant of Reole is Rosé Thomas, a follower of Cornello until Edward showed her the truth and deposed Cornello from his seat of power. Rosé went on to assume a more active role in the small Reole society, leading the people after Cornello's fall from grace and through the civil conflict that consumed the city in its wake.

Though Alphonse and Ed believed they had managed to overthrow Cornello's theocratic regime and free the city, the two brothers had no idea until much later that in many ways they only made things worse. When Lust, the Homunculus who had originally given Cornello the incomplete Philosopher's Stone he wielded, learned of Cornello's failure, she refused to equip him again with a Stone and allowed Gluttony to eat him. Envy, a shapeshifting Homunculus, impersonated Cornello and took his place, claiming that the Cornello that had just been deposed was an impostor and that he was the true prophet. Cornello's followers were now divided. Some, like Rosé, refused to believe that God's purpose for humans was to turn them into an army of fanatics. Others believed in the false Cornello, remaining loyal to him. Civil war engulfed the city.

In the 2003 anime
The State Military led by Major General Hakuro was dispatched to Reole to stop the bloodshed. The two factions briefly re-united in the face of a common enemy, only to suffer major devastation and suffering at the hands of the Amestris military. The military captured the supposed ringleader of the rebellion, Rosé, imprisoning her for almost a year. When they released her, not only she gave born a child (presumably of the rape), but the atrocities had rendered her only a mute shell of the woman who she was before.

Then Reole was noticed by Dante, who wanted to use the conflict in Reole to create the Philosopher's Stone, much as Ishbal was used to try to create a Stone. Now in the body of a young alchemist named Lyra, Dante befriended and to some extent protected Rosé and her child. She then used Scar to win the citizens to himself, using the alchemical powers of his right arm to perform "miracles" in the public plaza, just as Cornello had done before. He managed to convince people that he derived his power from Rosé, now called the Holy Mother, herself. Having gained the trust of Reole's citizens, Scar dug a massive transmutation circle through the whole city - a special array from the Grand Arcanum, an ancient form of alchemy secretly passed down among the Ishvalans for generations. The array used in Reole to transmute a true Philosopher's Stone once again gained the attention of the military, and this time, Ed was sent in to the city to investigate, based on reports that Scar was in the city. Photos taken from the military's new hot-air surveillance balloon showed Scar's massive transmutation circle, which Ed recognized immediately as an array used to create the Philosopher's Stone. When Ed arrived, he confronted Scar and demanded he destroy the array, expecting that Scar planned to use Reole's inhabitants as components for the Stone. Scar revealed that his plans did not involve using the citizens as components, but rather the soldiers currently surrounding the city. He gave the people strict instructions to not retaliate to anything the military did, thus forcing the military to come in of their own accord, so that the military would not be able to blame the people of Reole for starting the conflict. Then, once the military was inside the city, the citizens were to evacuate the city via a secret escape tunnel. The military, led by Colonel Frank Archer, marched right into Scar's trap, intending to capture Scar, annihilate the population, and bring the city to the ground.

When the military arrived, Scar activated the Grand Arcanum circle, wiping out almost the entire military contingent. The deaths, along with the numerous souls already trapped in Scar's right arm, were enough to complete the creation of the Philosopher's Stone, though it was not quite how Scar envisioned it. He had sacrificed his Right Arm of Destruction to stabilize Al's metal body, which the Crimson Alchemist had turned into a bomb. Al's body, therefore, became the focus for the souls engulfed by Scar's transmutation, and the Philosopher's Stone was created inside Al's body. Reole was all but wiped from existence in the process of creating the Stone.

After the death of Führer King Bradley and the restoration of democracy, the refugees from Reole are able to safely return to rebuild their city. With Cornello long gone and Rosé living as a normal and happy woman at Winry's home in Resembool, Reole is on the road to restoration, with help from Major Armstrong, who would often create gigantic statues of himself through alchemy.

Reole was also part of Conqueror of Shamballa. There, a gate from a parallel world was opened and suits of armor came out of. Alphonse Elric fights them off with his alchemy while on the other side of the gate, Edward accidentally opens up the gate from his side, and the armor suits are pulled back to where they had come from.

In the manga and 2009 anime
Reole has little importance in the manga, and has not been mentioned very much after the very first story arc, which dealt with the downfall of Cornello. It has been mentioned is a short reference by Ed and the Briggs officers in chapter 67 to the wars in Amestris. It was revealed that Reole is a crest of blood, one of the points of intersection of the Nationwide Transmutation Circle, making the bloodshed in it a part of Father's plan. Later, Reole was rebuilt by the effort of its citizens. In Chapter 78, Van Hohenheim comes to the city to inspect the tunnel and encounters the Homunculus Pride inside. After delivering a message of challenge to father through Pride, Hohenheim returns to the town and assists in the citizens' relief and reconstruction efforts.

In Chapter 80, Alphonse Elric, Winry Rockbell, Yoki, and the Human Chimeras Jerso and Zampano arrive in Reole and exchange information with Hohenheim. The party spends the next few months in town, where the two chimeras and a reluctant Yoki assist in Reole's reconstruction efforts. However, by the Spring of 1915, Alphonse, Van and Winry all leave the group to enact the next phase of their plan. In Chapter 84, Scar and Tim Marcoh arrive in Reole and take the remainder of the group to Kanama on their way to Central City.

Trivia

 * In the 2003 anime, people of Reole are said to be similar/related to Ishvalans. They are portrayed with dark skin to prove this fact.