[ARCHIVAL NOTE]
The following document describes the human civilization of Paradis Island as it exists within the Walls. Information compiled from Survey Corps records, historical documents, and observations spanning decades of exploration.
This is the world we protect. This is what the Titans took from us. This is all that remains.
— Survey Corps Historical Archives
Status: Breached, largely abandoned
Height: Approximately 50 meters
Districts: Multiple, including Shiganshina (fallen)
Population (pre-Fall): Approximately 300,000
Population (current): Zero (evacuated)
Wall Maria was humanity's first defense, the outermost ring that separated civilization from the wilderness beyond. Before its fall, it encompassed vast farmlands, forests, and dozens of settlements—a green and productive land where most of humanity lived and worked.
The Wall itself is a monument of unknown construction. Smooth, impossibly hard, rising fifty meters from the earth. No seam, no joint, no evidence of how it was built. The Wall Cult claims divine origin. Engineers claim ignorance. Everyone else just accepts it.
Inside Wall Maria, life was simpler than in the interior. Farmers worked the rich soil. Villagers rarely saw soldiers. Titans were stories, not reality. Children played in fields, swam in rivers, dreamed of becoming soldiers without understanding what that meant.
Then the Colossal Titan appeared. Then the gate broke. Then everyone learned what Titans actually mean.
Now Wall Maria is a ghost. The fields grow wild. The villages stand empty. The dead lie where they fell. And beyond the breached gate, Titans wander through what was once someone's kitchen, someone's bedroom, someone's life.
Shiganshina (Fallen District):
The southern gateway district, built against Wall Maria itself. A town of perhaps 30,000, known for its river trade and its view of the open sky. Home to the Yeager family, the Ackermans, and thousands of others whose names are now carved on memorial stones. The Colossal Titan kicked through its outer gate; the Armored Titan smashed its inner gate. In one hour, 30,000 people became refugees or corpses.
Status: Intact, current frontier
Height: Approximately 50 meters
Districts: Multiple, including Trost, Karanes, Yarckel
Population: Approximately 600,000 (swollen with refugees)
Wall Rose is now humanity's outer boundary. Beyond it lies the abandoned lands of Wall Maria, patrolled by Survey Corps expeditions and wandered by Titans. Within it, civilization has compressed, adapted, and struggled to absorb the refugees who flooded in after the Fall.
The land inside Wall Rose was once considered the "middle ring"—less prestigious than the interior, safer than the outer districts. Now it's the front line. Every day, soldiers watch the gates. Every night, farmers wonder if they'll wake to alarms.
Trost District:
The largest and most important district on Wall Rose. A major port city on the canal system, Trost handles trade between the interior and the outer regions. Stone buildings rise three or four stories, crowded along narrow streets. The central square hosted the military tribunal for Eren Yeager. The outer gate was nearly breached by Titans during the battle that made him a soldier.
Trost is a city of contrasts: wealthy merchants in the inner ring, struggling refugees in the outer, soldiers everywhere. The military presence is constant—Garrison on the walls, MPs in the nicer districts, Survey Corps passing through on their way to death.
Karanes District:
A smaller district on the western curve of Wall Rose. Known for its horse markets and its stubborn refusal to evacuate during the Titan scare. The people of Karanes are farmers and breeders, practical people who measure wealth in livestock and respect in years survived. The refugee camp outside its walls is one of the largest, a sprawling city of tents and shelters that has become permanent despite everyone's hopes.
Yarckel District:
Eastern district, quieter than Trost, poorer than Karanes. Known for its timber trade and its proximity to the great forests where Survey Corps trains. Many soldiers come from Yarckel—something in the trees, maybe, or the constant reminder of how close the wilderness lies.
Status: Intact, untouched
Height: Approximately 50 meters
Districts: Mitras (capital), agricultural zones
Population: Approximately 200,000 (including nobility)
Wall Sheena is the heart of human civilization, the final refuge, the place where the king resides and the nobility prosper. No Titan has ever breached it. No refugee may enter it without permission. Within its protection lies the best of everything—and the worst.
The land inside Wall Sheena is carefully managed: farms that feed the capital, forests preserved for noble hunting, villages that exist only to serve the great houses. The people here are not rich—someone must work the fields—but they are safe. Safer than anyone outside. They rarely think about Titans. They rarely think about the refugees. They rarely think at all.
Mitras — The Capital:
The only true city within Wall Sheena, Mitras is the seat of government, the home of the king, and the center of human power. Built on a series of hills, it rises in tiers: outer districts for merchants and workers, middle districts for minor nobles and officials, inner district for the royal family and the great houses.
Architecture in Mitras is stone and glass, three and four stories, with steep roofs and ornate facades. The streets are paved. The drains work. The markets offer goods from everywhere within the Walls—and whispers of goods from beyond, smuggled through channels no one discusses.
The royal palace crowns the highest hill, visible from everywhere in the city. A sprawling complex of towers and courtyards, it houses the king, his household, and the bureaucracy that runs—or ruins—humanity's last civilization. No one outside the nobility has ever seen inside. No one outside the nobility ever will.
The Underground:
Beneath Mitras lies another city, forgotten by those above, inhabited by those below. The Underground was built centuries ago, tunnels and chambers carved from the living rock, intended as shelter or storage or something else entirely. Now it's home to criminals, outcasts, and the forgotten. No sunlight reaches here. No law reaches here. Only the desperate and the damned.
Captain Levi was born here. Kenny Ackerman ruled here. The Underground produces two things: death and the people who survive it.
Within the Walls, construction relies on what's available:
Stone:
Quarried from the mountains within Wall Rose and Wall Sheena. Used for foundations, public buildings, and the homes of the wealthy. Limestone and granite are common; marble is rare, reserved for Mitras.
Timber:
The great forests provide oak, pine, and elm. Used for framing, flooring, furniture, and fuel. The Survey Corps trains in these forests; the wood they swing from becomes the houses they sleep in.
Brick:
Clay deposits allow brick-making in many districts. Bricks are cheaper than stone, warmer than wood, and ubiquitous in middle-class construction. Kilns smoke constantly on the edges of every town.
Thatch and Tile:
Roofing varies by region—thatch in rural areas (cheap, flammable), tile in towns (expensive, durable), slate in Mitras (very expensive, very heavy).
Rural Vernacular:
Farmhouses of timber frame and wattle-and-daub, thatched roofs, small windows. Built for warmth, not beauty. Organized around the hearth, which is never allowed to go out. Barns attached or nearby, because animals are wealth.
Town Architecture:
Timber-framed with brick infill, two or three stories, steep roofs with tile or slate. Shops on the ground floor, living quarters above. Buildings crowd together along narrow streets, upper floors leaning toward each other like neighbors sharing secrets.
Military Structures:
Function over form. Thick stone walls, minimal windows, reinforced gates. Barracks are long and low, built for efficiency, not comfort. Armories and supply depots are windowless, doorless, guarded. The Walls themselves are the ultimate military architecture—and no one understands how they were built.
Noble Architecture:
Stone, glass, space. Manors and townhouses designed for display as much as living. High ceilings, large windows, ornate facades. Gardens where things grow for beauty, not food. Fountains that waste water. Statements of wealth in a world where most people have nothing.
The Walls:
The Walls defy architectural category. Fifty meters high, smooth as polished stone, seamless from base to summit. No mortar, no joint, no evidence of construction. The Wall Cult says they're divine. Engineers say they're impossible. Everyone else just accepts them—because what choice is there?
The Interior Chapel (Mitras Underground):
A hidden chamber beneath the royal palace, known only to the Reiss family and their servants. Circular, domed, decorated with murals of Titan imagery. Contains a crystal cave where the Founding Titan is inherited. Discovered by the Survey Corps during the operation to capture Annie Leonhart.
The Stohess Chapel:
A public church in the Stohess district of Mitras, ordinary in appearance, extraordinary in function. Its underground chambers became Annie Leonhart's prison when she crystallized herself to escape capture.
The Trost Supply Depot:
A massive warehouse complex near the Trost gate, vital to military logistics. During the Battle of Trost, it became a deathtrap as Titans surrounded it and soldiers died retrieving gas canisters. Now rebuilt, expanded, and guarded day and night.