The burning of the north

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The burning of the north is a historical event in Just Cause 3.

A burned town north of the wall.

Description

A map of the wall, highlighted in red.

The northern half of Insula Striate is closed off by a large wall that divides the region. This wall follows the southernmost railroad tracks at Rocca Blau and Maestrale, closes the few entrances to the mountainous province of Prospere and cuts Costa Sud in half.

All towns to the north and one just south of it are in ruins. The ruins are dark stone walls with no roofs. There's piles of debris between the walls and around the buildings. The northern territories also have many destroyed/abandoned factories which are controlled by the Medici Military.

All ruined settlements are controlled by the Medici Military, until the provinces are liberated. At that point the roads will have civilian traffic, the military Checkpoints at towns will be replaced by Rebellion ones and there will be a few civilians digging through the rubble.

The only references to this are the map descriptions for Vista Fonte and Refugio Umbra respectively:

"A tiny village only a decade ago, the up-and-coming town of Vista Fonte has ultimately benefited from Di Ravello's rule. The military's demand for grain and fish created thousands of stable jobs, and the burning of the North brought a fresh workforce south to fill them."

"In the shadow of the mountain, deep within Di Ravello's militarized zone, refugees displaced during the construction of the Wall and the burning of the North created a makeshift city in this cave, which soon became a safehaven for rebellion in Insula Striate."

According to that map info, whatever happened, happened about a decade ago. There are many destroyed CS Odjur, Stria Obrero, and Urga Fura 570 armored vehicles at the towns with even a few destroyed CS Navajo attack helicopters. See also: Vehicle wrecks.

The eastern end of the wall is conquered from the military just prior to the mission The Watcher on The Wall. The mission features the military attempting to recapture it and Rico protecting it.

Once The Rebellion takes over the northern territories, there will be Civilian traffic on all the northern roads. It's possible to see people digging through the debris of the destroyed houses both before and after the provinces are liberated. Reoppressing any of these provinces does not have any effect on civilians spawning in ruined towns.

The purpose of the wall has been revealed in a discussion that can be over-heard from the Black Hand in JC3. According to them, the wall is only about 10 years old and it was apparently constructed to keep civilians out of the way of military affairs.

Most likely theories

Visit Thread:23255 to discuss theories.

Genocide by Sebastiano Di Ravello, because he likes to burn things. Relevant facts for and against:

• Di Ravello likes burning things, including towns. This is established in his audio diary tapes in which he wishes to burn Costa Del Porto and in his later attempt to do it during the mission A Terrible Reaction.
• It's strange that such a major event is never mentioned in Di Ravello's diary, which otherwise covers his whole career. There's still lots of missing dates in the diary, but so far Downloadable content for Just Cause 3 has not yielded anything helpful.
• There are many destroyed military vehicles at the towns, suggesting military involvement and very strong resistance to it.
• Rico and The Rebellion consider the battle of Costa Del Porto to have been a loss and the town was bombarded by the military, but the military failed to make a difference, proving their incompetence at burning towns, even with superior forces.
• The map description for Vista Fonte mentions that thousands of people fled the north into the southern areas where they got jobs. If it was genocide, why did the state provide employment for the refugees, instead of hunting them down?
• The Refugio Umbra map description calls the northern area "Di Ravello's militarized zone", which confirms that only the Medici Military is allowed there, but the purpose remains unknown.
• If this was the case, why did Di Ravello build the wall, instead of demolishing the towns to destroy all evidence from the eyes of the international community?
• The rebellion soldiers speak more unique, or rare lines of dialogue during car rides. One of them has been reported to have said this: "My family had a vineyard up north until Di Ravello's men burned it." That statement is worded a bit unclearly and could be taken to mean that this theory is right, however it can also mean that Di Ravello only burned the vineyard.
• There is also a few references to a The Night of the Bonfires, in which Di Ravello seized power. That may be the same event.

Medici Military fought against The Rebellion and used the scorched earth tactic. Relevant facts for and against:

• There are many destroyed military vehicles at the towns, suggesting military involvement and very strong resistance to it.
• It's strange that such a major event is never mentioned in Di Ravello's diary, which otherwise covers his whole career. There's still lots of missing dates in the diary, but insofar Downloadable content for Just Cause 3 has not yielded anything helpful.
• Rico and The Rebellion consider the battle of Costa Del Porto to have been a loss and the town was bombarded by the military, but the military failed to make a difference, proving their incompetence at burning towns, even with superior forces.
• If this was the case, the wall has no reason to exist at all.

The government forced all civilians south, because maybe only northern Medici has Bavarium and they didn't want civilians to live on the deposits. Relevant facts for and against:

• There are many destroyed military vehicles at the towns, suggesting military involvement and very strong resistance to it.
• It's strange that such a major event is never mentioned in Di Ravello's diary, which otherwise covers his whole career. There's still lots of missing dates in the diary, but insofar Downloadable content for Just Cause 3 has not yielded anything helpful.
• All bavarium mines are found north of the wall, suggesting Bavarium is only found in, or at least is most prevalent in this area.
  • However, during the mission Severance in the Sky Fortress DLC, the Large-Scale Fragmentation Device (which was built to extract bavarium) is aimed at Insula Fonte, suggesting there's significant deposits of it all across Medici.
• Rico and The Rebellion consider the battle of Costa Del Porto to have been a loss and the town was bombarded by the military, but the military failed to make a difference, proving their incompetence at burning towns, even with superior forces.
• If this was the case, the towns were burned and the wall was built to keep civilians from returning and rebuilding the area.

Volcano eruption that covered the area with a rain of very hot ash and lava. Similar to ancient Pompeii, but with much less ash. Relevant facts for and against:

• The Volcano Island in Medici is currently active and there's evidence of much ancient as well as recent activity.
• The destroyed military vehicles could have been there simply as a part of all the Roadblocks and checkpoints that Di Ravello set up all over Medici and they could also have been destroyed during the eruption.
• There are destroyed ancient cities on the Volcano Island in Medici, which were destroyed by the volcano. The landscape change even left one city on the eastern coast of the volcano half way under the sea, proving that a similar disaster already happened once before.
• If this was the case, the wall and military presence at the towns are there to prevent looting.

It was a testing ground for the Stingray superweapon.

• Enough lightning from the weapon could destroy houses as well as the military vehicles.
• The Scolio region contains some of what are presumably Di Ravello tapes. Or maybe they're some kind of eDEN Corporation tapes? Whatever tapes they are, they are likely to prove or disprove this theory.

This theory was proven false.

Devastation from a fictional modern war, in which Medici defeated an invader. Relevant facts for and against:

• There are many destroyed military vehicles at the towns, suggesting military involvement and very strong resistance to it.
• It has been reported that a Civilian man may sometimes say: "I was a paratrooper in the war, you know." It's unknown what war he meant, but generally when people speak of a "the war", they mean the most recent war that involved their nation. Depending on the discussion, "the war" could refer to just about any war, but with out there being a discussion, it must mean something in recent Medici history.
  • The age of that man would be a valuable hint. If he's an elderly man, then he could be talking about any of the real wars that are known to have taken place at some point in the Just Cause Universe.

Trivia

• There's a few Bavarium refinement plants in the southern regions that are featured in a few Races.
• It's strange that so many Di Ravello tapes are in these ruined cities, yet none of them yield any information about the destroyed towns and vehicles.
  • Perhaps this might be Cut game content from Just Cause 3 (slim chance)?
• There is a small house east of Porto Coclea. Who this belongs to is unknown.
• The heat here is different than anywhere else. See the heat article for details.

Gallery

Destroyed town in the province of Val de Mar.

Another view of that destroyed town in the province of Val de Mar.

Destroyed town in the province of Litore Torto.

One of the military controlled factory ruins.

Off-roading with a '63 Autostraad Weltbus. The background includes (from left to right) the large wall that divides the region, Wind Turbines, two burned towns, Volcano island in Medici, Vulture airbase.

A pile of Bavarium rocks in an abandoned industrial building. Also notice the big dark easter egg teleport device on the right and the two Civilians digging through garbage.

Civilians digging through garbage at a destroyed town.

Somewhere at Grande Pastura.

Somewhere at Val de Mar.

The wall with a gate near Unnamed industrial facility at N 40 46.590 E 5 37.400.

The wall with a gate near Unnamed industrial facility at N 40 46.590 E 5 37.400. Also not the Train and eDEN Airship.

A ruin illuminated by the helicopter (News Chopper) headlight.