Bilibin

Bilibin, as of the first Golden Sun, is located at a crossroads between the Goma Range southwest, Kolima Village to the east, and Imil to the northwest.

Bilibin (ビリビノの町 Bilibino Town) is a town featured in-game in Golden Sun and described as an important player in the geopolitics of Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. In both games, it is situated in roughly the northwest part of the main bulk of the continent of Angara.

In the first game, it is a useful yet ultimately optional crossroads that Isaac's traveling party of Adepts may stop at while pursuing Saturos to Mercury Lighthouse near Imil far to the northwest. It is also heavily involved in the affairs of Kolima Village closer to the northeast region of Angara. Isaac and his friends may offer to help out with the problem of the curse emanating from Kolima Forest; even when the ineffectual ruler of Bilibin, Lord McCoy, turns them away on the basis of Isaac's side being "children", the Adepts dispel the curse on their own as they continue to follow Saturos clockwise across Angara.

Over the thirty-year timeskip leading to Dark Dawn, Bilibin grows in size and influence from a wealthy town into a small nation, but McCoy's conniving wife critically shapes the tumult of the era for the region with her de facto lordship. Military engagements with a newly evolved race of hybrid beastmen, who have claimed the lands east of Bilibin as their domain following the Golden Sun event and named their nation Morgal, spur later decisions made by the beastman king, Volechek, that will eventually lead to grave ramifications for the entire continent. Despite the significance of Bilibin in the backstory of Dark Dawn, the city cannot be visited in-game and is only mentioned in passing.

In Golden Sun

For all NPC gossip, see Side Scripts.

Goma Cave is the path-like dungeon crossing the mountain range dividing the starting Goma region in western Angara from the entire northern swath of the continent. Once Isaac's party takes its exit back into the overworld, Bilibin will be situated very close by in the western part of said northern swath. Despite this, Bilibin is technically optional, as the overarching goal of this part of the game is to acquire the Hermes' Water at Mercury Lighthouse far to the northwest of Bilibin and use it on Tret in Kolima Forest far to the east. Doing this will allow the party to cross Kolima Bridge east of that into the next, southeastern region of the continent.

The gold statue of Lady McCoy in the center of Bilibin can be pushed aside to expose a ladder to an underground warehouse where the Jupiter Djinni Gust lies.

Bilibin is well worth making a stop at because its weapon and armor vendors sell a host of vastly stronger pieces of generic gear than the previously visited village, Vault, but they are also much more expensive. Unless you sell off the Water of Life given as a free reward by Vault's mayor, you will have nowhere near enough coins to buy a solid array of the items on offer for your three party members at present. However, you can save on the expenses of giving one of your Adepts a strong replacement weapon by making an early trip northwest to Bilibin Cave, where you can cast the Growth Psynergy to reach a chest containing the 44-Attack Elven Rapier. Making this detour for this item is recommended even though the player's expected course is to first travel east from Bilibin through Bilibin Barricade and complete Kolima Forest before heading northwest through Bilibin Cave toward Mercury Lighthouse.

The other important gameplay function of Bilibin is that you can find the Jupiter Djinni Gust in the subterranean warehouse underneath the gold statue of Lady McCoy in the center of town. However, while moving the statue aside and climbing down the ladder underneath it will give you a clear view of where Gust lies inside, you cannot reach it from south of a second gold statue in the warehouse because the Move Psynergy can only shift that statue downwards along the narrow platform. You will have to walk clockwise along the top of the wooden fence surrounding the town, starting from south of the northeast Sanctum, and cast Whirlwind on the bush at the west end of the main screen of the town to find an alternative entrance into the hidden warehouse. This lets you remotely Move the underground statue south from the side so that you can hop east behind it to where Gust sits.

The first of the game's five Hard Nuts is found in the wooden barrel inside the northwest residence in the main area of the town.

However, actually reaching Gust is only possible by entering a second cave entrance behind a bush at the west end of town.

Besides the above gameplay considerations, the main purpose of Bilibin is to orient the player around the upper swath of Angara by talking with NPCs, chief among them Lord McCoy, who resides in his meeting room in McCoy's Palace off the north exit of the main town area. You will be allowed inside the palace by answering "Yes" to the question posed by the right guard stationed outside the front door regarding whether you are warriors. Lord McCoy will show you a key at first that presumably would allow you past Bilibin Barricade, but then withdraw it and unilaterally decide that your party is incapable of resolving the curse at Kolima Village. After the meeting, if you refuse to promise to the guard not to go to Kolima, he will hint that you may not need a key to get past the barricade.

The player is expected to travel east through Bilibin Barricade (by casting Move on the left, tall crate that is detached from the rest of the wooden structure), visit Kolima Village, enter Kolima Forest north of that, proceed into the dungeon Tret Tree, and defeat the boss Tret. Then, upon finding out that only the healing waters of Mercury Lighthouse can save Tret, the player would trek west back to Bilibin and then head northwest from it through Bilibin Cave into the snowy region where Imil and Mercury Lighthouse lie. After events at Mercury Lighthouse result in its fountain getting filled up, the player would use an Empty Bottle from Imil on the fountain to create Hermes' Water, then bring it all the way back east to Tret to use the water in front of him. The player may play this part of the game out of order and head to the more difficult northwestern route toward Mercury Lighthouse first, then bring the water into Kolima Forest so that it can be used right after defeating the much easier Tret boss.

Either way, healing Tret and dispelling the curse will cause all of Bilibin's NPCs to update their spoken and mentally expressed gossip. The player may not think to go back to Bilibin and instead head straight to Kolima Bridge to the east to continue to the next part of the continent, but they can receive a strong consumable item as a reward if they do. The next time they approach McCoy's Palace, a cutscene will automatically play in which the party gets thanked by Lord McCoy and then gets deposited in front of the palace's downstairs vault. You will be forced to pick one out of four chests without knowing their contents in advance. From left to right, in arguably that order of increasing usefulness, the chests contain a Vial, a Potion, a Psy Crystal, and a Water of Life. You will be allowed to leave the palace and Bilibin once you make your choice.

Vendors

Bilibin's Inn is located in the bottom right part of the main town area and costs 7 coins per Adept. Its Sanctum is located behind the double-doors at the east end of the main town area.

Weapon Shop
Name	Class	Cost	Effect
Battle Axe	Axe	280	Attack +24
Broad Sword	Long Sword	1000	Attack +40
Heavy Mace	Mace	500	Attack +26
Hunter's Sword	Light Blade	520	Attack +28
Long Sword	Long Sword	200	Attack +14
Artifacts
Witch's Wand	Staff	860	Attack +32, Unleashes Stun Voltage

Armor Shop
Name	Class	Cost	Effect
Leather Armor	Armor	240	Defense +12
Travel Robe	Robe	200	Defense +10
Travel Vest	Clothing	50	Defense +7
Bronze Shield	Shield	500	Defense +14
Leather Gloves	Gloves	220	Defense +10
Leather Armlet	Bracelet	180	Defense +7
Open Helm	Helm	180	Defense +9
Wooden Cap	Hat	400	Defense +10
Circlet	Circlet	120	Defense +6

Item Shop
Name	Class	Cost	Effect
Antidote	Consumable Item	20	Cures Poison and Venom from one Adept
Elixir	Consumable Item	30	Cures Sleep, Stun, and Delusion from one Adept
Herb	Consumable Item	10	Restores 50 HP to one Adept
Sacred Feather	Consumable Item	70	Temporarily lowers monster encounter rate

Collectibles

• Gust: Found in a small, underground cave-like area underneath the town called McCoy's Hidden Warehouse. It can be seen by pushing the gold statue of Lady McCoy in any direction and entering the ladder-hole underneath it, but a second gold statue in the warehouse blocks you from reaching it because it can only be shifted downward with the Move Psynergy. By walking clockwise atop the wooden posts of Bilibin starting from the east Sanctum, you can expose another entrance into the warehouse by casting Whirlwind on the bush at the west edge of the town. This lets you Move the second statue down so you can hop east behind it to the Djinni.
• Hard Nut: Found in the wooden barrel inside the house right of the item shop.
• 5 Coins: Found in the brown jar just left of the small house left of the Inn.
• Antidote: Found in the wooden barrel inside the small house left of the Inn.
• Sleep Bomb: Found under the bed in the southwest house in town.
• Herb: Found in the water-filled jar right outside the entrance to the Sanctum.
• Nut: Found dangling on a tree just outside McCoy's Palace, retrieved using the Catch Psynergy.
• Smoke Bomb: Found in a wooden barrel in the top floor of the southwest corner tower of McCoy's Palace, reached by going up the southwest stairs in the main lobby.
• Elixir: Found in a wooden barrel in the main lobby of McCoy's Palace, just right of two women in front of a fireplace.

Once you have healed Tret and dispelled the curse on Kolima Village, returning to the exterior screen of McCoy's Palace will automatically shuttle you into the palace vault, where you will be forced to pick one out of four chests on offer without being told in advance what each chest contains. The following four treasures occupy these chests, in order of left to right:

• Vial: The first chest.
• Potion: The second chest.
• Psy Crystal: The third chest.
• Water of Life: The fourth chest.

History

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In Golden Sun

Lady McCoy demands that her personal palace be built out of lumber from Kolima Forest and is skeptical that this has caused the curse at Kolima Village.

Due to the need for lumber to build his wife a new mansion, Lord McCoy requests the citizens of Kolima chop down trees in the nearby Kolima Forest. This high demand leads the lumberjacks of Kolima to chop down many trees in the forest, eventually bringing their axes all the way up to the sentient "holy tree" Tret. This mass deforestation enrages Tret, though he is unable to stop the lumberjacks. That is, until he is showered with Psynergy Stones, hurled across Angara by the eruption of Mt. Aleph. These stones magnify his rage and give him the ability to turn people into trees. With his rage running rampant, he uses his power and turns the people of Kolima (and even some of those in Bilibin) into trees. These people, having become part of the forest, become linked to Tret's like, as the rest of the forest is, so that if he dies, they will too. This bodes ill for the citizens of Kolima, as Tret had already been mortally wounded due to their extensive logging, effectively dooming the entire village. Panicking, Bilibin builds the Bilibin Barricade to prevent people from going to Kolima for their own safety. Along with this, Lord McCoy begins to look for warriors to go out to set things right in the forest. Answering his call is Isaac's party.

However, upon seeing the gang of youths with his own eyes, Lord McCoy does not give them the key to the barricade, fearing that to allow them to pass would be leading them to their own demise. The Adepts press on regardless and are able to find a way through the barricade. Once they reach the village of Kolima, they too are set upon by Tret, but are protected by a barrier of Psynergy. Eventually, with the help of the Hermes' Water from the now-alight Mercury Lighthouse, they succeed in healing Tret, thus ending the curse, earning Lord McCoy's respect (and a small reward). Even after these ordeals, Lady McCoy still demands her house to be built though.

In Golden Sun: Dark Dawn

Spoiler warning: The following section(s) contain plot details that some people may not wish to learn before reaching this point in the game on their own.

Thirty years after the Golden Sun event, Bilibin has grown from a city into a fairly prominent country. Lord McCoy still rules, but it is widely rumored that Lady McCoy is actually the ruler, and is attempting to place her heir on the throne. The country has become focused on aggressive expansion, stretching to include a fairly large portion of the continent. When the neighboring country of Morgal fell to the imperialist country of Sana, Bilibin refused to send aid, an act that the beastmen of Morgal remembered for years. After Morgal won their independence, Bilibin had attempted to invade Morgal, as they had sensed weakness. This forced the newly crowned king of Morgal, Volechek to close the Morgal-Bilibin border at Border Town, resulting in a tense standoff.

Bilibin was the planned meeting site between Kraden and Matthew's party, after the young Adepts began their quest. Due to the destruction of the primary connecting bridge by a Psynergy Vortex, Matthew's party is forced to detour through the Konpa Ruins. However, Matthew's party is forced to split from Kraden due to the machinations of Blados, who forces Matthew's party south into the Ei-Jei region. Kraden would travel north and reach Bilibin, with the goal of crossing the border into Morgal's capital city of Belinsk. However, Kraden would be trapped in Bilibin, due to the recent closing of the border.

When Matthew's party decides to try to meet Kraden at Border Town, they discover the closed border. Thus, with their last possible route into the country closed off, Matthew's party never visits Bilibin. However, it is revealed later on that Kraden was able to exit Bilibin by sending a message to Piers. Piers picked up Kraden in his ship, and took Kraden to Belinsk by sea. After Kraden joins up with Matthew's party, little else is said of Bilibin.

Bilibin's Encyclopedia entry reads as follows:

Once a small town, Bilibin has grown since the time of the Golden Sun to the point that it's now a country.

While supposedly governed by the McCoy men, it's rumored that the queen actually is ruling the realm.

Name origin

"Bilibin" is a minor corruption of "Bilibino", its name in the Japanese version. Bilibino is a real-world town in the Bilibinsky District of Chukotka, the Russian federal district at the far northeast end of the country. The district and the town are both named after Soviet geologist Yuri Bilibin, who discovered gold in the area and set up future prospecting operations. From the perspective of Golden Sun, Bilibino is noteworthy for its location at the mouth of the real-world Kolyma River.