The Forest Owls

The last of Timber's resistance.

There are many resistance factions in Timber but their numbers have thinned due to fear of imprisonment. Albeit lackadaisical, the Forest Owl faction is the only one still active. Their base is a double-decker train with a skull (similar to FF7's Avalanche logo) spray-painted onto it along with the word "Raiders". Inside the train's conference room there's a multitude of clippings from the Anarchist Monthly magazine.

Forest Owls - Lower Level Conference Room

Zone: The Forest Owl Leader

Zone took up the job of leading the Forest Owls after his father died. He is never at the forefront of any critical missions because he'll get nervous and have spontaneous stomach aches. Despite his stomach aches, he is great at operating vehicles; he knows how to drive trains and eventually learns how to pilot the White SeeD ship.

He also has a thing for naughty magazines! His favorite is the Girl Next Door. There's a 'Zone wannabe' who dresses like him, since being part of the resistance is considered cool amongst teenagers. Zone's other weakness is food, he doesn't like raw fish and likes real cooked meat instead.

Watts: The Forest Owl Informant

Watts is an intelligence agent and is pretty young for the job. He works while in disguise so that he goes unnoticed. Often he finds out things about people that he shouldn't have. Although he was misled on the mission to kidnap Deling, he has been correctly informed for all the other information he has ever provided.

He's usually late and is known for being unable to catch the Forest Owl's train. Both Watts and Zone are like Rinoa's older brothers, they look after her and want to protect her. Yet because she's a girl, she gets a little spoiled and over-protected as well.

He also has a speech habit. In the Japanese game he spoke with the same slang that Wedge uses in FF7 and Tidus uses in FF10: adding "ssu" (ッス) to the end of certain words. The localization team for FF8 interpreted the slang as the respectful form of verbs and so the English game has him calling people "Sir".

Rinoa: The Forest Owl Princess

Although Rinoa is nicknamed Princess by the Forest Owls (and later everyone else), she is not the leader of the Forest Owls. The nickname's origin relates to both her father's stature and her resultant lifestyle, so it's implied that she doesn't like this nickname. Furthermore, nobody ever says it to her face.

She's an amateur strategist and works on making plans using military tactics. Often you see her character trying to conjure up plans before further actions. She has admirers in Timber city, including a 'Rinoa Fan' who gives her Potions whenever he sees her. The same guy also gives potions to Quistis after he sees her on TV.

Other Forest Owl Members

A few other resistance members were also on board the base. One of them made a dummy of President Deling which was programmed to speak. Another is an engineer who drives the train and knows Rinoa's temper well. Finally, the newest member of the Forest Owls is dying to know how Rinoa met Seifer but nobody will tell him. It is interesting to note that all the members of Timber's resistance, including Rinoa, wear at least one article of blue clothing.

The Forest Fox and The Forest Duck

The Forest Fox chief is an older woman living with her adopted children: one girl and two twin boys. She freely uses physical abuse with her family and her oldest daughter hopes to one day have a great husband she can yell and exchange blows with, too. According to the eldest daughter, the chief took down many soldiers with her strength, cooking, and beauty.

The barely active resistance group, Forest Duck has a member at the Aphora Pub in Timber city. The pub is named for how you can see an aurora if you drink enough. The master of that pub used to own the hotel and is married to the chief of the Forest Fox. He normally has a gentle personality but when she shows up, things change. The married couple often fights and according to one of the workers at the pub who lives near the train station, the more people fight, the closer they are.

Timber

Once a large area of land, Timber is now known as a town situated on the southeast section of Galbadia's continent. It was named "timber" for its association with forests and trees, while its flag has a T with the symbol of a wheel. Timber had an abundance of a natural resource 'archaic gas' (this gas powers most of the city and trains, you can see it in action at Timber Hotel), which in turn made it a goal for Galbadia's invasion. The land soon became a part of Galbadia by military force. Resistance against Galbadia is deeply rooted in its residents, but it is kept hidden because anyone who has a hateful conscience against Galbadia is eventually killed. Nearly everyone is part of a resistance faction, but because punishment is severe, most activity is now dormant.

The natural geography of Timber is becoming much like any place Galbadia has taken over. Development of cities advance and although forests are still rich, they have declined. Still, there are many well known natural landmarks such as Obel Lake, which is praised for its mysterious water at the north of the town. The city functions as a station on four major railroad routes and would normally be busy with activity, however the violent Galbadian soldiers disturb public order of the town. Due to this, most travellers only stay there for a short time. The resistance always aims for independence but it needs support from external powers and cannot afford it, which causes the city to be stuck in an endless state of deterioration.

In the past, Timber's location made it both a home to people with strong political ideals and an outlet to the mass media. The Timber Maniacs company has been established for over 20 years and is famous worldwide as the core of the publication industry.

New architectural styles are constantly entering the town and blending into the old. This includes the gimmicky neon signs on traditionally styled buildings, the stonework and the TV station. Timber has a long and complicated history, which is why Galbadia's crest is all over its old style architecture.

Timber had its own army when it was independent but after the occupation by Galbadia it was dismantled. Army members are either retired or working as Timber Security. Presently Galbadian solders are permanently stationed and always patrolling the town.