Stardew Valley Has Much More Lore Than One Would Assume

gamerant.com:

Stardew Valley is set in the idyllic Pelican Town, where the player can go about their days as a simple farmer. In between planting crops and finding a villager to marry, however, the player can learn more about the greater world. While Pelican Town is generally detached from the big cities and global conflicts, there are plenty of opportunities to learn about them. It’s also worth noting that the world also has some fantastical elements to it.

That said, Stardew Valley lore is an interesting topic to delve into. Though information is scarce in the game, the player can piece things together through specific dialogue lines and contextual clues.

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Kent and his family have lines that describe an ongoing war between two nations in Stardew Valley: the Ferngill Republic, where Pelican Town is, and the Gotoro Empire. According to Kent, who had served as a soldier for Ferngill, the Gotoro people are ruthless. He even has terrible memories from his time in a Gotoro prison camp. But he’s not the only NPC who has been to the foreign land. The woman running the Traveling Cart also claims to have smuggled her goods out of the Gotoro Empire, thus the steep prices.

Though aside from the ongoing war, the player can also learn more about other locations in the Ferngill Republic. Zuzu City is the most easily recognizable as is often mentioned by NPCs, and Shane even brings the player there in one of his Stardew Valley Heart Events. Unlike Pelican Town, it appears more like a big city, with a sports stadium and other such structures. Other settlements that aren’t as talked about include Castle Village, Grampleton, the Fern Islands, and Prairie Island.

Finally, the Ferngill Republic