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ASELIA 101: THE MOST CHEERFUL LOOKING SHITHOLE IN THE VERSE
OKAY since I get a lot of questions about Symphonia since the verse can be pretty confusing, so I'm just writing it up for people's reference and my own -since you know the Aselia wiki kinda fails in a lot of ways.
BROAD CONCEPTS/INTRODUCTION
Aselia: The original name of the world that was stopped being used after the world was split in two 4,000 years before Tales of Symphonia. Now that the world is coming back together, the name is getting used again.
Mana: Magic energy that is required for magic and life on the planet. Unfortunately for all, without a magical tree there is a finite supply of this to go around, which is a major plot point. Lower mana levels in an area causes droughts, famine and magic failing. On the other hand, higher mana levels bring about monsters. What a sucky thing huh? Mana can be detected by elves, half-elves, summon spirits and monsters. Humans cannot sense mana, but they figure things out by how many dragons try to eat their face during a walk.
The World Tree: A large tree that can create mass amounts of mana, but overuse of the mana can cause the tree to wither and die. The previous World Tree died during the Ancient War and was long thought to be a fairy tale until the events of Tales of Symphonia. In Zelos's time, the new world tree is still a sapling with a name that cannot be revealed or it would make it vulnerable while it's still growing up.But psst it's Yggdrasil
Split World: This is the best term I can use to describe it. Back during the Ancient War, the world got so replenished of mana that it could not sustain itself any longer. The solution was to split the world into two different worlds using the power of a summon spirit so both sides of the world could be sustained and the fighting would stop! They were supposed to be reunited when the world tree was planted, but that project sorta...got delayed by 4,000 years because shit hit the fan, whoops. After the shit cleared, Mithos set up a system in which the two world would work off each other like an hourglass - one's mana will slowly train into the other until a Chosen does a ritual to reverse the process every few centuries. Fun times.
Sylvarant: A country that was turned into a world after the Ancient War. In the time of Tales of Symphonia, it's been on decline for 800 years.
Tethe'alla: A country that was turned into a world after the Ancient War. In the time of Tales of Symphonia, it's been flourishing for 800 years.
Journey of Regeneration: The journey that the Chosen would go on in order to "regenerate" the world with Mana, or unbeknownst to them- reverse the flow of mana so the other world would fall into decline. The journey would make the Chosen travel to all four seals to open them up as well as slowly transform into an angel. While most people know that the Chosen will turn into the angel, they are unaware that this will kill the Chosen in question.
Journey of Reunification: The fancy term for the journey that the characters in Tales of Symphonia went on. It was long and spanned across two worlds. In the end, the two worlds got reunited and a world tree was planted yay!
Chosen:FOR THE SLAUGHTER. A special title given to a person from a certain bloodline that's born with a Cruxis Crystal in their hand. Common knowledge perceive them as children of angels or miracles, given to the world in order to save it. The less well known truth is that this is all bullshit. In reality Chosens are humans who have a similar mana signature to Martel Yggdrasil, bred for this purpose through a series of arranged marriages and eugenics. Members of Cruxis place cruxis crystals in the mother's wombs with some sort of magic whenever one with a close enough mana signature is detected (which explains the occasional male Chosen and occasionally leading to a complication mentioned in the OVA where Chosens are sometimes born with their cruxis crystal already fused to their skin). Chosens serve a few different purposes depending on the states of the world:
Declining World Chosen:
Flourishing World Chosen:
RACES: WHO ARE THESE FREAKY PEOPLE AND WHY DO THEY HAVE PINK HAIR
Human: The most common race found on both Sylvarant and Tethe'alla. They have the shortest lifespans of the races - living up to 80 years at the most (according to Presea). Most cannot use magic naturally unless they have elven blood in their lineage or go through aionis treatment, though it's implied they can imbue it into items and machines if they have the right amount of mana and technology. They are the dominant race of both worlds due to population size and said to be much more curious than elves.
In terms of appearance, Tethe'allan and Sylvaranti humans seem to differ mostly on ranges of hair color. Sylvarantis humans appear to mostly have standard Earth hair colors (black, brown, blond, etc) while Tethe'allans have a much wider range that includes such shades such as pink, blue, green and so on. The exact reason for this is unknown, though it's possibly due to a higher rate of elven blood and lineage mixed into the Tethe'allan population. Sylvaranti people were able to tell Raine and Genis were either elf or half-elf right away while it's perfectly possible for them to pass as human in Tethe'alla without a blood test - hinting that Tethe'allan populations may have more similar physical traits to half-elves than the Sylvaranti population does.
Half-Elf: Possibly the second most common race found in both worlds, though they have much larger populations in Tethe'alla due to the presence of elves. Half-elves are people who have any significant mixture of elven and human blood, either by human and elf parentage or two half-elves. They can sense mana and use magic much like elves, as well as live up to a 1000 years (probably less for those with less elven blood). Yet due to their human lineage, they tend to be much more curious than elves and many half-elves will choose scholarly or scientific occupations (though like humans, not all of them care about that). Half-elves tend to have a wide range of hair colors and either have round or pointed ears depending on their lineage. Many can pass for humans in Tethe'alla, while others in Sylvarant will pass for elves due to the lack of exposure most humans get from actual elves. In both Sylvarant and Tethe'alla, there is discrimination prejudice towards half-elves at varying degrees from both humans and elves.
Elf: Elves can only be found in Tethe'alla in the Heimdall Forest and surrounding region. They live about 1,000 years and are much more sensitive to the sensing of mana and tend to be more powerful in magic than Half-Elves (but not always). They have large pointed ears and varying hair colors. Due to historic events and natural dispositions, elves tend to be isolationists and not at all curious about the world - thus their society is much less advance than humans and half-elves since they haven't updated in a good several millenia. They distrust humans and hate half-elves. Leaving Heimdall is so rare that most humans will live their entire lives without ever seeing an elf.
Dwarf: The dudes that make elves look social. Very little is known about dwarves by the rest of the races since most dwarves stay under the earth. The two that are seen are both short and broad and statue and bearded. They are famous for their craftmenship that can far surpass what is developed by human cultures. Some dwarves live by a code by the Dwarven Vows, which is a set of over a hundred rules of how to live your life - most of them pretty honorable. Not all dwarves follow these vows, since it's indicated that many decide to work for Cruxis and were the ones to invent exspheres- a power source that is created out of the life energy and soul of another person - SO YOU KNOW. DICKS IN EVERY RACE. Their lifespans are unknown.
Katz: A mysterious race that is found in small numbers across both Tethe'alla and Sylvarant. They are a cat people that almost look like humans wearing a cat suit with bright colored furs (but it's not a suit). They share many things in common with cats, from a natural ability to climb up in oddest places and the enjoyment of fish and naps. They are possibly the most curious of all the races, a large portion of their population devoting their lives to being explorers or traders and thus can be found in any city in either world. They seem to hold no general prejudices towards the other races and the other races tend to be pretty tolerant of them. Their lifespans are unknown.
Summon Spirit: A very ancient and powerful group of creatures. Summon spirits and Centurions are the only races that are naturally immortal in Aselia (since Angels use Cruxis crystals to achieve this). They are mostly composed of mana and thus have far more powerful magic than any of the mortal races - their mere prolong presence in a region can completely change it's climate. Their magic seems to be focused on whatever element or aspect of the world they represent. They can make pacts with a summoner to help them in endeavors or simply act on their own free will. New Summon Spirits seem to be created from high amounts of mana or great trees - events that occur occasionally but overall their population numbers are very small. They seem to differ in opinions about interactions with the world and mortal races.
Centurion: Another ancient immortal race. They are the eight servants of Ratatosk, the previous Great Tree summon spirit before dicks made the tree die. Because they have spent the past several thousand years dormant after the fall of the great tree, very little is known about them or their existence by the rest of the world (aka retcoooon). Like Summon Spirits, they are immortal and possess great power, but are considered to be much less powerful than them and almost never fight their own battles, preferring to control monsters of their corresponding elements instead. When their powers are drained or they need rest, they will go into the dormant "core" form which unfortunately does things like mess up nearby ecosystems and drive people to insanity if there is prolong exposure to the core unless they have protection granted by a summon spirit. It also seems that Centurion's have a wide range of quirky abilities that seemed to be based on their associated element. In the case of Tenebrae, Centurion of Darkness, these range from as useful to shape-shifting to useless as "midnight hypno-study" in which he spends hours whispering random facts into people's ears so they learn it without realizing it. Troll, thy name is Tenebie.
Angel: An artificially created race. Unlike other races, angels are not naturally born but rather created when a member of the mortal races fully activates and syncs with a Cruxis Crystal. They received the name angels for the wings they receive (which vary in appearance based on the quality of the cruxis crystal and mana signatures) and their powerful light based magic. Angels are seen as holy figures thanks to Cruxis - but in truth have no actual connections to any sort of deities. Their eyesight and hearing far surpasses human or elven senses, but without a properly made keycrest they can have little to no sense of touch or taste. Angels may also lose the ability to eat, sleep, feel emotions or talk - but these things can be fixed if the angel uses a keycrest that allows them to remain more human/elf. The Cruxis Crystal freezes a person's aging - rendering them immortal and it's unknown if this can be reverted. If they are killed, the Cruxis Crystal traps their soul until it's either destroyed or the crystal consumes the soul over time. Angels come in two flavors:
Lifeless Beings: The more common angel during the age of Cruxis. A Lifeless Being Angel has the more traditional white or black feathery wings that can't be hidden. How the process of making these are unclear, but it seems like they are given either lower grade Cruxis Crystals and/or keycrests. They receive their name from the dead look in their eyes and their suppressed free will/conscious. While they are capable of some emotion (such as Remiel's hate for humans), it is very rare. Almost the entire population of Lifeless Being Angels reside on Derris Kharlan.
Seraphim: The rarer and higher ranking angel type in the Cruxis hierarchy. Seraphim possess specialfairy wings that are colored and shaped uniquely to the person and can be hidden. So long as they have a keycrest, they retain their own personalities and free will as well as have more extensive use of the light spells. The process of becoming a seraphim is multi-step, effing painful and seems to work best when the subject is put through intense fear and suffering. Really I can't emphasize enough just how much suck it is. Removing their keycrest renders them a soulless vessel that's only goal is self-preservation and will attack anything that comes too close. Even cute dogs.
Since the departure of Derris Kharlan, Angels are the smallest race in the world with a grand total population of 3 (maybe 4 if Lloyd is considered one) and they aren't looking to repopulate. Really. No trying to save this race plz, they want to be extinct.
MAGIC AND ABILITIES
Item Imbuement: This is implied to be the type of magic that humans and dwarves can commonly use. Not too much detail is given, but essentially they carve runes and other things into items that enhances their powers in different ways. This is most commonly used on keycrests, weapons and magitechnology.
Exspheres: A special stone that when equipped, enhances a person's physical capabilities far beyond their normal limit. They can also be equipped to technology as an energy source. Exspheres require direct skin contact in order to work, but equipping an Exsphere by itself will cause the rock to suck the life force out of a person, thus keycrests were designed in order to serve as a blocker - allowing someone to use the exspheres abilities without having their life force sucked out of them. If a person is not wearing a keycrest with their Exsphere and the exsphere is removed, it will cause the mana in their body to go out of control and turn them into a monster. Unfortunately, these power sources are created out of people's lives. They were commonly used by Cruxis and the Desians, who made them out of harvesting humans in Human Ranches. After the world was reunited, their dark secret became known and now the exspheres are being collected so they may never be used again.
Cruxis Crystals: A more evolved form of exsphere that is much rarer and harder to create. Like exspheres, they enhance a person's physical ability (though possibly to an even greater extent) and are best used with a keycrest. A Cruxis Crystal can also be used to transform a mortal into an angel (see the angel section). It's unknown if angels can live without their Cruxis Crystal since they sure didn't think of removing the darn Cruxis Crystal when Colette got sick from hers.
Healing Artes: Refers to magic that is devoted to aiding others. Healing Artes are most commonly spells that heals injuries and illnesses, but may also give boosts to someone's fighting or defending capabilities. Humans who are capable of healing artes seem weaker than half-elven or elven healers- only being able to heal a single injury and/or have potent healing overall. A healer may also use a unicorn horn to greatly enhance their abilities. Most healing spells seem to be light-based, but there are some healing spells that fall into other elements such as water and air.
Offensive Magic: Magic that uses the 8 elements and mana in order to aid with tasks or for fighting. A trained magic user seems both able to summon necessary elements or manipulate the ones around them, though in much more limited amounts than Summon Spirits. Once again, half-elves and elves seem much more capable in using advanced magics than humans who can use magic - possibly due to being able to sense mana. The eight elements are: Fire, Water, Ice, Lightning, Earth, Wind, Darkness and Light. The number of elements a person can use adeptly seems to vary from person to person due to personality and amount of magical talent.
Angel Skills: A group of light based spells that are found uniquely among angels. These tend to be incredibly powerful spells that have feathers everywhere, yep. Among the Seraphim, the power and capability of angel skills seem to increase based on their emotions at the time. Most of these skills are offensive in nature, though there are a couple with defensive or healing capabilities - but unfortunately, their best healing skill makes the angel go unconscious and/or die. Whoops.
Summoning: ...I'll hit this when my brain can think again.
Monster Pacts:
Yeah that about sums it up.
LOCATIONS
Sylvarant
Tethe'alla
Derris Kharlan
FACTIONS
Sylvarant:
Known Members: N/A. No official government formed.
Capitol: Potentially Palmacosta.
The declining world before the reunification of the two worlds. Due to it's long lasting decline, Sylvarant is not in a great shape. Most of the regions are impoverished and lack any form of unified government due to the Desians crushing the kingdom in the previous centuries. Since the world reunification, there have been a few attempts to rebuild Sylvarant - some legitimate while others more to be of the warmongering sort. It seems most likely if a unified government is to be formed, it will come from Palmacosta - the largest city and only one with it's own military that's currently headed by Governor-General Clara (wife of the deceased Governor-General Dorr).
Tethe'alla:
Known Members: King of Tethe'alla, Princess Hilda, Zelos Wilder, Pope (former)
Capitol: Meltokio
The flourishing world before the reunification of the two worlds. Due to it's long lasting flourishing era, Tethe'alla is a very rich and prosperous monarchy that rules over most regions with high levels of technology and knowledge. The Church of Martel is highly tied into the government, much like the Catholic Church in Renaissance Europe. However Tethe'alla is far from paradise, as the social hierarchy/caste system and discrimination between the groups is at an extreme and there is constant political struggles and strife and a good amount of the nobility is corrupted. Since the reunification of the world, there's been pushes from the Chosen of Tethe'alla to stop the discrimination between the groups and weed out the corruption. While making some headway, reactions from the people have been mixed. There is growing tension between Sylvarant and Tethe'alla since reunification too with any help given to Sylvarant to rebuild itself.
Mizuho:
Known Members: Igaguri Fujibayashi, Tiga, Sheena Fujibayashi, Orochi, Kuchinawa (exile)
Chuch of Martel:
Known Members: Colette Brunel, Zelos Wilder, Pope (former)
Cruxis:
Known Members: Mithos Yggdrasil (deceased), Kratos Aurion, Yuan Ka-Fai, Remiel (deceased), Desians, Zelos Wilder
Status: Disbanded
Desians:
Known Members: Mithos Yggdrasil (deceased), Pronyma (deceased), Rodyle (deceased), Forcystus (deceased), Magnius (deceased), Kvar (deceased), Killia (deceased)
Status: Disbanded
Renegades:
Known Members: Yuan Ka-Fai, Botta (deceased) and Zelos Wilder
Status: Unknown, likely disbanded
Vanguard:
Known Members: Brute Lualdi, Marta Lualdi (former), Richter Abend, Alice (deceased), Decus (deceased), Hawk (deceased), Magner (deceased)
Status: Presumably disbanded after DOTNW
Four Seraphim/Heroes of the Kharlan War:
Known Members: Mithos Yggdrasil (deceased), Martel Yggdrasil (deceased), Kratos Aurion and Yuan Ka-Fai
Lloyd's Group/"Heroes of World Reunification/Regeneration":
Known Members: Lloyd Irving, Colette Brunel, Genis Sage, Raine Sage, Kratos Aurion, Sheena Fujibayashi, Zelos Wilder, Presea Combatir, Regal Bryant, Emil Castaginer (DOTNW), Marta Lualdi (DOTNW) and Tenebrae (DOTNW)
Zelos Wilder:
Formally Allied: Cruxis, Renegades
Currently Allied: Tethe'alla, Church of Martel, Lloyd's Group.
The current and final Chosen of Tethe'alla. More later but lalalal BETRAYAL AND SPYING FUN TIMES
DISCRIMINATION: SPOILER- EVERYONE HATES EACH OTHER
This could be very TL;DR, so have some visual aids.
Figure 1:
Figure 2:
As you can see, lots of love in this world.
ASELIA HISTORY IN FIVE SECONDS
SHIT HAPPENS
RANDOM TERMS TO KNOW
I HAVEN"T THOUGHT UP WHAT TO CALL THESE TOPICS. Probably stuff like magic, locations, relgion, etc etc. But either way - under construction!!
ASELIA 101:
THE MOST CHEERFUL LOOKING SHITHOLE IN THE VERSE
THE MOST CHEERFUL LOOKING SHITHOLE IN THE VERSE
BROAD CONCEPTS/INTRODUCTION
Aselia: The original name of the world that was stopped being used after the world was split in two 4,000 years before Tales of Symphonia. Now that the world is coming back together, the name is getting used again.
Mana: Magic energy that is required for magic and life on the planet. Unfortunately for all, without a magical tree there is a finite supply of this to go around, which is a major plot point. Lower mana levels in an area causes droughts, famine and magic failing. On the other hand, higher mana levels bring about monsters. What a sucky thing huh? Mana can be detected by elves, half-elves, summon spirits and monsters. Humans cannot sense mana, but they figure things out by how many dragons try to eat their face during a walk.
The World Tree: A large tree that can create mass amounts of mana, but overuse of the mana can cause the tree to wither and die. The previous World Tree died during the Ancient War and was long thought to be a fairy tale until the events of Tales of Symphonia. In Zelos's time, the new world tree is still a sapling with a name that cannot be revealed or it would make it vulnerable while it's still growing up.
Split World: This is the best term I can use to describe it. Back during the Ancient War, the world got so replenished of mana that it could not sustain itself any longer. The solution was to split the world into two different worlds using the power of a summon spirit so both sides of the world could be sustained and the fighting would stop! They were supposed to be reunited when the world tree was planted, but that project sorta...got delayed by 4,000 years because shit hit the fan, whoops. After the shit cleared, Mithos set up a system in which the two world would work off each other like an hourglass - one's mana will slowly train into the other until a Chosen does a ritual to reverse the process every few centuries. Fun times.
Sylvarant: A country that was turned into a world after the Ancient War. In the time of Tales of Symphonia, it's been on decline for 800 years.
Tethe'alla: A country that was turned into a world after the Ancient War. In the time of Tales of Symphonia, it's been flourishing for 800 years.
Journey of Regeneration: The journey that the Chosen would go on in order to "regenerate" the world with Mana, or unbeknownst to them- reverse the flow of mana so the other world would fall into decline. The journey would make the Chosen travel to all four seals to open them up as well as slowly transform into an angel. While most people know that the Chosen will turn into the angel, they are unaware that this will kill the Chosen in question.
Journey of Reunification: The fancy term for the journey that the characters in Tales of Symphonia went on. It was long and spanned across two worlds. In the end, the two worlds got reunited and a world tree was planted yay!
Chosen:
Declining World Chosen:
Flourishing World Chosen:
RACES: WHO ARE THESE FREAKY PEOPLE AND WHY DO THEY HAVE PINK HAIR
Human: The most common race found on both Sylvarant and Tethe'alla. They have the shortest lifespans of the races - living up to 80 years at the most (according to Presea). Most cannot use magic naturally unless they have elven blood in their lineage or go through aionis treatment, though it's implied they can imbue it into items and machines if they have the right amount of mana and technology. They are the dominant race of both worlds due to population size and said to be much more curious than elves.
In terms of appearance, Tethe'allan and Sylvaranti humans seem to differ mostly on ranges of hair color. Sylvarantis humans appear to mostly have standard Earth hair colors (black, brown, blond, etc) while Tethe'allans have a much wider range that includes such shades such as pink, blue, green and so on. The exact reason for this is unknown, though it's possibly due to a higher rate of elven blood and lineage mixed into the Tethe'allan population. Sylvaranti people were able to tell Raine and Genis were either elf or half-elf right away while it's perfectly possible for them to pass as human in Tethe'alla without a blood test - hinting that Tethe'allan populations may have more similar physical traits to half-elves than the Sylvaranti population does.
Half-Elf: Possibly the second most common race found in both worlds, though they have much larger populations in Tethe'alla due to the presence of elves. Half-elves are people who have any significant mixture of elven and human blood, either by human and elf parentage or two half-elves. They can sense mana and use magic much like elves, as well as live up to a 1000 years (probably less for those with less elven blood). Yet due to their human lineage, they tend to be much more curious than elves and many half-elves will choose scholarly or scientific occupations (though like humans, not all of them care about that). Half-elves tend to have a wide range of hair colors and either have round or pointed ears depending on their lineage. Many can pass for humans in Tethe'alla, while others in Sylvarant will pass for elves due to the lack of exposure most humans get from actual elves. In both Sylvarant and Tethe'alla, there is discrimination prejudice towards half-elves at varying degrees from both humans and elves.
Elf: Elves can only be found in Tethe'alla in the Heimdall Forest and surrounding region. They live about 1,000 years and are much more sensitive to the sensing of mana and tend to be more powerful in magic than Half-Elves (but not always). They have large pointed ears and varying hair colors. Due to historic events and natural dispositions, elves tend to be isolationists and not at all curious about the world - thus their society is much less advance than humans and half-elves since they haven't updated in a good several millenia. They distrust humans and hate half-elves. Leaving Heimdall is so rare that most humans will live their entire lives without ever seeing an elf.
Dwarf: The dudes that make elves look social. Very little is known about dwarves by the rest of the races since most dwarves stay under the earth. The two that are seen are both short and broad and statue and bearded. They are famous for their craftmenship that can far surpass what is developed by human cultures. Some dwarves live by a code by the Dwarven Vows, which is a set of over a hundred rules of how to live your life - most of them pretty honorable. Not all dwarves follow these vows, since it's indicated that many decide to work for Cruxis and were the ones to invent exspheres- a power source that is created out of the life energy and soul of another person - SO YOU KNOW. DICKS IN EVERY RACE. Their lifespans are unknown.
Katz: A mysterious race that is found in small numbers across both Tethe'alla and Sylvarant. They are a cat people that almost look like humans wearing a cat suit with bright colored furs (but it's not a suit). They share many things in common with cats, from a natural ability to climb up in oddest places and the enjoyment of fish and naps. They are possibly the most curious of all the races, a large portion of their population devoting their lives to being explorers or traders and thus can be found in any city in either world. They seem to hold no general prejudices towards the other races and the other races tend to be pretty tolerant of them. Their lifespans are unknown.
Summon Spirit: A very ancient and powerful group of creatures. Summon spirits and Centurions are the only races that are naturally immortal in Aselia (since Angels use Cruxis crystals to achieve this). They are mostly composed of mana and thus have far more powerful magic than any of the mortal races - their mere prolong presence in a region can completely change it's climate. Their magic seems to be focused on whatever element or aspect of the world they represent. They can make pacts with a summoner to help them in endeavors or simply act on their own free will. New Summon Spirits seem to be created from high amounts of mana or great trees - events that occur occasionally but overall their population numbers are very small. They seem to differ in opinions about interactions with the world and mortal races.
Centurion: Another ancient immortal race. They are the eight servants of Ratatosk, the previous Great Tree summon spirit before dicks made the tree die. Because they have spent the past several thousand years dormant after the fall of the great tree, very little is known about them or their existence by the rest of the world (aka retcoooon). Like Summon Spirits, they are immortal and possess great power, but are considered to be much less powerful than them and almost never fight their own battles, preferring to control monsters of their corresponding elements instead. When their powers are drained or they need rest, they will go into the dormant "core" form which unfortunately does things like mess up nearby ecosystems and drive people to insanity if there is prolong exposure to the core unless they have protection granted by a summon spirit. It also seems that Centurion's have a wide range of quirky abilities that seemed to be based on their associated element. In the case of Tenebrae, Centurion of Darkness, these range from as useful to shape-shifting to useless as "midnight hypno-study" in which he spends hours whispering random facts into people's ears so they learn it without realizing it. Troll, thy name is Tenebie.
Angel: An artificially created race. Unlike other races, angels are not naturally born but rather created when a member of the mortal races fully activates and syncs with a Cruxis Crystal. They received the name angels for the wings they receive (which vary in appearance based on the quality of the cruxis crystal and mana signatures) and their powerful light based magic. Angels are seen as holy figures thanks to Cruxis - but in truth have no actual connections to any sort of deities. Their eyesight and hearing far surpasses human or elven senses, but without a properly made keycrest they can have little to no sense of touch or taste. Angels may also lose the ability to eat, sleep, feel emotions or talk - but these things can be fixed if the angel uses a keycrest that allows them to remain more human/elf. The Cruxis Crystal freezes a person's aging - rendering them immortal and it's unknown if this can be reverted. If they are killed, the Cruxis Crystal traps their soul until it's either destroyed or the crystal consumes the soul over time. Angels come in two flavors:
Lifeless Beings: The more common angel during the age of Cruxis. A Lifeless Being Angel has the more traditional white or black feathery wings that can't be hidden. How the process of making these are unclear, but it seems like they are given either lower grade Cruxis Crystals and/or keycrests. They receive their name from the dead look in their eyes and their suppressed free will/conscious. While they are capable of some emotion (such as Remiel's hate for humans), it is very rare. Almost the entire population of Lifeless Being Angels reside on Derris Kharlan.
Seraphim: The rarer and higher ranking angel type in the Cruxis hierarchy. Seraphim possess special
Since the departure of Derris Kharlan, Angels are the smallest race in the world with a grand total population of 3 (maybe 4 if Lloyd is considered one) and they aren't looking to repopulate. Really. No trying to save this race plz, they want to be extinct.
MAGIC AND ABILITIES
Item Imbuement: This is implied to be the type of magic that humans and dwarves can commonly use. Not too much detail is given, but essentially they carve runes and other things into items that enhances their powers in different ways. This is most commonly used on keycrests, weapons and magitechnology.
Exspheres: A special stone that when equipped, enhances a person's physical capabilities far beyond their normal limit. They can also be equipped to technology as an energy source. Exspheres require direct skin contact in order to work, but equipping an Exsphere by itself will cause the rock to suck the life force out of a person, thus keycrests were designed in order to serve as a blocker - allowing someone to use the exspheres abilities without having their life force sucked out of them. If a person is not wearing a keycrest with their Exsphere and the exsphere is removed, it will cause the mana in their body to go out of control and turn them into a monster. Unfortunately, these power sources are created out of people's lives. They were commonly used by Cruxis and the Desians, who made them out of harvesting humans in Human Ranches. After the world was reunited, their dark secret became known and now the exspheres are being collected so they may never be used again.
Cruxis Crystals: A more evolved form of exsphere that is much rarer and harder to create. Like exspheres, they enhance a person's physical ability (though possibly to an even greater extent) and are best used with a keycrest. A Cruxis Crystal can also be used to transform a mortal into an angel (see the angel section). It's unknown if angels can live without their Cruxis Crystal since they sure didn't think of removing the darn Cruxis Crystal when Colette got sick from hers.
Healing Artes: Refers to magic that is devoted to aiding others. Healing Artes are most commonly spells that heals injuries and illnesses, but may also give boosts to someone's fighting or defending capabilities. Humans who are capable of healing artes seem weaker than half-elven or elven healers- only being able to heal a single injury and/or have potent healing overall. A healer may also use a unicorn horn to greatly enhance their abilities. Most healing spells seem to be light-based, but there are some healing spells that fall into other elements such as water and air.
Offensive Magic: Magic that uses the 8 elements and mana in order to aid with tasks or for fighting. A trained magic user seems both able to summon necessary elements or manipulate the ones around them, though in much more limited amounts than Summon Spirits. Once again, half-elves and elves seem much more capable in using advanced magics than humans who can use magic - possibly due to being able to sense mana. The eight elements are: Fire, Water, Ice, Lightning, Earth, Wind, Darkness and Light. The number of elements a person can use adeptly seems to vary from person to person due to personality and amount of magical talent.
Angel Skills: A group of light based spells that are found uniquely among angels. These tend to be incredibly powerful spells that have feathers everywhere, yep. Among the Seraphim, the power and capability of angel skills seem to increase based on their emotions at the time. Most of these skills are offensive in nature, though there are a couple with defensive or healing capabilities - but unfortunately, their best healing skill makes the angel go unconscious and/or die. Whoops.
Summoning: ...I'll hit this when my brain can think again.
Monster Pacts:
Yeah that about sums it up.
LOCATIONS
Sylvarant
Tethe'alla
Derris Kharlan
FACTIONS
Sylvarant:
Known Members: N/A. No official government formed.
Capitol: Potentially Palmacosta.
The declining world before the reunification of the two worlds. Due to it's long lasting decline, Sylvarant is not in a great shape. Most of the regions are impoverished and lack any form of unified government due to the Desians crushing the kingdom in the previous centuries. Since the world reunification, there have been a few attempts to rebuild Sylvarant - some legitimate while others more to be of the warmongering sort. It seems most likely if a unified government is to be formed, it will come from Palmacosta - the largest city and only one with it's own military that's currently headed by Governor-General Clara (wife of the deceased Governor-General Dorr).
Tethe'alla:
Known Members: King of Tethe'alla, Princess Hilda, Zelos Wilder, Pope (former)
Capitol: Meltokio
The flourishing world before the reunification of the two worlds. Due to it's long lasting flourishing era, Tethe'alla is a very rich and prosperous monarchy that rules over most regions with high levels of technology and knowledge. The Church of Martel is highly tied into the government, much like the Catholic Church in Renaissance Europe. However Tethe'alla is far from paradise, as the social hierarchy/caste system and discrimination between the groups is at an extreme and there is constant political struggles and strife and a good amount of the nobility is corrupted. Since the reunification of the world, there's been pushes from the Chosen of Tethe'alla to stop the discrimination between the groups and weed out the corruption. While making some headway, reactions from the people have been mixed. There is growing tension between Sylvarant and Tethe'alla since reunification too with any help given to Sylvarant to rebuild itself.
Mizuho:
Known Members: Igaguri Fujibayashi, Tiga, Sheena Fujibayashi, Orochi, Kuchinawa (exile)
Chuch of Martel:
Known Members: Colette Brunel, Zelos Wilder, Pope (former)
Cruxis:
Known Members: Mithos Yggdrasil (deceased), Kratos Aurion, Yuan Ka-Fai, Remiel (deceased), Desians, Zelos Wilder
Status: Disbanded
Desians:
Known Members: Mithos Yggdrasil (deceased), Pronyma (deceased), Rodyle (deceased), Forcystus (deceased), Magnius (deceased), Kvar (deceased), Killia (deceased)
Status: Disbanded
Renegades:
Known Members: Yuan Ka-Fai, Botta (deceased) and Zelos Wilder
Status: Unknown, likely disbanded
Vanguard:
Known Members: Brute Lualdi, Marta Lualdi (former), Richter Abend, Alice (deceased), Decus (deceased), Hawk (deceased), Magner (deceased)
Status: Presumably disbanded after DOTNW
Four Seraphim/Heroes of the Kharlan War:
Known Members: Mithos Yggdrasil (deceased), Martel Yggdrasil (deceased), Kratos Aurion and Yuan Ka-Fai
Lloyd's Group/"Heroes of World Reunification/Regeneration":
Known Members: Lloyd Irving, Colette Brunel, Genis Sage, Raine Sage, Kratos Aurion, Sheena Fujibayashi, Zelos Wilder, Presea Combatir, Regal Bryant, Emil Castaginer (DOTNW), Marta Lualdi (DOTNW) and Tenebrae (DOTNW)
Zelos Wilder:
Formally Allied: Cruxis, Renegades
Currently Allied: Tethe'alla, Church of Martel, Lloyd's Group.
The current and final Chosen of Tethe'alla. More later but lalalal BETRAYAL AND SPYING FUN TIMES
DISCRIMINATION: SPOILER- EVERYONE HATES EACH OTHER
This could be very TL;DR, so have some visual aids.
Figure 1:
Figure 2:
As you can see, lots of love in this world.
ASELIA HISTORY IN FIVE SECONDS
SHIT HAPPENS
RANDOM TERMS TO KNOW
I HAVEN"T THOUGHT UP WHAT TO CALL THESE TOPICS. Probably stuff like magic, locations, relgion, etc etc. But either way - under construction!!