Goddesses usually don't change - they exist with their title and implied ability, like Milk, Goddess of Reincarnation, occasionally "go mad" in the way of they decide to feed on other Goddesses. Very rarely, but often enough that it is known to happen, do other Goddesses fall prey to something else as Asruld does. They go on a little killing spree, but ultimately end up dying. All Formulas says that there's something about called Worshipper, which is why the black-consciousness formed, but this being hasn't been met. The Goddesses see this as an occasional annoyance. They reproduce fast enough it doesn't really put a dent in their numbers.
Milk, the 'friendly' Goddess, claims that the trapping spell came about due to a powerful Goddess in the north, laying claim to all the power of all the rest of the Goddesses to create this spell. Solver, however, thinks that this spell is made by someone else, and would like to meet them. As the Goddesses are Asruld's main target for destroying things, this spell is in self-interest. Preventing Asruld (and thus by extension, Solver and Weaver) from moving, they prevent him from destroying them.
It is less that Solver and Asruld are Loneliness and Destruction, but that is all they are capable of understanding. Solver learns of Love, as well as many of the other human emotions, by inspecting the spell that binds them. He discovers that Love is what keeps the Human spell together, and that between the two of them, they can't understand it.
The Hero and the Demon understanding / getting Love is more or less the actual plot of the world. Solver managed to copy the Human spell, but increase the amount of Love it contained, and they poured their power into it and that is how the Human Alpha first came about. (they only had enough power to make one.)
Magic is widespread. It is a 'golden particle' in the air, referred to as spirits, that can be learned to be seen or sensed with a great deal of study - or seen right off the bat by an Alpha Stigma bearer. Each country has their own way of casting, with its own strengths and weaknesses, and so anyone who learns one countries magic cannot leave that country. If Estabul knew how Roland's magic worked, they would be much more effective at disabling said magic.
For the Cursed Eyes, why they exist at all is unsaid. It likely has to do with one side or the other of the divinities - Iino Dwoe and Wilno Heim bearers hear "God's Voice" telling them what to do, which is usually wrecking bloody murder, which could be an indication of ties to Asruld, or the Goddesses. All Cursed / God's Eye bearers have dark hair and eyes, and most awaken to their powers around 5 or so - where the pattern of the eye is visible up close when inactive. Iino Dwoe bearers wake to their powers - and "God's Voice", before they are born. It is believed by Ryner's mother that the family was cursed to have an Alpha Stigma bearer due to her, a commoner, marrying a nobleman, so there is superstition about them. (There is no indication of Alpha Stigma being a genetic thing that can be passed on, as most Alpha Stigma bearers die before they are adults.) Also, if one gouges out the eyes of any Cursed Eye bearer, they eyes crystallize, and it also instantly kills the bearer. (Except for Ryner.)
Asruld takes his hosts, at least in Sion's time, by having prospective hosts test themselves in House Eris. The basic qualifications are "15 years old" and "of the royal bloodline", meaning most of Sion's cruel sibling have tried, and gone mad in failing. For Sion, this test was walking through a hallway, which tried to drive him insane. He is rendered unable to walk not far in, hallucinating, but still coherent enough to answer Lucile's question of "how many fingers am I holding up". This psychical manifestation of Asruld's power looked like a corpse, and it vanished into Sion when he freed it of its impaling sword (which is Lucile's power's manifestations, as Lucile is Weaver). The last bit of power - the Sword ability - was transferred by Sion impaling himself with one of the swords that his father summoned, shortly before killing him.
The Human Alpha is not obviously different from a normal Human. They are both spell constructs within the terms of the series, but within the terms of their world they all need to eat and sleep, they both feel emotions (unless a human has had those fried out of his brain by use of magic to strengthen them, as Luke Stokkart had). The main difference is that Sion, at least, is constantly in pain from being something not-quite human, and that his blood is golden after two years of having the Hero (it could be that most of his pain is from his body fighting the change. Suddenly having golden blood rather than red could be a weird chemical change and thus explain a great deal of his pain). Human Alpha can summon Sword, although in a much less powerful, and in much smaller numbers than Asruld can, and there is a vague instance where Sion/Asruld showed Froaude 'the truth of this world, and the true enemy', right before a scene change. It involved a great deal of light, clued Froaude in on Asruld being a divine being, and took a great deal of energy out of Sion. The passive effect of a successful Human Alpha is that Love is spread. People who have barely heard of Sion adore him, although those who hated him prior to him becoming Human Alpha, such as the nobles, still hate him. (and those without capacity for emotion are immune)
The Human's Menoris would be destroyed if the human alpha makes it to the end, has enough power to destroy the spell, and the willpower to devour the Solver and Weaver hosts. This would free Asruld, Solver, and Weaver.
Sion's Menoris is mostly focused on the politics in Roland, Estabul, and very loosely on those in Runa and Nelpha. Within Roland, it the power starts out overwhelmingly in the hands of the 'Anti-King Nobles', lead by Stearead and Frouade's adoptive father (and backed by the king of Runa), and slowly shifts so that Sion holds all the power. Estabul is temporarily split between rebels and people keeping their heads down, but Noa Ehn manages to unite them under Roland after Frouade gets rid of the people dumb enough to listen to him and rebel. Nelpha is more or less stable under their king. Of the other countries, only a few are mentioned before things start moving. Stohl is mentioned to be the biggest up north, and it was notable only because tiny country Gastark conquered about half of it with ease. The king of Gastark, Riphal, knows a lot more about The Mad Hero and the Lonesome Demon tale than anyone in Roland does.
Ferris Eris is not actually the host of Weaver. Her family is the line that guards "The demon. Ryner Eris Reed, who holds the broken Hero to his chest and cries while sleeping.", however due to the interference of Ryner's father, only 'Eris Reed'/Weaver exists in the house. Due to even more of Lieral's interference, Lucile isn't just the bearer of Weaver, but has devoured Weaver, becoming something of a demon himself. The three Eris siblings are a product of way too much abuse and incest, something that Weaver drove them to do.
Ferris is a master swordswoman, and she travels with Ryner on the quest to find Hero Relics, and usually they leave mayhem behind them.
Lucile, as Weaver, doesn't seem to have a physical body unless he wants to. He cannot leave Roland's borders unless he does take a physical form, but when he is inside Roland's borders, he can turn 14 highly trained assassins into paste in less seconds. He is Sion's bodyguard, as the Eris household protects the kings of Roland, but also is there to make sure Sion does as the Hero / Asruld needs. He makes it no secret that if Sion strays from the path, or gets worn down, Lucile will kill him, and find a new host for Asruld.
Ryner is that kid who sleeps in class and thus understandably gets terrible grades when Sion meets him. However, Ryner is actually the strongest student in this school, even without his alpha stigma, due to having been a child soldier after age 7 or so, titled Roland's Strongest Magician when he was 13. Despite being an Alpha Stigma bearer, Ryner was kept alive by Roland's military because he's an anomaly, as Alpha Stigma bearers go. He's the only one to come back after being triggered into insanity, which is likely due to his being Solver, and partially due to his father's magic. It is mentioned by Ryner that he simply can't gouge his own eyes out, as his eyes resist the pressure. Ryner's father believed it better to bind the Ryner/Solver part better to his son, as well as binding his wife/Ryner's mom's soul to him, erasing his child's memories, than to let him simply be used in Asruld's plan. (Yes, Ryner's dad effectively decided to screw the world over to give his son a better chance at life.)
Ryner spends his time wandering neighboring countries hunting down rumors, while being casually bullied by Ferris and Sion. While there is external conflict - Gastark is also searching for Hero Relics, which they call Rhule Fragments, and they also have been gouging out the eyes of Cursed Eye bearers that they come across - a great deal of Ryner's conflict is internal. Because of his eyes, he considers himself a monster, yet because of Solver, he feels too lonely to go vanish into the woods forever and protect everyone from the chance of him going mad and murdering his friends.
Added Personality
At the moment, The Mad Hero is just something Sion has to carry with him. It's mostly a burden, and one he tries to avoid thinking hard on, in case that wakes the being up into trying to consume him more. And it is 'more' at this point, Sion finds himself with no recollection of periods of time, but knowing that he did things. Sion and Asruld don't really converse, however, which makes it more of a burden.
Sion is and isn't worried about Asruld consuming him. He is, for the obvious reason that Asruld is constantly trying to, and he would like to live, to do his best at making the world he promised Ryner. But he isn't, because as Lucile oh so cheerfully reminds him, if Sion strays from the path, or cracks irreparably from the strain, Sion can be replaced. While being replaced means "being killed", it is also a weight off his shoulders because he won't be able to make too big of a mess. On the other hand, losing himself to the madness would be directly following his father's footsteps, and as he hates the man, he would like to avoid that.
Asruld's motives and Sion's motives are fairly close. Sion has always wanted to keep those important to him safe - why he blackmailed and pulled strings to get his friends to a supposed safe place during the war. Asruld's are just more on the extreme end - he needs people who love him to stay alive so he can devour them later. Asruld is more impatient, and sees no reason not to kill a few to keep things moving smoothly, while Sion tries his hardest to keep as many as possible alive, and guilts himself over those he didn't manage to. It could easily be said that Sion wouldn't have hesitated to devour Ryner/Solver at the end, if it wasn't for the eternal hell that would await his best friend, which really says a lot for how well the two match up.
Sion barely manages to justify his actions to himself. He does know what he's doing is wrong, but rather than losing half his country to war, he could lose only a few to human experimentation, which would bolster his army. He weakly justifies it with this is what he has to do - and if he's stepping out of line for that, Lucile would just kill him, right? He does hate himself for it - he sees these actions as failing to keep his promises, even if most of those promises were already failed due to the other half dying, or if the promise was too idealistic to work in the first place. It just piles more onto his 'I am a terrible person' internal ranting at himself, but he has to keep moving forward.
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branchandroot
Revisions :
Date: 2015-08-01 11:43 pm (UTC)Goddesses usually don't change - they exist with their title and implied ability, like Milk, Goddess of Reincarnation, occasionally "go mad" in the way of they decide to feed on other Goddesses. Very rarely, but often enough that it is known to happen, do other Goddesses fall prey to something else as Asruld does. They go on a little killing spree, but ultimately end up dying. All Formulas says that there's something about called Worshipper, which is why the black-consciousness formed, but this being hasn't been met. The Goddesses see this as an occasional annoyance. They reproduce fast enough it doesn't really put a dent in their numbers.
Milk, the 'friendly' Goddess, claims that the trapping spell came about due to a powerful Goddess in the north, laying claim to all the power of all the rest of the Goddesses to create this spell. Solver, however, thinks that this spell is made by someone else, and would like to meet them. As the Goddesses are Asruld's main target for destroying things, this spell is in self-interest. Preventing Asruld (and thus by extension, Solver and Weaver) from moving, they prevent him from destroying them.
It is less that Solver and Asruld are Loneliness and Destruction, but that is all they are capable of understanding. Solver learns of Love, as well as many of the other human emotions, by inspecting the spell that binds them. He discovers that Love is what keeps the Human spell together, and that between the two of them, they can't understand it.
The Hero and the Demon understanding / getting Love is more or less the actual plot of the world. Solver managed to copy the Human spell, but increase the amount of Love it contained, and they poured their power into it and that is how the Human Alpha first came about. (they only had enough power to make one.)
Magic is widespread. It is a 'golden particle' in the air, referred to as spirits, that can be learned to be seen or sensed with a great deal of study - or seen right off the bat by an Alpha Stigma bearer. Each country has their own way of casting, with its own strengths and weaknesses, and so anyone who learns one countries magic cannot leave that country. If Estabul knew how Roland's magic worked, they would be much more effective at disabling said magic.
For the Cursed Eyes, why they exist at all is unsaid. It likely has to do with one side or the other of the divinities - Iino Dwoe and Wilno Heim bearers hear "God's Voice" telling them what to do, which is usually wrecking bloody murder, which could be an indication of ties to Asruld, or the Goddesses. All Cursed / God's Eye bearers have dark hair and eyes, and most awaken to their powers around 5 or so - where the pattern of the eye is visible up close when inactive. Iino Dwoe bearers wake to their powers - and "God's Voice", before they are born. It is believed by Ryner's mother that the family was cursed to have an Alpha Stigma bearer due to her, a commoner, marrying a nobleman, so there is superstition about them. (There is no indication of Alpha Stigma being a genetic thing that can be passed on, as most Alpha Stigma bearers die before they are adults.) Also, if one gouges out the eyes of any Cursed Eye bearer, they eyes crystallize, and it also instantly kills the bearer. (Except for Ryner.)
Asruld takes his hosts, at least in Sion's time, by having prospective hosts test themselves in House Eris. The basic qualifications are "15 years old" and "of the royal bloodline", meaning most of Sion's cruel sibling have tried, and gone mad in failing. For Sion, this test was walking through a hallway, which tried to drive him insane. He is rendered unable to walk not far in, hallucinating, but still coherent enough to answer Lucile's question of "how many fingers am I holding up". This psychical manifestation of Asruld's power looked like a corpse, and it vanished into Sion when he freed it of its impaling sword (which is Lucile's power's manifestations, as Lucile is Weaver). The last bit of power - the Sword ability - was transferred by Sion impaling himself with one of the swords that his father summoned, shortly before killing him.
The Human Alpha is not obviously different from a normal Human. They are both spell constructs within the terms of the series, but within the terms of their world they all need to eat and sleep, they both feel emotions (unless a human has had those fried out of his brain by use of magic to strengthen them, as Luke Stokkart had). The main difference is that Sion, at least, is constantly in pain from being something not-quite human, and that his blood is golden after two years of having the Hero (it could be that most of his pain is from his body fighting the change. Suddenly having golden blood rather than red could be a weird chemical change and thus explain a great deal of his pain). Human Alpha can summon Sword, although in a much less powerful, and in much smaller numbers than Asruld can, and there is a vague instance where Sion/Asruld showed Froaude 'the truth of this world, and the true enemy', right before a scene change. It involved a great deal of light, clued Froaude in on Asruld being a divine being, and took a great deal of energy out of Sion. The passive effect of a successful Human Alpha is that Love is spread. People who have barely heard of Sion adore him, although those who hated him prior to him becoming Human Alpha, such as the nobles, still hate him. (and those without capacity for emotion are immune)
The Human's Menoris would be destroyed if the human alpha makes it to the end, has enough power to destroy the spell, and the willpower to devour the Solver and Weaver hosts. This would free Asruld, Solver, and Weaver.
Sion's Menoris is mostly focused on the politics in Roland, Estabul, and very loosely on those in Runa and Nelpha. Within Roland, it the power starts out overwhelmingly in the hands of the 'Anti-King Nobles', lead by Stearead and Frouade's adoptive father (and backed by the king of Runa), and slowly shifts so that Sion holds all the power. Estabul is temporarily split between rebels and people keeping their heads down, but Noa Ehn manages to unite them under Roland after Frouade gets rid of the people dumb enough to listen to him and rebel. Nelpha is more or less stable under their king. Of the other countries, only a few are mentioned before things start moving. Stohl is mentioned to be the biggest up north, and it was notable only because tiny country Gastark conquered about half of it with ease. The king of Gastark, Riphal, knows a lot more about The Mad Hero and the Lonesome Demon tale than anyone in Roland does.
Ferris Eris is not actually the host of Weaver. Her family is the line that guards "The demon. Ryner Eris Reed, who holds the broken Hero to his chest and cries while sleeping.", however due to the interference of Ryner's father, only 'Eris Reed'/Weaver exists in the house. Due to even more of Lieral's interference, Lucile isn't just the bearer of Weaver, but has devoured Weaver, becoming something of a demon himself. The three Eris siblings are a product of way too much abuse and incest, something that Weaver drove them to do.
Ferris is a master swordswoman, and she travels with Ryner on the quest to find Hero Relics, and usually they leave mayhem behind them.
Lucile, as Weaver, doesn't seem to have a physical body unless he wants to. He cannot leave Roland's borders unless he does take a physical form, but when he is inside Roland's borders, he can turn 14 highly trained assassins into paste in less seconds. He is Sion's bodyguard, as the Eris household protects the kings of Roland, but also is there to make sure Sion does as the Hero / Asruld needs. He makes it no secret that if Sion strays from the path, or gets worn down, Lucile will kill him, and find a new host for Asruld.
Ryner is that kid who sleeps in class and thus understandably gets terrible grades when Sion meets him. However, Ryner is actually the strongest student in this school, even without his alpha stigma, due to having been a child soldier after age 7 or so, titled Roland's Strongest Magician when he was 13. Despite being an Alpha Stigma bearer, Ryner was kept alive by Roland's military because he's an anomaly, as Alpha Stigma bearers go. He's the only one to come back after being triggered into insanity, which is likely due to his being Solver, and partially due to his father's magic. It is mentioned by Ryner that he simply can't gouge his own eyes out, as his eyes resist the pressure. Ryner's father believed it better to bind the Ryner/Solver part better to his son, as well as binding his wife/Ryner's mom's soul to him, erasing his child's memories, than to let him simply be used in Asruld's plan. (Yes, Ryner's dad effectively decided to screw the world over to give his son a better chance at life.)
Ryner spends his time wandering neighboring countries hunting down rumors, while being casually bullied by Ferris and Sion. While there is external conflict - Gastark is also searching for Hero Relics, which they call Rhule Fragments, and they also have been gouging out the eyes of Cursed Eye bearers that they come across - a great deal of Ryner's conflict is internal. Because of his eyes, he considers himself a monster, yet because of Solver, he feels too lonely to go vanish into the woods forever and protect everyone from the chance of him going mad and murdering his friends.
Added Personality
At the moment, The Mad Hero is just something Sion has to carry with him. It's mostly a burden, and one he tries to avoid thinking hard on, in case that wakes the being up into trying to consume him more. And it is 'more' at this point, Sion finds himself with no recollection of periods of time, but knowing that he did things. Sion and Asruld don't really converse, however, which makes it more of a burden.
Sion is and isn't worried about Asruld consuming him. He is, for the obvious reason that Asruld is constantly trying to, and he would like to live, to do his best at making the world he promised Ryner. But he isn't, because as Lucile oh so cheerfully reminds him, if Sion strays from the path, or cracks irreparably from the strain, Sion can be replaced. While being replaced means "being killed", it is also a weight off his shoulders because he won't be able to make too big of a mess. On the other hand, losing himself to the madness would be directly following his father's footsteps, and as he hates the man, he would like to avoid that.
Asruld's motives and Sion's motives are fairly close. Sion has always wanted to keep those important to him safe - why he blackmailed and pulled strings to get his friends to a supposed safe place during the war. Asruld's are just more on the extreme end - he needs people who love him to stay alive so he can devour them later. Asruld is more impatient, and sees no reason not to kill a few to keep things moving smoothly, while Sion tries his hardest to keep as many as possible alive, and guilts himself over those he didn't manage to. It could easily be said that Sion wouldn't have hesitated to devour Ryner/Solver at the end, if it wasn't for the eternal hell that would await his best friend, which really says a lot for how well the two match up.
Sion barely manages to justify his actions to himself. He does know what he's doing is wrong, but rather than losing half his country to war, he could lose only a few to human experimentation, which would bolster his army. He weakly justifies it with this is what he has to do - and if he's stepping out of line for that, Lucile would just kill him, right? He does hate himself for it - he sees these actions as failing to keep his promises, even if most of those promises were already failed due to the other half dying, or if the promise was too idealistic to work in the first place. It just piles more onto his 'I am a terrible person' internal ranting at himself, but he has to keep moving forward.