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saudade_apps) wrote2014-03-31 05:34 pm
saudade_apps) wrote2014-03-31 05:34 pm
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[Beginner] Riviera: The Promised Land - Ein
PLAYER
NAME: Awe
CHARACTER
NAME(S): Ein
AGE: Canon information is not given but my headcanon is 19 (despite him looking younger than this)
FANDOM: Riviera: the Promised Land
BACKGROUND HISTORY:
Wikipedia’s article on the game (auto-links to the Story subheader). However, it should be noted that Riviera is part of a series called Dept. Heaven (link to Wikipedia’s page on Dept. Heaven), and is the last entry in the series, chronologically.
A millennium ago, the holy, lawful civilization of Asgard, led by the gods, warred against the chaotic demon realm known variously as Niflheim and The Underworld. The war was mostly spurred on by a demon lord known as Zolgonark, who marshaled the demon forces into a coherent army. The worlds of mortals caught in between, called the surface worlds, fell easily, and so the demons pressed on to Asgard, forcing it to the brink of destruction.
In desperation, the gods broke an already ancient covenant and gave parts of themselves to angels to transform them black-winged warriors, each armed with sacred weapons called Diviners. These soldiers, the Grim Angels, were the deciding factor that pushed the war into Asgard’s favor, albeit at the cost of the gods’ disappearance. The Seven Magi of Asgard, the governors interim in the absence of the gods, brokered peace with the demons, since they thought it was unwise to continue fighting without the gods, who as their final act sealed their power in a surface world, Riviera, in the form of the “Retribution”.
Now, as the demons begin to encroach on Riviera once again, one of the Magi, Hector, sends two Grim Angels - one newly-awakened and one more experienced - to unseal and use the Retribution to solve the problem, hopefully forever. These two angels were Ein and Ledah, respectively.
Ein, upon his awakening from the crypt (Grim Angels are kept in magical sleep, sequestered away from the rest of Asgard, when inactive), had no name, and had yet to make a sacrifice for his Diviner. Those who were overseeing the experiments found that he resonated extremely well with Einherjar, and thus did Ein receive his name - and lose his wings, by his own choice, to obtain it. He was also given a familiar, Rose, to help him.
However, as Ein, Rose, and Ledah traveled through the Heaven’s Gate to Riviera, they were attacked by Riviera’s protector Ursula, who used a former high-level demon to do so, and separated from each other. Ein was thrown to the forest floor in suffering, left there until a passing-by fairy and Ursula herself noticed the purity of Ein’s heart. Knowing that harm would befall Riviera by Hector’s plan, she decided to suppress his memory and the power of Einherjar to see the other side of the story.
Two girls from the village of Elendia find him and care for him for a few weeks. One of them, Fia, is the granddaughter of the village elder, and when she hears that they’ve lost contact with another region called Rosalina, she and her friend Lina can’t help but be concerned, and neither can Ein. They decide to use a magic circle in the village to travel to Lacrima Castle to investigate.
There, they find a grim reality: the Arcs have been all but wiped out, not only by demons, but by a Grim Angel named Malice. The only survivor, Serene, joins them, and soon enough they encounter a high-level demon called an Accursed: Isher, the Demon Knight. However, Ein and the girls find that all of their attacks are ineffective against it. In response, Ursula restores some of Einherjar’s power, and after Isher is defeated, Ein’s memory.
Ursula then explains the truth of the situation in Riviera: the Accursed, which had been sealed along with the Retribution, are awakening across the land. In the absence of a Grim Angel, whose Diviners are required to slay them, nothing could be done, and she guides them in the direction of the remaining Accursed.
PERSONALITY:
Personality traits, strengths/weaknesses, goals/fears, etc.
Even aside from the lack of wings, Ein is far from what most people would consider an angel.
His lack of practical experience leads him to be rather naive and he commonly isn’t aware of things that would otherwise be basic knowledge - at one point he reveals that he doesn’t know what the moon is, for example, although that was during the time he’d had amnesia. As a result, he can be trusting and gullible if confronted with a person who is not immediately hostile or recognizable as a demon. However, he also shows the potential to extend mercy even to demons, as when he was confronted with the option to slay or spare a pair of secondary antagonist demons in Tetyth, he spared them.
He has an unusually strong moral compass, however; Ursula wouldn’t have mindwiped him to recruit him for the defense of Riviera if he had less qualms about hurting the innocent. Despite this, he is completely blind to matters of romance and frequently causes the girls he travels with discomfort without meaning to. One noticeable incident of this occuring was that one time he walked in on Fia, Lina, and a significant portion of Elendia using a hot spring.
When confronted with an immediate problem, Ein shows impressive capacity to improvise - more than one potential fight has been averted by timely, well-aimed throwing of rocks, and in one case, a treasure chest. Longer-term problems, however, he generally knows nothing about; in fact, Ein rarely thinks in the long term at all, thanks to the very high amount of guidance he’s already received. Despite this, he is generally optimistic, looking for the best in every situation, and making good use of the resources available to him.
This lack of long-term planning skills is derived from a core facet of the society of Asgard: Under no circumstances is someone allowed to disobey direct orders from superiors. Rose, when speaking of his apparent betrayal thereof, mentions that “all of Asgard will turn against [you]”, and while Ein doesn’t know what happens to someone that does, elsewhere in Dept. Heaven there is a good example of a Grim Angel disobeying orders and oh boy it does not turn out well for anyone. (That angel, formerly known as Aries, would later take on the name Nessiah following being banished for the “crime” of pacifism, having refused to fight in Ragnarok. Asgard is a pretty messed-up place, basically.) He has, however, accepted this, mostly because of his aforementioned strong moral compass - he’s willing to accept the consequences of his actions, no matter what they may be.
However, that also gives rise to something else: a large portion of Ein’s quest is one for his own identity - not only because of his amnesia in Chapter 2 (the entire Lacrima Castle section) but also because so much of what he is has been defined by higher powers, including his own name, as stated above (yes, he was named after his sword, not the other way around!). That being said, having almost everything that he thought he knew about himself broken down an explained gave him a good opportunity to rebuild it; aside from the loss of Cierra, he doesn’t have many unresolved issues.
CHARACTER RELATIONSHIPS:
Ledah Rozwelli*
A Grim Angel senior to Ein. Ledah was Ein’s partner and to some extent guide at the beginning of his mission, but they were separated passing through the Heaven’s Gate. Following this, Ledah continues the mission without Ein. He follows the will of the gods absolutely. He is very cold and distant from an emotional standpoint, mostly because he sacrificed his emotions to obtain his Diviner, Lorelei.
After battling Ein’s party in Yggdrasill, he is attacked by Malice and realizes that Hector is not acting in accordance with the will of the gods. Confusingly, he expresses that he had been feeling emotions (or something like emotions) in his dying words to Ein, urging him to stop Hector’s scheme to become an absolute god.
*Ledah’s last name is only given in supplemental materials.
Rose R. Crawford
Ein’s familiar, who is cat-shaped. Rose was assigned to Ein at the beginning of his mission to help him out, and for the most part that’s exactly what she does - that said, she does enjoy teasing him and is devoted to him, seeing him as more of a friend than an employer or master. Ein, in turn, isn’t averse to asking for help from her, although he thinks Rose is male (he’d never thought about that before). She has enough personality to be appable herself, though, so she’s not coming along for the ride.
Fia
An Elendian cleric, and the granddaughter of the village’s elder. She was responsible for taking care of Ein during the time that his memory was wiped, and took romantic interest in him very quickly. She has a good sense of responsibility and a fairly wide base of knowledge; during the time Cierra and Rose aren’t with the party she is the person that explains the most. More valuable, however, his her calm center; she tends to be a stabilizing influence on the party (particularly Serene). Ein considers her a friend and ally.
Lina
A girl from another region of Riviera that moved to Elendia two years before the start of the game. She is very cheerful and energetic, although she is also rather immature and not very skilled in practical matters that don’t involve archery. Her dream is to be a treasure hunter. Despite this, though, she is also a good judge of people’s character, although she doesn’t have much of an opinion on Ein when he first shows up in Elendia. Ein considers her a friend and ally.
Serene
An Arc, originally from the island of Rosalina. Following the utter massacre of her people by Malice, she is the only living Arc. She is fierce, and easily the least “girly” of Ein’s companions, although the fact that she’s the last of her kind is secretly tearing her apart. Her need to get things done frequently spurs the group into taking decisive action. Ein considers her a friend and ally.
Cierra
A Witch who was traveling in search of her friend in the Nelde ruins when she came across Ein’s party. The friend she was looking for, Gateau, would turn out to be Rose, and becomes attached to Ein both because of this and because she feels a general affinity for him. She is highly skilled in fire magic, although she can also be kind of an airhead. Of course, since she’s a mage, she also knows a lot of stuff. That mastery over the arcane instilled a desire in Ein to learn a little more about it.
Hector removed her soul from her body to power his fusion with Seth. This is not the same as dying, but Ein isn’t aware of the difference. Ein considered her a friend an ally, but he poured all the emotional energy from her loss into defeating Hector.
Hector
Ein’s former superior, and a conniving mastermind. He is one of the Seven Magi that administer over Asgard. His list of crimes is much longer than Ein is aware of, but he intended to destroy Riviera in a bid to become a god (since there aren’t any, he’d be the only one), and, more importantly to Ein, used Cierra’s soul in doing so. He is definitely dead.
Malice Ructor*
An artificial Grim Angel using a similarly artificial Diviner named Skadi. Malice first fought Ein at Lacrima Castle, and the unusual reaction Einherjar had to Skadi was a large hint to the then-amnesiac Ein that something was off about him.
She is an unflinching enemy of Ein, but she died giving up her own soul for Hector’s plans. According to her, her “future” (interpreted as her free will) was sacrificed for her Diviner, although as she is not a normal Grim Angel whether it was actually sacrificed or not is unclear.
She is #1132 in Hector’s line of experimental artificial Grim Angels, and the only successful one.
*Malice’s last name is only given in supplemental materials.
Ursula
Some kind of spirit that protects Riviera. Hector claims she is a woman that died during Ragnarok, but the legitimacy of this claim is unclear. Ursula is responsible for Ein’s memory loss near the beginning of the game; she’d sensed Ein’s good heart and used the opportunity to gain a powerful ally. Ein agrees to help her and she occasionally speaks into his mind to give him and his party direction as to where the Accursed are.
STRENGTH OF HEART MOMENT SUMMARY: In Seth-Rah’s final moments, it issues a final question to Ein, outraged at being defeated: “WHO ARE YOU”?
He answers with a simple, but powerful, statement of his identity, accepted task, one-line version of his character development, and relevant belief (“This world doesn’t need an absolute god!”). At this point he have a firm, unshakable idea of who he is and what he wants to, and to some extent has to do.
POWERS
SAMPLE - THE AWAKENING:
The name ‘Labyrinth of Eternal Darkness’ was suddenly a lot more literal. It was a good thing he’d been at the end of it… or maybe not. He did still have to leave, of course, but that would be easier.
Ein could still feel the rumbling of the room as it collapsed around him, and it wasn’t long until he fell through into… yet more darkness, unsurprisingly. What he didn’t expect, though, was landing so quickly.
A pattern of glowing green lines appeared around him as he fell over, legs not quite capable of handling the shock of the fall. He’d be fine, though. He didn’t notice, but the lines took the shape of a prayerful young girl, albeit enclosed in something that looked kind of like a magic circle if you squinted.
Essentially, it was like he’d just fallen into the Emerald Stratum again, just in a part of it that was less lit and triangular.
“...Fia! Lina! Are you okay?! Serene, are you there? Rose?”
Stairs descended from the platform, but they were actually solid-looking iridescent rectangles. Ein could only guess that they must have landed further down, but as he walked he became aware of a very level, difficult-to-define voice in his head. Or maybe it wasn’t a voice.
You have a strong heart, Ein. With it, you don’t need me to tell you what to do anymore…
He couldn’t tell whether it was a man or a woman, but why did it ‘sound’ so familiar?
The stairs ended in a second platform, much like the first one. The major difference was, the lines of light that framed it were golden instead of green, and depicted a young-looking girl with long twintails and a bow instead. Ein didn’t notice the picture, or the fact that the girl depicted was bearing an air of serenity almost never seen on the person he knew.
He was, however, growing ever more suspicious that this wasn’t the Labyrinth. Mostly because there hadn’t been a…
He didn’t know any yellow gems. Either way none of it had been yellow and that was what mattered. Perhaps more to the point, it had also had a distinct lack of doors: the wooden one that appeared a ways in front of him was transparent, but no less out-of-place for it.
Step forward, and it will open.
Ein couldn’t help but trust the… whoever-it-was. It had good things to say about him before, at least… and so, he obeyed, and as he approached the door it solidified and opened. However, he was sucked in before he could look around.
The sudden disorientation made him dizzy for a second, but he awakened on a platform that was, again, much like the first two - blue, this time, and showing a girl with a scythe whose expression that, while calm, was also undeniably fierce. Three smaller circles around the outside of the platform began to glow brighter, revealing objects hanging in the air above them.
However, your heart’s strength lacks form… shaping it falls to you.
What was that even supposed to mean? For a few seconds, Ein just stood there, thinking, until he noticed what, exactly, one of those floating objects was.
It was yellow, and across the edges it was extremely jagged-looking, resembling more a lightning bolt than a weapon. The Diviner Einherjar, from which he was not to be separated , a part of his very identity as a Grim Angel. He walked over to it and picked it up.
This is the power of the warrior: indomitable courage, and tools of war.
Well, that’s not the way he’d have put it but it was pretty apt. Really his only enemies had been demons, and a divine weapon like it was the best way to go about fighting them, even if he couldn’t feel the power it usually had. It was like its true power had been sealed again, like when he’d first woken up in Riviera.
Will it be your power?
This was the first time the not-person - or whatever it was - had asked him a question, and Ein wasn’t sure how to respond.
“Uh… yes? Do I need to think that or is that an aaaaaaa-” he said to no one in particular. He was cut off by the sudden feeling of rising, flipping upside down and coming to rest in the center of another platform.
He was in the perfect position to notice something for the first time, and that was that the red glowing lines showed the face of a girl he knew… a girl he’d seen stolen from him very recently.
“Cierra!” he shouted, dropping to his knees. He had no desire to stop the tears slowly flowing from his eyes, now that he, his friends, and Riviera were free of imminent danger. Except her. It was already too late for her.
However, now that you’ve chosen strength, you must also choose a weakness…
Nope, he still wasn’t sure what that meant. If he picked this ‘warrior’ thing with his sword, then he guessed... he had to give up one of these other two things? What were they, though? He walked over to the item on the left, a very spiky-looking shield. Ein could tell by picking it up that it was very sturdy, though, and it, too, looked familiar, even though he couldn’t remember from where.
This is the power of the guardian: Kindness to aid friends, a wall to prevent all manner of harm.
Will you sacrifice it?
Yeah, it looked like he was right… “Can I have a little more time to decide?” he asked as he put the shield back in the column of light. It was time to find out what this other thing was. As he approached it, it resolved into the shape of a rod - it looked like a pretty holy staff, and he recognized it, too. Hadn’t this been…
This is the power of the mystic: Strength that comes from the self, spells to dazzle and destroy.
Will you sacrifice it?
...Then, this was the magic he’d learned, wasn’t it? Even though it was being represented by the staff that Archangel had used.
He decided to keep using magic, in Cierra’s memory. He figured it was too late to go back and pick this first, and Einherjar was more important, though.
“...No. I won’t give this up.”
He put the staff back into the light and walked back to the shield. The voice repeated the words it had used to describe the shield exactly as it had said them before.
Will you sacrifice it?
“Yes.” was all he needed to say.
He was about to toss the shield over the edge of the platform when he was stopped by the voice again.
You’ve chosen the power of the warrior, and given up that of the guardian… is this the form you choose?
Ein was getting impatient, and said “Yes” again, in a tone he thought appropriately expressed his frustration. The shield, which he now realized had belonged to the Accursed Isher, was thrown off into the Abyss half by Ein’s hands and half by the gently quaking platform, which had dimmed suddenly and was now breaking apart in the center. Ein himself fell backwards, his consciousness fading as quickly as the scarce remaining light...
SPECIAL ABILITIES:
Ein is a Grim Angel, a holy warrior charged with the judgment and elimination of demons. According to his personality, he extends that duty to the elimination of evil acts in general.
As such, he is very skilled in the use of several types of weapons and a little magic, although what kinds of magic he can use, at least in the past, depended on what he was using to cast it. Since he chose the sword analogue Einherjar, he will keep all of his weapon skill; since he discarded the shield, he is a Swordmage; this choice will result in an apparent gain in his ability to use magic without a focus.
A good way to express this is in terms of Riviera’s “Limit Breaks”, or as that game calls them, Overskills. Each item and weapon in Riviera has one or more normal skills and zero or more Overskills, although the skills each character uses with each item are different (as a non-weapon example, Fia is vegetarian and will throw meat at enemies instead of eating it.). Each of Ein’s party members is stated to be at different levels of proficiency with different weapon types, and this proficiency level (1, 2, or 3) determines the level of Overskill that character recieves by mastering weapons of that type (different kinds of the same type of weapon will give different Overskills and need to be mastered separately). Higher-level Overskills are more complex than lower-level Overskills, but take more time to learn.
Ein’s proficiencies are as follows:
3: Swords
2: Rapiers, Lances
1: Bows, Scythes, Staves/Rods
Other types of weapons can’t give Ein Overskills, although non-weapon items can (almost all of those are Level 1 Overskills, though).
Einherjar is a Diviner, a weapon that defies classification, and it can be used effectively by Ein only (anyone else will just throw it). As such, its Overskill, Disaresta, is actually a special level for Diviners only (EX, short for Execution). Einherjar always deals Sanctity-elemental (read: holy/light) damage.
Ein’s skill in magic is fairly meager, as represented by his level 1 proficiency in staves/rods and total lack of proficiency in books. However, he will be able to develop this talent beyond what he was capable of in his canon thanks to leaving the Saint Scepter Ancardia, his Awakening’s take on the staff, alone - namely, he will be able to use up to base-level intermediate magic and second-tier basic magic.
The variety of magic Ein could use in canon was as explained above dependent on the weapons he and his party had access to, and even so it’s a bit much to make a full list of his canon magic (much of which is the-same-but-more, anyway). It tends towards fire and ice spells not because of any natural inclination towards those elements on Ein’s part but because most of the weapons he can use magic with are fire or ice elemental.
INVENTORY:
Ein will be arriving with only weapons beyond his standard outfit: Einherjar, his primary weapon, and an assortment of regular weapons: a Southern Cross (fire-elemental staff), an Infinite Arc (ice-elemental scythe), a Diana’s Bow (lightning-elemental bow), a Silvia (ice-elemental lance), a Rosier (sanctity-elemental rapier), and a Gran Sabre (sword).
NOTES/ASPIRATIONS
Ein will be extremely focused on undertaking missions for the safety of the various worlds. He isn’t about to let some other world fall into darkness just because Riviera is safe, after all!
You may be wondering about the journal name, which has gone totally unmentioned here despite looking like a proper noun - Einherjar’s name was Ecthelion in the Japanese script (accordingly, Ein was called Ecthel).
NAME: Awe
CHARACTER
NAME(S): Ein
AGE: Canon information is not given but my headcanon is 19 (despite him looking younger than this)
FANDOM: Riviera: the Promised Land
BACKGROUND HISTORY:
Wikipedia’s article on the game (auto-links to the Story subheader). However, it should be noted that Riviera is part of a series called Dept. Heaven (link to Wikipedia’s page on Dept. Heaven), and is the last entry in the series, chronologically.
A millennium ago, the holy, lawful civilization of Asgard, led by the gods, warred against the chaotic demon realm known variously as Niflheim and The Underworld. The war was mostly spurred on by a demon lord known as Zolgonark, who marshaled the demon forces into a coherent army. The worlds of mortals caught in between, called the surface worlds, fell easily, and so the demons pressed on to Asgard, forcing it to the brink of destruction.
In desperation, the gods broke an already ancient covenant and gave parts of themselves to angels to transform them black-winged warriors, each armed with sacred weapons called Diviners. These soldiers, the Grim Angels, were the deciding factor that pushed the war into Asgard’s favor, albeit at the cost of the gods’ disappearance. The Seven Magi of Asgard, the governors interim in the absence of the gods, brokered peace with the demons, since they thought it was unwise to continue fighting without the gods, who as their final act sealed their power in a surface world, Riviera, in the form of the “Retribution”.
Now, as the demons begin to encroach on Riviera once again, one of the Magi, Hector, sends two Grim Angels - one newly-awakened and one more experienced - to unseal and use the Retribution to solve the problem, hopefully forever. These two angels were Ein and Ledah, respectively.
Ein, upon his awakening from the crypt (Grim Angels are kept in magical sleep, sequestered away from the rest of Asgard, when inactive), had no name, and had yet to make a sacrifice for his Diviner. Those who were overseeing the experiments found that he resonated extremely well with Einherjar, and thus did Ein receive his name - and lose his wings, by his own choice, to obtain it. He was also given a familiar, Rose, to help him.
However, as Ein, Rose, and Ledah traveled through the Heaven’s Gate to Riviera, they were attacked by Riviera’s protector Ursula, who used a former high-level demon to do so, and separated from each other. Ein was thrown to the forest floor in suffering, left there until a passing-by fairy and Ursula herself noticed the purity of Ein’s heart. Knowing that harm would befall Riviera by Hector’s plan, she decided to suppress his memory and the power of Einherjar to see the other side of the story.
Two girls from the village of Elendia find him and care for him for a few weeks. One of them, Fia, is the granddaughter of the village elder, and when she hears that they’ve lost contact with another region called Rosalina, she and her friend Lina can’t help but be concerned, and neither can Ein. They decide to use a magic circle in the village to travel to Lacrima Castle to investigate.
There, they find a grim reality: the Arcs have been all but wiped out, not only by demons, but by a Grim Angel named Malice. The only survivor, Serene, joins them, and soon enough they encounter a high-level demon called an Accursed: Isher, the Demon Knight. However, Ein and the girls find that all of their attacks are ineffective against it. In response, Ursula restores some of Einherjar’s power, and after Isher is defeated, Ein’s memory.
Ursula then explains the truth of the situation in Riviera: the Accursed, which had been sealed along with the Retribution, are awakening across the land. In the absence of a Grim Angel, whose Diviners are required to slay them, nothing could be done, and she guides them in the direction of the remaining Accursed.
PERSONALITY:
Personality traits, strengths/weaknesses, goals/fears, etc.
Even aside from the lack of wings, Ein is far from what most people would consider an angel.
His lack of practical experience leads him to be rather naive and he commonly isn’t aware of things that would otherwise be basic knowledge - at one point he reveals that he doesn’t know what the moon is, for example, although that was during the time he’d had amnesia. As a result, he can be trusting and gullible if confronted with a person who is not immediately hostile or recognizable as a demon. However, he also shows the potential to extend mercy even to demons, as when he was confronted with the option to slay or spare a pair of secondary antagonist demons in Tetyth, he spared them.
He has an unusually strong moral compass, however; Ursula wouldn’t have mindwiped him to recruit him for the defense of Riviera if he had less qualms about hurting the innocent. Despite this, he is completely blind to matters of romance and frequently causes the girls he travels with discomfort without meaning to. One noticeable incident of this occuring was that one time he walked in on Fia, Lina, and a significant portion of Elendia using a hot spring.
When confronted with an immediate problem, Ein shows impressive capacity to improvise - more than one potential fight has been averted by timely, well-aimed throwing of rocks, and in one case, a treasure chest. Longer-term problems, however, he generally knows nothing about; in fact, Ein rarely thinks in the long term at all, thanks to the very high amount of guidance he’s already received. Despite this, he is generally optimistic, looking for the best in every situation, and making good use of the resources available to him.
This lack of long-term planning skills is derived from a core facet of the society of Asgard: Under no circumstances is someone allowed to disobey direct orders from superiors. Rose, when speaking of his apparent betrayal thereof, mentions that “all of Asgard will turn against [you]”, and while Ein doesn’t know what happens to someone that does, elsewhere in Dept. Heaven there is a good example of a Grim Angel disobeying orders and oh boy it does not turn out well for anyone. (That angel, formerly known as Aries, would later take on the name Nessiah following being banished for the “crime” of pacifism, having refused to fight in Ragnarok. Asgard is a pretty messed-up place, basically.) He has, however, accepted this, mostly because of his aforementioned strong moral compass - he’s willing to accept the consequences of his actions, no matter what they may be.
However, that also gives rise to something else: a large portion of Ein’s quest is one for his own identity - not only because of his amnesia in Chapter 2 (the entire Lacrima Castle section) but also because so much of what he is has been defined by higher powers, including his own name, as stated above (yes, he was named after his sword, not the other way around!). That being said, having almost everything that he thought he knew about himself broken down an explained gave him a good opportunity to rebuild it; aside from the loss of Cierra, he doesn’t have many unresolved issues.
CHARACTER RELATIONSHIPS:
Ledah Rozwelli*
A Grim Angel senior to Ein. Ledah was Ein’s partner and to some extent guide at the beginning of his mission, but they were separated passing through the Heaven’s Gate. Following this, Ledah continues the mission without Ein. He follows the will of the gods absolutely. He is very cold and distant from an emotional standpoint, mostly because he sacrificed his emotions to obtain his Diviner, Lorelei.
After battling Ein’s party in Yggdrasill, he is attacked by Malice and realizes that Hector is not acting in accordance with the will of the gods. Confusingly, he expresses that he had been feeling emotions (or something like emotions) in his dying words to Ein, urging him to stop Hector’s scheme to become an absolute god.
*Ledah’s last name is only given in supplemental materials.
Rose R. Crawford
Ein’s familiar, who is cat-shaped. Rose was assigned to Ein at the beginning of his mission to help him out, and for the most part that’s exactly what she does - that said, she does enjoy teasing him and is devoted to him, seeing him as more of a friend than an employer or master. Ein, in turn, isn’t averse to asking for help from her, although he thinks Rose is male (he’d never thought about that before). She has enough personality to be appable herself, though, so she’s not coming along for the ride.
Fia
An Elendian cleric, and the granddaughter of the village’s elder. She was responsible for taking care of Ein during the time that his memory was wiped, and took romantic interest in him very quickly. She has a good sense of responsibility and a fairly wide base of knowledge; during the time Cierra and Rose aren’t with the party she is the person that explains the most. More valuable, however, his her calm center; she tends to be a stabilizing influence on the party (particularly Serene). Ein considers her a friend and ally.
Lina
A girl from another region of Riviera that moved to Elendia two years before the start of the game. She is very cheerful and energetic, although she is also rather immature and not very skilled in practical matters that don’t involve archery. Her dream is to be a treasure hunter. Despite this, though, she is also a good judge of people’s character, although she doesn’t have much of an opinion on Ein when he first shows up in Elendia. Ein considers her a friend and ally.
Serene
An Arc, originally from the island of Rosalina. Following the utter massacre of her people by Malice, she is the only living Arc. She is fierce, and easily the least “girly” of Ein’s companions, although the fact that she’s the last of her kind is secretly tearing her apart. Her need to get things done frequently spurs the group into taking decisive action. Ein considers her a friend and ally.
Cierra
A Witch who was traveling in search of her friend in the Nelde ruins when she came across Ein’s party. The friend she was looking for, Gateau, would turn out to be Rose, and becomes attached to Ein both because of this and because she feels a general affinity for him. She is highly skilled in fire magic, although she can also be kind of an airhead. Of course, since she’s a mage, she also knows a lot of stuff. That mastery over the arcane instilled a desire in Ein to learn a little more about it.
Hector removed her soul from her body to power his fusion with Seth. This is not the same as dying, but Ein isn’t aware of the difference. Ein considered her a friend an ally, but he poured all the emotional energy from her loss into defeating Hector.
Hector
Ein’s former superior, and a conniving mastermind. He is one of the Seven Magi that administer over Asgard. His list of crimes is much longer than Ein is aware of, but he intended to destroy Riviera in a bid to become a god (since there aren’t any, he’d be the only one), and, more importantly to Ein, used Cierra’s soul in doing so. He is definitely dead.
Malice Ructor*
An artificial Grim Angel using a similarly artificial Diviner named Skadi. Malice first fought Ein at Lacrima Castle, and the unusual reaction Einherjar had to Skadi was a large hint to the then-amnesiac Ein that something was off about him.
She is an unflinching enemy of Ein, but she died giving up her own soul for Hector’s plans. According to her, her “future” (interpreted as her free will) was sacrificed for her Diviner, although as she is not a normal Grim Angel whether it was actually sacrificed or not is unclear.
She is #1132 in Hector’s line of experimental artificial Grim Angels, and the only successful one.
*Malice’s last name is only given in supplemental materials.
Ursula
Some kind of spirit that protects Riviera. Hector claims she is a woman that died during Ragnarok, but the legitimacy of this claim is unclear. Ursula is responsible for Ein’s memory loss near the beginning of the game; she’d sensed Ein’s good heart and used the opportunity to gain a powerful ally. Ein agrees to help her and she occasionally speaks into his mind to give him and his party direction as to where the Accursed are.
STRENGTH OF HEART MOMENT SUMMARY: In Seth-Rah’s final moments, it issues a final question to Ein, outraged at being defeated: “WHO ARE YOU”?
He answers with a simple, but powerful, statement of his identity, accepted task, one-line version of his character development, and relevant belief (“This world doesn’t need an absolute god!”). At this point he have a firm, unshakable idea of who he is and what he wants to, and to some extent has to do.
POWERS
SAMPLE - THE AWAKENING:
The name ‘Labyrinth of Eternal Darkness’ was suddenly a lot more literal. It was a good thing he’d been at the end of it… or maybe not. He did still have to leave, of course, but that would be easier.
Ein could still feel the rumbling of the room as it collapsed around him, and it wasn’t long until he fell through into… yet more darkness, unsurprisingly. What he didn’t expect, though, was landing so quickly.
A pattern of glowing green lines appeared around him as he fell over, legs not quite capable of handling the shock of the fall. He’d be fine, though. He didn’t notice, but the lines took the shape of a prayerful young girl, albeit enclosed in something that looked kind of like a magic circle if you squinted.
Essentially, it was like he’d just fallen into the Emerald Stratum again, just in a part of it that was less lit and triangular.
“...Fia! Lina! Are you okay?! Serene, are you there? Rose?”
Stairs descended from the platform, but they were actually solid-looking iridescent rectangles. Ein could only guess that they must have landed further down, but as he walked he became aware of a very level, difficult-to-define voice in his head. Or maybe it wasn’t a voice.
You have a strong heart, Ein. With it, you don’t need me to tell you what to do anymore…
He couldn’t tell whether it was a man or a woman, but why did it ‘sound’ so familiar?
The stairs ended in a second platform, much like the first one. The major difference was, the lines of light that framed it were golden instead of green, and depicted a young-looking girl with long twintails and a bow instead. Ein didn’t notice the picture, or the fact that the girl depicted was bearing an air of serenity almost never seen on the person he knew.
He was, however, growing ever more suspicious that this wasn’t the Labyrinth. Mostly because there hadn’t been a…
He didn’t know any yellow gems. Either way none of it had been yellow and that was what mattered. Perhaps more to the point, it had also had a distinct lack of doors: the wooden one that appeared a ways in front of him was transparent, but no less out-of-place for it.
Step forward, and it will open.
Ein couldn’t help but trust the… whoever-it-was. It had good things to say about him before, at least… and so, he obeyed, and as he approached the door it solidified and opened. However, he was sucked in before he could look around.
The sudden disorientation made him dizzy for a second, but he awakened on a platform that was, again, much like the first two - blue, this time, and showing a girl with a scythe whose expression that, while calm, was also undeniably fierce. Three smaller circles around the outside of the platform began to glow brighter, revealing objects hanging in the air above them.
However, your heart’s strength lacks form… shaping it falls to you.
What was that even supposed to mean? For a few seconds, Ein just stood there, thinking, until he noticed what, exactly, one of those floating objects was.
It was yellow, and across the edges it was extremely jagged-looking, resembling more a lightning bolt than a weapon. The Diviner Einherjar, from which he was not to be separated , a part of his very identity as a Grim Angel. He walked over to it and picked it up.
This is the power of the warrior: indomitable courage, and tools of war.
Well, that’s not the way he’d have put it but it was pretty apt. Really his only enemies had been demons, and a divine weapon like it was the best way to go about fighting them, even if he couldn’t feel the power it usually had. It was like its true power had been sealed again, like when he’d first woken up in Riviera.
Will it be your power?
This was the first time the not-person - or whatever it was - had asked him a question, and Ein wasn’t sure how to respond.
“Uh… yes? Do I need to think that or is that an aaaaaaa-” he said to no one in particular. He was cut off by the sudden feeling of rising, flipping upside down and coming to rest in the center of another platform.
He was in the perfect position to notice something for the first time, and that was that the red glowing lines showed the face of a girl he knew… a girl he’d seen stolen from him very recently.
“Cierra!” he shouted, dropping to his knees. He had no desire to stop the tears slowly flowing from his eyes, now that he, his friends, and Riviera were free of imminent danger. Except her. It was already too late for her.
However, now that you’ve chosen strength, you must also choose a weakness…
Nope, he still wasn’t sure what that meant. If he picked this ‘warrior’ thing with his sword, then he guessed... he had to give up one of these other two things? What were they, though? He walked over to the item on the left, a very spiky-looking shield. Ein could tell by picking it up that it was very sturdy, though, and it, too, looked familiar, even though he couldn’t remember from where.
This is the power of the guardian: Kindness to aid friends, a wall to prevent all manner of harm.
Will you sacrifice it?
Yeah, it looked like he was right… “Can I have a little more time to decide?” he asked as he put the shield back in the column of light. It was time to find out what this other thing was. As he approached it, it resolved into the shape of a rod - it looked like a pretty holy staff, and he recognized it, too. Hadn’t this been…
This is the power of the mystic: Strength that comes from the self, spells to dazzle and destroy.
Will you sacrifice it?
...Then, this was the magic he’d learned, wasn’t it? Even though it was being represented by the staff that Archangel had used.
He decided to keep using magic, in Cierra’s memory. He figured it was too late to go back and pick this first, and Einherjar was more important, though.
“...No. I won’t give this up.”
He put the staff back into the light and walked back to the shield. The voice repeated the words it had used to describe the shield exactly as it had said them before.
Will you sacrifice it?
“Yes.” was all he needed to say.
He was about to toss the shield over the edge of the platform when he was stopped by the voice again.
You’ve chosen the power of the warrior, and given up that of the guardian… is this the form you choose?
Ein was getting impatient, and said “Yes” again, in a tone he thought appropriately expressed his frustration. The shield, which he now realized had belonged to the Accursed Isher, was thrown off into the Abyss half by Ein’s hands and half by the gently quaking platform, which had dimmed suddenly and was now breaking apart in the center. Ein himself fell backwards, his consciousness fading as quickly as the scarce remaining light...
SPECIAL ABILITIES:
Ein is a Grim Angel, a holy warrior charged with the judgment and elimination of demons. According to his personality, he extends that duty to the elimination of evil acts in general.
As such, he is very skilled in the use of several types of weapons and a little magic, although what kinds of magic he can use, at least in the past, depended on what he was using to cast it. Since he chose the sword analogue Einherjar, he will keep all of his weapon skill; since he discarded the shield, he is a Swordmage; this choice will result in an apparent gain in his ability to use magic without a focus.
A good way to express this is in terms of Riviera’s “Limit Breaks”, or as that game calls them, Overskills. Each item and weapon in Riviera has one or more normal skills and zero or more Overskills, although the skills each character uses with each item are different (as a non-weapon example, Fia is vegetarian and will throw meat at enemies instead of eating it.). Each of Ein’s party members is stated to be at different levels of proficiency with different weapon types, and this proficiency level (1, 2, or 3) determines the level of Overskill that character recieves by mastering weapons of that type (different kinds of the same type of weapon will give different Overskills and need to be mastered separately). Higher-level Overskills are more complex than lower-level Overskills, but take more time to learn.
Ein’s proficiencies are as follows:
3: Swords
2: Rapiers, Lances
1: Bows, Scythes, Staves/Rods
Other types of weapons can’t give Ein Overskills, although non-weapon items can (almost all of those are Level 1 Overskills, though).
Einherjar is a Diviner, a weapon that defies classification, and it can be used effectively by Ein only (anyone else will just throw it). As such, its Overskill, Disaresta, is actually a special level for Diviners only (EX, short for Execution). Einherjar always deals Sanctity-elemental (read: holy/light) damage.
Ein’s skill in magic is fairly meager, as represented by his level 1 proficiency in staves/rods and total lack of proficiency in books. However, he will be able to develop this talent beyond what he was capable of in his canon thanks to leaving the Saint Scepter Ancardia, his Awakening’s take on the staff, alone - namely, he will be able to use up to base-level intermediate magic and second-tier basic magic.
The variety of magic Ein could use in canon was as explained above dependent on the weapons he and his party had access to, and even so it’s a bit much to make a full list of his canon magic (much of which is the-same-but-more, anyway). It tends towards fire and ice spells not because of any natural inclination towards those elements on Ein’s part but because most of the weapons he can use magic with are fire or ice elemental.
INVENTORY:
Ein will be arriving with only weapons beyond his standard outfit: Einherjar, his primary weapon, and an assortment of regular weapons: a Southern Cross (fire-elemental staff), an Infinite Arc (ice-elemental scythe), a Diana’s Bow (lightning-elemental bow), a Silvia (ice-elemental lance), a Rosier (sanctity-elemental rapier), and a Gran Sabre (sword).
NOTES/ASPIRATIONS
Ein will be extremely focused on undertaking missions for the safety of the various worlds. He isn’t about to let some other world fall into darkness just because Riviera is safe, after all!
You may be wondering about the journal name, which has gone totally unmentioned here despite looking like a proper noun - Einherjar’s name was Ecthelion in the Japanese script (accordingly, Ein was called Ecthel).