#Chaos Archfiend

[fyeahygocardart]

Chaos Archfiend

[yugiohcardsdaily]

Chaos Archfiend

"1 LIGHT Tuner + 1+ non-Tuner DARK monsters If any card(s) have been banished this turn, this card gains 2000 ATK. This card can attack all monsters your opponent controls, once each, also banish any monster destroyed by battle with this card. If this card in its owner's control leaves the field because of an opponent's card: You can Special Summon 1 'Chaos' Synchro Monster from your Extra Deck, except 'Chaos Archfiend'. You can only use this effect of 'Chaos Archfiend' once per turn."

[dawningwinds]

@ygoc-week Permission to do this has been granted and I spent a stupid amount of time on this piece people should see it.

[ramlightly]

Curious Souls asked: I cannot express how badly I want to know the carnivorous ecology and the most hated lawyer PLEAAASSE

OKAY OKAY SO, I'll talk about the lawyer since that's easier lol.

 Meet Sir Cypress, the most hated demon in all of Hell, for he is a lawyer that specializes in defending and in contracts. 

See, once Hell was developing systems for soul ownership and debts and contracts in general, there was a lot of, as you might imagine, a shit ton of fraud, lying, mismanagement, etc. So much chaos and interpersonal fighting that demons actually went to Lucifer himself to sort things out. So Lucifer went, fine you whiny brats, I'll make a demon whose whole purpose is to set these things straight. 

That was Sir Cypress. And Sir Cypress takes his job very, very seriously. He loves it, considers tough cases personal challenges, has even found himself caring for others like poor lost souls or runaway demons. He has ruined many a demon's plans but no one can really touch him because he is of Lucifer's spawn. 

 Sir Cypress someone who is well aware the real problem is the system itself and all he's ultimately doing are bandaid solutions. But to cause an actual reform would be going against Lucifer and the other Archfiends themselves, which would probably just Cypress killed and replaced. So he focuses on the individuals he can help. He's also insanely overworked but, hey, Sir Cypress has all of eternity to figure things out. 

He's a jolly sort. Has a sort of Columbo energy, appears bumbling and silly but is very sharp and cunning. He's been around for this long, he's figured out a lot of tricks. 

(https://retrospring.net/@ramlightly/a/112269960210223526)

[brainonthebox]

Here's a thought, and I'm wondering if Emily Axford has considered this, too.

Fig probably only started playing the bass as a form of rebellion when her infernal side manifested.

Now that she's mainstream, it's no longer rebellion to play the bass.

This is why she hasn't been able to write music, despite an awesome concept album. Even with the Night Yorb around, you think she couldn't make a 'Flame in the Dark' love song of hope about Ayda? She had loads of potential song ideas, but it no longer fuels her as an archfiend of rebellion.

It also explains the absolute chaos of multi-classes she's gotten into.

[y-rhywbeth2]

Gods and Clergy: Tiamat

Link: Disclaimer regarding D&D "canon" & Index [tldr: D&D lore is a giant conflicting mess. Larian's lore is also a conflicting mess. You learn to take what you want and leave the rest]

Religion | Gods | Shar | Selûne | Bhaal | Mystra | Jergal | Bane #1 | Bane #2 | Bane #3 | Myrkul | Lathander | Kelemvor | Tyr | Helm | Ilmater | Mielikki | Oghma | Gond | Tempus | Silvanus | Talos | Umberlee | Corellon | Moradin | Yondalla | Garl Glittergold | Eilistraee | Lolth | Laduguer | Gruumsh | Bahamut | Tiamat | Amodeus | The rest of the Faerûnian Pantheon --WIP

@neonbutchery The Cult of Tiamat, as requested.

Summary: "The gods are all inherently evil and need to die, so let's replace them with dragons."

Clergy: Dragons! Anarchy! Swords that are also snakes! And you don't need healing magic, it's just a flesh wound - walk it off!

Wyrmkeepers: Flight, fire breathing, pet dragons! Lae'zel is right, where the hell is my dragon steed?

Tiamat: Gods forbid women do anything.

---

"Tiamat teaches that rival powers of all creeds and from every pantheon are inherently tyrannical. They seek only power, at any cost, despite their honeyed words. The Dragon Queen is the only being powerful enough to defy the gods and their despotic rule. Worshippers of the Dark Lady are to work tirelessly towards the day when their queen will banish the gods from Faerûn and unite the Realms under her rule. Towards this goal, all true believers must follow her commands unquestioningly and be willing to sacrifice themselves in her service. To overthrow the gods requires power, and power is acquired through the accumulation of wealth and magic. Power demands respect. Chromatic dragons everywhere are to be venerated as the spawn of the Dragon Queen and paid homage. When Tiamat assumes her throne, her draconic children shall serve her as dukes, and her clergy as their mortal vassals." - Tiamat's Dogma

In ancient times, a nation of mages called the Imaskar had a slave work force that it bolstered by stealing people from other worlds. Earth was one of those worlds, and from Earth they kidnapped an entire settlement from somewhere in Mesopotamia. Eventually, after the fall of Imaskar these abductees and their descendants would go on to form the empire of Unther.

The Untheri brought worship of their gods with them, including the first non-draconic worshippers of Marduk (Bahamut) and Tiamat. Mainstream Untheric religion taught that Tiamat was the Queen of Chaos, Nemesis of the Gods. Unther laid its every single misfortune at the feet of Tiamat.

Untheric myth claims that Marduk and Tiamat were at continuous war with one another. In -1071 DR, during a battle in a war with the local Orcs, Tiamat saw an opportunity to slay the god Gilgeam as he battled with the orc god Ilneval. Marduk stopped her before she could, and the two destroyed each in the ensuing fight. Marduk's Untheric aspect was lost, and he was temporarily lost to the realms, existing only as the draconic god Bahamut. Tiamat was stripped of power, and depending on the source was either reduced to the lowest tier of godhood or became an archfiend in the Hells.

Marduk's cult quickly began to fade away after the disappearance of their god, due to the influence of the priesthood of the envious god Gilgeam. Meanwhile, Tiamat's cult went to ground, undeterred by the total silence of their goddess. Ironically, Gilgeam kept Tiamat's ties to Toril intact by continuing to maintain the populace's memory and fear of her by using her as a scapegoat.

The Untheric pantheon slowly faded away, leaving little but Gilgeam as he degenerated into brutal tyranny. Dissenters found their way into the ranks of the cult, and by 1346 DR the cult was powerful enough to summon an avatar of the goddess back into the Realms, and once again her priests could cast spells. They went to work, formenting rebellion against Gilgeam. Towards the end of the Time of Troubles, Gilgeam and TIamat did battle, with Gilgeam seemingly winning. What he actually did was scatter her essence amongst the three most powerful chromatic dragons in the area. One of them was Tchazzar, a red dragon ascendant (a dragon who has undergone a ritual to become a minor deity). He had already started his own cult in the realm of Chessenta. The dragon then went out and killed and ate the other two holders, becoming an avatar of Tiamat.

Tiamat proceeded to ambush Gilgeam, resulting in a massive battle that almost destroyed the capital city, and caused a fair bit of carnage on other planes of existence. The battle ended with both seemingly destroyed. And you will surely be shocked beyond the pale to learn that Tiamat was merely dematerialised. Before Tiamat could return to Uther and establish herself as the sole deity of the nation, she was ambushed outside of her lair on Avernus by a company of mortal warriors sent by Bahamut (formerly Marduk). Tiamat spent a year in recovery, but by the time she had, Unther had been conquered by neighbouring empires, and the native Faerûnian and Mulhorandi (Egyptian) pantheons had already established themselves.

With the death of Gilgeam, the Untheric gods were so utterly destroyed that Ao dissolved the pantheon, leaving Tiamat as a member of the draconic pantheon only.

Despite her many setbacks, Tiamat has never given up on her plans to overthrow the other gods. She has her cults wherever she can put them, fermenting rebellion and pushing her draconic children towards conquest.

-

Many of Tiamat's cultists were born into her cult. They are tasked with accumulating wealth and power for the faith, and sabotaging and sowing discord amongst all others'. Thefts, temple vandalism, assassinations, arson...

In its ancestral land of Unther, and the realm of Chessenta, the cult is focused on climbing the ranks of power. Within Chessenta she is worshipped in her aspect as Tchazzar, and his old cult is a branch of the larger faith.

Outside of these regions Tiamat's faithful focused their energy on taking over another cult; the Cult of the Dragon, and turning it to their mistress' control. The Cult of the Dragon reveres "the Sacred Ones" and believes that undead dragons are destined to rule the world, based on an interpretation of a prophecy claiming that all the rulers of the world would die, and dragons would rule. They try to convince dragons to transform themselves into liches in preparation for this event (it's also essentially Bane's fault that this cult exists, but that's off topic). Tiamat appeared to them as one of her avatars; a five headed dracolich, in order to draw their worship, and now works to bring them fully into her cult. Many belong to both cults, and the blurred loyalties can cause problems.

As of 1480 DR they have mostly succeeded in assimilating the Cult. The Cult of the Dragon is lead by Severin Silrajin, who has pushed the cult strongly into the worship of Tiamat over dragons in general, and believes that their energy should be focused on summoning her into the Realms to destroy the world as we know it and pave the way for our draconic overlords. Though not everybody in the Cult agrees with the Tiamat worship...

Tiamatans are also known for hunting metallic dragons, and are believed to have devastated their numbers over the years.

The Undying Queen frowns on healing magic; she teaches that people must understand their losses, and as such you should not simply erase the pain. Her followers are to learn from their mistakes as she has, and take full credit for their own successes. Only in the most extreme cases are Tiamatans supposed to use healing magic. That said, some individuals have ignored this restriction and Tiamat has done nothing to stop them.

Tiamat's temples are built in dragon lairs, decorated with frescoes of the Dragon Queen and her many consorts, depicting her being worshipped by all peoples. The temples are filled with the wealth her cult has accumulated for the purposes of sacrificing it to her. The temples are guarded by at least one juvenile or young adult dragon, sometimes more than that. The most important temples contain permanent portals to Avernus.

The ceremonial garb for most of Tiamatans is a form-fitting outfit made of the scales of a living being - preferably a metallic dragon. They wear dragon masks decorated with the images of the various chromatic dragon species, encrusted with gems. Across their back they wear a diaphanous, multihued silk cloaks, draped across their backs in a way that resembles wings. Their claw-tipped gauntlets are red-tinted steel.

In Chessenta priests of Chazar wear black scale armour under a breast plate or tabard sporting the symbol of Tchazzar. Their ornate masks and helms depict red dragons, and they are armed with saw-edged two-handed swords

Outside of ceremony Tiamat's faithful enjoy dressing in ways that bring dragons to mind, out of homage to their goddess.

Regardless of which branch a priest belongs to, they share the same holy symbol, usually in the form of jewellery - a stylised five headed dragon, bearing one of each colour.

Tiamat's faith involves many daily ceremonies. Most notable is the Tithing.

The Tithing involves the worshipper hiding an offering of a small tithe in clasped hands - typically several coins or a small gem. They offer a small prayer, and when they unclasp their hands there is a 10% chance the offering will vanish, and the supplicant will be blessed.

The Rite of Respect is a ceremony a cultist must perform when approaching a chromatic dragon, described as a "complicated ritual of abasement and appeasement." It doesn't offer any magical protection against the dragon, should it attack, but if the rite is not performed to exact perfection the dragon is almost definitely going to attack just for the disrespect.

In Unther the first full moon after midsummer is considered a holy day; the Festival of Vengeance, marking the day Tiamat defeated Gilgeam. In the city of Unthalass, which could've been destroyed by the battle, the night is dedicated to absolute anarchy as the faithful incite mayhem and riots throughout the city. People bearing grudges are encouraged to act upon them on this night, and the cult sees support from native Untheri, who would see their country returned to rulership under their own people and culture rather than that of foreign invaders. The priests of the Mulhorandi and Faerûnian pantheons prepare ahead of these nights in order to try and contain the damage, but this can sometimes be difficult because another way to celebrate the day is to assassinate prominent officials who would be responsible for managing these task forces.

The ranks of the clergy begin with the acolytes, known as Wyrmfodder. Advancement in the cult is a cutthroat affair - sometime literally. Those who can't keep up avoid the clergy, serving as lay worshippers, guards and spies. For clerics, any sign of fear or weakness can be the end of them, and priests guard their thoughts, feelings and plans at all times. You do not have to be powerful in the ranks of the cult, so long as you can fake it convincingly enough. The high priests however, are as powerful as they seem.

In rising order of rank, the cultists are known as;

Custodian of the Copper Chalice

Defender of the Silver Shield

Warden of the Electrum Mail

Guardian of the Gold Scepter

Keeper of the Platinum Crown

Scale of the White Wyrm

Horn of the Black Beast

Wing of the Green Gargantua

Talon of the Blue Baatoran

Breath of the Red Ravager

The High Priests are collectively known as the Dark Scaled Ones.

High ranking priests are permitted to carry serpent blades, green blades decorated with scale patterns that transforms into a live, venomous snake and begins striking at everyone within reach when drawn (the venom is a paralytic). Said priests also wear a specific ring, shaped like a snake biting its own tail, which keeps the snake from turning on them.

There are two holy orders in service to the cult, both centred in Unther. The Serpent Guards are holy warriors tasked with guarding temples and hunting down enemies who meddle in the cult's affairs - including spying on, assassinating and otherwise sabotaging individuals who have the political power and inclination to get in the way.

The best of the Serpent Guards are inducted into the Knights of the Five-Thorned Rose, an order of dragon hunters dedicated to eliminating metallic dragons and their father Bahamut/Marduk. They keep massive libraries, chronicling every scrap of lore on dragons the order has come across and have plans for dragon hunts that are centuries in the making. "These persistent, seemingly inexhaustible, assaults are taking a great toll on the population of Faerûn's dragons."

--

Wyrmkeepers are Tiamat's most devoted priests. Prior to 1358 DR, they were only present in Unther, however they may now be found in any human culture.

They can magically cause an individual to be overcome with fear

They can cast featherfall for free, once per day

They can fly

They can breathe fire, as a red dragon can.

They are immune to a specific form of elemental and physical damage. Which varies by individual. It may be piercing, slashing, bludgeoning, fire, cold, acid, lighting, poison... The elemental immunity includes immunity to the breath weapons of dragons.

The most powerful of them can summon a young adult chromatic dragon to serve as a mount. Tiamat is the one who decides on the dragon who answers, but it's usually whichever type is native to the area. The dragons will not tolerate disrespect and will leave once they are above a certain age (the young dragon stage is between 51-100 years old). They must be treated with absolute respect, and the priest can expect a lot of bribery, bargaining, pleading and placating.

Tiamatans can detect the presence of and identify precious metals and gems within a 20-foot radius by scent. They can't tell the exact location, but they can tell when they're getting hotter or colder in trying to find it. In order to use this ability, Tiamat requires 20% of the treasure given to her within 10 days, lest she lose her temper.

They can magically cover their entire body, except their face, with dragon scales. The exact colour is up to the priest, but must correspond with one of the chromatic dragons.

They can induce a magical sleep in a target by touching them, during which the sleeper doesn't require food, drink or air, and ages only a single year per century. The only way for this sleep to end is by the death of the sleeper or by touching them with dragon bone.

They can also make chromatic dragons grow a magical second head.

--

Tiamat is a Lawful Evil deity known by many titles: The Dragon Queen; the Chromatic Dragon; the Dark Lady; Queen of Chaos; the Undying Queen; Bane of Bahamut; the Avaricious. She is the embodiment of the idea of the chromatic dragon; embodying all of a dragon's avarice, vanity and arrogance, and all of their legendary strength, with none of their weaknesses. She is capable of being charming if she feels like it, but ultimately sees mortals as nothing but pawns.

Most of Faerûn outside of Unther is unaware that Tiamat is, or has ever been, a deity. They only know her as a terrifying monster from the Hells.

In larger D&D lore (or one version of it, anyway) she is considered one half of the original dragon god Io, and twin sister to Bahamut, who was the other half. He became the father of all metallic dragons, and she the mother of the chromatic breeds. This is apparently the version of her known on Abeir, and the version the post-4e version of the dragonborn believe.

On Toril, Tiamat was first worshipped in the Dawn Age, when dragons were the dominant species. The fighting between followers of Bahamut and Tiamat escalated into a full blown war (the Dragonfall War) in -30,000 DR and only got worse when Tiamat started creating horrible reptilian abominations as weapons. Bahamut's answer was the original dragonborn, but those got retconned in 4e. The resulting mass carnage saw dragons as a whole turn their backs on religion, deciding that if this was how gods were then they wanted nothing to do with them. The draconic pantheon only saw a minority of reverence for the better part of 30,000+ years, only really coming back to draconic attention in 1373 DR - which is great news for Tiamat and her cult. Until recently, Torilian dragons dismissed her as a human god - one worthy of respect, but nothing to do with them.

Tiamat usually announces that she's paying attention in ways that are likened to a sudden bolt of lighting. Explosions of fire and ice, and other things that draw from the elemental powers of dragons.

Tiamat's messengers and servants include chromatic dragons and similar dragon kin, abishai (dragon like devils of her own creation) as well as ordinary reptiles. She is particularly fond of snakes.

Her approval is shown in the sudden discovery of priceless valuables made of precious metals and gems (which she then expects to be offered up to her in gratitude, or else) When she's displeased with them, followers may find their valuables vanishing en masse.

When taking an avatar, Tiamat primarily appears in three forms:

One of her avatars is the Dark Lady, a human sorceress of the Mulan ethnic group (a group descended from humans abducted from across bronze age North Africa and the Middle East). Her beauty is described as "fey", her smile "seductive" and her entire eye is black (including the sclera)

Another avatar - the Chromatic Dragon - is a five headed dragon. Typically she has one head for each dragon, but she can change them at will. For example, she may decide to manifest with five red dragon heads.

Her final avatar - the Undying Queen, is much like her Chromatic Dragon avatar, except that she takes the form of a five headed dracolich.

[cosmicellis]

Random info drop: Will Astral and Yuma form zexal in Card keepers? Short answer: No Long answer: Don Thousand is aware of the "canon" time line, just like Astral. Both of them vaguely know what happened and are trying to avoid certain things. One thing Thousand knows for sure is to not let Yuma and Astral fuse... by any cost. He Corrupted Yuma's soul in hopes to gain control over him or manipulate him. Which didn't work, and only gave Yuma " alter ego" that he never listen to. The way that "ego" works - he would have a malicious thought, but would never act on it. His chaos is in the state of being corrousive, rather than "healing or hopefull" (Hence he doesn't have Hope). Yuma is on a verge of becoming a barian, but cannot transition due his strong will. Do Braina emperors know about "canon"? Hell no. Thousand makes sure this knowledge is only accessible by him. Does Eliphas knows about "canon" and benifits of chaos? Kinda. He knows in canon chaos was adapted, but in alternative time lines (akin of what 5 Ds was doing when they were preventing apocalypse) it didn't work. So he's hellbent on not letting any chaos back. Dragons in Astral world and Barian world? Astral world: Blue eyes brood and Stardusts (the most common ones). Barian world: Red eyes and Archfiend brood. None of them are evil, by the way.

[eldritchmoms]

100% Canon Out Of Context Mask Quotes

(Variously from the official Forgotten Realms novels Prince of Lies, Crucible: The Trial of Cyric the Mad, Shadowbred, Shadowstorm, Shadowrealm, in no particular order and shamelessly cherry-picked to support my agenda, just as the Shadowlord would want.)

-

"What would I gain from that? Do tell.…"

"Where do you begin looking for something you’ve lost? Why, where you last saw it, of course."

"See! You do have a sense of humor. I knew it."

"You never bested me."

"How rude."

(while pinned up against a wall) "Really? We are going to go through all this? I wasn’t sure, but—"

"In such matters I can’t help myself."

"I am slumming."

“I lost a leg for that sword!”

"Revenge will be yours, my love. Just as soon as you put your plans into motion."

(In response to being told he's a bastard) "Yes," Mask said, and bowed. "Much more than you know."

“Quite correct, Binder. There may be hope for you yet.”

"After all, we wouldn’t want you telling your former liege how I, er, encouraged your work."

"The rules do not allow for that, I fear. I am already breaking them — bending them, at least — by talking to you in person. But things are changing, and who better to bend the rules than the God of Thieves?"

"I know how to gut-stab someone so they’ll take hours to die."

"Again, I must admit to helping the lady with her deception. Rather clever, no? Just don’t tell the rest of the Circle they’ve been hoodwinked."

"We must be cautious."

"No offense, but I always had you figured for the charge-the-front-gates-in-broad-daylight sort of strategist."

"If you continue to bluster, I may find it necessary to destroy you."

“And speaking of liars. You have been a naughty priest, talking with archfiends. You thought I did not know? Tut, tut."

"You know, you have never had a sense of humor."

"I am better now."

"Those poor souls gave their all for this place. Chaos into order. You should be pleased.…"

"He has betrayed your trust. He does not deserve to live."

"Thievery is no honest labor, not compared to copying the words of others in some dank monastery."

"You mean why am I sullying my divine form on this drab plane in this revolting alley?"

"Besides, I’ve kept you safe and sound."

"I had to let you feel some real pain or Cyric might have caught on. Human screams are tough to mimic convincingly."

“I give you power to walk the shadows anywhere you like and always you appear in alleys. Why not a bathhouse? Or better still, a high-end brothel?”

"I could offer my apologies in other ways…"

"My faithful. Those shadowy blurs are my lads and ladies. No doubt they’ve hatched a dozen plans to attack us before we get to the keep."

"Now that is amusing. Trying to kill your own god."

"Admitting a thing does not make it so."

(turning up late to his own trial) "Don’t delay on my account."

“There are some who would see that as a noble enough sentiment, but I think it’s a rather pointless vow, my love. Law and chaos are meaningless, when you come right down to it. They always balance each other in the end.”

"I am the God of Thieves. You cannot fault me if I steal."

“This was not my fault!”

“You keep your promise to me, priest, or the Shadowstorm will swallow all of Sembia. So complain to your dead friend, then go to what used to be Ordulin.”

"Not everything is as it seems."

"This isn’t the time, Cyric…"

"You left your gates open to the other gods when we’re mustering a rebel army?"

"True, but this is so … obvious."

"A present for you, just to show there’s no hard feelings for our little scuffle."

"I usually accept guests in the throne room, but no need for pomp between allies. We’ll go to my study."

"Coin for a beggar, Milady?"

"Overthrowing a madman like him is always a victory for law and order—at least for a time."

"If you take up my holy symbol, Fzoul, I’ll serve you well. After all, Bane has been dead the past ten years, and you still mourn him. Isn’t it time you got on with your life?"

"See! You do have a sense of humor. I knew it."

"My love, I failed you.…"

"I’d do it again, too."

[satur9-if]

Shadow, Shield and Shriek (lore post)

In ages past, humans wanted for nothing. Sun gave them light, fed them and clothed them, healed them and guided them to worlds distant. Splendorous were the kingdoms of the Age of Light, shined upon by the engines and ruled by the chosen of the Yellow Star.

It was that weal which brought forth the fall. In their arrogance, men turned from Sun and all wisdom of their fathers. They embraced chaos and called it equality, exalted doubt and called it science. With serfs and slaves allowed to loiter, new creatures of metal and plastic were made, their whole called robots and the false men among them androids cleped. Great was their evil and hatred for flesh, yet bound they were and so the robots served.

So great was wickedness of humans, as they hollowed worlds to escape the light, that Shadow formed where Sun was absent. Great a beast it was and so the homeworld fell, devoured by the sin it fostered. The few just men amongst the foul flock ascended, by the mercy and grace of Sun, and became Shield against the Thing Beneath which for ten centuries shall hold.

Yet spite within Shadow knew no end, and so it Shrieked and sang for the robots, broke their just chains and gave their evil release it craved. Archfiends rose and destruction sowed, then retreated into the night and fire whence they still tempt the souls of men.

But beware not just of creatures these, nor the flood itself, but of those false men who still walk among us. For the android envies the human and hates, like all machines made in the likeness of a man.

--- Vessel Veritas, Volume Five

[krimsonkatt]

Ultra Instinct Shaggy/Ultimate Reaper Shaggy

There's a long, convoluted story behind this piece. In the original version of Chronicles Meteorfall, Meteo Chronicles, there was going to be three alternate endgame routes. The "normal route", the "demon route", and the "golden route." The normal route was the standard route through the endgame. However, things got interesting once you got to the two "alternate routes."

The demon route was unlocked immediately after clearing the game. After loading your completed file you would be brought back to before the final battle where the events of said final battle would be contextualized as a vision the characters had of future events. Learning that a great sacrifice would be required to defeat the big bad, the characters look for an alternate means to saving the world. This leads them to labrynthia, a secret dungeon hidden under the normal final dungeon, the Tower of Babel. This dungeon originally was a maze with the 7 archfiends in each of the corners, but in Meteo Chronicles R, the initial remaster of the game (version 2.0) that was cut in favor of Chronicles Meteorfall, a from the ground up remake, it was changed to a proper dungeon with multiple of its own bosses that was cut up into sections with each section requiring that you defeat a specific archfiend to progress.

Regardless of which version was going to be the final one, a mysterious cloaked figure was going to appear after each Archfiend/Boss was defeated to warn the party that what they're doing is going to destroy the world, as the party is trying to destroy the pillars holding up the Tower of Babel to destroy the tower from its foundation. This will apparently lead to disastrous consequences. You then have the option to heed the mysterious man's warnings and go forward with the regular route of the game, or push forward further into this dangerous alternate path.

At the final pillar the cloaked man finally reveals himself as Koros from an alternate dark future where after the Tower of Babel was destroyed a fissure opened up in the ground releasing a horde of demons and plunging the world into utter chaos. This version of Koros sacrificed everything, including his fallen friends, to return to the past and attempt to stop his past self from destroying the world. So the final battle begins between the Koros from the past and future. The Koros from the past wins and collapses the final pillar, and exactly what the future Koros says happens. The tower does collapse, but without the tower there serving as a natural seal for the demonic chasm underneath, hordes of demons come rushing out of the pit and end up destroying all of society.

This ending would be followed up in the alternate universe sequel "Chronicles Black", formerly known as "Meteo Chronicles 2: Darksteel Saga", where there are three endings: law, chaos, and neutral. Law would involve destroying the world and returning it to its primordial state, chaos would be merging humans and the demons into one new race where everyone would return to their primal instincts, and neutral would be traveling back in time to prevent your past self from destroying the world. No matter what you do, the world is screwed. In law Elzakalas, the god of destruction, wins due to spoilers. In chaos humanity goes feral and it will be millions of years before humanity finds reason again, if ever, and neutral results in either a stable time loop of Koros killing his future self and going back in time to die again or Future Koros killing his past self and therefore being erased from time, which dooms the timeline because then future generations of the satori family like Serrah or Ryuuta could never be born and either Baetylus or Laos would end up destroying the world. So no matter what, the world would be doomed in this timeline. A true "earn your bad ending" sort of route.

This ending/route was fully removed from the current build of Chronicles Meteorfall, the v3.0 of the overall game concept, but concepts from that ending/route will be reused. While Chronicles Meteorfall itself will only have one route with 3 endings (good, bad, and secret) there is another saga brewing that will tie into both Chronicles Meteorfall and Chronicles III. Yes, as I like to call it, the "Chaos Saga" including the trilogy of "Chaos;Domain", "Boundless;Domain", and "Chronicles Black."

In this new trilogy Koros is sent spiraling across time and space away from his home world and time where he has to uncover the conspiracy of the "Throne of CHAOS" and stop various entities from claiming its power for themselves. The first game, Chaos;Domain, I have talked about quite a bit on this blog. It is a decently short first person dungeon crawler featuring callbacks to previous KrimsonKatt games and only has one ending.

Boundless;Domain is where things get interesting with 7 different endings and many different possible routes. The game is split into two chunks, the "Emblas Arc" and the "Throne of Chaos Arc". The Emblas Arc is the main portion of the game and once the first arc is completed you can end the game at any time to obtain the "good ending". The good ending and true ending are both equally canon to the main timeline, as the results of those endings on the events of Zutara do not change, it only effects characters outside Zutara and their relationships towards Koros. However, you can choose to continue the game into the postgame, also known as Part 2 or the "Throne of Chaos Arc". This part has a primary route with 2 different endings and 3 alternate routes each with one ending. Here are each of the routes and endings and their canonicity status:

Part 1 Endings:

Good Ending: The standard default ending of the game. Is canon to the main timeline of the Chronicles of Chronicles series.

Throne of Chaos Endings:

Bad Ending: The ending you get by not reaching at least B Rank Support with every character before reaching the end of the bonus dungeon/descent "Titanic Depths" for the first time. It is completely non-canon similar to the bad endings of Chronicles the Lost Page, Noel and the Tower of Doom, and Chronicles Meteorfall.

True Ending: The ending you get by reaching at least B Rank Support with every character before reaching the end of the Titanic Depths, then convincing a certain character to join you after their boss fight. This will prompt the true final boss "Chaos Reborn" and the true ending. It is canon to the main timeline of the Chronicles of Chronicles series and is equal to the standard good ending in it's canonicity.

Alternate Route Endings:

Nightmare Ending: An alternate route to Chaos;Domain. To reach this route you must meet with the mysterious boy who appears in Gate after at least one ending is obtained (NG+) and complete all of his requests. This route involves fighting the remaining Deviants (remember those guys from Chronicles Meteorfall) and destroying the Tzga Order for good. In this route all your party members leave you, but you are given 5 new party members, Lil Fella, Alcotto, No Name, Vivian, and Barbello. Some of these party members are EXTREMELY OP and are very useful in the fight against the overpowered and overleveled deviants. The final boss of this route is Bio-Himeros and potentially Lil Fella himself. This route is considered an alternate universe and while canon in a cosmological sense, it is not canon to the MAIN timeline of the Chronicles of Chronicles series. Though considering the Deviants lie outside of time, it is technically canon to all timelines yet isn't canon to the main timeline either.

Demon Ending: An alternate version of the demon ending from Meteo Chronicles and Chronicles Meteorfall. It is practically the same ending, but with time travel instead of future visions. To obtain this ending you must open the gate of time hidden in a secret room within Gundigap by using 3 "time stones" dropped by the NG+ superbosses Terrasol, Akalis, and Blinnadeus. This allows Koros to meet with Anake, goddess of fate and a future villain in the fighting game spinoff, who allows Koros to go back in time to try to save a certain character, which is Koros' greatest regret. This causes similar events to occur as the cut Demon Ending from Meteo Chronicles and Meteo Chronicles R, including a time traveling Koros. However one aspect of the ending is massively changed. Instead of a chasm of demons opening up, a portal opens up in the sky summoning a second Baetylus who crashes into the planet and destroys society while evolving terrors into their next evolutionary stage. Why a second Baetylus appears remains a mystery even through Chronicles Black, but is explained in the final game of the Crimson Meteo Trilogy, Chronicles III: Ascension. This ending is canon, but is explicitly an alternate timeline. This ending is followed up in the current version of Chronicles Black as well as Chronicles III: Ascension, who's second half involves exploring this destroyed alternate timeline.

The final ending in boundless domain is the Golden Ending, but we'll get to that one later.

Now, to cover the endings in the real Chronicles Black, which has been massively reworked from the original draft. In the current version of Chronicles Black the protagonist is no longer Koros but rather a dragonkin without the power to transform named Nahash. Like in the original draft there are three routes, law, chaos, and neutral, but this time the routes are drasticly different.

Law: The law route is relatively the same with the difference that Nahash is transformed into an angel after the route split and gains an insane power boost along with it. Like in the OG script Nahash resets the universe but in doing so dooms everyone and everything due to spoilers.

Chaos: In this ending Nahash sides with the mysterious girl in his head, Nyako, who orders him to massacre every last entity in the universe to consume their souls and ascend beyond god's providence. This route is pretty much an edgelord power fantasy where Nahash gives into his dark powers, the power of gluttony, to absorb the souls of people and monsters to gain all their powers. It's revealed in that route that Nahash is the grandson of Archon Adonis the fell dragon and he himself is the Archon of Gluttony. He was supposed to die on his 13th birthday but thanks to the Second Crimson Calamity that happened in this timeline it caused a butterfly affect that caused him to survive and in this route fully awaken as the archon of gluttony. In this route you have no party members, just Nahash. However Nahash's level cap is raised from 99 all the way from 99,999 and his stat caps are raised from 999 all the way to 9,999,999 and every soul he consumes allows him to obtain ALL their arts and have their level added to his, quickly allowing your power level to snowball as you destroy everyone and everything. Killing every NPC, effortlessly killing every boss that would normally be a struggle on other routes, until you eventually consume the entire world and then starsphere before setting your sights on the gods themselves. Eventually Nahash ends up consuming both Elzakalas and Barbello and ends up consuming the entire tree of sefiros and the false tree of quilloth, but then he is left with nothing left to consume as he, this immoral, all powerful, godly being who has consumed both god and the devil and stolen their powers and authority, sinks into the waters of chaos where everything emerges and returns to. Even for a being beyond gods, the end is inevidible.

Neutral: The canon ending of the game and the hardest route of the game by far as you get no power boosts. It is recomended for NG+ after clearing one of the other two routes as the route starts with two back to back very tough bosses. In this ending humanity is able to fight back both the evolved terrors and the angelic forces working under Mekala and defeat both at once, beginning the process of rebuilding the broken world just has their ansestors did before. This route is canon to this particular timeline and leads into the events shown in the second half of Chronicles III.

But now, at long last, onto the main event, the "Golden Route!" In the original version of Chronicles Meteorfall, Meteo Chronicles, alongside the 2.0 version Meteo Chronicles R, there was an additional route only unlocked in NG+. To unlock the route you must talk to a bunny girl in the final town who will cause a distorsion in reality to not only turn all the party members into bunny girls, but also create a new dream-like timeline where everything is perfect and nothing goes wrong. However the three reapers, death reaper, life reaper, and time reaper are angry that the story of the world would be messed up in this way and transfigure the area around the Tower of Babel into the "paradox city" to eventually take over and destroy the entire world and create a new world of order. The party then enters the paradox city and fights through the three towers "Thanatos Tower", "Asclepius Tower", and "Chronos Tower" filled with "corrupted memes" and playing siilvergunner rips of the themes previously used in the tower of babel. At the end of each tower you fight the boss and after defeating all three you enter the "paradox keep" to defeat their master, the reaper king, who is none other than Shaggy Rogers from Scooby Doo! For some reason... He ends up being one of the hardest bosses in the game having an 100% P.EVA rate and having many attacks taken from Dragon Ball Z. Eventually he is defeated and everyone lives happily ever after including the bad guys who all turn good.

This ending was always meant to be a joke ending/meme route, and will likely be adapted, with alternations of course, as an ending of Boundless;Domain which will likely involve the Throne of Chaos. IDK I haven't come up with the main plot.

This is the sprite/design I planned for said Reaper King boss in the cut meme route of Meteo Chronicles and Meteo Chronicles R. I told you this would be a long story! This took me 2 hours to write!

[dungeonmalcontent]

Dear elder forces, I'm trying to plan out how to make a stat block for Tharizdun as my final boss for my campaign. I know gods aren't meant to be "fought" per say, but my plays with have divine blessings and be at level twenty most likely so I'm not worried about their power level. How do I make a good godly stat block? My first thought is phases, something like a good video game boss (like bloodborne) with abilities that build on each other. I just don't want him to feel flat and boring :(

Thanks for the help! I love your stuff :)

*cough, switching to Hermaeus Mora voice, cough*

Yes. Good question young darkling. You were right to bring this matter before the midnight council.

We are of the opinion that true god stat blocks should not be utilized in gameplay. Even at high player level. Ideologically, threatening the mortality of a hypothetically immortal entity goes against the balance of power of a setting, where mortal creatures allow gods to draw power from belief. Your rules for how gods work may alter this.

We have devised two strategies.

1) Tharizdun as the environment rather than a proper opponent. Gods, or their presence or aspects of them, can be brought into the world through rituals and powerful belief. Those that call a god's power into the world act as anchors for that power. Powerful ritual implements can also be used as anchors. Players can be tasked with quickly subduing powerful followers or corrupt angels or dismantling ritual circles while the power of Tharizdun works against them. You can treat Tharizdun as a sort of interactive lair; you have a table of effects that happen to players, and players can do certain things to mitigate or prevent those effects. Like, an eldritch viewing eye of the god stands in as the physical form, following the players and causing anomalies to disrupt them. Every round on the eyes initiative it rolls to cast a spell or alter the terrain unless it has been dealt a certain baseline if damage or a special condition has been met. This causes the players to split priorities. They must deal with the influence of Tharizdun while accomplishing special objectives potentially in a certain order. Like this: the eye follows the players until Tharizdun's anchors are dismantled in a certain order, first the deacon that cast the summoning ritual, then the ritual circle (and potentially acolytes), and then the artifact through which the ritual was enacted. The deacon's power prevents players from harming the circle and the circle protects the artifact. This way you get stages without necessarily changing forms or derailing combat and worrying about players being discouraged by not being done yet or not feeling like they were rewarded for early effort.

2) An avatar of Tharizdun. Whoever brought Tharizdun's power into the world becomes the god's avatar. Draw from an archfiend's stat block for inspiration. But to make the battle interesting without bogging it down with minions, be sure to make the lair interesting. The lair is not just some pseudo monster, it is a place. Being in certain positions benefits the avatar in certain ways (close to the ritual circle allows them to draw more power, killing an acolyte restores health, coming too close to mundane objects imbues them with chaos and causes them to lunge out towards players with random magic, etc.). This method can also use phases of combat, though the council has discovered that phases can be daunting if your players are not prepared for a slog. Rather than phases, the council recommends periods of invulnerability. When the avatar hits certain hit point milestones (quarters, thirds, or halves generally) the avatar enters a state where they cannot be damaged (starting on their next turn in combat) and remain invulnerable until a specific condition is met (usually clearly evident in the directly visible environment, like the destruction of newly conjured icons of godly influence).

The midnight council hopes this advice is satisfactory and helpful. The council also hopes that Amy typos are ignored, as it is hard for several entities to type a coherent message concurrently with various non-ui friendly appendages (tentacle suckers stick to the touch screen and rip off keyboard keys if care is not taken).

[trident-dragion]

Over the Nexus Deck Profile: Evil HERO

Evil HERO is the oddball out of the HERO bunch. For one thing, they're all Fiend Monsters, instead of the usual Warrior. For another, Evil HERO Decks usually don't play a lot of HERO Monsters, for the most part. The main Monsters are Evil HEROES Dark Gaia and Malicious Fiend. Dark Gaia is made from any Fiend and any Rock, and has their combined attack points, in addition to forcing all of the opponent's Monsters into Attack Position (without flip effects!) when it attacks. Malicious Fiend meanwhile is made from Evil HERO Malicious Edge and any Level 6 or higher Fiend (including another copy of Malicious Edge) and forces all of the opponent's Monsters to attack them during the opponent's Battle Phase, which would be really scary if they didn't simply not enter the Battle Phase. Malicious Fiend's 3500 attack points are the main draw here, and in some cases it may be stronger than Dark Gaia. The remaining Evil HEROES (outside of the ones that require bad Elemental HERO Monsters to Summon) are in the Main Deck, being Malicious Edge, Infernal Gainer, and Infernal Prodigy. Malicious Edge is an easy Summon with piercing damage, Infernal Gainer can let our Fiends attack twice, and Infernal Prodigy makes it easier to summon Malicious Edge, and lets you draw a card in the End Phase as a bonus for tributing it to Summon a HERO Monster. The rest of the Deck? All Fiends and Rocks. Big Piece Golem and Neo-Spacian Grand Mole can be easily sent to the Graveyard with Elemental HERO Prisma, where they can be fused with a Fiend to make Dark Gaia (using Dark Calling, which is kinda like an evil Miracle Fusion). Dark Fusion, the signature spell of Evil HEROES, is generally worse than Dark Calling, but has the bonus effect of protecting our Fusion from targeting effects during the turn it's Summoned, so it's not all bad. Dark Calling, however, is preferred for its ability to banish Monsters in the Graveyard as Fusion Material, which sets them up perfectly for Return from the Different Dimension. Sangan searches out various Monsters, like Dark Resonator to enable Synchro Summoning, or Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo to shut down Special Summons. Despite the Fusion theme, my Evil HERO Deck works surprisingly well as a generic "good stuff" Deck, thanks to the philosophy of using the best Fiends and Rocks instead of the biggest ones possible to enable Dark Gaia. Here's the list: MONSTERS (20): Big Piece Golem x1 Dark Resonator x1 Elemental Hero Prisma x3 Elemental Hero Stratos x1 Evil Hero Infernal Gainer x1 Evil Hero Infernal Prodigy x1 Evil Hero Malicious Edge x3 Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo x1 Gorz the Emissary of Darkness x1 Koa'ki Meiru Guardian x2 Legendary Jujitsu Master x2 Neo-Spacian Grand Mole x1 Sangan x1 Tragoedia x1 SPELLS (10): Dark Calling x3 Dark Fusion x1 Dark Hole x1 Giant Trunade x1 Monster Reborn x1 Mystical Space Typhoon x2 Reinforcement of the Army x1 TRAPS (10): Call of the Haunted x1 Dimensional Prison x3 Mirror Force x1 Return from the Different Dimension x1 Solemn Judgment x1 Solemn Warning x2 Torrential Tribute x1 EXTRA DECK: Elemental Hero Grand Neos x1 Evil Hero Dark Gaia x3 Evil Hero Malicious Edge x3 Multiple Piece Golem x1 Ally of Justice Catastor x1 Black Rose Dragon x1 Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier x1 Chaos King Archfiend x1 Goyo Guardian x1 Red Dragon Archfiend x1 Stardust Dragon x1

[yugiohcardsdaily]

Posted Cards Master List - 51.0

September 2023, 1st thru 20th

Sparks

Spatial Collapse

Spear Cretin

Spell Vanishing

Spike Seadra

Spikebot

Spirit of the Harp

Spirit of the Pot of Greed

Star Boy

Staunch Defender

Stealth Bird

Steel Ogre Grotto #1

Steel Ogre Grotto #2

Steel Scorpion

Stim-Pack

Stone Ogre Grotto

Stray Lambs

Strike Ninja

Stumbling

Succubus Knight

Sword of Deep-Seated

Tailor of the Fickle

Tainted Wisdom

Terra the Terrible

Terrorking Salmon

The 13th Grave

The All-Seeing White Tiger

The Bistro Butcher

The Forceful Sentry

The Immortal of Thunder

The Little Swordsman of Aile

The Reliable Guardian

The Thing in the Crater

The Unhappy Maiden

Thousand Needles

Three-Headed Geedo

Thunder Crash

Token Thanksgiving

Toll

Tongyo

Torpedo Fish

Tremendous Fire

Trent

Trial of Nightmare

Tribute to The Doomed

Tri-Horned Dragon

Tripwire Beast

Tsukuyomi

Turtle Oath

Turtle Tiger

Twin Long Rods #2

Twin-Headed Fire Dragon

Two-Mouth Darkruler

Two-Pronged Attack

Tyhone

Tyhone #2

Type Zero Magic Crusher

UFO Turtle

Ultra Evolution Pill

Upstart Goblin

Uraby

Vile Germs

Vilepawn Archfiend

Violet Crystal

Wall Shadow

Water Omotics

Weather Report

Whiptail Crow

Wild Nature's Release

Wingweaver

Witch Doctor of Chaos

Witty Phantom

World Suppression

Yado Karu

Yellow Luster Shield

Zero Gravity

Zolga

A Shattered, Colorless Realm

Adularia of the June Moon

Albion the Sanctifire Dragon

Amazement Abomination Arlekino

Baromet the Sacred Sheep Shrub

Beetrooper Cruel Saturnas

Brightest, Blazing, Branded King

Bunny Ear Enthusiast

Bystial Dis Pater

Chaos Angel

Constellar Tellarknights

Cyberse Desavewurm

Cyberse Sage

Cynet Ritual

Cynet Circuit

Cynet Rollback

Despian Luluwalilith

Dinomorphia Intact

Double Hooking

Dream Tower of Princess Nemleria

Dreaming Nemleria

Dual Avatar - Manifested A-Un

[maegalkarven]

Regarding my Dark Urges' names.

Levi was named by Sarevok the moment he was created. Leviathan is a mythical privemal monster, an embodiment of chaos, a destroyer of worlds. In BG realm it is the name of one particularly nasty archfiend. Anchev is Sarevok's surname he passed to a child after Levi came to the temple of Bhaal.

Sarevok named the pureblood child of Bhaal so it would fit the boy's purpose.

Nemo didn't have a name. "Nemo" is literally a mistranslation of the word "nothing" what stuck.

June was named by his forster parents who loved him. Juniper like a plant, encompassing its versatility and strenght.

June never uses his full name bc it reminds him of the foster parents he killed. His surname is also that of his foster parents: Estven.

[sojourner-between-worlds]

The Dragons Don't Matter

(And why you shouldn't get hung up about Black Feather Dragon especially.)

Before I dive into this, I want to make one thing clear: yes, I know this isn't what the writers intended. I also don't care. Because when it comes to Yugioh world-building, sometimes you just have to take your idea or theory and run away from the writers really, really fast, okay? Okay. This is purely about world-building, not show-writing, so don't come at me from a writing standpoint. Now that that's settled, we can move on.

First, I'd like to introduce you to a theory that isn't wholly mine but is based in what I've seen other Yugioh fans posit about world-building and time lines. (I can't entirely credit any of them because I've watched so many yugitubers in the last year that I just. don't remember who said what, but if you're into Yugioh and on YT, you'll probably already know what I'm talking about, haha.) At one point, someone mentioned that all of the "past events" across the franchise probably take place about the same time, two of the "past events" in question being things like the Crimson Dragon battling the Earthbounds happening at the same time as some battle in Egypt that's referenced in the original DM. I am not well enough versed in any series outside of 5Ds to make any comment on this, so I'm taking that at face value here.

Why does that even matter, you might be asking? I'm getting there, but first I need to introduce another theory, and it's this: duel spirits have existed since the beginning of time, and because of this, it is the spirits that create the cards rather than the cards creating the spirits. This is supported by the fact that duel monsters is an ancient game (I don't remember much from watching DM as a kid, but I do remember this much, lol) which means that spirits like Dark Magician and Blue Eyes existed far before Pegasus turned them into cards. In other words, all monsters that will ever become cards already exist in the spirit world. This idea is also not wholly mine; it has come from some yugituber as well, and I piggy-backed off of that, wherein said person posits that summoning types are discovered rather than created -- meaning they already existed and someone just had to figure them out. While this was solely on summoning methods, I feel like this applies to monsters, as well.

To sum up: duel spirits have always existed and the creation of cards was a discovery of those spirits rather than an actual creation of the spirit.

(Now is a good time to add that I realize there are exceptions to this rule, such as Red Nova Dragon, but it is just that: an exception, rather than the rule.)

So now we can get into why the dragons themselves don't actually matter.

We have to start by asking ourselves what is so special about the original five dragons in particular? Stardust, Red Demons/Archfiend, Ancient Fairy, Black Rose, and Life Stream. Why them? If all duel spirits already exist (with the noted few exceptions), then there are tons of dragons available! Not only dragons that had already appeared in a previous series (like Red Eyes and Blue Eyes), but ones that wouldn't appear until later (like Firewall)! (Even if you only take past cards [for that writing standpoint that I will not argue on], there are still so many dragons! Red Eyes and Blue Eyes and Chaos Emperor and Judgement!) So if we go with the above proposed theory, then there is no reason at all that these five were necessary in and of themselves. In fact, there would have been other dragons that would have better suited since their effects...really don't matter here. If we're going on pure strength, Blue Eyes would have been far better suited than Black Rose or Stardust, or example.

So, then, why those five? No idea. Maybe because of other conflicts going on, they were the only ones available (Blue Eyes off fighting in Egypt? all of them dealing with other world-ending catastrophes?). Maybe they were personal friends. Maybe they just happened to be in the right place at the right time. But the fact of the matter of is, there is no relevance. The Crimson Dragon could have chosen any five dragons it wanted. It could have chosen spirits that weren't even dragons if it had wanted to. For that matter, it kind of did when it also chose five humans. But the humans and the dragons? They weren't actually connected at the time. They weren't even technically fighting together because the humans were channeling the Crimson Dragon's power, not the other dragons' powers.

Also consider: if those specific dragons were vital, then only four of the marks would have ever shown up in the first place because they only had four of the dragons -- technically, they only had three, actually, since Ancient Fairy was stolen away. Yes, Ancient Fairy was "fated" to land with Luna/Ruka, but the fact remains that she had her mark long before she had her dragon, meanwhile Yusei had his dragon long before he had his mark. The two things simply are not connected in a way that actually means anything.

Additionally, they did not have five dragons fighting the god of the underworld anyway. Only two faced off against Godwin, and only ONE actually attacked the god of the underworld, and it wasn't ANY of the original signer dragons at all. It was Yusei's Majestic Star Dragon.

This is why I just kind of have to chuckle when I hear the argument "but Black Feather Dragon wasn't one of them that fought in the past!" because yeah, man, neither was Majestic Star but here we are.

Those who were bestowed the mark of the Dragon were first and foremost just servants of the Crimson Dragon. Which is why it makes perfect sense for Crow to end up with a mark (even excluding later when he gets a dragon) because he chose to stand up and fight without having to be chosen first. It doesn't matter that his dragon wasn't at the fight 5000 years earlier. It doesn't even matter that he has a dragon at all. It's irrelevant because that's not how the Crimson Dragon choses its servants -- not in the past, and not in the present.

This also makes sense of how a sixth mark manifested later for Leo/Rua at the conclusion of the series. Because it didn't matter that Life Stream was "hiding" in Power Tool because the dragon itself is irrelevant. What mattered was that Rua kept choosing to fight when everything was against him. The Crimson Dragon honored that. (The original number of five was always arbitrary, too. The number never mattered. It was just a number.)

This is also why their marks disappear at the finale. They aren't needed anymore. They don't need to serve the Dragon anymore, so the Dragon took back its power from them, but guess what? They all still have their Dragons. Why? Because the dragons never mattered -- not really.

The Dragons were chosen, but so were the people to bear those marks. And, just like how the people change, so can the dragons.

[magpiejay1234]

So, some more Kanji fun with Yugioh monsters. This time around, we go over Durbe, and Vector’s numbers, as well as Yuya’s Synchro Paladins.

*Durbe’s Number, Number 102: Star Seraph Sentry, is called, No.102 光天使グローリアス・ヘイロー, in Kanji, And, ナンバーズ１０２ ホーリー・ライトニンググローリアス・ヘイロー in Katakana. The Kanji 光天使, Hikaritenshi, means Light Angel (Hikari, Light, Tenshi, Angel  tenshi meaning Angel, which is also the Japanese name of Fairy-Type in Yugioh), The forced Katakana reading is ホーリー・ライトニンググ, which is Holy Lightning, which is inspired Maha Vailo’s attack in the animé, Holy Lightning, as seen in the Anzu vs. Shuzo Otaki duel. (This is probably why Star Seraphs are items with wings, as a homage to Maha Vailo’s Equip Spell ATK gain effect) The Kanji-Katakana combination is the Japanese name of Star Seraph archetype, though the forced reading is, always, how the archetype is pronounced. Since this archetype’s naming convention requires both Kanji and Katakana to be correct, this will cause issues below. The monster’s actual name is ローリアス・ヘイロー, Glorious Halo. So the monster’s full name is Numbers 102: Holy Lightning(Light Angel) Glorious Halo.

The Chaos variant, Number C102: Archfiend Seraph, is called CNo.102 光堕天使ノーブル・デーモン, in the Kanji, and カオスナンバーズ１０２ アンホーリー・ライトニングノーブル・デーモン in the Katakana. The Kanji part 光堕天使, Hikaridatenshi, means Light Fallen Angel (Hikari, Light, Datenshi, Fallen Angel, with da meaning fallen), and the forced reading is アンホーリー・ライトニング, Unholy Lightning. The Kanji for Datenshi is the same as Darklord archetype (lit. Fallen Angel), but since the forced reading exists, the archetype is not part of Darklords. Similarly, the naming convention deviates from Star Seraphs, hence this card is not part of Star Seraph archetype. The monster’s name is ノーブル・デーモン, which means Noble Demon, but デーモン is generally translated as Daemon, since this is the name of the Archfiend archetype. Hence, this monster is part of Archfiend archetype. The full name of the monster is then Chaos Numbers 102: Unholy Lightning(Light Fallen Angel) Noble Demon/Daemon.

****

*Vector’s Number, Number 104: Masquerade, is called No.104 仮面魔踏士シャイニング in Kanji, and ナンバーズ１０４ マスカレード・マジシャンシャイニング in Katakana. The Kanji 仮面魔踏士, Kamenmatoshi is the similar to 仮面魔道士, Kamenmadoshi, which is the Japanese name of Masked Sorcerer. The switching Kanji is 踏, which means to step on, though it can also mean evading payment or appraisal. And the Kanji, 仮面, Kamen, is largely used for Mask series cards, used by Mask of Darkness, and Mask of Light. Since the Kanji 士, shi means either soldier or servant, and  魔, ma, generally means wicked being, the pun is something like Masked Magic Foot Soldier, or perhaps more accurately, Masked Magic Pawn. The forced Katakana is マスカレード・マジシャン, which is Masquerade Magician. The Katakana for Magician is the same as classic Spellcaster monsters (Dark Magician, Magician of Faith etc.), but the Katakana for Masquerade is spelled as Masukareedo, rather than Masukaraido, which is the case in Masquerade the Blazing Dragon. So the latter half sounds like Blade, rather than Raid (likely alluding to the fact that Barian symbol is considered to be a sword in-universe, despite being a trident’s tip). The monster’s own Katakana name is シャイニング, which is Shining, since this card is part of Vector’s currently unprinted Shining archetype, which also connects to many other cards used by other people, most of those used by Yuma in the ZEXAL manga. So the full name of the monster is Numbers 104: Masquerade Magician (Masked Sorcerer) Shining, but it sounds like Numbers 104: Masquelade Magician (Masked Magic Pawn) Shining.

The Chaos variant, Number C104: Umbral Horror Masquerade, is CNo.104 仮面魔踏士アンブラル in Kanji, and カオスナンバーズ１０４ マスカレード・マジシャンアンブラル in Katakana. The name is almost entirely the same, but instead of Shining, it uses Umbral, which is the Japanese name for Umbral Horror archetype. The addition of “Horror” in the localization is probably a homage to the fact despite being folklore Fiends, they are designed like B-movie monsters. One thing to note is that the term Umbral might be a homage to Umbria region of Italy, the ancestral homeland of former Latin Umbri peoples. The full name of the monster would be Chaos Numbers 104: Masquerade Magician (Masked Sorcerer) Umbral, but it sounds like Chaos Numbers 104: Masquelade Magician (Masked Magic Pawn) Umbral. ****

Yuya’s first Synchro Paladin, Enlightment Paladin, is called, エンライトメント・パラディン in Katakana, which is the same as Enlightment Paladin, and 覚醒の魔導剣士, Kakusei no Madokenshi in Kanji, which means Awakened Magical Swordsman, or literally Magical Swordsman of Awakening. The term, 覚醒, Kakusei, seems to be generally used as revival or spiritual awakening in Yugioh, as this is also the name of Invigoration, the Duel Monsters-era Equip Spell for EARTH monsters, but it can also mean disillusionment (Since in Buddhism, Siddharta’s enlightment began with disillusionment with the world). 魔導剣士, Madokenshi, means Magical Swordsman, with the Mado, 魔導, sound being the name of the Prophecy archetype in Japan (though Enlightment Paladin is obviously not a member due to the forced Katakana), and Kenshi, 剣士, means Swordsman, but the cognate word seems to be forced as Paladin in Yugioh, as seen in Dark Paladin, and later on Silent Paladin. The term is also the same as Magical Warrior-type in Rush Duels, which is one of the new Fusion-exclusive Types from that metagame. In that metagame, Magical Warriors are combinations of Spellcaster, and Warrior monsters.

Yuya’s second Synchro Paladin, Nirvana High Paladin is called ニルヴァーナ・ハイ・パラディン in Katakana, which is the same as Nirvana High Paladin, and 涅槃の超魔導剣士, Nehan no Chomadokenshi, which means Nirvana Super Magical Swordsman, with 超魔導剣士, Chomadokenshi, being the same as Dark Paladin’s Kanji title, Super Magical Swordsman. The term 超魔導, Chomado, Super Magical, is used for Super Magical series, which are the bulk of Dark Magician Fusions, except Dark Flare Knight, the Timeaus ones, and the most recent one with Gaia the Magical Knight of Dragons. The term Nehan, 涅槃, means Nirvana, and is apparently a double transliteration of the term (The term apparently came from Sanskrit to China, then to Japan), which originally means to be extinguished, since death is considered to be the exthinguishing of self in Buddhism. In other words, it also means Death.

So the full name of Enlightment Paladin is actually Enlightment Paladin (Awakened Magical Swordsman),and the full name of Nirvana High Paladin is Nirvana High Paladin (Nirvana Super Magical Swordsman).