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RPGDL Discussion / Ogre Battle Research Hall #1

« on: October 19, 2009, 05:20:26 PM »

It has been a while, readers. First, my apology to those who have been distressed by my long hiatus, but such anguish will not last, as you are going to find the wait to be vastly worthwhile. I have spent my time gathering myths and legends of a world that has much remained unexplored, and the many seekers for the truth of that world will be most thrilled by my discovery. I shall present you with the Ogre Battle Saga, the story that was left untold ever since the disappearance of its most fervent raconteur: Yoshihiko Takei. And, as the introduction to the saga, allow me to cite from his legacy;

"In the beginning, there is no division between the heaven and earth; existing only in a soup-like state, filled only by the void... A ray of light was then born from that world, the light that then gave birth to the darkness. Two giants were born; Galinga was born from the light and Vendiga was born from the darkness, and thus begun their never ending battle."

With those words, the Zeteginea faith was spread in the area surrounded by  the Eastern Balkan Peninsula, Aegean Sea, Black Sea, and the Caspian Sea between 4000 and 3000 BC. Until the Hitties unified the territories centering around the Asia Minor in 3000 B.C., the Zeteginea mythical gods were the focal point of worship. These facts were revealed by the detailed information inscribed on the clay tablets discovered in an excavation that was conducted in the late 19th centuries. The tablets were dated to be from the Ancient Babylonian era (1900~1700 B.C.), with Sumerian cuneiform inscribed on them. The unidentified author is presumed to have been a historian of Sumeria, based on his own words. Those tablets, recording the myth of creation, the birth of humanity, wars involving the gods, and the history of Zeteginea, have been widely known as the Ancient Zandan tablets, bearing the name of the Zandan Ruins that it was discovered from. The Ancient Zandan tablets not only recorded heroic legends, it also presented us many historical facts on the life of the people of the past.

After the discovery of the Ancient Zandan tablets, a French excavation team discovered a large amount of clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform in the Ruin of Doura (the ruins by the shore of the Black Sea). It was interpreted to be a legacy from the Ancient Babylonian era just like the Ancient Zandan tablets, and like the Ancient Zandan tablets, it was written in the same Sumerian cuneiform. The content is an epic poetic tale based on the myths and heroic legends of the time. The discovery astonished the world as much as the discoveries of the Greek Tales such as Homeros's Odysseia and Ilias. This poetic tale is the very Ogre Battle Saga that we are all familiar with. It is a war, begun back in the time when the gods first created the humans, and the demons of the Netherworld created the ogres to be their servants. By the mischief of Demundza, who has ruled over both the Land of the Dead and the Netherworld, humans and ogres engaged in a battle over the sovereignty of the earth. The battle lasted thousands of years and eventually became a huge war that engulfed the gods of the heaven and the demons themselves in its violence. Based on the Ancient Zandan tablets which also recorded the Ogre Battle Saga, the tale lasts a total of 8 chapters, ending with the unification of the continent (around 3200 B.C.). With many of the heroes of the Zeteginea myth appearing in the content, the people related to the progressive change of the Zenobian Kingdom that eventually unified the continent are the primary center of attention. Within are many tragic tales, such as the tale between Princess Rapnica and Gran the Swordsman, which reveals to us the instantism and adrenaline-seeking nature of the people of the time.

"In the distant past, power meant everything; it is a time when the teachings of steel and the evil of the darkness dominated Zeteginea." Famous for that line, the Ogre Battle has become the subject of various operas and stage plays, and by the time of 20th century, productions by Hollywood and Broadway. For example, the seventh Chapter of the Ogre Battle Saga, portraying the struggle in the Valeria Islands, which float on the west of Oberro Sea, has been used recently. The anarchy of the Ocean Kingdom Valeria after the passing of its king, the segregation of its ethnicity, and the civil war that finally erupted, leading to the formation of Bacrum Valeria Country, Gargastan Kingdom, and the Walstanian people, who lost their home. The battle over the Valeria Islands presents itself as an outstanding heroic legend, and as exceptional among many of Ogre Battle Saga's own episodes. Even in the past, it has been a representative part of the saga that has been made into other excellent productions. Unfortunately, the saga wasn't as recognized in Japan, as the Greek or Norse myths were explored far more heavily, but the memory of Chapter Five of the Saga being ported into a Super Famicom game is still fresh in my mind. The saga will likely become more recognized in Japan in the future. As a researcher, I am certainly looking forward to it.

Excerpt from the "Research Introduction of the Ogre Battle Saga" by Yoshihiko Takei
First printed by the Research Institue of Ancient Land Journal in 1969
Excerpt from the 11th print, printed in 1993

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RPGDL Discussion / Fact Center #5

« on: March 27, 2009, 07:16:37 AM »

Metal Demons - the well known predator race that has plagued the worlds known as Filgaia. Their bodies are made of steel, blood made of mercury, and they are capable of surviving as a mere electrical signal. There have been extreme differences between them from what we have observed in the various Filgaias: Mother, a maniacal destroyer from Hyades; Siegfried, who was a Terran; and Beatrice, a dream devil. They came from different places and have different motives, yet they can all be traced into one single origin... the primordial Eve. In the Terrans' quest for a stronger bodies to fulfill their destructive urges, they refined themselves over and over again with nanomachines and came into a brand new state of being, the very first Mother - the Eve. From her, the race of Metal Demons was born. Whom of the Terran race is the creator of Eve? We don't know, nor do we know the person's purpose in such creation. After all, what need is there for this new race? If destruction is sought, weren't the Dragons enough? Or is there something else...?

There is one thing that must be pointed out: Mother is not a name given to any specific Metal Demon, but rather, a title given to the Metal Demons who have the ability to reproduce and create a clan themselves. As of now there are only nine Mother units existing across the multiverse. Of those nine we have already known two, and we can only hope the remaining seven aren't as menacing as those we have known.

Though, there may be a ray of hope. As lifeforms specifically designed for battle, Metal Demons are a race that are very lacking emotionally. The desire to conquer, the pleasure when they tear apart their enemy, the tension when confronting a strong foe; these are everything to them. They know neither love nor hope. The only existing exception is Zed, and an exception indeed! That he could be cursed by the Doom Bringer, the evil sword that brings misfortune only upon those who have a kind heart... Does this mean that the Metal Demons aren't completely without emotion? Is this wishful thinking? Or perhaps, this is the "something else"? For a race whose composition, whose very structure consists of psycho-transmitting metal, imagine the power they could achieve if they could have a human heart? But if this hope is true, for what purpose is their colossal power? That power is certainly beyond the purpose of destruction. The mystery only broadens itself as I contemplate ... as the Creator of Eve is the only person who could answer this for us.

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RPGDL Discussion / Fact Center #4

« on: March 27, 2009, 07:15:36 AM »

The legend of the battle between the Sword Magess Anastasia and Lord Blazer, the Blaze of Disaster, is a very popular tale. In a seven day battle, the Sword Magess exchanged her own life to unleash the power of Argetlahm, banishing Lord Blazer to the horizon of phenomena.  However, we have been told little of where Argetlahm and Lord Blazer came from, and what exactly they might be. Now, allow me to reveal the secrets to you.

We begin with Lord Blazer.  By his appearance, I would gather that most have noticed how he resembles the Disasters, the anti-thesis of the Guardians. This is no coincidence, as it is true Lord Blazer and the Disasters are connected. Let us recall how the planets of Filgaia came into being - The Gaia Evolution Theory, as demonstrated to us by Beatrice and her Nega Filgaia. Each of the planets are an self autonomous life form in and of themselves, growing from a basic simple life form and eventually becoming a huge planet. Among the naturally born Guardians of the Filgaia, the one known as Ricto Bright is meant to be sent out of its home planet with the Photosphere and seek out its place among the sea of stars. In other words, Filgaia would produce new life that will eventually blossom into a new Filgaia.

Now, what if the process were to work the opposite way? Replace the Guardian with the Disaster, and becoming a destroyer instead of a new life? This is exactly what Lord Blazer is. Originally a pair of wings that had fallen from the body of Moor Gault, the Guardian of Fire, it absorbed evil and became a being of its own. However, unlike the average Disaster, Lord Blazer had grown beyond the boundary as the manifestation of the planet's negative aspects and was no longer a part of the Wheel of Order. He detached completely from the planet, actively preying on humans, indefinitely devouring their negative emotions to strengthen himself. Ultimately he became what you may define as the opposite of the Guardian of Mud Glaive Le Gable. Achieving a negative life cycle by preying on the negative emotions from other lives, he gained further power with which he set the planet aflame in order to create further negative emotions and allow him to feed, until the entire existence of the planet had become burnt ashes. He, in a literal sense, is a predator of stars and we can only be thankful that he was stopped before he gained the opportunity to move beyond his home planet.

The item which brought forth the end of Lord Blazer was the Argetlahm, the Guardian Blade ver. Alpha created by the power of Zephyr. The Guardian Blade is not your typical "legendary holy sword", instead it is a dangerous weapon that preys upon the very mind of its wielder. The Guardian Blade exists in two different versions and can only be manifested by the powers of Zephyr and Lucied, the eldest twins born out of Glaive Le Gable, with Zephyr capable of forming version Alpha and Lucied capable of forming the Beta, Evil Sword Lucied. Both weapons function on the same basis, draining the will of its wielder for power, and an average person contacting the blade would have their psyche destroyed in short order. Thus, the Guardian Blade contains the function to select its own wielder as a safety measure.  However, when one with a strong will wields the sword, their mind shall be translated into powerful destructive forces.

There is one key difference between the two version of Guardian Blades.  Each version of the Blade relies on a different type of human thoughts for power based on the affinity of their creators. The Alpha depends on hope, while the Beta depends on desire. This difference can be immense, as draining merely personal desire alone gives Beta the possibility to be self destructive. This is made evident by Boomerang Flash, that "Flash" literally described how the Beta grants only an instant of power, after which the War Devil has to return to the dust as Evil Sword Lucied exhausted all of his energy. But the version Alpha is capable of overcoming that flaw, as it's power is not limited to only drawing from the mind of a single individual. Despite Anastasia having failed to do so, her successor Ashley successfully tapped into the true essence of Argetlahm: uniting the minds of many into one, drawing on their hope to set out for the future....

The future, whence the West Wind blows... one cannot envision the future without knowing hope. Perhaps this is why Argetlahm is so special. The sword was not only created from Zephyr's power, but the left arm of the Guardian of Future was used as its material. Hope has connected to the future through a homunculus... Rudy Roughknight united his will with the villagers at Surf Village, calling for the West Wind to blow once more, releasing his will to the future. Now his arm, now known as Argetlahm, releases the same light of hope in the hands of Ashely Winchester. True irony indeed.... That the body which originated from the metallic demons has granted the life on Filgaia hope, while the demons themselves know no hope of their own. One must wonder, what would become of the metallic demons if they were able to feel the way humans do? Perhaps one day the one would reveal to us what he or she was thinking... The creator of the Eve...

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RPGDL Discussion / Fact Center #3

« on: March 27, 2009, 07:14:56 AM »

For today's topic, I shall wrap up my recounting on Final Fantasy VI's world. These are various tiny bits of "what if"s, events that never came to be, early possibilities thrown away in the developmental stage before the world was created.

I shall begin with the case of Terra. For we all know, she survived into the new world, despite all magic disappearing from the world; this was due to being half human. However, this wasn't what suppose to occur originally. Terra wasn't even a girl to begin with in the first place, and was doomed to perish after Kefka was destroyed, in a far more tragic ending. And Locke? He was originally the person who wielded the power of Runic and was intended to be a dark, brooding man and friendly rival to Terra.

As for Edgar, he was originally the character intended to disgust and baffle people with his rude speech and mannerisms, and this is one thing I am glad that didn't come true, quite frankly. Sabin was intended to actually be able to die from the count down rescue event, with the game continuing without a game over. And once you and Edgar arrived at the fallen building later on, he would spend endless nights digging Sabin's body out from the debris of the building.

For Celes, originally she suffered from a mental disorder like Kefka after she obtained her magic powers, although not as serious. Due to her unstable mind, she had strong desires to depend on someone else, and eventually fell for Locke, who has been kind to her. As for Cyan, remember the pub lady who taunted him in Nikeah? Originally, instead of just some random pub lady, there was a whip user named Angela that involved Cyan in a similar event. Very little is known, however, what role she was supposed to play in the story. As for Strago, he supposedly has a wife named Lala, a geomancer. They are a... interesting couple, you may say. This is an excerpt from their daily conversation:

Lala: "You'll most definitely die before me!" Strago: "Hah! Look at yourself, you old hag! With that many wrinkles? You're sure to die before I do!" or: Strago: "Hah, I'll be waiting for you in heaven or hell, you witch!" Lala: "You're leaving me with the debts?! I am so going before you!"

... and such, I guess they really get along ... Another scenario that supposedly should have happened was that Strago was going to beseech Shadow to remove his mask, for the sake of Relm, and Shadow does so, but away from our sights. For Mog, instead of having his entire race wiped out in the World of Ruin, a total of twenty would have survived in Narshe's mine, and Mog must be distinguished from the other nineteen survivors in order to re-recruit him. And finally, Gogo, instead of living inside of a land worm, supposedly would have traveled between towns, taking disguise in the form of the player characters. To recruit him, one must break his disguise by bringing along the character he was disguised as.

And this is all of the "what if"s there are, and all the hidden truth that I can tell of Final Fantasy VI. The secrets of a different world awaits you the next time we meet, the backside of a legend from the far away earth....
   

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RPGDL Policy Discussion / Re: Niu's Fact Center-Did anything come of that?

« on: March 27, 2009, 07:13:01 AM »

Due to recent regulations imposed by the administrators of these boards to combat those foul robotic minions of evil, I am required to speak elsewhere before I can begin a tale of my own.  Rest assured, however, that my story shall be available for your perusal in a matter of moments.  Again, since apparently records of my personage were destroyed in the cleansing fire that removed those heinous "bots".