PLAYER
Name: Haru
Journal:![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
yukinohara
Age: 19
Timezone: EST (GMT -5:00; -4:00 when observing DST)
Other characters: N/A
CHARACTER
Series: Riviera: The Promised Land
Full name: Serene
Age: Not officially given, but she looks about 17-18
Canon Point: Serene Route; just as she's about to be sacrificed for Seth's revival
History:
Before starting on the history, I feel that it is important to explain some of the gameplay. The dialogue in the game itself is Visual Novel-esque not only because there's a lot of it, but because there are plenty of multiple choices that can be made throughout the series. In addition, there are also multiple routes that can be taken, each for the four girls who joins Ein, the main character, and two for Ein's Familiar, Rose (though there isn't too much a difference until toward the end; also, one of Rose's routes is considered the canon route by fans). For a good portion of the dialogue, the choice picked can raise one or more of the girls' affection for Ein, lower one or more of their affection, or have no effect on their affection whatsoever. For the sake of Serene's history and the fact that she's taken from her route, all the choices Ein makes that can affect Serene's affection for him (save for a couple choices made) will result in positive affection.
So, putting that aside, let's begin on the history!
...Except that, before going into Serene's history, a bit of background information is required so that it can be understood what's going on. Anyway, a long time ago, a great war, known as Ragnarok, broke out between Asgard, realm of the gods, and Utgard, realm of the demons. The demons managed to invade Asgard and were close to controlling it. Out of desperation the gods created Grim Angels, powerful, black-winged beings, and sent them into battle. In the end, the Grim Angels were victorious, and the demons were sealed away in the heavenly isle of Riviera. The gods also sealed away their own power in Riviera and entrusted the inhabitants to watch over it until they returned.
Fast forward to 1000 years later. Demons had started to re-emerge around Riviera. To prevent another war, the seven Magi, delegates of the gods, made the decision to activate the divine power of destruction, the "Retribution", upon Riviera. They selected two Grim Angels (one being the protagonist of the series) to descend to Riviera to carry out their will.
Now, let's look a bit at Serene's history before she shows up in-game. She is an Arc, a race of Sprite (a good species that inhabits Riviera) known particularly for their demon-like wings (other than that, they have no connection with demons and thus shouldn't be treated as such). Like the rest of the Arcs, she lived in a village on Rosalina Island, located in Riviera, and had two best friends. Not much was given other than that they guarded a place known as Lacrima Castle, located on the island. Overall, the Arcs lived a peaceful life.
That is, until the psuedo-Grim Angel Malice Ructor came along and wiped out all of the Arcs, save for Serene. And without the Arcs to guard it, Lacrima Castle became overrun with demons. Serene tried to fight against Malice, but she was powerless against her.
Remember how one of the Grim Angels sent down was the protagonist of this series? Well, said Grim Angel, known as Ein (or Ecthel in Japanese; for the sake of things the English names will be used, though the Japanese ones will still be mentioned for reference), along with two other girls, Fia and Lina (Fiaa and Lyuri in Japanese), arrived just in time to see Serene struck down by Malice. After exchanging a few words, Malice and Ein engage in battle. As Malice is about to unleash her most powerful attack, something ~mystical~ happens between her and Ein's weapons (known as "Diviners", which are wielded by Grim Angels/Malice). Not wanting her weapon to be useless, Malice leaves and Ein collapses.
After Ein wakes up, Serene introduces herself to the gang and explains what had happened on Rosalina. Outraged at the "demon" (that is, Malice, who really isn't a demon, but Serene believes she is one, so...) who wiped out her clan and at demons in general, Serene asks to tag along, and ends up doing so.
Time for more background in regards to what's going on! See, Ein was supposed to go activate the Retribution with his partner, but something happened along the way and he got his memories wiped and was sent to the Sprite village of Elendia, where he met Fia and Lina. Turns out, Ursula, guardian of Riviera, was responsible for wiping Ein's memories so that he could see what Riviera was really like before casting judgment upon it. She returned Ein's memories to him, and asked him to defeat the Accursed, powerful beings with the ability to summon demons, which'll ultimately save Riviera and make activating the Retribution pointless. Ein accepts, and Serene (as well as Fia and Lina) choose to help him.
That aside, nothing too important happens to Serene other than having a small chat with Ein and going to the next location with an Accursed, the ruins of Nelde. Sometime along the way, Serene loses a pendant, which is important to her. During the time she doesn't have it, the gang meets Cierra, who becomes the fifth and final member of the party (unless Rose, who'll come later, is counted). Eventually, Ein recovers the pendant and returns it to Serene.
So, why is the pendant so important to Serene that it's mentioned in her history? Not much about it is revealed in-game, but that's where Drama CDs come in! So, time for a flashback to a time where the rest of the Arcs were still alive and everything was peaceful!
Remember how it was stated earlier that Serene had two best friends? Well, for reference, their names are Polly and Tehse. One day, the three decided to go to Lacrima Castle to investigate a rumor about a ghost known as Ignis. Polly and Serene ended up getting into an argument, and Polly ended up leaving Serene and Tehse. Unfortunately for Polly, she ended up running into the ghost, who threatened her and sent out ghosts to get rid of her. Serene came to Polly's aid and attempted to fight the ghost, who is actually a witch by the name of Laura. Because the current situation was dangerous, Tehse stopped Serene from fighting Laura. He then told Serene to sing a poem, known as her requiem, which apparently has the power to seal Laura away.
Serene claimed she couldn't sing well and was nervous in doing so, but ended up singing as Tehse cast holy magic to seal the ghosts away. The requiem calmed and sealed away Laura. Soon after, Polly apologized to Serene and Tehse for her actions.
After returning home, Serene was going over her requiem when Polly came to visit her. Polly went over how beautifully Serene sang the poem and handed Serene her pendant, which was apparently what caused the argument between the two to ensue earlier. Polly put the pendant around Serene, and they talked about plans for the future. End of backstory.
Back to the present! Serene got her pendant back, and the gang went on to defeat the Accursed in Nelde and found Ein's Familiar, Rose, a cat who could talk until Cierra gave her some potion that removed that ability (albeit Ein could still communicate with her just fine). That said, other than Serene and Cierra taking a bath after going to Tetyth, the third destination, and defeating the Accursed there and catching Ein peeping on them, time to skip ahead to after Ein and gang defeats the fourth and final Accursed in Mireno. Ursula appears and tells them Riviera was supposed to be saved, but now there was some even greater evil threatening it. As is later found out, the group is to go to Yggdrasil and protect the Aquariums, the source of Yggdrasil's defense, from a Grim Angel so that a powerful, sealed being cannot take over Yggdrasil and thus make the Retribution necessary.
As it turns out, said Grim Angel was Ein's partner, Ledah. He reveals that his objective was to collect the souls of Sprites (the Arcs included), which is why they were wiped out. The group battles Ledah and manages to defeat him, which is when Malice comes in and pretty much kills Ledah. "Pretty much" as in he returns one more time to protect Ein from Malice, who had just got through fighting Ein and gang after destroying the final Aquarium. Long story short, Ledah dies, and Ursula requests that Ein go to the Maze of Shadows.
The final battle soon to come, the gang heads to the Maze of Shadows. The gang faces Malice yet again and defeats her, but doesn't kill her. They then end up fighting four Dark Progenitors, which are "pre-demons", and defeat each and every one of them. Eventually, the group runs into Hector, one of the Magi and the one who sent Ein and Ledah on their quest to activate the Retribution. He's also the one responsible for the collection of souls in order to revive the aforementioned powerful being, whose name is revealed to be Seth. Malice also appears, and behind Serene, no less. Malice is then told to kill Serene, as one more soul is needed in order to revive Seth. And it is from this point that Serene's history ends.
Personality:
Out of the five girls (Rose included) who join Ein on his journey, Serene is the most tomboyish and rough-natured. It wouldn't come off as surprising if she suggested (and even followed through on) striking an enemy first or hitting a wall or object to see what they can get out of doing such. She'll sometimes even go so far as to hit one of her friends; however, if she does so, her intentions are almost always good. For example, if one of her friends were choking on something, she'd hit them in the back with the tip of her scythe to help dislodge whatever they were choking on. Serene would seldom hit her friends, even if they're annoying her and she threatens to hit them. Rough as she may be, she's still very a kind person, especially toward her friends.
Speaking of Serene's friends, they mean a great deal to her. If they request her aid (or even if they don't), she'll gladly help out as best she can. Unless she feels that she's being treated like a slave. (And even then, she's still likely to help, though she may complain about how she's being treated). Another way Serene shows how much her friends mean to her is by teasing them every once in a while (this is especially the case with Lina, who often takes the bait hook, line, and sinker). Of course, given her rough nature, her teasing may sometimes come off as a bit mean, but her intentions aren't bad at all. It also means a lot to Serene if someone gets or retrieves something and gives it to her, such as the case with her pendant. Finally, Serene harbors quite a bit of guilt toward being the only one out of her friends and other fellow Arcs to survive. She tries to not show it, though, especially around others.
Putting friends aside, Serene harbors quite a bit of hatred towards the demons and Malice for what happened to her race and in the past with Laura and the ghosts she summoned. She's all right with attacking demons while they're in a weakened state, and she makes the decision to rid Riviera of demons, as shown in her ending. Even if some demons actually aren't that bad. For the most part, Serene's reasoning to wipe out the demons is so that she can avenge the Arcs, even if Malice (whom Serene first assumed to be a demon) and Hector were mostly at fault for this. She also absolutely hates being called a demon--just because she has wings that are demon-like does not make her a demon.
Finally, there are a few small aspects to Serene's personality. First, she sometime has trouble getting her feelings across, as is often seen by her occasional use of ellipses and stuttering. Second, Serene can be a bit blunt. If someone does something she thinks is stupid, if something annoys her, if she's afraid of something, et cetera, she'll outright say so. Third, Serene's a tad illiterate, so if asked to read a book, she'll likely choose one with a lot of pictures because she can't recognize many written words. Finally, she does have her moments of being afraid, nervous, embarrassed, et cetera every now and then. A good example of this is when she's asked to sing her requiem to save Polly--Serene was nervous to do so because she felt she couldn't sing well. Another example is the bath scene, where she's embarrassed that Ein's seen her naked.
Abilities:
Serene is the most offensive character of the bunch and thus deals the most damage. Her primary element is Ice--many of the attacks she deals are imbued with the element, and she can resist Ice attacks rather well. In addition, she has a slight resistance to Dark attacks. However, Serene cannot take Physical, Fire, or Lightning elemental attacks (i.e., the remaining elements enemies can utilize) very well, thus making her something of a Glass Cannon.
Now, as Riviera is an RPG, there are a variety of items (from weapons to accessories to food to even spider webs) that can be used in the game. If certain characters use certain items enough, they can learn OverDrives for that item, though it depends on the item and the character. Here is a (long) list of the items Serene can obtain OverDrives for or just special attacks or abilities in general. Anything not listed cannot be properly used by Serene--in fact, said items are pretty much thrown at the enemy with a low chance of hitting (and even when they do hit, they deal low damage). So that said, if Serene doesn't have any of these items on her (and even in-game, only 15 items can be held at a time; can't stock up on items either, so if you have, say, a Hell Scythe and pick up another, they count as two separate items), she can't do too much. In addition, each item has a limited number of uses, and once that number hits zero, the item breaks. Stronger items (such as the Night Scythe) break faster than others.
Battle abilities aside, Serene can fly with her wings, but not so much that she can fly long distances or too high up. For the most part, she can glide with them either across surfaces or downward.
Name: Haru
Journal:
yukinoharaAge: 19
Timezone: EST (GMT -5:00; -4:00 when observing DST)
Other characters: N/A
CHARACTER
Series: Riviera: The Promised Land
Full name: Serene
Age: Not officially given, but she looks about 17-18
Canon Point: Serene Route; just as she's about to be sacrificed for Seth's revival
History:
Before starting on the history, I feel that it is important to explain some of the gameplay. The dialogue in the game itself is Visual Novel-esque not only because there's a lot of it, but because there are plenty of multiple choices that can be made throughout the series. In addition, there are also multiple routes that can be taken, each for the four girls who joins Ein, the main character, and two for Ein's Familiar, Rose (though there isn't too much a difference until toward the end; also, one of Rose's routes is considered the canon route by fans). For a good portion of the dialogue, the choice picked can raise one or more of the girls' affection for Ein, lower one or more of their affection, or have no effect on their affection whatsoever. For the sake of Serene's history and the fact that she's taken from her route, all the choices Ein makes that can affect Serene's affection for him (save for a couple choices made) will result in positive affection.
So, putting that aside, let's begin on the history!
...Except that, before going into Serene's history, a bit of background information is required so that it can be understood what's going on. Anyway, a long time ago, a great war, known as Ragnarok, broke out between Asgard, realm of the gods, and Utgard, realm of the demons. The demons managed to invade Asgard and were close to controlling it. Out of desperation the gods created Grim Angels, powerful, black-winged beings, and sent them into battle. In the end, the Grim Angels were victorious, and the demons were sealed away in the heavenly isle of Riviera. The gods also sealed away their own power in Riviera and entrusted the inhabitants to watch over it until they returned.
Fast forward to 1000 years later. Demons had started to re-emerge around Riviera. To prevent another war, the seven Magi, delegates of the gods, made the decision to activate the divine power of destruction, the "Retribution", upon Riviera. They selected two Grim Angels (one being the protagonist of the series) to descend to Riviera to carry out their will.
Now, let's look a bit at Serene's history before she shows up in-game. She is an Arc, a race of Sprite (a good species that inhabits Riviera) known particularly for their demon-like wings (other than that, they have no connection with demons and thus shouldn't be treated as such). Like the rest of the Arcs, she lived in a village on Rosalina Island, located in Riviera, and had two best friends. Not much was given other than that they guarded a place known as Lacrima Castle, located on the island. Overall, the Arcs lived a peaceful life.
That is, until the psuedo-Grim Angel Malice Ructor came along and wiped out all of the Arcs, save for Serene. And without the Arcs to guard it, Lacrima Castle became overrun with demons. Serene tried to fight against Malice, but she was powerless against her.
Remember how one of the Grim Angels sent down was the protagonist of this series? Well, said Grim Angel, known as Ein (or Ecthel in Japanese; for the sake of things the English names will be used, though the Japanese ones will still be mentioned for reference), along with two other girls, Fia and Lina (Fiaa and Lyuri in Japanese), arrived just in time to see Serene struck down by Malice. After exchanging a few words, Malice and Ein engage in battle. As Malice is about to unleash her most powerful attack, something ~mystical~ happens between her and Ein's weapons (known as "Diviners", which are wielded by Grim Angels/Malice). Not wanting her weapon to be useless, Malice leaves and Ein collapses.
After Ein wakes up, Serene introduces herself to the gang and explains what had happened on Rosalina. Outraged at the "demon" (that is, Malice, who really isn't a demon, but Serene believes she is one, so...) who wiped out her clan and at demons in general, Serene asks to tag along, and ends up doing so.
Time for more background in regards to what's going on! See, Ein was supposed to go activate the Retribution with his partner, but something happened along the way and he got his memories wiped and was sent to the Sprite village of Elendia, where he met Fia and Lina. Turns out, Ursula, guardian of Riviera, was responsible for wiping Ein's memories so that he could see what Riviera was really like before casting judgment upon it. She returned Ein's memories to him, and asked him to defeat the Accursed, powerful beings with the ability to summon demons, which'll ultimately save Riviera and make activating the Retribution pointless. Ein accepts, and Serene (as well as Fia and Lina) choose to help him.
That aside, nothing too important happens to Serene other than having a small chat with Ein and going to the next location with an Accursed, the ruins of Nelde. Sometime along the way, Serene loses a pendant, which is important to her. During the time she doesn't have it, the gang meets Cierra, who becomes the fifth and final member of the party (unless Rose, who'll come later, is counted). Eventually, Ein recovers the pendant and returns it to Serene.
So, why is the pendant so important to Serene that it's mentioned in her history? Not much about it is revealed in-game, but that's where Drama CDs come in! So, time for a flashback to a time where the rest of the Arcs were still alive and everything was peaceful!
Remember how it was stated earlier that Serene had two best friends? Well, for reference, their names are Polly and Tehse. One day, the three decided to go to Lacrima Castle to investigate a rumor about a ghost known as Ignis. Polly and Serene ended up getting into an argument, and Polly ended up leaving Serene and Tehse. Unfortunately for Polly, she ended up running into the ghost, who threatened her and sent out ghosts to get rid of her. Serene came to Polly's aid and attempted to fight the ghost, who is actually a witch by the name of Laura. Because the current situation was dangerous, Tehse stopped Serene from fighting Laura. He then told Serene to sing a poem, known as her requiem, which apparently has the power to seal Laura away.
Serene claimed she couldn't sing well and was nervous in doing so, but ended up singing as Tehse cast holy magic to seal the ghosts away. The requiem calmed and sealed away Laura. Soon after, Polly apologized to Serene and Tehse for her actions.
After returning home, Serene was going over her requiem when Polly came to visit her. Polly went over how beautifully Serene sang the poem and handed Serene her pendant, which was apparently what caused the argument between the two to ensue earlier. Polly put the pendant around Serene, and they talked about plans for the future. End of backstory.
Back to the present! Serene got her pendant back, and the gang went on to defeat the Accursed in Nelde and found Ein's Familiar, Rose, a cat who could talk until Cierra gave her some potion that removed that ability (albeit Ein could still communicate with her just fine). That said, other than Serene and Cierra taking a bath after going to Tetyth, the third destination, and defeating the Accursed there and catching Ein peeping on them, time to skip ahead to after Ein and gang defeats the fourth and final Accursed in Mireno. Ursula appears and tells them Riviera was supposed to be saved, but now there was some even greater evil threatening it. As is later found out, the group is to go to Yggdrasil and protect the Aquariums, the source of Yggdrasil's defense, from a Grim Angel so that a powerful, sealed being cannot take over Yggdrasil and thus make the Retribution necessary.
As it turns out, said Grim Angel was Ein's partner, Ledah. He reveals that his objective was to collect the souls of Sprites (the Arcs included), which is why they were wiped out. The group battles Ledah and manages to defeat him, which is when Malice comes in and pretty much kills Ledah. "Pretty much" as in he returns one more time to protect Ein from Malice, who had just got through fighting Ein and gang after destroying the final Aquarium. Long story short, Ledah dies, and Ursula requests that Ein go to the Maze of Shadows.
The final battle soon to come, the gang heads to the Maze of Shadows. The gang faces Malice yet again and defeats her, but doesn't kill her. They then end up fighting four Dark Progenitors, which are "pre-demons", and defeat each and every one of them. Eventually, the group runs into Hector, one of the Magi and the one who sent Ein and Ledah on their quest to activate the Retribution. He's also the one responsible for the collection of souls in order to revive the aforementioned powerful being, whose name is revealed to be Seth. Malice also appears, and behind Serene, no less. Malice is then told to kill Serene, as one more soul is needed in order to revive Seth. And it is from this point that Serene's history ends.
Personality:
Out of the five girls (Rose included) who join Ein on his journey, Serene is the most tomboyish and rough-natured. It wouldn't come off as surprising if she suggested (and even followed through on) striking an enemy first or hitting a wall or object to see what they can get out of doing such. She'll sometimes even go so far as to hit one of her friends; however, if she does so, her intentions are almost always good. For example, if one of her friends were choking on something, she'd hit them in the back with the tip of her scythe to help dislodge whatever they were choking on. Serene would seldom hit her friends, even if they're annoying her and she threatens to hit them. Rough as she may be, she's still very a kind person, especially toward her friends.
Speaking of Serene's friends, they mean a great deal to her. If they request her aid (or even if they don't), she'll gladly help out as best she can. Unless she feels that she's being treated like a slave. (And even then, she's still likely to help, though she may complain about how she's being treated). Another way Serene shows how much her friends mean to her is by teasing them every once in a while (this is especially the case with Lina, who often takes the bait hook, line, and sinker). Of course, given her rough nature, her teasing may sometimes come off as a bit mean, but her intentions aren't bad at all. It also means a lot to Serene if someone gets or retrieves something and gives it to her, such as the case with her pendant. Finally, Serene harbors quite a bit of guilt toward being the only one out of her friends and other fellow Arcs to survive. She tries to not show it, though, especially around others.
Putting friends aside, Serene harbors quite a bit of hatred towards the demons and Malice for what happened to her race and in the past with Laura and the ghosts she summoned. She's all right with attacking demons while they're in a weakened state, and she makes the decision to rid Riviera of demons, as shown in her ending. Even if some demons actually aren't that bad. For the most part, Serene's reasoning to wipe out the demons is so that she can avenge the Arcs, even if Malice (whom Serene first assumed to be a demon) and Hector were mostly at fault for this. She also absolutely hates being called a demon--just because she has wings that are demon-like does not make her a demon.
Finally, there are a few small aspects to Serene's personality. First, she sometime has trouble getting her feelings across, as is often seen by her occasional use of ellipses and stuttering. Second, Serene can be a bit blunt. If someone does something she thinks is stupid, if something annoys her, if she's afraid of something, et cetera, she'll outright say so. Third, Serene's a tad illiterate, so if asked to read a book, she'll likely choose one with a lot of pictures because she can't recognize many written words. Finally, she does have her moments of being afraid, nervous, embarrassed, et cetera every now and then. A good example of this is when she's asked to sing her requiem to save Polly--Serene was nervous to do so because she felt she couldn't sing well. Another example is the bath scene, where she's embarrassed that Ein's seen her naked.
Abilities:
Serene is the most offensive character of the bunch and thus deals the most damage. Her primary element is Ice--many of the attacks she deals are imbued with the element, and she can resist Ice attacks rather well. In addition, she has a slight resistance to Dark attacks. However, Serene cannot take Physical, Fire, or Lightning elemental attacks (i.e., the remaining elements enemies can utilize) very well, thus making her something of a Glass Cannon.
Now, as Riviera is an RPG, there are a variety of items (from weapons to accessories to food to even spider webs) that can be used in the game. If certain characters use certain items enough, they can learn OverDrives for that item, though it depends on the item and the character. Here is a (long) list of the items Serene can obtain OverDrives for or just special attacks or abilities in general. Anything not listed cannot be properly used by Serene--in fact, said items are pretty much thrown at the enemy with a low chance of hitting (and even when they do hit, they deal low damage). So that said, if Serene doesn't have any of these items on her (and even in-game, only 15 items can be held at a time; can't stock up on items either, so if you have, say, a Hell Scythe and pick up another, they count as two separate items), she can't do too much. In addition, each item has a limited number of uses, and once that number hits zero, the item breaks. Stronger items (such as the Night Scythe) break faster than others.
Battle abilities aside, Serene can fly with her wings, but not so much that she can fly long distances or too high up. For the most part, she can glide with them either across surfaces or downward.
