Documents - CONTENTS

HELLSINKER...	The sleep which divided the world, a remnant of the Brilliant Age. There are many things which remain asleep, and they are the fascination of those unable to wake from their dreams. A hope created in chaos, and rediscovered; abandoned, no doubt, for good reason. To destroy the sealed world, or perhaps to protect oneself in an unreliable world. It is the physical culmination of those overeager wishes, born from desire and delusion. "A reality beyond comprehension in its evil, born from dreams--from a diseased fever." So was it called by those who struggled with it in conflict.

The "Faint Ones"...	Particulate creatures which proliferate in the air, the earth, and the seas. Wisps, souls--they act as mediators in the handling of energy. Their names come from their occasional tendency to act as if with conscious motives. Targets' beams and bullets, SPIRITs, relics, the EXECUTOR's attacks and flight-- all are powers predicated on the direction of the Faint Ones. They are beyond a certain point neutral, and invisible to human eyes. They gather below those with strength and will, acting as slaves, their partisan nature clearly shown by their attachment to power. At times the Faint Ones act as a coating on their host, magnifying and expanding their will. The Faint Ones are as an invisible exoskeleton, or pawns scattered across the board, requiring no command, taking the shape of their host's ambitions.

EXECUTOR...	Those who carry out the last will. Little is known about them, but at this time they are attached to an organization involved in the investigation and surveillance of major sources of unrest. Requiring little sleep and capable of the paranormal, they are condemned as "inhuman" by others. Like other beings which remain mysterious in this age, they are often referred to as simply "those". Unable to live in society, forbidden to live; granted a chance at Atonement, desiring it themselves; puppets to hetu and prataya, living only through their forces; relying not on their organization's commands, "beasts" acting as they do "because they please". The word used to encompass them all, in their various backgrounds and histories, is "inhuman". They themselves are in ways sources of unrest, but they are granted regularity and order-- Perhaps they are given a group mind and controlled simply to be destroyed in the destruction of sources of greater unrest.

GRAVEYARD...	Apparently the name of the organization which controls the EXECUTORs. It is thought to have been established just under three hundred years ago, but its origins remain unclear. Though a presence all throughout the world, it does not (at this time) have anything which could be called a headquarters; rather, its management consists of myriad branch offices spread like rhizomes across the earth. Its management seems to consist mainly of a single family and acts with a fairly unified will, but the details are unknown. There are branches of the clan which form separate factions, and some parts of the organization oppose others. With rare exceptions in the form of reunification, the competitions generally end in small clashes between factions. Though it may seem favorable to join together, the branches of the clan appear to hold a strong sense of individualism. Its activities are at times extremely violent, as are those of all organizations of the kind. It must be said as well that its assets are themselves to be considered disposable. Their processes for procuring and maintaining talented staff are yet another mystery. Each branch seems to consist of 4~6 EXECUTORs, and 10~12 times that in attached staff. The branches hold meetings of all the staff twice a year, and make administrative decisions. Their public mission statement is the investigation and disassembly of potentially dangerous artifacts. They are employed mainly by national security and military forces, in places where they still exist. Jobs for them consist of things which fall outside the jurisdiction of such forces, but... GRAVEYARD has assisted numerous countries since its founding--mostly to gain operative rights in more areas. Their power is restricted to various levels in different areas, and they function as a private (relic) security firm. There is often doubt about how well they obey the restrictions placed upon them, and the accompanying rumors have caused many a headache in the public relations department of the organization. The organization conducts extensive research and development on weapons systems and the like, both for use on missions and using feedback from field testing. This research is heavily commercialized, especially in the Far East Development Department, which receives government funding for many of its projects. Projects such as "The Mine", "The Recycler", "The Hyena", "The Retro-Modern", and "The Purified Derelict" have gained renown through rumors both inside and out of the organization. It seems that the other branches, though it pains them to do so, are forced to recognize the Far East as the most successful in terms of funding. Among the heroes kept as fighting personnel, several bear the marks of EXECUTORs once employed at GRAVEYARD. Little news has leaked to the outside.

PRAYER...	Beings which seem to be physical manifestations of the act for which they are named. They are known as ones who gave up their humanity, but much about them remains unclear. Apparently they have some connection to those who once belonged to (a section of) GRAVEYARD.

CARDINAL SHAFT...	A great structure towering over the artificial island known as "Paradise", used as a base and home by the PRAYERs. It seems to have been the seat of government for the lost city, or perhaps an even wider area. It was built long before the ancient disaster which split the world into pieces, the Great Collapse, but as no records remain of its construction it is not known whether the lineage of its inhabitants has survived.

MISTELTOE...	Named after a parasitic plant of which their form and function are remeniscent. Colonies of Faint Ones, used as catalysts for controlling and weaponizing energy. They are shaped into humanoid forms to facilitate control, and are capable of carrying out adaptable, multi-pronged attacks in coordination with the EXECUTOR. Player bullets are colonies of energized Faint Ones. The control unit may cause them to activate and multiply. These techniques were used by those who became the PRAYERs, and now seem to be the result of deep hetu and prataya, but...

AMMO...	Bullets. Blades. Weapons from a past age. They cannot be neutralized in the suppression radius, which affects only Faint Ones, and while they are expensive, they are still used by certain factions. More bizarre weapons, such as lances launched with gunpowder and spinning saw-like blades, are rarer but do exist.

HEROES...	The manifestations of the hollow shells left behind of techniques and knowledge devised in the past worthy of preservation. The recording of the spirit, technique, and body. From their achievements are born gravestones. The source of said techniques are the heroes. One who is considered worthy of a hero may "write" the hero's technique into theirself. The successor of the technique is tested by the revived hero in a ritual, and the test becomes the threshold to determine whether the technique is passed on or not. The heroes may appear to maintain emotion, but in reality it is only a prolonged memory; an illusion born of the process. One might compare it to a book bound in flesh and blood, the examining of which affects only on the reader. While the heroes are complete, memories are not maintained beyond the execution time. Only readout is possible. No matter how alive they may seem, the heroes cannot continue living once revived. They themselves know this. Their presence is but a short visit, and its farewell always forever. They may surface again and again, but always sink once more.

The Shrine of Farewell...	A graveyard between reality and fiction, filled with heroes unworthy of preservation and other things for which humanity could find no other place. A place of the prayers of those forgotten, a midden of things abandoned, a graveyard of words forbidden. Fourth-dimensional pocket, the horizon of memory, the forest of oblivion, the hall of a thousand pillars... It has gone by all of these names, and many more. The impressions it leaves are varied and wild (though with some recurrence), their recollection faint. It seems to once have been a physical place, but now is no more than the relics, the lingering scent, of things left behind. The Shrine is a constant phenomenon for those EXECUTORs with great control over the Faint Ones, as they will often pass through the saturated spirits The EXECUTOR, having fallen into a hole drilled by the Faint Ones, will disappear (blink) from the real world for a time spanning from a few seconds to a few minutes. It is possible to delay the onset of the Shrine, and several of the factors which bring it on are now known. But sooner or later it will come, as if built into the EXECUTOR's very biological rhythm.

DEADLIAR: EXECUTOR
    His name, as shown in the records, is Tsumura Akihiro, but there is some doubt as to whether it is real.
  One of the three oldest surviving EXECUTORs employed by GRAVEYARD.
  His abilities are average, and his inhumanity has brought him no powers worth noting.
  As such, none are sure just how he has always managed to return alive from even the most dangerous missions.
  He was once ironically nicknamed "BLACKBOX", as it was impossible to tell how he worked or thought,
  but over time the jeers changed into awe and he began to be called "DEADLIAR", as it was
  joked that as he could not have survived thus far, he must dead and lying about being alive.
  His vast experience has provided him with a mastery of technique, and he is often called
  into service to explore the unknown.

  In his last sortie he penetrated almost to the center of the PRAYERs' stronghold, but was trapped there.
  He released his Misteltoe, and she returned to base in hibernation mode.
  He himself did not return until almost six months later, when he took advantage of the next sortie to escape.
  The information he gathered while infiltrating the stronghold (and while fleeing from it) has proved
  invaluable in the planning of the most recent sortie.

TOBARI-MARU: Misteltoe
    The Misteltoe used by DEADLIAR.
  She is one of the early models, and so has a rather high pedigree.
  She has been frequently modified after rollout, and so boasts abilities on par with the newer models.
  Having been mounted on DEADLIAR for more than 50000 hours, she would likely not accept a new master.
  At times it seems that she commands DEADLIAR, rather than the intended command setup,
  but their relationship has no doubt reached a state of mutual interdependence.

  At present, she is rather sarcastic, with an occasionally sharp tongue. This is no doubt due to
  DEADLIAR's influence, with Tobari's caustic clinginess corresponding to his deadpan humor.

FOSSILMAIDEN: EXECUTOR
    Real name unknown. Apparently she was once called Amber for her strange, orange-glowing eyes.

  She grew up at the bottom of a ten-level metropolis.
  Perhaps due to her being raised amidst of filth and pollution, her five senses (notably her eyesight)
  are very weak, and to her the world has always been a place of mumbling, incoherent greys.
  Her body temperature is irregular as well, and she is always to be seen wrapped in an oversized grey coat.

  A day like any other. She gazes at the grey, rain-swept sky--not so different to her as to others.
  Before her appears one who would help.
  "Really?" Even as she voiced her doubt, she clung to the proffered hand.
  Though she could feel nothing, she wanted to believe it was warm.

  Her relationship with her Misteltoe is one of deep dependence and symbiosis,
  as one creature born only partly, finally reunited with its other half.
  Such joy! The texture of the cloth against her skin, the smell of disinfectant, the clink of her
  metallic comrade by her side, the soft glow of fluorescent lights...
  Through her Misteltoe, she sees a new world. It was truth, to her, chasing away the ragged greys of her world.
  --it is far beyond her wildest dreams, a world in which imperfection cannot be--

  She was a guinea pig to determine the effects of Misteltoe symbiosis on the human body.
  But even so, she was happy. It was not long before she herself expressed desire to become an EXECUTOR.

  Perhaps due to her unforgiving youth, she has somehow convinced herself that she is a normal human,
  albeit one with an unusual past, and her belief that she can complete any challenge given to her has never faltered.
  This makes her difficult for those around her. She envies them in some ways, and so tries her hardest in order not
  to trouble them, but ironically it is her effort itself which causes them trouble.
  This dilemma may be the source of her great power.

SARABA-MARU: Misteltoe
    A model used by GRAVEYARD for experiments involving human-Misteltoe symbiosis.
  However, she is no different from the other Misteltoes, and the results of the experiments were undesirable.
  The experiments related to Misteltoe sensory augmentation, and in the end she was little more than a repurposing towards medical use.
  There was some trouble when SARABA-MARU was paired with an unusually compatible human, but an unexpected
  proposition from the girl in question solved the problem.

    Unlike most other Misteltoes, her personality is warm and cheerful.
  It is thought that her partner has something to do with this, but the exact cause remains unclear.

MINOGAME: EXECUTOR
    An ascetic created by a certain religious organization. They apparently considered the name a symbol of immortality.
  He is in fact a machine built from flesh and blood--in ancient terminology, an android.
  The organization in question had for a long time created such "humans beyond humanity" as objects of worship.

    MINOGAME is a being apart from death, able to manipulate SOL and LUNA as naturally as breathing.
  He was confiscated by GRAVEYARD after a team lead by DEADLIAR destroyed the organization
  worshipping him. His powers were capped, and he entered service as an EXECUTOR.
  His body is hermaphrodite, but as his appearance is youthful, this is not readily apparent.
  He is referred to as male, for convenience.
  Although he is capable of having a Misteltoe mounted, the Misteltoe would suffer severe
  strain, and so he does not currently have one.
  He has refused a Misteltoe since almost destroying Kagura, perhaps in apology to her.

  His speech is extremely direct, like an exaggerated characterization of an artificial being.
  Despite his solemn exterior, he has been known to show off with his powers when given the chance.

KAGURA-MARU: Misteltoe
    A Misteltoe developed at the dawn of the current design paradigm, taking separation to the extreme.
  In the end, she required too much regulation from the EXECUTOR, and so is used as a testing platform.
  #All the current EXECUTORs, including DEADLIAR, tried to use her and eventually gave up.

    During mounting tests with Minogame, she suffered from incredible feedback which burned much of her nervous system.
  #The Misteltoe's nervous system may under some conditions reverse, with disastrous consequences.
  Her life was saved by mounting her within a hard enclosure frame similar to those of the simple I/O-based Elder Misteltoes.
  However, as a result of her mechanized form, she instills fear in those who see her.
  (The Elder Misteltoes were almost entirely machine, and were used as simple support troops.)

    Her speech and EXECUTOR link capabilities were removed to reduce stress,
  so her main form of communication is through mid-operation action declarations.
  Her Misteltoe-Misteltoe sympathetic linking system was left intact, but she was
  extremely reticent to begin with, and so rarely makes use of it.
  #She is capable of taking notes and the like, but as the Elder Misteltoes were never equipped
  #with sensitive coordination systems--only dual lance-type barrel arms--her handwriting is hopelessly bad.
  Her mental state was unsurprisingly unstable after her reboot, but she is usually calm now.
  She is currently the only solo-flying Misteltoe.

Phony Kite
    The flight systems used by the EXECUTORs.
  They utilize Faint Ones for propulsion and volume, allowing low-resistance, high-speed flight.
  The name comes from their temporary, invisible nature, and their ability to lift beings not meant for air travel.
  The EXECUTORs have become so used to them that they might as well be extensions of their bodies.

Bootleg Ghost
    Plate-like defensive tags isolated from the revived "techniques" of Heroes.
  Commonly referred to as "talismans", for their appearance and purpose.
  They require a physical recollection medium, with current versions ranging
  from electrical circuits to laminates of brain tissue from small animals.
  Common secondary functions include time-telling, measurement, and navigation.

    Though they are light and easily equipped,
  they are frowned upon by more skilled fighters,
  and so there are now many EXECUTORs who do not use them at all.
  Also, since different models respond to the same stimuli and may interfere with each
  others' activation, there is little meaning in equipping multiple Ghosts.

  There are Talismans with no defensive effects, reffered to as ASPIRANTs.
  The name may come from EXECUTORs referring to comrades who used no Talismans
  as ASPIRANTS, as they aspire to fight without relying on defense from the dead Heroes.
  ASPIRANT Talismans serve little purpose aside from decoration, thought
  some may treat them as good luck charms.

Linear Blade
    A blade weapon equipped with high-speed magnetic acceleration capabilities.
  Built from the same material as the Misteltoe base pods, the blades are extremely durable.
  The surface is coated with a high-density colony of Faint Ones.
  It takes some time to build up the voltage necessary to accelerate the blade, but
  once it is released the Faint Ones will travel in parallel with it, becoming
  blades themselves and dealing lethal damage to anything in their path.
  If sufficiently charged, the weapon will release a distance-independent (though with
  a small blind spot in front of the EXECUTOR) attack.
  This side-effect of the attack is often used more heavily than the attack itself,
  earning the blade the nickname "wind-cutter flute".

  DEADLIAR is a prominent specialist in the use of these, and has one equipped on each arm.
  His special technique of catching the target where the two shockwaves constructively interact
  has long been the subject of much rumor and speculation.

Knows Only Blazing
    An external, removable ordnance package for the hard enclosure.
  It is currently undergoing repeated tests using numerous different parts and combinations
  in the hopes of meeting and exceeding strict ordnance benchmarks.
  Though each ordnance package is modeled on pre-collapse technology, the tests aim to retune
  and specialize them to excell at their given purposes.