Shin Megami Tensei (Canon, Verse)/Morning Star TM

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Summary[]

Shin Megami Tensei (Also known in English as True Goddess Metempsychosis) is a long running JRPG game series created by the collaberation of Sega and Atlus. The series was originally directed by Atlus before Sega took its part in Devil Survivor series. The series is known mainly for its unique and 1 of a kind gameplay and multiple routes and endings, which solely depends on the player's actions, game interactions and choices, where the protagonists of each game are silent protagonists, where their personality depends on the choices and endings that the player choose throughout the game. With this being said, there are normally 3 routes to seek aside from the Bad Ending in each game:

Law is the path of YHVH, the god of the entire multiverse, and its main antagonist, with the angels being on the side as his army. Victory in favour of this path would lead to the end of all pain and suffering, but the means of this path is genocide to all who oppose it, alongside the elimination of the concept of free will for humanity, with them being treated as slaves to YHVH and angelkind.

Chaos is the path of Lucifer, the 1st fallen angel in existence, and the leader of Demons, with said race acting as his army that opposes YHVH with all means possible. Victory in favor of this path would lead to the end of all tyranny, with the positive effect of living in a state of equality, but the means of this path would lead to living in a world of constant war, anarchy and bloodshed, as the rule of the Survival of The Fittest would be the 1 and only ultimate law, where the strong would pray on the weak.

Neutral is the path of humans, and is shown to be the only "Good Ending" in the entire series, where it means opposing both the Law and Chaos paths, or at sometimes, disposing of said 2 paths. Neutrality as a whole is considered the most ideal path, as it focuses on the evolution of mankind without depending on the angels and the Demons, where it is the balanced path, as it seeks Law but without the restriction of freedom, and at the same time, it seeks Chaos but without the acception of war, vice and anarchy. While choosing this path is considered the best decision, it sometimes places the protagonist of the game in a conflict with his own comrades and friends, where he/she would be forced to kill them for the sake of reaching the end of this path, as well as forcing him/her to destroy any kind of obstacles that may get to their way. Naturally, due to this path rejecting both Law and Chaos and seeking a respected balance between both of those paths, this also means that humanity would be free from not only the clutches of Demons and Lucifer, but also from angels and YHVH, leading to humanity being left to guide their ownselves without the help of YHVH.

Terminology & Cosmology[]

The series' main theme is "'Mythology, History and Psychology", as it focuses on bringing forth various figures of Demons, angels and even gods from various folklore and genre, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianism and Gnosticism, Lovecraftian Horror, Jungian Psychology, Cyberpunk aesthetics and even figures from urban legends and fairytale stories. On that note, several terms are to be taken into consideration to understand the cosmology of this verse even better:

Magnetite: The living substance which constructs the bodies of Demons and angels alike in the physical world, as everything, including the universe and humans themselves, exist metaphysically as data, where some Demons and gods are existing as embodiments of concepts and aspects that coexist to maintain the balance of existence, albeit said balance tends to be shaken whether said Demons or gods are in a conflict. As such, Magnetite is required for Demons, gods and angels to manifest in the physical world. However, this is not the case for humans despite being made of data as well, since it is YHVH who created humanity with the main purpose of worshipping him, but at the same time, YHVH fears humanity due to their ability to evolve to become stronger to surpass even gods, so he created humans in a killable form, unlike Demons and gods, who can indefinitely return to The Axiom to reform after being killed.

Macca: The currency of Demons and gods, which is shown in all of the games of Megami Tensei sans Persona. This currency is mainly used by the natives of the Expanse, and created by the right hand of Lucifer, Lucifuge. The currency can be used by humans (The protagonists in gameplay) in the Cathedral of Shadows to either register Demons, angels and gods from the Demon Compendium, or to fuse them together to form a new form of existence, which can be used in battle. Macca also proves to be a "life-saving currency", as in Shin Megami Tensei IV, Charon, the ferryman that leads the souls of the dead to the afterlife across the River Styx, would offer to revive Flynn for a certain handful of Macca.

COMP/Smartphone/Gauntlet: The tool that is used by humans that can manipulate Demons to either summon them to fight, or to use them in the Cathedral of Shadow. Normally, a COMP or a Smartphone holds the function of the Cathedral of Shadows in it, as well as Demon Auction to buy Demons using the Macca currency. In Shin Megami Tensei, Shin Megami Tensei II and Devil Survivor, The COMP was introduced as a normal game console, later revealed to be a device that can summon Demons to aid humans in their fights, where the Smartphone made its 1st appearance in Shin Megami Tensei IV, where humans used it to summon Demons, while Samurai of Mikado summoned Demons from a Gauntlet that was made in the same method as Smartphones.

Magatsuhi: A form of energy essence that appears in Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, it is known for its unique shape of glowing red strings, or even a shining red liquid. Magatsuhi is the type of energy born from strong emotions. When the world in Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne was subjugated to The Conception, every human, sans the 1s that resided Shinjuku Hygienic Hospital and Dante, who was not in the hospital during said event, was transmuted to Magatsuhi that engulfed the Vortex World. In addition to this, Magatsuhi is required with massive amounts to summon a Demonic Sponsor in front of Kagutsuchi in order to initiate a Reason that depending on it, Kagutsuchi would shift the Vortex World depending on said Reason's ideals. For example, Shijima, Hikawa's Reason, revolves around stillness without the existence of self, individuality, destruction, passion and conflict, where every single human in this world is equal to Kagutsuchi in everything.

Reason: The main setting and goal in Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne. A Reason is a concept and an ideal of sorts made by humans to shape the world through a Demonic Sponsor. Kagutsuchi gave this unique ability to the surviving humans in the Vortex World after The Conception affected the whole world. Due to this power being given to only humans, Demons, and beings that shouldn't have existed that are made by Magatsuhi, such as the Manikins are banned from having their own Reasons, with The Demi-Fiend, a human-Demon hybrid, being no exception in this. However, due to his great power, each Reason holder relies on The Demi-Fiend to make their Reasons reach Kagutsuchi. Depending on the nature of a Reason, the world is reshaped on its own basis:

Shijima: Hikawa's Reason. The Reason of stillness, which is based on the suppression of desires, where individuality, passion, self, conflict and destruction are nonexistent. Its Demonic Sponsor is Ahriman.

Musubi: The Reason of Isamu Nitta. The Reason of solitude and isolation, which is based on having every human living in its own isolated world, without fearing of the consequences of their own actions, where the self is the most important thing, and any human can shape their own paradise to their own liking. Its Demonic Sponsor is Noah.

Yosuga: The Reason of Chiaki Hayasaka. The Reason of elitism, which is based on the survival of the fittest, where the strong can live and shape the world to their liking, while the weak have no right to live. Its Demonic Sponsor is Baal Avatar.

The Conception: A phenomenon that resulted in the events of Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, which is caused by Kagutsuchi. It is an event that creates worlds depending on Reasons, and that is by destroying the former 1s inside the Amala Universe, a universe that is not only infinite in size, but also contains infinite amounts of universes, where "time and space meld together and flow as 1". It should be noted that Reasons are basically concepts and ideals, where each concept is the thing responsible for the creation of an entire universe, and given the existence of infinite universes in the Amala, this means that Kagutsuchi is capable of manipulating infinite concepts, and thus his sheer existence can allow him to manipulate infinite amounts of hierarches.

Magatama: The source of Demon powers which is created by Lucifer, and was 1st introduced in Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne. By inserting it inside a human's eye, it can turn them into a Demon, where said human turns into a human-Demon hybrid of sorts, or a Demon with a human heart, as it was shown to be used on Naoki Kashima, who proceeded to turn into the Demi-Fiend. A Magatama holds its own unique stats, as it acts as a combination of armor, weapon and a spellbook. It gives its wielder several affinities, ranging from Physical attacks to Healing spells to Elemental attacks, and depending on each Magatama ingested, the user of said Magatama would be provided with not only resistances, immunities, absorption defenses and reflective immunities, but also weaknesses to certain opposing spells and aliments. At times, the Magatama that is ingested may act upon sensing that its wielder is becoming even stronger, where it can either invigorate, induce a statistical increase, inflict a harmful aliment, or even curse its wielder with the inability to use its techniques, as well as the inability to un-ingest the Magatama until its wielder is cured through outside sources. Godslayer: A term given to a human that is bound to a high caliber god, where said human is a dead being who is revived by a god, effectively becoming a walking corpse with their life force and powers being passively sustained by the god that revived them. Some traits are unique about Godslayers. For example, their body temperature is dangerously close to hypothermia and they have an abnormally high blood pressure.

The Axiom: The being that simply transcend the entire existence of the Shin Megami Tensei. Even YHVH, whose avatar is Kagutsuchi, who can manipulate infinite concepts/hierarichies is an infinitesimally avatar of The Axiom, where all beings in existence, including humans, die and reincarnate infinitely in their own assigned world. At the time of dire need, The Axiom would send a Messiah of the humans to the world of the living in order to maintain the balance of the existence, and sometimes it can send 2 of them at the same time, freeing it from the iron grip of YHVH and the likes of him, with The Axiom seeing the world through the eyes of the Messiahs.

Observation: The unique power that The Axiom granted to humans. This power allows humans to "assign an answer to a phenomenon without an answer", "make certain and stable what is uncertain and formless" and "the ability to change the answers into faith, and then into truth". This power is the main reason why humans can kill gods, where said power can either invigorate, weaken or outright kill gods, Demons and angels alike, which is the main reason why the gods try to goad humans to their sides and fight over them. An example of the usage of Observation is where Nanashi and his friends used their Observation skills to reduce YHVH into a mere fallen angel, effectively reducing him into his true form: A mere grosteque-looking fallen angel who desires nothing but humans worshipping him aimlessly. As a Messiah, Nanashi was able to use his own Observation skills all by himself without the aid of his already late friends which he killed to reduce YHVH to such state.

The Akashic Record: A term that is shown in Devil Survivor 2. The Akashic Record is where all concepts that make up the world, past, present and future. Essentially it is a gigantic storage medium that stores data, a.k.a a all time and concepts. Naturally, however, everything in the world, including humans exist metaphysically as data. Even Demons exist in the form of data, a non-corporeal form, which is why they require Magnetite to manifest in a physical form in the world of living. The Triangulum, a form of existence in Devil Survivor 2, has 2 forms of existences: The physical form and the data form, where their data form is used to attack the Akashic Record. The Astrolabe: To put it more bluntly, The Astrolabe is the tool that controls the Akashic Record, which is a tool used by both the Adminstrators and Canopus to organize the data inside the Akashic Record, effectively shaping all the worlds to their liking. When choosing an example to further identify The Astrolabe, if the Akashic Record is a disk drive that contains all the phenomenons of the world in it, The Astrolabe is simply the ultimate super computer where the disk drive is plugged in, where this would mean that as long as it is within the realm of the Akashic Record, The Astrolabe can make anything possible.

The Collective Unconsciousness: The realm of subconsciousness, which maintains the distortions of humankind. Naturally, a distortion of a person can manifest a dimension parallel to the world itself, basically their view of the world around them, where in the Collective Unconsciousness, there exists countless parallel worlds, as it works on "The Many Worlds Theory". The Collective Unconsciousness, as a whole, is based on Carl Jung's Jungian Psychology, which is described as a dimensionless realm which contains Jungian Archetypes, a form of platonic concepts that are infinite in amount, where Archetypes are things responsible for the construction of the Collective Unconsciousness, which allows said dimensionless realm to transcend space and time, being trans-spatial and trans-temporal. In the Persona games, several places are considered parts of the Collective Unconsciousness, like the Tower of Tartarus, The Midnight Channel, The Metaverse and Mementos. Additionally, the masterminds behind all Persona games are the embodiments of the Collective Unconsciousness, responding to the negative wishes of mankind, which would eventually mean the inevitable destruction of all creation should there is not any kind of external interference.

Persona: A Persona is the physical manifestation of a person's soul, emerging in the form of mythological deities, figures or characters from history stories and fairytales. A Persona is unlocked once a person accepts his vices (A.k.a his Shadow), and decides to move on trying to correct his wrong deeds. A common trait of a Persona is that they give their own masters superhuman capabilities, as well as mastery over certain types of weapons. Each Persona is bound to its master, so a Persona takes damage when its own user does and vice versa. Each Persona holds its own resistances, immunities and weaknesses, and depending on those, the damage given to its master would vary in its intensity. On that note, when a Persona takes too much damage, a phenomenon called Persona Break occurs, where a Persona user will not have access to his/her Persona for a set amount of time. There are some cases where the will of a Persona user becomes extremely weak willed, which forces the Persona to flip on its wielder, trying to kill it. An example of that is Shinjiro Aragaki, where Castor, his Persona, once tried to shook the life out of him, leading Shinjiro to suppress his Persona by taking pills that was decreasing his lifespan every time he takes them.

Shadow: A Shadow is the manifestation of the suppressed emotions of a human being. Simply wanting to be accepted by their own human counterparts, they show a rather hostile and aggressive approach, which in turn leads to violence against humans, and eventually, their own death. Other than this, a Shadow is extremely shameless and brutally honest, as it is the physical manifestation of a person's suppressed emotions where said person does not want to show these emotions to the real world, which is why they act rather shameless and violent. When a Shadow is accepted, they transform into a Persona.

Power Of The Verse[]

Shin Megami Tensei is without a doubt, is 1 of the strongest verses there is to exist. The lowest tier characters stand in Large Town level, Island level and Multi-Continent level. Mid tier characters can reach from Universe level+ to Low Multiverse level and up to Multiverse level+, with the high tier characters reaching up to infinite degrees of Outerverse level, with YHVH even transcending this level by infinity as well, where in the god tier The Axiom rests comfortably, being High Outerverse level due to being the binding force of the entire existence, with YHVH being an infinitesimally part of it.

Even speed levels are rather impressive, with Demons being the natives of The Expanse, a place that transcends past, present and future. This makes all the characters sit comfortably on Immeasurable speed tier, where the high tiers are Irrelevant in speed, with the likes of YHVH and The Axiom being Omnipresent.

As for Persona, it is not lacking at all, where characters are effortlessly and casually sitting on Universe level+ via Tatsuya's universe creation feat, as well as via scaling from Persona 5, where Shadows can use Cognition to manifest the universe to their liking. Endgame characters, as well as the protagonists with their ultimate Personas reach up to Outerverse level via scaling to the final bosses, as the Persona series relies on Jungian Psychology and its platonic archetypes. Not to mention that Persona Q & Q2 further proves this, since there exists a weapon called the Origin Bow, a platonic concept in itself, further showing the power of this verse.

Even speed is rather impressive, as even Early-Game characters are Immeasurable in speed via scaling to the protagonists, who can freely act inside the Velvet Room, a place that exists seperated from reality and its space-time, in addition to lacking all limitations of time and space, whereas Endgame characters and the protagonists with their ultimate Personas reach Irrelevant in speed via scaling to the final bosses.

This being said, due to the verse's usage of magic and the existence of mythology and history folklore, this verse is immensely haxed, with even normal attacks having the properties of harming the souls and erasing concepts, where several gods and Demons embody concepts in life and even concepts that humanity cannot comprehend, where each and every single character can simply fight beings that can create universes and maintain their laws and existences by their mere presence with nothing but brute force.