Angels and Demons, The Third Star Saga

There are some times when I look back on the stories I’ve created and I can know exactly what I was thinking about and what kind of story I was planning to tell. I then look back at the progress I made in developing that story and can’t see where I was going. Sometimes I look back and have no idea what the impetus was, but can see very clearly where I was planning to take it. Third Star Saga is a lot like that.

When I began the Third Star Saga it was because I had a weird dream. I couldn’t remember the details of the dream, but I penned out the scenario. That dream became a small part of the first chapter of what I built into the Third Star Saga.

Third Star is broken into two minor sagas; The Black Star Saga and Second Coming.

Black Star starts with Kyouske Rosencraft at home with his family during the closing days of summer break during his second year of high school. He is the older of the two boys, and additionally has three sisters. His family, by his and many other’s accounts, is fairly eccentric. However, he too is quite eccentric as something of a hyper-athlete, personally training in a style reminiscent of parkour or some pseudo ninja-style training.

His father is a researcher and archaeologist, his mother a fashion designer. On the day during summer that the story begins, Kyouske goes up to his room and discovers that there is someone rifling through his closet. The person jumps from his second floor window. Kyouske gives chase. The two go running and jumping around the expansive backyard of the estate, bounding from trees. When Kyouske steps on a branch that breaks underneath him, the intruder tries to save him, the two falling into a pond below.

The person turns out to be a young woman who is reluctant to share her name, whom Kyouske starts calling Mato. Kyouske eventually finds himself embroiled in an age-old conflict.

Long ago at the early age of civilization, an alien race landed on Earth having fled their planet that was ruined by war and natural disaster. Humanity sparsely populated the Earth at the time. The aliens had amazing natural abilities and incredible technology, becoming thought of as gods by earthlings, and were grafted onto existing folklore and religious doctrine. The aliens were internally divided; whether or not to try to rebuild their former civilization, how to interact with the native earthlings, etc. The aliens split along the lines of those who believed in a policy of minimalist non-interference with the native human population, and those who wanted to use the humans for various reasons. Due to a non-aggression pact, however, the side looking to use humans could only do so through subterfuge and secret actions to avoid inciting a war between the two sides.

To the humans, the sides became known as that of angels and demons. The leader of the side of angels was said to hold the Throne of Heaven, and thereby be considered God, while the leader of the side of the demons held the Throne of Hell, considered the Devil. For thousands of years the two factions have fought a cold war with one another. Each generation, from the ruling family’s bloodline, eight are chosen as potential successors to the thrones. The one who overcomes the trial is named the next ruler.  For the humans this became a source of conflict as well, as they saw it not as a mere civil war among aliens, but a religious fight for humanity’s future.

The girl who Kyouske meets, Mato, is really named Asmodeus. She is one of the candidates this generation for the Throne of Hell. The trial among the demon clan is ostensibly to prove one’s strength over the others, usually by killing off their siblings. Mato, however, does not want to kill her family members. She is on the run to avoid involvement in that fight.

Later in the Black Star Saga Kyouske discovers that he also has a couple angels, candidates for Heaven’s Throne, near to him as well. In trying to figure out what reason there is for these people gathering around him, he discovers that he is the last pureblooded human male. After centuries of use in experiments, interbreeding, and wars, the number of humans left who are genetically purely human has fallen to just a couple males and a few females. Should Kyouske or those remaining females die, “humanity” will be extinct, leaving only the hybrid species of the humans and the aliens. The angels around Kyouske are trying to protect him so that will not happen.

Second Coming takes place many years after the end of Black Star (not yet sure exactly how many, but it’s a long time). This story follows Koto. She is a woman who was found within a casket. She has highly fractured memories, only knowing her name is Koto despite the fact the name “Cereza” was emblazoned on the casket. The fact she is in a casket is odd because several centuries ago there was a massive apocalyptic plague.

Known as the Third Plague, or the Disease of the Dead, it incubated in dead bodies, seeped infected the soil, seeped into the water, and thereby infected people. Symptoms appeared as a normal summer cold, but simply never improved. The patient would run a high fever, their blood coagulating. Within two weeks the subject would die. The mortality rate was 95% of those infected, and no cure was ever found. Once it was found that dead bodies incubated the disease and spread it, burials of the dead were outlawed. All corpses were to be cremated, and a massive effort was even undertaken to dig up and cremate already dead bodies. As a result, caskets were never again supposed to be used, though rumor had it that some very wealthy families still buried their loved ones in secret.

Koto works as a Runner for the criminal underground. She fulfills contracts for those who bid on her services. Mostly this means she ends up stealing rare or pricey items. She rarely has carried out assassinations, noting she dislikes that sort of job since it brings bad luck. She is known in the underground as Witch of Umbra due to most only seeing her on moonlit knights, and the rumor that she uses magic to complete her tasks. She is, as a result, famous by name in the underground world, but few know what she looks like.

Of her few memories Koto recalls a book called The Eyes of the World after hearing mention of it during one of her missions. As she begins her search for the book, she finds herself under attack by bio-mechanical creatures claiming to be in service of either Heaven or Hell. The angels seem to want her dead, while the demons are looking to capture her. Through her battles she learns many clues about herself and her past. What’s more, she finds out that she has a sister, Nero.

The lead character of Black Star, Kyouske, isn't directly based on any direct character. Although I gave him the last name of Rosencraft, neither he nor any of his family members are actually that of the Rosencraft I've already introduced as part of the First Moon Saga. I'm still mulling the idea that they are somehow related, but I haven't determined that yet. Mato/Asmodeus is based in part on Black Rock Shooter. As for the Second Coming, that entire scenario is based around the Bayonetta video game in setup, but generally looks to follow mob movies and classic film noir. Koto is based on a sort of merger Koto (older) of Kyousogiga, and Bayonetta (Bayonetta's style, general manners, wit, with a touch of Koto's wildness and complimenting effervescence). Nero is based directly on Red Saber, aka Saber Extra from Fate/Extra. 

Third Star is a sort of more liberal story. As I stated, the initial urge to start the story came from a dream – the chase scenario I described earlier as the series’ start. That dream in turn more than likely was merely a result of my having been thinking of how to choreograph and write a more action-intensive scene in general. But Third Star also, at least through Black Star, is the first time since First Moon that I take a singular concept or story and build around that explicitly. For First Moon it was the mythos of the Yu-Gi-Oh universe mixed with the Silent Mobius universe, and the concept of yin and yang. Third Star is all about angels, demons, and the “ancient astronaut” theory. The latter part of the Black Star portion of the story tackles the question of self-sacrifice. In other words, Kyouske is faced with a decision; accept the will that he be the savior of humanity and in doing so abandon his personal desires, or chase his personal desires and in so doing all but ensure that humanity as most know it will end.

Black Star ends without that question being answered. That’s why I decided to work on Second Coming. Even so, I wasn’t sure what answer to give as I’m not sure there is one (anime and writing in general does a better job asking than answering questions). So I flipped a coin. Literally, I took a quarter, flipped it, and that decided what the outcome would be. So, Second Coming follows Koto’s journey at discovering who she is, and so reveals what that answer was that was left unsaid from Black Star.

At any rate I have most of the planning done for the Third Star Saga. I even know which of the Two-Six will show up, how, and when. However, I haven’t done a terrible amount of writing. I have, between its two halves, maybe about three complete chapters and only a few scenes that can be built out to additional chapters. So, lots of work to do here, but it’s a promising story.

That’s all for now. Later days.