Reiyoku Canon Information + Timeline
Feb. 10th, 2018 09:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marbledmask'Reiyoku' is an OC-AU Series which presently exists largely in the form of notes, and RP resources. The original concept had been to seamlessly tie all of the existing YuGiOh series together into one singular timeline; Reiyoku doesn't encompass all series per-say, but it does take place at a point considered to be the future world for DM through to ARC-V.
A rough timeline of events is located farther within this note, but first, some glossary and information about the 'Present State' of the AU.
Reiyoku is a setting which borrows upon the idea of the Ka and Ka Battle (and by extension, Shadow Game). Each person is born with a shadow-a monster, a Ka-bound to their soul. This monster does not typically awaken or make itself known until certain conditions are met, but these conditions rise in number until a large portion of the world population has one, in the series.
Shadows manifest as an armor and a field spell (called a 'Field Monster', and summonable under certain conditions) during a duel-which is restricted to a field as cast by the 'Duel Gloves' formed by KaibaCorp. These gloves lessen damage in a battle, and allow cards to summon their counterparts, or cast magic, from the Shadow's Realms-a duel therefore combines the thrill of true combat as fought wearing Armor, with the strategy of the cards. Any lasting injury or damage to the surroundings are in addition reversed completely with the end of a battle-meaning that a monster does not need to necessarily hold back their own power.
In Reiyoku however, people have learned to Hack these gloves, for the sake of stealing (or even killing- though stealing is more profitable) shadows-this results in victims entering a coma-like state where they are frozen in time, known as a 'Time-Lock'.
The only cure for this is to replace the Shadow, which is where Doctors enter.
A Doctor is someone with a unique glove created to access another's Soul Room- or 'Dream'. A Dream, typically, isn't entirely open to the Shadow's Realm; however when a shadow is removed, a gateway is forced into a gaping hole, allowing the realm to take over. Doctors enter these soul rooms to find their way through the realm until they find a shadow compatible enough with the victim. Once the shadow is connected to the soul, the victim can awaken.
A shadow removed from its bond is known as a Renegade Shadow, or Sealed Shadow-however, the term primarily applies to shadows farmed directly from the realms as well. More mundane doctors are able to, with permission, access those whose minds are yet awake, carefully wandering through until they find the closest point of connection, and from there entering the realm to bring back shadows at random. This allows them to be tied to various objects, so that those without a woken shadow of their own can participate in duels.
Alongside Doctors exist Officers-bringing in the element of the Shadow Game. An Officer is the more brutal counterpart to the Doctor; they exist to hunt down those who would steal or kill shadows, and using their gloves are able to force barriers between shadows and their partners. This locks victims in a semi-comatose state, not quite a time-lock, forcing the criminal to suffer a determined amount of time in waking silence without tiring.
While the primary form of Dueling is 'Shadow Battles', other remnants of Solid Vision Duels yet remain, as well as AR. Solid Vision is less popular, as the devices are prone to becoming lethal with exposure to Shadows; as the output cannot be controlled, Solid Vision is thus heavily regulated, and typically used only for children's tournaments where participants of all sides have no shadow. It can additionally be used in small amounts without trouble-however, these limitations combined have forced Action Duels almost entirely out of existence.
AR is immune to the effects of Shadows, however, and is thus still popular in various regions of the world. Its popularity varies, due to the limitations of requiring an AR Lens to witness however, leading it to become something considered a 'traditionalist sport' (for those who prefer Just The Cards).
Offshoots of Shadow Battles which depend on the monsters involved also exist; examples include Ceremonial, where duelists upon either side 'fight' until one or the other succeeds in a particular summon.
Despite the above, Action Duels in fact make a return throughout Reiyoku through the efforts of a determined prodigy-he finds a way to filter Solid Vision until it becomes powered by the Realm itself, making the fields malleable, and action cards possible, without the entire battle suffering the effects of old Solid Vision Duels. The result is the first 'Action Shadow Battle', which ushers in a more entertainment based method of dueling.
Keeping the above in mind, the below is a Timeline of Events in the world of Reiyoku, which determines the state of its world as a whole.
TIMELINE OF EVENTS
Pre-History - The forces of Creation and Absence converge, resulting in the birth of 'Monsters'. Creation becomes inspired and creates life from this, along with various other forces which inspire the events of future matters.
Following numerous battles between these two forces, Atum-the Creator God forged as Creation's envoy-chooses to bind monster-kind to that of man, in order to protect them from the 'Absence' that is their enemy. He then enlists the help of the Trickster Gods in order to ensure Absence's own Envoy, 'The Nameless', is unable to act against them with anything more than peons (such as Zarc, the Leviathan, etc). Atum later divides himself in Three, to further spread himself among mankind as their protectors-these three become known as Ra, Osiris, and Sutekh (the latter eventually fading into what is known as 'The God Soldier of the Obelisk')
The Trickster God known as 'Reynard' agrees, fooling five others of his 'alignment' into battle with 'The Nameless One'-he one by one kills them to act as parts of a seal upon the Nameless, killing himself for the final portion and binding the existence of all six to bloodlines within mankind.
1995 - The events of 'Duel Monsters' occur, with Creation facing Absence in the form of Horaktys vs Zorc. The realm of Shadows, spurred by the energies of these battles, begins to grow and diversify.
2000 - GX' events occur, with typical elemental associations flipped between Creation and Absence; the realm of Shadows continues to grow in diversity with mankind.
2010 - A tragedy known as Zero Reverse strikes during Kaiba Corp's testing of 'Momentum', creating the divide between two sections of Domino. The Government, with prompting from Rex Godwin, proceeds to alienate and ostracize the broken section as 'Satellite', while focusing reconstruction efforts on 'Neo Domino', eventually segregating the city proper into 'Domino' and 'Tops'.
2027 - 5Ds' occurs, and a repeated battle between Creation's forces and the extended forces of Absence occurs through what is known as the Signer Wars. Signers and Dark Signers clash, taking advantage of a surge of energy driven by Momentum. Not long after this, the cybernetic beings known as Tenors arrive from the Future, attempting to destroy Momentum's source to prevent their eventual end at the hands of interstellar forces. They are defeated, with Yuusei Fudou promising to prevent their doom.
2037 - The Epilogue of 5Ds; Momentum is slated to be replaced with an energy source referred to as 'Fortune', which is quickly utilized toward possible dueling use. By the time it has been approximately 10 years after the events of 5DS, Leo Akaba, under the supervision of Kaiba Corporation's Fortune Division, develops the first true Solid Vision hologram capable of sensory interaction. Within a matter of months, the introduction of Solid Vision Interaction to the dueling scene triggers the apocalyptic event that replaces the absence of the Arc Cradle Incident; the rise of Zarc.
2040 - Ray Akaba faces Zarc in battle, in order to force the Apocalypse to an end. The Dimensions Divide, forcing her shadow- Reynard, Trickster god of the Blinding Light- to escape from Ray's connection and use his power over illusions to craft himself a body. This 'self' becomes known as Reiji Akaba, but the energy expended costs him his memory.
Due to the power of the En Cards, Time reverses to an extent; they settle within the year 2000.
2015 (V2) - The events of ARC-V occur, with Reynard growing within his disguise and fully believing himself to be nothing more than human. He witnesses the near repeat of the Dimensional Merge and Split, as well as the sacrifice of his adoptive younger sibling Reira.
Following this, Yuuya and Yuzu attempt to force the Dimensions fully apart before they complete their destined re-merge, in order to grant their counter parts bodies once again and to give Reira her form back. They succeed in all but Yuuya's case, with the girls scattered to their dimensions, Reira left to Yuzu, and Zarc near to her in the Standard Dimension.
For Yuuya, his counterparts and 'self' become locked away-Zarc is forced to suffer the awakening of Veles, Trickster god of the Earthen Growth-causing numerous incidents of overgrowth through the City of Maiami until the Japanese Army is forced to intervene. Reiji is witness to his seeming death at their hands, and actual sealing.
With the full divide of dimensions, the governments of all four gain swift awareness of each other, and war is declared by Synchro against the Fusion dimension, due to their persisting recollection of the XYZ dimension's former fate. The other dimensions join in for their own reasons and alliances, triggering what is known as the Dimensional War. It lasts for 9 Years, until the final defeat of Synchro's forces at the hands of the Academia-Standard Alliance while in XYZ; the Battle of Clover Hill, or 'Shiun'in's Last Stand'.
(It is here that the Trickster God of Eternal Flames awakens-Sora is presumed dead in the fire, but eye witnesses hail him as the one who drove off the Synchro Forces and successfully saved all soldiers on his own side.)
2025 - Following the official end of the War, various treaties are signed, and relations forged with Standard taking the grand advantage over most cases. Various characters begin to settle down, but the effects of the war are evident; many of those who took part as soldiers awaken beings known as 'Shadows', and find themselves unable to safely duel as a result. LDS and the Re-Existing Kaiba Corporation combine forces to create a branch location within the XYZ dimension and other dimensions, with specific focus in their studies.
2065 - Despite difficulties in cornering the solution to Shadows and their effects on Solid Vision, Dueling persists as a popular sport. Action Duels however, begin to fade in their popularity-by the time 50 years have passed since ARC-V, Augmented Reality disks are created and tested. As the devices successfully carry no negative side effects due to Shadow Presence, they swiftly become the more popular form of dueling despite the decrease of interactivity. Public travel between dimensions begins to become accessible at this time, with all knowledge of the realms restricted only to details of the Wars until this time.
2090 - Shadows continue to waken throughout the world in small numbers, with their existence swiftly quieted by the combined efforts of LDS and Kaiba Corp. At the same time, plans to create a more efficient form of public dimensional travel is made. By 75 Years Post ARC-V, AR-Dueling as a result has taken the main focus of the world-and indeed, the other dimensions. At this time, XYZ residents Faker Tenjou and his wife successfully immigrate to a coastal location in Standard, alongside an associate fleeing the law after a fall-out which results in the death of three others. Forging an agreement between them, they successfully found and create the Mirror City to Heartland; with 'Mr. Heartland' becoming its face for the public as Faker and his wife create their paradise for AR Duels to hide their own scientific efforts. Heartland's official unveiling occurs within the next two years, with citizens promised better lives (and relatively well paid ones getting just that).
2115 - 20 years before the events of Reiyoku, the new CEO to Kaiba Corporation awakens his shadow, Gragonith. Rather than following the footsteps of his predecessors, he thus plunges his research as far as possible into developing alternatives for Shadows within dueling, causing a significant decline in the advancement of AR-Duels. This allows the Tenjou's to obtain relative monopoly over the field, and they quietly create a union with LDS.
Within 2 years however, Kaiba Corp takes the world by surprise and releases what is known as 'The Glove'. They outfit those known to have Shadows, and small pockets of duelists begin to rise again as they make use of the combined advantages of combat and reversed damage. Due to the niche of the product however, the corporation continues to fade from view outside their foot in Dimensional Travel Technology with LDS, with most of their funding coming in the form of those whose eyes are on the future of Forced Awakenings for Shadows.
2120 - 15 years before Reiyoku's events, and the Dimensional Subway is successfully tested and approved for use. Due to the costs of maintenance however, its use is restricted to the elite for a time, with much of the public giving it little thought. As time passes, the continually growing gap in dueling focus causes AR Dueling to become more and more localized within various key cities-Heartland of the Standard Dimension swiftly becomes the largest of them, due to the combined efforts of the now widowed Faker-whose recently born second son plunges him into desperate actions that quickly end in the tragedy of the renowned travelers and scientists Byron Arclight and Kazuma Tsukumo mere years later.
Around the same time, a crushing blow to the culture of Maiami, Standard is made-as the birth of the next heir to the Gongenzaka-Hochun Dojo ends in the slaughter of all present, leaving an aged Mieru Gongenzaka to look over a soon closed estate. The event, unknowingly, is triggered by the waking of the Trickster God of Churning Waters.
Merely 3 years following the approved Subway, and the first true consequence of the Glove is discovered due to the actions of a group of recently fired employees. The first 'cracked gloves' are formed, and in quiet pockets of all four dimensions, the first cases of Time Lock begin to appear-while the first cases of Renegade Shadows also appear, with many initial ones killing their captors in retaliation for the crimes. Kaiba Corp begins to develop and train those to track down and punish such perpetrators quickly, while also researching solutions for those locked into comas, enlisting the aid of these Renegades. Unfortunately for the company, it does not take long before criminals discover how to Truly Seal shadows to objects for control, creating a curious 'arms race' between the legal and illegal sides. Among these initial recruits is 'Kira Ikou', who naturally woke her shadow as a child.
2126 - The events of ZEXAL occur 9 Years before Reiyoku's events; a localized timeline for characters from this series will be posted in another journal, at a later date. Following the defeat of Don Thousand and the use of the Numeron Code to re-balance reality, the surge of 'chaos' energy that is re-released into the lifestream triggers a hastening in the approaching Age of Shadows; a repeat of the Era of Ka is coming, with greater force than ever seen, as the Shadow's Realm blossoms under the renewed energies from thousands of years ago. In the background, Kira successfully breaks ties from Kaiba Corporation, opening a more private business for Shadow Related Crimes as the reality of them begins to spread.
Within a year of ZEXAL's End, the Trickster God of Roaring Winds regains awareness, but is successfully sealed away by their host's own power.
Not long after, a second offshoot from former Kaiba Corp employees successfully test and debut a device known as the Locksmith in numerous locations Dimension-Wide. While almost all locations end in a success that swiftly brings Kaiba Corp back to relevance, the test in Domino-no longer divided into Neo and Satellite- ends in a resounding failure called 'Black Rain' due to the Trickster God of Shadow'd Dark's Awakening. Footage from cameras reveals one shadow devouring the souls and shadows of all others present until everyone is forced into Time Lock. The tragedy inspires a surge of recruits for the Doctor and Officer programs of Kaiba Corp, while many others begin to create their own businesses. Kira, around this time, takes in an apprentice while quietly managing her small building closer to below the radar. Reynard meanwhile, returned to his Shadow State and again forced to flee his host, takes residence in descendants of his human-self's bloodline.
Under three years after the events of Black Rain, and the second part of the massacre occurs, inspiring the name; all victims of the event save one are massacred within their own hospital beds, seemingly 'torn apart' by the beds themselves. The bodies are discovered by Yuume Souryuu, a Doctor in Training at this time; missing victim Kimi Mutou is never recovered.
2135 - Two months before its official start, Zarc awakens from his sealed state. After realizing he is no longer in the world he knew, he takes the false name 'Kashiwa Hatsu', and re-enters society under the guise of a Renegade Shadow. By the time Reiyoku begins (8 years after the first trigger of Black Rain), AR Dueling is considered a Niche Sport; its popularity best held and retained within locations such as Heartland-Standard Dimension, as well as Neo Domino-Synchro Dimension; the latter being modified to work with D-Wheels. Shadows have surged from the 1:1,000,000 and localized counts of 10 years prior, to 1:4 thanks to the combined efforts of Locksmith devices, and Shadow Farming, which is developed a mere 5 years prior.
Notably, Reiyoku takes place over the course of 5 years, ending in the year 2140.
A rough timeline of events is located farther within this note, but first, some glossary and information about the 'Present State' of the AU.
Reiyoku is a setting which borrows upon the idea of the Ka and Ka Battle (and by extension, Shadow Game). Each person is born with a shadow-a monster, a Ka-bound to their soul. This monster does not typically awaken or make itself known until certain conditions are met, but these conditions rise in number until a large portion of the world population has one, in the series.
Shadows manifest as an armor and a field spell (called a 'Field Monster', and summonable under certain conditions) during a duel-which is restricted to a field as cast by the 'Duel Gloves' formed by KaibaCorp. These gloves lessen damage in a battle, and allow cards to summon their counterparts, or cast magic, from the Shadow's Realms-a duel therefore combines the thrill of true combat as fought wearing Armor, with the strategy of the cards. Any lasting injury or damage to the surroundings are in addition reversed completely with the end of a battle-meaning that a monster does not need to necessarily hold back their own power.
In Reiyoku however, people have learned to Hack these gloves, for the sake of stealing (or even killing- though stealing is more profitable) shadows-this results in victims entering a coma-like state where they are frozen in time, known as a 'Time-Lock'.
The only cure for this is to replace the Shadow, which is where Doctors enter.
A Doctor is someone with a unique glove created to access another's Soul Room- or 'Dream'. A Dream, typically, isn't entirely open to the Shadow's Realm; however when a shadow is removed, a gateway is forced into a gaping hole, allowing the realm to take over. Doctors enter these soul rooms to find their way through the realm until they find a shadow compatible enough with the victim. Once the shadow is connected to the soul, the victim can awaken.
A shadow removed from its bond is known as a Renegade Shadow, or Sealed Shadow-however, the term primarily applies to shadows farmed directly from the realms as well. More mundane doctors are able to, with permission, access those whose minds are yet awake, carefully wandering through until they find the closest point of connection, and from there entering the realm to bring back shadows at random. This allows them to be tied to various objects, so that those without a woken shadow of their own can participate in duels.
Alongside Doctors exist Officers-bringing in the element of the Shadow Game. An Officer is the more brutal counterpart to the Doctor; they exist to hunt down those who would steal or kill shadows, and using their gloves are able to force barriers between shadows and their partners. This locks victims in a semi-comatose state, not quite a time-lock, forcing the criminal to suffer a determined amount of time in waking silence without tiring.
While the primary form of Dueling is 'Shadow Battles', other remnants of Solid Vision Duels yet remain, as well as AR. Solid Vision is less popular, as the devices are prone to becoming lethal with exposure to Shadows; as the output cannot be controlled, Solid Vision is thus heavily regulated, and typically used only for children's tournaments where participants of all sides have no shadow. It can additionally be used in small amounts without trouble-however, these limitations combined have forced Action Duels almost entirely out of existence.
AR is immune to the effects of Shadows, however, and is thus still popular in various regions of the world. Its popularity varies, due to the limitations of requiring an AR Lens to witness however, leading it to become something considered a 'traditionalist sport' (for those who prefer Just The Cards).
Offshoots of Shadow Battles which depend on the monsters involved also exist; examples include Ceremonial, where duelists upon either side 'fight' until one or the other succeeds in a particular summon.
Despite the above, Action Duels in fact make a return throughout Reiyoku through the efforts of a determined prodigy-he finds a way to filter Solid Vision until it becomes powered by the Realm itself, making the fields malleable, and action cards possible, without the entire battle suffering the effects of old Solid Vision Duels. The result is the first 'Action Shadow Battle', which ushers in a more entertainment based method of dueling.
Keeping the above in mind, the below is a Timeline of Events in the world of Reiyoku, which determines the state of its world as a whole.
TIMELINE OF EVENTS
Due to the power of the En Cards, Time reverses to an extent; they settle within the year 2000.
(It is here that the Trickster God of Eternal Flames awakens-Sora is presumed dead in the fire, but eye witnesses hail him as the one who drove off the Synchro Forces and successfully saved all soldiers on his own side.)
