- 塑心
- ヴィルトゥオーサ
- 비르투오사
Virtuosa
Supporter — Ritualist
Attacks deal Arts damage, and can inflict Elemental Injury
- LT22
- Ranged
- Elemental
- Support
Bonuses
[Code Name] Virtuosa
[Gender] Female
[Combat Experience] None
[Place of Birth] Laterano
[Date of Birth] Sep 23
[Race] Sankta
[Height] 168cm
[Infection Status]
Medical tests have confirmed that no infection is present.
[Gender] Female
[Combat Experience] None
[Place of Birth] Laterano
[Date of Birth] Sep 23
[Race] Sankta
[Height] 168cm
[Infection Status]
Medical tests have confirmed that no infection is present.
[Physical Strength] Standard
[Mobility] Standard
[Physical Resilience] Standard
[Tactical Acumen] Standard
[Combat Skill] Excellent
[Originium Arts Assimilation] Outstanding (see below)
[Footnote]
Virtuosa's talents for Originium Arts are well on par with her talents for music. Leithanien holds music and Arts as inseparably bound, and Virtuosa's studies in Leithanien refined her mastery of music in lockstep with her Arts; she finds that researching different Artforms comes as easily as practicing new instruments. As a consequence, her unique grasp of Arts is likely unevaluable under the Arts rating metric used by our integrated physical examination; further assessment is called for.
[Mobility] Standard
[Physical Resilience] Standard
[Tactical Acumen] Standard
[Combat Skill] Excellent
[Originium Arts Assimilation] Outstanding (see below)
[Footnote]
Virtuosa's talents for Originium Arts are well on par with her talents for music. Leithanien holds music and Arts as inseparably bound, and Virtuosa's studies in Leithanien refined her mastery of music in lockstep with her Arts; she finds that researching different Artforms comes as easily as practicing new instruments. As a consequence, her unique grasp of Arts is likely unevaluable under the Arts rating metric used by our integrated physical examination; further assessment is called for.
Arturia Giallo, Laterano-born, is an active and renowned musician across all Terra. Rhodes Island has entered a tripartite agreement as requested by the Imperial Court of Leithanien and the Lateran Curia to authorize—given strict supervision by relevant personnel—her provisional onboarding at Rhodes Island as Operator 'Virtuosa.'
Imaging tests reveal clear, normal outlines of internal organs, and no abnormal shadows have been detected. Originium granules have not been detected in the circulatory system and there is no sign of infection. At this time, this operator is believed to be uninfected.
[Cell-Originium Assimilation] 0%
Operator shows no signs of Originium infection.
[Blood Originium-Crystal Density] 0.12u/L
Virtuosa's experience travelling Terra rivals that of any veteran Messenger. By her own account, her planned journeys—presuming she does actually plan them—don't make a point of avoiding high Oripathy-risk environs, but as is plain to see, Virtuosa's BOCD nevertheless remains relatively healthy.
[Appendix from Medical Department]
An unusual request to us from the Lateran Curia: they ask that beyond standard physical examinations, we also hold psychological tests expressly for Virtuosa. Rhodes Island has its own provisional mental health evaluation system in place, and more than a few operators sit far below its bar for 'psychologically healthy'; we already have some idea of how Virtuosa's test results will pan out.
[Cell-Originium Assimilation] 0%
Operator shows no signs of Originium infection.
[Blood Originium-Crystal Density] 0.12u/L
Virtuosa's experience travelling Terra rivals that of any veteran Messenger. By her own account, her planned journeys—presuming she does actually plan them—don't make a point of avoiding high Oripathy-risk environs, but as is plain to see, Virtuosa's BOCD nevertheless remains relatively healthy.
[Appendix from Medical Department]
An unusual request to us from the Lateran Curia: they ask that beyond standard physical examinations, we also hold psychological tests expressly for Virtuosa. Rhodes Island has its own provisional mental health evaluation system in place, and more than a few operators sit far below its bar for 'psychologically healthy'; we already have some idea of how Virtuosa's test results will pan out.
//Restricted-Access Item: [Conference #1]
Date: ■■/■■/1100
[Participant Checklist]
Rhodes Island Human Resources Department: Present
Rhodes Island Medical Department: Present
Spire of Grace, Leithanien: Present
Institute of Telepathy, Leithanien: Present
The Lateran Curia: Present
Notarial Hall, Laterano: Present
[Inquiry Footage]
[Resume Transmission]
[05:17/05:35:36]
'In light of our collective understanding of the concerned party, I suggest we omit the procedural introduction and move directly to today's inquiry proceedings.'
'The Empresses' Voice is still reviewing the report on the subject. Is the Notarial Hall in such in a rush?'
'Does Leithanien require that report to understand the subject?'
'[COUGHING]'
'We have three hours reserved for our initial conference. Abide by the agreement, Federico—the Empresses' Voice has the right to read through the report first.'
'Three hours. I will begin timing.'
'This conference is being held by the Rhodes Island Human Resources Department. Additionally, Amiya will be present to assist us in our understanding of the subject's Originium Arts.'
'How soon we meet, Miss Amiya. With her present, maybe you'll all rest a little easier around me.
'But of course, I know you won't.'
[07:38/05:35:36]
[Pause Transmission]
[Conference Log: attachment #2: Opinion from the Institute of Telepathy]
......
If we adopt the theory put forward by several interviewees in the early-stage investigation reports concerning Virtuosa, then the Arts she grasps could be said, in essence, to 'magnify' others' emotions to the point of 'urging' them to take impulsive action, which leads to our falling into the easy trap of lumping it in with other mental Arts—or as we would categorize them in Leithanien, 'telepathic-perceptual'—thus considering it either a simple illusion-/mirage-based construct, or a form of so-called 'mind control.'
However, the fact of the matter is that Virtuosa's Arts are exceedingly rare. Given our as-yet-insufficient study of her type of Originium Arts, it's no wonder we might have misjudged its effective mechanisms, and hence arrived at an erroneous conclusion.
......
Of all the investigation reports, a 1092 Lateran Notarial Hall case file logs the greatest detail, and serves as our most useful reference. Within, the author Federico generalizes Virtuosa's Arts as an 'empathetic expansion,' presumably owing to his Lateran familiarities. From there, we conjecture something most interesting: that Virtuosa's unique Arts may well be the result of Sankta empathic abilities acting in concert with telepathic-perceptual Arts. Based on this hypothesis, we launched further research into her Arts with the assent of multiple conference parties, herself, and the test subjects.
......
In the course of our research, we carried out both individual and multi-person tests. We have only made a brief summary in this report; detailed test logs and participant feedback will be recorded elsewhere.
In individual tests, when Virtuosa performed music using her Originium Arts, we picked up both the music and the subject's emotional impulse in a coinciding frequency range on three separate detectors. She was seemingly able to 'perceive' this coinciding range, and use Arts to bring about some sort of 'resonance' effect—this resonance was not limited to the subject and the music, but affected the caster as well, i.e. Virtuosa's own emotional impulses (see attachment #3).
In multi-person tests, Virtuosa demonstrated to us another mode of her Originium Arts—the effect she displayed during Das Kaiserinnensfest, and one of pertinent interest to all parties at the conference. She had three subjects experience simultaneous emotional resonance (see attachment #6); the concrete manner in which she achieved this is something we still haven't ascertained.
......
[Conference Log: attachment #4: Subject #1: Mrs. ■■■■■]
Without personally undergoing it, I fear one could hardly know how Virtuosa's Arts acts upon her 'subjects,' much like how the Sankta have a limited ability to explain to others just how their empathy works.
As a researcher of consciousness and cognition, I've always been fond of likening the human consciousness to a lake. Our typical actions and motivations are merely the scenery mirrored in its surface; the thing we call the subconscious, no more than the fins and pebbles some meters under. We often take the existence of the lake for granted, forgetting that we have each drop of water to thank for begetting it—each moment of sadness and triumph, each moment of thought and feeling—as they pour into this grand lake and become one with it. Thus we observe and see only a great body of water, not the minute, endless trickles.
Virtuosa's Arts are able to separate and distinguish the water back into those constituent trickles. Under the effect of her Arts, every depth of our consciousnesses, including those we've long forgotten—our buried or deliberately hidden memories—are given an emphasis they've never known. Such memories are usually associated with the strongest emotions stirred by the melody itself. They float to the surface on their own, and cause us to reconsider the manner in which the lake of our consciousness is. We sometimes underestimate on how real a level such reconsideration changes our behavior, and influences our judgment.
That said, after undergoing today's experiments, Virtuosa's Arts have had me find that merely analogizing to 'a lake' is altogether insufficient to describe the breadth of human consciousness, or to account for the grand billows that her music can stir within it. As such, 'the sea of consciousness' may be a more apt metaphor.
[Outcome of Meeting]
Joint deliberation by all convened parties concludes that the functional mechanisms by which Operator 'Virtuosa's' Arts can work are as yet unclear, and still of inestimable risk. Therefore, per agreement she is to be transferred to Rhodes Island to await further observation and study. Virtuosa will continue to require supervision while at Rhodes Island: all conduct will be subject to consistent scrutiny, anything spoken must be logged, and she is forbidden from performing anything without authorization.
[Classified Log]
Their hypothesis at the conference was correct. Virtuosa's Arts can stir people's innermost and most significant memories, which then arouse some given state of mind, thus forming emotions. However, she cannot, by her own will, alter the memories reawakened in people when they hear her music. Nor can she show them, or put them through, emotions or experiences that have never existed. She cannot make the sad laugh heartily, nor turn despots merciful. The great power exhibited by her Arts is a resonance between music and a person's awakened ego. Virtuosa herself has long been aware of this: she has not once attempted to invert another's nature through her music. Not for helplessness, but for wisdom.
Date: ■■/■■/1100
[Participant Checklist]
Rhodes Island Human Resources Department: Present
Rhodes Island Medical Department: Present
Spire of Grace, Leithanien: Present
Institute of Telepathy, Leithanien: Present
The Lateran Curia: Present
Notarial Hall, Laterano: Present
[Inquiry Footage]
[Resume Transmission]
[05:17/05:35:36]
'In light of our collective understanding of the concerned party, I suggest we omit the procedural introduction and move directly to today's inquiry proceedings.'
'The Empresses' Voice is still reviewing the report on the subject. Is the Notarial Hall in such in a rush?'
'Does Leithanien require that report to understand the subject?'
'[COUGHING]'
'We have three hours reserved for our initial conference. Abide by the agreement, Federico—the Empresses' Voice has the right to read through the report first.'
'Three hours. I will begin timing.'
'This conference is being held by the Rhodes Island Human Resources Department. Additionally, Amiya will be present to assist us in our understanding of the subject's Originium Arts.'
'How soon we meet, Miss Amiya. With her present, maybe you'll all rest a little easier around me.
'But of course, I know you won't.'
[07:38/05:35:36]
[Pause Transmission]
[Conference Log: attachment #2: Opinion from the Institute of Telepathy]
......
If we adopt the theory put forward by several interviewees in the early-stage investigation reports concerning Virtuosa, then the Arts she grasps could be said, in essence, to 'magnify' others' emotions to the point of 'urging' them to take impulsive action, which leads to our falling into the easy trap of lumping it in with other mental Arts—or as we would categorize them in Leithanien, 'telepathic-perceptual'—thus considering it either a simple illusion-/mirage-based construct, or a form of so-called 'mind control.'
However, the fact of the matter is that Virtuosa's Arts are exceedingly rare. Given our as-yet-insufficient study of her type of Originium Arts, it's no wonder we might have misjudged its effective mechanisms, and hence arrived at an erroneous conclusion.
......
Of all the investigation reports, a 1092 Lateran Notarial Hall case file logs the greatest detail, and serves as our most useful reference. Within, the author Federico generalizes Virtuosa's Arts as an 'empathetic expansion,' presumably owing to his Lateran familiarities. From there, we conjecture something most interesting: that Virtuosa's unique Arts may well be the result of Sankta empathic abilities acting in concert with telepathic-perceptual Arts. Based on this hypothesis, we launched further research into her Arts with the assent of multiple conference parties, herself, and the test subjects.
......
In the course of our research, we carried out both individual and multi-person tests. We have only made a brief summary in this report; detailed test logs and participant feedback will be recorded elsewhere.
In individual tests, when Virtuosa performed music using her Originium Arts, we picked up both the music and the subject's emotional impulse in a coinciding frequency range on three separate detectors. She was seemingly able to 'perceive' this coinciding range, and use Arts to bring about some sort of 'resonance' effect—this resonance was not limited to the subject and the music, but affected the caster as well, i.e. Virtuosa's own emotional impulses (see attachment #3).
In multi-person tests, Virtuosa demonstrated to us another mode of her Originium Arts—the effect she displayed during Das Kaiserinnensfest, and one of pertinent interest to all parties at the conference. She had three subjects experience simultaneous emotional resonance (see attachment #6); the concrete manner in which she achieved this is something we still haven't ascertained.
......
[Conference Log: attachment #4: Subject #1: Mrs. ■■■■■]
Without personally undergoing it, I fear one could hardly know how Virtuosa's Arts acts upon her 'subjects,' much like how the Sankta have a limited ability to explain to others just how their empathy works.
As a researcher of consciousness and cognition, I've always been fond of likening the human consciousness to a lake. Our typical actions and motivations are merely the scenery mirrored in its surface; the thing we call the subconscious, no more than the fins and pebbles some meters under. We often take the existence of the lake for granted, forgetting that we have each drop of water to thank for begetting it—each moment of sadness and triumph, each moment of thought and feeling—as they pour into this grand lake and become one with it. Thus we observe and see only a great body of water, not the minute, endless trickles.
Virtuosa's Arts are able to separate and distinguish the water back into those constituent trickles. Under the effect of her Arts, every depth of our consciousnesses, including those we've long forgotten—our buried or deliberately hidden memories—are given an emphasis they've never known. Such memories are usually associated with the strongest emotions stirred by the melody itself. They float to the surface on their own, and cause us to reconsider the manner in which the lake of our consciousness is. We sometimes underestimate on how real a level such reconsideration changes our behavior, and influences our judgment.
That said, after undergoing today's experiments, Virtuosa's Arts have had me find that merely analogizing to 'a lake' is altogether insufficient to describe the breadth of human consciousness, or to account for the grand billows that her music can stir within it. As such, 'the sea of consciousness' may be a more apt metaphor.
[Outcome of Meeting]
Joint deliberation by all convened parties concludes that the functional mechanisms by which Operator 'Virtuosa's' Arts can work are as yet unclear, and still of inestimable risk. Therefore, per agreement she is to be transferred to Rhodes Island to await further observation and study. Virtuosa will continue to require supervision while at Rhodes Island: all conduct will be subject to consistent scrutiny, anything spoken must be logged, and she is forbidden from performing anything without authorization.
[Classified Log]
Their hypothesis at the conference was correct. Virtuosa's Arts can stir people's innermost and most significant memories, which then arouse some given state of mind, thus forming emotions. However, she cannot, by her own will, alter the memories reawakened in people when they hear her music. Nor can she show them, or put them through, emotions or experiences that have never existed. She cannot make the sad laugh heartily, nor turn despots merciful. The great power exhibited by her Arts is a resonance between music and a person's awakened ego. Virtuosa herself has long been aware of this: she has not once attempted to invert another's nature through her music. Not for helplessness, but for wisdom.
After highly protracted discussion, Rhodes Island has ultimately made the decision to admit Virtuosa in operator capacity. Though her movements are not to be strictly circumscribed, we have been pressured to request that the associated operator—i.e. Executor—follow her during her time aboard, 'so as to keep her safe.' In any case, no matter how you slice it, Virtuosa now has some amount of freedom.
It is unavoidable, however, that her arrival has perturbed Rhodes Island's collective nerves. Rumors have circulated of her exploits prior to boarding, and on the same token, various departments have separately hammered home what to watch for when interacting with her. From the perspective of our operators, this only further proves the magnitude of her power. If her cello could incite such disturbances in Sargon, Columbia, and even the heart of Leithanien, it is difficult to imagine the effect it could have on Rhodes Island.
Even so, not once has a performance of it been indulged aboard the landship. This restriction comes not just from Rhodes Island, or even the ever-present, ever-close, gun-toting Executor; the will of the cellist herself is the greatest hindrance. The fastener binding the cello's strings has not been loosened here in a very long time. She has, on record, invited other operators to pluck its strings, but never do they vibrate, instead remaining steadfastly silent.
'It doesn't matter if a piece is a masterpiece or not, and while the respect a performer has for it does, it's the piece itself that has the final say. Rhodes Island's movement is enough of a masterpiece already, and it'd be far too discourteous of me to keep ruining it with a tuneless din.'
[Classified Log]
Illusions can often arouse complex moods in people, but one aspect is consistent—loneliness. Virtuosa's, however, differs. I can sense how she, hand in hand with her audience, faithfully walks each brief journey of the heartstrings to its end. She avails of the listener's ear so as to listen together, and so too of the listener's eye, so as to weep together. Her listeners are never alone. Virtuosa is, in a sense, undeniably sincere.
It is unavoidable, however, that her arrival has perturbed Rhodes Island's collective nerves. Rumors have circulated of her exploits prior to boarding, and on the same token, various departments have separately hammered home what to watch for when interacting with her. From the perspective of our operators, this only further proves the magnitude of her power. If her cello could incite such disturbances in Sargon, Columbia, and even the heart of Leithanien, it is difficult to imagine the effect it could have on Rhodes Island.
Even so, not once has a performance of it been indulged aboard the landship. This restriction comes not just from Rhodes Island, or even the ever-present, ever-close, gun-toting Executor; the will of the cellist herself is the greatest hindrance. The fastener binding the cello's strings has not been loosened here in a very long time. She has, on record, invited other operators to pluck its strings, but never do they vibrate, instead remaining steadfastly silent.
'It doesn't matter if a piece is a masterpiece or not, and while the respect a performer has for it does, it's the piece itself that has the final say. Rhodes Island's movement is enough of a masterpiece already, and it'd be far too discourteous of me to keep ruining it with a tuneless din.'
[Classified Log]
Illusions can often arouse complex moods in people, but one aspect is consistent—loneliness. Virtuosa's, however, differs. I can sense how she, hand in hand with her audience, faithfully walks each brief journey of the heartstrings to its end. She avails of the listener's ear so as to listen together, and so too of the listener's eye, so as to weep together. Her listeners are never alone. Virtuosa is, in a sense, undeniably sincere.
[Virtuosa's private scorebook. Opening it reveals no staves within, nor a single note, but taken down in meticulous penmanship are each composition's name, instruments, and performance length, along with... an explanation of the work, or some descriptive equivalent—is this how Virtuosa memorizes these pieces?]
'Somnia Caelorum (Himmelsträume)' (1086)
Instruments: Harmonica
It seems that since ancient times, people have dreamt of flying into the sky. And the dream stays alive even in old age, with just a crane of the head to look to the blue. A soaring harmonica should be able to give them a helping hand.
Menuett 'The King He Came A-Dancing (Der tanzende Regent)' (1091)
Instruments: Empty beer bottle (Flyfin Lager for wide register, Mama John's for crystal timbre. Also, you can add red wine directly to the garbage dump)
I've never tried performing with something as unique as an empty bottle before. Who knew their scales could be so interesting? Much thanks to the drunk the other day for explaining. How rich in talent law schools are! Looks like I'll want to keep trying my luck on their lawn every so often.
'Foehns (Föhne)' (1093)
Instruments: Cello, works better on desert drums
Sargon's people are too zesty! Hearts more aglitter than summer, more fiery than the sun... They deserve better lives—they deserve a more passionate song.
The foehns lift the sands, and together the sands blot out the sun that broils them.
Nocturne 'Paradisus (Paradies)' (1099)
Instruments: Cello
This land bears too many exiles, too heavy a sorrow. I beg you, don't tell the flowers about them; I beg you, don't deceive the flowers with them.
May this flower's soul arrive at Paradise; dolor floris demum in pace requiescat.
Messe 'König' (1100)
Instruments: Cello
This piece wasn't written for any one sovereign. I'd like to think it was written for all of them.
Remember forever the afterglow of Zwillingstürme. A sovereign one meets again. A sovereign one becomes.
[Diagnostic report from Psychology & Empathy, Pagus Stevonus Central Hospital]
Firstly, let me thank Rhodes Island for allowing us onboard to carry out a psychological examination of our troublemaker. Certainly, Arturia has ignited our interest in cases—though I personally despise any terminology that suggests the phenomenon is an illness—of errari, or in your vernacular, the 'astray.' We owe this secondarily to her nomadic lifestyle and primarily to her being, to a degree, 'banished' in the eyes of the Holy City. Rationally speaking, per our prior understanding of the astray, we would expect Arturia's empathic ability at this point to be quite diminished since her time in the Holy City. However, we made a quantitative comparison of her empathic ability between the two periods and found that it had not only refused to weaken, but had reached an all-new state through her Arts—needless to say, you may trust that we've experienced firsthand the might of her one-of-a-kind 'empathy.' Yet just how did her empathy become so developed amidst such a long-term errari lifestyle? I believe we can find our answer in her prolonged experience roaming across Terra.
Of course, calling it 'empathy' is a matter of my own personal taste, a concept I can trust my fellow Laterans to comprehend, but whether through the lens of mode of operation, principle of action, or resultant effect, Arturia's Arts are absolutely and thoroughly distinct from true empathy. We are currently held back by issues of facilities and permissions; come the time for her to properly return to the Holy City, we under the auspices of the Sixth Tribunal will invite even more doctors of psychiatry—even the idiots from the Seventh Tribunal's 66th—to administer an even more comprehensive exam.
I have the faint feeling that Arturia is capable of doing more for our law and order than simply damaging it. Likewise, the sin she committed and the reproach she receives may not be bearable by her alone. When the time comes, I bid the law determine.
'Somnia Caelorum (Himmelsträume)' (1086)
Instruments: Harmonica
It seems that since ancient times, people have dreamt of flying into the sky. And the dream stays alive even in old age, with just a crane of the head to look to the blue. A soaring harmonica should be able to give them a helping hand.
Menuett 'The King He Came A-Dancing (Der tanzende Regent)' (1091)
Instruments: Empty beer bottle (Flyfin Lager for wide register, Mama John's for crystal timbre. Also, you can add red wine directly to the garbage dump)
I've never tried performing with something as unique as an empty bottle before. Who knew their scales could be so interesting? Much thanks to the drunk the other day for explaining. How rich in talent law schools are! Looks like I'll want to keep trying my luck on their lawn every so often.
'Foehns (Föhne)' (1093)
Instruments: Cello, works better on desert drums
Sargon's people are too zesty! Hearts more aglitter than summer, more fiery than the sun... They deserve better lives—they deserve a more passionate song.
The foehns lift the sands, and together the sands blot out the sun that broils them.
Nocturne 'Paradisus (Paradies)' (1099)
Instruments: Cello
This land bears too many exiles, too heavy a sorrow. I beg you, don't tell the flowers about them; I beg you, don't deceive the flowers with them.
May this flower's soul arrive at Paradise; dolor floris demum in pace requiescat.
Messe 'König' (1100)
Instruments: Cello
This piece wasn't written for any one sovereign. I'd like to think it was written for all of them.
Remember forever the afterglow of Zwillingstürme. A sovereign one meets again. A sovereign one becomes.
[Diagnostic report from Psychology & Empathy, Pagus Stevonus Central Hospital]
Firstly, let me thank Rhodes Island for allowing us onboard to carry out a psychological examination of our troublemaker. Certainly, Arturia has ignited our interest in cases—though I personally despise any terminology that suggests the phenomenon is an illness—of errari, or in your vernacular, the 'astray.' We owe this secondarily to her nomadic lifestyle and primarily to her being, to a degree, 'banished' in the eyes of the Holy City. Rationally speaking, per our prior understanding of the astray, we would expect Arturia's empathic ability at this point to be quite diminished since her time in the Holy City. However, we made a quantitative comparison of her empathic ability between the two periods and found that it had not only refused to weaken, but had reached an all-new state through her Arts—needless to say, you may trust that we've experienced firsthand the might of her one-of-a-kind 'empathy.' Yet just how did her empathy become so developed amidst such a long-term errari lifestyle? I believe we can find our answer in her prolonged experience roaming across Terra.
Of course, calling it 'empathy' is a matter of my own personal taste, a concept I can trust my fellow Laterans to comprehend, but whether through the lens of mode of operation, principle of action, or resultant effect, Arturia's Arts are absolutely and thoroughly distinct from true empathy. We are currently held back by issues of facilities and permissions; come the time for her to properly return to the Holy City, we under the auspices of the Sixth Tribunal will invite even more doctors of psychiatry—even the idiots from the Seventh Tribunal's 66th—to administer an even more comprehensive exam.
I have the faint feeling that Arturia is capable of doing more for our law and order than simply damaging it. Likewise, the sin she committed and the reproach she receives may not be bearable by her alone. When the time comes, I bid the law determine.
You tread into a nightmare.
In it your throat is voiceless; you cannot make out anyone's face.
But you hear a sound you know. Warm, bright, like a lullaby from long ago.
'Arturia, Arturia? Are you any better?
'Are you still feeling bad? Can you tell Mamma any more about your bad dream last night?
'It's okay, Arturia.
'You don't need to worry about losing your voice. You don't need to worry about not seeing others' faces.
'Come here. Come to Mamma.
'Look, it's a cello. Mamma will teach you.'
Bow meets string, and plays the silent falling of rain. You know it's rain, because raindrops land on your face.
It hurts. It burns. You search for that lullaby. Where is she?
You are jostled about. Everyone is wearing veils, and they are so far away, but a hand clutches your arm tight.
'Arturia Giallo, don't feel sad.
'Your father doesn't blame you, he just can't find it in him to accept it yet.
'He wants for you to wear these gloves. Your mother left them to you.
'If you can't keep your music in check, then you just need someone else to keep you in check. These gloves are where we'll start.
'This isn't a punishment, Arturia. This is to protect others, to protect those by your side, to protect the ones close to you.
'No hurting them anymore, Arturia.'
The figures melt into the inky rain. Its every burning drop converges into a single inky sun.
It looms over your head. Its black light renders you blind.
'You were too late, Arturia.
'You never got to meet your tutor for the last time. You never got to give him a proper goodbye.
'You long foresaw his death, didn't you?
'By the time you learned he used to perform beneath that Spire, his death was set in stone.
'A shame. Once pitted against fate, even Emmanuel leaves us so.
'You? What can you possibly do in all of this?
'Arturia, there is nothing you can do.'
The inky sun sets. It hangs its head in duty, and plunges into the human ocean.
The babbling ocean eventually coalesces into a lone tear, streaks down your face, and falls into your heart.
You hear the voice.
'It's okay, Arturia.'
It is here the music stops.
'Excuse me, I didn't notice you were here. That was a newer piece I only practice when I'm on my own. I must've made an embarrassment of myself; I'm still not too fluent.
'Actually, it's not even finished yet; I only got the inspiration to write it recently. It's a very... fresh method of composition for me, and it does prove challenging. No piece in the lands has ever been composed like this before.
'Which is why I can even promise that its every passage is rooted in sincerity. It is the melody of me.
'Still, I knew what I'd title it long ago.
'I call it 'Virtuosa'.'
In it your throat is voiceless; you cannot make out anyone's face.
But you hear a sound you know. Warm, bright, like a lullaby from long ago.
'Arturia, Arturia? Are you any better?
'Are you still feeling bad? Can you tell Mamma any more about your bad dream last night?
'It's okay, Arturia.
'You don't need to worry about losing your voice. You don't need to worry about not seeing others' faces.
'Come here. Come to Mamma.
'Look, it's a cello. Mamma will teach you.'
Bow meets string, and plays the silent falling of rain. You know it's rain, because raindrops land on your face.
It hurts. It burns. You search for that lullaby. Where is she?
You are jostled about. Everyone is wearing veils, and they are so far away, but a hand clutches your arm tight.
'Arturia Giallo, don't feel sad.
'Your father doesn't blame you, he just can't find it in him to accept it yet.
'He wants for you to wear these gloves. Your mother left them to you.
'If you can't keep your music in check, then you just need someone else to keep you in check. These gloves are where we'll start.
'This isn't a punishment, Arturia. This is to protect others, to protect those by your side, to protect the ones close to you.
'No hurting them anymore, Arturia.'
The figures melt into the inky rain. Its every burning drop converges into a single inky sun.
It looms over your head. Its black light renders you blind.
'You were too late, Arturia.
'You never got to meet your tutor for the last time. You never got to give him a proper goodbye.
'You long foresaw his death, didn't you?
'By the time you learned he used to perform beneath that Spire, his death was set in stone.
'A shame. Once pitted against fate, even Emmanuel leaves us so.
'You? What can you possibly do in all of this?
'Arturia, there is nothing you can do.'
The inky sun sets. It hangs its head in duty, and plunges into the human ocean.
The babbling ocean eventually coalesces into a lone tear, streaks down your face, and falls into your heart.
You hear the voice.
'It's okay, Arturia.'
It is here the music stops.
'Excuse me, I didn't notice you were here. That was a newer piece I only practice when I'm on my own. I must've made an embarrassment of myself; I'm still not too fluent.
'Actually, it's not even finished yet; I only got the inspiration to write it recently. It's a very... fresh method of composition for me, and it does prove challenging. No piece in the lands has ever been composed like this before.
'Which is why I can even promise that its every passage is rooted in sincerity. It is the melody of me.
'Still, I knew what I'd title it long ago.
'I call it 'Virtuosa'.'
The distant sky yawns with cumulus Catastrophe clouds. Into the storm sinks the sun, casting its inauspicious afterglow across Rhodes Island's deck. Like parched blood. Scorched earth.
You turn to go, back into the ship. The course ahead won't be smooth.
Finally you notice you're not alone on the deck, not at all. You have a visitor, just a single one. You don't know when she got here, nor do you know how long she's stood behind you, there on the spot. Only now have you seen her, the black-haired Sankta.
You walk for the ship's interior. You see inauspicious light reaching to creep across her face. Her expression is as placid as ever. You've heard tell that she has no emotion.
But you see her, and it's as if she's smiling. You recall that same smile of hers, that day beneath the spotlight.
You see the bow in her right hand, placed to the strings fingered beneath her left. You recall the reason she came aboard.
Bow caresses string. The first note lingers in your mind. She's forbidden from performing, especially to you. You're not at all prepared for this. It's too late.
But the music abruptly stops. It ends. The Sankta doesn't continue. You find you've already walked up to face her.
'Doctor, I'm not going to perform you. Not aboard Rhodes Island, at least.'
The Sankta lifts her bow away. Upon its wooden tip, there rests a pallid, sparkling cloud, like newborn ice, a flower bloomed from nowhere.
'But performing this cloud should be fine, at least, shouldn't it?'
Clad in jet black gloves, the Sankta offers it forth.
You take the white cloud into your hands, turn your head to see behind you, and the sun has set. The Catastrophe clouds have woven a blackout canopy.
'May this new journey be plain sailing.'
Her piece said, the cloud flickers and scatters into the night.
You turn to go, back into the ship. The course ahead won't be smooth.
Finally you notice you're not alone on the deck, not at all. You have a visitor, just a single one. You don't know when she got here, nor do you know how long she's stood behind you, there on the spot. Only now have you seen her, the black-haired Sankta.
You walk for the ship's interior. You see inauspicious light reaching to creep across her face. Her expression is as placid as ever. You've heard tell that she has no emotion.
But you see her, and it's as if she's smiling. You recall that same smile of hers, that day beneath the spotlight.
You see the bow in her right hand, placed to the strings fingered beneath her left. You recall the reason she came aboard.
Bow caresses string. The first note lingers in your mind. She's forbidden from performing, especially to you. You're not at all prepared for this. It's too late.
But the music abruptly stops. It ends. The Sankta doesn't continue. You find you've already walked up to face her.
'Doctor, I'm not going to perform you. Not aboard Rhodes Island, at least.'
The Sankta lifts her bow away. Upon its wooden tip, there rests a pallid, sparkling cloud, like newborn ice, a flower bloomed from nowhere.
'But performing this cloud should be fine, at least, shouldn't it?'
Clad in jet black gloves, the Sankta offers it forth.
You take the white cloud into your hands, turn your head to see behind you, and the sun has set. The Catastrophe clouds have woven a blackout canopy.
'May this new journey be plain sailing.'
Her piece said, the cloud flickers and scatters into the night.
HP
1501
ATK
525
DEF
109
RES
15
Cost
16
ATK Interval
1.6 sec
Block
1
Redeploy
70 sec
Talents
- Wordless ElegyEnemies within attack range take 10% ATK as Necrosis per second, and are Slowed for 0.2s
- Mental InversionEnemies within attack range take 20% more Necrosis
Skills
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'Golden Ecstasy'Auto RecoveryAuto ActivationInitial SP18SP Cost6Deal 300% ATK as Arts damage, and an additional 110% ATK as Necrosis if the enemy is not under the burst effect
Can store 3 charges and cannot use normal attacks when skill is inactiveatk_scale3ep_damage_ratio1.1
'Requiem Mass'Auto RecoveryManual ActivationInitial SP14SP Cost24Duration20 secASPD +60, attack 1 additional target; when this unit and the allied Operator with highest ATK within range deal damage to an enemy, additionally deal 25% ATK as Necrosisattack_speed60ep_damage_ratio0.25
'Liberal Tango'Auto RecoveryManual ActivationInitial SP40SP Cost60Duration40 secStops attacking, Attack Range increases, ATK +180%, 2nd Talent effect increased to 2.5x; when skill is active, for all other Operators within range, the one with the highest max HP gains max HP +30%, the one with the highest ATK gains ATK +30%, and the one with the highest DEF gains DEF +30%atk1.8scale_delta_to_one2.5cello_s_3[max_hp].max_hp0.3cello_s_3[atk].atk0.3cello_s_3[def].def0.3
Modules
ORIGINALVirtuosa's Badge
Operator Virtuosa has demonstrated a remarkable aptitude for assisting allies in the inflicting of elemental casualties upon the enemy.
The Field Operations Department has thus passed the following resolution:
This operator shall be appointed a Supporter Operator during field operations to exercise Ritualist responsibilities.
In witness whereof,
This badge is hereby conferred upon the above named.
RIT-XThe DecrescendoStage Stats Upgrade Description 1 - HP +135
- ATK +28
Ritualist Trait Attacks deal Arts damage, and can inflict Elemental InjuryElemental Injury dealt to Elite and Leader enemies increases by 18%2 - HP +175
- ATK +35
Mental Inversion Enemies within attack range take 28% more Necrosis; if the target is under the burst effect of Necrosis, they receive 3% Elemental Fragility3 - HP +210
- ATK +40
Mental Inversion Enemies within attack range take 33% more Necrosis; if the target is under the burst effect of Necrosis, they receive 5% Elemental Fragility
Her tutor seems very late to today's lesson, but the student hardly cares. She's always hated this tutor anyway. Clearly she's good enough to finish this whole cello solo unguided! But somehow, her tutor's just never satisfied.
Certainly, she can't play as well as her tutor. Oh, she's tried to submerge herself in the score, to converse without care with the composer she never got to know. But those ebon-black markings have stayed silent on their chalk-white scores. Their mysterious composer passed away almost a century ago; they say she died all alone, and practically left no trace she ever lived save for a few of her scores. It's not in her grasp to comprehend the passion and sorrow that lie within each movement, nor does she have a clue who that 'ever-lost lover' hiding with the score really was, or why they were struck by such fits of madness.
And so she can only but play as the score instructs, emotionlessly. At first, it goes well enough. She can still feel the brush of each note, feel them settle in her heart. But as the movements progress, and the music enters its passages of true frothing turbulence, the leaps, the repeats, those elegant trills and appoggiaturas, it all embraces her with fervor. They invite her to a mad dance, but step by step, her gait follows less and less. Tempestuous crescendos and diminuendos barrel violently through her vision, only to slip away next instant to the score's furthest reaches. She tries to catch them, grab hold of each glittering moment that accompanies them, struggling in the midst of the endlessly long staff to the point her strings' tremors can no longer rouse those worked-up emotions, and their place is taken by the repetitious back-and-forth of the metronome, clack, clack, clack, clack... echoing lonely in her ears, until the impassioned music agonizingly lingers no longer, as if this betrayal was preordained.
And thus, the energy fades from her fingertips as does that beautiful passage, leaving only the metronome still chiming away. Clack, clack, clack, clack... This imperfect silence becomes a parting declaration. At this, the fury and despair that lurk in her heart burst forth, becoming the heat in the tears her eyes brim with. Her vision blurs—the plain white score before her bids her final throes of resistance. She snatches the quill, and upon the score engraves each and every leap, every repeat, every elegant trill and appoggiatura, every tempestuous crescendo and diminuendo. Jet-black like cast iron shackles, she knows she's gone mad, but this is the only way she has to bind her ever-lost lover to her side. Before the final barline ends it all, her life will flow with the music.
And this is when the cello grinds to a halt. She finds herself holding the bow, the cello silently resting upon her bosom, and the strings are not quivering, and the metronome is not rocking, and all that fills the chamber is her heavy breathing. And her Sankta tutor, with her black gloves, gently brushes a hand over hers, and speaks in the same soft and gentle tone as ever.
'Your playing today was perfect,' she congratulates her, content. 'The composer's life, and her love, flowed within your performance.'
RIT-Y'Tuning on the Heart'Stage Stats Upgrade Description 1 - HP +190
- ATK +20
Ritualist Trait Attacks deal Arts damage, and can inflict Elemental InjuryEnemies within Attack Range receive 10% Elemental Fragility2 - HP +210
- ATK +30
Mental Inversion When deployed, all enemies take 20% more Necrosis, and receive 100 Elemental Damage per second when under the burst effect of Necrosis3 - HP +240
- ATK +35
Mental Inversion When deployed, all enemies take 20% more Necrosis, and receive 150 Elemental Damage per second when under the burst effect of Necrosis
To Cardinal Sangallo, First Tribunal, CC to the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Tribunals:
Attached please find the investigative report on the adverse impact on Sankta empathy caused by music from an unknown source in the recent calamity at Faber Central Hospital, and Executor Federico's report on Arturia Giallo's escape from captivity... All relevant files pertaining to Arturia Giallo are hereby sealed, and her citizenship privileges listed in Clauses 1 through 13 of the Laterano Constitution restored.
—Yvangelista XI
Yvangelista XI signs the letter with one hand and reaches out towards the dried cactus on the table with another. The dessert bowl on the desk was a little far away, but someone gently nudges it towards him.
'Ah, talk about timing.' The old man looks up at his visitor. 'I just signed off on a document about you.'
'A rather generous treatment, is it not?' Arturia sits down opposite the old man with a smile. 'Does the new Law permit offsetting transgressions with merit?'
'The whole city heard your performance that evening, after all... Not a particularly Lateran tune, but moving nonetheless.'
'It wasn't a particularly Lateran scene to begin with.'
'True. Incidentally, you called it 'offsetting transgressions with merit'? I was rather under the impression that you had never acknowledged your past deeds as 'transgressions'.'
'It is important for a musician to reflect on their tastes and habits from time to time.'
'Oh?'
'Someone who loves the changing clouds inevitably dislikes the monotony of sun and rain. Once, when I touched those dull and tedious voices of the heart, I felt like a cloudbeast obsessed with cleanliness falling into a pit of mud. I walked the land in search of great, dynamic souls. I visited the lost realm of the Zhayedan, the Witch King's Pavillon... missing out on thousands of other souls in the process. I know I must have passed those people by with a frown.'
'Ouch, my tooth... Go on, I'm listening.'
'But the one performance in my life I have the least regrets about was when I greeted night falling upon Laterano that day, with a group of strangers singing hymns in Bolívarian. Might I be so bold as to claim that I changed my listeners in some measure? Perhaps the dynamic changes I've been seeking all this time begin with my own fingertips. They belong to the future, not to the past.
'I want to retrace my path, Your Holiness. Perhaps I will encounter an audience I once overlooked, perhaps even those who play music without souls...'
'You mean the Seaborn?'
'Perhaps.'
'So you came to say farewell. It sounds like your path is a long one.'
'Whose isn't?' Arturia caresses the strings on her cello, as her smile grows even brighter. 'Fortunately, I have my cello.'
'That's true.'
Young and old sit opposite one another, both working their jaws hard. The conversation is over, and nothing shall interrupt this moment of tranquility. After all, the young Sankta's journey will soon begin once she is done with that piece of dried cactus.
RIIC Base Skills
Soundless ResonanceWhen this Operator is assigned to a Dormitory, for every 1 Operators in that Dormitory, Soundless Resonance +1
Wordless Anthem
When this Operator is assigned to a Dormitory, restores +0.2 Morale per hour to all Operators assigned to that Dormitory, and for every 5 Soundless Resonance, restores an additional +0.01 to all Operators (Only the strongest effect of this type applies)