application | forestcovered

[godparent]

( CHARACTER INFORMATION )

Name/Work Name: Etihw / Blanc
Canon: The Gray Garden
Canon Point: After the Good End.
AU/CRAU: N
Age: Unknown. Presumably older than their world.

History: There are many worlds that have been created by many gods. Etihw, one of them, found their world plunged into war when the Devil of their world, Kcalb, rebelled against God and their angels with his army of demons. A vicious war took place between the forces of good and evil, with many fatalities on both sides. Carnage reigned for a long time, turning God into a deadened, frightening husk of a person. Eventually, Kcalb was sealed deep within the earth by Etihw as punishment. Destruction was believed to be too kind; he was meant to suffer.

But, of course, Kcalb broke free. And once he did, he wasted no time in using his ultimately destructive powers to rid the world of everything but himself and Etihw. At the end, only they were left. He readied a final spell to steal Etihw's power from them, but for some reason discovered that he couldn’t make himself do it. The following period of time is not explained exactly, but somehow the two were able to reach an agreement and put their differences aside.

With a forgiven Kcalb at their side, Etihw recreated the world. In this new world, angels and demons lived together in harmony. It was rare that there wasn't a strong bond between a young angel and a young demon. Etihw and Kcalb fell in love and retreated to their castle, Blancblack, to watch over this gentle place in comfort. As the peace of their world stretched on, Etihw became content and lazy. They didn't fortify the barriers between their world and the others, even with Kcalb pestering them to.

Of course, this opened up the events of the game. A young demon named Yosafire stumbled across denizens from another world. She and her friends investigated, and after an attack on the school they attended, Yosafire's friend Froze was summoned to Blancblack castle to investigate the goings-on. Yosafire convinced Rawberry and Macarona, another devil and angel respectively, to follow after Froze and 'help' her. They were all caught and taken to a world of fire - the world belonging to the devil Ivlis.

Ivlis had sent his minions to destroy Etihw and Kcalb's world. While Yosafire and her crew escaped from his henchman Emalf, Ivlis himself approached Etihw while they were speaking to two girls of their world (Dialo and Chelan), and they agreed to go with him rather than let those two get hurt. Ivlis, powerful though he was, had no hope of matching Etihw and instead imprisoned them somewhere within the Flame World while he robbed Kcalb of his power.

A wandering demon later approached Dialo and Chelan, giving them one of Etihw's crystals that she had been keeping safe. This allowed the two to contact Etihw and keep them company during their imprisonment.

Yosafire and crew eventually took care of all of Ivlis' minions and took him on as he stole Kcalb's power. After wiping the floor with them, Ivlis taunted Yosafire and even assaulted her. Kcalb intervened. The old devil had a few tricks up his sleeve and he performed the power-stealing spell to take his own back. Ironically, this took out his remaining strength and left Yosfaire, Froze, Rawberry and Macarona to deal with the now de-powered Ivlis, which they did with relative ease. But even as they thought they’d won, Ivlis’ henchmen returned to his side and prepared to attack them. That was when Etihw broke out of their imprisonment.

They banished Ivlis and company and restored their world. The wandering demon showed back up after they'd done this and introduced herself as Reficul, the devil of yet another world who approved of the setup Etihw and Kcalb had and didn't want to see it ruined. Etihw thanked her for her help, and then she left to punish Ivlis and his minions for what they nearly did.

Suitably chastised for their laziness, Etihw fixed the protective barriers between their world and the others and set up safeguards against the same thing happening again. They tried to heal Kcalb, but the grumpy old man wouldn't let them as he felt like he deserved the pain he had. Still, they fixed up their world for a second time and were happy to keep the peace guarded and safe. Properly, this time.

Personality: If gods are meant to be regal, composed, and majestic, then Etihw certainly doesn't fit the bill at all. They are carefree and lax in both in speech and mannerisms. Rather than rule serenely over the land, they prefer to play games of cards and chess against their Devil and mock him ruthlessly when they beat him. Rather than being untouchable to their people, Etihw is so approachable that they have opened the castle for young demons and angels to study and learn in, as well as for all visitors to simply walk in and talk to them. In fact, Yosafire is able to waltz in with an apple pie at one point in the game to give to them both.

Teasing Kcalb is one of Etihw's favourite things to do. While Kcalb is most often the butt of their jokes, he is not the only one. Etihw has the same light-hearted, teasing attitude towards other people they encounter regularly, and treats all of their closest friends that way. They can act exceptionally immature with them - even threatening to start up the war with Kcalb over something as stupid as a bowl of hotpot. They also call Kcalb all manners of silly, childish insults when he doesn't answer them, but in a gentle, self-aware sort of way to show that they aren't actually angry at him.

Not only do they act immature and silly, but they also behave very laconically. When asked if they could simply use their power of omniscience, Etihw responds with a 'nah' and says that they 'hate that stuff'. It implies that they can use a heck of a lot more power than they do, but they dislike what it does to them and how it affects their relationships with others. They also don't keep up with their defences until it is too late, and constantly brush of chastisements for it. This is likely to have changed after the end of the game, where they do show some chagrin at leaving things so long and promise that it won't happen again.

They are very gentle and loving with their subjects. They tell Dialo and Chelan, a young angel and demon couple, that they love all of the angels and demons in their world and would refuse to change the way things are despite being considered bizarre and heretical among the gods and devils of other worlds. When Ivlis arrives they give themself up and allow themself to be trapped so that Chelan and Dialo can get away, and only break out when it becomes obvious that Kcalb and Yosafire's group are pitted hopelessly against Ivlis and his henchmen. They wouldn't allow their people to be harmed by their actions until the risk is greater than it already was.

This was not always the case. Before becoming the lazy, flippant god who is in love with their devil, Etihw was described as 'a lot scarier'. Kcalb talks about them having slaughtered thousands of his demons before they recreated the world, and Ivlis approaches them by mocking them over the way they act now. They were cold and unapproachable, with hollow, sad eyes and an imposing stance. Rather than being foolish, they did not suffer fools gladly. Banishment was consider a weak option to give an enemy: had Ivlis tried to attack back then, he would either have been slaughtered or imprisoned much like Kcalb had been. Thankfully, it is not often, but they do show some of that steely, frightening nature towards the end of the game, when they recreate their barriers and kick Ivlis and company out of their world. While they prefer not to be serious, it's shown that they still have it in them to behave as a frightening, awe-inspiring presence.

Etihw could be described as someone who acts light and conceals a heavy heart. In the normal (non-canon) ending, Ivlis manages to destroy their world and Etihw has a near breakdown as they attempt to pick up the pieces. The tone of the text heavily implies that they desperately wanted to create this safe haven for angels and demons and will remake it again and again, and that every time it is destroyed they are hurt. Furthermore, when they are shown in their past form their eyes are described as ‘deadened’ by many fans. From this we can take away that Etihw might act silly, but they have a lot of baggage and sadness in their person that weighs on them a lot.

As I’m unsure where else to put it, I’ll also mention Etihw’s gender here. Mogeko, the game’s creator, described Etihw thus: “fundamentally has no gender, portrayed closer to a woman for the game”. The translator said that despite Etihw using “the typically masculine ‘boku’”, they “referred to Etihw with female pronouns in [their] translation, and [they] think [they’re] probably going to keep it that way, as it fits with ‘portraying’ Etihw as a woman”. From this I choose to use the singular ‘they’ to refer to Etihw, but that they won’t ultimately mind being gendered otherwise by other characters.

Debt: If it is at all possible, I would like it if Etihw came to work under the Witch voluntarily. They wanted to learn proper discipline and to get their hands dirty as a sort of penance for letting their world go to complete shambles due to their laziness.

Suitability: If Etihw largely went into this of their own accord, they don’t have a problem with the idea of working under a contract. In practise, making themself work as hard as they’ll need to might be a bit of a challenge, because a willingness to change doesn’t mean the change happens overnight! Hopefully they will grow into someone who can be patient and vigilant at all hours from their time in the Witch’s service.

Previous Game Info: N/A

Inventory: As Etihw is god, they don’t tend to carry much around them. Their white robes and their ever-present diamond circlet will probably be the only thing they had with them at the time. While they won’t be that fussed about the clothes, the circlet will be the next thing they work to get back, after their name.

Abilities, Strengths, and Weaknesses: Etihw is god, and therefore the strongest person in their world and one of the strongest across the worlds that the Mogeko games span. While Kcalb may have more HP than they do, they have ‘???’ listed for their stats and their max MP, meaning that it can’t be measured.

They are able to create things from nothing, most notably large black and white stones that they can use for just about anything. The stones primarily are used for protection and physically manifest the defences of the world that Etihw has put in place. They also allow people to communicate with Etihw wherever they are, as seen when Reficul gives Dialo and Chelan one to keep them company. Other canon examples of things they’ve zapped from nothing (the world aside) are teleportation panels and bright, diamond-shaped flashes of light that descend onto a person and heal them of all their wounds.

Etihw’s power is primarily focused on healing and defence, but their offensive capabilities are enough to slaughter thousands of demons, once upon a time, and also to frighten off a Devil backed up by his most powerful henchmen. We’re not shown exactly what they are, but we can tell from this that they’re not to be trifled with.