Top Level Notes:You forced my hand. You have reawakened something from its slumber with your loud and obvious footsteps.
"When mist condenses into water,
fiction becomes reality.
The sea is the origin of it all. The place where we were born and will return to. Where our greatest joy and greatest fear share the same space.
The depths of the sea, the ocean floor, is both the most real and most fantastical space on Earth.
This means that the truth lies at the bottom. And the truth is god."
< - ⪻ - ⋘ - ⪡ - ⫷ -- ☧ -- ⫸ - ⪢ - ⋙ - ⪼ - >< - ⪻ - ⋘ - ⪡ - ⫷ -- ☧ -- ⫸ - ⪢ - ⋙ - ⪼ - >
"Hello, Master. May I have a portion of you time to talk about God?"
~♬~
╼ F O R E I G N E R ╾
「 Smiling Pope of the Sunken Anchor 」
= St. Clement I =
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
First Ascension: Clement of Rome
Second Ascension: Saint Clement
Third Ascension: Pope Clement I
Final Ascension: 'Father' Clement I
Class
Foreigner Alternative Classes
Rider True Name
St. Clement I Aliases
Clement of Rome, Drowned Pope, Sunken Martyr Origin
Rome, Crimea, Historical Fact & Rumors Height/Weight
178cm/66kg Alignment
Lawful Evil Attribute
Human
STR END AGI MAN LCK C B C C B
Likes
his faith, the Holy Father, the depths, fish and bread, unity Dislikes
sunshine, arguments, disobedience Talent
converting to his faith, swimming Natural Enemy
Katsushika Hokusai, Yang Guifei, Enheduanna-Nikkal, The Apostles Armament
shroud, tentacles, anchor Catalyst
an old anchor from Crimea
Due to the nature of his creation, he prefers a style more in line with Western Fashion of the early 20th century.
__________________________________________________________________________
< - ⪻ - ⪡ - ⫷ -- Class Skills -- ⫸ - ⪢ - ⪼ - >Class Skills
Territory Creation B+
Where Foreigner's body touched the seafloor, a divinely built shrine appeared. Or was it there before?
Every year the tides would part for one day so believers could visit it for prayers. One year a mother forgot her child in it and looked on as the sea claimed the place of prayer and the girl for itself. But the next year the child emerged well and healthy from the doors of the wet shrine. Foreigner can build such a place of worship that gains additional properties when created underwater. A strange architecture of unknown geometry, vaguely inspired by Crimean design.
Insanity B
Is Foreigner devoured by Madness? Or did he devour it himself?
In his never-ceasing smile is no ill will, no malicious intention. Foreigner is thankful and praises the Father and spreads the word…the word that was born inside the depths.
Foreigner is grateful for every foul fish he may enjoy as a meal and every drop of cursed water he is blessed to receive as a sweet drink.
Divinity A+
The touch of something divine. Foreigner was one of the first that would hold the title of Pope and acquired a low rank in Divinity because of it. But through the blessing of the 'Holy Father', the rank increased.
The smell of grotesque seas and rotting fish cling to the shining aura of the Saint. An unnatural presence that crawls inside the husk of a pagan god.
Existence Outside the Domain A-
The god that swims through a watery abyss and black chaos is beyond the scope of humanity. He dwells in the realm of God before the creation of Heaven and Earth and Light. The ocean before Genesis is his domain and with strange currents, The Father brought it back into our world. The mixing with the waters of the Earth lowered the rank. But the deep sea remains the most mysterious place on the planet…
__________________________________________________________________________
< - ⪻ - ⪡ - ⫷ -- Personal Skills -- ⫸ - ⪢ - ⪼ - >Personal Skills
Tainted Miracle B
Foreigner can perform various miracles such as creating a spring of water for thirsty workers, imitate the Feeding of Multitude by multiplying fish and bread, and protect children from catastrophe. The miracles he performs are emanations of the 'Holy Father' and his blessings. Each multiplied meal is viler than the last but how come its allure is so delicious?
The skill bears traces of the Innocent Monster Skill. Someone of importance of which little is remembered, used as a door to breach through the surface of reality.
Saint of the Depths B
Indicates being acknowledged as a Saint.
Foreigner is the third Pope in history, an Apostolic Father and a Saint, granting him a high rank.
It increases Foreigner's healing factor, the effectiveness of sacraments, and his Epistles of the Sunken Father Skill.
He can impart blessings as a Saint of Mariners which includes a short immunity to drowning and a modulation of Luck so that they be graced by the Father's love.
But this results, more often than not, in a lowering in their Luck and Endurance at sea, so they may sink beneath the waves and live long enough to reach the bottom.
The creation of a holy shroud is possible which Foreigner already wears. A soaked blue mantle of the obnoxious waters from the depts of the sea supports him in his task to spread the word of the Father and bring peace to the Kingdom of God. He describes it as "the caring embrace of the Father" as tentacles of rotten liquids creep upon his limbs.
Epistles of the Sunken Father B+
The First Epistle of Clement is a letter to the Corinthian Church in which dissension recently arose. In it, he urges for peace and established the basis for apostolic succession and the structure of the church necessary to organize and survive the trying times early Christians had to endure. His writing marked the character of the Roman Church.
A rhetoric skill that Foreigner uses to call for unity. His words enhance the concept of societal structure and solve disputes accordingly. As such the skill is effective against those of Christian Faith, bar other Saints and the Apostles, and can rally them to revere him as the Pope.
His sermons have the goal to refine the inner spirit of listeners. It is the accumulation of his life as a preacher who converted thousands.
With him he carries the mentioned epistles, moist and spoiled vellum, smelling like brackish water and filled with a language of maritime symbols only he can understand. If he recites the content, the tentacles on his back quiver and position themselves to mimic the St. Clement Cross.
__________________________________________________________________________
< - ⪻ - ⪡ - ⫷ -- Noble Phantasm -- ⫸ - ⪢ - ⪼ - >Noble Phantasm
"Are you not yet convinced of my preachings?" asks Foreigner with a smirk. "Do not worry, perhaps I should make myself more clear." He opens his Epistles and the atmosphere darkens. "I will bring you closer to god." Only his red glasses reflect light from the unnatural dark silhouette of the smiling pope.
Martyr's Sinking CrossDrowning in the Black Sea
Foreigner throws his Eldritch Holy Shroud into the foreboding sky of clouds with the same blood-tinted hue as his glasses. The tentacles that live inside the cloak crawl their way through the blanket of mist in the sky in newfound enormity.
Foreigner begins reciting a beautiful prayer in a language no one can comprehend yet drives them all to shed black tears.
From the midst of the convulsing extremities falls an anchor in front of Foreigner. It is the one that was bound to his neck and dragged him into the depths of the Black Sea.
Upon impact a spring of black holy water sprouts from the anchor that fills the area and heals Foreigner. Rotting fish and tentacles bubble from the wet surface of the mushy and goo-like substance that replaced the soil, vividly winding in pain. A stench fills the atmosphere that would make even the strongest of stomaches unload its contents. Foreigner ends his prayer, kisses his rosary, and smiles. Oh this smile, never was it so unnerving…
The anchor suddenly sinks beneath the abhorrent wet mire and an aquatic mana chain appears around the victim's neck that drags them along.
The target sinks beneath the shadowy waves with death and blasphemy as their currents.
In the blackness of the waters, they hear and feel the presence of forgotten evils, hiding inside the clouds of conscious algae, and whisper echoes of ancient eons' secrets through the endless nothingness. Foreigner swims beside them, laughing and praying, ensuring them that this is nothing to be feared. The anchor sinks deeper and deeper toward the ocean floor covered in the decomposing remains of a forgotten incomprehensible species that wrestled with the whales.
It falls in front of a divinely built shrine of unknown and impossible architecture with the same language inscribed on the exterior as the content of his blighted texts. The gates to it open and reveal a deep green vortex of chaos and tranquility.
From it, the tentacles from Foreigner's cape reemerge and grab onto his whole body. 'The embrace of god' drags him into the portal while smiling at you with eyes that tell you of his kindness. You will join him, come what may.
Mercilessly the currents tow the victim into the churning gyre like a starving maw of Charybdis.
They may scream and struggle but to no avail. The love and embrace of the Father will devour them. The door closes before their eyes, observed by millions of dark and glassy gazes in the deep.
As the door shuts close, their eyes open.
It was a nightmare, a black dream both shared.
"Shhh...let this be our little secret, my friend." he whispers while you still see the horrors you witnessed before your very eyes.
How the target awakens depends on their own will and power to resist this experience.
In an eldritch dimension where everything is of putrid water, even time, the perception of it can be manipulated if one exerts control over the element. To make a child experience one year inside the Black Sea like mere seconds is not that different from letting a misguided opponent experience a few seconds like a whole year. What happened inside this dream is impossible to tell but there can only be two outcomes. The target is released and accepted the love of the Holy Father …or is in need of one more year…
The followers who invited the grace of the Father into their lungs realized that they were made in god's image. Soon they shall transform to make it true…
__________________________________________________________________________
< - ⪻ - ⪡ - ⫷ -- Lore and Background -- ⫸ - ⪢ - ⪼ - >Lore and Background
The Outer God using Foreigner is Dagon. An Outer God of Unimaginable Depths that swims in the liminal spaces of reality. When the crazed writer named the Evil Beings outside reality, a gate opened for Dagon to infiltrate this world. His name was inspired by a Philistine deity named Dagan, an important deity of which little is remembered. He was a Fertility God of prosperity and a provider of grain. But his legacy got misconstrued. When a commentator in the 11th century read the bible and gave context to the god whose idol statue was felled and bowed before the Ark of the Covenant, he suggested his name derived from "fish". Two centuries later a translation echoed the mistake and claimed he had the form of a being half-man, half-fish. The misunderstanding led to the false attribution of depictions of the merman monster of Tiamat, called Kulullu, strengthening the curse on the god. The mistake was accepted for centuries, until the 20th century the notion was questioned. Nowadays no scholar would support the idea of Dagan being a god of the sea but the damage was done. The crazed writer took inspiration and cultivated the image of a forgotten god the ancients worshipped. Fiction became stronger than reality and to this day people repeat the image of Dagon as fact.
To add insult to injury, conspiracy theorists compared the headdress worn by the supposed "Dagon" to the Catholic miter the pope wears. They claim the largest religion in the world secretly commits idolatry and worships the very god of whom they destroyed his temples.
It is the perfect connection for the Evil God to use. But the raging earthly deity fought and resisted.
They had their own plans that would sever to channel to the Evil Beast of the Depths. But through Chaldea's involvement in the recent maritime event, they were weakened. Only a husk of themselves, the Outer God could finally take over and hijack their Saint Graph.
The wishes of the Evil God were laid out, the concepts were established.
A man from the depths. A man with the position to convince the world of his worship. A man who is a 'Father'. A man who is a mystery. The choice was clear: Clement I.
Not much is known about the one that would be called a Pope and Saint by future generations.
Clement was probably a Gentile Christian from Rome. It is suggested he was a follower of and was schooled by the Saints Peter and Paul. He was mentioned by name in Philippians 4:3 as a fellow laborer of the gospel by Paul. He began as a missionary, preaching the word of the crucified Jesus Christ, and was later ordained Bishop of Rome by apostle Peter. Here it becomes unclear who became the how many popes. It is likely that Peter decided Clement shall become his direct successor but due to his youth decided to decline the position for several decades. Most commonly he is listed as the fourth pontiff after Peter, Linus, and Anacletus.
In the last decade of the first Christian century, a schism developed in the local church of Corinth. He wrote them a letter and came to the conclusion that jealousy and a lack of discipline to follow the elders were the problems. He urged for peace and unity and succeeded. After the New Testament, his letter would become the influential Christian writing in the first century and was considered canon by the Christians for a few hundred years. This made him an Apostolic Father who was considered an early pillar for the young religion in the absence of those who lived with Jesus himself and a bridge between the Age of Apostles and the Age of Martyrs.
Despite decades of bloody persecution against Christians by Roman Emperors, it was said he converted hundreds of new followers to his faith. Angered by this, Clement was exiled and forced to work in a Marble mine in Crimea with other prisoners and exiled believers.
There, in the sun's heat, the workers suffered from thirst. The next spring was a few miles away and the guards did not treat the inmates well. So Clement prayed and saw a lamb on a hill, digging in the ground. He dug a hole there and uncovered a freshwater spring which quenched the thirst of two-thousand workers and converted many to Christianity for this miracle.
In retribution for this act, Trajan had Clement bound to an anchor and thrown into the Black Sea in 101 AD. A shrine of white marble miraculously encased his corpse; each year when the tide receded some two miles this shrine containing the martyr's bones were said to become visible to those on shore.
This made him the Saint of Mariners and Marble workers. But his life is still mysterious. It was suggested that Paul did not mean Clement I in the Philippians and may have been another Consul. His famous letters had the signature of the Roman Church and did not carry his name. It was attributed to him alone. The earliest sources on his life did not mention his way of death and it may have been a confusion with another contemporary Clement. Several hundred years later St. Cyril found human remains buried with an anchor on dry land, claiming they are the relics of Clement which now rest in Rome. But the same is claimed by a Church in Kyiv, Ukraine.
The image we have of St. Clement I is a patchwork and is uncertain despite his tremendous role in the developing religion that would change the world. The Outer God used this and formed a Saint Graph of rumors, infused it with the husk of a god known to have submitted to 'the Father', and created a vessel to enter our reality.
__________________________________________________________________________
< - ⪻ - ⪡ - ⫷ -- Quotes and Relationships -- ⫸ - ⪢ - ⪼ - >Quotes and Relationships
Foreigner's goal is to spread the word of god and form the people to the likeness of them.
The followers of god will evolve and swim back to their origin. With an army of glassy-eyed and webbed-taloned humanoids of greyish skin, a congregation of the underwater faith will rise from beneath the billows to bring peace to this war-exhausted species. Foreigner wishes for nothing more than peace inside his church and we all are his faithful. God created himself inside the undulating waters of chaos. Heaven awaits in the depths of Genesis. Men were created in God's likeness. Men evolved from fish. They are the same history. That is the 'truth' he tells.
"I am just a humble man in service of a greater good. Peace among fellow believers is the goal that I pursue. For that, one needs to follow the words of the one wiser than you. I believe in hierarchy. All were created equal under god but everyone has their role to fulfill. Some were called to lead and be channels for the god's will. It is their duty to enforce the teachings of faith and point to the other believer's sins, so they can repent and learn. We all are of equal worth but do follow the words of the one below you.
Oh, you wonder about my choice of words? Hierarchy...people wish to say that they need to 'climb'. But that is unnatural. All things wish to be closer to god. The rain that falls from heaven and flows towards the ocean, the stone that sinks to the seafloor...that is where God resides. That is why fire rises to the top. It longs to return to hell."
"We misunderstood his teachings, it was obvious from the beginning. The Savior told the Fishermen "Come after me, and I will make you fishers for men." and made them his apostles. The Ichthys, the multiplication of fish, baptism by water, water to wine, walking on water, the swallowing of Jonah...It is my duty to rectify the Church."
"Thalassophobia. The fear of the ocean's depth. The frightening vastness of the sea, expanding in its silent emptiness. People fear it because it a representation of their deep unconscious. Our mind and the ocean are unfathomable because they are part of God's domain.
So if we want to find to God, we have to understand ourselves. To understand ourselves we have to understand the sea. And when we understand the sea, we reach God. So do not fear, Master. Drown in his love."
"To drown was a blessing. You feel a weightlessness, freeing you from all your spiritual and bodily burdens. And it is like...coming home. The cradle of our species is the church of creation. You return to your origin and embrace it with all your love. The waters are the essence of god, why struggle to let it flow in you? The anguish you feel is a burden to test your resolve and faith. Breathe it in. To live is to deepen the understanding of yourself. We all knew deep down why we fear the ocean...we feared ourselves because the unbroken blue represents our mortal mind. Tranquil and stormy, with monsters we can not hope to conquer without the help of the lord. But God resides within all of us. Our mind and body. So to reach true spiritual enlightenment you have to take the leap of faith into the waves. Then, only then, you may be reborn as a true believer. One that returned from the Deep..."
"Drink, Master of Chaldea, the water that sprang forth from the holy lamb on top of the hill. Eat, Savior of Human Order, let us break bread, the body of Christ, and eat fish, the name of the lord. Please, eat and drink your fill. We have enough of it." he says with a smile of no ill intent. He pours you putrid water from foreign unknown depths and vile bread of color never seen before. The fish still breathe and sing their praises to the 'Father of the Sea'. But you can not refuse the gentleness and the allure and smell of the feast that sits before you. "Thank God for this gracious and delicious meal," you answer and consume the blasphemy with greedy bites.
Yang Guifei:
"See here. The fires of harlotry and ruin bless a misbegotten heathen woman. Repent and allow my God to wash away the filth and stench that clings on you from the candle lit for the devil up high."
Katsushika Hokusai:
"Poor soul. It saddens me to see a young girl fall for the false god. Idolatry is a sin, the devil presents himself in the likeness of God to deceive the unwise and naive. Come and listen to my words, you will find the true answer that awaited in the depths your father has found."
Jacques de Molay (Foreigner):
"It makes me uncomfortable to hear her words, Master. She claims kinship. I only see the misguided soul of a cult that lost its way. Walk away from the womb that bears unutterable hideousness. Forsake the 'False Mother', embrace the 'True Father'. He offers you another 'Mother' to worship too. A privilege, she is the only god he tolerates beside him."
Sir John Franklin:
"You endured so much hardship. Your faith was unbroken and god was willing to meet you. But a sinister demon intervened and sullied the water to become twisted ice. Do not listen to the Wind Walker! Listen to the waves and find a home. God is not in heaven, nor in the North, he resides within all things...within the deep."
Enheduanna-Nikkal:
"Ancient Witchcraft. An abomination of devil-infused grain that sings her demonic praises. Her songs fall on deaf ears for me. But whenever I see her...it is as if something cries for their mother. I must steel myself in faith."
__________________________________________________________________________
< - ⪻ - ⪡ - ⫷ -- Craft Essence -- ⫸ - ⪢ - ⪼ - >Craft Essence
Dark Reflections
When mist condenses into water, fiction becomes reality.
It may condense on a surface of reality or in rare cases condense on its own, creating something real in a malformed likeness.
But as a distillation of fiction it has an easy time to condense on surfaces of fantasy. Then the mist condenses into blackening ink.
It falls into the ocean of facts and threatens to boil the ocean so it all becomes the twisted fantasy it desires.
When this droplet of ink formed and fell to the surface. for a brief moment it saw itself in the reflection. Oh what a twisted mirror image it would become. If it would have just fallen into the Holy Water and be cleansed.
__________________________________________________________________________
< - ⪻ - ⪡ - ⫷ -- Notes -- ⫸ - ⪢ - ⪼ - >Notes:
Praise the lord, I have returned to fight for my throne. Say hello to my friend Kleken from Alchemy Stars. Isnt he cool?
Im actually nervous posting this one. It's been a while since I did a new Foreigner and my Christmas foreigner didn't get any attention. So even if I do not get any votes, (which is most likely with so many bangers this contest) I hope to get at least some feedback.
This was a funny timing. This was in the making since the 3rd. Ten days later dagons involvement in the current FGO event is revealed. Had to rewrite a bit.
Imagine being a fertility god, making grain, its not much but honest work. Your stuff and role is forgotten over time, your temples get desecrated by worshipers of a new God, they mistranslate your name, turn you into a fish/merman, then some weirdo appears and says you are a Giga weirdo, the public accepts it despite it being clear now you are no fish god. Then somehow this Outer God of fantasy wants your saint graph, you resist, you have enough, you try to fix things, create a closed ecosystem without actually harming anyone, Chaldea arrives, fucks you up, you weaken and the Outer God can take your graph and put him into a guy that is part of the cult that destroyed yours and gathers people to make a new cult that worships your name, but not you. #JusticeForDagan
The religion shtick derived from this nonsense. Add that 'pope' means 'father' and the idea formed.
The intro pic is an AI-generated picture of "Thalassophobia".
If one did not notice the subtext of the CE, it is my interpretation of Innocent Monster Foreigners. See Foreigner Molay.
In FGO i would imagine him as a tanky foreigner with healing and debuffs. Fighting would be the typical water pressure beams from his tentacles, summoning his anchor to hit people, opening the green vortices to release deep sea water, and throwing his mantle at opponents so the tentacles tear them apart, etc. It would be elegant nonetheless.
Here some design that could change with each ascension
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by WhiteFrenzy
