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suzuran777 · 2 months

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Lamento Beyond the Void: Glossary

Since I've been slowly replaying Lamento, I wanted to create my own glossary to link back to my Lamento Expiatio translation posts! I'm sure there's already a lot of information online about Lamento's worldbuilding and the terms they use in the game, however since some pages of the wikia are a bit empty and I'm having trouble finding some older Tumblr blog posts, I decided to make one too.

Most of this is translated directly from the official website, the World Guidebook, and Lamento Green Notes. I tried to keep it consistent with some of the commonly used fan-translation terms, but I also included the Japanese words in case anyone's curious what the original term in the game is.

Shisa/Sisa (祇沙): An island nation surrounded by a yellow ocean. Blocked by coral reefs, the inhabitants of Shisa don't interact a lot with surrounding nations. Officially, the nation's leader is the lord of Ransen, but each village has a strong sense of autonomy. According to the legend, Shisa's sun fell into the sea a long time ago, which dyed the ocean a yellow color.

Moon of Light (陽の月) and Shadow (陰の月) : The Moon of Light rises during daytime, while the Moon of Shadow rises at night. Both moons generate almost no heat, that's why it's said that Shisa's weather feels like spring all year round.

Ribika (リビカ): The inhabitants of Shisa, characterized by their cat ears and tails. They can be divided into two different species, large species and small species. While larger species have stronger bodies and have great fighting abilities, smaller species are more flexible and agile. Smaller species usually larger ears and longer tails compared to bigger species. Even though Ribika don't have the best eyesight, they have excellent hearing abilities and can rotate their ears to determine the location where sound is coming from. When they get angry or excited, their pupils become thin and narrow. Their sense of smell is also very strong. Not only do their tails help them with balance, it's also possible to guess what emotions they're feeling by looking at the movement of their tails. They are natural hunters, therefore their staple food is mostly meat, but they also eat fruits and nuts (such as the Kuim fruit). Most Ribika aren't super interested in food and can easily last several days without eating.

✧General terms✧

Two Canes/Futatsuzue (二つ杖): A race that according to Shisa's legends, once inhabited Shisa. They left their civilization behind, and many can only speculate why they disappeared. It is believed that Two Canes were in fact the humans Razel talked about.

Touga (闘牙): Touga is a term used to describe skilled fighters. They often work together with Sanga as a pair. Unlike Sanga who are born with their abilities, anyone can train to become a Touga. A Touga without a Sanga has no chance of beating a Touga and Sanga pair in battle.

Sanga (賛牙): Sanga are born with a special ability to support others with the power of song, boosting the other person's fighting ability. A Sanga doesn't actually use their voice to sing, the "song" is usually a melody. Because of their special abilities, they are highly sought after.

Sangachou (賛牙長): Literally translates to "Chief Sanga". They are guardian cats who serve the families of Shisa's feudal lords. Sanga are often requested to play a supporting role in the country's national affairs and are sometimes in charge of politics on behalf of their feudal lords.

Devil (悪魔): Ribika aren't the only inhabitants of Shisa, there are also more dangerous beings such as monsters and devils. Devils can be recognized by their horns and tails. It's said that they can make any wish come true, as long as you give them what they want.

The Void/Utsuro (虚ろ): A mysterious phenomenon which has been slowly affecting different areas of Shisa. It consumes all living beings, and the spread of it has made it difficult to hunt for food, often leading to food shortages and starvation.

The Sickness/Shikku (失躯): A deadly disease which leads to pain, fever and the sudden loss of limbs and other body parts. Female Ribika are much more likely to get the disease, which is why they have become very rare.

Black cats: Black cats are considered a symbol of misfortune. It's said that when many black cats are spotted in Shisa, abnormal weather conditions and natural disasters become more common. Because of this stigma, Ribika from villages like Kira do not interact with the outside world.

✧Locations✧

Ransen (藍閃): Shisa's capital, located in the center of the country. This city was built on top of the ruins of the Two Canes, and is characterized by its square-shaped buildings. Ransen is also the city where the country's most important individuals live, such as the feudal lords and their Sanga. The library is also located here, which was the legacy of the Two Canes. It has a large collection of books that describe the history and legends of Shisa. Under normal circumstances, entry is prohibited, but on the last day of winter it becomes a venue for a costume ball and anyone participating can enter the building. Big festivals also take place in this city which attract visitors from all over the country, such as the spring festival and the dark winter festival.

Karou (火楼): A small village located in the southwestern part of Shisa, and also the place where Konoe's house is located. The town is inhabited by a very cautious race of warriors, who learn combat techniques at an early age. They are not very fond of strangers and people rarely leave their houses. It's one of the villages where isolation has become a serious problem due to the Void, and in recent years the extreme food shortages gave them no choice but to resort to cannibalism.

Kira (吉良): A village located deep inside of the secluded valley. A cursed tribe is rumored to live here, whose ears and tails are black, and their bodies covered in strange markings. As a result of these rumors and its hard to find location, even merchants avoid Kira.

Meigi (冥戲): Kira's rival tribe. Its inhabitants are known to be devil worshippers and because of this, they are even more infamous than those who live in Kira.

Setsura (刹羅): A village located in the northern part of Ransen, where large species of Ribika live. Because of their strength and great fighting abilities, many of them become bodyguards or bounty hunters.

Lost Forest/Mayoi no Mori (迷いの森): A vast forest located between Ransen and Karou. The thick branches of the trees and leaves block most of the light, making it an easy place to get lost, even during daytime. Some merchants developed special techniques to navigate the forest, which is why Tokino can travel to Karou without getting lost. Recently, the Void has affected large parts of the forest, eroding its surroundings at an abnormally fast rate, which is why some also refer to it as the Void Forest.

Secluded Valley/Yukoku no Tani (幽刻の谷): Located somewhere inside the Lost Forest. A place covered in a dark, thick fog, where plants and trees wither. It's rumored that the village of Kira is located somewhere in this valley. Most living beings, including animals, avoid this place.

Mirror Lake/Kagami-ko (カガミ湖): A mysterious lake located northeast of Ransen, which is considered one of the biggest mysteries of Shisa. Even though the sound of waves can be heard when approaching the lake, the surface appears to be calm, resembling a mirror. For some reason the surface of the lake is impenetrable, so even walking on it is possible. There is also a cave near the lake, but it cannot be entered under normal circumstances.

✧Mythology✧

Song of the Beginning: According to the legends, Ribika was a goddess and also the wife of Two Canes/Futatsuzue. It is said that she created Shisa after laying a rainbow egg that fell to the earth and shattered, which awakened life. The song Ribika sang while this happened is referred to as "The Song of the Beginning".

Ribika (god): To protect life of those who inhabited Shisa, she took the form of a cat and lived among them. However, in this form she was not able to support the sun any longer, which fell into the sea. She then split the moon into two, the moon of light and the moon of shadow.

Some extra fun facts I wasn't sure where to add in this list:

Konoe and Asato would be considered small species of cats even though Asato's the same height as Bardo, so appearance-wise it seems like only the ears and tails look different.

I think it's pretty obvious that Bardo's supposed to be a tiger and for Rai's a snow leopard, but they just describe Konoe's design as ''milk tea color''.

The books mentions that Ribika are covered in a thin layer of invisible hair which they like to keep clean, which is why they groom themselves, and yes their tongues are similar to real cats.

The reason why Ribika (the species) refer to themselves as ''cats'' is because the cats that appeared in old literature shared the same traits as them (ears and a tail).

For some reason, there are no remaining pictures of what Two Canes looked like, though Razel does confirm they were in fact the same as humans. It's pretty much unknown where humanity went and why all traces of them in the books were erased.

The webcomic has shown some things that were only mentioned in text before in the game, such as designs of what the monsters look like (they kind of look like feline creatures with horns) and human Razel.

In the interviews they mention that they were inspired by Celtic culture and music, specifically Ireland. Shisa isn't supposed to be an existing country, but you do see some inspirations in the game like the Celtic knot patterns.

#lamento #lamento beyond the void #nitro+chiral #blvninfo #visualnovel

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suzuran777 · 3 months

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Lamento stageplay news + visuals

Just one more day left until the live performancs of the Lamento stageplay start! The stageplay was of course already announced last year, but as they finally started tweeting the countdown pictures, I wanted to write a blog post about the visuals and information they've released so far, comparing some of the stageplay visuals to the official game illustrations!

Similar to the DRAMAtical Murder (DMMd) and sweet pool stageplays, the Lamento stageplay will also have different routes for each main character, Asato, Bardo and Rai. I'm going to assume that the first half of the stageplay will be some kind of common route, while the second half focuses on the route of each different character. Something that is new is that this time the stageplay will have "musical elements" as well, so I'm not sure if I should call it a stageplay or a musical (I'm just using "stageplay" this time as the official account also seems to call it that). Even though in the game Konoe's song is just a melody, the actors did tweet about singing, so I am curious what they will do!

Ohyama Yoh, who composed 19 of the 37 songs of the Lamento original soundtrack also tweeted that there will be 11 new songs (+ addictional background music). I think it's super cool that they're working together with the original composer again to create new songs for the stageplay! I remember the DMMd stageplay also had a new song by GOATBED, which they even performed live a few times at the end of the show. The previous stageplays were about two hours long, but this time they mentioned it will be at least 3 hours, which makes sense because Lamento is a lot longer than sweet pool and DMMd.

I'm really impressed by the costumes and wigs so far, the ears and tails also look so fluffy... I really wonder what they will look like in motion and what the battle scenes will look like. Most of the visuals of the individual characters they've released so far seem to be based on the in-game sprites, but what I found interesting is that Rai's, Asato's and Bardo's pictures seem to have the same pose as the Kotobukiya figurines! You can see the comparison below, the pictures of the figurines are from the Kotobukiya official website.

Another new visual which was released quite recently seems to resemble another official illustration, which I've seen in the artbooks before and which was also the cover of magazine B's Log, specifically the December 2006 issue. Some of the details are a bit different, for example Konoe is not holding Leaks' mask in his hand anymore, and this time they added Shui to the illustration as well, but some other things such as Bardo's pose make it quite obvious this picture was their inspiration. The way Shui and Leaks stand next to each other kind of reminds me of the Rhapsody to the Past drama CD as well? One thing I noticed is that they're not really trying to hide Leaks' face this time, which was actually quite a big reveal in the game.

Next are some of the other illustrations they recently showed us during a short livestream which was available on Twitter for a limited time. Luckily they also posted the pictures on the official account! These won't be sold as merchandise, but they're given away as a bonus for those who attend all three versions of the show. I guess one thing I never noticed before is how little promotional/extra art Bardo got back then, so in this case they had to use one of his in-game CGs. For the other characters they mostly seem to use some of the extra/promotional art. Anyway, you can see a comparison below! I think it's fun to see how they re-created the pictures with the actors.

The last picture they recently showed during the Twitter livestream uses the cover illustration of the official world guidebook! Unfortunately no Bardo in this one either. This is one of the items they are selling as merchandise, it seems to be some kind of booklet (they call it a "pamphlet" but it's 32 pages long). I really wish they would sell the merchandise online, but for now it's only accessible for those who have a ticket and who buy it inside the venue. Maybe if they have any extra stock they might sell it online?

Update: The stageplay will also be livestreamed on DMM TV! The ticket to watch all three routes is 10000 yen (about 66 USD, which is cheaper than the in-person tickets at least!) which also gives you some special bonus videos to watch. First is Bardo's route on February 24th, followed by Asato's and Rai's routes on February 25th. Be aware that it is region locked and not all VPNs work, so unfortunately I can't help much with that! For any further updates you can check the official Twitter account!

Cast list: Konoe: Maejima Yoh Rai: Kato Sho Asato: Hiraga Yusei Bardo: Seto Yusuke Razel: Kimisawa Yuki Kaltz: Okamoto Yuki Verg: Iwata Tomoki Froud: Muramatsu Koki Kagari: Asaba Maya Tokino: Fukuzawa Taiga Firi: Kita Tsutomu Kil: Yoshun Sakamoto Ul: Arai Yuya Shui: Osaki Natsuki Leaks: Matsui Yuho

#lamento #nitrochiral #nitro chiral #blvn #blvninfo #visualnovel

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