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First off I'll explain the basic premise of the game/universe in general as well as his place in it so I dont sound like a raving madman right off the bat
Who are these people?
- Mc (player) is the orphaned daughter of a "traveler" woman and a native to earth man. Mc herself is a traveler tho she is not aware of that at first.
- Cael is another traveler and her caretaker present day, yes hes a love interest later yes its weird as hell and suspicious now but I promise hes not being predatory more will be explained soon.
- The four current love interests (Alkaid, Ayn, Lars, and Clarence) are "paragons" (which is a word I have not looked up so idk exactly what it means) that have a counterpart in every world (or at least a lot of them) and are invariably Key Players in the fate of those worlds.
What is a Traveler?
A traveler is someone with the ability to travel between different worlds and through time as well, though at the moment the limits to this are unclear. There are rules to it, but I dont know them well enough to explain it.
What world are the mcs mother and Cael from?
Great question! It doesn't have a name yet, I believe it has been referred to as "the empire" and it is an extremely advanced worlds that basically destroys other worlds to gain more power and energy for its own. The people there are also immortal, or at least prefects are.
What are prefects, are Cael and Mcs mom prefects, and if so why is Mcs mom dead?
- Prefects are people who destroy other worlds
- Cael is currently a prefect under the title Prefect Silver
- Mcs mom was a prefect that was older and more experienced/powerful than Cael
- She died because she left the empire "went dark" to raise Mc in secret, however without the empires resources to prolong her life she only lived for ten more years.
What abt Mcs dad?
Hes dead and thus far completely irrelevant, he was also removed from mcs memory after he died. Rip unnamed man.
I think that about covers it
onto the details
The details!
Part 1: Caels relation to Mc
At least, so far anyway
Why is Cael Mcs guardian/how did this arrangement happen?
This is actually what the expedition stories are about! Basically mcs mom was sent to earth to yk, destroy it and stuff, but she ended up falling in love with some guy and having mc. This however, was very much against the rules, and she ended up killing her subordinates to hide the fact. After this she sent out a distress signal to another prefect or maybe just in general I don't remember it doesn't matter.
Cael ended up being the person to respond to that signal. When he got there he was extremely confused as to why Mcs mom had done this. She asked him to help her hide earth and mc from the empire as well as raise mc after she died.
Cael, thoroughly confused and horrified that this person he wasn't friends with but sort of looked up to was trying to just throw away her life and give up immortality just for one insignificant life. He attempted to convince her otherwise saying that even though their kind didn't reproduce like this (which is a statement that will come in later so remember that) they might let her daughter live.
She said she just wanted mc to have a normal life here on earth and that she loved her, but she didnt talk about the emotional parts of this much. It was stated this was because they were from the same world, implying that world didnt really have bonds between people or anything like that. All she spoke about was what she had done and the price she had to pay for it.
Cael wasn't exactly thrilled with this, but he agreed to work with her since he was to be given her power/magic items/whatever else after she died. He reasoned that it would be tedious but fine overall since, after all, human lifespans on earth are very short so from his standpoint he wouldn't be responsible for Mc for all that long.
In the beginning, taking care of mc was just an assignment he was doing because her mother made a deal with him. He didn't really care about her one way or another. In fact at first he wasn't sure he'd even be capable of taking care of such an emotional being as her. But obviously he got the hang of it over time, and deductive reasoning proved extremely effective. He could also use tricks and magic influence on her but after a certain amount of time that was simply unnecessary
Part 2: The emotional dynamic between them
How does Cael feel about the Mc?
At first, he doesn't.
In fact, when he first learns how powerful she is he attempts to raise her to be a companion to him in his job. However trying to train her to be stoic and emotionless doesnt work and, as he has developed (what I percive as) an objective emotional attachment to her (as opposed to a specific type of dynamic, familial etc) he feels extremely guilty for this.
In all honesty im not entirely sure when this happens, because time travel, but the point is it does at some point.
He also, in a different attempt at the timeline I suppose, wonders if he could use her for his own agendas (meaning power and effectiveness in his job) but immediately feels ashamed of the thought and has the realization that while he usually doesnt care about humans and their so called "morals", its different for mc.
Idk what the order of those two events are in, it doesnt matter, the important part is that while logically speaking he could easily manipulate and use her, he cant bring himself to.
Subsequently, he allows her to do her own thing and distances himself. He allows her to live through many different lives in Godheim, the first world we visit, without interfering. (This is due to the fact theres a sort of Groundhog Day time loop that restarts whenever she dies)
He checks in occasionally, and one time he shows up when shes on her deathbed of what I assume is old age bc shes lived a full life and married and had kids etc. She senses hes there and calls to him, and in the subsequent conversation she asks for his help in her next life as she doesn't want to loop through this again even though shes very much enjoyed this run through.
Seemingly still confused abt what emotions are he asks her why she thinks he'd do this and I believe she says something along the line of bc why else would you be here rn?
Tldr, time travel shenanigans, he kind of lets her do whatever for quite a few lifetimes as she wanted until she asks him for help. During this he was extremely confused as to why he cared at all, but he did to some extent.
Part 3: Current timeline / Caels time on earth in general and the character development within it
Disclaimer: im not exactly sure what happens when but it doesn't really matter and im trying, time travel through countless timelines is hard to keep up with ok
So during Caels time on earth he sort of falls in love with art and becomes an amazing artist, though he feels like he could never compare to even the mcs juvenile attempts when she begins to learn. This is because he doesn't have or understand emotions (clearly this isnt completely true tho) so he cant put emotion into his work.
While raising the mc its clear he eventually grows fond of her company, though he strictly maintains a notable emotional distance from her for a very long time.
Now, at this point, its clear hes not quite as emotionless as he thinks he is. However I do not believe his feelings towards mc go beyond basic general affection. While he is eventually a love interest theres absolutely no indication of him feeling like that at this point.
This is addressed in "a familiar face" when mc is in high school and one of her friends says she likes him. He very gently explains that its not appropriate and it wouldn't be fair to her if he returned any feelings. Stating quite clearly that adults should never take advantage of adolescents. He also confirms he feels the same way about mc as he does about her.
He compares himself to Peter Pan in that he is someone they may rely on now but he will only be a memory in their later years when they no longer need him. More than a lasting companion he sees himself as a temporary guide.
All of that aside I dont think he even understands and is capable of more specific emotional attachments yet he's just now learning basic objective fondness. He is also quite lonely but refuses to try to hold onto mc even though he does enjoy her company.
While he doesn't understand some things and his misguided lack of communication is extremely distressing, it is clear than in his own mind he is doing the best that he can for mc regardless of his own feelings
Part 4: Eden
What did we learn in Eden
- Eden Lars was brought from his world to Eden after his world was destroyed.
- instead of manipulating things by being in Eden himself, prefect luminary just manipulated his counterpart from afar.
- Travelers are rare.
- New travelers being born are even rarer.
- Emotions are used as energy by The Empire.
- Emotions can be removed from a person to use as energy.
- Emotions can be nurtured again in someone whos had their emotions removed, but they may need a trigger for that to happen and its not a simple guarantee.
- Prefects have always destroyed and never created anything (as said by cael himself as he says hes impressed by the mcs actions).
Part 5: the child/adolescent Cael art and cards
im going to just put a postimages gallery link and let you make your own conclusions
One or two are fanart but I thought it was interesting
Part 6: conclusion and speculation
So, what does this all mean?
So what im most sure of is that I believe Caels emotions were removed from him and hes slowly learning to feel things again over his time on earth and around mc
i also believe he was taken from his home world and it was destroyed. Since he is a traveler they would want him. Also by taking people from the worlds they destroy the empire removes the need for reproduction and doesnt create any more travelers that could be an unpredictable variable.
so when they took him they removed his emotions and trained/conditioned him a lot in order to get him to be obedient and indifferent. Whereas if he did have his emotions he'd probably have been strongly and stubbornly opposed to the empire.
I believe that going forward in the storyline they may go back to when he was younger and perhaps try to change things or even go against the empire.
But all that remains to be seen