#sf zylo

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Shining Force World Book translation - part 3

Previous part here

Man of hidden fangs

Arthur Class: Knight Species: Centaur Gender: Male Age: 25 years old Height: 228 cm Weight: 192 kg Place of Origin: Asgard Mountain Range Starting Level: 4 Starting Weapon: Bronze Lance

The mysterious foreigner with unfathomable hidden strength

He is originally from another continent. He has shown incredible strength from a young age, and became Knight Captain without real battle experience. When he set out for monster extermination, many of his subordinates died due to his mistakes in command, and he left the country. He meets the protagonist while working on the laundry in Manarina.

While he doesn't show his full power from the start, he hides immeasurable strength.

A slow starter who unleashes his full power in the late game

A unique character who can use magic while being a knight. If you raise him, he learns basic offensive spells. The tradeoff is that his endurance and attack are not reliable. In the beginning he is half baked and might be useless, but if trained he becomes effective for both melee and ranged attacks. His stat growth later on is mindblowing.

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A birdman warrior crossing through the skies

Balbaroy Class: Birdmen Species: Birdmen Gender: Male Age: 32 years old Height: 183 cm Weight: 105 kg Place of Origin: The forests of Chronos Mountain Starting Level: 5 Starting Weapon: Middle Sword

A man from the guardian tribe of the skies, attacked by Runefaust!

A birdman with an outstanding sense for battling. Pushing to the limit the skills of his flying race, he fights with superior power.

He is a victim of the Runefaust army, having sustained injuries from their assault. Turned into stone, he was rescued by the force. He's a typical fighter who doesn't talk much and is relentless in combat. Holds a great hatred of Darksol.

A support fighter with great movement!

He excels in defense and agility due to being from a flying race. His stat growth is the kind where everything goes up at once, so he's immediately ready to be used in battle. His endurance and attack are not great, so he can't fight in the front lines.

As a character who can equip most of the swords the protagonist also uses, use him to cover the other attackers.

She casts away her life for the sake of those she loves

Amon Class: Birdwomen Species: Birdwomen Gender: Female Age: 28 years old Height: 186 cm Weight: 83 kg Place of Origin: The forests of Chronos Mountain Starting Level: 5 Starting Weapon: Middle Sword

A strong and kind birdwoman who protects Balbaroy with devotion!

Another birdwoman from the same flying race as Balbaroy, she's his wife. As a woman of few words who speaks just the necessary, she's much like him. She selflessly fights for his sake. She's a nimble expert fighter.

She set out to find Balbaroy when he was missing, and upon learning of the danger he was in, sought the force for help in saving him.

You'll be in trouble if you look down on her for being a woman!

Her agility and defense are as good as her husband's. However she surpasses him, having both nimbleness and attack power. If you're careful with her health, she can create openings in the battle with her movement. When it comes to growth speed, her HP grows steadily as well, so she can become a reliable member to stay on the team for a long time.

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A headstrong archer lady!

Diane Class: Archer Species: Elf Gender: Female Age: 115 years old Height: 185 cm Weight: 57 kg Place of Origin: Bustoke Starting Level: 6 Starting Weapon: Steel Arrow

She hates losing, and is refreshingly frank!

She is intense and hates crooked things! An energetic woman who grew wild and free in the mountain's forests. Given her fierce temperament, she put all of herself into training her skills with the bow, which are very respectable. In particular, Bustoke has no military force, so she became a valuable fighting power for them.

Feeling indebted after the men of her country were rescued, she joined the Shining Force.

Depending on your strategy, she can be an immediate asset or a waste

An archer whose attack, defense, agility and movement are all average. Wielding only a bow, she's better at long distance attacks than close combat. She should attack from behind a character who's good at melee. Compared to the fellow archer Hans, only her defense is a little better, she doesn't surpass him in anything else.

If you protect her from the enemy's attacks, she can be a main fighting power.

His body is that of a beast, but his heart is bigger than anyone else's!

Zylo Class: Wolf Species: Wolfling Gender: Male Age: 47 years old Height: 212 cm Weight: 107 kg Place of Origin: Bustoke Starting Level: 9 Starting Weapon: None

The straightforward type who takes everything seriously

A proud wolfling leader who would protect his people even at the cost of his own life. King of the mountain people, he's respected as a spirit of the forest. An atypical king, he is in the frontlines at the first sign of battle, and fights with all his might. A typical fighter.

He has a charm that draws others to him, and is adored by his people.

You can count on him for power! A battle expert

As a wolfling carrying the blood of experienced beasts, his attack is outstanding. His other stats are not bad either, making him a powerful warrior.

Like Balbaroy, he gets sudden increases on level up. His HP is low, so he'll be done for if rushing recklessly at the enemies. Have him advance alongside his allies.

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The great old man who conquered the skies

Kokichi Class: Wing Knight Species: Human Gender: Male Age: 65 years old Height: 154 cm Weight: 45 kg Place of Origin: Bustoke Starting Level: 7 Starting Weapon: Bronze Lance

Currently an inventor, but used to be an exemplar knight!

A hardworking inventor who wished with all his heart to be able to fly, and finally made that wish come true after 50 years. The people nearby regard him as a weird old man, but he's actually nice. Before building his flying machine, he worked as a knight for a kingdom. Because of that, he's skilled with a sword. That skill has been fading with age, but he can compensate on his moves by piloting well his flying machine.

[Note: I assume he was a knight somewhere other than Bustoke since Diane's entry says they don't have much of an army there, but the text is vague enough that it could be.]

Those who continue to chase their dreams don't lose their vitality

He's average all around. Defense is a low point, and might be the deciding factor in sending him to battle or not. He's weak due to being human, and pretty old, so it's hard to use him immediately.

His HP growth is a slow curve. However contrary to what you'd expect of his age, his other stats grow quite fast.

[starswordartblog]

“I’ll show them that I can fight as well as Lord Zylo!“

Shininginktober late Day 29: Zylo + Diane! Another big case of Do Not Separate Them in this series.

[tisbore]

This year I'm doing inktober digitally to practice on procreate. I'm drawing characters from the Shining Force franchise. Zylo from SF.

[claire-starsword]

Shining Force - Bloodline of the Sacred Dragons chapter 2-7

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this took seven conversations but you know what, worth it. go you beautiful edgy wolfman

[claire-starsword]

Bleu [Sacred Dragon] Class: Dragon -> Great Dragon

The flames of a wrathful Dragon God lay waste to evil!

*** A descendant of the Sacred Dragons who protect the treasure of the Ancients known as the "Book of Secrets".

While Sacred Dragons are incredibly powerful, their fertility is extremely low, and Bleu is now the last of them. Encouraged by the children of Rudo, he joins the Shining Force. ***

Many creatures known as "dragons" live in the continent of Rune. The Blue Dragons seen on the enemy's side, the Red Dragons that aren't seen in game but live in the magma underground, the Hydra with its many heads, extremely rare small dragons used as mounts by knights, and so on.

Sacred Dragons are the strongest among those, the ultimate dragons... at least that's how it's supposed to be, but our boy Bleu here isn't all there yet. He still needs more time before he can show his real power.

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Zylo [Wolfing] Class: Werewolf -> Wolf Baron

The king of beasts dashing through the forest!

*** Ruler of Bustoke, the people of the mountains. He's respected as a forest spirit.

He was prepared to join the Shining Force at Otrant's request. However, due to Runefaust's plotting he went feral, and had to be tossed in his own jail... ***

The Shining Force has a lot of people of noble birth, but none can compare to Zylo. For he is the king of Bustoke.

Politics in Bustoke are a bit complicated. The country's government system is (a rudimentary) parliamentary democracy. Zylo is merely an overseer. As a "forest spirit", his role is to make sure that people aren't taking from the forest any more than what they need.

That is the uniqueness of Bustoke's political system, to manage all of their lifestyle relying on the resources of the forest and mountains (such as lumber, stone, and animals to hunt).

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Notes on Bleu:

I feel that Bleu's species, 神竜, would be better translated as "divine dragon" than Dragon God, given the kanji order, but it's a small nitpick so I went with the official translation everyone's familiar with. Nevermind, I’m a dummy that had forgotten the original localization for Bleu’s species was “Sacred Dragon”, and “Dragon God” was a GBA only thing. Sacred Dragon is more accurate so I’ve updated the translation accordingly.

On the other hand, as I've mentioned before, 秘伝の書 was translated as "manual of the ancients" in game, but "Book of Secrets" (from the GBA version) is more accurate.

Part of the reason I care so much about the above is that there is a novel starring Bleu, where supposedly the book is an important part of the plot despite not involving Dark Dragon's seal this time. The novel also might delve deeper the Sacred Dragons' lack of fertility thing, but sadly I have not found scans of it and I lament this daily. Update: all of this is outdated just go read the novel and the notes on it instead.

Notes on Zylo:

My grammar is a little shaky on that last line, sorry. It feels weird to say that it's unique for a country to manage itself according to its resources because that's very normal. But I guess the point is that they never aim for unsustainable growth, as the rest of the text implies.

Once again, him knowing Otrant is a fact in the japanese version.

"I received a letter from Otrant of Manarina requesting I assisted you as I could. To repay for your great help, let me join you in battle."

The GBA version expanded upon that.

[claire-starsword]

Shining Force Country Guide Translation - Part 3

The usual pie chart legend:

Shade

Population: 20 inhabitants GNP: Unknown

Species ratio:

Shade is more of a village than a country. It consists of only a church and associated buildings. So its population is only 20 people. Besides the humans who work at the church, the other species there are elves. They work as guides in the mountain paths. ____

The decline of royalty casts a shadow in the holy land?

A small region at the Sarastone peninsula northeast of Rindo. Back when Guardiana was founded, the Order of the Knights would be frequently sent in expeditions to expand their territory, and this peninsula was the northernmost point they reached, and thus Shade became a holy land directly under the royal family's control. After the wyvern raid from the time of Arissort von Guardiana II's rule, a church was built in this region to appease the souls of the knights fallen in that battle, and the third prince at the time entered priesthood and became its priest. After that it became a place which disseminated Guardiana's ways to all of the western continent, and little by little a town grew around it, thus around 500 years ago it was recognized as a holy city with the priest as sovereign, under the protection of Guardiana's royal family.

Shade's population, including the priest, is a mere twenty people. They are all clergyman who work on proselytizing and studying ancient texts. When it comes to politics, the executive power is Guardiana's, while the judiciary and legislative powers are under the priest's authority. It is generally a neutral state, but takes measures to protect the church against oppressive forces.

Throughout history, the priests have gathered previously lost records about the Castle of the Ancients, decoded ancient texts from all over the continent, thus getting closer to the truth on the Ancients and their civilization with their research. The current priest, Kahn, is in the middle of editing a compilation of this research of the past, named "Prehistory of Rune", and it has gathered attention all across Rune as it might shine a light on the mysteries surrounding the Castle of the Ancients. Unfortunately he's already very old, and many lament that there's aren't enough people to continue his research.

-The church is the highlight of Shade, but behind it is a small village, with some cabins offering guidance to travelers in exchange for payment. People heading to Bustoke should pay for the guides here, or they'll get lost in their way.

-Shade's bell rings once in the morning and once in the evening. The morning time is at 6am, and the evening at 6pm. This bell announcing the start and end of the days is of course heard from Rindo, but some claim to hear it all the way back in Alterone some days.

Priest Kern versus Darksol

Darksol disguises himself as the priest, and appear to the protagonist for the first time. Why did he kill the real priest? The current priest, Kahn, knew a man named Darksol was planning to revive Dark Dragon. He intended to tell Guardiana along with all the information the priests had gathered through the ages, but Darksol became aware of this as well.

Around the time the protagonist got the Orb of Light in the Cave of Darkness, Darksol arrived at the church of Shade, and attacked the priest. Kern might have lost, but inflicted deep wounds on Darksol. That's why he fled from the protagonist that time.

Romanization of the priest's name is my own, as Arthur decides to be unhelpful for this one.

also, I`m sure you’ll be shocked to hear that Darksol fighting the priest and getting wounded, plus the priest’s connection to Guardiana’s royal family, are mentioned in the original game and poofed in the translation, only brought back in the GBA version. I have never pointed out such things before.

Bustoke

Population: 800 inhabitants GNP: 2900 gold

Species Ratio:

The territory isn't big, yet the population is bigger than you would imagine. As for the species distribution, since the terrain is all forest, there's a lot of elves. Among the 18% percent of humans, many have mixed blood. ____

A critical point of modernization arrives to the people in the heights

A diverse country at the north of West Rune. Hunters settled mostly in the forest region among the mountains. As the territory was split between many different tribes, small scale conflicts happened time and time again. In the past, many magical beasts lived in the area, making it an extremely dangerous place, but around 500 years ago, a wolfling hero knows as the Young Wolf King (Zylo's ancestor) suppressed the beasts, and founded the country, unifying the tribes.

As the country has many different races, is crucial to have a strong leadership, and the current king Zylo Dunn Munster (meaning "Zylo, king of the mountains" in the region's dialect) rules fiercely, despite allowing his people many freedoms.

Self-suficient hunting is their main economic activity, so there's not much trading, but the marble and obsidian extracted from the southwest are highly valued as construction materials. However their mining skills are low and haven't been very efficient with these extractions, and thus there's a joint venture with the merchant guild of Rindo to develop modern excavation tools. Also, Bustoke strawberries, which were once eaten even by the magical beasts, and are said to taste great in juice, had their numbers dropped drastically due to overconsumption, and nowadays can only be harvested by the royal family, the exportation to other countries being forbidden as well.

The most distinct point of their livelihood is definitely the unique habitations built in the mountain walls. The natives' faith worship the forest, thus it is forbidden to cut tree for lumber, and on top of that there's little plain terrain, so this kind of dwelling naturally came to be. Since they are on great heights, the temperatures are low. Their designs work well for keeping them cool during the summer and warm through the winter, but in other countries some will still badmouth them as "hole people" or "primitives".

-Bustoke is built among the towering cliffs. It is surrounded by forest and quarries, but that environment doesn't seem to bother them at all. From the tallest point of the country, seeing the Pao bridge is a given, but on clear days with no clouds one can see all the way to the Pao plains.

-The famous bungee jumping of Bustoke. When coming of age, one must jump off a precipice held by nothing but a single rope. Is it a ritual done since long ago for boys born in Bustoke. In recent years, tourists have come to enjoy it as well.

Zylo's full name romanization is from the GBA version. Dunn seems to be a real Irish surname, while Munster is a province in Ireland.

Also, the part about Zylo's leadership seems to be describing his as an enlightened despot, which contradicts his bio describing him as merely as overseer. The bio makes more sense to me given how he is free to leave the country for a good while to fight.

Given this series’ obsession with young heroes I figured the title for Zylo’s ancestor is young wolf hero, however! 青 can also mean blue/green, so technically there’s nothing stopping you from picturing a technicolor furry family for Zylo. Do what you will with this information.

[claire-starsword]

Max’s Diary - Chapter 3

[eyerolling warning for a quick mention of sexual harassment, thankfully we only have to deal with this once.]

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(9) Month of the Blue Deer, Day 19

I need to decide already who I'll leave resting at headquarters. I asked Nova but all he said was "it is you as the leader who should decide". There are three new members, the archer Diane, and the birdpeople Balbaroy and Amon. I decided to leave three people to rest. First is Hans who doesn't like fighting anyway. Diane looks stronger... Then Lowe, accused of touching princess butt, and Arthur of the laundry. The quarry's passages are narrow, so having people who can fly opens up space for fighting. Let Balbaroy and Amon do their best. Though, since it will be a married couple fighting, it would be fun if they had a special attack only married couples can do. Ultimate Marital Attack or something. I wanna try it out.

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(10) Month of the Blue Deer, Day 25

Zylo, the ruler of Bustoke, has joined us. Seems that's because Otrant of Manarina talked to him. Nice one, Otrant. So I replaced Amon with him. I want to see the true power of a werewolf.

The way from Bustoke to the bridge is mostly forest terrain. Runefaust is here to stop us as usual. This time they came with strong enemies known as Pegasus Knights. But, we have Zylo. Zylo who runs through the forest like it's his backyard. He's so fast it's kind of a problem, as no one can follow. Of course, I also have no clue where Zylo is. I'm an embarrassment as a leader. Can't he come back just for a bit...

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(11) Month of the Blue Deer, Day 29

A eyeball machine installed at the bridge. That's Runefaust's secret weapon, the Laser Eye. Who knows how they carried it there from the quarry. Before thinking about that stuff let's destroy it. I heard from somewhere that the Laser Eye is fair, and can only attack after counting to ten. Alright, let's charge.

It looked like we could defeat it before the countdown, but we met fierce resistance from the Lizardmen and Pegasus Knights. We can't proceed like this. Just as I thought it was going bad, Laser Eye shot the laser from its eyeball. Everyone over the bridge gets hit. My allies were a given, but even the enemy Silver Knight took damage. It seems the Laser Eye is a weapon that does not discriminate. Man, am I glad there's only one of it.

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Notes:

No I don't really get the joke on the last doodle, it might just be a sarcastic comment on getting hit often by the Laser Eye, but I might have also missed something.

[claire-starsword]

Shining Force RoDD wallpapers from a backup of the Shining World website.