Bonus Part 1 - Curan Abbey NPCs 1
Previously, we watched a Catholic schoolgirl burn books and beat up monsters. This time: talking to people. And books; can’t forget the books.
Our first trip around the abbey starts immediately after the initial cutscene concludes and we gain control of Cecilia for the first time. Starting with Cecilia’s blonde friend…
Her brunette friend below has this to say:
They are waiting!
Riveting. And Sister Mary, her teacher:
Cecilia, you’re almost ready to leave the abbey. Your life from here on is going to be a journey. You must be cautious.
Hmmm. Seems she might have an inkling of what’s in store for the Princess. As for the girl over by the bookcase:
The [Tear Drop] crystal is very beautiful. It is supposed to have special powers hidden inside.
Standard-issue Magical Princess Plot MacGuffin, really. Let’s head to the classroom to the left; there’s only one student in there.
There’s also a bookcase here, but I’ll cover all the books in the abbey later on in the update, all at once. Let’s focus on the people for now.
Over on the right side of the back wing of the abbey is the library, and talking to the girl in there sets you off looking for the Pocket Watch to use time magic to put books back on shelves. Which honestly sounds 100% accurate to how far out of their way teenagers in real life will go to avoid any real work. But next to the library is another classroom.
The Red Crest, [Fray]… Attack and Destruction. The power of Fire. The White Crest, [Wing]… Change and Prosperity. The power of Wind. The Black Crest, [Muse]… Adjustment and Growth. The power of Water. Aaarggh… Don’t talk to me! I’ve got to memorize this stuff!
She talks about the four Crests used to create spells. The teacher gives what would ordinarily be your first spare Crest Graph, and is covered in the main update. Talking to her again gives this:
It is difficult to use magic correctly. But, if you keep it up, you will someday succeed. You were my best student.
Her dialogue does not change until the end of the update, so it’ll be a while before we see her again. Moving down to the right side of the courtyard:
And moving on, we get to the first of the folks in the front wing of the abbey.
He must know a lot about the abbey.
The kitchen is right below her, so let’s go see about that.
But first I decide to see if the waitress/assistant has any different dialogue depending upon where you speak to her. Verdict: She does not.
You… It’s not dinner time yet!
The stairs next to the kitchen lead up to Anje, who gives the Pocket Watch in exchange for a little help with her experiment. But if you talk to her before the girl in the library:
It can also correct small flaws in magic spells.
She still upsells the Watch, but won’t give it to us. Back downstairs, we have the entranceway and the nun who gives us the hint about “showing the Light to two mages at once” after we find out about the Sealed Library.
You are not allowed to leave without permission.
Hey, they can’t all be gems. Back inside, we head up the other stairway to the dormitories.
This is the girl who acts as an inn. She asks her “If you’re tired, you’re welcome to take one of the beds” question after this. Let’s go talk to Lila.
Cecilia… You eat so much! You have gotten to be known as the [Glutton Woman]. The great mage of… Ouch!
Fat jokes and slapstick. Truly the pinnacle of comedic writing. It seems Cecilia has somewhat of a reputation around the abbey, though. A bit of a Lina Inverse situation. The next NPC is downstairs, next to the Magic Guild. To jog your memory, she’s the girl who tells us about the switches on the statues in the courtyard.
Aren’t you?
Then up to the other side of the courtyard…
A slight hint for later. Hidden just offscreen to the north is a nun, who has this to say to Cecilia:
You’ve studied hard. You are a full magician.
A translation using “magician” instead of one of the numerous other English words for the concept of someone who can use magic bugs me a bit, probably because I picture a stage magician instead of a spellslinger when I hear the word. I think even a literal translation of mahou-tsukai (assuming that’s what the Japanese script uses) as “magic-user” would be better in most cases. But the game uses “sorceress” or “shaman” to refer to Cecilia more often than it does “magician”, so even for a nitpick like that it’s not a big deal.
At this point, we’ve completed our first circuit of the abbey grounds. The first set of dialogue changes is triggered by getting the Pocket Watch, cleaning up the library, and finding out about the Sealed Library.
Please be careful. May the Guardians be with you…
Talking to Sister Mary a second time gets you this. Talking to the librarian nets this:
This is just a rumor… A [Light] is supposed to be the key to opening the door. A warm, powerful [Light]. I don’t know what the Light is.
And the girl over by the bookcase has this to say.
Usually [Sealed] books are hidden somewhere hard to find.
Possibly the most useless and inane statement in this update. The two other girls in the room, and the girl in the next classroom, all tell you to talk to Sister Mary, Lila, and Jacques the chef for more information about the Sealed Library. We’ve already heard what Sister Mary has to say on the subject, and we’ll see in a bit how useful the other two are. But I didn’t show off Cecilia’s brunette friend’s new dialogue in the main update, so let’s take a look at that.
That took long enough. Where were you? Did you get to see everyone? [Sealed Library]… That rumor has been floating around forever. It’s supposed to be in the abbey and full of forbidden texts. Those books are scary… If you want to know more, you should ask Sister Mary or one of the older teachers.
Talking to her again after opening the Sealed Library nets this:
The abbey is very old. There are many strange rumors and tales about it. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a book like the one you talked about.
As far as I know, she’s the only character with updated dialogue after you unlock the Sealed Library. It could also be that she randomly just has two lines that she says after you clean the library; I didn’t talk to her a “second” time until after I had already been in the Sealed Library.
The classroom to the right of the library keeps the exact same dialogue. Studying girl is too busy for us, and the teacher forgot to sprinkle some sage advice into her “Magic is hard, but you’re a protagonist so you’ll do fine” speech. The next NPC with updated dialogue is the nun in the courtyard just below.
And back inside, to the kitchen.
I hear that this abbey was built on an ancient ruin.
So, to the person who asked how you get permission to build the secret hidden library into your abbey, the answer is apparently “build the abbey on top of the secret hidden library”. As for the folks inside the kitchen…
Chef Jacques, in the back, knows a lot about this place. He’s been here a long time.
[Sealed Library]… I’ve heard of it before. Something about the showing of a light being the key…
As we can see, Jacques does have a somewhat useful hint, but the nun outside the abbey basically says the same thing, but gets a bit more specific, which makes her more useful. Now we head up to Anje.
If there is a [Sealed Library], it must contain the forbidden texts.
We already know what the nun outside says, so upstairs to the dorms we go. Inn Girl’s new dialogue is short and sweet.
So on we go to Lila, the final person we are directed by the game to go talk to for information about the Sealed Library.
I’m not the only one who knows this… The [Sealed Library] is a popular rumor around here. Something acts as a key to open the door or something.
Thanks, Lila. You sure did manage to say a whole lot of nothing, there.
The second and final set of dialogue changes happens for the victory lap around the abbey after defeating Nelgaul and freeing Stoldark. Let’s start back in Cecilia’s old classroom, with her friends.
I’ve known you all my life, Cecilia. When it comes to studying and eating, I have no chance against your hunger for knowledge and hamburgers.
Come by anytime. We’ll always be friends, even if you do become a princess.
Uh, I’m pretty sure she’s already a princess. It’s not a job you can apply for. And now let’s see what that girl up by the bookcase has to say.
Please be careful with your eating problem. Then again, when has eating ever been a problem for you?
I imagine that as a dumb 13-year-old, I probably found this kind of stuff funny, but now it’s just kind of sad. Let’s hope the girl in the next-door classroom has something less disappointing to say.
This seems more like a proper send-off, rather than the parting shots her “friends” in her own class were taking. Over in the library:
Do your best, my Princess, and I’ll do mine.
Hopefully, that involves not screwing up the library so badly you need time-travelling magic to fix it. In the next-door classroom:
I’m going to start a school of magic for everyone to attend… I wonder what kind of princess you’ll become.
Studying Girl has big dreams. I have no idea how she plans to teach magic (or found Hogwarts) when she’s having trouble memorizing the four most basic aspects of it, though.
Magic is a difficult skill to master, but practice makes perfect. You will do well. You’re the best student in Curan Abbey.
The teacher basically restates her original dialogue. But suddenly Cecilia’s gone from being her best student to being the best in the whole damn school, apparently. They should have had her prepare a speech.
Don’t forget the care in your heart.
Outside, this nun lectures Cecilia on the Power of Love and Friendship or something. Back over to the kitchen…
So, you’re going home… Well, don’t forget anything.
Don’t cry just because you’re going to miss my burgers.
Everyone leaves after graduation. Just thinking about it makes me sad.
Alright, upstairs to talk to Anje.
So, you’re going back to Adlehyde. Just remember that magic isn’t the only thing you’ve learned.
We’ll skip the nun at the entrance for now; it makes more sense to get her just as we leave. So next up is the dorms again.
The Ruin Festival in Adlehyde must have a lot of news to report on. I want to go so bad!
Lila is just called a “gossip” in this version of the game, but in Alter Code F, she actually runs a newspaper or something. Here we get a hint that she might have done the same in the Japanese script for this version as well.
The capital city has so much culture…
I wish we could take you with us, Girl by the Magic Guild. You are the Most Useful Schoolgirl and deserve a reward. Sadly, the abbey has some pretty draconian exit rules, and even day trips simply aren’t allowed.
Has the Ruin Festival started yet?
The world outside is tough. Don’t give up.
The final farewells of the folks in the courtyard. Finally we have the nun at the entrance, just before we leave.
And now for the books! Obviously, the books don’t ever have anything new to say, so one go 'round will suffice here. However, the fact that both the abbey proper and the Sealed Library have plenty of bookcases means that there’s still plenty of text to go.
No one has been able to stop the degeneration of Filgaia.
About 1,000 years ago, a race of Metal Demons tore through Filgaia. The Guardians, the Elws, and the Humans won the war at a considerable cost. After the Guardians lost their strength, the land could not maintain its life force… The weak faded away… The Elw disappeared, never to be seen again.
There are advanced machines found all over Filgaia. Many of them are weapons. Scientists refer to them as [ARMs].
ARMs and relics of ancient battles have been excavated from the same layer of soil.
They are the protectors of Filgaia. As faint as they are, the Guardians are living among us on this desolate world. All things come from the Guardians’ power.
Do not fear failure. You can always dissolve a spell.
The Earth Dragon, Gurdijeff. The Fire Bird, Moa Gault. The Wind Tiger, Fengalon. The Water Turtle, Stoldark. The four elemental Guardians.
Probably a good time to talk about these guys, right? They’re all based on the Si Xiang, four constellations important in Chinese mythology. Each one represents a direction and a season, with the Azure Dragon (Qinglong) representing the east and spring, the Vermillion Bird (Zhu Que) representing the south and summer, the White Tiger (Bai Hu) representing west and autumn, and the Black Turtle (Xuanwu) representing the north and winter. Alter Code F localizes three of their names differently, as Grudiev, Moor Gault, and Schturdark, respectively. Fengalon, the White Tiger, gets to keep his name.
Anyways, that’s all the books in the abbey. Now on to the Sealed Library. Let’s start with the actual library room.
Knowledge can be a guide or an obstacle depending on how you handle it.
Knowledge has true power when it is needed. Sometimes, though, it is more important to act on intuition.
Too much knowledge can blind the viewer. There is never a moment when this should be forgotten.
Together, the Humans and the Elws were finally able to defeat the Demon Queen. The Queen’s heart was forever sealed into three separate Guardian statues.
The life of Filgaia has been sustained by linking the weakened Guardians together, through a pipeline called the Rayline. This was a last ditch effort of the weakened Guardians to support Filgaia to this day.
And this is where we get the thread title from. I’ll be honest; I’d forgotten about this book and thought that the payoff for that would take quite a while longer to get to. Also, apparently it’s one word, not two. Whoops. 
Anyways, “Rayline” is supposed to be “ley line”, as in the belief that certain land formations hold spiritual or magical significance. The actual term was coined in 1921 by Alfred Watkins, and then popularized in 1969 by John Michell. Alter Code F fixes this goof… for the most part.
Guardians, Elws and Humans fought to protect Filgaia. Of the Guardians, the Guardian of [Desire] sided with the demons. The shadow of a black wolf, disappeared with the Demon Race.
The enigmatic Elw race… Much of the Elw magic was truly astonishing. The specialized in magic related to biology. One of their technologies converted life force to energy for transport to other locations.
At the bloodiest point in the war, one Elw forged a sword of ultimate power. This sword had the ability to channel the Guardians’ power through its blade. There is no record of the sword being used in battle, but it was about that time that the demons withdrew from the war. There is no doubt that the Guardian Blade was a major factor in the war.
Soon after the war with the Demon Race, the Elws disappeared from Filgaia. They used what powers they had remaining and moved an island still teeming with life to another dimension. Their destination is known as the Elw dimension.
Is it because humans do not have wings that they constantly strive to reach the heavens? With science seemingly limitless, some people reached for the heavens from a massive tower dedicated to magic.
There once was a Guardian who chased the tail of a falling star. He came crashing down to Filgaia with the falling star. The Guardian of the [Star Light], [Ligudobleit]. Does he still sleep next to the fallen star somewhere in Filgaia?
The Guardian referred to here is called Rigdobrite in Alter Code F. Considering his theme seems to be stars and light, I’d say Agetec managed to un-fuck this one. Good job, guys!
After the great war, a huge magical machine was built to restore the land from the devastation. The machine was named [Yggdrasil], after the tree in the legends. The demons discovered the machine and stole the reviving mechanisms. Rather than use the mechanism to give birth to new land, the demons’ leader [Mother] used it to give birth to more demons.
Since the war with the demons 1000 years ago, many monsters have been born all over Filgaia. [Rago Ragla], the [King of the Beasts] sleeps somewhere in Filgaia.
The basis for the elemental crest magic is the binding of two elements together to generate magic. There are 32 secret elemental spells kept by the Magic Guild that are more powerful than the normal spells available.
It is normally impossible to cast two spells at once. The Great Mage Dhee devised a method to cast two spells simultaneously.
After many failures, the Magic Guild was able to organize the crest combination into 32 secret spells. Some continued the research to take the magic even further…
The Thousand Poem Legend prophesied the coming of Angol Moa. The demigod, Angol Moa will arrive at a promised time to destroy and recreate all. He is known as the ultimate existence.
There exists a secret sect of Guardianist who worship the power of the Guardians. These extremists believe in a complete return to nature, as opposed to the harmonized coexistence with nature taught by Curan Abbey. They left the safety of the common world to develop and instill their beliefs discreetly.
The Rings of Timespace contain a power that no human should ever possess. The Rings of Timespace are a seal that holds down the boundaries of time and space. The Ring consists of two alignment circles. Once circle designates Northwest, Southwest, Southeast and Northeast. The other circle designates West, South, East and North.
During the age of creation, one woman had received a secret book from a heavenly messenger. The book contained information about the creation of the universe. It is said that it contains theories on alchemy and the ways of the heavens.
The cold hard bodies of the demons are made of metal. Their metal bodies, however, have most of the same traits of a biological entity. The ancient Mages of the art of Alchemy studied captive demons to learn from their technology. That is how we came to create the golems.
The Demon Race has technology that allows them to travel across time and space. They have also developed a device that utilizes this technology to instantly transport troops to a faraway location. The demons’ attacks seemed to use this strategy…
The dead area called the [Sand River], was caused by the battle against the Demon Race a thousand years ago. The massive destructive powers drained the life from the entire area.
Use the different elements to enhance your power against the opponent’s elements. Using fire against ice monsters, for example, will increase the effectiveness of your attack.
Welcome to JRPGs 101, here is your textbook.
The Guardians sometimes use their power for earthquakes and lightning. But it is all part of the energy we need to sustain life on Filgaia.
The eight golems were built by humans a thousand years ago to fight off the invasion of the Demon Race. All but one still remains deep inside the ruins… A real study of these artifacts can only be done when all eight of the golems are excavated.
In the realm of the Elws, the powers of nature are used as magic… They live on the path of eternity. They have long, hairy ears but their silhouettes are human. No one knows the reason why they left or where they have gone…
But we just read the book that said they made their own dimension and fucked off to there! We know exactly where they went, we just can’t get there!
The [Ring of Grace] has forgotten this land… Our continent will eventually end in warm desolation.
In the ancient days, Guardians represented basic human nature. There were three Guardians who were in charge of higher energies beyond the four basic energies. These three Guardians were in charge of those who lived their lives according to their energies. These were: The [Courage] Guardian, who had the power of growth beyond oneself. The [Love] Guardian, who had the power to protect what is precious. And the [Hope] Guardian, who had the power to believe in the future. In the old days, these three energies existed in everyone’s hearts. Now, people have forgotten the meaning of these energies.
The other moon that floats above the night sky, shines its dull light down on the surface of Filgaia. Some say it’s the Castle of the demons and is made of magic silver… We have no way of knowing now…
Each unassuming tool has a mystic power within it. This power can be brought out of the tools depending on the psychic abilities of the user.
This describes Cecilia’s Level 1 Force ability, Mystic, which I didn’t demonstrate in the main update because it’s mostly pointless when she’s solo. Don’t worry; I’ll show it off eventually. Note that it’s referring to items, not Tools.
Down in the room where we found Nelgaul and Stoldark, there are two last bookshelves. The first one…
A magic seal prevents it from opening!
We’ll be getting back to that one later.
No one really knows who the Guardians are… The only place one can see them is in the legends.
And that’s it for the books, and for this update! Next time, we actually meet the gunslinger in this Western fantasy.