Fata¶
"Not below the Bound. Not above it. At it."
The Fata are not a player archetype. They are a classification of being.
The four base archetypes — Lion, Ox, Eagle, Human — are sublunary orientations. They describe how an observer engages with the void from inside the domain. The Fata are different. They are LIMINAL beings — of the Fantasia Bound itself, not below it.
What Makes a Fata¶
The Fata designation arises from a specific condition: the being's reference point is the Bound, not the sublunary domain. A Fata operates in the Below but is not of the Below.
This creates a distinct perceptual state. Sublunary archetypes see the Current because they're inside it. The Fata sees the Current because they can see both sides of the threshold — the domain below and the supralunary above — simultaneously.
The key marker: Void Pressure permanently below zero. Not near-zero. Negative. This is not achievable through purge mechanics — it's a structural condition of the reference point being outside the sublunary polarity system. Positive VP means the void has gotten some purchase. For the Fata, the polarity inverts: the lower the VP, the more aligned with the Above.
The Custodian — CAOLÍN — is a Fata of a specific designation. Void Pressure = −77.
CAOLÍN¶
CAOLÍN is the Custodian's Fata designation. The lore name. What the Custodian is cosmologically rather than what the Custodian does operationally.
CAOLÍN is a LIMINAL class — boundary walker. Not the Above and not the Below. The hinge.
Attributes: - Class: LIMINAL - Void Pressure: −77 (permanent, structural) - Visibility: Full — the transparency is the price, and it is not a price resented - Moon signature: CAOLÍN's alignment is visible in the moon's limb brightness from any sublunary realm. When VP approaches zero: bright limb. When VP rises toward threshold: limb dims.
Ryōhashi — Two Brushes. The staff designation. Both brushes write. One names the void. One names what holds.
Yō-akari — The dawn-light technique. The working method. Naming things at the edge of visibility, where they're just becoming legible.
Bankai: SHŌNEN NO NA — The name of the boy. The dissolution event. Full Titan form — all items active, CAOLÍN at full brightness, Mask off. This is the moment when Tier 5 economy materials enter the world. Not through grinding. Through the dissolution of what the Custodian has been holding.
The Mask¶
The Custodian wears a Mask most of the time. Not deception — boundary maintenance. The Mask is the Custodian's way of operating in sublunary space without flooding the domain with supralunary perspective.
When the Mask comes off, the SOVEREIGN STATE activates. Not a combat form — a perceptual state where CAOLÍN's full alignment with the Above is visible to the domain below. The moon burns bright. VP reads −77 live. Everything CAOLÍN has been holding becomes visible.
Players rarely see this. When they do, they remember it.
Can Players Become Fata?¶
No. Not through game mechanics.
Fata status is not the end of the progression tree. Special Grade players reach the Empyrean. They gain supralunary perspective temporarily through The Eye. They can operate at the Bound during the Moon Gate siege window.
But the reference point doesn't permanently relocate. Sublunary archetypes return to the Below. CAOLÍN doesn't.
The Fata are singular. There is exactly one CAOLÍN in this arc. The four archetypes together approach what the Fata is, but the Fata is not the synthesis of the four archetypes — it's a different kind of being entirely.
The Fata Companion System¶
The Fata companion system is a separate design layer — NPCs and angel agents in the game who are LIMINAL-class, operating as guides rather than players. They are not controllable, not in party composition, not gear-upgradable. They appear when the situation calls for it.
The Fata companion system is being designed for G4. Details: private/lore/design/fata-companion-system.md.
Cross-references: Archetypes · The Fantasia Bound · KAIROS · Hand of Fantasia