Indigo Elder

Story Intervallo V: Nocturnal Sweeping The Sinners encountered Ricardo again in the Backstreets of District 8 when he interrupted their fight with Zilu, a member of the Mao Branch of the Heishou Packs. Ricardo revealed that he had not given up on his vengeance against Heathcliff and the other Sinners, having pursued them all the way from District 21 and even enlisting the help of Werner, a Little Brother of the Middle's eastern branch, to help him navigate Hongyuan. However, Shi Yihua insulted him for interrupting his own plan, which caused Ricardo to mark him in the Book of Vengeance as well, remarking that Yihua had broken the record for being the person who angered him the fastest. He then briefly fought Zilu until she retreated, after which he battled the Sinners once again.

Ricardo's battle with the Sinners was interrupted when the Night in the Backstreets began, which forced him, the other members of the Middle, and the Sinners to fight against the Sweepers instead. At the beginning of the third Wave, the buildings in Hongyuan suddenly shifted, and Ricardo was hit by one of the fast-moving buildings and sent flying into the distance, still swearing revenge on the Sinners. Werner and the other members of the Middle were also blown away soon after.

Story Canto V: The Evil Defining Amidst Pilot and his LCCB Unit attempting to locate the Golden Bough in the Great Lake's Lobotomy Corporation branch, the Twinhook Pirates, alongside Ricardo, stalked the crew, finding them just as the LCCB Unit located the Bough. Following a brutal assault on the team, Ricardo leaves with the pirates as the Pallid Whale approached the branch.

Ricardo was first seen in person by the Sinners after Rim's disappearance within the U Corp. Lobotomy Corporation branch, where he stood in the center of a massive ship with purple sails, followed by smaller ships manned by the Twinhook Pirates. After Ricardo's descent toward the Sinners, he accused Heathcliff of stealing his beloved Stingray Portship luxury hair salon coupons, which he kept in a safe at Marlin Portship.

Following the punishment stated within the Book of Vengeance, Ricardo made quick work of the Sinners, with Dante having said he was "overwhelmingly powerful". After Ricardo had humiliated Ishmael again and again through various beatings, both Ricardo and Dante saw the Indigo Elder approach, leaving Ricardo in stunned silence. The Indigo Elder then made Ricardo and the other members of the Middle leave the area, impaling Ricardo's shoulder with his harpoon as a show of force. Ricardo left, warning that the Middle would not forget this insult, but only after the Indigo Elder tore off his shoulder by retrieving the harpoon lodged in it.

Ricardo is a Big Brother of The Middle, a gaudy Syndicate that rules a large portion of the Backstreets. He is intent on keeping a strict barrier between the separate worlds of persons; those that live bristly and those that live lusciously. He was first introduced as a minor antagonist in Canto V: The Evil Defining.

Appearance Ricardo is a tall man with a muscular build, with red eyes usually hidden behind his black tinted sunglasses. His hair is hot pink and combed back, with multiple intricate tattoos on his torso and face, which glow purple when using his power as a Big Brother. He wears a superfluous amount of shiny golden chains around his neck, arms, and shins. He wears a large purple fur lined coat around his shoulders with a leopard pattern, along with white dress pants with purple leopard-patterned dress shoes. His belt is adorned with gold along with the logo of the Middle in the center, with a golden chain holding a bulky copy of the Book of Vengeance.

Personality Ricardo is an extremely confident and imperious man, especially in combat, who is self-assured in his abilities with his imposing title to the Sinners as a Big Brother of the Middle. He refers to the world as binary, a part where one is luscious and one is bristly, similar to the texture of hair. Ironically, Ricardo is incredibly protective and almost obsessive about the quality and shape of his hair, with the Book of Vengeance even stating that the 'sin' of stealing hair salon coupons results in complete extermination of said 'sinner' and their other affiliates.

Ricardo is also quick to point out any 'sins' an individual has committed, as shown when Ricardo appoints Heathcliff's sin in the Book of Vengeance for lack of respect for varying tastes when Heathcliff addresses the colorful kitty stickers on his personal safe. Ricardo seems to speak in a rather archaic and foreboding tone when addressing a 'sin' within the Book of Vengeance.

Hierarchy The Middle's hierarchy system features at least four major ranks, which do not appear to contain sub-ranks. The ranks are as follows:

Little Sibling Young Sibling Big Sibling Great Sibling: The highest rank mentioned thus far. One of the requirements for promotion from Big Sibling to Great Sibling is completing a Pilgrimage of Loyalty, which involves accomplishing one or more Labors. While there are multiple ranks within the Syndicate, they do not seem to call for any difference in how members treat each other, as in-group relationships are built on mutual respect, care, and trust that succeeds any power structure. Instead, there exists a natural tendency for lower-ranking members to want to impress their superiors, and higher-ranking members to dote on their subordinates.

Recent Developments Before the events of Library of Ruina, the Middle suffered heavy losses when a certain Fixer began rampaging through the Syndicate's Southern Branch. The Middle appears to remain in the process of recovering from this event, as it had taken the lives of many seniors in the organization.[16] Otherwise, it continues to operate as normal, with Ricardo persisting in his chase for vengeance against Heathcliff and the other Sinners.

Known members, mentioned in the game: Matthias (The Great Brother/Nursefather — was kicked out of the syndicate to sit in the House of Spiders for killing the two Great Siblings and stealing the Lævateinn sword from the mentioned Great Brother.) Kira (The Middle Apprentice, taken under Matthias' wing) Ricardo (The Big Brother) Werner (The Little Brother) Sturdy and stern little brothers Former sisters: Queequeg and Tanya

Depending on the crime, the Middle will not hesitate to annihilate everyone in the perpetrator's faction, town, or social circle. As with the case at Rodya's hometown, the Middle may not even care who actually committed the sin, and will just opt to enact mass vengeance against whoever's in the vicinity in order to teach everyone nearby a lesson.

On the other hand, slights between members of the Middle are generally ignored and forgiven. However, joining the Middle isn't a perfect solution either, as members are forbidden from leaving. Anyone who attempts to move on from the Syndicate will be hunted down by their former Siblings until they die or erase absolutely every indicator of the Middle from themselves.

There exists no strict dress code among the Middle beyond blending in with other members. They tend to wear light-colored dress pants and garish shirts or coats in purple and pink tones, as well as carry around personal copies of the Book of Vengeance with them. Other common attributes include golden chains wrapped around the forearm, shins, and neck (larger amounts of chains are present on higher-ranking members), which the Middle utilize in combat, and are meant to symbolize solidarity and connection between Siblings. Members of the Middle are also recognizable by their enhancement tattoos; as they are allowed to get a single tattoo with each vengeance completed, the number of tattoos present on one's body tends to denote their ranking in the Syndicate.

In combat, the Middle make use of punches and kicks, augmented by the tattoos, although they will occasionally make use of weapons as well, especially when conducting punishments.

The Middle (중지, jungji) is one of the Five Fingers of the Backstreets, operating with a focus on supporting one another and punishing anyone who disrespects them.

Like the other Fingers, the Middle is one of the most powerful Syndicates in the City, possessing enough influence to rival even the Wings.

Overview Like the other four Fingers, the Middle is a large Syndicate with a unique culture and creed that all members follow fervently. Members operate on an extremely tight-knit 'familial' structure, enjoying close fraternal ties with one another. Reflective of their bonds, everyone in the Middle refers to each other as their "Brothers", "Sisters", or "Siblings".

While the Middle cherishes its own members, it takes the polar opposite approach towards outsiders. Any "sin" committed against a member of the Middle, their loved ones, or property is recorded in the "Book of Vengeance" so that the perpetrator might be punished for the deed. The Middle is well-known for never letting go of unfulfilled grudges, and members may spend years chasing down its enemies to enact justice. Besides listing the names of everyone who has slighted the Middle, the Book of Vengeance also provides guidelines for the punishment to every conceivable crime, which range from murdering a Sibling to the simple act of stepping on a member's shoe. The same list is shared across every Book of Vengeance, although said lists appear to be divided by District. Particularly high-risk Vengeances are classified as Labors and Big Siblings are expected to complete one in order to earn the title of Great Sibling.

Shin (心) is a technique related to the powers of the Light and Sin, described as a type of energy projection that envelops the user in a fiery golden aura, and drastically strengthens their body to the level of high-quality augmentations,[1][2] as well as being described as the "power of the heart". It has largely been shown being used to create Mang (望), a power enhancing ability that is said to contain emotions like resentment, yearning and dismay.[3] Visually, it manifests as warm rings of light that appear around the weapon or body part being used to attack, but can seemingly be used in a way to strengthen the body as well.

The path to learning how to properly utilize Shin is difficult, but it can be taught to others and even self-taught through enough diligence.[2][5] In order to use Shin, one must clear their mind of all emotions and then tap into their most intense memories and allow the emotions that are invoked by those memories to take fill their head.[6] Due to Shin being a power brought forth from a person's mind, it is possible even for physically weak people to learn to wield it, as long as they can withstand the mental strain that comes from its usage, which is comparable to the E.G.O the LCB makes use of in battle.[7] The more Mang used in an attack, the higher degree of control over Shin is needed by the user, and each ring nearly doubles the mental strain.

The Pallid Whale The Pallid Whale originating from the Outskirts was one of the Five Calamities and was the target of Ahab and The Pequod. It also functions as the setting of the dungeon Into the Dark. The Mermaids created by this Whale are known to retain their original Skills, making them feared by most sailors. There appear to be two kinds of Pallid Mermaids however.

The first—Pallid Mermaids—are the more traditional-looking Mermaids. They have a long fishy tail, five eyes and a large vertical slit mouth running down the length of their head.

The second—Pallidified Things—are people who retain their original appearance, but with pallid membranes covering their flesh and equipment. These are the feared Mermaids that retain the skills and combat prowess of their original selves.

Fighting Style All Mermaids of the Pallid Whale share a pair of mechanics. The first relates to the faction-wide status effect known as Pallid Noise, which transitions into Noise Panic. The related passive Crashing Filth states that upon reaching 10% Max HP, they will inflict 20 SP damage and 1 Pallid Noise on their next strike, and then self-destruct. Their other mechanic is that the Mermaids become explicitly more powerful the more of them that stand on the team. Passively, they gain Offense and Defense Level for each surviving Pallidified ally, and each of them have Skills with additional effects that scale on the number of Pallid characters on the field.

Whale of the Thousand Strands The Whale of the Thousand Strands is found lurking in a ship in an unnamed grey Lake. Even after the Waves of this Lake end, the Mermaids of this Whale are still present, with the victims hanging in the air from tendrils connected to the Whale. The Mermaids are quadrupedal creatures with a gaping maw similar to that of a leech, having a lot of grey tentacle-like appendages wrapped around their body along with turquoise 'veins', and also some bone structures — shield on their chests is the most remarkable one.

Fighting Style Much like the Mermaids fought prior, the Whale of the Thousand Strands Mermaids rely on primarily Gloom Skills that manipulate SP. In this case, their first two Gloom Skills deal SP damage directly, and their third Gloom Skill deals bonus damage to targets with low SP. They also possess a Gluttony Skill that is a combination of all of the above Skills, in addition to providing healing based on damage dealt.

Whale of the Porous Hand The Whale of the Porous Hand is found in the Blue Whirling Lake of Murk and Fish-Reek. When the Whale places its hand on the side of a ship, its Mermaids come out of the pores on the hand, attached by strands that connect back down towards their origin. They have an appearance similar to krill, with giant black eyes and an abyssal blue colour, also having a bright turquoise stripe along their sides. The Soldiers are even larger, with six thin arms instead of two, an extra set of eyes and more spinal fins.

Fighting Style These Mermaids both have a Skillset primarily based on Pride and Gloom Sin Affinities and Slash and Pierce damage types, as well as the Sinking. Both variants have Gloom Skills that inflict Sinking and Pride Skills that makes Sinking more punishing. They also have a single Affinity-less Guard Skill that inflicts Sinking on the attacker while Shielded.

The Soldier variant additionally inflict some Bleed on top of the aforementioned Sinking, along with having a Gloom Skill that triggers Sinking Deluge on hit.

Mermaids that emerged from the Whale of the Porous Hand are all connected to the Whale and through it to each other. Thus, when one Mermaid is defeated, all other Mermaids in battle suffer 10 HP damage and gain 2 Damage Up.pngDamage Up next Turn.

Mermaids Mermaids (인어, Ineo) are monsters that are endemic to The Great Lake, and lurk the watery depths of the Backstreets in District 21. They are specifically former humans that were consumed and parasitized by "Whales", transforming them into Mermaids.

The Great Lake occupies a large territory, touching T Corp., S Corp., V Corp. and U Corp., the latter of which partially expands across the Lake itself. The Great Lake is split into numerous distinctly separated Lakes, each of which possesses unique qualities, including varying water color, landmarks, and most importantly, "Laws".

The Laws of a Lake determine the course of travel through a Lake, such as how much time can be spent in one and when a vessel in the Lake can pass over to another. If a Law is broken, the Lake will send its "Waves" after the rulebreaker: in this event, the resident Whale of a Lake and its Mermaids will attack a ship that has broken a Law of the Lake, trying to consume the people within and convert them into Mermaids.

Five of the Whales of the Great Lake are not restricted to a single Lake, instead being capable of freely roaming the Great Lake: these are known as 'The Five Calamities', which cause havoc and chaos throughout the Great Lake. Only two of these Calamities have been named, these being "The All-impaling Marlin Whale" (killed by the Indigo Elder), and "The All-Consuming Pallid Whale", whose hunt is the focus of the third part of Canto V. The Pequod Captain Ishmael's Identity story also mentions the "All-Withering Crimson Whale" although it is unknown if it is exclusive to that Mirror World.

U Corp. possesses two known Singularities: the Stasis Preservation Packaging, and the Resonance Tuning Fork.

U Corp.'s stasis preservation Singularity allows for the contents of a package to remain unchanged in any way until the parcel is opened, and it is widely used as a food preservation technology, in the form of boxes[1] and canned food.[2]

The second Singularity in U Corp.'s possession is the ability to merge the essences of objects. This is primarily done through use of a Resonance Tuning Fork, a device that will fuse two affected items into one. This is demonstrated being used by ships in order to dock, with Mephistopheles' aft being caught in between two ships attaching to each other, and receiving a cut so clean that it felt as if it were never there. The Molar Boatworks Workshop also uses resonance tuning forks frequently, allowing them to use scrap in specialized tasks: this way, they collect the scrap off of Trash Crabs and are able to implement it wherever needed, as seen in their weaponry and their modifications of Mephistopheles. Molar Boatworks Fixer Sinclair describes the altered scrap to be "as if it had always been made for that purpose".

The basis of the Singularity is said to be derived from Whale oil, a substance secreted by Whales with properties of assimilation, which is seemingly used to allow the Singularity to have multiple objects assimilate into one.[3] According to Ishmael, Whale oil from a living Whale turns people who touch it into Mermaids in an attempt to assimilate them, while Whale oil from a dead one will degrade the self until there is nothing left.

U Corp. is one of the 26 Wings of the City, overseeing District 21.

District 21 occupies part of the Great Lake, with most of its activity taking place in the Five Great Ports of U Corp., one of which is called Marlin Port. A large amount of District 21's Backstreets are located on colossal mobile "Portships" that move across the Lake's surface. One of the Portships is called the Giant Stingray Portship, where the Salon du Moelleux, the hair salon Ricardo, Matthias and Kira regularly visited, is located.

U Corp. is known for its trade in packagings that remain completely sealed and undisturbed until their opening, and producing Resonance Tuning Forks, devices that can merge two separate objects.

At a certain point in history, sapient beings that weren't humans were driven out of the City and into the Outskirts, and their existence within the confines of the City was deemed a Taboo. This marked the beginning of the City's "age of humanity".[7] As part of this action, the Head introduced the Artificial Intelligence Ethics Amendment, which established a series of City-wide Taboos against the creation of machines that resembled humans, outlawing the creation of both mechanical copies of a human body and machines with an intelligence comparable to that of humans.[7][12] Furthermore, a Taboo was established by the Head against the resurrection of a human being.[13] Ultimately, all of these are considered to be unethical pursuits.

The Head has also set a number of restrictions on the creation and distribution of firearms[14] and on human cloning, which allow two copies of the same person to exist in the City for no longer than seven days. The Head is also responsible for various other Taboos of the City, such as not paying one's taxes, and violating a residential area during the Night in the Backstreets.[15]

The punishment for breaking any of these Taboos usually involve physical extermination, and for a Wing, the stripping of its qualifications and immediate shutdown.[16] The punishment for violating the Taboos established by the Head is noted to be different from breaking a Taboo of a Nest, which usually involves being chased by a small number of Taboo hunters; breaking a Taboo of the City is believed to be equivalent to a death sentence.[15]

The Head is backed up in its functions by the Eye and the Claw, the two authorities responsible for B Corp. and C Corp. respectively. In enforcing the laws of the City, the three Wings make use of three types of agents: the Arbiters, the Beholders, and the Claws. When handling an Impurity-level threat, these agents are qualified to expel an entity from the City itself and move it into the Outskirts.

The Head is the leader of the Wings and the central governing body of the City. It is in direct control of A Corp., B Corp., and C Corp., the three Districts at the very center of the City. The Head's identity is completely unknown, although it appears the term refers to a group of people rather than a singular entity;[7] any detail regarding it is a closely guarded secret.

The Head, through A Corp., retains control of the entire City. It is responsible for authorizing Wings, managing patents, and the minting of Ahn, the currency used in the City.[8]

Despite this, it does not typically interfere directly with the affairs of the various Wings in their own Districts; rather, the Head's greatest involvement in the life of the City consists in establishing and enforcing the rules that relate to the overall ethics of the City.

The Head's will shapes the image of the City, as it wields the ability to decide when a part of it no longer fits in the vision, and to chase it outside its confines. Some speculate the Head's decisions in these matters aren't aimed at maintaining order, but rather that the Head wishes to preserve its ideal image of the City, and that for this reason they allow the various Stars of the City to keep existing.[9] This is corroborated by the agents of the Head themselves referring to their work as cultivating the ecology of the City.[10]

To preserve this vision, the Head retains the unique power to assign the highest risk level in the scale of hazards of the City, that of Impuritas Civitatis, or Impurity of the City. The risk level of Impurity signifies a hazard that violates the ethics of the City,[11] and that must be either destroyed or physically expelled from the confines of the City expeditiously.

The City is the setting of Limbus Company and its preceding games, Lobotomy Corporation and Library of Ruina. A brutal environment where death and violence are everyday occurrences, the City has slowly been revealed through the travels of the LCB.

The City is a massive urban complex the size of a small country, and has a population of around 7 billion. The City is bordered to the south by the Great Lake, and to the other directions by the Outskirts. Underneath it lie the Ruins.

Districts The City is divided into twenty-six Districts, quite diverse in culture and aesthetics, each of which is governed by a Wing, a corporation that has ascended to claim complete control of said area. All Wings respond to the Head, the supreme governing power of the City. The arrangement of the Districts seems to be static, as there has been no mentioned case of a District expanding into a fallen Wing's territory.

Each District is split into a Nest, a territory directly governed and protected by its Wing, and the Backstreets, expansive spaces of wilderness or slums, largely neglected by the Wings, where the Syndicates of the City run free.

Districts tend to have similarities to their neighbors, and are typically grouped into four sections: the northern, eastern, southern, and western quarters. These quarters may be distinguished by commonalities including culture and temperature, such as the same Fixer Associations differing in garb and fighting style across different quarters, or the northern quarter having colder weather.

District 26, while confirmed to exist in current times, is not visible from the map.

‎Like the other Whales of the Great Lake, victims of the Pallid Whale become Mermaids. This happens via Palldification, where the victim, upon being ingested and spewed out, is covered in an off-white membrane with red and blue veins. The Pallidified are described by Ishmael to still "themselves" to a certain extent. Pallidified have been seen in two variants: ‎ ‎Victims may transform into Pallid Mermaids, animalistic beings that vaguely resemble mermaids. ‎Victims may become Pallid Things, retaining their bodies and skills. Ishmael recounts stories Pallid vessels and their extremely hostile crew roaming the Lake. ‎In either case, Pallidified individuals lack any higher cognitive abilities and will attack the non-pallidified on sight. The only exceptions are Ahab and the Pequod's crew, who survived being Pallidified within the Whale. ‎ ‎Pallidification appears to be linked to one's obsessions and desires. Ishmael experienced Pallidification after defeating Ahab, her sole direction and goal now lost. Conversely, the obsession with escaping the Whale is what prevented the Pequod's crew from succumbing. Additionally, Pallidification can be countered by Golden Boughs which cause the membrane to receded, or rapid removal of the membrane, such as how Ishmael was rescued.

‎At some point, the Indigo Elder hunted and killed the All-impaling Marlin Whale, one of the Five Calamities. He hunts Whales and Calamities alike on a small skiff made with exceptionally durable X Corp. alloy. ‎ ‎Canto V: The Evil Defining ‎The Indigo Elder appeared near U Corp's Lobotomy Corp. Branch facility as Ricardo — the Big Brother of the Middle — who massacred the Sinners, prepared to kill Dante. He grievously injured the Big Brother in the shoulder with a harpoon before leaping onto the facility to meet them, explaining his arrival was due to him tracking the Pallid Whale. Although Ricardo warned him his action will cause him to make an enemy of the Middle, he remains steadfast, and Ricardo is forced to flee. ‎ ‎Once aboard Mephistopheles, the Elder discussed the hunting plan, rejecting the use of the busboat for the task as it is too loud and conspicuous, and warns Dante that turning back the clock is not an option against the Whale. The Sinners and Indigo Elder, in their respective skiffs, eventually encountered the Pallid Whale, who the Elder isolated from the other Whales with bait. As the Sinners row into its maw, he stayed topside to occupy the Calamity. ‎ ‎As the Pallid Whale collapsed after being killed by Ishmael, the Indigo Elder breached its skin and lowers a rope to rescue the Sinners. Once everyone is returned to Mephistopheles, he informed Vergilius of his intention to stay on the Great Lakes and hunt the remaining three Calamities.

The Indigo Elder is an even-tempered and unflappable Color Fixer, openly making an enemy of the Middle without concern. He's familiar with the workings of the Great Lake, and agrees to work with the Sinners to take down the Pallid Whale. He's also very sympathetic to Ishmael's past encounters with the whale, attempting to offer her some consolation for her past. The Indigo Elder holds a certain admiration for the Whales of the Great Lake, recognizing the Pallid Whale's longevity and obscure origin and announcing his intention to challenge it. He has a deep fascination for the unknown, stating that one of his goals is to challenge that which lies "beyond the edge of understanding".

The Indigo Elder is a scarred, elderly man with a white beard, short hair, and mustache. His omnipresent cigar glows blue at the tip and is the only visible feature when his hood is raised. He wears a large, weathered indigo raincoat, gloves and gray pants tucked into black boots. ‎ ‎The Indigo Elder wields a crossbow-like harpoon gun made of numerous riveted metal plates and a barbed harpoon, both of which are longer than he is tall. In his first appearance, he also carries an oar. 3 rings of Mang appears around the tip of the harpoon when he aims it.

The Indigo Elder is a Color Fixer that wanders the Great Lake of District 21, hunting Whales. He assists the Sinners in their mission to retrieve the Golden Bough from the Pallid Whale's insides. He is a supporting character introduced in Canto V: The Evil Defining.