NUMERO UNO: Powers!
I...love playing characters who can do weird shit, it looks like. Anyway.
Pros and Cons
Cielo’s Atma (demon form) represents a Hindu god known as ‘God of the Sky’ or ‘Father of the Sky.’ He’s notable for being the only playable character in DDS with the ability to fly, and as you level him up through the course of the game, he’s rather weak on physical strength and endurance, but makes up for it with speed and magical skill. As a demon, he’s resistant towards the lightning element, but very weak against ailments (poison, paralysis, confusion, etc.) Camp disease barrage for the win?
Flight
Dyaus does have wings, but doesn’t seem to need them to fly. They aren’t practical for that, anyway-they’re inflexible and not connected enough to his body to support him. More like a jet’s than a bird’s, in fact. He flies while carrying a person in them, and in battle he hovers vertically without any apparent support, but sinks to the ground when weakened. It looks like he stays in the air by force of will rather than by any physical effort, which explains why he can zoom through the air with four or five people hanging onto his back. WHEE.
Sight
While minor demons you fight through the course of the game do have eyes, the major demons (principal Embryon members, Varnani, Indra, Onmyo Harihara, and any Tribe Leaders) are all eyeless. Later on you get to do sidequests called ‘Field Hunts,’ in which you run around killing weak demons. These register as fuzzy blobs of light. Obviously these apparently ‘blind’ demons can see enemies and surroundings, or things would get very awkward. Maybe living things come up as levels of power-the stronger they are, the clearer and more defined the image? I don’t really know. Feel free to take me up on this.
Magic
The game’s elements go as follows:
Bufu - Ice
Zio - Electricity
Zan - Force/Wind
Agi - Fire
Tera - Earth
Hama - Expel HP/MP
Mudo - Death
Dia - Healing
Ailment - Poison, Paralysis, Charm, Confusion, Curse, Petrify
As stated before, Cielo is quite a good spellcaster. He can do offensive, defensive, repelling and draining magic; lightning is his strength, and Dyaus is highly resistant to it. Ailments, however, are his big weakness, and he will always be affected badly by them.
Out of demon form, it’s a bit different-he won’t have any more resistance or weakness towards these elements than any other human. It also seems like humans can’t cast demon magic, but that conflicts itself in-game. I’m going with a compromise and saying they can cast as humans, just that it takes a lot more concentration and is far more difficult to do, especially in the middle of a fight.
Physical
Cielo is maybe a little bit stronger, faster and more flexible than your average human, but that’s about it. He can fight-submachine gun’s his weapon of choice-but all in all his Atma is far more deadly than he is.
Dyaus is twice Cielo's size, with a mouthful of sharp teeth, clawed hands and feet, and a retractable blade in the crest atop its head. It also hits enemies with its wings-it looks like there’s an edge on them, and they’re pretty strong. What else? He’s incredibly fast in the air. He can go at insane speeds for short distances, and [spoiler] later on, outflies missiles and destroys three jets in succession by crashing into them at these same speeds. However, he mortally injures himself and then dies doing this, so…not such a good idea, yeah? [/spoiler]
…Dyaus also has the ability to fire lasers out of its mouth, which is pretty cool. Cielo often seems to forget he can do this, so it’s probably one that takes a lot out of him to use, or one that can’t be used very often. Also, it seems like injuries inflicted on an Atma are healed when it reverts to human form, and vice-versa. I’m not sure how far this goes, but canon has shown us that it regrows wings and closes stab wounds in the gut.
Lastly? In comparison with the others from his canon, Dyaus is a poor physical fighter. The rest of the Embryon’s Atma (except Prithivi) outmatch him in raw strength.
Rasetsu
Atma are subject to ‘Solar Noise,’ or the influence of the black sun, in DDS2. This probably won’t carry over into camp, which has a normal sun, but you never know. When Solar Noise is at maximum, something special happens and you get rasetsu, half-human half-demon berserk mode, in which they look twenty times creepier and also really kind of hot if you’re into that sort of thing.
Anyway, rasetsu-mode Cielo is like Quincy Archer’s demon dream come true. Gold pupils in black (like a Hollow’s!), skin darkened, teeth…fangy, arms turned into Dyaus’ wings but the rest human, very hungry, very very angry. His strength and speed go up about tenfold, he isn’t affected by defensive/ailment/draining spells, and at the best of times, he has only the barest control over himself to prevent him attacking comrades.
But GUESS WHAT. He can’t use magic while berserk, and what he gains in power, he loses in accuracy and defense. If he hits you, you’re probably screwed-but he’ll have a really hard time hitting you and if he misses he’ll flail like a drunk and then you can hit him and he’ll go down. GG, Atlus. GG.
Technomancy
This isn’t a confirmed ability, but it’s relevant.
In a certain scene in DDS2, we see Cielo enraged while human for the first time. The Embryon are standing around in a building complex, far away from any entrances to the outside. Dead air. When the boy goes ‘rar’ out of demon form, a violent wind picks up, localized around him. It seems like he has some unconscious control over the element his Atma presides over, but it takes special circumstances to bring it out. Especially because it looks like he and Gale and Argilla try and keep their demons separate from themselves.
[HUGE SPOILER] It’s also strange how while Schroedinger the cat is most important to Sera and Serph, Cielo is the only member of the Embryon it actually approaches. And Cielo was a candidate for the role of ‘techno-shaman,’ apparently, but went insane and died during the tests that Sera later passed successfully (GAME WRITERS, WHY DO YOU GIVE HIM JUST ONE SENTENCE OF BACKSTORY!?) He didn’t affect the Junkyard dataspace around him the same way Sera could, but Schroedinger--Seraph’s representation--influenced events through him, not one of the others…yeah, I’m thinking too much. Still, it was worth a mention. [/SPOILER]
Pros and Cons
Cielo’s Atma (demon form) represents a Hindu god known as ‘God of the Sky’ or ‘Father of the Sky.’ He’s notable for being the only playable character in DDS with the ability to fly, and as you level him up through the course of the game, he’s rather weak on physical strength and endurance, but makes up for it with speed and magical skill. As a demon, he’s resistant towards the lightning element, but very weak against ailments (poison, paralysis, confusion, etc.) Camp disease barrage for the win?
Flight
Dyaus does have wings, but doesn’t seem to need them to fly. They aren’t practical for that, anyway-they’re inflexible and not connected enough to his body to support him. More like a jet’s than a bird’s, in fact. He flies while carrying a person in them, and in battle he hovers vertically without any apparent support, but sinks to the ground when weakened. It looks like he stays in the air by force of will rather than by any physical effort, which explains why he can zoom through the air with four or five people hanging onto his back. WHEE.
Sight
While minor demons you fight through the course of the game do have eyes, the major demons (principal Embryon members, Varnani, Indra, Onmyo Harihara, and any Tribe Leaders) are all eyeless. Later on you get to do sidequests called ‘Field Hunts,’ in which you run around killing weak demons. These register as fuzzy blobs of light. Obviously these apparently ‘blind’ demons can see enemies and surroundings, or things would get very awkward. Maybe living things come up as levels of power-the stronger they are, the clearer and more defined the image? I don’t really know. Feel free to take me up on this.
Magic
The game’s elements go as follows:
Bufu - Ice
Zio - Electricity
Zan - Force/Wind
Agi - Fire
Tera - Earth
Hama - Expel HP/MP
Mudo - Death
Dia - Healing
Ailment - Poison, Paralysis, Charm, Confusion, Curse, Petrify
As stated before, Cielo is quite a good spellcaster. He can do offensive, defensive, repelling and draining magic; lightning is his strength, and Dyaus is highly resistant to it. Ailments, however, are his big weakness, and he will always be affected badly by them.
Out of demon form, it’s a bit different-he won’t have any more resistance or weakness towards these elements than any other human. It also seems like humans can’t cast demon magic, but that conflicts itself in-game. I’m going with a compromise and saying they can cast as humans, just that it takes a lot more concentration and is far more difficult to do, especially in the middle of a fight.
Physical
Cielo is maybe a little bit stronger, faster and more flexible than your average human, but that’s about it. He can fight-submachine gun’s his weapon of choice-but all in all his Atma is far more deadly than he is.
Dyaus is twice Cielo's size, with a mouthful of sharp teeth, clawed hands and feet, and a retractable blade in the crest atop its head. It also hits enemies with its wings-it looks like there’s an edge on them, and they’re pretty strong. What else? He’s incredibly fast in the air. He can go at insane speeds for short distances, and [spoiler] later on, outflies missiles and destroys three jets in succession by crashing into them at these same speeds. However, he mortally injures himself and then dies doing this, so…not such a good idea, yeah? [/spoiler]
…Dyaus also has the ability to fire lasers out of its mouth, which is pretty cool. Cielo often seems to forget he can do this, so it’s probably one that takes a lot out of him to use, or one that can’t be used very often. Also, it seems like injuries inflicted on an Atma are healed when it reverts to human form, and vice-versa. I’m not sure how far this goes, but canon has shown us that it regrows wings and closes stab wounds in the gut.
Lastly? In comparison with the others from his canon, Dyaus is a poor physical fighter. The rest of the Embryon’s Atma (except Prithivi) outmatch him in raw strength.
Rasetsu
Atma are subject to ‘Solar Noise,’ or the influence of the black sun, in DDS2. This probably won’t carry over into camp, which has a normal sun, but you never know. When Solar Noise is at maximum, something special happens and you get rasetsu, half-human half-demon berserk mode, in which they look twenty times creepier and also really kind of hot if you’re into that sort of thing.
Anyway, rasetsu-mode Cielo is like Quincy Archer’s demon dream come true. Gold pupils in black (like a Hollow’s!), skin darkened, teeth…fangy, arms turned into Dyaus’ wings but the rest human, very hungry, very very angry. His strength and speed go up about tenfold, he isn’t affected by defensive/ailment/draining spells, and at the best of times, he has only the barest control over himself to prevent him attacking comrades.
But GUESS WHAT. He can’t use magic while berserk, and what he gains in power, he loses in accuracy and defense. If he hits you, you’re probably screwed-but he’ll have a really hard time hitting you and if he misses he’ll flail like a drunk and then you can hit him and he’ll go down. GG, Atlus. GG.
Technomancy
This isn’t a confirmed ability, but it’s relevant.
In a certain scene in DDS2, we see Cielo enraged while human for the first time. The Embryon are standing around in a building complex, far away from any entrances to the outside. Dead air. When the boy goes ‘rar’ out of demon form, a violent wind picks up, localized around him. It seems like he has some unconscious control over the element his Atma presides over, but it takes special circumstances to bring it out. Especially because it looks like he and Gale and Argilla try and keep their demons separate from themselves.
[HUGE SPOILER] It’s also strange how while Schroedinger the cat is most important to Sera and Serph, Cielo is the only member of the Embryon it actually approaches. And Cielo was a candidate for the role of ‘techno-shaman,’ apparently, but went insane and died during the tests that Sera later passed successfully (GAME WRITERS, WHY DO YOU GIVE HIM JUST ONE SENTENCE OF BACKSTORY!?) He didn’t affect the Junkyard dataspace around him the same way Sera could, but Schroedinger--Seraph’s representation--influenced events through him, not one of the others…yeah, I’m thinking too much. Still, it was worth a mention. [/SPOILER]