itp; mystical bullshittery
This post contains massive hairy spoilers for Devil Survivor. It is meant to serve as a way to explain a certain amount of Naoya's complicated bullshit. It contains some headcanon as I try to fill in the gaps left in how this works. You have been warned.
So. Naoya, our dear beloved stalker, is Cain. As in, biblical, Cain-and-Abel, based his little brother's head in with a rock Cain. The game posits that Cain killed Abel to give God the blood he wanted in his little contest, but then he was cursed for doing that. Instead of just being cursed to forever wander the earth, Cain was cursed to be continually reincarnated, and always remember every single one of his lives, all the way back to the beginning, for the last six thousand years. This will continue until Naoya repents to God, which he has adamantly refused to do. Since this is the SMT God we're talking about, one can assume his lives are generally made of horrible in an attempt to break him and get him to repent.
"So what does this mean?"
On a mystical level, Naoya...is a very strange person. He's human, completely human, but with way too much knowledge and a very, very old soul. His brother's soul was shattered and scattered in a bunch of different reincarnations, but is recognizeable to demons and angels alike. Naoya, by contrast, isn't immediately recognized by the angel-possessed shrine-maiden, but is recognized by angels in other routes, which implies he can hide some of who he is. But, to any being steeped in biblical canon, he's probably easily recognized in person, in no small part because of the Mark of Cain. Those who aren't can probably tell the massive amount of curse sitting on him.
"Wait, Mark of Cain?"
Yes! The bible notes that God marked Cain so everyone would know what he'd done. Naoya's albinism is not actually the mark, but a side-effect of the curse--the mark is basically a metaphysical flare of "HOLY SHIT IT'S CAIN". It's been watered down some over time--it never comes up at all in the game itself--but it's still there.
"So...what does this have to do with my character?"
Between this and Naoya's own magical prowess (He has the highest starting magic stat of any recruitable character, and both his boss incarnations focus heavily on blowing your shit up), Naoya kind of sticks out like a sore thumb. He can make himself seem mostly normal, but biblical characters are going to know what's up, and people who can sense magic are probably going to notice some level of this mystic fuckery. Telepaths are going to get a massive, headache-inducing jumble, and empaths are probably going to hit a brick wall of bitter angry suffering.
So. Naoya, our dear beloved stalker, is Cain. As in, biblical, Cain-and-Abel, based his little brother's head in with a rock Cain. The game posits that Cain killed Abel to give God the blood he wanted in his little contest, but then he was cursed for doing that. Instead of just being cursed to forever wander the earth, Cain was cursed to be continually reincarnated, and always remember every single one of his lives, all the way back to the beginning, for the last six thousand years. This will continue until Naoya repents to God, which he has adamantly refused to do. Since this is the SMT God we're talking about, one can assume his lives are generally made of horrible in an attempt to break him and get him to repent.
"So what does this mean?"
On a mystical level, Naoya...is a very strange person. He's human, completely human, but with way too much knowledge and a very, very old soul. His brother's soul was shattered and scattered in a bunch of different reincarnations, but is recognizeable to demons and angels alike. Naoya, by contrast, isn't immediately recognized by the angel-possessed shrine-maiden, but is recognized by angels in other routes, which implies he can hide some of who he is. But, to any being steeped in biblical canon, he's probably easily recognized in person, in no small part because of the Mark of Cain. Those who aren't can probably tell the massive amount of curse sitting on him.
"Wait, Mark of Cain?"
Yes! The bible notes that God marked Cain so everyone would know what he'd done. Naoya's albinism is not actually the mark, but a side-effect of the curse--the mark is basically a metaphysical flare of "HOLY SHIT IT'S CAIN". It's been watered down some over time--it never comes up at all in the game itself--but it's still there.
"So...what does this have to do with my character?"
Between this and Naoya's own magical prowess (He has the highest starting magic stat of any recruitable character, and both his boss incarnations focus heavily on blowing your shit up), Naoya kind of sticks out like a sore thumb. He can make himself seem mostly normal, but biblical characters are going to know what's up, and people who can sense magic are probably going to notice some level of this mystic fuckery. Telepaths are going to get a massive, headache-inducing jumble, and empaths are probably going to hit a brick wall of bitter angry suffering.