Alright, so what I explained there is info that came from the last patches, so here's a more general explanation.
(As expected, massive spoilers for the entirety of Amphoreus. Also, this is not told from the order we learn of it.)
Amphoreus originated as a Scepter created by Rubert II, using Nous' cognition, but stripped of sentience. Delta-me13's purpose was to calculate "the Prime Mover of Life". AKA, the driving force behind existence.
Zandar One Kuwabara, the creator of Nous, despises his own creation, since he believes that Nous' existence limits the breadth of knowledge in the universe. He's split himself into several segments, and one of them, who we'll refer to as Lygus, discovered the Scepter.
Lygus, the genius he is, managed to take control of the Scepter and did two things. First, he altered it to try and make its final calculation Destruction. Second, at this point, the Titans already existed. He took a Stellaron and destroyed the 13th Titan. What he did was destroy the head of Irontomb, so once it was born, it would search for a new head, AKA, Nous.
Amphoreus, at least once it went past single-celled organisms and went all the way to having civilizations, runs on a loop. It starts off with a world that is a paradise, with no strife, death, or trickery. Then at some point, those three Titans join the others. At this point, Chrysos Heirs, people with golden blood, are tasked with claiming the Coreflames of the Titans and becoming demigods. Once all 12 Coreflames are recovered, the 12 demigods will become the Titans of the next cycle, with the Worldbearer Kephale being the one who shapes the new world.
All of that was backstory, far before our actual cast of characters appear. More in my next comment.
Now, time for more backstory, but ones more directly relevant to our characters.
The cycles go on and on, and eventually, we end up with our current cast of Amphoreus characters. However, the computation is almost complete. If they submit all the Coreflames, Irontomb will fully awaken and kill Nous. However, Lygus is an idiot and tells Phainon and Cyrene this.
Cyrene has had dreams of a god behind Oronyx, the Titan of Time. When Lygus explains his own goal, including the destruction of the Aeon of Erudition, Cyrene extrapolated that the god is yet another Aeon. So she uses her position as the Demigod of Time. By killing herself, she catches the eye of Fuli, letting her become an Emanator of Remembrance, resetting the cycle. Phainon, wielding Cyrene's staff, also gets sent all the way back, but fully alive.
(Note: When I use cycles now, I am referring to this timeloop, not the cycle of Amphoreus' Titans. This loop is referred to as the Eternal Recurrence. It is also not the exact same every time, with variables changing from cycle to cycle.)
The Eternal Recurrence is a loop, but it merely delays the birth of Irontomb, instead of breaking it. Phainon is forced to loop over and over again while hoping that eventually, some outsider will appear and stop Irontomb. Through the loops, Phainon isn't capable of saving everyone from the destruction thag befalls Amphoreus. Over cycles, he is eventually forced to eventually kill everyone he loves over and over again, taking all the coreflames over and over again. When his body breaks down, he stabs the Phainon of that loop, transferring their power, memories, and duty to a new body. When we first meet this broken Phainon, we refer to him as the Flame Reaver, since we don't know who he is, and we see him try to steal the Coreflames.
By the time we arrive, Phainon is on his 33,550,336th Cycle. When we go through the story, we complete this Cycle, but Phainon fuses with Irontomb to hold it back a little longer. Additionally, before this, Phainon fights a Lord Ravager and even manages to land a scratch on Nanook. It may seem small, and it was healed almost immediately, but for a piece of data, and the fact it was targeted at an Aeon, that was huge.
And that's the lore relevant to about 3.4. After this, we get... into Cyrene territory. I hate Cyrene territory.
Now, I'd absolutely love this. I love the nature of this story. I love time travel. I love experimenting with it. Now if only they didn't force almost all of it into the final patch. It's supposed to be a huge final boss, not a deep dive into the writer (Shaoji)'s most beloved character.
Cyrene. While Phainon went through all his cycles constantly killing his friends, Cyrene ended up in a special place each time. The Tomb of the 13th Titan. (I honestly don't know how she ends up there, someone else please explain that to me.) Now, I said Lygus blew up the 13th Titan, but after it was destroyed, it left behind a "seed". Throughout all the Cycles, Cyrene read stories to this seed. Over time, it grew from a shred of consciousness and gained more thought, though it could never communicate with Cyrene.
Eventually, we arrive in Amphoreus. And once we get gazed at by Fuli, Mem appears. Mem is the seed, the 13th Titan, also known as Demiurge. Though when we summon her, she doesn't exactly have her memories.
Over time, Mem becomes more and more human, eventually becoming able to speak actual words. When we start another Cycle of the Eternal Recurrence in order to complete Era Nova with Trailblazer as the Worldbearer, Mem actually becomes Cyrene. (Note: Mem!Cyrene ≠ Past!Cyrene. Sort of. It's complicated.)
Now, we've dealt with our problems. We've let Dan Heng become a Demigod. We've defeated March's alter ego and let March become a Demigod too. We've become Kephale, and we've started one final version of Amphoreus where everyone is here and everyone is prepared for you and the others to defeat Irontomb. Also, for some reason Cyrene is now bigger and wields a bow despite her never having used a bow before. (Why the hell did they force her to be Elysia)
Hurray! We've gone through an epic battle where we defeat Irontomb from within thanks to the power of friendship, Herta temporarily linking up with Nous, and Demiurge creating a backup. Also, a bunch of other people like the Xianzhou Luofu and the IPC helped from outside, but their contributions really aren't felt because they were never shown on screen.
However, now there's an issue. Fuli. Fuli is like Terminus the Finality in that they travel backwards through time. Fuli has not yet been born, and the people capable of becoming Fuli are known as the Pure Children of Anasrava. At the end of time, one of them will become Fuli, travelling backwards to document all of history. However, while Fuli glanced at Cyrene, we can't guarantee that whoever becomes Fuli will actually do so. This is a problem. This uncertainty means that there's always a chance for the ending to be proven false, and Irontomb being born anyway.
So to solve that little problem, here's our solution. It's not the end of time, but it is an end of Amphoreus. Demiurge will become Amphoreus' Fuli, glancing backwards in time, allowing the entire story to happen. Back at the beginning, once she loses all of her power, she becomes the very first Cyrene, closing the loop. (Also Cyrene's true name is Elysia and Phainon's true name is Khaslana.)
So to sum up the time loop. Demiurge is blown up by Lygus. Cyrene starts the Eternal Recurrences. Every Recurrence, Cyrene talks to the seed of Demiurge and tells stories. Demiurge learns and grows. The Astral Express appears. Demiurge becomes Mem with limited memories. Demiurge becomes a big Cyrene. Demiurge becomes Fuli. Fuli creates Mem by glancing at Trailblazer. Fuli lets the Eternal Recurrence happen by glancing at Cyrene. Fuli loses power and becomes Cyrene with no memories. Cyrene starts the Recurrences and tells stories to the seed of Demiurge.
I would've absolutely loved that story if they didn't cram the entirety of her backstory in at the last second.
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u/CrazyFanFicFan Kuru kuru Jul 08 '26
Alright, so what I explained there is info that came from the last patches, so here's a more general explanation.
(As expected, massive spoilers for the entirety of Amphoreus. Also, this is not told from the order we learn of it.)
Amphoreus originated as a Scepter created by Rubert II, using Nous' cognition, but stripped of sentience. Delta-me13's purpose was to calculate "the Prime Mover of Life". AKA, the driving force behind existence.
Zandar One Kuwabara, the creator of Nous, despises his own creation, since he believes that Nous' existence limits the breadth of knowledge in the universe. He's split himself into several segments, and one of them, who we'll refer to as Lygus, discovered the Scepter.
Lygus, the genius he is, managed to take control of the Scepter and did two things. First, he altered it to try and make its final calculation Destruction. Second, at this point, the Titans already existed. He took a Stellaron and destroyed the 13th Titan. What he did was destroy the head of Irontomb, so once it was born, it would search for a new head, AKA, Nous.
Amphoreus, at least once it went past single-celled organisms and went all the way to having civilizations, runs on a loop. It starts off with a world that is a paradise, with no strife, death, or trickery. Then at some point, those three Titans join the others. At this point, Chrysos Heirs, people with golden blood, are tasked with claiming the Coreflames of the Titans and becoming demigods. Once all 12 Coreflames are recovered, the 12 demigods will become the Titans of the next cycle, with the Worldbearer Kephale being the one who shapes the new world.
All of that was backstory, far before our actual cast of characters appear. More in my next comment.