Puppets
| “ | Ah, in case a certain foolhardy individual or two are still believing that this train is broken or malfunctional:
It's not defective. This train is operating as intended. |
” |
–Jae-heon, Puppets Episode I, Pre-Battle | ||
Puppets are flesh automatons created by the Puppeteer. These monstrous creatures are victims of the Puppeteer, fully controlled by him with no free will of their own — a fate worse than death for the Puppeteer's victims, who are fully aware of their mutilated forms and their actions but are powerless to do anything about it.
A group of puppets are made out of the first-class passengers of WARP Train UW-212 and sent to the Library as fodder for their master's plans. Their reception makes up the first encounter of the rightmost column of 
Urban Nightmare.
Composition
The encounter with the Puppets takes place over a single episode. A total of 15 Guests are fought between 3 Acts, with 3 Floors available for Reception, each with 4 Librarians. The first Act consists of five generic Puppets. The second Act consists of 3 generic Puppets and 2 Nimble Puppets, and the third Act consists of 4 Nimble Puppets and 1 Weighty Puppet. To Invite the Puppets , 1 
Book of Tomerry must be registered into the Invitation.
| Character | Act | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Puppet | Acts 1/2 | A regular puppet of humanoid form, wielding a sharp swordlike apparatus. |
| Nimble Puppet | Acts 2/3 | A thin, spindly puppet focused on dodging and defending, with both arms sharpened into points. |
| Weighty Puppet | Act 3 | A large, bulky puppet focused on blocking and devastating heavy attacks, possessing an axelike blade for an arm. |
Story
Episode 1
Pre-Battle
Jae-heon breaks into the first class carriage of WARP train UW-212 and proceeds to make a speech calling out the first class passengers' comfortable places in society. He emphasizes that the cost of a first class seat is twice the monthly salary of an average Nest resident, meaning that a Backstreets resident would have to work for at least a year for it. He mentions that he always wondered why a 10-second trip would have first class seats, and how it makes sense seeing the first class passengers sleep in stasis while the passengers of the back carriages would be ravaged by time. He then questions how he and Elena were able to stay sane within the train, and answers his own question by explaining that Pluto kept their consciousnesses frozen in stasis, unfreezing them only when necessary, making the time merely a week for them. He also mocks how Pluto called his ability magic. Jae-heon pities the passengers of the train, spending thousands of years killing their friends and families in unspeakable suffering, only for it to be erased from their memories when they arrive, returning to their regular lives after a restoration procedure only remembering the comfort and practicality. He then turns again to the first class passengers, mocking them for sleeping in stasis for millenia out of fear, even when they may have known the truth about the trains beforehand.
Jae-heon reveals the truth about the WARP train to anyone who still believes otherwise: The train is not broken or malfunctioning, it is working as intended. All WARP trains work by traversing a different space-time axis for thousands of years, which amounts to only 10 seconds in the reality of the City. He then asks what is reality: the life they live for some decades, or the torment they've been in for thousands of years, while taking apart a piece of paneling in the train, revealing a T Corp-branded box within the carriage.
Elena cuts in and asks Jae-heon why is he muttering to himself. Pointing out the coarseness of her words, Jae-heon answers that he's speaking to the "couple of voyeurs" watching them. Elena complains that spending a week on the train made her lose her focus, while Jae-heon sarcastically asks if she was an actress in the past. Elena flatly replies with a "maybe" and leaves. Remarking on her cold demeanor, Jae-heon notes that his disguise is about to expire and removes it, revealing his true form before turning to the rich passengers. He mentions that he has no ill wishes for "somewhat average" passengers in the back carriages, but he is upset that the rich are able to escape into the comfort of technology. Jae-heon goes on to mockingly point out the irony of the current situation, where the first class passengers spent so much money for their own safety, and yet they are about to suffer at his hands. He does consider that one of the first class passengers could have just been an average person who happened to win a ticket by chance, but then says he doesn't discriminate. He says to himself that he believes free will does not exist and people live to be toyed with by some larger-than-life force, attaching invisible strings on them and staging a puppet show out of their lives. With that, the Puppeteer begins work on his new victims.
Back inside the Library, Roland is thoughtful about meeting the Puppeteer, while Angela notes that he was speaking directly to them. Roland makes sense of it, mentioning that if he is working with The Blue Reverberation, he likely knows about the Library. Angela wonders whether The Blue Reverberation is focusing on the Library. Roland believes so but does not know what the Color would hope to gain from the Library, namely what kinds of books they are after. Moving on, Angela points out that W Corp. would be in trouble if the disappearances of its first class passengers were to become public. Roland predicts that W Corp. itself will have to get involved with the Library in order to conduct damage control, further wondering if that was The Blue Reverberation's plan all along. Angela expresses interest for meeting the Color, but Roland snarks that she will come to dislike him very quickly.
At the Library's entrance, the puppets arrive, unable to speak and only making creaking noises. Angela notes that if they could be guests, it meant that they still have some sort of consciousness, even as puppets controlled by strings. Angela cannot understand them, so she directs them to their reception.
Post-Battle
Roland points out that the puppets were somehow conscious. Angela observes that they could resolve books from them; even without any control of their bodies, they still had minds of their own, forced to witness their own bodies tugged by strings with their senses intact. She concludes that the Puppeteer is a Distortion, with the puppets being its underlings, similar to certain Abnormalities she is familiar with. Roland sympathizes with the Puppeteer's victims. Angela does too, adding that she understands their pain well because she also used to be a puppet, referring to her time under the script of 
Lobotomy Corporation.
Background
This episode reveals the truth behind the mystery of WARP trains which first started with the reception of 
Molar Office. The "malfunctioning" WARP train, which was advertised to take only 10 seconds to reach its destination but instead travelled for thousands of years, was actually working as intended. W Corp. and T Corp. collaborate to make this happen, which is explained in more detail by the following reception.
As a Distortion, the Puppeteer gained the ability to physically modify and control other beings and people using his puppet strings. In that way, the puppets are literal marionettes dancing on puppet strings, forced to do whatever the Puppeteer wishes of them. Despite their malformed and monstrous appearances, the minds of the Puppeteer's victims are completely untouched, but they cannot do anything about their fate or even speak, as the only sound the puppets can make is an incomprehensible creaking noise. According to Angela, the puppets could potentially be freed, but their reshaping is permanent. Killing the Puppeteer would cut off his strings, but the puppets would remain as "ragged dolls".
According to the Puppeteer himself, the making of a puppet is a way for him to express his grievances against the outside world, filling his creations with his own emotions. He also does not care for his puppets' appearances, and so he shapes them as he sees fit.[1]
These particular puppets were formerly the first class passengers of WARP train UW-212. They were made into puppets by the Puppeteer as a mockery of their use of wealth to escape the horrors of the passage of time, only to suffer a terrible fate at his hands.
Key Page stories
|
|
Battle Symbols
There is one Battle Symbol associated with this guest group; see their reception page for more info.
Trivia
- This reception's story is the first and earliest time that the attire of
The Reverberation Ensemble is shown. - According to game director Kim Jihoon, the T Corp. box shown in this reception's story was added simply to reveal a connection between T Corp. and W Corp, and its theft was intended to give a reason for the Puppeteer's threat level to be raised.[2]
Gallery
Puppet
Nimble Puppet
Weighty Puppet
Dialogue background (WARP Train UW-212 - First Class Carriage)
References
- ↑ "I take out the useless chunks of meat… and fill their insides with the emotional baggage I’m carrying. I can breathe easy after I indulge in my craft… That’s when I feel alive at last."
(Jae-heon, The Reverberation Ensemble - The Puppeteer) - ↑ Library Of Ruina Art Book Vol. I pg. 331: "T Corp's box was shown here to allude to the connection between it and W Corp. And the disappearance of the box was inserted as a reason to raise the Puppeteer's threat level. In the process, I unintentionally gave the players an impression that the box was a setup for a huge twist or something that foreshadows future events. The experience taught me to handle narrative devices more carefully in the future."
(Developer's Note from director Kim Jihoon)
| Characters | Puppet - Nimble Puppet - Weighty Puppet |
| Key Pages | A Puppet, Page 1 - A Puppet, Page 2 |
| Combat Pages | Puppet Blockade - Gigigig - Creak - Manikin - Automated Movement - Forceful Gesture - Repressed Flesh |
