The Reverberation Ensemble
Story | |||||
| “ | We are truth seekers and artists, perched on the boundary as we search for an answer. | ” |
–Pluto | ||
The Reverberation Ensemble (잔향악단, Janhyang-agdan) is a mysterious but very powerful Syndicate comprised of Distortions which aims to develop then steal The Library's Light and use it to turn the entire City into Distortions, and overthrow other major Syndicates such as The Fingers, the Wings, and eventually The Head, the Eye, and the Claw themselves. They plan to achieve this by gathering Distortion-related people or items to use in their plan and sending their victims to the Library to grow its Light, making enemies of many prominent City factions in the process. They are the main antagonists in Library Of Ruina.
They are 46 (+Extra) Guests that come to The Library uninvited, and they cover 
Impuritas Civitatis Chapter 2.
Composition
The encounter with the the Reverberation Ensemble takes place over a single Special Episode; once started, The Library cannot burn any more Books or invite other Guests.
A total of 46 (+Extra) Guests are fought but not assigned in the traditional way. Each Floor of The Library gets to receive a specific Guest or Guests to fight in an individual Reception. They are attuned to the Floor, similar to an Abnormality Battle. They can be only be done by layer, with the Key and Combat Pages locked until the layer is complete. The reception of General Works meanwhile requires the 9 other floors to be completed.
- Asiyah:
Floor of History receives The Crying Children, which consists of Philip and 4 Unspeaking Children.
Floor of Tech. Sciences receives The Church of Gears, which consists of Eileen and up to twelve Gear Worshippers.
Floor of Literature receives The Eighth Chef, which consists of Greta and 3 Fresh Meats.
Floor of Art receives The Musicians of Bremen, which consists of Bremen, Mrs. Mermaid, a Gear Worshipper, and 2 regular Puppets.
- Briah:
Floor of Natural Sciences receives The 8 o'Clock Circus, which consists of Oswald, Mr. Knife, and Mrs. Mermaid.
Floor of Language receives L'heure du Loup, which consists of Tanya.
Floor of Social Sciences receives The Puppeteer, which consists of Jae-heon, Puppet Angelica, a Weighty Puppet, a regular Puppet, and a Nimble Puppet.
- Atziluth:
Floor of Philosophy receives The Blood-red Night, which consists of Elena and The Vermilion Cross.
Floor of Religion receives Yesterday's Promise, which consists of Pluto, accompanied by 4 (and potentially more) Shades copied after the floor's Librarians.
- Final Reception:
Floor of General Works receives The Blue Reverberation, which consists of a duel battle pitting Argalia against Roland. (Note: Key Pages from Philosophy and Religion will still be locked)
The Reverberation Ensemble doesn't require to send any Invitation, as they break into the Library and are considered uninvited Guests. The only condition is that the 
Hana Association must have been defeated.
Floor of History
| Sprite | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Philip | Also known as "The Crying Children", he was a Fixer of the Dawn Office, before being broken by his own cowardliness and tragedy, becoming a wax angel Distortion based around fire. Fights using a burnt longsword. | |
| Unspeaking Child x 4 | One of the Children that make up the Distortion, representing "Speak No Evil". Its main power in this fight is when enough Burn is stacked, use a different set of Combat Pages. |
Floor of Tech. Sciences
| Sprite | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Eileen | Also known as the "Church of Gears Leader", who grafts gears made of purpose-seeking people onto herself to increase her mind and body. Fights by issuing orders to her Gear Worshipers and 'Smoke'. | |
| Gear Worshippers x 12 | Also known as "Meat Gears", they are people who became monstrous cyborgs in an effort to find purpose in the City. They fight using their mechanically enhanced bodies and 'Smoke'. |
Floor of Literature
| Sprite | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Greta | Also known as "The Eight Chef", she is a cannibalistic chef who left her former group, The Eight Chefs, to die off from autocannibalism when her interests didn't match with theirs. Fights by using a tenderizing hammer and using "ingredients" to buff herself. | |
| Fresh Meat x 3 | Greta's "ingredients", which she will target to buff herself. Will turn unfortunate Librarians into Fresh Meat as well to replenish her stock with her Combat Page "Into the Sack You Go!". If a Librarian is turned into Fresh Meat, they can be staggered to release them. |
Floor of Art
| Sprite | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Bremen | Also known as "The Musicians of Bremen", they were once three separate people known as "Doodle-Doo, Heehaw, and Woof" who were inspired by the music of the Pianist to replicate it. They left their Syndicate behind to follow Argalia and merge into a Distortion to achieve "yet grander debauchery". Fights by using horns coming out of their body, and each head has their own method of fighting. | |
| Mrs. Mermaid | Member of the Eight O'Clock Circus based around singing. | |
| Gear Worshipper | Also known as "Meat Gears", they are people who became monstrous cyborgs in an effort to find purpose in the City. They fight using their mechanically enhanced bodies and 'Smoke'. | |
| Puppet x 2 | The basic version of a Puppet, victims turned into creatures with their sentience intact, but no free will, and commanded by The Puppeteer. |
Floor of Natural Sciences
| Sprite | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Oswald | Also known as "the 8 o'Clock Ringmaster", a clown-based Distortion born from a lonely man with an overactive imagination, heading a circus full of "friends" that were people he broke and turned. Fights with debuffs and confusion. | |
| Mr. Knife | Member of the Eight O'Clock Circus based around throwing knives. | |
| Mrs. Mermaid | Member of the Eight O'Clock Circus based around singing. |
Floor of Language
| Sprite | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Tanya | Also known as "L'heure de Loup", she is a wolf-based Distortion obsessed with strength, feared in the Backstreets as a terrifying warrior. In combat, she mainly uses punches and kicks powered by brute force, and gets up again after her HP is depleted the first time. |
Floor of Social Sciences
| Sprite | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Jae-heon | Also known "The Puppeteer", they were a technician who lost his son to a roller and became obsessed with weaving, believing he could bring him back. His efforts would be destroyed by Roland, and he became a monster based around turning people into puppets he controls. Fights by commanding and buffing Puppets in combat. | |
| Puppet Angelica | The Puppeteer's "magnum opus"; the Puppet version of Angelica, brought back thanks to the efforts of Jae-Heon and Elena. | |
| Weighty Puppet | The strong version of a Puppet. | |
| Puppet | The basic version of a Puppet. | |
| Nimble Puppet | The fast version of a Puppet. |
Floor of Philosophy
| Sprite | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Elena | Also known as "The Blood-red Night", she is a Bloodfiend and serial killer that was once slain by the efforts of Roland and Angelica. Has somehow returned from death. Fights by using her claws, blood manipulation, and issuing orders to her puppet The Vermillion Cross. | |
| The Vermilion Cross | A Color Fixer that wields a superheated cross as their main weapon. Was killed in combat by the Ensemble, and revived as a puppet of Elena. Stops moving should Elena be defeated first. |
Floor of Religion
| Sprite | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Pluto | Also known as "Yesterday's Promise", he is a contract-based Distortion whose main power is associated with making contracts that damn any who sign it, due to hidden clauses he placed. In combat, he uses magic to create copies of your librarians and bind them, along with forcing them to complete contracts that have hidden negative side effects. | |
| Shade x 4 | Created by Pluto, they are copies of your Librarians, complete with whatever decks, Key Pages, and Passives Abilities you placed on yours. |
Floor of General Works
| Sprite | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Argalia | An insane Colored Fixer who is known as "The Blue Reverberation" and the conductor of the Reverberation Ensemble. After the loss of his sister Angelica to the Pianist, seeks the Light to turn everyone in the City into Distortion. Holds a massive grudge against Roland for failing to protect her. In combat, he uses a scythe to gather "Vibrations". |
Story
Background
The Reverberation Ensemble consists of ten members, who each—according to 
The Purple Tear—have a role based on a certain instrument:
- Argalia - The Conductor and leader of the Ensemble; a Color Fixer titled
The Blue Reverberation. - Pluto - "Pipe Organ" of the Ensemble; a former Fixer turned Distortion titled "Yesterday's Promise".
- Elena - "First Violin" of the Ensemble; a Bloodfiend Distortion titled "Blood-red Night", who existed before the White Nights and Dark Days incident.
- Jae-heon - "Second Violin" of the Ensemble; a Distortion titled "The Puppeteer", creator of the
Puppets. - Tanya - "Viola" of the Ensemble; a Distortion titled "L'heure de Loup".
- Oswald - "Clarinet" of the Ensemble; a Distortion and the former Ringmaster of "
The 8 o'Clock Circus". - Bremen - "French Horn, Tuba and Trombone" of the Ensemble; an amalgamate of three Distorted co-founders of the "
Musicians of Bremen". - Greta - "Drum" of the Ensemble, a Distortion and a former (only surviving) member of "The Eight Chefs", also known as "The Eighth Chef".
- Eileen - "Harp" of the Ensemble; the leader of "The Church of Gears" who was saved by Argalia from the
Full-Stop Office, and was likely the first member of the Ensemble to be recruited. - Philip - "Cello" of the Ensemble, a former Fixer of the
Dawn Office, now a Distortion titled "
The Crying Children".
The Ensemble was formed by Argalia, who had fallen in despair after his his sister was killed by the Pianist. Argalia indicates that he had lost his will to live until a mysterious, beautiful voice began talking to him and convinced him to live on in the memory of his sister. All of its members with the presumed exception of Greta were directly involved with grudges against Roland, who personally ruined their lives in some form or way or killed them at certain points. Argalia was also contacted by Iori, The Purple Tear, who further encouraged him. With their guidance, Argalia became aware of The Library and its Light, and was persuaded to find a group of followers to help develop and protect the Light until the time came when they could seize it. Argalia himself had the goal of using the Light to honor his sister's memory with "one final performance" and create a new world without fear of death or "fixation on our bodies[.]" Similarly, the Distortions he recruited as followers were people who had spurned or been spurned by life in the City, and also saw The Light as a way to shape the City towards their philosophies, still developing a close camaraderie despite their individual differences.
To these ends, the Ensemble interferes with various Offices, Associations, Syndicates like the Five Fingers, and more, all in the interest of securing Nest L, where The Library is located. They send their victims to The Library to develop its Light, coincidentally also aiding Roland's and Angela's goals.
Canard
The Reverb Ensemble's Distortions Jae-heon and Pluto are first mentioned during the Rats' Reception as the body they were harvesting from had no organs, and had a brand on it. However, the status of the Ensemble itself at this time is unknown.
Urban Plague
The Ensemble's existence is first alluded to during the Chapter of 
Full-Stop Office, when Argalia and Pluto save the Church of Gears' Leader, Eileen, from the Full-Stop Fixers before Argalia forces the Fixers to choose between dying to him or to the Library. Through this, Argalia is seen to be recruiting Distortions as allies for an as-yet unknown purpose.
Pluto would later be mentioned again during the 
Dawn Office reception by its Fixer Yuna, mentioning the "Thousand Needles" case, where a person broke a contract with him and exploded into spikes, causing massive casualties as the spikes were also infective. Another person of interest would be apprentice Fixer Philip, who somehow managed to flee the Library, leaving both his master Salvador and love interest Yuna to be defeated and turned into books, and him with a massive weight of guilt for his cowardliness.
The Ensemble is seen to disrupt the operations of the 
Kurokumo Clan in Nest L, proving their willingness to contest a group as powerful as the Five Fingers. On Argalia's orders, Tanya steals a shipment of Nuovo Fabric from Sayo and her subordinates, explaining to them her mission on helping "the conductor" getting ready to make "music", and forces them to enter The Library.
A traumatized Philip soon turns to Dawn's sister office, 
Wedge Office, to help avenge his office's destruction, though its Operator Oscar and its Fixers call him out on his selfishness. After getting the office booked as well thanks to his cowardliness, Philip manages to find resolve and begins to manifest an unstable E.G.O., but even that proves to be no match to the Library. Just as he's about to be booked however, he suddenly vanishes, with Oscar having placed an escape port on the Fixer to help him escape.
The Ensemble also takes an interest in the secrets of 
WARP Corp's Singularity, and sends Jae-heon and Elena, in disguise, to infiltrate a WARP Train while it is in operation. The two use their powers to change many of the train's passengers into grotesque abominations, creating the bizarre civilization known as 
Love Town, and they eventually send the citizens into the Library to be booked.
Urban Nightmare
The Ensemble is alluded to as one of the threats the 
Sweepers have been facing, with Tanya and Jae-heon having killed Lyla's "families".
Argalia has an old friend of his, Thelma, who was the head of the Southern branch of The 
Shi Association, into issuing highly dangerous Urban Nightmare quests to tire out Yujin and her Section 2 members, and then throw them onto the Library to get them killed for threatening to report Argalia to the Head. Once the Association is sufficiently weakened, Argalia then has a Syndicate of masked cannibals, the 
Smiling Faces, to gag and kill him. During the Smiling Faces's Reception, it is also revealed that Eileen has become a Distortion.
Argalia then sends Pluto to a Distortion case known as The
The 8 o'Clock Circus, where its ringleader Oswald mentally destroys Philip, who was sent there thanks to Oscar's escape port, by preying on his fears and insecurities. After being broken, Pluto appears and compels him to listen to the voice, which causes the weary Philip to become a Distortion known as 
The Crying Children. He then sends the Children into The Library while also inviting Oswald to join the Ensemble to be a part of the "greatest show imaginable". As for Philip, after being reduced to a single Child, The Library allows it to escape, allowing it to regrow into a Star of the City-level Distortion that would attack V Corp's Nests, destroying everything except for the building that once contained the Dawn Office.
Back in the malfunctioning WARP train, Jae-heon approaches the first-class cabin, where after giving a rant on his hatred of the rich and then revealing that the WARP Train's stopping was not an accident, but how W Corp creates it's true Singularity, he then reveals his true form as the Puppeteer and turns everyone there into 
Puppets, a move that publicly ups his ranks to Star of the City, though the true reason was his theft of the T Corp issued box. He then sends the Puppets to the Library to leave incriminating info on W Corp's Singularity to drive out even more people to further The Library's light.
Star of the City
Pluto, Eileen, and Argalia then travel to an abandoned laboratory in the Outskirts where The Red Mist gained the power of E.G.O., only to find nothing. After taking care of the monsters attacking the laboratory, Argalia then enters the Library with some members of the Church of Gears Worshippers to scope the place out before escaping the Library.
The 
Cane Office tries to gain W Corp's Singularity's by signing a contract with Pluto to acquire it and start a patent war in exchange for the Books of WARP Cleanup Crew. Unfortunately, Pluto leaves a fine print below their contract which tells them that they themselves must get books in the Library. After extracting the heart of one of the Fixers as a show of power, the Office is forced to enter and gets booked, which would then lead to 
R Corp's Fourth Pack to enter twice trying to retrieve it, only to get booked as well, taking out another major opponent.
After the 
Index Proxies finish off all 
Thumb personnel stationed by L Corp's Nest, Argalia comes by to request the corpses of the Thumb, which the Proxies agree with. Helping him take the bodies back, along with Tanya, are two more Distortions, Bremen of the 
Musicians of Bremen, and Greta of the Eight Chefs. Before leaving, Esther warns Argalia that so long as the Ensemble choses to stay in L Corp's Nest, then their guts will be spilt one day.
The 
Liu Association would later try and eliminate The Crying Children, only to be foiled by Argalia. During the rescue, it is revealed that Oswald took Pluto's request, and has joined his Ensemble, helping him keep back the Fixers so that Pluto can teleport everyone else away. Later on, The Crying Children would then become the final member to join the Ensemble.
The voice warns Argalia of The Purple Tear's deception, and Argalia then corners the Purple Tear by ways of a friendly chat in the Ensemble's campsite before sicking all nine members of the Ensemble on her, forcing her to retreat into the Library. By then though, Iori's gamble through Roland has already been set into motion.
Impuritas Civitatis
The Ensemble soon proves to become so powerful that it is labeled as a Syndicate and reaches the ranking of Star of the City, while Argalia is stripped of his status as a Color Fixer. They prove this as during the Hana Association's Reception, they have already wiped out Section 1 of the Hana Southern Branch and killed the Vermilion Cross, along with murdering key members of the Southern Branches of the Tres and Cinq Associations.
The Ensemble soon becomes powerful enough to breach the Library's barrier and knocks down the front door, though Pluto fixes it with his magic. Argalia soon presents to Roland a puppet-fied Angelica, created thanks to Jae-Heon and Elena, infuriating Roland. As this is happening, the Ensemble mocks Angela for being unaware that she is responsible for the Distortions like The Pianist that killed Roland's beloved wife and unborn child, before the Ensemble scatters to the ten floors to claim the light for their greatest performance. After a long-fought battle, The Library emerges victorious, and Angela gains the human body she longed for. However, Roland makes it clear what is about to come next...
Gallery
Tumblbug Illustration Nominee A
Trivia
- A majority of members in the Reverb Ensemble have some personal connection with Roland:
- Argalia's sister is Roland's wife, thus making him Roland's brother-in-law. He looks down on Roland and seems to blame Angelica's death on him.
- Eileen, Jae-heon, and Pluto were all hurt by Roland before they became Distortions.
- Elena was defeated by Roland and Angelica, losing her rank as a
Star of the City. - Tanya was a member of The Middle, which were caught up in Roland's rampage.
- Philip's closest ones were murdered in the Library, where Roland contributed to their demise.
- Roland killed The Pianist, who was the idol of the Musicians of Bremen.
- Out of the ensemble, Greta and Oswald seem to be the only members without a pre-established relationship with Roland at all, neither directly nor indirect in concerns of personal or factional ties towards him.
- While Oswald does express disappointment towards the death of his crewmates to the Library, he personally seems to hold no ill-will towards the Librarians or Roland in particular at all.
- Due to each member of the Ensemble acting as a narrative foil towards the Patron Librarian they fight, each member becomes associated with one of the ten Qliphoth of the Tree of Death the Sephirot were associated with in Lobotomy Corporation, in both personality and ideals:
- Argalia: Represents Thaumiel/Duality due to his loss/Pianist-music driving him mad, and possessing contradicting reasons for creating the Ensemble. He seeks a world where everyone is freed from "loneliness" by way of turning the entire City into Distortions, but Roland states it's just because he's unable to deal with Angelica's death. Despite holding Roland in contempt for failing to save her, he has Jae-heon and Elena defile Angelica's corpse and turn her into a Puppet, seeing it as "perfected".
- Pluto: Represents Ghogiel/Ignorance due to being a victim of deception thanks to Roland's contract destroying his Office and giving him the nihilistic belief that everything is just a dream, including himself. His powers meanwhile are based around contracts that damn any who sign it due to hidden clauses. Seeks to create a world without lies or deception.
- Elena: Represents Sathariel/Arbitrariness due to being a vampiric serial killer who thirsts for violence to sate her urges and claims herself to be a self-proclaimed victim of racism due to her status as a Bloodfiend, envious over how humans can live as violently and selfishly as they want, while she and her kind are shunned and forced to hide in the dark. Seeks a world where everyone can live according to their desires without difference or discrimination.
- Jae-heon: Represents Agshekeloh/Insensitivity due to being a victim of Roland's rampage, but is guilty of the same things he accuses Roland of, such as turning the first class Warp Train passengers into Puppets out of a desire to torture them for perpetuating the suffering in the City with their wealth, but also turning unlucky innocents into Puppets as well just because their were in the wrong place and time. Believes that a higher power manipulates the cycle of suffering, reflecting his abilities of turn people into Puppets for him to sacrifice. Wants to create a world where people are freed from their "strings".
- Tanya: Represents Golohab/Cruelty due to her Social Darwinistic beliefs, seeing that the strong should abuse their power and trample over the weak, and seeing those who protect the weak as wasting their time. Wants a world based on these beliefs.
- Oswald: Represents Tagiriron/Ugliness due to seeing the world as a cruel place that is impossible to meet any sort of expectation, and believes it is better to just laugh at it instead, wanting a world where everyone can smile and laugh without a care. On a more surface level, the members of his circus are bizarre, patched together monsters who have succumbed to his beliefs.
- Bremen: Represents Gharab Tzerek/Lust due to enjoying their current, horrific and unintelligible form as a Distortion in the name of their "art", even abandoning their other founder Meow to join with the Ensemble and build a world where they can live in hedonism and ecstasy forever.
- Greta: Represents Samael/Greed due to her need to make others suffer for the sake of creating and enjoying the best food, even abandoning her fellow Eight Chefs to die by autocannibalism due to seeing nothing wrong with their choices, so long as they were happy. Her wish is to create a world with "pure and clean ingredients" to hunt in order to replace the "trash" she's been forced to eat.
- Eileen: Represents Gamaliel/Instability due to her slavish devotion to both her Gears and Argalia, and wants a world where everyone can become a gear and have a purpose. In combat, she becomes staggered when her fellow Gear Worshippers are killed.
- Philip: Represents Nehemoth/Materialism due to forgetting everything about his life as a human and Fixer due to the Library and misfortune. Seeks a world of isolation, where people don't need to become better and only care about themselves.
