The Reverberation Ensemble
| “ | 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 a group of 10 Uninvited Guests that break into the Library, and they cover the second chapter of 
Impuritas Civitatis.
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
 |
For a transcript, see The Reverberation Ensemble Story. |
|---|
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.
 Factions | |
|---|---|
| Wings | A Corp. • B Corp. • C Corp. • F Corp. • G Corp. • H Corp. • I Corp. • J Corp. • K Corp. • L Corp. • M Corp. • N Corp. • O Corp. • P Corp. • R Corp. • T Corp. • U Corp. • V Corp. • W Corp. (WARP Cleanup Crew) |
| Syndicates | Five Fingers (The Thumb • The Index • The Middle • The Ring • The Pinky) • Finger Subsidiaries (Stray Dogs • Kurokumo Clan • Night Awls • Rumanos Cartel • Ramier Family) • Independent (Brotherhood of Iron • Musicians of Bremen • Axe Gang • The Carnival • Smiling Faces • Rusted Chains • Blade Lineage • The Reverberation Ensemble • Little Piggy's) |
| Associations | Hana Association • Zwei Association • Tres Association • Shi Association • Cinq Association • Liu Association (Liu Association Section 1 • Liu Association Section 2) • Seven Association • Devyat' Association • Dieci Association • Öufi Association |
| Offices | Yun's Office • Hook Office • Streetlight Office • Molar Office • Full-Stop Office • Dawn Office • Gaze Office • Jeong's Office • Wedge Office • Cane Office • The Udjat • Bayard's Office • Clam Office • Charles' Office • Moses' Office • Ame Office • Dou Gui Combat Office • Rusk's Office • Bloom Office |
| Workshops | Leaflet Workshop • YuRia Atelier • Allas Workshop • Zelkova Workshop • Old Boys Workshop • Ranga Workshop |
| Others | Rats • Backstreets Butchers (Pierre's Bistro) • The Eight Chefs • The Church of Gears • Love Town • Sweepers • The 8 o'Clock Circus • Puppets • Mirae Life Insurance • The Head • The Eye • The Claw |
| Asiyah | The Crying Children - The Church of Gears - The Eighth Chef - The Musicians of Bremen |
| Briah | The 8 o’Clock Circus - L’heure du Loup - The Puppeteer |
| Atziluth | The Blood-red Night - Yesterday’s Promise - The Blue Reverberation |