ICleanCeilings

The Apeiron School never took the 1999 doomsday prophecy seriously.

There is nothing special about 1999 in mathematics; it was merely a matter of "carrying over."

Although history did indeed end in 1999, this did not affect the Apeiron School. They observed and recorded in their sacred sites in the Aegean Sea, exploring the principles behind the phenomenon, they believed this was an "overflow" of a (or the) sacred deity. They firmly believed that the "overflow" was the manifestation of abstract laws in the physical world, and that their survival was a divinely ordained mission to bring about the hidden truths to the world. Most of the time, their calculations were correct — "it (the calculations) came ahead of schedule (before the Storm hits)."

The research ship returning from the Balkans was empty; the navigator was nowhere to be seen, there were only symbols remained on the floor of the cabin. "We misjudged the area immune to the 'overflow'…………" "The rain that fell upwards turned people into geometric shapes———"

Twelve-year-old 37 simply picked up these geometric shapes out of curiosity. They were so familiar, yet so strange; one of them should rightfully belong to her mother. Sophia stood beside her, tears streaming down her face.

37 couldn't understand the sorrow (that Sophia was expressing). In truth, she was more concerned with the principles behind those geometric shapes — why they looked so beautiful. So extraordinary. So close to the pure world that she knew (or saw). They were like the pure crystal left behind after truth had relentlessly crushed and shattered this illusory world.

She firmly believed that her mother had returned to her essence in a more perfect form.

Four years later, in the cave of enlightenment and truth, she unexpectedly heard her mother's brief echo of the phenomenal world, resounding from the four walls: "But, have you truly never had any doubts?" "You also wavered for a moment. When you walked alone on the beach at night, your gaze inevitably fell upon those geometric shapes…………"

The echo mimicked her mother's voice, laughing maliciously and brightly: "——— 'If they truly are the symbols of the transcendental world, then why can't I recognise my mother's numbers?' (this was the echo taunting 37)" The girl looked up, and at the same time, the sound of cannon fire erupted outside the cave. The extremely pure kingdom of mathematics collapsed.

Note: "Apeiron" in CN is "阿派明", "阿" seems to be a particle (like "a/an/the"), "派" means bright, and "明" is like tomorrow/future, so the meaning is something like a group/school that welcomes a bright future (or days)?

Collection

A culinary miracle.

The simple and elegant curves, harmoniously divided to six parts, there must be some kind of meaningful formula ratio (a recipe with great proportion or mathematically-perfect ratio of ingredients) hidden within it.

…………

Note, it tastes good, too.

From the Manuscript

37 is the first character to appear in the main storyline "The Prisoner of the Cave", and she plays a role to represent the core ideology of the fictional organization, the "Apeiron School." She has the innocence of a child gathering seashells on the shore, but also cruelty born from that extremely pure state. At the beginning, this inhuman trait, even if somewhat negative, is an important element of 37's character, as we believed this would make her more realistic. This design comes with its risks, but it also created this radiant prime number with sharp edges. In contrast, Sophia represents "humanity." However, as 37 herself says, behind all the glorified things and misunderstanding (or misconception), she is simply 37, 37 is just a number, "I'm not that special." 37 is also changing (she is still growing/learning); she experiences doubt, hurt, and sadness, she has her own (unique) path to go through in order to grow. But her core essence remains unchanged, just like her vibrant prime number: forever pursuing truth, even when battered and bruised, she will go forward without hesitation.

Master these three phrases, and you, too, can speak like 37! ① "×× is overrated!" ② "the usage of ×× has been abused! (using ×× too much)" ③ "Fragments of the phenomenal world!" In fact, "the Star of Hermes" was originally a flattering nickname given to 37 by 210, a meaningless rhetoric that 37 herself didn't agree with. However, everyone was convinced by the weight of the word, and the nickname "the Star of Hermes" spread ——— a fact that puzzled 37. But thankfully, this is also a fragment of the phenomenal world.

The clothing of the Apeiron School underwent much deliberation at the beginning of its design: how much style to conserve (from the old-time real-world Greek robes), the cut of the cloth, the social status represented by the colors (of the robes), the symbolism of the geometric symbols………… It is worth mentioning that everyone's robes have "a straight line cutting into a circle" to reflect the school's concept of "the finite cutting into the infinite".

From left to right:

Breakfast time

Good friends, bad (or evil) friends

A gift

The Apeiron School never took the 1999 doomsday prophecy seriously.

There is nothing special about 1999 in mathematics; it was merely a matter of "carrying over."

Although history did indeed end in 1999, this did not affect the Apeiron School. They observed and recorded in their sacred sites in the Aegean Sea, exploring the principles behind the phenomenon, they believed this was an "overflow" of a (or the) sacred deity. They firmly believed that the "overflow" was the manifestation of abstract laws in the physical world, and that their survival was a divinely ordained mission to bring about the hidden truths to the world. Most of the time, their calculations were correct — "it (the calculations) came ahead of schedule (before the Storm hits)."

The research ship returning from the Balkans was empty; the navigator was nowhere to be seen, there were only symbols remained on the floor of the cabin. "We misjudged the area immune to the 'overflow'…………" "The rain that fell upwards turned people into geometric shapes———"

Twelve-year-old 37 simply picked up these geometric shapes out of curiosity. They were so familiar, yet so strange; one of them should rightfully belong to her mother. Sophia stood beside her, tears streaming down her face.

37 couldn't understand the sorrow (that Sophia was expressing). In truth, she was more concerned with the principles behind those geometric shapes — why they looked so beautiful. So extraordinary. So close to the pure world that she knew (or saw). They were like the pure crystal left behind after truth had relentlessly crushed and shattered this illusory world.

She firmly believed that her mother had returned to her essence in a more perfect form.

Four years later, in the cave of enlightenment and truth, she unexpectedly heard her mother's brief echo of the phenomenal world, resounding from the four walls: "But, have you truly never had any doubts?" "You also wavered for a moment. When you walked alone on the beach at night, your gaze inevitably fell upon those geometric shapes…………"

The echo mimicked her mother's voice, laughing maliciously and brightly: "——— 'If they truly are the symbols of the transcendental world, then why can't I recognise my mother's numbers?' (this was the echo taunting 37)" The girl looked up, and at the same time, the sound of cannon fire erupted outside the cave. The extremely pure kingdom of mathematics collapsed.

Note: "Apeiron" in CN is "阿派明", "阿" seems to be a particle (like "a/an/the"), "派" means bright, and "明" is like tomorrow/future, so the meaning is something like a group/school that welcomes a bright future (or days)?

Collection

A culinary miracle.

The simple and elegant curves, harmoniously divided to six parts, there must be some kind of meaningful formula ratio (a recipe with great proportion or mathematically-perfect ratio of ingredients) hidden within it.

…………

Note, it tastes good, too.

From the Manuscript

37 is the first character to appear in the main storyline "The Prisoner of the Cave", and she plays a role to represent the core ideology of the fictional organization, the "Apeiron School." She has the innocence of a child gathering seashells on the shore, but also cruelty born from that extremely pure state. At the beginning, this inhuman trait, even if somewhat negative, is an important element of 37's character, as we believed this would make her more realistic. This design comes with its risks, but it also created this radiant prime number with sharp edges. In contrast, Sophia represents "humanity." However, as 37 herself says, behind all the glorified things and misunderstanding (or misconception), she is simply 37, 37 is just a number, "I'm not that special." 37 is also changing (she is still growing/learning); she experiences doubt, hurt, and sadness, she has her own (unique) path to go through in order to grow. But her core essence remains unchanged, just like her vibrant prime number: forever pursuing truth, even when battered and bruised, she will go forward without hesitation.

Master these three phrases, and you, too, can speak like 37! ① "×× is overrated!" ② "the usage of ×× has been abused! (using ×× too much)" ③ "Fragments of the phenomenal world!" In fact, "the Star of Hermes" was originally a flattering nickname given to 37 by 210, a meaningless rhetoric that 37 herself didn't agree with. However, everyone was convinced by the weight of the word, and the nickname "the Star of Hermes" spread ——— a fact that puzzled 37. But thankfully, this is also a fragment of the phenomenal world.

The clothing of the Apeiron School underwent much deliberation at the beginning of its design: how much style to conserve (from the old-time real-world Greek robes), the cut of the cloth, the social status represented by the colors (of the robes), the symbolism of the geometric symbols………… It is worth mentioning that everyone's robes have "a straight line cutting into a circle" to reflect the school's concept of "the finite cutting into the infinite".

From left to right:

Breakfast time

Good friends, bad (or evil) friends

A gift

From the Manuscript

Зима, a rare "ordinary person" in the early stages of the project. His inspiration comes from many famous Russian writers: Dostoevsky, Chernyshevsky , Chekhov… One common thing about them is that they created many great works; another is that they were all exiled to a deserted island in Siberia. Зима's character is also based on this, and so, how to differentiate Зима from other poets and writers became our most important question. Considering the (local, exiled) environment, Зима obviously couldn't have much interaction with humans, but because of that, he had more opportunities to interact with animals… At that moment, we realised that such an environment didn't seem entirely bad, at least for someone suffering from social anxiety.

Thus, this poet was born, finding joy even in the barren and cold land.

The name of "Зима" did not belong to him, but to that living little titmouse (or chickadee, the CN word is 山雀).

The animal friends, like "Зима", all received their own names, such as Medvedev (the CN word is 梅德维奇). Зима respected them, and so did they.

The poem published in the UTTU magazine was written during his first encounter with "Зима".

Said poem:

A Poem Carved in Stone

Met an odd chickadee Which bumped into my book of poems. Besides the wind tonight, We were there. Four eyes staring straight at each other, occasionally Listening to the sounds of the night. It is chirping At the convergence of the glacier and Venus. It asked, "Are you alone?" In the unexpected heavy snow, Shivering as it soared in the sky, While the man on the ground yawned, "No, I have many friends!"

Notes: "Зима"'s species is translated (by google translate) as titmouse, the CN word is 山雀, but the official EN translation is chickadee. "Зима" is (supposedly, I think) a grey-headed chickadee or Siberian tit (Poecile cinctus), maybe leucistic (partial albino).

Inspiration always comes late at night. Because of that, he has dark circles under his eyes.

From the Manuscript

Unlike 37, 6 is a character who gradually takes shape as the main story "The Prisoner in the Cave" progresses. (In one draft version, he was even a sacrifice character!) However, this thought arose: "What if this leader, who is more responsible than anyone else, doesn't actually believe in the school's ideals?" Thus, 6 was born. He is someone whose (original) role is to perform external (actual) duties (as a leader), and yet his achievements (or his appeal) stem (can be seen) from his inner reflections.

In terms of designing characters from the School of Thought (Apeiron), concept comes first, followed by imagery (character design). Furthermore, 6's personality is not easy to understand; the project team's reaction to him was often: "Too abstract!" For this, we sincerely repent.

6's core concept is the quote from Chapter Five "The Prisoner in the Cave": "The wisest are those who can remain detached." He is a hermit who observes from the sidelines, but his story is not formed by that alone. Our concern is: why would 6 do this? There are too many contradictions in (shaping) his story: truth and politics, faith and nihilism, detachment and engagement (with the world), (religious) belief and skepticism (doubt)……

We want to portray the thought process of a wise man contemplating all these. With everyone's efforts, the silent and struggling "Atticus" is born. He questions fate, and after learning the truth of nothingness (nihilism), he remains silent for the sake of everyone. Sometimes, silence takes more courage than speaking out; 6's story explains why he chose that silence.

Because of the vast amount of memories brought about by the "Revelation," 6 often suffers from headaches after using his brain. This explains why he always says, "Well then, I'll be going back now," after battle. As his voice lines suggest, 6 gets along well with the animals on the island, since interacting with them doesn't require much thinking.

Note: 6's Battle Victory voice line

EN: Victory secured. I should excuse myself. CN: 如此，我先回去了。(Well then, I will head back now.) JP: それでは、私はこれで。(Well then, I'll be going now.) KR: 그럼 전 이만. (Well then, I'll be going now.)

Collection

Formed by a dot, a straight line, a curve, and an arc. Countless leaders have picked it up, turned it upside down, and turned it upside down again. Those who don't understand ponder it deeply, for it must contain some philosophical insight that can measure the meaning of life.

But this does not seem to be the case; at least, when someone or some seagull tries to take it, it never resulted in a great battle to defend the truth.

A certain idiom from the East (that he likes)