You see, the reason why I included Nascour so heavily in this lore around Rui's powers isn't even really about him that much. Though I did want to add an explanation for all the random psychic types on his team, that is a bonus. But more importantly, it's about narrative foils.
It also makes for a more satisfying battle against him, I think. Naturally, I headcanon that Nascour has found ways to use his aura reading in battle, for example to predict his opponents or to issue non-verbal commands to at least his psychic types, using telepathy instead, which on top of it all makes it harder to tell what he is going to do. Especially for my bad ending verse it's vital that there is a damn good reason for Wes to possibly and justifiably lose this battle - which is that this is pretty damn unfair, if you think about it. And that's, of course, the entire point in Nascour doing this. He doesn't want to be fair. He wants to win and show people how little they can do against him. He was talking about domination and humiliation, for crying out loud.
For all of his powers and abilities, Nascour does not, cannot fully understand Wes at this point. He cannot comprehend how someone who is exactly like him, a criminal who deep inside of him still carries the traumatized, orphaned and abandoned boy he was, can choose compassion over revenge and helping others over helping himself. Someone who chooses to trust and help a stranger and make himself vulnerable over closing the door to his heart. Someone who chooses to be a hero for people who may never thank him or have anything to give him as compensation for his troubles. Someone who would rather sit in the desert sand with nothing but his beloved companions by his side rather than in a grand, fancy tower surrounded by riches.
This is how Wes defeats Nascour. And oh boy, does that immediately eradicate whatever small amount of sanity the evil ribbon man had left.
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In my verse, it's not a new phenomenon that a select few people are born with a particular brand of psychic powers that has been known as aura reading since the days of Ancient Orre. But back in the day, there was also more to it. Here's the deeper lore; aside from Orre worldbuilding, there will also be Nascour lore, Rui lore and OC lore.
Such was the goal; of course, there were several instances of people with this power making use of it to take advantage of others, cause harm or seize power, in which case the other aura readers would deal with that threat too. As a result, the dogma of using these abilities for healing, defense and altruistic reasons only became even more emphasized, and Ancient Orrean culture considered it to be a sacred art that was treated with great reverence by the people - the expectation in turn being, naturally, that the aura readers would also treat it as something sacred and never abuse it. To do so was considered, depending on the severity of it, a disgrace to straight up abomination.
With the downfall of Ancient Orre, the Order was destroyed as well and much of its knowledge and teachings were lost. The traditional communities of Orre, mainly the elders of Agate Village and the volcanic tribe, saved what they could. They took it upon themselves to, even though they themselves often didn't possess the ability of aura reading, train any young aura readers that were discovered, hoping to at least help them understand what they were experiencing as they attempted to navigate life with this inherent psychic affinity, often confused and distraught by seeing and feelings things others could not. Naturally, they were also hoping to pass on the ideology of helping and healing others, if for nothing else at least to prevent abuse of such powers by appealing to their compassion for living things. However, with the gift of aura reading being already quite rare, the chaotic, desolate state of Orre and the lack of other, older aura readers looking for others like them, it cannot be overstated how few aura readers were found in the centuries following the downfall of Ancient Orre. It was a huge guessing game, based entirely on luck if the people around the young person in question being able to identify the signs and knowing where to go and who to talk to.
Roughly 100 years before the events of Colosseum, an aura reader would emerge as a prominent figure in Orrean history for the first time in centuries - though history will never remember her as such. Renata "Nana" Verich, a legendary Orrean smuggler, crime boss and later the founder of Cipher, was never discovered in her youth and, after learning what this strange gift she had was, chose to never reveal herself. After managing to unearth and steal some ancient records, she learned enough about her abilities to practice on her own and, knowing that there might be others like her who might finally realize what it was that she was doing and what had given her an edge over other gangs and gang bosses countless times, she developed an ability called aura shroud, allowing her to hide her aura and therefore conceal not only her emotions, but also her psychic abilities and her use of them.
(In the ancient days, it had been custom for aura readers to train and experiment with all sorts of ways in which their psychic powers could manifest, with each and every one of them having different affinities - for example, some were skilled in projecting their aura outwards and would develop telekinetic and shielding abilities and others were skilled in connecting their auras with other beings, studying bonds and how this could be used to positively manipulate and heal them.)
When Nana Verich passed away roughly 20 years before the events of Colosseum, not even her living family members (most of them at least) knew what she had been and why they had never been able to lie to her or hide anything from her. It added to her fearsome reputation and is one of many reasons Orrean criminals fear her to this day. Yet a few years before her death, Nana finally sensed someone like her: The so far last of her descendants, her great-grandson Nascour, had inherited her precious secret ability. This was the true reason why she, from that day onward, preferred him over everyone else in the family and chose him as her true successor. She did two things after realizing this: Making sure that Nascour's ability was discovered, encouraging Es Cade to take him to the elders of Agate Village to "help" with his "condition", and recording everything she knew, including her prized aura shroud technique she had perfected over decades, and hiding it away for Nascour to find once he was old enough. Which he did, roughly one decade later and years after her death, and he absorbed her teachings like a sponge - both the aura-related things and everything she knew about controlling the criminal scene. Since the Orre games have some Star Wars vibes about them: Think of it as Darth Nana's holocron and Nascour as her Sith apprentice.
You may have already guessed that Nana's use of aura reading completely ignored the notions of it being a sacred art and moral code the Order had once built around it. And you would be right. But if she has broken the old code, Nascour has completely shattered it. Willingly and knowingly stomping on it with both of his ballerina feet, actually.
But no amount of childish desire to be good, imposed on said child by adults around him, basic coping strategies and meditation could forever hold unresolved trauma and being severely abused by a certain family member (Evice) at bay. As he grew into a teenager and young adult, Nascour found that these teachings were failing him - and that he was angry. Angry at the world who demanded that he should help and protect others, but sent no one to help and protect him when he needed it the most - when his uncle killed his father and began to wear a dead man's identity like a new skin, taking possession of a defenseless and traumatized child and abusing and grooming him to serve his interests. This was also when Nascour finally found what Nana had left for him, giving him actual tools to help himself through control and violence, telling him how he was her favorite and he was the true successor and he was the one she wanted to be Grand Master one day. He felt supported. He felt loved. He immediately adopted her vision as his own and began holding her up as the one guardian angel kind of family member of his that was both on his side and strong enough to get him where he wanted to be, whereas Es Cade, as much as Nascour had loved his father, had been "weak". Too weak to stay alive for his son, too weak to keep his promise to never leave him.
Out of universe, it's quite likely that Orre's name was derived from "ore". But I have a fun headcanon regarding the linguistics in-universe.
You see, in my verse, "Orre" actually evolved from "Aura" (also a reference to the Spanish localization). That's what it was called during the time period now referred to as Ancient Orre.
Now, as some of you may know, my main source of inspiration for Ancient Orre is Ancient Rome, due to the colosseum ruins and all. Correspondingly, my main source of inspiration for the Ancient Orrean language is Latin.
In Ancient Orrean, "aura" had a double meaning. It was used both like Latin "aurum" (gold) and "aura" as we know it today, the latter of which evolved from its original meaning of aroma and odor (borrowed from Latin "aura" which means breeze or air) to the more "vibe" kind of thing we mostly associate it with in modern day English. The reason why Ancient Orrean "aura" meant both gold and, well, aura is that, in this language, it was conceptualized as meaning some kind of richness or wealth, with gold as one of the most precious materials being the "outwards" riches in your possession and aura being a manifestation of the "inwards" riches that come from your soul - also quite a precious thing.
Both meanings of the word became central to Ancient Orre's identity due to its reputation for being rich in precious metals and minerals and its proud tradition of training psychics, and so Aura became its name first and then later Orre.
Bonus lore: This is the kind of thing only few people can tell you in modern day Orre, examples being Dakim if he thinks you're worthy of sharing insight into his culture with, Nascour if he ever feels like sharing the old lore he learned, which is never, and Ardos after about three glasses of ridiculously expensive alcoholic beverages, because he wants to show you how much he knows.
Regarding some things about Nascour I alluded to in recent posts talking about the Verich brothers' standing and popularity in Cipher - yes, I'm in fact going to double down and actually stress that he is one of, if not Cipher's number one mean girl.
This man has 100% clocked that the family clan elders (Evice and Greevil - context here) have tacitly decided that he's the expendable child running the errands and doing the dirty work and he fully intends to turn the tables on them by using his more direct involvement in the syndicate to form alliances, undermine the other bosses and strengthen his own power base, with the ultimate goal of becoming the next Grand Master of Cipher. And if gossip and drama will get him there, he will be the most dramatic gossip monger the Orre region has ever seen. Nascour does not give a fuck if people think that's unmanly or cowardly or whatever else.
And yes, he's not only willing but actually planning to murder Evice. Actually regardless of his Grand Master ambitions. They don't get along at all, but that's a story for another time.
It is worth noting that Nascour is neither directly planning nor overly keen on killing Greevil, Ardos or Eldes. Whenever there isn't anything going on that causes interfamilial tension, he actually gets along with them quite decently. Nascour is pretty fine with the idea of waiting for Greevil to die of old age and knows that Eldes wouldn't even bother to fight him for the Grand Master spot, he's just wary that Ardos would try to contest and is taking precautions for this eventuality.
My take is that Ardos and Eldes - yes, both of them - are far less popular among Cipher people than one would perhaps assume.
Disregarding the additional nuances of Ardos probably losing more likeability points due to being an asshole and Eldes winning some back by being nice, the main thing about them is that they are the Grand Master's sons and get special privilege and treatment for that all the time, even compared to the other admins who are of the same rank. This gets especially egregious when they get that over Nascour who is not only Chief Admin/Executive ranked above the admins but also a relative of theirs in my verse (context). And yes, you bet that this pisses him off, creates interfamilial conflict and is used by him to do some campaigning and alliance forging behind the scenes.
In addition to that, a lot of members of Cipher are actual, hardened criminals (from the thugs Cipher hires on the side to the more sophisticated and sneaky conpeople and killers in its upper ranks) and can tell that Ardos and Eldes got their ranks and privileges purely by being born in the right bed. They are strong Trainers, that is something people will concede, but that's also about it.
They suck at crime and lack experience in the actual criminal scene. They could not pick a lock if they tried. They know very little of the daily dealings of the gangs and current state of affairs. They can defend themselves and put people in their place if they have to, but the gang leaders don't respect them (meanwhile compare how Nascour made Gonzap his little bitch)
Most of their time is spent hanging out with their father and traveling. Ardos and Eldes do very, very little of the actual work that goes into building up and running the syndicate - no research, no lab work, no recruiting, no participation in gang wars or street fights, no coordinating or overseeing anything or anyone, etc
Also let's be real: Greevil can absolutely defend himself and he will. He doesn't need them, it's mostly for show and convenience
In addition to the combination of 1) "people can tell they aren't proper criminals" plus 2) favoritism from the Grand Master plus 3) their own family member, Chief Admin and the one among the Cipher bosses who is the most directly involved with everyone else (I tend to say that Nascour being a decoy boss means he still counts as a boss) making sure to remind everyone of these facts and undermining the standing of various Verichs in his own favor, there is yet another factor. Many members of Cipher are, if the general state of Orre is anything to go by, poor. We even have at least one confirmed working class person among the admins. And these people have yet another - very good! - reason not to like Ardos and Eldes. Maybe they can respect Greevil a bit more because he actually ran (and still to a degree runs) his business, but his boys? They were just born into luxury, they did nothing to earn this.
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Alongside the other contrasts, differences and dichotomies that are pretty much mandatory for any characterization of Ardos and Eldes, they ended up with another in my verse: Past and future.
Ardos is fascinated - almost obsessed - with the past, specifically Ancient Orre with all its glory, achievements and culture. He sees the destruction and downfall of Ancient Orre not as an inevitable and perhaps even justified consequence of endless wars and battles and massive abuse of power and resources on every side; he sees it as a tragedy that must be reverted. Essentially, Ardos hopes that Cipher's rule could be the first step towards restoring this old power and glory that Orre once had and eventually bring it back to a place where it and its inhabitants are taken seriously and no longer branded as a filthy den of lowly criminals (ironic, coming from a man who is a criminal himself and whose father is probably one of the biggest thieves - by virtue of being a billionaire - the world has ever seen). Needless to say, Ardos also pictures himself as one of the rulers and masters of this restored realm.
So yes, I too subscribe to the popular fanon that Ardos and Eldes inherited Greevil's yellow (and rather creepy) coin eyes. Or sun eyes if you want to be charitable.
Lily, as cute as she finds Eldes, was no exception to this rule. When she finally got to see his eyes uncovered, she was also unnerved and had to get used to what she jokingly named the "shining spotlight stare". In all fairness to her: He was staring at her a lot. Intensely.