#penetrator

The existence of NIN Love Clubs and NIN Hate Club Hate Clubs proves just how influential the NIN Hate Club has become.

None of those pages would exist without the hatred that started all of this.

Launching the COCC-Penetrator

I give you the Cumbalonian Oceanic Carrier Corps - "PENETRATOR"

"Penetrator" is the flagship of the Cumabalonian armed services, and it was recently launched, after finishing sea trials.

It is the pride of the Androgenocracy's fleet.

==============

Does Cumbalonia have a Navy?

----Yes.

---- With a GDP of 892 billion last year, the money has to be spent on something.

----Despite a coastline of just 80km, an Aircraft carrier was clearly needed...

Does Cumbalonia have a Marine force.

Yes and no.

They are not called Marines.

The are members of the Cumbalonian United Naval Taskforce (we couldn't come up with a clever acronym for them...), and they are operationally part of the Navy.

Here are two of their men, on deck about to go into action.

Do Cumbalonia Naval Officers ever smoke pipes?

----Yes, sometimes.

----Descended from a long line of Cumbalonian Navy ship captains who constantly clenched pipes in their mouths while they sailed, Lt Cmdr Dan (part of the CumbalonianUNT) decided to continue the tradition after he was accepted to the Cumbalonian Officer Academy.

When Dan found out he was accepted to the Academy, Dan's father was so proud that he passed down some of Dan's father's and grandfather's collection to him. While he still prefers cigars like most other Cumbalonian men, Dan proudly smokes his pipes on and off duty. He always chooses the largest of the pipes in his collection.....

Two of the most memorable bosses in Demon's Souls are, most definitely, the Tower Knight and the Penetrator (つらぬきの騎士, "Piercing Knight"), fought in the second and third levels of Boletaria respectively. Though they individually might not have much lore going on, specially compared to Oolan or Biorr, they more than make it up for their role in Boletarian history and the duo they compromise.

Ariona (also known as Ostrava) tells us in his Japanese dialogue:

"Allant, King of Boletaria, had many splendid knights following him. Twin Blades Biorr and Vallarfax. Tower Knight Alfred, and Piercing Knight Metas."

Ariona does call Metas a "Knight of the Lance" in the original localization, but this is simply either a misreading of the term "Piercing Knight", or an attempt at censorship at dialogue, for the other instances of "Piercing Knight" were localized as "Penetrator" instead.

The fact that they're mentioned together highlights their importance as a duo, and this is proven further by their internal names: King's Shield (王の盾) and King's Sword (王の剣) respectively. This denotes their closeness to Boletarian monarchy, and fittingly, we can see several statues of them in the Boletarian Palace, overlooking the stairs that lead to the King's High Tower: before these, all knight statues we find are simply the generic Boletarian Knight, which again reinforces how close these two were to monarchy.

The couple of knights is famously identified by the armaments they wield, the Tower Shield and the Penetrating Sword (つらぬきの剣, "Piercing Sword"), respectively.

Enormous shield used by one of Boletaria’s heroes, the Tower Knight. Said to be able to ward off any and all malice, but it’s terrifically heavy, and using it well is a Herculean task.

The largest greatshield amongst those known.

Very long straightsword used by the Piercing Knight, one of the heroes of Boletaria. As the name says, it especially displays high power in thrusting attacks.

Because its size is exceptional for a straightsword, use requires high strength and skill.

Notice how neither of these weapons mention Alfred or Metas, but rather just the titles they possess. And when we fight the phantoms of Alfred and Metas at the fourth level of the Boletarian Palace, we can see them wearing the Brushwood Set and a mixed set of Chain, Fluted and Plate each; noticeably different from those worn by the demon bosses preceding them and the statues that follow them.

From all of this, we can deduce that the Tower Knight and the Penetrator are rather royal knighthood titles that have been granted to different people through generations, and Alfred and Metas simply have to be the ones occupying those titles in recent times.

The Tower Shield is an extremely heavy armament, which requires Colorless Demon's Souls as upgrade material (posing it as a magical weapon), and both its color and description as "repelling malice" reveal that, at the very least, it is coated in dark silver. The shield is not entirely made from dark silver though, as it doesn't reduce the damage of magic spells, nor does it provide 100% magic reduction. Still, it does provide a hefty 60% magic reduction, the double of the standard shield. And given the Tower Knight is a "hero of Boletaria", there is one event it could've appeared in: the First Scourge.

After all, why would a small country need to make a huge shield specifically to repel malice, and he who wielded it became a "hero"? Wasn't the Brushwood equipment from centuries ago not enough? The answer to that last question is a definitive no, for it provides very small defense against magic: it was designed to fend off Flying Dragons, not actual Fog Demons. It was this worldwide crisis that would lead Boletaria into breaking its rule of not using Soul Arts, for the sake of fending off a greater threat. And even then, Boletaria wouldn't have done spells, rather, simply use Soul Arts to forge equipment to fight demons.

The Penetrating Sword is also a magical weapon, and the Penetrator is, as well, a "hero of Boletaria". And given how important it is on par with the Tower Knight, it only makes sense that it appeared in the same First Scourge. Thus, the two knights would've made a force to be reckoned with: pure defense, and pure attack. And most likely, following the First Scourge and the ban of magic, the weapons would've seen continued use in the Dark Age, probably going unnoticed for their lack of magic damage. And after all, the Allant dynasty did use Soulbrandt throughout the Dark Age.

But that is old history, and many people have occupied those titles throughout the Dark Age. What can we know about Alfred and Metas themselves?

First up is Alfred.

He wears the full Brushwood Set as well as the Tower Shield, and even if he does wear the Ring of Great Strength, nonetheless his physical endurance and strength is commendable. Him possessing the Brushwood Set heavily implies he is closely related to the Boletarian Royal Family, even if not sharing lineage with the Allants. Perhaps, he is a Boletarian noble of the highest caste (we do find 3x Royal Lotus, more accurately "Noble's Lotus" (貴族のロートス) right before the Tower Knight arena, which leads into the Inner Ward).

As well, he wields the Scraping Spear, which holds multiple connotations. First off, it implies he was rather a coward, choosing to wittle down the enemy's equipment durability while behind the safety of his shield. In addition, given we can forge a Scraping Spear out of the Phalanx Soul, we can infer that it was Alfred who taught Oolan and her warriors into Boletarian tactics, something further supported by the Tower Knight demon being able to throw his lance like a javelin, much like the Hoplites do with their spears.

If the Phalanx is result of Oolan's self perception, then both the Tower Knight and the Penetrator might be as well. On the case of Alfred, the Tower Knight is a massive creature and its soul is of "Iron" (鉄), a most basic yet most fundamental metal. Probably, Alfred saw himself as key to Boletaria, greatly boosting his ego; and fittingly, the term Tower of the title can be related to the King's High Tower.

From the Iron Demon's Soul, via Freke we can derive the spell "Warding" (完全な防護, "Absolute Protection"), whose Japanese description states:

Magic manifested from the soul of the demon “Tower Knight”. Substantially decreases damage.

Symbol of the gigantic shield that the Tower Knight carried.

Sage Freke does wield this spell, which implies that, after leaving Yormedar, he traveled to Boletaria and met Alfred, leading him to develop this spell after the Tower Shield.

Next up is Metas.

Besides wielding the Penetrating Sword, he wears a combination of Chain Helm, Fluted Armor, and Plate Gauntlets and Plate Greaves. The Plate Set is standard issue for soldiers all across the world, so Metas might've chose those pieces to limit mobility the least possible (a full Fluted or Chain Set would limit him much more). The Fluted Set itself indicates he's from Latria, as we can acquire it on the Prison of Hope and it is an annexed country at the south of Boletaria.

Metal armor carved with fine grooves.

Knight’s equipment used in the comparatively advanced region in the south of Boletaria. The fine grooves are intended to increase the defensive effect of the thin metal plate.

Weighty, so stamina recovery is slowed.

As well, the Chain Helm is favored by soldiers of the Church, so it is possible that Metas was originally a Church soldier originating in Latria. Now, why of all people, would a Latrian, a person from an annexed country, be granted such an important knighthood title? The reason lies in both the circumstances at which Latria was annexed as well as the twelfth King Allant. First up, Latria was allowed some form of restricted self-autonomy, which placed it in a much better light than Stonefang or the multiple nameless small lands that Boletaria had conquered. And as it would be later shown with Oolan, the twelfth Allant did favor foreigners. We must also take into consideration that Latria's signature weapon is rapiers, so who better than a Latrian to wield a long straight sword designed for thrusting?

But much like many Latrians, Metas was both extremely stuck up, as well as hiddenly corrupt at heart. On one hand, the Penetrator's soul is of "Silver" (銀), which is a very expensive and refined metal related to nobility even if weak on its own (and we find multiple silver items on Latria). On the other hand, the Penetrator demon viciously betrays and impales a Fat Official by backstabbing him on his introduction cutscene, toying a bit with the corpse before beginning to fight us.

From the Silver Demon's Soul, we can derive the spells Light Weapon via Freke, and Curse Weapon via Yuria. Light Weapon, as stated on its description, symbolizes the Penetrating Sword itself and, being essentially an upgrade to Enchant Weapon, its capability to pierce most defenses with ease.

Magic manifested from the soul of the demon “Piercing Knight”. Greatly strengthens the caster’s right-hand weapon. (Use with catalyst equipped in the left hand)

Symbol of the gigantic sword that the Piercing Knight wielded.

Curse Weapon, on the other hand, deals physical damage instead of magic damage and rapidly drains the wielder's HP. It being an "essential" spell, as it's derived via Yuria, demonstrates how rotten and cruel was Metas on the inside.

Magic manifested from the soul of the demon “Piercing Knight”. Greatly strengthens the caster’s right-hand weapon, but that weapon becomes cursed. (Use with catalyst equipped in the left hand)

Symbol of the gigantic sword that the Piercing Knight wielded. That sword pierced many warriors who faced the demon.

Yet, none of this would matter in the end. Be it an arrogant Boletarian noble wielding a gigantic shield, with a strength matching only his ego, or a Latrian noble concealing desires of cruelty beneath refinement, both knights would meet their demise in the Second Scourge. As the three Fog Demons in the shape of Flying Dragons scourged the Boletarian Palace, Alfred, Metas and Oolan would manage to defeat one of them, only to fall victim to the Blue Dragon. And after their deaths, the False King Allant would use them to create new Fog Demons, as well as enslaving the Black Phantoms in their image that manifested postmortem.

The knighthood titles that rose during the demon crisis so many centuries ago, would now be cursed to serve an Archdemon, both as evil spirits as well as Fog Demons themselves.

the more i learn about Allant's court, the more I'm convinced they all hated each other?? (and that it works well for the story that they did)

(forgive the lame doodle, and also there's yapping below the cut)