| Kingdom Hearts: Sinister | |
| File:Kingdom Hearts copy.jpg | |
| キングダムハーツ: 不吉な Kingudamu Hātsu: Fukitsuna | |
| Developer(s) | Xelak |
| Genre | Alternate Timeline |
| Game Modes | Single-Player |
- "It was the worst time for an offworld invasion. The Civil War had reduced the Black Army's numbers by nearly 50%, and the Army of the South logged almost twice that. With the near-anarchy that had descended on the Southern Kingdom because of the loss of the war, the blight, or whatever it was, struck there first, reducing the population to nearly 25%. Then, anarchy DID become the government of choice in the south.
And now, the same things are happening in the north..."
Kingdom Hearts: Sinister is a tale of the redemption of the heart and of an alternate Keyblade line. Taking place roughly 10 years after Kingdom Hearts II, it hosts a cast of new characters and a plethora of new skills. It is scheduled to be released Summer 2010 whenever I can get stuff up by Xelak. (Although I've already released annotated versions of the first two chapters) [Note: Full story may never be released, as I had originally intended this to be a manga or novel and do not have the time to do either in detail, especially the manga]
Storyline
The story begins on a small backwater world that, so far, has escaped attention from any major force. This has led to the people that inhabit this world - humans, of course - to become completely arrogant and think that they are the only beings that exist, period. Or, at least, one certain nation has come to think that way.
The Northern Kingdoms
The world of Terra Nox has but a single continent on it, with two large landmasses connected by a small strait. The northernmost of these halves is a coalition of nations collectively known as the Northern Kingdoms. It is by far the most arrogant, corrupt, evil, and amoral little hellion of a state known in the Kingdom Hearts universe, and is the one kingdom that has come to think of their world as the only ball of life in existence. Magic is outlawed here, except if the magician is in the king's pay. Our main character is a captain in the army of this nation - called the Black Army of the North, and notorious for its cruel wartime deeds - but is starting to grow a conscience about what he does in battle.
The Southern Kingdom
Or, as it prefers to be called, the Coalition of Peace. They basically support the governing policy of diplomacy, not war, completely opposite to the Northern Kingdoms' thoughts. They keep only a small standing army, as opposed to the Black Army's large numbers on a regular basis. However, one thing the soldiers in the Southern Army do have going for them is that all of them, every single one, is trained in magic. One on one, a Southern soldier will always beat a Northern soldier.
The Civil War
When Kingdom Hearts: Sinister begins, the two countries have just had a devastating civil war that has reduced to ruins most of the major cities near the border on the strait. Because the fighting had been so intense, the two armies had been left destroyed, or nearly so, and the civilizations had begun to crumble. As the North watches, the South completely disintegrates as the result of a mysterious blight that claims the lives of nearly all the citizens. When the blight moves north across the strait, our main character finds it is not a disease at all, but something far darker...
Characters
Kleatus Synestyr
Our hero of the story. Although he serves in the Black Army, and often agrees to everything those in command say and do, lately because of the decimation, mayhem, and violence of the Civil War, he has begun to realize the difference between morality and desire, which essentially for him could spell out the path to good - or to evil. The son of a former lord of the Northern Kingdoms, one of the governors of the provinces, his family was framed for a traitorous act and demoted into oblivion and obscurity. To counteract this and fulfill his father's dying wish to redeem the family, Kleatus joined the Black Army and dedicated himself to rising to the rank of General - a leader of one of the 5 armies of the north - or one of the 50 commanders, second in rank to the 5 generals. This dedication has become a sort of existence for him, and his whole life has been adapted to realizong this dream, while finding the perpitrator of the framing and take revenge on him. When the blight comes to the North, he is one of the rallying points for the remnants of the Black Army.
Rafael Ilyich III
Synestyr's best friend, a commander in the Black Army and the son of a minor lord, now inherit to the title as his father pines away for loss of his ex-wife, who illegally immigrated to the South but was killed in the war. He, too, is a rally point for his men, and is a courageous leader of his soldiers. Unlike the protagonist, though, he has no qualms about what he does in battle, and has seen his best friend go from being next in line for a big promotion to being under hard scrutiny. It is known that his grandfather was deeply jealous of Synestyr's family, because they (the family) were one of the leading noble families, but despite this he has made every attempt to be kind to our hero.
Abraham Kasslegard
The main antagonist of Sinister, this army commander is Synestyr's main opponent in the Black Army, and is the reason he is under harsh scrutiny for his actions. Kasslegard holds a deep hatred of Synestyr, believing him to be a hopeless upstart who doesn't know his place, and makes every attempt to let him know as such. During the ending weeks of the war, Abraham was said to be seen wielding a mysterious power in battle - the forbidden power of darkness.
Claudius the Chosen
The High Mage of the Royal Family, a man of great power, skill, and evil. It is he who has access to the forbidden texts of magic that are stored away in the Royal Library, and he is said to be able to wield an incredible weapon of great power. He is by far the evilest character so far in Kingdom Hearts: Sinister.
The Mysterious Girl
A mysterious young girl who suddenly attacks Kleatus in the North Forests. Not much is known about her besides the fact that she, like Kleatus, can wield a Keyblade.
Story
Arc 1: The Invasion
Chapter 1
Story Arc 1 of Kingdom Hearts: Sinister begins as the Civil War between the Northern and Southern Kingdoms is degenerating into regional skirmishes, due to a sudden plague that has begun claiming the lives of citizens. Although hatred between the Kingdoms still exists, no central power is controlling either force. Kleatus Synestyr is a captain in the Black Army, the battle force of the Northern Kingdoms, with his best friend, Rafael Ilyich III. Being a right-minded soldier, he is able to organize, with Rafael's help, several thousand Northern soldiers into an organized retreat deeper into the North that he believes wil save lives, not knowing that the entire nation has become affected by the scourge. However, during one march through a minor mountain rage, Kleatus' party was suddenly and brutally assaulted by mysterious, shadowy creatures revealed by a traveling monk to be the deadly Heartless. Picking up his scavenged army's pace into a forced march, Kleatus lead them into the verdant but shadowy forests of the Northern Kingdoms, where he was again attacked by a force of Heartless, this one far larger and powerful than the previous. Cut off from Rafael during the fighting, Kleatus and his remaining men were forced into a corner, where the Heartless steadily closed in.
Chapter 2
Soon, one by one, the Heartless began defeating and absorbong Kleatus' soldiers, using their hearts to reproduce. While fighting, Kleatus noticed that ordinary swords - like his - had little or no effect on the shadowy creatures, while swords blessed or enchanted by magic could harm them. Despite this, all of Kleatus' men were quickly defeated. Picking up a sword magicked by the High Mage, Claudius, Kleatus fought for his life, but was soon overwhelmed. Then, just as he was about to be defeated by the Heartless' overwhelming numbers, the sword he had obtained suddenly flashed before him, changing shape into a long, black, katana-shaped sword, with a massive handguard and - strangest of all - at the tip, black cross tilted at an angle, like the one appearing on his family's crest. Using this new weapon, he was able to defeat all of the Heartless, as he suddenly found his strength was, it seemed, ten times greater. Then having destroyed all of the Heartless, the sword flashed again, changing shape back into the sword he had obtained; but this time, the sword had a chain hanging from the pommel, ending in the same cross he had seen on the mysterious sword. Sheathing his new sword, he ran off into the forests to search for Rafael.
Chapter 3
Rushing deep into the forest, Kleatus encounters more and more Heartless, and is able to defeat them all, aided again by the appearance of his mysterious new katana. Finally, he nears a clearing near the forest's center, and there, to his despair, he finds a torn piece of Rafael's uniform, stained with blood. Believing his best friend to be dead, Kleatus sinks to his knees and mourns. However, he is interrupted by and arrow whizzing over his head. Drawing his regular sword from its sheath, he whirls around to face his enemy, only to find it is - a young girl, who appears to be only eighteen years old, or younger, who is wearing an old brown cloak.. It is she who was wielding the bow. Thinking her to be no threat, Kleatus turns, only to have an arrow imbedded in his shoulder.Turning again, he pulls the arrow out of himself, and asks the girl why she is attacking him, when he has no quarrel with her. She replies, passionately, that she does have issues with him and sweeps aside her cloak to reveal a South Army mage's uniform. Kleatus is surprised that the South Army accepts young people, especially women, which the North does not do. The girl yells at him that she's not surprised he's ignorant, as all Northern people are. Kleatus tenses up but says he'll let the comment slide because he has other things to do. Turning away again, the girl suddenly moves with blinding speed and places herself in front of him, with an arrow aimed at his heart. She then says that she hates all Northern soldiers and doesn't care if he has personal issues with her or not, and suddenly releases the arrow. Kleatus is forced to summon his new sword, and moves with equal speed, blocking the arrow. The girl expresses great surprise, wondering "why he has one too". Confused, Kleatus is about to question her statement when she says, "I'll show you mine" and summons her own, similar weapon - a sword-like blade with odd, teeth-like protrusions!
Chapter 4
Kleatus is shocked that the girl has a weapon like his. She asks him where he got his Keyblade, but then corrects herself and says he probable stole it from the real wielder. Kleatus is taken aback at the new events, and questions out loud what a Keyblade is. The girl says this reinforces what she thought, that he stole it, but Kleatus yells back that that's not true, and that it just popped into his hand while he was fighting the Heartless.
Now it is the girl's turn to be surprised. She says to herself that it's impossible for someone so evil to recieve a Keyblade, but then, noticing the design and color scheme of Kleatus' weapon says that it's probably a Sin Key, so it makes sense. Kleatus replies across to her, saying he can hear her, and that he's not evil. He also comments that she hasn't answered his first question, about what a Keyblade is. She tells him, readying for battle, that a Keyblade is "a chosen weapon of the gods that has the power to change the world", and then says to him that he'll probably get ideas into his head to make the world all evil, or something. Kleatus replies that, for the last time, he's not evil and then asks why she hates him when she doesn't even know him. She replies, yelling, that it's because all North soldiers are the same and would sooner murder and innocent family than think about something nice. Kleatus is a bit surprised at this statement, but the girl ignores him and goes into a flashback about how, at the start of the war, her whole family was killed when a North mage cast a Dark Fire spell on her house, thinking enemy South soldiers were in there. Beginning to cry, she tells Kleatus how she joined the South army to get revenge for her family, and says that, throughout the war, Northmen proved themselves to be no different than the ones that destroyed her house morally speaking. As she weeps, Kleatus lowers his Keyblade and says that he's sorry. This sends her into a rage as she cries that she doesn't need his pity, and attacks him with incredible speed. Kleatus is forced to use his newfound Keyblade powers to keep up with her, and finds that he can match her speed, eventually gaining the upper hand. After knocking her Keyblade out of her hands, Kleatus holds his sword to her neck. The girl waits, and, finally realizing that Kleatus sin't going to kill her, expresses her surprise at his mercy. Kleatus then turns his Keyblade bak into a sword, and sheaths it, beginning to walk away. He then replies that not all North soldiers are the same, and is about to leave when she asks him to stop, ansd asks him why he was kneeling. He begins to explain why, but is suddenly interupted by the appearance of his old rival, Abraham Kasslegard, who moves with twice the speed Kleatus was earlier, who appears in front of him.
Keyblades in Kingdom Hearts: Sinister
See Keyblade (KHS).