Is Hiro with the vile tribe?

[Alunissage]

The Fake Althena's main characteristic, besides stupidity, was beauty. That seems likely to be why she was selected; eternal beauty is also what Zophar promised her. Anyway, I don't really see a connection to Phacia, and of course her design predated Phacia's -- at the time of EB's development, all this backstory about the Mazoku hadn't been written yet. Phacia's first appearance is in the Childhood's End manga, in which she is the deceased mother of the protagonist, Alice.

Shigema didn't consider Hiro's parents important, so he didn't bother working out any backstory for them.

Magic School establishes that body markings are connected to performing magic, and I think it may be stated outright somewhere that that's why the Mazoku have those markings...not sure which is cause and which is effect, though. There's a scene where Elie is painting herself to learn a spell, or something like that. On the other hand, Hiro has no particularly special magical ability (the Mazoku's distinction was that they could do magic immediately, without having to chant a spell or gather power or whatever), so I'm inclined to think that either the tattoos have nothing to do with the Mazoku or that the blood was so diffuse as to be insignificant.

[MiaOne]

The Fake Althena's main characteristic, besides stupidity, was beauty. That seems likely to be why she was selected; eternal beauty is also what Zophar promised her. Anyway, I don't really see a connection to Phacia, and of course her design predated Phacia's -- at the time of EB's development, all this backstory about the Mazoku hadn't been written yet. Phacia's first appearance is in the Childhood's End manga, in which she is the deceased mother of the protagonist, Alice.

::Shrugs:: It was just harmless speculation. I just always imagined her as being something a little more sinister than a whiny human, but that is how she is portrayed in the game so...And plus Ghaleon was so disgusted by her, I think he would have held a little more respect for a member of the Vile Tribe...or...I dunno yeah.

So if the tattoos are for magic use...shouldn't the Ausas have these tattoos as well?

Maybe Hiro just thought a tattoo on his face would look cool and got it done like a year before EB/EBC

[Sonic#]

Folks would be half or quarter Vile Tribe after that--Hiro could be 1/32nd Vile Tribe or something, perhaps--until tracing your lineage back to the Vile Tribe would be like tracing it back to, say, the Dutch. KF

Ik ben niet Nederlands! Ik ben van de Verachtelijke Stam! Vrees me!

As for the tattoos being for magic use... I've never played Magic School, but maybe it was for specific uses, rather like runes or pentagrams would aid in teleportation. As I recall, in battle, Mia, Nash, and Lemina never used anything too specific, just elemental magic and the stat uppers and such. Whenever they would use this specific magic, like when Mia summoned up the power of Vane, or when Lemina would open magical doors... it seemed to rely more on the ritual or at least on an incantation.

[NallOne]

If the runes were added by hand for magical purposes, then it wouldn't exactly be a genetic trait. Unless Hiro has been doing some research into the Vile Tribe's magical tinkering, I don't see why he would have given himself those runes. I always just thought of them as a physical trait of the Vile Tribe. As Beastmen have animal-like features, the Vile Tribe have tribal markings. At least that is how I always looked at it.

[Audric]

I translated the Vane manga a while back. I haven't gotten around to making the edits yet, but if there's enough demand then I'm sure we can have it up on LunarNET by next week. KF

I wouldnt mind reading some of those^^

[Jenner]

::Offers Kiz some chocolates...and money. Lots of money::

Actually, his preferred form of bribery is sex.

[Kizyr]

::Offers Kiz some chocolates...and money. Lots of money::

Actually, his preferred form of bribery is sex.

From women!

...just needed to get that comment in before Eric got ahold of this thread. KF

[Ruby]

You know, I'd just like to chime in and say that I find it so interesting that people think he's somehow a descendent of the vile tribe because of those two green tattoos. It could be much more likely that on a vist to the nearby town, where Ronfar lives, he got away form old Gwyn and got himself some "tats"! Of course I think the most likely reason is that the artist said, "Hey.. two green slashes on the cheek, that looks /cool/." Kind of like how he said, "Hey, my hairdresser's hairstyle looks /cool/. I'm gonna put it on Luna."

Now you may go back to talking all serious about if he might be and it's significance. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if there are some kinds of magical tattoos given that magical tattoos is nothing no in oriental mythology. It's probably more of a "boosting" thing or alternate method rather than a requirement, though.

[Alunissage]

My last attempt at making this post got eaten when the net went down for a bit...and of course in redoing it it became much longer.

Regarding Elie and MS, here's what Rebecca's translation notes of the MS manga and a clip from her translation itself say:

Dadis teaches the make-up magic class which all the heroes except
Blade attend. In Strolling School, make-up magic just concerned creating
conventional make-up (Iyen is an odd school), but in both the Magical
School Lunar manga and game, it's (as Wyn explains) the art of painting
lines and patterns on one's face and body (y'know, like Xenobia has?) to
increase one's magic powers.

---

Wyn: Um...(sweatdrop)...Rena-san, make-up magic is actually...
a magic that involves drawing patterns on people and things
that bequeath them special powers.
The name "make-up" is derived from the fact that so many of the lines are
drawn on one's face.

---

Dadis: Today, we've conducting a new make-up magic experiment...
It concerns a make-up magic I've been researching that is used to
amplify magic power--
and it appears that I need somebody to be my test subject.

Everyone Except Elie (shocked, thinking): TEST SUBJECT...

Dadis: But--since this magic requires that the whole body be adorned with
make-up,
it seems like the test subject must take their clothes off.
(Incidentally, the pattern seems to disappear after the spell's
application--)

---

[Elie is all painted up.]

Dadis: All right.
Done.

Elie (thinking): Hmmm...
(It's already fading...)

[Darkgeohound]

I once read in a fanfic at the Shrine to Ghaleon that Hiro was the last remaining member of the Vile Tribe.

[Alunissage]

Yes, well, fanfic isn't exactly the greatest source of information. As I understand, many of the Shrine's story have a collective consistency, but that framework isn't necessarily from the official materials. And the manga Childhood's End (written by Shigema) would contradict that, as the protagonist, who is about thirteen, is Xenobia's niece.

[Vile Ignatius]

Ok, if Hiro is the 'last of the Vile Tribe/ desendant of the Vile Tribe', wouldn't his spells be alot stronger than what they where on the game? Or would've they weaken over time after mixing in with the other people of Lunar?

Then again this is just a thought of mine.

[Sonic#]

Well, first there's the suspicion I have that not all of the Vile Tribe were magical prodigies. And then, over a thousand years, if he were related to the Vile Tribe, the magical abilities would've been diluted.

So it neither proves nor disproves anything. XD

[MiaOne]

Weren't there basically two species in the Vile Tribe..those that can use magic and those that cannot? Isn't that why Xenobia (and her gang) are the rulers? Or I think it does say somewhere that Ghaleon GIVES Xenobia her powers, but that could still make her achieve leader status...technically.

[Alunissage]

Hm, I don't remember any reference to Ghaleon empowering Xenobia, just releasing her and the rest of the Tribe. I know in TSS the NPCs refer to her as already the leader of them before Ghaleon allies with her.

Regarding two varieties of Vile Tribe, I don't remember that particular distinction, but I suppose that's the implication with the mine workers and all in SSSC; they certainly don't seem to have the powers that Xenobia and her sisters do. On the other hand, in TSS if you return home after Burg's inhabitants have been captured there are two Viles who are imitating Alex's parents, so shape-shifting wasn't limited to Xenobia.

[Kizyr]

Not necessarily... Xenobia could've done some transmogrification spell to change their appearance; so, the magic would've been her doing, not the other Vile Tribesmen.

I know Rebecca Capowski has the theory that there are two types of the Vile Tribe, the human-like ones (Ghaleon, Xenobia, Phacia, etc.) and the demon-like ones. Personally, I figure the Vile Tribe does have an innate magical ability. Perhaps over time some succumbed to the 'dark side' and took on a demonic appearance (like Ghaleon in the last scene of TSS), while some managed to gain enough magical power to alter their appearance back and look more human. KF

[Dragonship Destiny]

Just because he has a tattoo on his face, doesn't mean he is apart of the tribe...