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"What we call 'life' is something with an end. Life is a pilgrimage that accrues suffering.
But, it is absolutely not a tale of death and separation."
Name: SolomonNickname: King of Magic, Grand Caster, Romani
Gender: Male
Age: 816
Clan: Ōtsutsuki
Alignment: True Neutral
Appearance
Being from the Eastern Continent of Tobusekai, Solomon has a foreign, exotic, or otherwise unworldly charm to his appearance that bewilders, enthralls, or otherwise captures the attention of all who meet him. Standing at almost 6ft, he is a tall, handome man with firm features that indicate his self-assured and steadfast nature, and yet they still exude a soft, gentle warmth that convert an otherwise aloof man into one who steals the hearts of all who behold his grace and majesty. Truly, his appearance is the perfect mirror of his reputation as a "gentle, loving King.”
His skin is blessed with the gentle kiss of Tobusekai's sun, giving it a golden hue that puts the finest jewellery to shame, while his hair perfectly contrasts this complexion with a pale, spiritually infused white tone that shimmers a truer gold than even his complexion as the sun drenches it in its warmth. His hair flows freely, cascading down his back to effortlessly reach the back of his calves as it naturally forms into voluminous curved, carved and spiked sections that randomly take shape and form on their own free will, framing his face, and giving him an unmistakable sillhouette. Overall, his hair has an unkempt, yet charming appearance, save for a lone braid that is draped over the left portion of his torso in a regal, sofisticated woven pattern that ends with a loop that doubles back, and vanishes within his sea of golden-white locks. And while, at first glance, Solomon's eyes are sharp and aggresive in shape and tone, the emotion conveyed from them is nothing short of compassionate, empathetic and understanding, helped all the more by his eyes vibrant golden colouration, that rivals, and at times surpasses, his complexion with a gaze that burns like the sun itself.
In regards to attire, nothing but the finest robes would be right for a King to wear, and the finest robes in all of Tobusekai can be found nowhere else but Israel, within the heart of Jerusalem itself. Woven together by the finest crafters of silk and cloth, Solomon wears a pristine white robe with a black waistband, and golden section that curls around his colarbone and shoulderblades, with decorative golden trim throughout. Atop this simple robe he dons a red braid that has a small "tassle-like" attachment at the back, and is woven into a larger braid at the front, which keeps a black, decorative belt fixed to his form. The belt itself has two layered segments that hang down on either side of the front of his legs in a curved, sloped lightning bolt formation, that form an x-shape between his knees, as the front braid from the red cloth hangs in front, kept from unravelling with golden rings. Next, over his robe, and belt, he wears a loose-fitting white cape-like coat, with red detailing, that is draped over his shoulders, giving them a very unique shape, and kept in place by a pair of highly decorative, yet surprisingly effective and functional epaulettes, which are attached to the golden portion of his robes, near the collarbone, and extend down to passed his elbows, giving the illusion of sleeves, and the reality of regality. Finally, Solomon is adorned with various forms of accessories and accoutrement, from rings and bracelets, to necklaces and traditional braids sparingly located on his robes, however, the most prevalent of these are the countless tattoo's which embellish and decorate his already attractive skin. Some are of a decorative nature, with a pattern that weaves in and out of itself to create an intrictate web of tribal-esque patterns, while others conceal a more conventional, applicable nature, namely Fūinjutsu seals.
Personality
Introverted, enigmatic, and passive; all traits of the third king of Israel. Solomon was a self-assured and laid-back king, one who was loved and respected by the masses as wise and gentle. He has a deep love for humanity, yet sees himself as an outsider to their lives. From birth he was ordained to be king, something that was not in accordance with his own will. Because of this, his early psyche was dispassionate. He was only able to understand humans from an outsider looking in perspective, leading him to be unable to truly sympathize with their joys and sorrows. His half human and half Ōtsutsuki heritage also further compounds his outsider nature toward humanity.
It isn’t until he abdicates from the throne of Israel and travels the world does he finally allow himself to understand human nature to its fullest extent. Having forsaken his ordained position as king he can finally live by his own design, free to pursue the wisdom that he desires. Solomon frequently speaks of wishful thinking, looking toward the future with eyes full of hope for humanity. Likewise, he has a deep reverence for the past. With strangers he is very friendly, but his acceptance of human suffering leads him to a natural aversion to close relationships; he fears losing those he builds close ties with and would much rather limit himself to these superficial relationships. He prefers to be an observer in difficult situations, rather than directly confront the problem.
Solomon’s most important trait is that he refuses to interfere with the natural order, and does not seek to prolong finality. He believes that it is not his place to end human suffering as it is condescending, believing himself to not be superior to any other humans and having no special right to take control of human destiny. In essence, he is convinced that the ideal philosophy is to trust humanity with its future and growth; he would rather the suffering humans face have meaning, rather than erase the suffering altogether. This philosophy frequently brings him into conflict with Goetia, who believes that Solomon should use his magnificent powers to correct the flaws in humanity.
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Village Information
Land of Birth: Israel (Tobusekai)
Warring States Clan: N/A
Rank & Chakra Information
Rank: Sage of Elysium
Health & Chakra: 200 & 4750
Skills & Elements
Fire Release...........................................................Taijutsu
Earth Release........................................................Ninjutsu
Wind Release........................................................Kenjutsu
Water Release.......................................................Genjutsu
Lightning Release................................................Fūinjutsu
Force Release........................................................Byakugan
Alcohol Release....................................................Tenseigan
Mawscape Release...............................................Dead Bone Pulse
Mystic Fire Release..............................................Medical Ninjutsu
Yin-Yang Release
Fighting Styles
Goetic Theurgy
Dance of the Bearded Sage
Namikazeron
Spirits of Balance
Shūkyō Yonkō
Summoning Contracts
Wyverns
Scarabs
Increased Speed Specialist (Primary)
Despite its appearance, Solomon’s body is remarkably well trained and honed. From a young age the King of Magic was not only trained in the arcane, but also in the body arts. This training typically took place with his brothers Amnon and Absalom; after long and intense studying periods with King David, the two would often take Solomon to play various sports. The result of this activity over a long period of Solomon’s life has increased his base speed by one level.
Through a unique mastery over Force Release, as well as his own powerful presence, Solomon is able to exert a force that passively slows his opponents base speed down. Enemies within mid-range of the Mage King are slowed by two levels of their base speed, while those within short-range of Solomon are slowed by a staggering four levels. This, when combined with his own physical prowess as well as Shikotsumyaku, makes him a frightening combatant in close quarters.
When Solomon received revelation and awakened his Tenseigan, he also came to master Yin-Yang Release to its highest level. Having studied a considerable amount on the primordial energies, Solomon was well accustomed to their nature when he came to possess the power to harness and manipulate them at will. Through his mastery Solomon is afforded his Yin-Yang specialization that allows him to possess the masteries of both Yin and Yang Release. Solomon is capable of awareness of all Illusory techniques and spiritual entities around him. His mastery over Yin also affords him heightened Illusory capabilities through passive use of the Illusion Release technique, as well as augmented Genjutsu skill. Through his Yang Mastery Solomon’s naturally potent chakra reserves are further empowered. He also gains a naturally strengthened durability, reducing up to thirty damage in physical clashes. He also does not succumb to the recoil damage from Forbidden ranked techniques. Above all, his Yin-Yang Release mastery allows the Mage King to become passively aware of chakra and its nature, as well as the ability to identify different chakra signatures with remarkable precision.
As a result of Merlin’s meddling, Solomon came to master the style known as Onryodo, or Spirits of Balance. The style unifies Yin-Yang Release with Fūinjutsu, allowing him to invoke spirits and use them in the Sealing Arts. It is a potent style that resonates well with Solomon’s own preference toward spirituality and the nature of beings outside of the human experience spectrum. At the core of the style the style allows Solomon to seal objects or people into a separate dimension of his conscience without the need for traditional scrolls. As a result of his training in Onryodo Solomon’s Fūinjutsu are augmented by an additional rank in strength, excluding Forbidden ranked techniques. He also becomes keenly aware of Illusory and Yamanaka techniques that influence his person, with an array of mental defenses erected, like the one that had captured Merlin, in order to protect his mind.
Majestic Presence (Secondary & Apex)
Through a unique mastery over Force Release, as well as his own powerful presence, Solomon is able to exert a force that passively slows his opponents base speed down. Enemies within mid-range of the Mage King are slowed by two levels of their base speed, while those within short-range of Solomon are slowed by a staggering four levels. This, when combined with his own physical prowess as well as Shikotsumyaku, makes him a frightening combatant in close quarters.
Yin-Yang Release Mastery (Extra)
When Solomon received revelation and awakened his Tenseigan, he also came to master Yin-Yang Release to its highest level. Having studied a considerable amount on the primordial energies, Solomon was well accustomed to their nature when he came to possess the power to harness and manipulate them at will. Through his mastery Solomon is afforded his Yin-Yang specialization that allows him to possess the masteries of both Yin and Yang Release. Solomon is capable of awareness of all Illusory techniques and spiritual entities around him. His mastery over Yin also affords him heightened Illusory capabilities through passive use of the Illusion Release technique, as well as augmented Genjutsu skill. Through his Yang Mastery Solomon’s naturally potent chakra reserves are further empowered. He also gains a naturally strengthened durability, reducing up to thirty damage in physical clashes. He also does not succumb to the recoil damage from Forbidden ranked techniques. Above all, his Yin-Yang Release mastery allows the Mage King to become passively aware of chakra and its nature, as well as the ability to identify different chakra signatures with remarkable precision.
Spirits of Balance Specialty (CFS)
As a result of Merlin’s meddling, Solomon came to master the style known as Onryodo, or Spirits of Balance. The style unifies Yin-Yang Release with Fūinjutsu, allowing him to invoke spirits and use them in the Sealing Arts. It is a potent style that resonates well with Solomon’s own preference toward spirituality and the nature of beings outside of the human experience spectrum. At the core of the style the style allows Solomon to seal objects or people into a separate dimension of his conscience without the need for traditional scrolls. As a result of his training in Onryodo Solomon’s Fūinjutsu are augmented by an additional rank in strength, excluding Forbidden ranked techniques. He also becomes keenly aware of Illusory and Yamanaka techniques that influence his person, with an array of mental defenses erected, like the one that had captured Merlin, in order to protect his mind.
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Background Information
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“The cycle of life and death, one gives meaning to the other. For without death, there can be no meaning in one’s life. It is ironic, the life of an ordinary human has more meaning than my own. I, who am destined to linger in the world for eternity.”
An enigmatic and reticent man, Solomon was the third king of the ancient civilization Israel, located in the lost lands of Tobusekai; it was a kingdom that preceded even the ancient Freehold. Solomon’s early years predates the advent of chakra in the world. He was a legendary king, elevated to even mythical status in some historical accounts. Respected for his benevolent and prosperous rule, while revered for his mastery over magecraft, he left behind numerous anecdotes. According to legend, during his reign Solomon dreamt of a revelation; God told him, “You are qualified. Speak your wishes. I shall grant them.” Instead of asking for wealth or power, Solomon sought wisdom. When he woke from his dream, he found ten golden rings on his hands. After the revelation he abdicated from the Throne of Israel, passing the crown to his successor and leaving to travel the world to achieve higher wisdom.
Just before leaving Israel he became best known for employing seventy-two Demon Gods as his familiars to build Solomon’s Temple. The seventy-two familiars amalgamate into the Demon God King Goetia. He would later record the ability to summon, create, and control demons in his Key of Solomon, or the Lemegeton. Created with a love of humanity Goetia was tasked with the Human Order Correction Ritual, a directive that would have Goetia look after humanity and protect them in times of crisis as Solomon’s agent. Much to Goetia’s disdain, Solomon refuses to use his powers to perform miracles for the benefit of humanity, believing that these miracles will lead humanity to corruption, or to fear him, and that it is not his place to end human struggle and strife.
The tale of Solomon, the king, is one of higher destiny; that from his very birth he was ordained to be king. His freedom stripped from him before he could even say the word ‘freedom’ itself, he was made to work as the vessel of the will of his people, his family, and the divine. Only after shedding his role as king could Solomon live among men, and attain what all humans desire: their freedom to choose. It is for that reason Solomon forsook his Throne of Israel in Jerusalem and took the name Roman, or Romani, in his travels for centuries thereafter. Rather than live as king, he would learn to live as a human from scratch, although he would always still somewhat feel outside of the human experience – his eternal lifespan having allowed him to transcend death itself. It is said he now wanders the world, collecting wisdom and sharing in human experience with his fellow man.
Just before leaving Israel he became best known for employing seventy-two Demon Gods as his familiars to build Solomon’s Temple. The seventy-two familiars amalgamate into the Demon God King Goetia. He would later record the ability to summon, create, and control demons in his Key of Solomon, or the Lemegeton. Created with a love of humanity Goetia was tasked with the Human Order Correction Ritual, a directive that would have Goetia look after humanity and protect them in times of crisis as Solomon’s agent. Much to Goetia’s disdain, Solomon refuses to use his powers to perform miracles for the benefit of humanity, believing that these miracles will lead humanity to corruption, or to fear him, and that it is not his place to end human struggle and strife.
The tale of Solomon, the king, is one of higher destiny; that from his very birth he was ordained to be king. His freedom stripped from him before he could even say the word ‘freedom’ itself, he was made to work as the vessel of the will of his people, his family, and the divine. Only after shedding his role as king could Solomon live among men, and attain what all humans desire: their freedom to choose. It is for that reason Solomon forsook his Throne of Israel in Jerusalem and took the name Roman, or Romani, in his travels for centuries thereafter. Rather than live as king, he would learn to live as a human from scratch, although he would always still somewhat feel outside of the human experience – his eternal lifespan having allowed him to transcend death itself. It is said he now wanders the world, collecting wisdom and sharing in human experience with his fellow man.
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“...it is brilliant, a journey of a single instant like the blinking of a star. This is a story of love and hope.”
Solomon is descended from a line of Ōtsutsuki that have ruled over the Kingdom of Israel in Tobusekai; he is the son of King David, the second king, and his wife Queen Bathsheba. Solomon was born nine years prior to the Sage of the Six Paths, Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, spread his chakra throughout the world at large. He was born with unnaturally powerful chakra, even by Ōtsutsuki bloodline standards. His birth marked an auspicious day for Jerusalem; the kingdom celebrated his birth for weeks after. Travelers and sages from around the world visited to bring gifts to the new born heir to the throne.
Solomon, however, was not the firstborn son of King David. David had fathered a number of children prior to Solomon’s birth. The firstborn, Amnon, was the original heir to the Throne of Israel when Solomon was born. He was followed by Absalom and Adonijah, twins that were born to David and Haggith, David’s second wife. But on the auspicious day of Solomon’s birth, as a promise to his mother, David decided that Solomon would be king. Many had predicted that such an action would lead to dramatic political upheaval among David’s other sons; yet Amnon remained loyal to his father, respecting his wishes. He stepped aside to pave the way for the young Prince Solomon to one day claim the Throne of Israel.
Many gifts brought to the newborn Prince Solomon were gold, symbolic for his soon-to-be kingship on earth. Others were varieties of incense, a symbol of divinity within the prince. But one such gift stood out among the others: a sword that would come to be known as the Sword of King Solomon. The blade presented was, at the time, not particularly unique. Its cross guard and pommel were forged from simple steel, and at the bottom the Star of David, an icon of King David’s reign, was engraved into it. An intricate pattern is woven into the cross guard with lions on either side of it. But aside from these artistic impressions, there was little about the sword that carried much significance. Yet it was the gift that Prince Solomon seemed to admire the most, and so it was mounted in his chambers in the Palace of Jerusalem that night.
The blade was presented to an infant Solomon and his parents by Adonijah. The thirdborn twin son, only fourteen at the time, had no prospects to gain political power himself. And so, he knelt before Solomon in his crib, promising that he would remain loyal to the prince through turbulence and strife, to shield him from those who would seek to cause harm, and to promote his interests once he sat upon the Throne of Israel.
From the moment of his birth Solomon was ordained to be king. As soon as his son could speak his first words, David would begin to spend countless hours of the day from an early age instilling what it meant to be king. By the age of two Solomon was learning the practices of good governance and stewardship. The lessons then were simple, a necessity because Solomon had been so young. But they were essential nonetheless. David taught his son compassion, a necessary quality to show his people in times of difficulty, like famine or disease. Solomon was taught to share with other boys his age, and to challenge himself to accept the hardships that were accompanied by loving others, but above all loving himself – a trait that Solomon would, later in life, frequently fail to comprehend. As he grew and matured Solomon’s lessons grew in complexity as well. He learned about the intricacies of managing the state, monitoring debt and avoiding driving the kingdom to become a debtor state, to seek alliances and cooperation instead of war, and to seek true friendships above all else. The third lesson would come to greatly impact Solomon’s later life; he became a man that differentiated greatly between acquaintances and companions. Around those he saw as the former, he was reserved and tempered. Such behavior earned Solomon the moniker “The Silent King” in the early years of his reign. To those he saw as his companion, of which there were few, he treated them as equals, offered them safety and shelter whenever needed, and support for their states. Solomon also learned that the people he ruled were an extension of himself, as if they were family, and that he must nurture them as much as he could but not to the point where they would become dependent on him.
As a child Solomon was not shielded from the commoners of Jerusalem, and Israel as a whole. When not studying with his father, he would go with his mother, Bathsheba, into the city to surround themselves with the common people. He would learn their names, their stories, see their suffering, and the two would do their best to alleviate. But never once did Solomon, or any of his family, use their powers to better the people of Israel. King David had insisted on a philosophy of benign neglect; he opted for wise and reserved choices, rather than using their powers to end human suffering. And so, he went on with his family to learn what it meant to be king and continue good works, providing bread to the commoners and helping with commonplace human skills. By the age of seven he was helping priests in Jerusalem’s temple to heal the wounded and sick with medicine, not chakra. In no time he had become beloved by the people; his mere presence spread smiles across their downtrodden faces in times of crisis, and invoked cheers in times of prosperity.
But this isn’t to say that Solomon never came to harness his own innate powers. He was a very gifted boy, with an innate sense of his own bloodline, and the curiosity to tap into it. David had frequently cautioned his son against growing too comfortable with his inherently powerful Ōtsutsuki bloodline. He believed that such power was too much for humanity to handle and that, should he ever use them too much, would lead to corruption. Despite this, King David was wise enough to recognize that his son would, inevitably, come to use his magnificent gifts. And so, on Solomon’s fifth birthday King David allowed his son to study the arcane arts. King David’s regime was not strenuous, however. It was intended to only give his son a very rudimentary understanding of the nature of his powers. Fortunately, Solomon had no need to train or study; the gifts he was born with brought themselves to maturity; not because he was a genius, or because he had the perseverance to awaken them, but simply because the powers had brought themselves to light. By the age of six Solomon came to master all five nature transformations, and awaken his clan’s bloodline – the Byakugan. It was a remarkable level of mastery that even King David was impressed by. Solomon’s wise father recognized that his son still adhered to his logic; that carelessly using these powers could only lead to negative consequences, driving humanity down a much darker path.
Solomon’s seventh year marked a difficult time for the Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was that year that Absalom, King David’s third son and twin to Adonijah, led a rebellion in the kingdom’s northern provinces. The rebellion was preceded by growing unrest among local nobles in the northern provinces; dissent had begun to spread because the nobility had grown disgruntled with the favorable treatment that David and the royal family had given to the peasants. Yet, at the time, no one had anticipated their dissent to grow into a full-blown civil war. David sent Absalom to visit the borders of the kingdom on a diplomatic peace mission. Yet when he arrived in Hebron the prince instead assembled an army nearly 7,500 men strong. It consisted of the same disgruntled nobles that had been angered by David’s policies; the diplomatic mission had been a failure. To this day scholars on Israeli history do not fully understand the motivations behind Absalom’s rebellion against David and his family, capitalized through the dissent that had quickly spread in the north. Prior to the mission Absalom seemed to have maintained good ties with the family, and his descent from grace had been very sudden. And so, with their vast wealth as well as the backing and command of Prince Absalom, these nobles assembled an army of mercenaries and peasants under their command. It was an army that could nearly match the military might of Israel itself.
The Kingdom of Israel’s military under David was not remarkable, and some would even say nonexistent. In fact, during times of peace David preferred to disarm outright. The aging king hadn’t anticipated Absalom’s sudden betrayal, as well as the swift coalescing of rebellious noblemen. David and his generals hastily assembled an army of peasants that numbered only around 9,000 men; and while they outnumbered Absalom’s mercenary army, they certainly lacked the training and discipline necessary to fight against a professionally trained military. Within weeks many of the northern cities had fallen, or defected in the face of imminent siege. It wasn’t long before Absalom established a fully functional proto-kingdom capable of rivaling the legitimacy of Israel itself. Crisis set in at Jerusalem, fearing that Absalom’s claim to the throne would lead neighboring rivals to align with the thirdborn prince and support him.
Amnon, David’s eldest son and original heir to the throne before Solomon had been born, remained steadfastly loyal to his father alongside Adonijah. Rumors had spread for some time that Amnon had considered assembling his own army and staking a claim for himself, sending the entire House of David into a legitimacy crisis. The two Ōtsutsuki brothers agreed that, in order to protect their father’s throne and Solomon’s birthright, they would need to march forth. Amnon had trained diligently as a child to be a soldier, believing that in order to successfully manage a state one must wield the sword themselves. It was a skill that would prove very important in the coming battles. And so Amnon and Adonijah agreed that he would lead the army to battle against Absalom, while Adonijah would remain in Jerusalem to protect the Throne of Israel and its heir. With their plans set in motion Amnon led the inexperienced peasant army against Absalom’s proto-state. All the meanwhile Solomon, while not directly involved in the battle planning, was acutely aware of the crisis at hand. A boy of seven, he was noted by Queen Bathsheba’s handmaidens to have an incredibly prescient mind for politics; he understood that the northern provinces under Absalom’s control could no longer be relied upon. And as long as Absalom controlled those provinces Israel would remain cut off from the ocean, and subsequently from global trade. He recognized that this placed strain on his father and brothers, they only had so much time before their precious resources would run out. But Solomon was vexed by the strange reality of the rebellion in the first place; his brother Absalom, prior to rebellion, had shown no signs of anger or jealously. And so, it puzzled the young prince as to why he would rebel so suddenly.
One month after Amnon’s forces departed from Jerusalem, word returned that a decisive battle between the two armies had taken place outside of Hebron. It is said that the courier who delivered the letter to King David in his throne room did so with tears streaming down his eyes; the Old King could only sit at the edge of his throne, anxiety creeping down his spine, as he watched the courier slowly and dreadfully unseal the scroll. The report contained scarce details of the battle itself; but it is said that Amnon fought valiantly. Despite having 2,000 of his own men abandon him before battle, a symptom of an untrained and undisciplined military force, they managed to slay nearly one third of Absalom’s force. Most of the fighting had been done by Amnon himself, who is said to have killed hundreds of mercenaries singlehandedly. The courier’s voice stuttered before finishing the report, however, with tears streaming down both cheeks. He choked up and knelt before David, stating that Amnon was slain by Absalom personally, and that Absalom had done so with a type of ‘dark magic.’
Needless to say, David was disturbed and saddened by the news. But the Old King kept his composure against all odds. With Adonijah at his side he instructed his son to prepare the city’s defenses with what they could. He also told him to spread word that his other son, Absalom, had used forbidden magics to commit fratricide. Solomon immediately knew his father’s intent, despite his young age; the Old King sought to incite anger and hatred within the hearts of his loyal citizens in order to raise a second army that would fight to the end against the traitorous son. And so, within days the defenses of Jerusalem had been raised; over sixty percent of the population in the city had taken up arms and stationed themselves along the walls, fully prepared for the siege that would inevitably come. Adonijah was placed in charge with the protection of Prince Solomon, while David would command the city.
It is said that on the day Absalom arrived before the city walls with the remainder of his mercenary army, the Old King immediately recognized Absalom’s blood red eyes and grey skin – a change that horrified him. He was unsure what could have caused such a change in his son, but knew that some powers outside the norm was driving him to such horrid acts. The King made no attempt to parlay with his son, and instead instructed the defenders on the wall to lose their arrows upon the mercenary army. He knew that his son was lost to him, in mind and body. The siege itself lasted for nearly a week until Absalom himself stepped forth to destroy a considerable portion of Jerusalem’s outer wall. The defenders of that section were temporarily routed into the inner walls that surrounded the palace itself, allowing Absalom’s mercenaries to stream through it largely unabated. On the other sections of the wall the defenders continued to fight valiantly, preventing any of the hired blades to scale the walls and create additional weaknesses.
The second phase of the battle then took to the streets of Jerusalem. From house to house buildings burned; mothers took up arms against the invaders, using kitchen knives to defend their homes. The old, infirm, and children had all been taken to the safety of the inner walls before the battle had begun, leaving the families to protect their homes without fear of their loved ones being placed in immediate danger. But the true danger was not the soldiers fighting on the streets, it was the powers that drove Absalom. In the dead of night, while the battle still raged outside the walls of the palace, the forsaken son managed to breach the walls of Jerusalem in silence. It isn’t entirely clear how Absalom circumvented the defensive measures that King David had put in place around the palace to protect the young prince Solomon, but the few witnesses who watched him enter the palace speak of a black aura that enveloped the former son of David. It was as if he appeared in a cloud of black smoke, rather than traverse the dangerous defenses that protected the inner sanctuary.
When Absalom appeared in Solomon’s bedchambers the prince did not flee, or cry for his life. Instead the prince looked upon him with sorrow, pitying his lost elder brother as his mind was clearly forfeit to the powers that drove it. And while, at the time, Solomon could not hope to match Absalom’s superior fighting capability he knew that he was safe above all else. Prior to the battle beginning Solomon privately planned with Adonijah; the seven-year-old prince, for the first time, told his older brother that his twin would come in the night and bypass all of his father’s defenses. Adonijah was, reasonably so, skeptical of his brother’s claims. How could this young prince, so unfamiliar with the art of war and strategy, have such intimate knowledge of Absalom’s plans. But nonetheless Adonijah adhered to the young prince’s message, despite Solomon not having any authority to command him to do so. Unknown to the entire family at the time, it was the first instance of Solomon’s awakened Clairvoyance.
And so, when Absalom stood before Solomon at bedside, Adonijah appeared from behind him and emerged from the shadows. The third son of David was empowered by his trademark Ōtsutsuki bloodline, the Byakugan, and armed with nothing more than a traditional steel longsword and shield. But Absalom, strangely enough, was armed with nothing but his bare hands. It seemed that he had intended to strangle Solomon to death, but as Adonijah interceded he turned toward his twin brother. What transpired between the three is largely left to speculation; the boy that would grow into the Mage King hardly speaks of the event, even to those that are his close confidants. But what is known is that Absalom, overtaken by dark magics that were unknown to the world at large, launched himself at Adonijah in a maddened frenzy fueled by nothing other than bloodlust, ambition, and hatred. The battle that ensued between the two was brief, but bloody. Adonijah, armed with sword and shield, warded off Absalom’s relentless offense. Despite only using his hands, the first twin’s attacks were remarkably powerful and displayed an inhuman resilience, no doubt derived from the powers that fueled his body. Each time Adonijah would block his attack and follow with a strike from his blade Absalom would make no effort to evade. Each time the blade sliced through his darkened skin red blood would spurt out, as any human would. All the meanwhile Solomon hid near his bed, waiting for an opportunity to assist. It wouldn’t be long before his chance presented itself; Absalom’s offense had forced Adonijah into a corner with nothing but his shield to protect himself with. Solomon, by instinct, activated his own bloodline and reached for the ornate sword that had been gifted to him on the day of his birth. At the time it was not known as the Sword of King Solomon, or the Judgement; but with sword in hand Solomon struck at Absalom’s ankles, slicing the tendons from under him.
For the first time blood dirtied Solomon’s hands as he wounded his elder brother. All Solomon could manage was a surprised expression across his face, not having anticipated the mess it would cause as Absalom fell to the ground. Reacting to the changing tides of battle, Adonijah lurched forward from his corner and struck at Absalom driving his own blade through his twin’s heart, tears streaming down his face. In that moment Absalom, gravely wounded, rest his hand on his twin brother’s blade. The words exchanged are not known to this day, kept a hidden secret between Solomon and Adonijah. What is known is that Absalom died that night, and within hours his mercenary army was routed to Ephraim’s Wood, a glade a short distance from the outskirts of Jerusalem. The battle was won, and Jerusalem did not fall. With the mercenary army forces routed David and Adonijah pursued close behind, seeking to end the remnants of Absalom’s insurgent forces. When they finally reached Ephraim’s Wood, what little remained of the mercenaries either abandoned their posts or fought to the death. The nobles that had rebelled in support of Absalom were, for the most part, nowhere to be found; they had all fled to the West.
Unfortunately, David had no time to pursue, or to initiate an extensive inquisition to find the nobles that had supported Absalom’s cause. Instead he sought to mend the realm, to bring the Northern provinces back into the fold, and reestablish legitimacy in the eyes of rivalling kingdoms throughout Tobusekai. Historians that had recorded the battles in Absalom’s brief civil war note that it is entirely unclear what drove Absalom, a typically loyal son, to such extremes so quickly. Governors that controlled the Northern Israeli provinces had a number of interactions with Absalom; many were not truly loyal to the fallen twin prince, but had acquiesced for the benefit of their people. Those that quickly returned to the fold and sought David’s protection after the war reported that Absalom had behaved much like a schizophrenic; at times those close to him spoke of Absalom talking of whispers “from the sea.” He would oftentimes stare off into the distance, looking toward the Hokubu Ocean as if it provided him some level of solace.
The next year of Solomon’s life was spent travelling the kingdom with his father, while Adonijah worked on rebuilding the capital. The civil war was brief, lasting just under six months, the loss it inflicted upon the family of King David was immense; in such a short timespan the Old King of Israel had lost his firstborn son Amnon and Absalom. It is said by many that the stress and tragedy of the war caused David to age considerably; the man that, despite his age, was always energetic and compassionate began to decline into lethargy and bitterness. The transformation in David’s personality, while warranted, did impact his relationship with his remaining sons. The Old King would begin slowly withdrawing from public life, something that would become far more noticeable once the Northern provinces were once again brought back into the realm.
Solomon celebrated his eighth birthday in Hebron, the final destination on their royal progress. Hebron was the heart of Absalom’s rebellion; it was there that Absalom is said to have had divine inspiration to overthrow David and kill his younger brother. But David believed this ‘divine inspiration’ to be nothing more than the dark whispers that had seduced his son to revolt. Nonetheless, David and the young prince Solomon arrived in Hebron and were welcomed to a warm procession. It was vital that David secure the port city for Israel; their resources had run dangerously low toward the end of the war. Without assistance from Last Bastion, one of the few cities that still maintained their support for King David, Jerusalem would have likely run out of food in the middle of Absalom’s siege. Thus, David’s task was, at its heart, a critical diplomatic endeavor. But his bitterness at the tragedy that had befallen his family left him somewhat blinded to the realities at hand; and so, the eight-year-old Solomon was partially responsible for keeping his father in check and focused on the task at hand. The young prince provided a softer aspect to David, the tragic father that had lost two sons; he was cute to many, adored by others, and his presence brought happiness to their faces. The Old King and his son spent, in all, one week in Hebron; by the end of their visit they had brought the last rebel city back into the Kingdom of Israel, securing the throne once again.
The next two years of Solomon’s life were spent with Adonijah. David, after returning from their royal progress, had begun to increasingly withdraw from public life. David’s reign, up until now, had been recognized by his willingness to sit before his people and address their complaints. But after the civil war the Old King often retreated to the inner palace to meditate or read ancient scriptures. In his stead Adonijah and Solomon, along with Queen Bathsheba, would sit upon the Throne of Israel and speak with the commoners. Alongside Solomon’s newly discovered administrative duties, he continued to advance his arcane studies. On his ninth birthday his mother gifted Solomon an ancient text titled The Energies Which Govern; it was a book that revealed, to a limited extent, the nature of Yin and Yang and their powers to govern reality. Solomon was captivated by these inherent forces that existed within all life. But perhaps what was more interesting was that the text seemed to allude to the existence of the primordial life that came before civilization. The book made the argument that life originated from the sea, shaped by progenitors that reigned supreme before humanity’s advent. It was equally fascinating as it was puzzling to the young prince who, at the time, was far from reaching his true potential.
In the next year, four months after Solomon’s tenth birthday, King David and the young prince were present when their distant relative, Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, introduced Ninshu to the world. The ceremony took place in the far East of Tobusekai, in a place that would become known as Hagoromo’s Last Hearth. There the Ōtsutsuki clan gathered as a group of humans, who became known as Hagoromo’s Chosen, had their spiritual energies connected with each other to; what followed was a magnificent ceremony of human bonding. Without even communicating those who became connected could sense the very lives and emotions of those around them. This moment in history was a critical moment that crystallized the growing schism between the Old King and Solomon’s philosophies, appearing as a reaction to the Sage’s decision. David appeared skeptical, likely a result of the cynicism he had developed after the civil war, believing that the introduction of such power would inevitably lead to greater wars and conflict. Solomon’s reaction was quite different, and one of the few moments that Solomon would express true free thought until long after his reign in Jerusalem had ended. To the young prince, whether humans destroyed their own civilizations or grew themselves into something better with chakra didn’t matter. He believed that humans should have the freedom to make that choice with their new-found gift, regardless of the consequences it might bring.
After the ceremony Solomon’s relationship with his father took a turn for the worse. The Old King’s bitterness had finally reached a critical point where it was unbearable to be around him. His father, who was originally very involved in Solomon’s education and upbringing, was now absent more often than not. He no longer accepted a ‘fatherly’ role in his son and heir’s life, delegating that role to be shared between Bathsheba and Adonijah. David no longer cared for his son’s feelings or thoughts, and only instructed him to ‘look forward’ toward the future and his kingship. Perhaps the assassination attempt on Solomon’s life had caused David to become more cautious toward his son, forcing him to focus only on the young prince’s future prospects as king.
Solomon, however, was not the firstborn son of King David. David had fathered a number of children prior to Solomon’s birth. The firstborn, Amnon, was the original heir to the Throne of Israel when Solomon was born. He was followed by Absalom and Adonijah, twins that were born to David and Haggith, David’s second wife. But on the auspicious day of Solomon’s birth, as a promise to his mother, David decided that Solomon would be king. Many had predicted that such an action would lead to dramatic political upheaval among David’s other sons; yet Amnon remained loyal to his father, respecting his wishes. He stepped aside to pave the way for the young Prince Solomon to one day claim the Throne of Israel.
Many gifts brought to the newborn Prince Solomon were gold, symbolic for his soon-to-be kingship on earth. Others were varieties of incense, a symbol of divinity within the prince. But one such gift stood out among the others: a sword that would come to be known as the Sword of King Solomon. The blade presented was, at the time, not particularly unique. Its cross guard and pommel were forged from simple steel, and at the bottom the Star of David, an icon of King David’s reign, was engraved into it. An intricate pattern is woven into the cross guard with lions on either side of it. But aside from these artistic impressions, there was little about the sword that carried much significance. Yet it was the gift that Prince Solomon seemed to admire the most, and so it was mounted in his chambers in the Palace of Jerusalem that night.
The blade was presented to an infant Solomon and his parents by Adonijah. The thirdborn twin son, only fourteen at the time, had no prospects to gain political power himself. And so, he knelt before Solomon in his crib, promising that he would remain loyal to the prince through turbulence and strife, to shield him from those who would seek to cause harm, and to promote his interests once he sat upon the Throne of Israel.
From the moment of his birth Solomon was ordained to be king. As soon as his son could speak his first words, David would begin to spend countless hours of the day from an early age instilling what it meant to be king. By the age of two Solomon was learning the practices of good governance and stewardship. The lessons then were simple, a necessity because Solomon had been so young. But they were essential nonetheless. David taught his son compassion, a necessary quality to show his people in times of difficulty, like famine or disease. Solomon was taught to share with other boys his age, and to challenge himself to accept the hardships that were accompanied by loving others, but above all loving himself – a trait that Solomon would, later in life, frequently fail to comprehend. As he grew and matured Solomon’s lessons grew in complexity as well. He learned about the intricacies of managing the state, monitoring debt and avoiding driving the kingdom to become a debtor state, to seek alliances and cooperation instead of war, and to seek true friendships above all else. The third lesson would come to greatly impact Solomon’s later life; he became a man that differentiated greatly between acquaintances and companions. Around those he saw as the former, he was reserved and tempered. Such behavior earned Solomon the moniker “The Silent King” in the early years of his reign. To those he saw as his companion, of which there were few, he treated them as equals, offered them safety and shelter whenever needed, and support for their states. Solomon also learned that the people he ruled were an extension of himself, as if they were family, and that he must nurture them as much as he could but not to the point where they would become dependent on him.
As a child Solomon was not shielded from the commoners of Jerusalem, and Israel as a whole. When not studying with his father, he would go with his mother, Bathsheba, into the city to surround themselves with the common people. He would learn their names, their stories, see their suffering, and the two would do their best to alleviate. But never once did Solomon, or any of his family, use their powers to better the people of Israel. King David had insisted on a philosophy of benign neglect; he opted for wise and reserved choices, rather than using their powers to end human suffering. And so, he went on with his family to learn what it meant to be king and continue good works, providing bread to the commoners and helping with commonplace human skills. By the age of seven he was helping priests in Jerusalem’s temple to heal the wounded and sick with medicine, not chakra. In no time he had become beloved by the people; his mere presence spread smiles across their downtrodden faces in times of crisis, and invoked cheers in times of prosperity.
But this isn’t to say that Solomon never came to harness his own innate powers. He was a very gifted boy, with an innate sense of his own bloodline, and the curiosity to tap into it. David had frequently cautioned his son against growing too comfortable with his inherently powerful Ōtsutsuki bloodline. He believed that such power was too much for humanity to handle and that, should he ever use them too much, would lead to corruption. Despite this, King David was wise enough to recognize that his son would, inevitably, come to use his magnificent gifts. And so, on Solomon’s fifth birthday King David allowed his son to study the arcane arts. King David’s regime was not strenuous, however. It was intended to only give his son a very rudimentary understanding of the nature of his powers. Fortunately, Solomon had no need to train or study; the gifts he was born with brought themselves to maturity; not because he was a genius, or because he had the perseverance to awaken them, but simply because the powers had brought themselves to light. By the age of six Solomon came to master all five nature transformations, and awaken his clan’s bloodline – the Byakugan. It was a remarkable level of mastery that even King David was impressed by. Solomon’s wise father recognized that his son still adhered to his logic; that carelessly using these powers could only lead to negative consequences, driving humanity down a much darker path.
Solomon’s seventh year marked a difficult time for the Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was that year that Absalom, King David’s third son and twin to Adonijah, led a rebellion in the kingdom’s northern provinces. The rebellion was preceded by growing unrest among local nobles in the northern provinces; dissent had begun to spread because the nobility had grown disgruntled with the favorable treatment that David and the royal family had given to the peasants. Yet, at the time, no one had anticipated their dissent to grow into a full-blown civil war. David sent Absalom to visit the borders of the kingdom on a diplomatic peace mission. Yet when he arrived in Hebron the prince instead assembled an army nearly 7,500 men strong. It consisted of the same disgruntled nobles that had been angered by David’s policies; the diplomatic mission had been a failure. To this day scholars on Israeli history do not fully understand the motivations behind Absalom’s rebellion against David and his family, capitalized through the dissent that had quickly spread in the north. Prior to the mission Absalom seemed to have maintained good ties with the family, and his descent from grace had been very sudden. And so, with their vast wealth as well as the backing and command of Prince Absalom, these nobles assembled an army of mercenaries and peasants under their command. It was an army that could nearly match the military might of Israel itself.
The Kingdom of Israel’s military under David was not remarkable, and some would even say nonexistent. In fact, during times of peace David preferred to disarm outright. The aging king hadn’t anticipated Absalom’s sudden betrayal, as well as the swift coalescing of rebellious noblemen. David and his generals hastily assembled an army of peasants that numbered only around 9,000 men; and while they outnumbered Absalom’s mercenary army, they certainly lacked the training and discipline necessary to fight against a professionally trained military. Within weeks many of the northern cities had fallen, or defected in the face of imminent siege. It wasn’t long before Absalom established a fully functional proto-kingdom capable of rivaling the legitimacy of Israel itself. Crisis set in at Jerusalem, fearing that Absalom’s claim to the throne would lead neighboring rivals to align with the thirdborn prince and support him.
Amnon, David’s eldest son and original heir to the throne before Solomon had been born, remained steadfastly loyal to his father alongside Adonijah. Rumors had spread for some time that Amnon had considered assembling his own army and staking a claim for himself, sending the entire House of David into a legitimacy crisis. The two Ōtsutsuki brothers agreed that, in order to protect their father’s throne and Solomon’s birthright, they would need to march forth. Amnon had trained diligently as a child to be a soldier, believing that in order to successfully manage a state one must wield the sword themselves. It was a skill that would prove very important in the coming battles. And so Amnon and Adonijah agreed that he would lead the army to battle against Absalom, while Adonijah would remain in Jerusalem to protect the Throne of Israel and its heir. With their plans set in motion Amnon led the inexperienced peasant army against Absalom’s proto-state. All the meanwhile Solomon, while not directly involved in the battle planning, was acutely aware of the crisis at hand. A boy of seven, he was noted by Queen Bathsheba’s handmaidens to have an incredibly prescient mind for politics; he understood that the northern provinces under Absalom’s control could no longer be relied upon. And as long as Absalom controlled those provinces Israel would remain cut off from the ocean, and subsequently from global trade. He recognized that this placed strain on his father and brothers, they only had so much time before their precious resources would run out. But Solomon was vexed by the strange reality of the rebellion in the first place; his brother Absalom, prior to rebellion, had shown no signs of anger or jealously. And so, it puzzled the young prince as to why he would rebel so suddenly.
One month after Amnon’s forces departed from Jerusalem, word returned that a decisive battle between the two armies had taken place outside of Hebron. It is said that the courier who delivered the letter to King David in his throne room did so with tears streaming down his eyes; the Old King could only sit at the edge of his throne, anxiety creeping down his spine, as he watched the courier slowly and dreadfully unseal the scroll. The report contained scarce details of the battle itself; but it is said that Amnon fought valiantly. Despite having 2,000 of his own men abandon him before battle, a symptom of an untrained and undisciplined military force, they managed to slay nearly one third of Absalom’s force. Most of the fighting had been done by Amnon himself, who is said to have killed hundreds of mercenaries singlehandedly. The courier’s voice stuttered before finishing the report, however, with tears streaming down both cheeks. He choked up and knelt before David, stating that Amnon was slain by Absalom personally, and that Absalom had done so with a type of ‘dark magic.’
Needless to say, David was disturbed and saddened by the news. But the Old King kept his composure against all odds. With Adonijah at his side he instructed his son to prepare the city’s defenses with what they could. He also told him to spread word that his other son, Absalom, had used forbidden magics to commit fratricide. Solomon immediately knew his father’s intent, despite his young age; the Old King sought to incite anger and hatred within the hearts of his loyal citizens in order to raise a second army that would fight to the end against the traitorous son. And so, within days the defenses of Jerusalem had been raised; over sixty percent of the population in the city had taken up arms and stationed themselves along the walls, fully prepared for the siege that would inevitably come. Adonijah was placed in charge with the protection of Prince Solomon, while David would command the city.
It is said that on the day Absalom arrived before the city walls with the remainder of his mercenary army, the Old King immediately recognized Absalom’s blood red eyes and grey skin – a change that horrified him. He was unsure what could have caused such a change in his son, but knew that some powers outside the norm was driving him to such horrid acts. The King made no attempt to parlay with his son, and instead instructed the defenders on the wall to lose their arrows upon the mercenary army. He knew that his son was lost to him, in mind and body. The siege itself lasted for nearly a week until Absalom himself stepped forth to destroy a considerable portion of Jerusalem’s outer wall. The defenders of that section were temporarily routed into the inner walls that surrounded the palace itself, allowing Absalom’s mercenaries to stream through it largely unabated. On the other sections of the wall the defenders continued to fight valiantly, preventing any of the hired blades to scale the walls and create additional weaknesses.
The second phase of the battle then took to the streets of Jerusalem. From house to house buildings burned; mothers took up arms against the invaders, using kitchen knives to defend their homes. The old, infirm, and children had all been taken to the safety of the inner walls before the battle had begun, leaving the families to protect their homes without fear of their loved ones being placed in immediate danger. But the true danger was not the soldiers fighting on the streets, it was the powers that drove Absalom. In the dead of night, while the battle still raged outside the walls of the palace, the forsaken son managed to breach the walls of Jerusalem in silence. It isn’t entirely clear how Absalom circumvented the defensive measures that King David had put in place around the palace to protect the young prince Solomon, but the few witnesses who watched him enter the palace speak of a black aura that enveloped the former son of David. It was as if he appeared in a cloud of black smoke, rather than traverse the dangerous defenses that protected the inner sanctuary.
When Absalom appeared in Solomon’s bedchambers the prince did not flee, or cry for his life. Instead the prince looked upon him with sorrow, pitying his lost elder brother as his mind was clearly forfeit to the powers that drove it. And while, at the time, Solomon could not hope to match Absalom’s superior fighting capability he knew that he was safe above all else. Prior to the battle beginning Solomon privately planned with Adonijah; the seven-year-old prince, for the first time, told his older brother that his twin would come in the night and bypass all of his father’s defenses. Adonijah was, reasonably so, skeptical of his brother’s claims. How could this young prince, so unfamiliar with the art of war and strategy, have such intimate knowledge of Absalom’s plans. But nonetheless Adonijah adhered to the young prince’s message, despite Solomon not having any authority to command him to do so. Unknown to the entire family at the time, it was the first instance of Solomon’s awakened Clairvoyance.
And so, when Absalom stood before Solomon at bedside, Adonijah appeared from behind him and emerged from the shadows. The third son of David was empowered by his trademark Ōtsutsuki bloodline, the Byakugan, and armed with nothing more than a traditional steel longsword and shield. But Absalom, strangely enough, was armed with nothing but his bare hands. It seemed that he had intended to strangle Solomon to death, but as Adonijah interceded he turned toward his twin brother. What transpired between the three is largely left to speculation; the boy that would grow into the Mage King hardly speaks of the event, even to those that are his close confidants. But what is known is that Absalom, overtaken by dark magics that were unknown to the world at large, launched himself at Adonijah in a maddened frenzy fueled by nothing other than bloodlust, ambition, and hatred. The battle that ensued between the two was brief, but bloody. Adonijah, armed with sword and shield, warded off Absalom’s relentless offense. Despite only using his hands, the first twin’s attacks were remarkably powerful and displayed an inhuman resilience, no doubt derived from the powers that fueled his body. Each time Adonijah would block his attack and follow with a strike from his blade Absalom would make no effort to evade. Each time the blade sliced through his darkened skin red blood would spurt out, as any human would. All the meanwhile Solomon hid near his bed, waiting for an opportunity to assist. It wouldn’t be long before his chance presented itself; Absalom’s offense had forced Adonijah into a corner with nothing but his shield to protect himself with. Solomon, by instinct, activated his own bloodline and reached for the ornate sword that had been gifted to him on the day of his birth. At the time it was not known as the Sword of King Solomon, or the Judgement; but with sword in hand Solomon struck at Absalom’s ankles, slicing the tendons from under him.
For the first time blood dirtied Solomon’s hands as he wounded his elder brother. All Solomon could manage was a surprised expression across his face, not having anticipated the mess it would cause as Absalom fell to the ground. Reacting to the changing tides of battle, Adonijah lurched forward from his corner and struck at Absalom driving his own blade through his twin’s heart, tears streaming down his face. In that moment Absalom, gravely wounded, rest his hand on his twin brother’s blade. The words exchanged are not known to this day, kept a hidden secret between Solomon and Adonijah. What is known is that Absalom died that night, and within hours his mercenary army was routed to Ephraim’s Wood, a glade a short distance from the outskirts of Jerusalem. The battle was won, and Jerusalem did not fall. With the mercenary army forces routed David and Adonijah pursued close behind, seeking to end the remnants of Absalom’s insurgent forces. When they finally reached Ephraim’s Wood, what little remained of the mercenaries either abandoned their posts or fought to the death. The nobles that had rebelled in support of Absalom were, for the most part, nowhere to be found; they had all fled to the West.
Unfortunately, David had no time to pursue, or to initiate an extensive inquisition to find the nobles that had supported Absalom’s cause. Instead he sought to mend the realm, to bring the Northern provinces back into the fold, and reestablish legitimacy in the eyes of rivalling kingdoms throughout Tobusekai. Historians that had recorded the battles in Absalom’s brief civil war note that it is entirely unclear what drove Absalom, a typically loyal son, to such extremes so quickly. Governors that controlled the Northern Israeli provinces had a number of interactions with Absalom; many were not truly loyal to the fallen twin prince, but had acquiesced for the benefit of their people. Those that quickly returned to the fold and sought David’s protection after the war reported that Absalom had behaved much like a schizophrenic; at times those close to him spoke of Absalom talking of whispers “from the sea.” He would oftentimes stare off into the distance, looking toward the Hokubu Ocean as if it provided him some level of solace.
The next year of Solomon’s life was spent travelling the kingdom with his father, while Adonijah worked on rebuilding the capital. The civil war was brief, lasting just under six months, the loss it inflicted upon the family of King David was immense; in such a short timespan the Old King of Israel had lost his firstborn son Amnon and Absalom. It is said by many that the stress and tragedy of the war caused David to age considerably; the man that, despite his age, was always energetic and compassionate began to decline into lethargy and bitterness. The transformation in David’s personality, while warranted, did impact his relationship with his remaining sons. The Old King would begin slowly withdrawing from public life, something that would become far more noticeable once the Northern provinces were once again brought back into the realm.
Solomon celebrated his eighth birthday in Hebron, the final destination on their royal progress. Hebron was the heart of Absalom’s rebellion; it was there that Absalom is said to have had divine inspiration to overthrow David and kill his younger brother. But David believed this ‘divine inspiration’ to be nothing more than the dark whispers that had seduced his son to revolt. Nonetheless, David and the young prince Solomon arrived in Hebron and were welcomed to a warm procession. It was vital that David secure the port city for Israel; their resources had run dangerously low toward the end of the war. Without assistance from Last Bastion, one of the few cities that still maintained their support for King David, Jerusalem would have likely run out of food in the middle of Absalom’s siege. Thus, David’s task was, at its heart, a critical diplomatic endeavor. But his bitterness at the tragedy that had befallen his family left him somewhat blinded to the realities at hand; and so, the eight-year-old Solomon was partially responsible for keeping his father in check and focused on the task at hand. The young prince provided a softer aspect to David, the tragic father that had lost two sons; he was cute to many, adored by others, and his presence brought happiness to their faces. The Old King and his son spent, in all, one week in Hebron; by the end of their visit they had brought the last rebel city back into the Kingdom of Israel, securing the throne once again.
The next two years of Solomon’s life were spent with Adonijah. David, after returning from their royal progress, had begun to increasingly withdraw from public life. David’s reign, up until now, had been recognized by his willingness to sit before his people and address their complaints. But after the civil war the Old King often retreated to the inner palace to meditate or read ancient scriptures. In his stead Adonijah and Solomon, along with Queen Bathsheba, would sit upon the Throne of Israel and speak with the commoners. Alongside Solomon’s newly discovered administrative duties, he continued to advance his arcane studies. On his ninth birthday his mother gifted Solomon an ancient text titled The Energies Which Govern; it was a book that revealed, to a limited extent, the nature of Yin and Yang and their powers to govern reality. Solomon was captivated by these inherent forces that existed within all life. But perhaps what was more interesting was that the text seemed to allude to the existence of the primordial life that came before civilization. The book made the argument that life originated from the sea, shaped by progenitors that reigned supreme before humanity’s advent. It was equally fascinating as it was puzzling to the young prince who, at the time, was far from reaching his true potential.
In the next year, four months after Solomon’s tenth birthday, King David and the young prince were present when their distant relative, Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, introduced Ninshu to the world. The ceremony took place in the far East of Tobusekai, in a place that would become known as Hagoromo’s Last Hearth. There the Ōtsutsuki clan gathered as a group of humans, who became known as Hagoromo’s Chosen, had their spiritual energies connected with each other to; what followed was a magnificent ceremony of human bonding. Without even communicating those who became connected could sense the very lives and emotions of those around them. This moment in history was a critical moment that crystallized the growing schism between the Old King and Solomon’s philosophies, appearing as a reaction to the Sage’s decision. David appeared skeptical, likely a result of the cynicism he had developed after the civil war, believing that the introduction of such power would inevitably lead to greater wars and conflict. Solomon’s reaction was quite different, and one of the few moments that Solomon would express true free thought until long after his reign in Jerusalem had ended. To the young prince, whether humans destroyed their own civilizations or grew themselves into something better with chakra didn’t matter. He believed that humans should have the freedom to make that choice with their new-found gift, regardless of the consequences it might bring.
After the ceremony Solomon’s relationship with his father took a turn for the worse. The Old King’s bitterness had finally reached a critical point where it was unbearable to be around him. His father, who was originally very involved in Solomon’s education and upbringing, was now absent more often than not. He no longer accepted a ‘fatherly’ role in his son and heir’s life, delegating that role to be shared between Bathsheba and Adonijah. David no longer cared for his son’s feelings or thoughts, and only instructed him to ‘look forward’ toward the future and his kingship. Perhaps the assassination attempt on Solomon’s life had caused David to become more cautious toward his son, forcing him to focus only on the young prince’s future prospects as king.
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“I've always been a man who will only sally forth in battles that he can win.”
The Old King David fell ill just after Solomon’s fifteenth birthday, in the fifth year after Hagoromo spread Ninshu through the world. David’s illness was not of the body, but of the mind; his father was plagued by bouts of hypoactive delirium as dementia began to set in. His father’s decline was further compounded by years of depression and withdrawal he had increasingly experienced after the civil war that claimed the lives of Amnon and Absalom. It was a difficult time in Solomon’s life; over the five years since Hagoromo’s Ceremony of Peace he and his father and only drifted apart further, with the latter resigning themselves almost exclusively to be in solitude and leave matters of the state to his wife and children. David’s declining health was attended to be an array of palace stewards and physicians. But Solomon and Adonijah insisted that they sit by their father’s side in his fits of delirium. In those moments David would show more affection for Solomon than he had in almost eight years since the rebellion.
The responsibilities of the infirm Old King were not forsaken. While Solomon and Adonijah spent their time with their father, Queen Bathsheba and David’s advisors attended to matters of state. The administrators believed it to be best that they keep the king’s health a state secret from the general population for the time being; it was not the commoners they were concerned over, but the nobility. Despite the Old King and Solomon’s best efforts reuniting the country there were still nobles that held aspirations for rebellion. But despite this many still noticed that King David was absent from his public administrative duties for months at a time. Inevitably word spread that the king, who had already been withdrawing from public life, was now perpetually absent along with his sons. Whispers began to spread through Jerusalem, claiming that the royal family had vanished from sight. But the wiser amongst the commoners knew that it was related to the king and his health; for nearly twenty years he had come to be known as the Old King, it was inevitable after all.
David remained in this state for nearly seven months, growing increasingly delirious with each passing day. Despite it all, Solomon remained by his side as much as he could. David’s attendants would later record during the reign of Solomon that he remained by his father’s side for hours on end, reading him stories and keeping him company; he would read from The Book of Proverbs, a famous text from the Kingdom’s state religion, to works from The Energies Which Govern. But finally, on the 23rd day of the sixth month of illness, David slid into a coma. At this point Bathsheba and her council of advisors declared a regency in place of the ailing king. The physicians that attended the Old King informed Solomon that his time was limited. The Regency Council established by Bathsheba, upon hearing this news, began to prepare for Solomon’s coronation. The Queen opted to leave these matters to the rest of the council and, after months of working hard to maintain the kingdom, could finally spend time with her husband. It was tragic; Bathsheba had increasingly become responsible for managing Israel and, as David’s mental state declined, continued to fill that role as she worked tirelessly for him. Finally, in David’s final days in a coma she could spend time with her king and husband. Five days later King David, the second King of Israel, passed away peacefully at the age of 70.
Solomon informed the regency that he did not wish to take his father’s crown until after the funeral procession. The ceremony was extensively planned by the regency. King David’s body would be taken in procession through the streets of Jerusalem for all to see. Thousands of viewers came forth to honor the late king, holding lit candles out into the night to illuminate David’s way to the temple named after his mother, the Temple of Nitzevet. There the priests of Jerusalem would anoint David’s body with incense and oils in preparation to pass to the afterlife. Meanwhile an array of priests and theologians lined the walls of the temple whispering prayers for the Old King. Solomon and Adonijah remained by David’s body for the entire funeral ceremony. The ceremony itself concluded with a funeral pyre, burning the Old King’s body and interring his ashes in the Temple of Nitzevet.
Solomon was ordained King of Israel within the week after the funeral ceremony by the regency council. But as he was still only fifteen, a few months from his birthday, and because the country still mourned for the loss of David, Solomon had yet to receive a coronation. After brief deliberations Solomon and his regency council agreed that a coronation should be delayed until his sixteenth birthday, the day he would come of age. Bathsheba remained on Solomon’s regency council, adopting the official title Queen-Mother. She was beloved by the people and proved instrumental in ensuring a peaceful transition between father and son. Likewise, Solomon offered Adonijah, his elder brother by a few years, a position on his council as well. It was an honor that he could hardly imagine refusing, and he accepted the position as Chief General and would take command of Israel’s armies under Solomon.
A few months later Solomon was officially coronated on his sixteenth birthday before the people of Jerusalem. The council summoned governors from each of the provinces to attend the ceremony, and each of them pledged their allegiance to David’s son. The coronation took place at the steps of the palace rather than any temple in particular; there Solomon was surrounded by priests and mages who each performed rituals in order to bless him and prepare him for his divinely ordained reign. By the end of the day David’s fourth son had become king; he was known as King Solomon, the third King of Israel.
Solomon’s first acts as king were made alongside the counsel of his advisors, most important of which was his mother Bathsheba. The first year of Solomon’s reign as king would establish him as a capable ruler and skilled administrator. The king was fortunate enough to have a group of advisors that had all assisted David in ruling before his death; it was a powerful experienced group that Solomon could call upon. For most of David’s reign Bathsheba was an active Queen; she frequently advocated for the advancement of basic domestic policies that would advance the wellbeing of the commoners. The Queen-Mother’s influence undoubtedly played a major role in Solomon’s administrative policies.
Solomon’s first act as king, with the support of his mother, was to declare a series of reforms. David’s reign had focused on flourishing trade and diplomatic expansion. And while the late Old King was honored in death as a wise and tempered man, his later years in solitude had led to neglected social issues. Solomon’s first actions took it upon himself to reform society; the first of these reforms saw to improving education. King Solomon wisely recognized that education was the cure to ignorance and poverty; with such reforms he hoped that he could elevate people out of poverty by creating new opportunities for children. Instead of becoming a simple farmer, now children could take apprenticeships to learn to blacksmith or metal work. They could become physicians and staff the hospitals, or they could study theology and become anointed priests of the Temple.
Solomon’s second reform was targeted toward poverty. The standard of living in Jerusalem was relatively high compared to the rest of the provinces, a product of King David’s trade policies. But this resulted in an uneven distribution in the state. The capital thrived off the neighboring provinces, using their resources for international trade that brought most of the wealth home to Jerusalem where it would stay. Solomon sought to change that; when he had gone on his royal progress with his father after the civil war one of the motivations for Hebron supporting Absalom was poor living conditions. They perceived the concentration of wealth in the capital to be of malicious design, and something they felt was unfair. To combat this, King Solomon and his council imposed a tax increase on wealthy merchants in the capital province; revenues from the taxes were redistributed to the governors of their respective provinces and invested toward infrastructure, public works, and residential construction projects. While this policy was not necessarily popular in the capital, it gained Solomon the critical support of the outlying provinces and secured the Throne of Israel from within. Within the first two years of Solomon’s reign poverty decreased by nearly 10.0%; the poor would more often find food on their table and a shelter to sleep in, and the middle class prospered. Solomon also allocated some of the new tax revenue toward constructing food repositories where the impoverished could seek small warm meals on harsh days; soup kitchens, bread distributaries, and other establishments began to emerge in major cities throughout the kingdom.
Solomon’s third reform was targeted toward the military. While his mother was instrumental in creating an effective social program that promoted education, fought poverty, and better distributed wealth, she was not versed in matters of war. For this, Solomon relied heavily on his older brother and advisor Adonijah. The Army of Israel under King David preferred isolationism; during times of peace they would disarm and return to their homes, leaving the state somewhat vulnerable in times of crisis. This proved all too true when Absalom raised a mercenary army, trained and disciplined. Solomon sought to create a new military for Israel, commanded by his brother Adonijah. For this Solomon levied an additional tax directed toward the noble class. While many nobles were still disgruntled with the House of David, few would likely rebel with a revitalized Israeli military and the support of the common people. With their power stripped from them the nobility made for a simple target for an additional tax. With the newfound revenue stream Solomon and his brother went to work establishing permanent military bases in the land between provinces; these bases served as established training facilities and created a strong projection of Solomon’s soon-to-be military might. He also armed the soldiers with the best weapons that could be forged at the time; steel swords and shields, cuir bouilli, and spears were all fresh forged for Solomon’s new military. He also outfitted the army with a number of chariots, and increased the size of the navy. His father had been particular fond of fostering strong trade practices, which did promote prosperity for most. Solomon saw to protect this prosperity by establishing Israel as a powerful naval force in the East. Within five years of Solomon’s military improvements, the Kingdom of Israel became a regional hegemon. To extend Israel’s influence outside of its borders, Solomon funded a number of trading outposts that would be protected by his military. These outposts would come to be used by a number of nations in Tobusekai, each paying tribute to the Israeli army for their protection. David had succeeded in connecting Israel’s economy to the rest of the world, but Solomon had established it as a hegemon. A dominant force that commanded global respect.
Solomon’s three reforms cemented his popularity at home; while not all of his policies were universally popular, even his political rivals, of which there were few, acknowledged his wisdom. It wasn’t long until the young King Solomon became known as the Wise King. His social programs, progressive taxation, infrastructure projects, and public works built a foundation for a prosperous Kingdom of Israel for decades to come. With his military expansion he established Israel as the preeminent force in Tobusekai, and projected naval might across the Hokubu Ocean. This first phase of Solomon’s reign, known as the Great Reforms, lasted for a period of five years. The period of Great Reforms is noted to have ended by historians when the Queen-Mother Bathsheba abdicated her position as advisor; the Queen-Mother decided that, in her old age, she no longer had the energy to govern. She believed that her son could now rule in his own right, without the need for a relic from the past administration. Adonijah would remain by Solomon’s side, commanding the military and assisting where he could on certain social issues.
After the Queen-Mother stepped down from her advisory position, Solomon decided to employ an official historian to collect a state account of Solomon’s reign. The reign of previous kings of Israel had only been kept in scattered documents by a number of different historians through the annals of time. These records often conflicted with one another, creating a number of contradictions in critical events that took place in Israel’s history. After weeks of deliberation amongst the council the name Abel came to mind for the position of Court Historian. Abel had composed his own history texts on past events in Ōtsutsuki history. Texts like Hagoromo’s Chosen: The First Bearers of Ninshu and The Tragedy of King David caught Solomon’s attention in particular, as they were both events that he had firsthand knowledge of. He found that the recollections were remarkably accurate, even though Abel was not present at Hagoromo’s ceremony or Absalom’s civil war. This surprised Solomon, provoking him to investigate the scholar’s work; he found that Abel relied on accounts from many different sources to compose a single coherent retelling of events. It is said that same day the king smiled, and welcomed Abel to the royal court. Abel would, during Solomon’s reign, compose his greatest work – The Wisdom of King Solomon.
One of the first chapters of Abel’s great work is titled The Judgement of King Solomon the Wise. The story recorded within recounts the events of a dispute between two women, Adinah and Kuna. The veracity of the account is debated among Tobusekai scholars today, given the nature of the story compared to the rest of Abel’s works. It is perhaps best thought of as an anecdote to give weight to Solomon’s true wisdom. The account centers around the two women Adinah and Kuna; they had come before the Wise King Solomon disputing over who was the mother of a particular infant boy. Solomon sat silently atop his throne while the two women argued endlessly about who was the true mother. Within hours the throne room had divided into two factions: those who believed that Adinah was the mother, and those who placed their faith in Kuna. Abel reports that nearly four hours passed before Solomon spoke a single word, allowing for chaos to nearly envelop the entire throne room. Finally, the Wise King stood up from his throne and approached the women. With a warm smile across his face Solomon spoke to his Guard Captain, commanding him to bring his blade. It was the same blade that had been used to assist in slaying Absalom, cutting his tendons from his ankles. Solomon then spoke to the women, stating that to easily resolve such an endless dispute he would simply cut the child in half, to be shared by both women. The entire throne room gasped at the Wise King’s command as he drew his blade from its scabbard. And just as he gripped its pommel, one of the women immediately renounced her claim to the child. She cried out that she would rather give the child up than see it killed. With her words Solomon tipped the blade downward and rest it against his throne. He placed both hands on the crying woman’s shoulders and declared her the mother, as she was the one who had shown true compassion for the child. It was that day that Solomon’s sword became known as the Sword of King Solomon, or at other times referred to as Judgement. Abel’s account propagated throughout the kingdom and beyond, as historical recollections from throughout Tobusekai, from different historians, around this time period can be seen to talk about, in some form or another, the events of this trial. Rumors of Solomon’s great wisdom and benevolence were abuzz throughout the Eastern Continent.
In the following year, near the king’s twenty-second birthday, the common people began to wonder when the Wise King might marry. During his time as king he had a number of suitors, both from within the kingdom and in neighboring countries. The peasants would joke amongst themselves that the Wise King Solomon had worked so hard he had forgotten the most important duty of any monarch, to continue the royal bloodline. There was some truth to that; but the reality of it was that no suitor had ever piqued Solomon’s interest. Many had come because of his wealth, and others for the fame of marrying into his bloodline. But these women did not interest the Wise King. But as fate would have it, Solomon would soon marry.
It didn’t take long for Solomon’s reforms to spark whispers of his wisdom and benevolence throughout the world. A neighboring kingdom, called Sheba, soon heard of the Wise King’s nature; word had already reached of Solomon’s great wealth and bloodline, but few had spoken of his great wisdom. Hearing of Solomon’s wisdom, the Queen of Sheba planned for a diplomatic visit to the Kingdom of Israel just weeks before Solomon’s twenty-second birthday. As was customary the Queen of Sheba brought with her numerous wares and valuables from her kingdom to pay tribute and show respect to the Wise King Solomon. But the gifts she brought were nothing more than that, simple trinkets that would ultimately mean nothing to him. Her true gift was a trial of wisdom for Solomon. Should the king succeed and prove his with, the Queen of Sheba would give Solomon her heart. A brief record of the Queen’s visit is noted in the text Tributes to the King:
The Queen of Sheba, who would come to be known simply as Sheba, reached Jerusalem later that month from her southern kingdom. She arrived in magnificent fashion; a military procession accompanied by a caravan of camels transporting the vast array of gifts and riches to present to King Solomon. But the Wise King was not impressed by Sheba’s grandiose presentation, as he already lived a life of grand wealth; but that was the Queen’s plan all along. As recorded by Abel in his sixth chapter, The Queen of Majesty, the future Queen and King first met at the gates of Jerusalem. It was there that Sheba humbly asked King Solomon for a demonstration of his wisdom, presenting him with three riddles, these riddles would eventually become known as the Three Enigmas: Achat, Shtayim, and Shalosh. Abel, at the request of the Wise King, did not record the riddles or their solutions; the only record of the Three Enigmas was an ancient scroll said to have originated from an island off the southern coast of Tobusekai that has long since been lost to humanity, submerged deep in the Kaijuu Ocean after five hundred years. As Abel writes, Solomon pondered the riddles for a short time before finally seeing through them, providing precise answers to each of the Enigmas. Sheba was impressed by Solomon’s wisdom, and the way that Jerusalem and Israel as a whole had prospered under his rule. Before she even passed through the Gates of Jerusalem Sheba gave Solomon her heart. The Wise King opened the gates, and welcomed his soon-to-be wife into his home.
Abel’s seventh chapter, The Great Royal Progress, centers around the weeks before King Solomon’s wedding to Sheba where they go on their first royal progress together. Solomon wanted to show Sheba more than just the great capital city of Jerusalem; and while his decision broke with tradition, that a royal progress should only be done with king and queen, he felt it was important. They traveled from Jerusalem to Sidon and Tyre along the coast, to Hebron and Gaza; they crossed over the rivers of Tobusekai to reach Bethlehem, and then returned to Jerusalem just days before their grand wedding. As they traveled the governors and nobility would join their progress and return to Jerusalem with them to witness the great wedding. It was on the eve of Solomon’s birthday that he and Sheba were married. Up until their marriage Solomon’s life with his family was largely cold and indifferent, especially in the later years when his father’s health began to decline. For the most part his mother, the Queen Bathsheba, was entirely focused on ruling in her father’s place and his father spent a majority of their time together teaching his son how to rule. It is for this reason that Abel notes the warmth that Solomon and Sheba shared; their time together, noted in almost all chapters of his history text, was warm, beautiful, and thoughtful. Unlike the king, Sheba was not born as an ordained queen who was destined to rule. She was born a human and lived among them each day of her life. Up until now Solomon hadn’t experienced romance; it was something outside his normal scope of understanding. Yet when they wed it was a moment of respite from his destiny. It was ironic in a sense; to Solomon his wedding to Sheba was yet another monarchical duty. It was the responsibility to sire a child as heir to the Throne of Israel. But that duty gave rise to something much more beautiful and meaningful.
Abel’s eighth chapter is titled Tragedy and Progeny. He writes that the three years following the king and queen’s wedding was largely uneventful. King Solomon’s administration continued to promote their social policies throughout Israel. The chapter is aptly named for two events that occurred within quick succession, the death of Solomon’s mother and the birth of his first son Rehoboam. Bathsheba’s death struck the kingdom suddenly; unlike her late husband David, Bathsheba had no gradual decline to death. In fact, as Abel recounts, Bathsheba’s death practically happened overnight. One night the Queen-Mother simply did not wake from her slumber in the morning, her handmaidens immediately running to King Solomon to inform him. Within the hour Solomon’s own physicians were at his mother’s bed examining her; it did not take long for them to report that the Queen-Mother’s heart had simply stopped in her sleep overnight, a peaceful passing. She died at the age of seventy-four. Sadness gripped the kingdom, but King Solomon had known that the day would come where his mother would pass from the world. In her final years she had found peace that remained elusive to her while she ruled with her son, and at King David’s side. She frequently told Solomon that those final years of her life were the most tranquil she could have ever hoped for.
But the tragedy that overcame the kingdom soon transformed into happiness. A full moon had passed when Queen Sheba discovered that she was with child; within hours the announcement was made to Jerusalem that the Wise King would soon be a father. Just as fast as Israel turned to sorrow at the death of Bathsheba did it turn to revelry at the news of Queen Sheba’s child; citizens of Jerusalem took to the streets celebrating for nearly a week. For the months that Sheba was pregnant Solomon’s council took to ruling the state. At its head was Adonijah, the military commander. The council had insisted, to King Solomon’s chagrin, that the king remain by his queen’s side for the duration of the pregnancy. Abel writes that the king was displeased by the council’s suggestion, but they did not relent and continued to insist that he use the time to recuperate and care for his wife personally. Months later Sheba gave birth to a young prince who they named Rehoboam; he became the designated heir of the Kingdom of Israel.
The penultimate chapter of Abel’s Wisdom of King Solomon was titled The Peace of Solomon; the historian aptly begins his chapter with a peculiar note, “The years following Prince Rehoboam’s birth were marked by sheer mystery surrounding the Wise King’s reign. Like his father before him, Solomon increasingly allowed the council to rule in his place while he dedicated himself to establish his legacy as the Mage King.” As his title and opening lines suggest, the reign of King Solomon after the death of his mother and birth of his son was met by an era of unprecedented peace; not only in Israel, but throughout Tobusekai as a whole. It was during this time that Solomon allowed his council to perform more of the day to day duties ruling the realm while he raised Rehoboam. Like his father before him Solomon and Sheba spent much time teaching his son the necessary skills to govern. But this critical chapter in Abel’s history does not focus on Rehoboam or Sheba, but rather entirely on Solomon’s activities as he matured; the now Wise King would soon become known as the Mage King, or the King of Magic. Abel leaves a footnote that the following chapter was entirely based on recollections from Solomon himself. In it he writes of one of the most important days of Solomon’s life, the day he received revelation.
One night while Solomon was dreaming in bed, he was visited by a being he could only describe as God; in his dream God spoke to Solomon, “You are qualified. Speak your wishes, and I shall grant them.” It was in this moment that Solomon’s temperament and wisdom was exemplified, establishing him as one of the wisest kings. Solomon spoke to God and told him that he only sought wisdom, rather than other human desires like wealth, influence, or power. The answer, according to Solomon, satisfied God, proving that Solomon had the qualifications to obtain “true wisdom.” And thus, God promised that Solomon would receive wisdom in life. When Solomon awoke later that morning, he did so with ten golden rings upon both his hands, as physical proof of being recognized by God. Perhaps more shockingly was that the Wise King opened his eyes to discover an ascended Byakugan – the Tenseigan. It was the heightened form of his Clairvoyance, eyes that could discern the world and its mysteries. With it came an inherent mastery over the energies that Solomon had read from his text The Energies Which Govern; his Six Paths Senjutsu and Yin-Yang Release came to allow Solomon to transcend age. And his rings came to be recognized as the source of magecraft that employs angels and demons, something that he would later record in the Key of Solomon, known as Ars Goetia. It was this day that the Wise King Solomon would transcend to become the King of Magic.
After waking from his revelation Solomon ventured into the heart of Jerusalem to surround himself with commoners. As if predestined Solomon encountered a boy no more than one year old. Abel personally accompanied Solomon on this journey into the city at the king’s request, recording all that happened between the boy, his family, and the Mage King. The boy, named Jacob, was blind and deaf. It was an affliction that caused his parents considerable sadness and heart ache. He would, they said, never see the light of day or his father’s face for all his life. Solomon looked down upon the boy with somber eyes and pressed his index and middle finger against his forehead without uttering a word. Moments later the boy’s eyes slowly opened and began darting from side to side as light returned to them. Left baffled, Jacob’s parents began crying in happiness when they realized that the king had performed a miracle. Their cries invoked a reaction that also confirmed that Jacob could hear. According to Abel it is the only miracle that Solomon ever performed after receiving divine revelation; it epitomized the Mage King’s prudence, and was physical proof that he had received God’s wisdom. It was the day that Solomon began to build his legacy as the King of Magic.
The remainder of The Peace of Solomon centers around the king’s second child, Menelik, and Solomon’s reinvigorated economic policy. After his revelations Solomon once again involved himself considerably in the administration of the state. The revelations he had received from God drove him further than ever before to lead the Kingdom of Israel to prosperity; he initiated a new series of public reforms which expanded the city of Jerusalem itself considerably. A number of new theaters, food distribution centers, and water repositories were constructed throughout Jerusalem and beyond. The king also spent more hours than ever before addressing his peoples’ complaints at court; Abel records that on some days Solomon would go ten hours consecutively without food or drink while he listened to their concerns. Fortunately, the king had Rehoboam, who was now twenty, by his side, as well as an aging Adonijah. The two coordinated well with him, assisting in day to day administration. But as Abel writes, sometime after Solomon receives his revelations Adonijah had grown restless in his capacity as commander. One winter evening he came before the king atop his throne and asked for his freedom. “My king and brother,” Adonijah spoke, kneeling before the Mage King, “For so long I have lived in your shadow. You were the fourth born, yet you are king. You were the gifted child, and so you are strong. I only ask that, after so many years of service, you let me seek my own destiny outside these great Jerusalem walls.” Solomon was saddened at his elder brother’s request, but nonetheless granted his wish and allowed him to abdicate from his position as commander. Solomon would come to accept that burden as well, believing there to be no better replacement for Adonijah’s position. All record of Adonijah vanishes after this day; the only man who knew where the Commander of the Israeli Military had gone was King Solomon himself who, to this day, knows that his brother still lives.
Months after Adonijah abdicated from his position as commander, Queen Sheba and Solomon announced that she was pregnant with their second child. By this point Rehoboam was twenty years old. The kingdom was overjoyed to hear that another young prince would soon join the House of David. Abel leaves a peculiar note in regards to Solomon’s reaction; it seemed that the King of Magic had known of his queen’s pregnancy for some time in advance. Many failed to understand exactly what could invoke such a response from the king; but those who understood Solomon’s Tenseigan knew that the king was well aware of the affairs at hand. Solomon, who had spent his entire life as prince and king, shifted his attention to what the divine had conferred upon him – seeking true wisdom. After a few months Sheba gave birth to yet another son, his name was Menelik.
A remarkable and consequential dichotomy formed between Rehoboam and Menelik, something that Abel took particular care to note in his history. Rehoboam had grown into a skilled statesman; he was polite, diplomatic, and had a keen sense for politics. He was everything that Solomon was intellectually. A man that sought wisdom, with a restrained temperament and calm disposition. But many spoke of weak Ōtsutsuki genetics in him; it seemed that the elder son did not inherent any of the Mage King’s gifts. This contrasted to Menelik’s immense talent for combat. He had awakened his Byakugan by the age of seven, which contrasted with Rehoboam’s inability to activate the bloodline at all. Menelik had a mind for battle. He was hotheaded, impatient yet strategic, with a temper that often drove him to arguments and violence. He had little interest in intellectual topics, especially history. Abel notes often that Menelik would frequently tease him in the throne room, calling him nothing more than a glorified scribe. These outbursts were often quelled by Sheba and Solomon, but the royal parents could not always be by the young prince’s side. More often than not he overwhelmed his caretakers when his parents were absent. Rehoboam and Menelik were essentially opposites and this reflected in their relationship. The two would argue frequently. Menelik would be frustrated by Rehoboam’s elder brother status and vast breadth of knowledge, while Rehoboam would become frightened when Menelik displayed his Ōtsutsuki heritage. Solomon often appeared troubled during these moments, but said very little.
Abel’s final chapter, The Temple of Solomon, remains incomplete; the historian had died in the final years of Solomon’s reign, passing from old age. The final pages of his work describe a great project that Solomon undertook himself, the construction of the Temple of Solomon. It was Solomon’s personal project that, like his father who constructed the Temple of Nitzevet, would be his final gift to Israel. But the scale that Solomon intended for the temple would have taken years, if not decades, to complete. It was then Solomon would employ the pinnacle of his powers, the primordial energies of Yin and Yang were brought together in a union to access a higher dimension of power that normal humans could not hope to access. Combining this with his immense chakra Solomon shaped and summoned the Seventy-Two Demon Gods as his familiars. The ritual created vessels into the spiritual demons, granting them corporeal form imbued with life. Derived from Yin-Yang Release, the demons could use their powers to shapeshift at will in order to abandon their demonic pillar form for more humanoid bodies. Using their collective immense strength, the demons and Solomon worked to construct the Temple of Solomon within a year, rather than the decades that had originally been projected to complete the work. Abel notes that the temple, while magnificent, was not built to survive time, even though it could have been. Rather, as if a testament to Solomon’s wisdom, it was built to wither away with humanity when no longer cared for. It was a crystallization of Solomon’s philosophy that death is a natural part of life. Abel died in the same year, with the completion of the Temple of Solomon bringing an end to his great work.
In his final year of rule Rehoboam had reached the age of thirty-two, and Solomon secretly acknowledged that it was time to pass the crown to his son in order to fulfill his birthright. Since his revelation Solomon had come to be ageless, with many calling him the Eternal King. Ultimately Solomon knew that it would not be wise for the kingdom to be ruled by one who could escape death. With the Temple of Solomon completed the Mage King decided to vanish in the dead of night. He confided in Queen Sheba that he knew the day healed the blind and deaf boy it was one true moment of freedom that he experienced in his entire life since becoming king, having lived life as simply a device for gods and men. It was that day he could feel himself as Solomon, the human, rather than Solomon, the king. And so, the Mage King vanished, never to be seen again in Jerusalem. Rehoboam succeeded his father shortly after, being coronated within the month. Within the year Queen Sheba passed away peacefully, but storms loomed on the horizon for the Kingdom of Israel. Within five years a crippling rebellion would break out between the two children of Solomon, eerily reminiscent of Absalom’s rebellion nearly half a century ago. Menelik’s revolt had torn the country in two, with his kingdom becoming known as the Kingdom of Judah. Israel would never be united again as the two lines of Solomon were torn in half and would, in time, wither away in the annals of time after a number of wars and famine. Solomon’s legacy was left behind in the form of his riches as well as a single tablet that recorded, for the first time, the existence of the Demon God familiars.
The responsibilities of the infirm Old King were not forsaken. While Solomon and Adonijah spent their time with their father, Queen Bathsheba and David’s advisors attended to matters of state. The administrators believed it to be best that they keep the king’s health a state secret from the general population for the time being; it was not the commoners they were concerned over, but the nobility. Despite the Old King and Solomon’s best efforts reuniting the country there were still nobles that held aspirations for rebellion. But despite this many still noticed that King David was absent from his public administrative duties for months at a time. Inevitably word spread that the king, who had already been withdrawing from public life, was now perpetually absent along with his sons. Whispers began to spread through Jerusalem, claiming that the royal family had vanished from sight. But the wiser amongst the commoners knew that it was related to the king and his health; for nearly twenty years he had come to be known as the Old King, it was inevitable after all.
David remained in this state for nearly seven months, growing increasingly delirious with each passing day. Despite it all, Solomon remained by his side as much as he could. David’s attendants would later record during the reign of Solomon that he remained by his father’s side for hours on end, reading him stories and keeping him company; he would read from The Book of Proverbs, a famous text from the Kingdom’s state religion, to works from The Energies Which Govern. But finally, on the 23rd day of the sixth month of illness, David slid into a coma. At this point Bathsheba and her council of advisors declared a regency in place of the ailing king. The physicians that attended the Old King informed Solomon that his time was limited. The Regency Council established by Bathsheba, upon hearing this news, began to prepare for Solomon’s coronation. The Queen opted to leave these matters to the rest of the council and, after months of working hard to maintain the kingdom, could finally spend time with her husband. It was tragic; Bathsheba had increasingly become responsible for managing Israel and, as David’s mental state declined, continued to fill that role as she worked tirelessly for him. Finally, in David’s final days in a coma she could spend time with her king and husband. Five days later King David, the second King of Israel, passed away peacefully at the age of 70.
Solomon informed the regency that he did not wish to take his father’s crown until after the funeral procession. The ceremony was extensively planned by the regency. King David’s body would be taken in procession through the streets of Jerusalem for all to see. Thousands of viewers came forth to honor the late king, holding lit candles out into the night to illuminate David’s way to the temple named after his mother, the Temple of Nitzevet. There the priests of Jerusalem would anoint David’s body with incense and oils in preparation to pass to the afterlife. Meanwhile an array of priests and theologians lined the walls of the temple whispering prayers for the Old King. Solomon and Adonijah remained by David’s body for the entire funeral ceremony. The ceremony itself concluded with a funeral pyre, burning the Old King’s body and interring his ashes in the Temple of Nitzevet.
Solomon was ordained King of Israel within the week after the funeral ceremony by the regency council. But as he was still only fifteen, a few months from his birthday, and because the country still mourned for the loss of David, Solomon had yet to receive a coronation. After brief deliberations Solomon and his regency council agreed that a coronation should be delayed until his sixteenth birthday, the day he would come of age. Bathsheba remained on Solomon’s regency council, adopting the official title Queen-Mother. She was beloved by the people and proved instrumental in ensuring a peaceful transition between father and son. Likewise, Solomon offered Adonijah, his elder brother by a few years, a position on his council as well. It was an honor that he could hardly imagine refusing, and he accepted the position as Chief General and would take command of Israel’s armies under Solomon.
A few months later Solomon was officially coronated on his sixteenth birthday before the people of Jerusalem. The council summoned governors from each of the provinces to attend the ceremony, and each of them pledged their allegiance to David’s son. The coronation took place at the steps of the palace rather than any temple in particular; there Solomon was surrounded by priests and mages who each performed rituals in order to bless him and prepare him for his divinely ordained reign. By the end of the day David’s fourth son had become king; he was known as King Solomon, the third King of Israel.
Solomon’s first acts as king were made alongside the counsel of his advisors, most important of which was his mother Bathsheba. The first year of Solomon’s reign as king would establish him as a capable ruler and skilled administrator. The king was fortunate enough to have a group of advisors that had all assisted David in ruling before his death; it was a powerful experienced group that Solomon could call upon. For most of David’s reign Bathsheba was an active Queen; she frequently advocated for the advancement of basic domestic policies that would advance the wellbeing of the commoners. The Queen-Mother’s influence undoubtedly played a major role in Solomon’s administrative policies.
Solomon’s first act as king, with the support of his mother, was to declare a series of reforms. David’s reign had focused on flourishing trade and diplomatic expansion. And while the late Old King was honored in death as a wise and tempered man, his later years in solitude had led to neglected social issues. Solomon’s first actions took it upon himself to reform society; the first of these reforms saw to improving education. King Solomon wisely recognized that education was the cure to ignorance and poverty; with such reforms he hoped that he could elevate people out of poverty by creating new opportunities for children. Instead of becoming a simple farmer, now children could take apprenticeships to learn to blacksmith or metal work. They could become physicians and staff the hospitals, or they could study theology and become anointed priests of the Temple.
Solomon’s second reform was targeted toward poverty. The standard of living in Jerusalem was relatively high compared to the rest of the provinces, a product of King David’s trade policies. But this resulted in an uneven distribution in the state. The capital thrived off the neighboring provinces, using their resources for international trade that brought most of the wealth home to Jerusalem where it would stay. Solomon sought to change that; when he had gone on his royal progress with his father after the civil war one of the motivations for Hebron supporting Absalom was poor living conditions. They perceived the concentration of wealth in the capital to be of malicious design, and something they felt was unfair. To combat this, King Solomon and his council imposed a tax increase on wealthy merchants in the capital province; revenues from the taxes were redistributed to the governors of their respective provinces and invested toward infrastructure, public works, and residential construction projects. While this policy was not necessarily popular in the capital, it gained Solomon the critical support of the outlying provinces and secured the Throne of Israel from within. Within the first two years of Solomon’s reign poverty decreased by nearly 10.0%; the poor would more often find food on their table and a shelter to sleep in, and the middle class prospered. Solomon also allocated some of the new tax revenue toward constructing food repositories where the impoverished could seek small warm meals on harsh days; soup kitchens, bread distributaries, and other establishments began to emerge in major cities throughout the kingdom.
Solomon’s third reform was targeted toward the military. While his mother was instrumental in creating an effective social program that promoted education, fought poverty, and better distributed wealth, she was not versed in matters of war. For this, Solomon relied heavily on his older brother and advisor Adonijah. The Army of Israel under King David preferred isolationism; during times of peace they would disarm and return to their homes, leaving the state somewhat vulnerable in times of crisis. This proved all too true when Absalom raised a mercenary army, trained and disciplined. Solomon sought to create a new military for Israel, commanded by his brother Adonijah. For this Solomon levied an additional tax directed toward the noble class. While many nobles were still disgruntled with the House of David, few would likely rebel with a revitalized Israeli military and the support of the common people. With their power stripped from them the nobility made for a simple target for an additional tax. With the newfound revenue stream Solomon and his brother went to work establishing permanent military bases in the land between provinces; these bases served as established training facilities and created a strong projection of Solomon’s soon-to-be military might. He also armed the soldiers with the best weapons that could be forged at the time; steel swords and shields, cuir bouilli, and spears were all fresh forged for Solomon’s new military. He also outfitted the army with a number of chariots, and increased the size of the navy. His father had been particular fond of fostering strong trade practices, which did promote prosperity for most. Solomon saw to protect this prosperity by establishing Israel as a powerful naval force in the East. Within five years of Solomon’s military improvements, the Kingdom of Israel became a regional hegemon. To extend Israel’s influence outside of its borders, Solomon funded a number of trading outposts that would be protected by his military. These outposts would come to be used by a number of nations in Tobusekai, each paying tribute to the Israeli army for their protection. David had succeeded in connecting Israel’s economy to the rest of the world, but Solomon had established it as a hegemon. A dominant force that commanded global respect.
Solomon’s three reforms cemented his popularity at home; while not all of his policies were universally popular, even his political rivals, of which there were few, acknowledged his wisdom. It wasn’t long until the young King Solomon became known as the Wise King. His social programs, progressive taxation, infrastructure projects, and public works built a foundation for a prosperous Kingdom of Israel for decades to come. With his military expansion he established Israel as the preeminent force in Tobusekai, and projected naval might across the Hokubu Ocean. This first phase of Solomon’s reign, known as the Great Reforms, lasted for a period of five years. The period of Great Reforms is noted to have ended by historians when the Queen-Mother Bathsheba abdicated her position as advisor; the Queen-Mother decided that, in her old age, she no longer had the energy to govern. She believed that her son could now rule in his own right, without the need for a relic from the past administration. Adonijah would remain by Solomon’s side, commanding the military and assisting where he could on certain social issues.
After the Queen-Mother stepped down from her advisory position, Solomon decided to employ an official historian to collect a state account of Solomon’s reign. The reign of previous kings of Israel had only been kept in scattered documents by a number of different historians through the annals of time. These records often conflicted with one another, creating a number of contradictions in critical events that took place in Israel’s history. After weeks of deliberation amongst the council the name Abel came to mind for the position of Court Historian. Abel had composed his own history texts on past events in Ōtsutsuki history. Texts like Hagoromo’s Chosen: The First Bearers of Ninshu and The Tragedy of King David caught Solomon’s attention in particular, as they were both events that he had firsthand knowledge of. He found that the recollections were remarkably accurate, even though Abel was not present at Hagoromo’s ceremony or Absalom’s civil war. This surprised Solomon, provoking him to investigate the scholar’s work; he found that Abel relied on accounts from many different sources to compose a single coherent retelling of events. It is said that same day the king smiled, and welcomed Abel to the royal court. Abel would, during Solomon’s reign, compose his greatest work – The Wisdom of King Solomon.
One of the first chapters of Abel’s great work is titled The Judgement of King Solomon the Wise. The story recorded within recounts the events of a dispute between two women, Adinah and Kuna. The veracity of the account is debated among Tobusekai scholars today, given the nature of the story compared to the rest of Abel’s works. It is perhaps best thought of as an anecdote to give weight to Solomon’s true wisdom. The account centers around the two women Adinah and Kuna; they had come before the Wise King Solomon disputing over who was the mother of a particular infant boy. Solomon sat silently atop his throne while the two women argued endlessly about who was the true mother. Within hours the throne room had divided into two factions: those who believed that Adinah was the mother, and those who placed their faith in Kuna. Abel reports that nearly four hours passed before Solomon spoke a single word, allowing for chaos to nearly envelop the entire throne room. Finally, the Wise King stood up from his throne and approached the women. With a warm smile across his face Solomon spoke to his Guard Captain, commanding him to bring his blade. It was the same blade that had been used to assist in slaying Absalom, cutting his tendons from his ankles. Solomon then spoke to the women, stating that to easily resolve such an endless dispute he would simply cut the child in half, to be shared by both women. The entire throne room gasped at the Wise King’s command as he drew his blade from its scabbard. And just as he gripped its pommel, one of the women immediately renounced her claim to the child. She cried out that she would rather give the child up than see it killed. With her words Solomon tipped the blade downward and rest it against his throne. He placed both hands on the crying woman’s shoulders and declared her the mother, as she was the one who had shown true compassion for the child. It was that day that Solomon’s sword became known as the Sword of King Solomon, or at other times referred to as Judgement. Abel’s account propagated throughout the kingdom and beyond, as historical recollections from throughout Tobusekai, from different historians, around this time period can be seen to talk about, in some form or another, the events of this trial. Rumors of Solomon’s great wisdom and benevolence were abuzz throughout the Eastern Continent.
In the following year, near the king’s twenty-second birthday, the common people began to wonder when the Wise King might marry. During his time as king he had a number of suitors, both from within the kingdom and in neighboring countries. The peasants would joke amongst themselves that the Wise King Solomon had worked so hard he had forgotten the most important duty of any monarch, to continue the royal bloodline. There was some truth to that; but the reality of it was that no suitor had ever piqued Solomon’s interest. Many had come because of his wealth, and others for the fame of marrying into his bloodline. But these women did not interest the Wise King. But as fate would have it, Solomon would soon marry.
It didn’t take long for Solomon’s reforms to spark whispers of his wisdom and benevolence throughout the world. A neighboring kingdom, called Sheba, soon heard of the Wise King’s nature; word had already reached of Solomon’s great wealth and bloodline, but few had spoken of his great wisdom. Hearing of Solomon’s wisdom, the Queen of Sheba planned for a diplomatic visit to the Kingdom of Israel just weeks before Solomon’s twenty-second birthday. As was customary the Queen of Sheba brought with her numerous wares and valuables from her kingdom to pay tribute and show respect to the Wise King Solomon. But the gifts she brought were nothing more than that, simple trinkets that would ultimately mean nothing to him. Her true gift was a trial of wisdom for Solomon. Should the king succeed and prove his with, the Queen of Sheba would give Solomon her heart. A brief record of the Queen’s visit is noted in the text Tributes to the King:
The aroma of sandalwood, an assortment of mother-of-pearl inlays
And a valuable agate with a star-patterned impurity.
The Cloisonné Wares and Treasures that were ready to be presented to the king, just only fractured the spine of the camels.
What awaits at the end is either the Wisdom or Virtue of the Judge King.
But the true gift is the Queen’s Heart, overflowing with affection that no one can surpass.
And a valuable agate with a star-patterned impurity.
The Cloisonné Wares and Treasures that were ready to be presented to the king, just only fractured the spine of the camels.
What awaits at the end is either the Wisdom or Virtue of the Judge King.
But the true gift is the Queen’s Heart, overflowing with affection that no one can surpass.
The Queen of Sheba, who would come to be known simply as Sheba, reached Jerusalem later that month from her southern kingdom. She arrived in magnificent fashion; a military procession accompanied by a caravan of camels transporting the vast array of gifts and riches to present to King Solomon. But the Wise King was not impressed by Sheba’s grandiose presentation, as he already lived a life of grand wealth; but that was the Queen’s plan all along. As recorded by Abel in his sixth chapter, The Queen of Majesty, the future Queen and King first met at the gates of Jerusalem. It was there that Sheba humbly asked King Solomon for a demonstration of his wisdom, presenting him with three riddles, these riddles would eventually become known as the Three Enigmas: Achat, Shtayim, and Shalosh. Abel, at the request of the Wise King, did not record the riddles or their solutions; the only record of the Three Enigmas was an ancient scroll said to have originated from an island off the southern coast of Tobusekai that has long since been lost to humanity, submerged deep in the Kaijuu Ocean after five hundred years. As Abel writes, Solomon pondered the riddles for a short time before finally seeing through them, providing precise answers to each of the Enigmas. Sheba was impressed by Solomon’s wisdom, and the way that Jerusalem and Israel as a whole had prospered under his rule. Before she even passed through the Gates of Jerusalem Sheba gave Solomon her heart. The Wise King opened the gates, and welcomed his soon-to-be wife into his home.
Abel’s seventh chapter, The Great Royal Progress, centers around the weeks before King Solomon’s wedding to Sheba where they go on their first royal progress together. Solomon wanted to show Sheba more than just the great capital city of Jerusalem; and while his decision broke with tradition, that a royal progress should only be done with king and queen, he felt it was important. They traveled from Jerusalem to Sidon and Tyre along the coast, to Hebron and Gaza; they crossed over the rivers of Tobusekai to reach Bethlehem, and then returned to Jerusalem just days before their grand wedding. As they traveled the governors and nobility would join their progress and return to Jerusalem with them to witness the great wedding. It was on the eve of Solomon’s birthday that he and Sheba were married. Up until their marriage Solomon’s life with his family was largely cold and indifferent, especially in the later years when his father’s health began to decline. For the most part his mother, the Queen Bathsheba, was entirely focused on ruling in her father’s place and his father spent a majority of their time together teaching his son how to rule. It is for this reason that Abel notes the warmth that Solomon and Sheba shared; their time together, noted in almost all chapters of his history text, was warm, beautiful, and thoughtful. Unlike the king, Sheba was not born as an ordained queen who was destined to rule. She was born a human and lived among them each day of her life. Up until now Solomon hadn’t experienced romance; it was something outside his normal scope of understanding. Yet when they wed it was a moment of respite from his destiny. It was ironic in a sense; to Solomon his wedding to Sheba was yet another monarchical duty. It was the responsibility to sire a child as heir to the Throne of Israel. But that duty gave rise to something much more beautiful and meaningful.
Abel’s eighth chapter is titled Tragedy and Progeny. He writes that the three years following the king and queen’s wedding was largely uneventful. King Solomon’s administration continued to promote their social policies throughout Israel. The chapter is aptly named for two events that occurred within quick succession, the death of Solomon’s mother and the birth of his first son Rehoboam. Bathsheba’s death struck the kingdom suddenly; unlike her late husband David, Bathsheba had no gradual decline to death. In fact, as Abel recounts, Bathsheba’s death practically happened overnight. One night the Queen-Mother simply did not wake from her slumber in the morning, her handmaidens immediately running to King Solomon to inform him. Within the hour Solomon’s own physicians were at his mother’s bed examining her; it did not take long for them to report that the Queen-Mother’s heart had simply stopped in her sleep overnight, a peaceful passing. She died at the age of seventy-four. Sadness gripped the kingdom, but King Solomon had known that the day would come where his mother would pass from the world. In her final years she had found peace that remained elusive to her while she ruled with her son, and at King David’s side. She frequently told Solomon that those final years of her life were the most tranquil she could have ever hoped for.
But the tragedy that overcame the kingdom soon transformed into happiness. A full moon had passed when Queen Sheba discovered that she was with child; within hours the announcement was made to Jerusalem that the Wise King would soon be a father. Just as fast as Israel turned to sorrow at the death of Bathsheba did it turn to revelry at the news of Queen Sheba’s child; citizens of Jerusalem took to the streets celebrating for nearly a week. For the months that Sheba was pregnant Solomon’s council took to ruling the state. At its head was Adonijah, the military commander. The council had insisted, to King Solomon’s chagrin, that the king remain by his queen’s side for the duration of the pregnancy. Abel writes that the king was displeased by the council’s suggestion, but they did not relent and continued to insist that he use the time to recuperate and care for his wife personally. Months later Sheba gave birth to a young prince who they named Rehoboam; he became the designated heir of the Kingdom of Israel.
The penultimate chapter of Abel’s Wisdom of King Solomon was titled The Peace of Solomon; the historian aptly begins his chapter with a peculiar note, “The years following Prince Rehoboam’s birth were marked by sheer mystery surrounding the Wise King’s reign. Like his father before him, Solomon increasingly allowed the council to rule in his place while he dedicated himself to establish his legacy as the Mage King.” As his title and opening lines suggest, the reign of King Solomon after the death of his mother and birth of his son was met by an era of unprecedented peace; not only in Israel, but throughout Tobusekai as a whole. It was during this time that Solomon allowed his council to perform more of the day to day duties ruling the realm while he raised Rehoboam. Like his father before him Solomon and Sheba spent much time teaching his son the necessary skills to govern. But this critical chapter in Abel’s history does not focus on Rehoboam or Sheba, but rather entirely on Solomon’s activities as he matured; the now Wise King would soon become known as the Mage King, or the King of Magic. Abel leaves a footnote that the following chapter was entirely based on recollections from Solomon himself. In it he writes of one of the most important days of Solomon’s life, the day he received revelation.
One night while Solomon was dreaming in bed, he was visited by a being he could only describe as God; in his dream God spoke to Solomon, “You are qualified. Speak your wishes, and I shall grant them.” It was in this moment that Solomon’s temperament and wisdom was exemplified, establishing him as one of the wisest kings. Solomon spoke to God and told him that he only sought wisdom, rather than other human desires like wealth, influence, or power. The answer, according to Solomon, satisfied God, proving that Solomon had the qualifications to obtain “true wisdom.” And thus, God promised that Solomon would receive wisdom in life. When Solomon awoke later that morning, he did so with ten golden rings upon both his hands, as physical proof of being recognized by God. Perhaps more shockingly was that the Wise King opened his eyes to discover an ascended Byakugan – the Tenseigan. It was the heightened form of his Clairvoyance, eyes that could discern the world and its mysteries. With it came an inherent mastery over the energies that Solomon had read from his text The Energies Which Govern; his Six Paths Senjutsu and Yin-Yang Release came to allow Solomon to transcend age. And his rings came to be recognized as the source of magecraft that employs angels and demons, something that he would later record in the Key of Solomon, known as Ars Goetia. It was this day that the Wise King Solomon would transcend to become the King of Magic.
After waking from his revelation Solomon ventured into the heart of Jerusalem to surround himself with commoners. As if predestined Solomon encountered a boy no more than one year old. Abel personally accompanied Solomon on this journey into the city at the king’s request, recording all that happened between the boy, his family, and the Mage King. The boy, named Jacob, was blind and deaf. It was an affliction that caused his parents considerable sadness and heart ache. He would, they said, never see the light of day or his father’s face for all his life. Solomon looked down upon the boy with somber eyes and pressed his index and middle finger against his forehead without uttering a word. Moments later the boy’s eyes slowly opened and began darting from side to side as light returned to them. Left baffled, Jacob’s parents began crying in happiness when they realized that the king had performed a miracle. Their cries invoked a reaction that also confirmed that Jacob could hear. According to Abel it is the only miracle that Solomon ever performed after receiving divine revelation; it epitomized the Mage King’s prudence, and was physical proof that he had received God’s wisdom. It was the day that Solomon began to build his legacy as the King of Magic.
The remainder of The Peace of Solomon centers around the king’s second child, Menelik, and Solomon’s reinvigorated economic policy. After his revelations Solomon once again involved himself considerably in the administration of the state. The revelations he had received from God drove him further than ever before to lead the Kingdom of Israel to prosperity; he initiated a new series of public reforms which expanded the city of Jerusalem itself considerably. A number of new theaters, food distribution centers, and water repositories were constructed throughout Jerusalem and beyond. The king also spent more hours than ever before addressing his peoples’ complaints at court; Abel records that on some days Solomon would go ten hours consecutively without food or drink while he listened to their concerns. Fortunately, the king had Rehoboam, who was now twenty, by his side, as well as an aging Adonijah. The two coordinated well with him, assisting in day to day administration. But as Abel writes, sometime after Solomon receives his revelations Adonijah had grown restless in his capacity as commander. One winter evening he came before the king atop his throne and asked for his freedom. “My king and brother,” Adonijah spoke, kneeling before the Mage King, “For so long I have lived in your shadow. You were the fourth born, yet you are king. You were the gifted child, and so you are strong. I only ask that, after so many years of service, you let me seek my own destiny outside these great Jerusalem walls.” Solomon was saddened at his elder brother’s request, but nonetheless granted his wish and allowed him to abdicate from his position as commander. Solomon would come to accept that burden as well, believing there to be no better replacement for Adonijah’s position. All record of Adonijah vanishes after this day; the only man who knew where the Commander of the Israeli Military had gone was King Solomon himself who, to this day, knows that his brother still lives.
Months after Adonijah abdicated from his position as commander, Queen Sheba and Solomon announced that she was pregnant with their second child. By this point Rehoboam was twenty years old. The kingdom was overjoyed to hear that another young prince would soon join the House of David. Abel leaves a peculiar note in regards to Solomon’s reaction; it seemed that the King of Magic had known of his queen’s pregnancy for some time in advance. Many failed to understand exactly what could invoke such a response from the king; but those who understood Solomon’s Tenseigan knew that the king was well aware of the affairs at hand. Solomon, who had spent his entire life as prince and king, shifted his attention to what the divine had conferred upon him – seeking true wisdom. After a few months Sheba gave birth to yet another son, his name was Menelik.
A remarkable and consequential dichotomy formed between Rehoboam and Menelik, something that Abel took particular care to note in his history. Rehoboam had grown into a skilled statesman; he was polite, diplomatic, and had a keen sense for politics. He was everything that Solomon was intellectually. A man that sought wisdom, with a restrained temperament and calm disposition. But many spoke of weak Ōtsutsuki genetics in him; it seemed that the elder son did not inherent any of the Mage King’s gifts. This contrasted to Menelik’s immense talent for combat. He had awakened his Byakugan by the age of seven, which contrasted with Rehoboam’s inability to activate the bloodline at all. Menelik had a mind for battle. He was hotheaded, impatient yet strategic, with a temper that often drove him to arguments and violence. He had little interest in intellectual topics, especially history. Abel notes often that Menelik would frequently tease him in the throne room, calling him nothing more than a glorified scribe. These outbursts were often quelled by Sheba and Solomon, but the royal parents could not always be by the young prince’s side. More often than not he overwhelmed his caretakers when his parents were absent. Rehoboam and Menelik were essentially opposites and this reflected in their relationship. The two would argue frequently. Menelik would be frustrated by Rehoboam’s elder brother status and vast breadth of knowledge, while Rehoboam would become frightened when Menelik displayed his Ōtsutsuki heritage. Solomon often appeared troubled during these moments, but said very little.
Abel’s final chapter, The Temple of Solomon, remains incomplete; the historian had died in the final years of Solomon’s reign, passing from old age. The final pages of his work describe a great project that Solomon undertook himself, the construction of the Temple of Solomon. It was Solomon’s personal project that, like his father who constructed the Temple of Nitzevet, would be his final gift to Israel. But the scale that Solomon intended for the temple would have taken years, if not decades, to complete. It was then Solomon would employ the pinnacle of his powers, the primordial energies of Yin and Yang were brought together in a union to access a higher dimension of power that normal humans could not hope to access. Combining this with his immense chakra Solomon shaped and summoned the Seventy-Two Demon Gods as his familiars. The ritual created vessels into the spiritual demons, granting them corporeal form imbued with life. Derived from Yin-Yang Release, the demons could use their powers to shapeshift at will in order to abandon their demonic pillar form for more humanoid bodies. Using their collective immense strength, the demons and Solomon worked to construct the Temple of Solomon within a year, rather than the decades that had originally been projected to complete the work. Abel notes that the temple, while magnificent, was not built to survive time, even though it could have been. Rather, as if a testament to Solomon’s wisdom, it was built to wither away with humanity when no longer cared for. It was a crystallization of Solomon’s philosophy that death is a natural part of life. Abel died in the same year, with the completion of the Temple of Solomon bringing an end to his great work.
In his final year of rule Rehoboam had reached the age of thirty-two, and Solomon secretly acknowledged that it was time to pass the crown to his son in order to fulfill his birthright. Since his revelation Solomon had come to be ageless, with many calling him the Eternal King. Ultimately Solomon knew that it would not be wise for the kingdom to be ruled by one who could escape death. With the Temple of Solomon completed the Mage King decided to vanish in the dead of night. He confided in Queen Sheba that he knew the day healed the blind and deaf boy it was one true moment of freedom that he experienced in his entire life since becoming king, having lived life as simply a device for gods and men. It was that day he could feel himself as Solomon, the human, rather than Solomon, the king. And so, the Mage King vanished, never to be seen again in Jerusalem. Rehoboam succeeded his father shortly after, being coronated within the month. Within the year Queen Sheba passed away peacefully, but storms loomed on the horizon for the Kingdom of Israel. Within five years a crippling rebellion would break out between the two children of Solomon, eerily reminiscent of Absalom’s rebellion nearly half a century ago. Menelik’s revolt had torn the country in two, with his kingdom becoming known as the Kingdom of Judah. Israel would never be united again as the two lines of Solomon were torn in half and would, in time, wither away in the annals of time after a number of wars and famine. Solomon’s legacy was left behind in the form of his riches as well as a single tablet that recorded, for the first time, the existence of the Demon God familiars.
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“Thus, I have never lived for one second as myself. I was just a device named King Solomon.”
After Solomon’s departure from Jerusalem the former king led a largely directionless life, with only a vague notion of achieving wisdom and freedom. Surprisingly, the former king had become quite apathetic for what became of Israel after leaving it, an example of his great indifference toward the finality of humanity. But Solomon had known, from the moment that Menelik had been conceived, of the fate of the kingdom that he and his father David had worked so hard to forge. It wasn’t that he didn’t love his homeland; but he knew that in his heart he must let it go so that it could grow without him, and so he could grow without it. In the days that followed Solomon adopted a new persona; he began to travel the world under the guise of Roman, or Romani. He chose this name as a loving tribute to his wife Sheba; the name Roman derived from romanticism, seeming like the ideal choice for a man who had fallen in love with a woman he viewed as far better than himself. Solomon took to the roads under his new persona, disguising himself as a physician without borders. From Tobusekai to the far western reaches of the Badlands of Earth Solomon tended to humans who suffered. While he did not perform any miracles, he would still tend to their wounds and suffering in the most human way that he knew how.
He quickly discovered that, as a traveling physician, he would meet humans of all different heritages with stories that outnumbered the stars in the sky. He shared in their experiences and grew as a man because of it. For the first time in his life Solomon had direction, and the freedom to pursue it since leaving Jerusalem. It wasn’t only the concept of freedom that enticed him, but that he could pursue true wisdom as God had told him without the shackles of monarchical life. Since building the Great Temple at Jerusalem Solomon had not advanced his understanding of his own familiars. But he had always been intrigued by their existence as spiritual entities that lived within the spectrum of life. Solomon came to experiment with other spirits and demons that would eventually come to form the basis for Goetic Theurgy, Solomon’s practice of imbuing spirits into inanimate ritual daggers and tethering them to vessels. It was the first expansion of the concept of the Seventy-Two Demon Gods, and the first of three teachings in what would become known as the Ars Goetia.
Solomon’s experiments with Goetic Theurgy would serve the first of three lessons in the Key of Solomon, a grimoire that the Mage King wrote in the early first century around the year 105. But Solomon’s experiments were controversial at best. The Divine Workings of Goetia, or Goetic Theurgy, dealt in the realm of the spiritual. In the hierarchy of Solomon’s demons, there exists the Seventy-Two Demon Gods which form the aggregate known as Goetia, the Demon God King. But beneath this hierarchy exist an endless array of demons and spirits which form the lesser tier of spiritual existence. Solomon’s work within Goetic Theurgy began in the year 88, but did not finish until seven years later; it was, in his own words, one of his most trying and difficult undertakings given the dark stain it represents on his own conscience. Goetic Theurgy, compared to the broader Key of Solomon, reveals a much darker history into the Mage King’s life. It gave the Key of Solomon the infamous legacy it holds today.
Solomon’s precursory experiments began with the concept of spirits within physical vessels. His creation of Ars Goetia revealed that spirits can inhabit physical bodies; this reality became true the moment that Solomon, through the Creation of All Things, birthed the physical vessels that the Seventy-Two Demon Gods inhabit. It was a simple question he sought an answer to; can a spirit be bound to a physical vessel, living or non-living, preexisting and not formed from a union of Yin-Yang Release?
Work began examining how a spirit might possess or bind to a living vessel; to the few that had studied Yin Release, this technique would later become known as the Hungry Ghost. A generic spiritual entity that could bind its spiritual energy to that of a living host. Solomon tinkered with the technique to great lengths; his experiments started with attempting to understand the spiritual bond itself, discovering that the spiritual bond was more aptly compared to that of a tether. A tether that could be manipulated and controlled for better or worse of the tethered victim. He would use animals, himself, or even his infirm patients at times to understand this mechanism. Soon he found that the tether could act as a connection between the user’s own chakra and spiritual energy as well as their target’s. The revelation formed the basis for the style of Goetic Theurgy as it is known today. Solomon advanced the study by creating a non-living vessel through Yin Release; aptly he named these creations Athame, ritual daggers that were commonly used throughout the ancient cultures of Tobusekai.
Solomon’s experiments and activities did not go unnoticed, however. A mere two years after Solomon finished the Key of Solomon in 107 another with eyes similar to Solomon’s own pierced through the veil of space and time to see the truth surrounding the King of Magic’s experiments. Someone had begun to interfere in Solomon’s mind, regularly attempting to breach it in order to gain better understanding of his activities. It was Merlin, the Incubus that often called himself the Magus of Flowers, that had been attempting to penetrate into the Mage King’s dreams. Merlin, like Solomon, is someone who exists outside the boundary of humanity. Merlin, a half Incubus and half human, is a famed Dreamwalker, a mage that infiltrates others’ minds through their dreams and interferes in their subconscious.
But Solomon did not rest idle whiel the Magus of Flowers continued his interference; his antics had quickly begun to wear on the Mage King’s patience. It wasn’t long before Solomon developed his own spiritual defenses to protect himself against the continued mental games played by Merlin. The mage’s tactics thus far had been to only briefly penetrate his mind or his dreams, remaining elusive in an ephemeral attempt to pry information from Solomon’s consciousness. Thus, Solomon decided to trap the Magus of Flowers. The arcane was no mystery to the former King of Israel; his childhood surrounded him with a number of mages and arcanists that had developed or studied forms of fighting that erected mental defenses within the mind. Building his knowledge off of his predecessors, as well as using his own mastery over Yin-Yang Release, Solomon came to master the style known as the Spirits of Balance, a school of magecraft that employs the use of Yin-Yang energies to augment the user’s own spiritual defenses and sealing techniques.
The fateful dream that Merlin chose to intrude upon was one of Solomon’s most personal moments with Queen Sheba. The devious Magus of Flowers adopted the visage of Sheba in. Solomon’s dream, believing that his form would fool the Mage King. But Solomon was aware of Merlin’s presence in the dream, yet despite this he played along. And so, the tranquil moment that he shared with Queen Sheba played out as he remembered it. The two sat atop a hill that overlooked the palace of Jerusalem. Sheba rested her hand atop Solomon’s as they sit in the grassy hill, wind gently grazing their fair exotic skin. Solomon reminisced with her, “I once sat upon this hill when my elder brother, Absalom, returned to Jerusalem with an army at his back. It was that day, and only that day, where I felt true sorrow.” Merlin, in the guise of Sheba, turned to her husband and rest her head on his shoulder, nuzzling her hair against his skin. “And now you look upon it with warmth and fondness. Do not burden yourself with the tragedy of the past, my king.” The memory played out identically to how it had when it occurred between Solomon and Sheba then in life and the Mage King often reflects on it as a tender moment. Their conversation drifted from to topic, until Merlin finally broke with the dream itself and inquired to Solomon why he insists on remaining a neutral bystander in the fate of humanity rather than intervention. It was then Solomon ended the charade, shedding light on Merlin’s deception and scolding him for his persistence interference in the minds of others.
Merlin was not dissimilar to Solomon when one ignores their antithetical philosophies. Merlin, like Solomon, is a half-blooded human; he has transcended time and the physical limitations of the human body, allowing him to live eternally – perhaps even older than Solomon himself. It led Merlin to exist outside of the human experience; but unlike Solomon, who lived with a dispassionate and almost cold indifference to human suffering in general, Merlin felt a burning love for the history that humans forged. Because of this Merlin frequently, almost to a fault, interferes in the lives of humans. Both were highly skilled mages and combatants, having mastered Yin-Yang Release to the highest possible point. Yet Merlin, as an embodiment for the future of humanity and the light it brings, had mastered Yang. While Solomon, an embodiment of the past, mastered Yin. But the two mages differ on a fundamental philosophical level; one believes in inference while the other remains stubborn in keeping divinity from influencing the fate of humanity.
As Solomon trapped Merlin, the dream faded to black. The once shining hills of Jerusalem melted into nothingness as the mental defenses erected by Spirits of Balance returned the two subconscious entities back into the confines of Solomon’s fortified mind. There Merlin was locked within a mental cage of sorts, unable to escape; he was helpless before the King of Magic. Uncharacteristically, Solomon mocked the Magus of Flowers for his uselessness and inability to see what was so obviously set in front of his own eyes; all Merlin could do was concede that his own Clairvoyance had indeed failed to perceive such a trap set by the Mage King. Perhaps he had grown too used to interfering in the lives of commoners often, leading him to grow dull against a skilled opponent. Once the mocking had subsided Solomon willed the Spirits of Balance to transport them to Ars Paulina, a subsection of Solomon’s consciousness dedicated for his own inner spiritual workshop, separated from physical reality in the void space of his mind. With Merlin still trapped, the two began conversing; but not as enemies, rather as equals. Some would even say they became friends. The conversation fluctuated between heated arguments and mocking to speaking about their favorite experiences in life, their time as mages, and the secrets that they had learned along the way.
Their conversation continued for what felt like hours in a subconscious reality separated from space and time. But in truth, only a few moments had passed in the real world where Solomon was still soundly sleeping in a simple tent on the outskirts of a battlefield between two neighboring tribes. But soon the conversation drifted to another peculiar topic of interests of Solomon’s: The Kingdom of Camelot. Camelot existed parallel to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, but Arthur had yet to take the throne during Solomon’s reign. Camelot had been situated on the opposite western edge of Tobusekai, near where the modern-day Avalon is situated. Camelot hadn’t shaped itself into a monarchy until after Rehoboam and Menelik’s civil war, tearing Israel in half. Many refugees of that civil war fled west to the coastal cities under Camelot’s protection. The migration transformed what was originally a disparate collection of city-states into a fully functioning unified monarchy, coalescing into what would become known as the Kingdom of Camelot by the year 108. The burgeoning city was ruled by King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, an elite warrior-knight aristocracy that controlled the city and the surrounding regions. They took it upon themselves to protect the poor, weary, and those in need and eventually formed a functioning kingdom around them.
But Merlin’s interest in Camelot was not strictly with King Arthur, but also with two relatively unknown children at the time: the twins that were born to one of the greatest knights known to the young kingdom, Sir Lancelot, Knight of the Lake. At the time the two children did not even live in Camelot yet; they lived in a village on the outskirts of the city with their mother Elaine. . The twins, one boy and one girl, were named Galahad and Amara respectively, born just over a year ago. Interestingly, they were bastard children; Elaine had conceived them out of wedlock with Lancelot sometime prior. Solomon was saddened at the knowledge of them; with their Clairvoyance the two mages knew the fate that would befall Camelot, and them. It was a moment of sorrow for Merlin, having found the children to be remarkably beautiful despite being born of wedlock. He recalled seeing her beautiful brown hair and its contrast with Galahad’s golden-blonde curls. But Solomon interrupted the Magus of Flowers, warning him that such feelings were exactly what would lead to the downfall of Camelot. He warned that Merlin’s own interfering in the lives of the Knights would end up indirectly bringing ruin upon the city anyway, having seen Mordred’s rebellion against the kingdom. But despite both men knowing this, they had still come to different conclusions based on their premonitions. Merlin insisted that no matter what he would intervene in their lives and give them the training they needed to prepare to embrace their destinies, no matter how cruel. Solomon bemoaned Merlin, imploring him to see the true suffering his actions would cause and the unnatural end to a kingdom that had done so much good. But Merlin refused to surrender his ideals; he believed that it was far more important Galahad achieve his destiny as the Grandmaster of the Knights Radiant, while Amara would go on to become the master of the Fallen Knights. Solomon scowled at the thought, knowing that such a destiny would see Amara trapped for over six hundred years in lonely isolation, locked within a seal that none could escape. All because Merlin would intervene in their lives and eventually bring about the fall of Camelot.
Eventually their time together came to an end. Despite Solomon’s own protests and conflict, he freed Merlin from his bindings in Ars Paulina. It left Solomon pondering the situation that would, within less than two decades, befall Camelot and leave nothing but ruins and sadness. It was clear that Merlin’s ultimate design was to see the rise of Avalon and the Knights Radiant, even if it meant fabricating a false destiny for these children. The King of Magic was vexed, still unable to understand why Merlin felt so strongly that the Knights Radiant would be more important than thousands of innocent human lives. It was sentencing Camelot to a death sentence it did not deserve, and two children to a life of hatred and revilement. He sighed in frustration, deciding to personally observe the children of Light and Darkness himself.
The following year Solomon made his return trip to Tobusekai, the first in decades; but his journey was not meant to take him to the ruins of Jerusalem or Israel, but instead to Camelot’s gates under the guise of Romani. Since adopting his new name the pseudonym Romani developed its own disguise; a young, tall, fluffy-red haired doctor with a gentle face that hid Solomon’s ancient history.
Four decades had passed since the downfall of Israel; the kingdom, which had split into Judah and Israel Proper bore no resemblance to Solomon’s unified and strengthened kingdom. His children had since died, yet his bloodline lived on through the remainder of the House of David. But his family’s power and prestige had waned. Memories of Solomon were lost now in the annals of history. Only historians and various arcanists recalled his name, and fewer did so fondly. But the passage of time and history hardly bothered him. It was the natural progression of time; the wearing of a stone in a desert as the winds swept across it for the centuries. Despite having already been aware of the children, gazing on their young lives from afar, and knowing of their futures, the Mage King wanted to see them in person. He wanted to understand them in the same way that he came to understand his patients from his journey as a physician. Arriving in Camelot hadn’t been particularly spectacular; disguised as Romani, Solomon often kept to himself. But once there he could feel Merlin’s presence, leaving a scowl across Solomon’s face.
It began in modest observation; watching Galahad train as Lancelot’s squire at the training grounds in Camelot preparing to becoming a fully fledged Knight of the Round Table. He watched from afar, observing Galahad practicing with an assortment of weapons in a well-kept arena. Swords, spears, bows, horseback, jousting, running, and calisthenics; it was a tranquil time, with the sun shining above in the exotic lands of Tobusekai. Women and children often came from afar in the kingdom to watch the knights train, and Galahad frequently amassed an audience. His reputation for being a prodigal squire had proceeded him, bolstered by his own famed bloodline and relationship to Lancelot. To the crowd it was a well-known fact that Galahad would join his father among the ranks of the Round Table.
Solomon quietly slipped through the crowd to seek out Amara, Galahad’s fraternal twin sister. Unlike Galahad, who had devoted his life to training to become a knight, Amara was much more in tune with Solomon’s own passions. The two shared a love for history and law, an obvious connection given that Solomon’s own time as king was devoted toward governance, law, and order within the Kingdom of Israel. In that sense, they were both scholars seeking knowledge. But the two also differed on a number of philosophical differences that echoed the rivaling philosophies between Merlin and Solomon. Amara, like Merlin, was willing to intervene on a scale that went above and beyond even the Magus of Flowers. Solomon knew this quite intimately, having seen the tragic future where she would meet her end at Galahad’s hands, sealed away until the year 808 during the Grandmaster’s Great Hunt. Despite Amara and her Fallen’s rebellion against Galahad’s Paradigm of Radiance, the two factions within the clan were remarkably similar. The two were perfect representations of intervention in humanity, something that the King of Magic greatly disapproved of. They used their powers, chakra gifted from their blood line, to overturn and manipulate the course of humanity and human history. But unlike Solomon and Merlin, who were inhuman and outside of the natural human experience, Amara and her Fallen were within those boundaries.
That evening Solomon spent the night observing Amara; by now Amara and Galahad’s lives had diverged considerably. Galahad trained as his father’s squire on a daily basis while Amara either remained at home, or studied in Lancelot’s library. She performed mundane chromes, such as cooking, cleaning, and sewing. Solomon take note that the monotony of her tasks was often replaced with hours of reading in Lancelot’s study, even when it left her other chores in the background. Some of the books even immersed the young Darkness in arcane mysteries of Solomon’s generation, over a century ago. As Romani he kept his distance, and would often use his Byakugan to peer into Lancelot’s manner to read along with her; one book, much to Solomon’s surprise, was the Wisdom of King Solomon, by Abel.
What had it been about a fledgling knight and his scholarly sister that Solomon had been so intrigued by? In a mere two years Galahad would begin his trials to join the Knights of the Round Table. Solomon had been sure to attend it, carefully watching Merlin in the crowd as the final battle began between Percival and Galahad. Silence overtook the arena as the soon-to-be knight faced Percival, one of the most decorated of Arthur’s knights. Even Solomon, who had already seen the outcome of their battle, sat at the edge of his seat as Romani, his gaze transfixed on Galahad’s blade as it swung for the first time and clashed with Percival’s. The battle drew on, but Solomon knew that it likely felt as if the two had been fighting for hours when in reality only minutes had passed. Blow for blow the young Galahad kept up with Percival, a knight who had been seasoned for decades. Each time their swords clashed and the sound of finely forged metal echoed through the arena the crowd would gasp, anticipating for one of the combatants to finally be worn down enough to drop their blade. But it was a moment that never came; Galahad was swiftly disarmed in a sudden maneuver that caught him off guard. And while defeated, the young knight was offered a hand by Percival to stand. King Arthur announced with a smile that Galahad had passed: he was officially a Knight of the Round Table. And as the crowd jubilantly roared Solomon stood up, a half smile spread across his face but pained by the knowledge that it was ultimately Merlin’s doing. It was, in Solomon’s eyes, a history that should not have been; the Incubus had engineered these events over a decade ago.
But despite having spent nearly two years in Camelot watching Amara and Galahad grow and mature, Solomon never directly inserted himself into their lives. It wouldn’t be until three centuries after Amara was sealed that the King of Magic would come to meet Galahad in person. Solomon left before the Fall of Camelot, deciding to travel eastward again. But this time toward the land of Israel. He had no desire to stay within the city when inevitable chaos erupted following Sir Lancelot’s betrayal.
He quickly discovered that, as a traveling physician, he would meet humans of all different heritages with stories that outnumbered the stars in the sky. He shared in their experiences and grew as a man because of it. For the first time in his life Solomon had direction, and the freedom to pursue it since leaving Jerusalem. It wasn’t only the concept of freedom that enticed him, but that he could pursue true wisdom as God had told him without the shackles of monarchical life. Since building the Great Temple at Jerusalem Solomon had not advanced his understanding of his own familiars. But he had always been intrigued by their existence as spiritual entities that lived within the spectrum of life. Solomon came to experiment with other spirits and demons that would eventually come to form the basis for Goetic Theurgy, Solomon’s practice of imbuing spirits into inanimate ritual daggers and tethering them to vessels. It was the first expansion of the concept of the Seventy-Two Demon Gods, and the first of three teachings in what would become known as the Ars Goetia.
Solomon’s experiments with Goetic Theurgy would serve the first of three lessons in the Key of Solomon, a grimoire that the Mage King wrote in the early first century around the year 105. But Solomon’s experiments were controversial at best. The Divine Workings of Goetia, or Goetic Theurgy, dealt in the realm of the spiritual. In the hierarchy of Solomon’s demons, there exists the Seventy-Two Demon Gods which form the aggregate known as Goetia, the Demon God King. But beneath this hierarchy exist an endless array of demons and spirits which form the lesser tier of spiritual existence. Solomon’s work within Goetic Theurgy began in the year 88, but did not finish until seven years later; it was, in his own words, one of his most trying and difficult undertakings given the dark stain it represents on his own conscience. Goetic Theurgy, compared to the broader Key of Solomon, reveals a much darker history into the Mage King’s life. It gave the Key of Solomon the infamous legacy it holds today.
Solomon’s precursory experiments began with the concept of spirits within physical vessels. His creation of Ars Goetia revealed that spirits can inhabit physical bodies; this reality became true the moment that Solomon, through the Creation of All Things, birthed the physical vessels that the Seventy-Two Demon Gods inhabit. It was a simple question he sought an answer to; can a spirit be bound to a physical vessel, living or non-living, preexisting and not formed from a union of Yin-Yang Release?
Work began examining how a spirit might possess or bind to a living vessel; to the few that had studied Yin Release, this technique would later become known as the Hungry Ghost. A generic spiritual entity that could bind its spiritual energy to that of a living host. Solomon tinkered with the technique to great lengths; his experiments started with attempting to understand the spiritual bond itself, discovering that the spiritual bond was more aptly compared to that of a tether. A tether that could be manipulated and controlled for better or worse of the tethered victim. He would use animals, himself, or even his infirm patients at times to understand this mechanism. Soon he found that the tether could act as a connection between the user’s own chakra and spiritual energy as well as their target’s. The revelation formed the basis for the style of Goetic Theurgy as it is known today. Solomon advanced the study by creating a non-living vessel through Yin Release; aptly he named these creations Athame, ritual daggers that were commonly used throughout the ancient cultures of Tobusekai.
Solomon’s experiments and activities did not go unnoticed, however. A mere two years after Solomon finished the Key of Solomon in 107 another with eyes similar to Solomon’s own pierced through the veil of space and time to see the truth surrounding the King of Magic’s experiments. Someone had begun to interfere in Solomon’s mind, regularly attempting to breach it in order to gain better understanding of his activities. It was Merlin, the Incubus that often called himself the Magus of Flowers, that had been attempting to penetrate into the Mage King’s dreams. Merlin, like Solomon, is someone who exists outside the boundary of humanity. Merlin, a half Incubus and half human, is a famed Dreamwalker, a mage that infiltrates others’ minds through their dreams and interferes in their subconscious.
But Solomon did not rest idle whiel the Magus of Flowers continued his interference; his antics had quickly begun to wear on the Mage King’s patience. It wasn’t long before Solomon developed his own spiritual defenses to protect himself against the continued mental games played by Merlin. The mage’s tactics thus far had been to only briefly penetrate his mind or his dreams, remaining elusive in an ephemeral attempt to pry information from Solomon’s consciousness. Thus, Solomon decided to trap the Magus of Flowers. The arcane was no mystery to the former King of Israel; his childhood surrounded him with a number of mages and arcanists that had developed or studied forms of fighting that erected mental defenses within the mind. Building his knowledge off of his predecessors, as well as using his own mastery over Yin-Yang Release, Solomon came to master the style known as the Spirits of Balance, a school of magecraft that employs the use of Yin-Yang energies to augment the user’s own spiritual defenses and sealing techniques.
The fateful dream that Merlin chose to intrude upon was one of Solomon’s most personal moments with Queen Sheba. The devious Magus of Flowers adopted the visage of Sheba in. Solomon’s dream, believing that his form would fool the Mage King. But Solomon was aware of Merlin’s presence in the dream, yet despite this he played along. And so, the tranquil moment that he shared with Queen Sheba played out as he remembered it. The two sat atop a hill that overlooked the palace of Jerusalem. Sheba rested her hand atop Solomon’s as they sit in the grassy hill, wind gently grazing their fair exotic skin. Solomon reminisced with her, “I once sat upon this hill when my elder brother, Absalom, returned to Jerusalem with an army at his back. It was that day, and only that day, where I felt true sorrow.” Merlin, in the guise of Sheba, turned to her husband and rest her head on his shoulder, nuzzling her hair against his skin. “And now you look upon it with warmth and fondness. Do not burden yourself with the tragedy of the past, my king.” The memory played out identically to how it had when it occurred between Solomon and Sheba then in life and the Mage King often reflects on it as a tender moment. Their conversation drifted from to topic, until Merlin finally broke with the dream itself and inquired to Solomon why he insists on remaining a neutral bystander in the fate of humanity rather than intervention. It was then Solomon ended the charade, shedding light on Merlin’s deception and scolding him for his persistence interference in the minds of others.
Merlin was not dissimilar to Solomon when one ignores their antithetical philosophies. Merlin, like Solomon, is a half-blooded human; he has transcended time and the physical limitations of the human body, allowing him to live eternally – perhaps even older than Solomon himself. It led Merlin to exist outside of the human experience; but unlike Solomon, who lived with a dispassionate and almost cold indifference to human suffering in general, Merlin felt a burning love for the history that humans forged. Because of this Merlin frequently, almost to a fault, interferes in the lives of humans. Both were highly skilled mages and combatants, having mastered Yin-Yang Release to the highest possible point. Yet Merlin, as an embodiment for the future of humanity and the light it brings, had mastered Yang. While Solomon, an embodiment of the past, mastered Yin. But the two mages differ on a fundamental philosophical level; one believes in inference while the other remains stubborn in keeping divinity from influencing the fate of humanity.
As Solomon trapped Merlin, the dream faded to black. The once shining hills of Jerusalem melted into nothingness as the mental defenses erected by Spirits of Balance returned the two subconscious entities back into the confines of Solomon’s fortified mind. There Merlin was locked within a mental cage of sorts, unable to escape; he was helpless before the King of Magic. Uncharacteristically, Solomon mocked the Magus of Flowers for his uselessness and inability to see what was so obviously set in front of his own eyes; all Merlin could do was concede that his own Clairvoyance had indeed failed to perceive such a trap set by the Mage King. Perhaps he had grown too used to interfering in the lives of commoners often, leading him to grow dull against a skilled opponent. Once the mocking had subsided Solomon willed the Spirits of Balance to transport them to Ars Paulina, a subsection of Solomon’s consciousness dedicated for his own inner spiritual workshop, separated from physical reality in the void space of his mind. With Merlin still trapped, the two began conversing; but not as enemies, rather as equals. Some would even say they became friends. The conversation fluctuated between heated arguments and mocking to speaking about their favorite experiences in life, their time as mages, and the secrets that they had learned along the way.
Their conversation continued for what felt like hours in a subconscious reality separated from space and time. But in truth, only a few moments had passed in the real world where Solomon was still soundly sleeping in a simple tent on the outskirts of a battlefield between two neighboring tribes. But soon the conversation drifted to another peculiar topic of interests of Solomon’s: The Kingdom of Camelot. Camelot existed parallel to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, but Arthur had yet to take the throne during Solomon’s reign. Camelot had been situated on the opposite western edge of Tobusekai, near where the modern-day Avalon is situated. Camelot hadn’t shaped itself into a monarchy until after Rehoboam and Menelik’s civil war, tearing Israel in half. Many refugees of that civil war fled west to the coastal cities under Camelot’s protection. The migration transformed what was originally a disparate collection of city-states into a fully functioning unified monarchy, coalescing into what would become known as the Kingdom of Camelot by the year 108. The burgeoning city was ruled by King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, an elite warrior-knight aristocracy that controlled the city and the surrounding regions. They took it upon themselves to protect the poor, weary, and those in need and eventually formed a functioning kingdom around them.
But Merlin’s interest in Camelot was not strictly with King Arthur, but also with two relatively unknown children at the time: the twins that were born to one of the greatest knights known to the young kingdom, Sir Lancelot, Knight of the Lake. At the time the two children did not even live in Camelot yet; they lived in a village on the outskirts of the city with their mother Elaine. . The twins, one boy and one girl, were named Galahad and Amara respectively, born just over a year ago. Interestingly, they were bastard children; Elaine had conceived them out of wedlock with Lancelot sometime prior. Solomon was saddened at the knowledge of them; with their Clairvoyance the two mages knew the fate that would befall Camelot, and them. It was a moment of sorrow for Merlin, having found the children to be remarkably beautiful despite being born of wedlock. He recalled seeing her beautiful brown hair and its contrast with Galahad’s golden-blonde curls. But Solomon interrupted the Magus of Flowers, warning him that such feelings were exactly what would lead to the downfall of Camelot. He warned that Merlin’s own interfering in the lives of the Knights would end up indirectly bringing ruin upon the city anyway, having seen Mordred’s rebellion against the kingdom. But despite both men knowing this, they had still come to different conclusions based on their premonitions. Merlin insisted that no matter what he would intervene in their lives and give them the training they needed to prepare to embrace their destinies, no matter how cruel. Solomon bemoaned Merlin, imploring him to see the true suffering his actions would cause and the unnatural end to a kingdom that had done so much good. But Merlin refused to surrender his ideals; he believed that it was far more important Galahad achieve his destiny as the Grandmaster of the Knights Radiant, while Amara would go on to become the master of the Fallen Knights. Solomon scowled at the thought, knowing that such a destiny would see Amara trapped for over six hundred years in lonely isolation, locked within a seal that none could escape. All because Merlin would intervene in their lives and eventually bring about the fall of Camelot.
“Your interference will cost thousand of lives. And for what? To inflict tragedy upon two innocent children? Had you not convinced Lancelot to take them instead of turning them away, then Camelot never would have fallen, the siblings would have led peaceful lives, and the Great Schism would never have happened. Thousand of lives weighed against two mere children. The answer should have been clear!”
Eventually their time together came to an end. Despite Solomon’s own protests and conflict, he freed Merlin from his bindings in Ars Paulina. It left Solomon pondering the situation that would, within less than two decades, befall Camelot and leave nothing but ruins and sadness. It was clear that Merlin’s ultimate design was to see the rise of Avalon and the Knights Radiant, even if it meant fabricating a false destiny for these children. The King of Magic was vexed, still unable to understand why Merlin felt so strongly that the Knights Radiant would be more important than thousands of innocent human lives. It was sentencing Camelot to a death sentence it did not deserve, and two children to a life of hatred and revilement. He sighed in frustration, deciding to personally observe the children of Light and Darkness himself.
The following year Solomon made his return trip to Tobusekai, the first in decades; but his journey was not meant to take him to the ruins of Jerusalem or Israel, but instead to Camelot’s gates under the guise of Romani. Since adopting his new name the pseudonym Romani developed its own disguise; a young, tall, fluffy-red haired doctor with a gentle face that hid Solomon’s ancient history.
Four decades had passed since the downfall of Israel; the kingdom, which had split into Judah and Israel Proper bore no resemblance to Solomon’s unified and strengthened kingdom. His children had since died, yet his bloodline lived on through the remainder of the House of David. But his family’s power and prestige had waned. Memories of Solomon were lost now in the annals of history. Only historians and various arcanists recalled his name, and fewer did so fondly. But the passage of time and history hardly bothered him. It was the natural progression of time; the wearing of a stone in a desert as the winds swept across it for the centuries. Despite having already been aware of the children, gazing on their young lives from afar, and knowing of their futures, the Mage King wanted to see them in person. He wanted to understand them in the same way that he came to understand his patients from his journey as a physician. Arriving in Camelot hadn’t been particularly spectacular; disguised as Romani, Solomon often kept to himself. But once there he could feel Merlin’s presence, leaving a scowl across Solomon’s face.
It began in modest observation; watching Galahad train as Lancelot’s squire at the training grounds in Camelot preparing to becoming a fully fledged Knight of the Round Table. He watched from afar, observing Galahad practicing with an assortment of weapons in a well-kept arena. Swords, spears, bows, horseback, jousting, running, and calisthenics; it was a tranquil time, with the sun shining above in the exotic lands of Tobusekai. Women and children often came from afar in the kingdom to watch the knights train, and Galahad frequently amassed an audience. His reputation for being a prodigal squire had proceeded him, bolstered by his own famed bloodline and relationship to Lancelot. To the crowd it was a well-known fact that Galahad would join his father among the ranks of the Round Table.
“It had all been set in motion by Merlin. Fabricated history.”
Solomon quietly slipped through the crowd to seek out Amara, Galahad’s fraternal twin sister. Unlike Galahad, who had devoted his life to training to become a knight, Amara was much more in tune with Solomon’s own passions. The two shared a love for history and law, an obvious connection given that Solomon’s own time as king was devoted toward governance, law, and order within the Kingdom of Israel. In that sense, they were both scholars seeking knowledge. But the two also differed on a number of philosophical differences that echoed the rivaling philosophies between Merlin and Solomon. Amara, like Merlin, was willing to intervene on a scale that went above and beyond even the Magus of Flowers. Solomon knew this quite intimately, having seen the tragic future where she would meet her end at Galahad’s hands, sealed away until the year 808 during the Grandmaster’s Great Hunt. Despite Amara and her Fallen’s rebellion against Galahad’s Paradigm of Radiance, the two factions within the clan were remarkably similar. The two were perfect representations of intervention in humanity, something that the King of Magic greatly disapproved of. They used their powers, chakra gifted from their blood line, to overturn and manipulate the course of humanity and human history. But unlike Solomon and Merlin, who were inhuman and outside of the natural human experience, Amara and her Fallen were within those boundaries.
That evening Solomon spent the night observing Amara; by now Amara and Galahad’s lives had diverged considerably. Galahad trained as his father’s squire on a daily basis while Amara either remained at home, or studied in Lancelot’s library. She performed mundane chromes, such as cooking, cleaning, and sewing. Solomon take note that the monotony of her tasks was often replaced with hours of reading in Lancelot’s study, even when it left her other chores in the background. Some of the books even immersed the young Darkness in arcane mysteries of Solomon’s generation, over a century ago. As Romani he kept his distance, and would often use his Byakugan to peer into Lancelot’s manner to read along with her; one book, much to Solomon’s surprise, was the Wisdom of King Solomon, by Abel.
What had it been about a fledgling knight and his scholarly sister that Solomon had been so intrigued by? In a mere two years Galahad would begin his trials to join the Knights of the Round Table. Solomon had been sure to attend it, carefully watching Merlin in the crowd as the final battle began between Percival and Galahad. Silence overtook the arena as the soon-to-be knight faced Percival, one of the most decorated of Arthur’s knights. Even Solomon, who had already seen the outcome of their battle, sat at the edge of his seat as Romani, his gaze transfixed on Galahad’s blade as it swung for the first time and clashed with Percival’s. The battle drew on, but Solomon knew that it likely felt as if the two had been fighting for hours when in reality only minutes had passed. Blow for blow the young Galahad kept up with Percival, a knight who had been seasoned for decades. Each time their swords clashed and the sound of finely forged metal echoed through the arena the crowd would gasp, anticipating for one of the combatants to finally be worn down enough to drop their blade. But it was a moment that never came; Galahad was swiftly disarmed in a sudden maneuver that caught him off guard. And while defeated, the young knight was offered a hand by Percival to stand. King Arthur announced with a smile that Galahad had passed: he was officially a Knight of the Round Table. And as the crowd jubilantly roared Solomon stood up, a half smile spread across his face but pained by the knowledge that it was ultimately Merlin’s doing. It was, in Solomon’s eyes, a history that should not have been; the Incubus had engineered these events over a decade ago.
But despite having spent nearly two years in Camelot watching Amara and Galahad grow and mature, Solomon never directly inserted himself into their lives. It wouldn’t be until three centuries after Amara was sealed that the King of Magic would come to meet Galahad in person. Solomon left before the Fall of Camelot, deciding to travel eastward again. But this time toward the land of Israel. He had no desire to stay within the city when inevitable chaos erupted following Sir Lancelot’s betrayal.
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Humans are imperfect. They endure their pain and loss and live with their contradictions. But what of an almighty king? A king with the power and means to set matters right? Then it’s a different matter entirely.” – Goetia
Solomon’s Seventy-Two Demon God familiars are a direct product of the single revelation he had during his tenure as King of Israel. As legend states, the ten rings he received after his divine dreams would later become known as the Seal of Solomon – his tool to create, control, and summon his Demon God familiars. The Demon Gods, before their inception as living entities, existed as metaphysical concepts in collective human lore. Thus, he applied his imagination to the lore surrounding the demons and granted these metaphysical entities form through his Yin powers. Then, with Yang, imbued them with life. The Seventy-Two familiars acknowledge Solomon in three ways, sometimes paradoxically. The Demon Gods see him as their father, having given them form and life to their former metaphysical existence. They see Solomon as their master, being the one man who gave them purpose due to his divine revelations. But most interestingly the Demon Gods see themselves as Solomon – almost as if a reflection of the King of Magic.
The collective lore of the spirits initially employed by Solomon caused the Demon Gods to take on a humanoid appearance when assuming a physical form. This humanoid appearance is the result of a mixture of angelic and demonic lore; the latter causing the Demon Gods to take on the appearance of a cephalopodic tentacle with rings of eyes surrounding its body. This shape gave the familiars the title Demon God Pillars. Because of this, any of the Seventy-Two can take on either appearance at will. Solomon’s initial purpose assigned to the Demon Gods was the creation of Solomon’s grand Temple. He instructed the Demon Gods to create such a magnificent temple that would be remembered for the rest of Eastern history, but was careful to instruct the Demon Gods to not build it to stand the eternal test of time. It was the first lesson he tried to impart upon his Seventy-Two familiars: that the concepts of ‘the end’ and finality are meaningful events.
Once his legacy as King had been established through the construction of the Temple, Solomon turned his attention toward his legacy as Mage. Initially the familiars were only creations formed from Solomon’s pursuit of wisdom, and a deep curiosity for the knowledge that was imparted by his revelations. But aside from this, they had no purpose, no ultimate and greater design. And so, as Solomon prepared to abdicate from his Throne, he realized that he would continue to watch over humanity even in the event of his death. He realized that the Demon Gods, who were essentially reflections of himself, could carry out this task in their immortal bodies. This came to be known as the Human Order Correction Ritual. Solomon tasked the Seventy-Two with the mandate to watch over humanity; and in a time where crisis reigned or common sense failed, then the Demon Gods would step in to interfere. Despite their task being antithetical to Solomon’s own philosophy, he knew in the depths of his mind that there could come a day where humanity would need to be saved from a greater darkness.
But the King of Magic was faced with a crucial problem: the organization of the Seventy-Two familiars. To have seventy-two individual personalities, no matter how similar to Solomon himself, operate in tandem presented a difficult problem. It would always end with multiple Demon Gods vying for primacy over the others, given that each would formulate its own method of achieving the Human Order Correction in the most effective and efficient way. In order to achieve balance among the familiars Solomon decided to create what would amount to effectively a seventy-third Demon God. Solomon, once again tapping into the primordial energies of Yin-Yang, created Goetia, the Demon God King through the Creation of All Things. Goetia was born to be the aggregate of all Seventy-Two Demon God familiars, a combination of their personalities and powers to form the ultimate being. Goetia, like Solomon, was born to be ‘outside’ of the human experience. He was created as a blank slate, and taught by Solomon to love the humans no matter their imperfections. As the most powerful of the Seventy-Two Demon Gods, Goetia would act to sustain order and give direction to the familiars in times of Solomon’s absence. Given the magnitude of his powers, as a combination of all Demon Gods, and as Solomon’s own reflection, Goetia came to be able to utilize Yin-Yang Release to the same level of precision as Solomon himself.
Goetia, like the rest of the Seventy-Two Demon Gods, was tasked with managing and directing the Human Order Correction Ritual. But this was paradoxical to Solomon’s own philosophy. Solomon was a man who believed in restraint; to allow human suffering to take its course, no matter how brutal or tragic it was. He believed that he should only interfere in times of great crisis. But Goetia, in order to carry out the Ritual, needed to be taught differently than Solomon. The Demon God King’s was instructed to interfere at his discretion in times of Solomon’s absence, in order to promote rationality and to protect humanity. This difference in philosophies created a schism between the King of Mages and the King of the Demon Gods. It was Goetia’s timeless struggle; he was unable to accept Solomon’s inaction, yet still recognized him as his father, master, and king.
The collective lore of the spirits initially employed by Solomon caused the Demon Gods to take on a humanoid appearance when assuming a physical form. This humanoid appearance is the result of a mixture of angelic and demonic lore; the latter causing the Demon Gods to take on the appearance of a cephalopodic tentacle with rings of eyes surrounding its body. This shape gave the familiars the title Demon God Pillars. Because of this, any of the Seventy-Two can take on either appearance at will. Solomon’s initial purpose assigned to the Demon Gods was the creation of Solomon’s grand Temple. He instructed the Demon Gods to create such a magnificent temple that would be remembered for the rest of Eastern history, but was careful to instruct the Demon Gods to not build it to stand the eternal test of time. It was the first lesson he tried to impart upon his Seventy-Two familiars: that the concepts of ‘the end’ and finality are meaningful events.
Once his legacy as King had been established through the construction of the Temple, Solomon turned his attention toward his legacy as Mage. Initially the familiars were only creations formed from Solomon’s pursuit of wisdom, and a deep curiosity for the knowledge that was imparted by his revelations. But aside from this, they had no purpose, no ultimate and greater design. And so, as Solomon prepared to abdicate from his Throne, he realized that he would continue to watch over humanity even in the event of his death. He realized that the Demon Gods, who were essentially reflections of himself, could carry out this task in their immortal bodies. This came to be known as the Human Order Correction Ritual. Solomon tasked the Seventy-Two with the mandate to watch over humanity; and in a time where crisis reigned or common sense failed, then the Demon Gods would step in to interfere. Despite their task being antithetical to Solomon’s own philosophy, he knew in the depths of his mind that there could come a day where humanity would need to be saved from a greater darkness.
But the King of Magic was faced with a crucial problem: the organization of the Seventy-Two familiars. To have seventy-two individual personalities, no matter how similar to Solomon himself, operate in tandem presented a difficult problem. It would always end with multiple Demon Gods vying for primacy over the others, given that each would formulate its own method of achieving the Human Order Correction in the most effective and efficient way. In order to achieve balance among the familiars Solomon decided to create what would amount to effectively a seventy-third Demon God. Solomon, once again tapping into the primordial energies of Yin-Yang, created Goetia, the Demon God King through the Creation of All Things. Goetia was born to be the aggregate of all Seventy-Two Demon God familiars, a combination of their personalities and powers to form the ultimate being. Goetia, like Solomon, was born to be ‘outside’ of the human experience. He was created as a blank slate, and taught by Solomon to love the humans no matter their imperfections. As the most powerful of the Seventy-Two Demon Gods, Goetia would act to sustain order and give direction to the familiars in times of Solomon’s absence. Given the magnitude of his powers, as a combination of all Demon Gods, and as Solomon’s own reflection, Goetia came to be able to utilize Yin-Yang Release to the same level of precision as Solomon himself.
Goetia, like the rest of the Seventy-Two Demon Gods, was tasked with managing and directing the Human Order Correction Ritual. But this was paradoxical to Solomon’s own philosophy. Solomon was a man who believed in restraint; to allow human suffering to take its course, no matter how brutal or tragic it was. He believed that he should only interfere in times of great crisis. But Goetia, in order to carry out the Ritual, needed to be taught differently than Solomon. The Demon God King’s was instructed to interfere at his discretion in times of Solomon’s absence, in order to promote rationality and to protect humanity. This difference in philosophies created a schism between the King of Mages and the King of the Demon Gods. It was Goetia’s timeless struggle; he was unable to accept Solomon’s inaction, yet still recognized him as his father, master, and king.
Other Information
Bloodline: Solomon is part of an ancient bloodline of an inhuman race. As the son of David, the Mage King’s bloodline extends back to the Ōtsutsuki family; his being the branch which rules in the northeastern region of Tobusekai. Solomon’s heritage has allowed him to transcend death, showing no natural signs of aging. This, coupled with countless years of training, study, and revelation has also caused Solomon to acquire Six Paths Senjutsu. Naturally imbued into his chakra, the Six Paths Senjutsu affords the King of Magic an additional 1,750 reserves. All of his techniques are augmented by an additional thirty damage. Solomon is also capable of utilizing Shikotsumyaku; its inherent powers allow Solomon to regenerate from damage overtime, recovering from broken bones, small cuts, and non-life-threatening injuries. His strengthened body naturally reduces damage from Taijutsu and matter-based clashes.
The Seal of Solomon: An ancient relic that had been retrieved by King Solomon sometime when he received revelation. The Seal represents Solomon’s title as Mage King and the Sage of Elysium, granting him powers of the dead and demons. In its default state the Seal takes on the form of a signet ring, normally worn on Solomon’s left thumb. However, the ring can change its form to that of a Staff, Ten Rings of Solomon, and that of a Sealing Array.
Truth-Seeking Balls: Solomon is able to manifest Truth-Seeking Balls, or Gudōdama, by combining all five nature transformations with Yin-Yang Release and his own powerful chakra. They are small fist-sized orbs of black malleable chakra; within the orbs is latent immense destructive power, capable of wiping out entire forests in an instant. The orbs can be manipulated at will into whatever shape or form Solomon requires, and are also capable of negating all Ninjutsu through Yin-Yang Release.
Goetic Theurgy: The Divine Workings of Goetia, or Goetic Theurgy, is the first of three lessons in a grimoire composed by Solomon called the Key of Solomon. It is a tome which instructs people on how to summon and control spirits and demons. Its first lesson, Goetic Theurgy, focuses on the conjuration of lesser spirits and to bind them into a physical vessel, be it person, object, or animal. Once bound, the vessel will seek to impose its spiritual energy on another. Through the style Solomon is able to create Athame, a weapon central to the ritual, freely from black Yin chakra.
Goetia, Demon God King: Born from Solomon's use of the Creation of All Things, Goetia is the aggregate of the 72 Demon God familiars and their personalities. Goetia was created to safeguard humanity in the absence of Solomon during times of crisis. The Demon God King stands at 9 feet tall. He possesses a relatively humanoid frame, with white and golden skin that is marred by lines of red trailing upwards from his legs. His most notable features, aside from his unique skin coloration and towering height, are antler-like protrusions from his head that flicker with golden ethereal flames at the ends. He also has a a large violet eye lodged within his chest, and an array of eyes hidden away within his arms under a layer of flesh; their purpose designating Goetia as a watcher and silent guardian. Goetia is gifted with the ability to use Mawscape Release, Force Release, and Mystic Fire Release, as well as Yin-Yang Release. He possesses an immunity to Fūinjutsu and shares a mental link to Solomon. Goetia’s Mystic Flames are violet in color.
Goetia is in many ways a reflection of Solomon, King of Magic. The two share a deep love for humanity, directed through the Human Order Correction Ritual. He carries with him a strong urge to protect them, no matter the cost. Goetia believes human suffering is unjust and should be rectified, a passionate belief that becomes stronger with each tragedy the Demon God King witnesses. Goetia's view of helping humanity is distorted from Solomon's; while the King of Magic believes that it isn't his place to use his arcane skills to elevate humanity above tragedy, death, and suffering, and interfere with the natural order, Goetia believes it is cruel and callous to do nothing. It is something that vexes the Demon God King and his relationship with Solomon, despite the latter's acceptance.
Mystic Fire Release: The King of Magic is a master of Shiraton, or Mystic Fire Release. It is an advanced elemental nature that is the combination of Fire and Lightning Releases, controlled through Fūinjutsu. Mystic Fire is a unique element in the sense that the concentrated chakra ionizes the air, which allows the user to generate either plasma, in the form of fire and bolts, or even tangible forms like solidified explosive fire. Its most notable characteristic is the element’s vast array of colors. Mystic Fire naturally is favored in the violet spectrum, but the concentration of chakra can cause the wavelength to vary from user to user. The element itself is highly disruptive in nature and stores considerable energy within itself through Fūinjutsu. It possesses a trait that Solomon calls ‘absolute neutrality.’ This means that against all elemental natures, and sealing techniques, Mystic Fire holds true neutrality. While Goetia is sealed within the Human Order Correction Ritual Solomon is capable of using Mystic Fire Release without the need for hand seals, and his Mystic Flames are produced with a golden coloration. Goetia’s flames appear a dark purple. Solomon and Goetia’s energy techniques are also naturally imbued with trace amounts of Shiraton causing them to passively alter their coloration through the Pillars of Creation.
Dōjutsu: Grand Caster possesses the Byakugan, something he at times calls his Clairvoyance. He can activate the technique passively, conferring a near perfect 360 degree vision and telescopic sight. In his later years he ascended his Byakugan to the Tenseigan, allowing him to transition between the Dōjutsu at will. The Tenseigan, while it sheds its perfect vision and telescopic sight, still allows Solomon to see chakra with clarity. The evolution grants him the power to manipulate gravity, as well as to make use of the Tenseigan Chakra Mode.
Fūinjutsu: Solomon’s body is adorned with an assortment of seals woven within his complex array of tattoos. The Kanji “Eternal” is placed on his left triceps, a seal with the Kanji “Repository” is attached to his inner robe, and a third seal marked as the Forty-Seven Ronin is inscribed on his left pectoral. He wears an ornate band on his left wrist, an artifact of the Uzumaki Clan known as the Mayer’ Band. Beneath his stomach he has the seal for “Maintain,” which erects a barrier around his person that prevents others from distorting time and space. On his abdomen he has the seal for “Incarnation.” The seal serves to confine the Demon God King within Solomon’s body; while sealed Solomon gains all of Goetia’s skills and abilities, can use Mystic Fire Release without hand seals, and many of his skills are augmented in strength.
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The Seal of Solomon: An ancient relic that had been retrieved by King Solomon sometime when he received revelation. The Seal represents Solomon’s title as Mage King and the Sage of Elysium, granting him powers of the dead and demons. In its default state the Seal takes on the form of a signet ring, normally worn on Solomon’s left thumb. However, the ring can change its form to that of a Staff, Ten Rings of Solomon, and that of a Sealing Array.
( Soromon no Inkan ) - Seal of Solomon
Type: Artifact
Rank: S
Range: Short - Long
Chakra: 40 per active ability use (-10 per turn)
Damage: 100 damage for Seal Form
Description: The Seal of Solomon is an artifact of unknown origin, rumored to be from a time and place far from our own. Due to its powers over the dead, the Seal of Solomon gained a reputation of a necromancer's greatest dream, the ability to govern the souls of the dead in a way both similar and unlike that of Edo Tensei. Despite it's name, the Seal of Solomon does not refer to a written script, but a signet atop a ring. Usually worn on the thumb as a singular, this ring is capable of passively changing it's form, depending on the ability it utilizes. When worn, the user becomes capable of utilizing any and all spiritual techniques without need for seal, including but limited to Genjutsu and Yin Release as well as grants a complete spiritual immunity to techniques of A rank and lower, including damage and side effects. Souls summoned by the Seal of Solomon remain loyal to the user regardless of previous association and attachment, being incapable of being swayed by Yin techniques or other abilities to break this bond.
The Seal of Solomon has it's own set of active abilities unlike the passive ones listed above, each attached to a different form the ring is capable of taking. When in Staff Form, the Seal allows the user to summon demons from the past to do his bidding in ways. Unlike Edo tensei, these demons exist as spiritual entities only and can make use of any Spiritual technique the user or the demon itself had in its life with their previous health pool and chakra pool in place. Due to having no physical body, they are immune to physical damage These demons are the souls of anyone defeated within the last 2 pages of the Battle Arena if used there and anyone defeated within the last 3 Ninja World arcs. This allows him to summon demonic versions of previous battlers should he wish it - even if they have yet to die, drawing the demonic energy from them. These entities cannot be sealed nor absorbed by abilities or dissipated by Yin-Yang based abilities. When in the Ten Rings Form, the user is capable of summoning the prince of demons named Asmodeus. Asmodeus, possessing the user, grants heightened demonic and spiritual abilities, shown in the form of re glowing eyes and tattoos. With a sigil appearing across the user's torso, the user's spiritual abilities spike to a point where he is capable of affecting this same energy within opponents via contact; by touching their chest and head simultaneously, the user is capable of sealing the demons within them, purifying their soul and preventing use of any form of energy for 5 turns. This essentially allows him to bend their ability to use energy as he purifies the soul. While in use, the user becomes immune to Yin based techniques though his susceptibility to Yang ones spikes, causing him to take doubled damage from them in this while in use. Other spiritual based modes cannot be in use while this one is. When in actual Seal Form, the user is capable of forming bonds with demons, gaining access to their power in the form of powerful scripts that deal high damage to foes by releasing this demonic energy as bursts of glowing red-gold energy. The user can manipulate this energy once every 5 turns to create blasts of energy with a strength to any elemental nature it meets. However, because of this power, use of this prevents the Seal of Solomon's abilities from working for the same time it takes to reuse this ability, 5 turns. During this time, any and all of the Seal's abilities become defunct and it becomes just a ring.
Note: Use of Sealing Form can only be used once every 5 turns, preventing the user from using any other form in that time.
Note: Use of the Ten Rings Form can only be done 3 times in total, with a 4 time cooldown period.
Rank: S
Range: Short - Long
Chakra: 40 per active ability use (-10 per turn)
Damage: 100 damage for Seal Form
Description: The Seal of Solomon is an artifact of unknown origin, rumored to be from a time and place far from our own. Due to its powers over the dead, the Seal of Solomon gained a reputation of a necromancer's greatest dream, the ability to govern the souls of the dead in a way both similar and unlike that of Edo Tensei. Despite it's name, the Seal of Solomon does not refer to a written script, but a signet atop a ring. Usually worn on the thumb as a singular, this ring is capable of passively changing it's form, depending on the ability it utilizes. When worn, the user becomes capable of utilizing any and all spiritual techniques without need for seal, including but limited to Genjutsu and Yin Release as well as grants a complete spiritual immunity to techniques of A rank and lower, including damage and side effects. Souls summoned by the Seal of Solomon remain loyal to the user regardless of previous association and attachment, being incapable of being swayed by Yin techniques or other abilities to break this bond.
The Seal of Solomon has it's own set of active abilities unlike the passive ones listed above, each attached to a different form the ring is capable of taking. When in Staff Form, the Seal allows the user to summon demons from the past to do his bidding in ways. Unlike Edo tensei, these demons exist as spiritual entities only and can make use of any Spiritual technique the user or the demon itself had in its life with their previous health pool and chakra pool in place. Due to having no physical body, they are immune to physical damage These demons are the souls of anyone defeated within the last 2 pages of the Battle Arena if used there and anyone defeated within the last 3 Ninja World arcs. This allows him to summon demonic versions of previous battlers should he wish it - even if they have yet to die, drawing the demonic energy from them. These entities cannot be sealed nor absorbed by abilities or dissipated by Yin-Yang based abilities. When in the Ten Rings Form, the user is capable of summoning the prince of demons named Asmodeus. Asmodeus, possessing the user, grants heightened demonic and spiritual abilities, shown in the form of re glowing eyes and tattoos. With a sigil appearing across the user's torso, the user's spiritual abilities spike to a point where he is capable of affecting this same energy within opponents via contact; by touching their chest and head simultaneously, the user is capable of sealing the demons within them, purifying their soul and preventing use of any form of energy for 5 turns. This essentially allows him to bend their ability to use energy as he purifies the soul. While in use, the user becomes immune to Yin based techniques though his susceptibility to Yang ones spikes, causing him to take doubled damage from them in this while in use. Other spiritual based modes cannot be in use while this one is. When in actual Seal Form, the user is capable of forming bonds with demons, gaining access to their power in the form of powerful scripts that deal high damage to foes by releasing this demonic energy as bursts of glowing red-gold energy. The user can manipulate this energy once every 5 turns to create blasts of energy with a strength to any elemental nature it meets. However, because of this power, use of this prevents the Seal of Solomon's abilities from working for the same time it takes to reuse this ability, 5 turns. During this time, any and all of the Seal's abilities become defunct and it becomes just a ring.
Note: Use of Sealing Form can only be used once every 5 turns, preventing the user from using any other form in that time.
Note: Use of the Ten Rings Form can only be done 3 times in total, with a 4 time cooldown period.
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Truth-Seeking Balls: Solomon is able to manifest Truth-Seeking Balls, or Gudōdama, by combining all five nature transformations with Yin-Yang Release and his own powerful chakra. They are small fist-sized orbs of black malleable chakra; within the orbs is latent immense destructive power, capable of wiping out entire forests in an instant. The orbs can be manipulated at will into whatever shape or form Solomon requires, and are also capable of negating all Ninjutsu through Yin-Yang Release.
Goetic Theurgy: The Divine Workings of Goetia, or Goetic Theurgy, is the first of three lessons in a grimoire composed by Solomon called the Key of Solomon. It is a tome which instructs people on how to summon and control spirits and demons. Its first lesson, Goetic Theurgy, focuses on the conjuration of lesser spirits and to bind them into a physical vessel, be it person, object, or animal. Once bound, the vessel will seek to impose its spiritual energy on another. Through the style Solomon is able to create Athame, a weapon central to the ritual, freely from black Yin chakra.
Goetia, Demon God King: Born from Solomon's use of the Creation of All Things, Goetia is the aggregate of the 72 Demon God familiars and their personalities. Goetia was created to safeguard humanity in the absence of Solomon during times of crisis. The Demon God King stands at 9 feet tall. He possesses a relatively humanoid frame, with white and golden skin that is marred by lines of red trailing upwards from his legs. His most notable features, aside from his unique skin coloration and towering height, are antler-like protrusions from his head that flicker with golden ethereal flames at the ends. He also has a a large violet eye lodged within his chest, and an array of eyes hidden away within his arms under a layer of flesh; their purpose designating Goetia as a watcher and silent guardian. Goetia is gifted with the ability to use Mawscape Release, Force Release, and Mystic Fire Release, as well as Yin-Yang Release. He possesses an immunity to Fūinjutsu and shares a mental link to Solomon. Goetia’s Mystic Flames are violet in color.
Goetia is in many ways a reflection of Solomon, King of Magic. The two share a deep love for humanity, directed through the Human Order Correction Ritual. He carries with him a strong urge to protect them, no matter the cost. Goetia believes human suffering is unjust and should be rectified, a passionate belief that becomes stronger with each tragedy the Demon God King witnesses. Goetia's view of helping humanity is distorted from Solomon's; while the King of Magic believes that it isn't his place to use his arcane skills to elevate humanity above tragedy, death, and suffering, and interfere with the natural order, Goetia believes it is cruel and callous to do nothing. It is something that vexes the Demon God King and his relationship with Solomon, despite the latter's acceptance.
Mystic Fire Release: The King of Magic is a master of Shiraton, or Mystic Fire Release. It is an advanced elemental nature that is the combination of Fire and Lightning Releases, controlled through Fūinjutsu. Mystic Fire is a unique element in the sense that the concentrated chakra ionizes the air, which allows the user to generate either plasma, in the form of fire and bolts, or even tangible forms like solidified explosive fire. Its most notable characteristic is the element’s vast array of colors. Mystic Fire naturally is favored in the violet spectrum, but the concentration of chakra can cause the wavelength to vary from user to user. The element itself is highly disruptive in nature and stores considerable energy within itself through Fūinjutsu. It possesses a trait that Solomon calls ‘absolute neutrality.’ This means that against all elemental natures, and sealing techniques, Mystic Fire holds true neutrality. While Goetia is sealed within the Human Order Correction Ritual Solomon is capable of using Mystic Fire Release without the need for hand seals, and his Mystic Flames are produced with a golden coloration. Goetia’s flames appear a dark purple. Solomon and Goetia’s energy techniques are also naturally imbued with trace amounts of Shiraton causing them to passively alter their coloration through the Pillars of Creation.
(Shiraton: Sōzō no Hashira) – Mystic Fire Release: Pillars of Creation
Type: Supplementary
Rank: B – S
Range: N/A
Chakra: N/A (+10/20/40 chakra cost to applied technique)
Damage: N/A
Description: Pillars of Creation is considered the ultimate infusion technique utilized in conjunction with energy-based elemental natures (Fire, Lightning, Explosion, etc) as well as barrier Fūinjutsu. As a technique based around the principles of infusion it occurs instantaneously and can be used within the same timeframe as the technique it is applied to. Typically techniques of this category involves an infusion of chakra, in many cases of the same nature, to change numerous aspects of the technique. These can range from a shift in strengths and weaknesses, additional strength, different states and forms, and new and unique effects. This could be compared to ratios and the effects that chakra can have on a technique; the more chakra utilized the greater the changes. As such Pillars of Creation utilizes three separate levels of infusion, each becoming progressively greater. Unique to this technique is that it can be stated in one’s biography to allow for the passive infusion of the user’s energy-based techniques, listed above, causing their coloration to shift in accordance to Mystic Fire’s unique colors. As a passive occurrence this application does not require any chakra and is simply a cosmetic ability of Pillars of Creation. The infusions are as followed:
The First Pillar: This is the B-Rank application of Pillars of Creation and utilizes an infusion of ten chakra. As the simplest infusion this technique causes the effected energy-based technique to gain Mystic Fire’s quality of absolute neutrality. For example, when used on a Fire technique, the applied technique will effectively shed its strengths and weaknesses becoming neutral to all elemental natures. Additionally, this infusion causes the applied technique to gain Mystic Fire’s specialized interactions with sealing/absorptive-based techniques. When an S-Rank Lightning technique is infused with the First Pillar, for example, it will, in addition to gaining the neutrality of Mystic Fire, will also only be able to be sealed or absorbed by a technique of equivalent rank (meaning the rank of the seal or absorbing technique itself, not the rank of what it can seal, must be equivalent). Additionally, the First Pillar cannot be infused on channeling-based energy techniques (e.g. streams of fire).
The Second Pillar: This is the A-Rank application of Pillars of Creation and utilizes an infusion of twenty chakra. The Second Pillar, unlike the first, employs the ability to not only infuse an energy-based technique with Mystic Fire chakra but to convert it to the nature entirely; this effectively converts any energy-based nature, or barrier Fūinjutsu, into Mystic Fire. Because the technique is effectively transformed it will change its inherent color into any color allowed by Mystic Fire Release, namely any color on the visible spectrum while being able to become absolute black, like the flames of Amaterasu. Techniques which radiate heat, like Fire Release, will lose those qualities due to their inherent sealing nature. Additionally, these techniques will gain an additional rank in strength, or twenty additional damage for techniques above S-Rank. The Second Pillar can be used on any number of A-Rank and below techniques but it can only be used four times per battle on S-Rank and above techniques. It also cannot be used in consecutive turns.
The Third Pillar: This is the S-Rank application of Pillars of Creation and utilizes an infusion of forty chakra. Unlike the previous two pillars this Third Pillar only incorporates techniques which employ a partial or fullbody elemental transformation, much like the Hozuki, and must be energy-based in nature. This technique, through an enormous flooding of Mystic Fire chakra, converts any energy-based elemental transformation to become purely Mystic Fire based, while retaining its original abilities and qualities. For example, should a Bakuton based elemental transformation be converted to Mystic Fire it will retain its default explosive qualities while obtaining all qualities of Mystic Fire Release. Additionally, as long as the elemental transformation utilized allows for Fire and Lightning natures to be accessed, the user will still be able to mold chakra for techniques based on the original elemental transformation, even after conversion. The Third Pillar, like the Second, also enhances the applied transformation by an additional rank in strength, or twenty additional damage for techniques above S-Rank. The Third Pillar can be used twice per battle, requiring a two turn cooldown in between uses.
Rank: B – S
Range: N/A
Chakra: N/A (+10/20/40 chakra cost to applied technique)
Damage: N/A
Description: Pillars of Creation is considered the ultimate infusion technique utilized in conjunction with energy-based elemental natures (Fire, Lightning, Explosion, etc) as well as barrier Fūinjutsu. As a technique based around the principles of infusion it occurs instantaneously and can be used within the same timeframe as the technique it is applied to. Typically techniques of this category involves an infusion of chakra, in many cases of the same nature, to change numerous aspects of the technique. These can range from a shift in strengths and weaknesses, additional strength, different states and forms, and new and unique effects. This could be compared to ratios and the effects that chakra can have on a technique; the more chakra utilized the greater the changes. As such Pillars of Creation utilizes three separate levels of infusion, each becoming progressively greater. Unique to this technique is that it can be stated in one’s biography to allow for the passive infusion of the user’s energy-based techniques, listed above, causing their coloration to shift in accordance to Mystic Fire’s unique colors. As a passive occurrence this application does not require any chakra and is simply a cosmetic ability of Pillars of Creation. The infusions are as followed:
The First Pillar: This is the B-Rank application of Pillars of Creation and utilizes an infusion of ten chakra. As the simplest infusion this technique causes the effected energy-based technique to gain Mystic Fire’s quality of absolute neutrality. For example, when used on a Fire technique, the applied technique will effectively shed its strengths and weaknesses becoming neutral to all elemental natures. Additionally, this infusion causes the applied technique to gain Mystic Fire’s specialized interactions with sealing/absorptive-based techniques. When an S-Rank Lightning technique is infused with the First Pillar, for example, it will, in addition to gaining the neutrality of Mystic Fire, will also only be able to be sealed or absorbed by a technique of equivalent rank (meaning the rank of the seal or absorbing technique itself, not the rank of what it can seal, must be equivalent). Additionally, the First Pillar cannot be infused on channeling-based energy techniques (e.g. streams of fire).
The Second Pillar: This is the A-Rank application of Pillars of Creation and utilizes an infusion of twenty chakra. The Second Pillar, unlike the first, employs the ability to not only infuse an energy-based technique with Mystic Fire chakra but to convert it to the nature entirely; this effectively converts any energy-based nature, or barrier Fūinjutsu, into Mystic Fire. Because the technique is effectively transformed it will change its inherent color into any color allowed by Mystic Fire Release, namely any color on the visible spectrum while being able to become absolute black, like the flames of Amaterasu. Techniques which radiate heat, like Fire Release, will lose those qualities due to their inherent sealing nature. Additionally, these techniques will gain an additional rank in strength, or twenty additional damage for techniques above S-Rank. The Second Pillar can be used on any number of A-Rank and below techniques but it can only be used four times per battle on S-Rank and above techniques. It also cannot be used in consecutive turns.
The Third Pillar: This is the S-Rank application of Pillars of Creation and utilizes an infusion of forty chakra. Unlike the previous two pillars this Third Pillar only incorporates techniques which employ a partial or fullbody elemental transformation, much like the Hozuki, and must be energy-based in nature. This technique, through an enormous flooding of Mystic Fire chakra, converts any energy-based elemental transformation to become purely Mystic Fire based, while retaining its original abilities and qualities. For example, should a Bakuton based elemental transformation be converted to Mystic Fire it will retain its default explosive qualities while obtaining all qualities of Mystic Fire Release. Additionally, as long as the elemental transformation utilized allows for Fire and Lightning natures to be accessed, the user will still be able to mold chakra for techniques based on the original elemental transformation, even after conversion. The Third Pillar, like the Second, also enhances the applied transformation by an additional rank in strength, or twenty additional damage for techniques above S-Rank. The Third Pillar can be used twice per battle, requiring a two turn cooldown in between uses.
Dōjutsu: Grand Caster possesses the Byakugan, something he at times calls his Clairvoyance. He can activate the technique passively, conferring a near perfect 360 degree vision and telescopic sight. In his later years he ascended his Byakugan to the Tenseigan, allowing him to transition between the Dōjutsu at will. The Tenseigan, while it sheds its perfect vision and telescopic sight, still allows Solomon to see chakra with clarity. The evolution grants him the power to manipulate gravity, as well as to make use of the Tenseigan Chakra Mode.
Fūinjutsu: Solomon’s body is adorned with an assortment of seals woven within his complex array of tattoos. The Kanji “Eternal” is placed on his left triceps, a seal with the Kanji “Repository” is attached to his inner robe, and a third seal marked as the Forty-Seven Ronin is inscribed on his left pectoral. He wears an ornate band on his left wrist, an artifact of the Uzumaki Clan known as the Mayer’ Band. Beneath his stomach he has the seal for “Maintain,” which erects a barrier around his person that prevents others from distorting time and space. On his abdomen he has the seal for “Incarnation.” The seal serves to confine the Demon God King within Solomon’s body; while sealed Solomon gains all of Goetia’s skills and abilities, can use Mystic Fire Release without hand seals, and many of his skills are augmented in strength.
(In'yōton, Onmyōton: Jinri Hosei Shiki) – Yin-Yang Release: Human Order Correction Ritual
(Fuuin: Bachi no Fukyuu) - Sealing Technique: Bane of the Immortal
(Shiraton/Fūinjutsu: Jikai Kairo) – Mystic Fire Release/Sealing Technique: Cygnus Loop
Spirits of Balance: 47 Ronin (Onryodo:Shi-jū-shichi-shi)
(Fūinjutsu: Maiya no bando) - Sealing Arts: Mayer's Band
Fuuinjutsu: Deddozōn | Sealing Technique: Dead Zone
Type: Supplementary
Rank: Forbidden
Range: Short – Mid
Chakra: 150
Damage: N/A
Description: The Human Order Correction Ritual is the culmination of Solomon’s undertaking that began with his single revelation during his tenure as King of Israel. The Seventy-Two Demon Gods, and their aggregate Goetia, the Demon God King, would become the basis for this technique; it is one of Solomon’s ultimate techniques within the Ars Goetia in which he, using his own body as a vessel, seals his Creation within him. Much like the seal in which a Jinchūriki is sealed within the host, this technique allows one to seal their Creation within themselves. The technique behaves as a body seal, located on the user’s abdomen with the Kanji for “Incarnation.” The user’s link to their Creation is considerably strengthened through this technique; while the Creation is sealed, much like a Jinchūriki, the elemental natures, skills, and abilities that the Creation possesses becomes the user’s, and are strengthened due to their bond. These fields are increased by a rank in strength, or twenty additional damage. The user also becomes able to use a single elemental field of their Creation's without hand seals, to be stated in the biography. The Human Order Correction Ritual possesses some tradeoffs; should the user die in battle, then their Creation will also die. This compares to use of the standard Creation of All Things Technique which allows the user’s familiar, or vice versa, to continue battle. The user also loses a secondary battle partner; this also means that, while sealed, the Creation is unable to travel through the Ninja World. The sealed Creation, while it is able to communicate with the user through mental link, it cannot release them from Illusionary techniques like a Bijuu can with their host. Should the user desire they are able to break the Human Order Correction Ritual seal, releasing the Creation back into the world at considerable chakra cost, and a move. This can be done in reverse, although only once per battle. As a body seal this technique must be stated on the user's biography.
Rank: Forbidden
Range: Short – Mid
Chakra: 150
Damage: N/A
Description: The Human Order Correction Ritual is the culmination of Solomon’s undertaking that began with his single revelation during his tenure as King of Israel. The Seventy-Two Demon Gods, and their aggregate Goetia, the Demon God King, would become the basis for this technique; it is one of Solomon’s ultimate techniques within the Ars Goetia in which he, using his own body as a vessel, seals his Creation within him. Much like the seal in which a Jinchūriki is sealed within the host, this technique allows one to seal their Creation within themselves. The technique behaves as a body seal, located on the user’s abdomen with the Kanji for “Incarnation.” The user’s link to their Creation is considerably strengthened through this technique; while the Creation is sealed, much like a Jinchūriki, the elemental natures, skills, and abilities that the Creation possesses becomes the user’s, and are strengthened due to their bond. These fields are increased by a rank in strength, or twenty additional damage. The user also becomes able to use a single elemental field of their Creation's without hand seals, to be stated in the biography. The Human Order Correction Ritual possesses some tradeoffs; should the user die in battle, then their Creation will also die. This compares to use of the standard Creation of All Things Technique which allows the user’s familiar, or vice versa, to continue battle. The user also loses a secondary battle partner; this also means that, while sealed, the Creation is unable to travel through the Ninja World. The sealed Creation, while it is able to communicate with the user through mental link, it cannot release them from Illusionary techniques like a Bijuu can with their host. Should the user desire they are able to break the Human Order Correction Ritual seal, releasing the Creation back into the world at considerable chakra cost, and a move. This can be done in reverse, although only once per battle. As a body seal this technique must be stated on the user's biography.
Type: Defensive/Supplementary
Rank: A
Range: Short
Chakra: 30 (-10 chakra per turn)
Damage: N/A
Description: The user will have a seal on their body with the Kanji for "Eternal". The seal lies dormant and is passively activated whenever the opponent tries to seal or drain the user's chakra and/or abilities. The seal will instantly release an intangible barrier that surrounds the user's body like an armour. Any abilities which act externally such as the canon techniques Multiple Infinite Embraces or Living Barrier will be unable to affect anything inside the barrier, namely the user's body. Seals which act internally will first have their chakra be absorbed by the barrier (happens instantly and so before they can come into effect) and once erected, the barrier will prevent any further insertion of chakra while active. The seal is self-sustaining and will involuntary leech chakra from the user's body. This is for the express purpose of maintaining this technique even when the user can't use or mold chakra. This is possible as the chakra still exists within the user as it is equivalent of their very life-force. This can counter S-Rank and below sealing techniques. This cannot be activated manually and will only ever activate under the aforementioned conditions. It lasts for four turns or until the ability attempting to seal or drain the user's chakra or abilities is no longer active, whichever is longer.
Note: Can only activate a maximum of thrice per battle
Rank: A
Range: Short
Chakra: 30 (-10 chakra per turn)
Damage: N/A
Description: The user will have a seal on their body with the Kanji for "Eternal". The seal lies dormant and is passively activated whenever the opponent tries to seal or drain the user's chakra and/or abilities. The seal will instantly release an intangible barrier that surrounds the user's body like an armour. Any abilities which act externally such as the canon techniques Multiple Infinite Embraces or Living Barrier will be unable to affect anything inside the barrier, namely the user's body. Seals which act internally will first have their chakra be absorbed by the barrier (happens instantly and so before they can come into effect) and once erected, the barrier will prevent any further insertion of chakra while active. The seal is self-sustaining and will involuntary leech chakra from the user's body. This is for the express purpose of maintaining this technique even when the user can't use or mold chakra. This is possible as the chakra still exists within the user as it is equivalent of their very life-force. This can counter S-Rank and below sealing techniques. This cannot be activated manually and will only ever activate under the aforementioned conditions. It lasts for four turns or until the ability attempting to seal or drain the user's chakra or abilities is no longer active, whichever is longer.
Note: Can only activate a maximum of thrice per battle
Type: Supplementary
Rank: A
Range: Short
Chakra: 30
Damage: N/A
Description: This technique employs a tag seal with the word ‘Repository’ inscribed on it and placed somewhere on the user’s body or on a weapon; in the case of a weapon the weapon must remain in contact with the user at all times. The seal can either be placed on the user’s biography and stated or placed during travel or battle, counting as a move. Cygnus Loop is a technique which utilizes Fūinjutsu’s ability to seal infinite quantities of various objects within a vessel, in this case the Cygnus seal. This acts as an effect chakra storage unit and can store infinite quantities of chakra absorbed and drained from another target through two methods. The first method passively allows the seal to link itself to the user’s absorptive techniques, such as the Multiple Infinite Embraces. Typically the Embraces will drain chakra and immediately deposit it in the user’s body; with the Cygnus seal this chakra is instead deposited in the seal itself. The second method is through the seal’s unique relationship with Mystic Fire Release and Fūinjutsu allowing the user to utilize Ultraviolet Radiance, a technique based on the Cygnus seal. Regardless of the application used when chakra is drained from an opponent or their techniques the chakra will be deposited within the seal. In essence Cygnus Loop acts as a bank and middleman. When chakra is stored in the seal the chakra is ‘purified’ within the seal. This effectively converts stolen chakra back into raw chakra. For example, should the user absorb Fire chakra and store it within the seal it will be converted into stored chakra and made readily available for the user to use for a future technique. Alternatively stored chakra can be freely absorbed into the user’s body to replenish their reserves. The Cygnus seal itself is an A-Rank seal and is fortified as such due to its relationship and infusion of Mystic Fire.
Rank: A
Range: Short
Chakra: 30
Damage: N/A
Description: This technique employs a tag seal with the word ‘Repository’ inscribed on it and placed somewhere on the user’s body or on a weapon; in the case of a weapon the weapon must remain in contact with the user at all times. The seal can either be placed on the user’s biography and stated or placed during travel or battle, counting as a move. Cygnus Loop is a technique which utilizes Fūinjutsu’s ability to seal infinite quantities of various objects within a vessel, in this case the Cygnus seal. This acts as an effect chakra storage unit and can store infinite quantities of chakra absorbed and drained from another target through two methods. The first method passively allows the seal to link itself to the user’s absorptive techniques, such as the Multiple Infinite Embraces. Typically the Embraces will drain chakra and immediately deposit it in the user’s body; with the Cygnus seal this chakra is instead deposited in the seal itself. The second method is through the seal’s unique relationship with Mystic Fire Release and Fūinjutsu allowing the user to utilize Ultraviolet Radiance, a technique based on the Cygnus seal. Regardless of the application used when chakra is drained from an opponent or their techniques the chakra will be deposited within the seal. In essence Cygnus Loop acts as a bank and middleman. When chakra is stored in the seal the chakra is ‘purified’ within the seal. This effectively converts stolen chakra back into raw chakra. For example, should the user absorb Fire chakra and store it within the seal it will be converted into stored chakra and made readily available for the user to use for a future technique. Alternatively stored chakra can be freely absorbed into the user’s body to replenish their reserves. The Cygnus seal itself is an A-Rank seal and is fortified as such due to its relationship and infusion of Mystic Fire.
Rank: S
Range: Short-Long
Type: Defensive/Offensive/Supplementary
Chakra cost: 40
Damage Points: N/a
Description: The technique requires placing a seal over the users body that collects huge masses spiritual energy from the user and stores it up over the period of time. When released the seal uses Yin to Yang chakra manipulation and manifests the spiritual energy into the users imagination of a story: The revenge of the Forty-seven Ronin (四十七士 Shi-jū-shichi-shi), also known as the Forty-seven Samurai, the Akō vendetta, or the Genroku Akō incident (元禄赤穂事件 Genroku akō jiken). Where a group 47 samurai who were made Ronin, and avenged their General. The spiritual energy amasses together and forms in 47 spirits of Samurai with a dark aura equipped with swords and straw hats. The spirits are intangible, they don’t dessipitate when hit with objects or techniques that disrupt chakra and are inexcusably only effective on Resurrection techniques, Ritualistic techniques and other Spirits related/Spiritual technique. These samurai are incredibly strong and hunts the products of such techniques down with relative ease. When the target is hit by the Samurai’s sword(s) they are sealed within it. The Samurai then grab their own swords, and out of guilt of murder they commit Seppuku, with the suicide the souls of the target are released from the swords and are guided by the Samurai’s spirit in to the Outer World plains.
Restriction: Usable once per conflict.
Range: Short-Long
Type: Defensive/Offensive/Supplementary
Chakra cost: 40
Damage Points: N/a
Description: The technique requires placing a seal over the users body that collects huge masses spiritual energy from the user and stores it up over the period of time. When released the seal uses Yin to Yang chakra manipulation and manifests the spiritual energy into the users imagination of a story: The revenge of the Forty-seven Ronin (四十七士 Shi-jū-shichi-shi), also known as the Forty-seven Samurai, the Akō vendetta, or the Genroku Akō incident (元禄赤穂事件 Genroku akō jiken). Where a group 47 samurai who were made Ronin, and avenged their General. The spiritual energy amasses together and forms in 47 spirits of Samurai with a dark aura equipped with swords and straw hats. The spirits are intangible, they don’t dessipitate when hit with objects or techniques that disrupt chakra and are inexcusably only effective on Resurrection techniques, Ritualistic techniques and other Spirits related/Spiritual technique. These samurai are incredibly strong and hunts the products of such techniques down with relative ease. When the target is hit by the Samurai’s sword(s) they are sealed within it. The Samurai then grab their own swords, and out of guilt of murder they commit Seppuku, with the suicide the souls of the target are released from the swords and are guided by the Samurai’s spirit in to the Outer World plains.
Restriction: Usable once per conflict.
Type: Defensive/Supplementary
Rank: D-S
Range: Short
Chakra Cost: (equivalent to the amount of opposing tech)
Damage: N/A
Description: This seal, Mayer's Band, was created by an Uzumaki prior to their village's destruction. The jutsu's purpose revolves around the ability to identify and seal foreign energy produced by the user's enemies. The seal itself is placed onto a wrist band and it is a kanji line shaped like a pentagon with open circles placed at every point of the shape. When foreign energy enters short range of the user, the circles on the wristband emit a bright colorful light signifying to the user that an energy different from the energies known to them has broken their perimeter. The sealing band cannot inform the user about the type of energy being used, but it can and does tell the difference between the various energies it comes across, and thus repeats the same color glows corresponding with that energy when met again. Once the energy is close enough the seal will release a special energy absorbing barrier around the user protecting them for that one attack before sealing the foreign energy into the wristband protecting the user. The jutsu is quite helpful for shinobi who don't have any energy sensing abilities, and its sealing effect only lasts a limited time. After sealing its maximum amount of energy the band will only work as an energy identifier for the user, but it will no longer be able to seal energy.
NOTES
►Activates 3x per battle
►Has a one turn cool down
►When a S-Rank technique is sealed, no fuuin in the following turn, and then no fuuin above A in the next
►Seal must be placed in biography
►Can only be taught by ZandaT
Rank: D-S
Range: Short
Chakra Cost: (equivalent to the amount of opposing tech)
Damage: N/A
Description: This seal, Mayer's Band, was created by an Uzumaki prior to their village's destruction. The jutsu's purpose revolves around the ability to identify and seal foreign energy produced by the user's enemies. The seal itself is placed onto a wrist band and it is a kanji line shaped like a pentagon with open circles placed at every point of the shape. When foreign energy enters short range of the user, the circles on the wristband emit a bright colorful light signifying to the user that an energy different from the energies known to them has broken their perimeter. The sealing band cannot inform the user about the type of energy being used, but it can and does tell the difference between the various energies it comes across, and thus repeats the same color glows corresponding with that energy when met again. Once the energy is close enough the seal will release a special energy absorbing barrier around the user protecting them for that one attack before sealing the foreign energy into the wristband protecting the user. The jutsu is quite helpful for shinobi who don't have any energy sensing abilities, and its sealing effect only lasts a limited time. After sealing its maximum amount of energy the band will only work as an energy identifier for the user, but it will no longer be able to seal energy.
NOTES
►Activates 3x per battle
►Has a one turn cool down
►When a S-Rank technique is sealed, no fuuin in the following turn, and then no fuuin above A in the next
►Seal must be placed in biography
►Can only be taught by ZandaT
Type: Supplementary/Defensive
Rank: A
Range: Short - Mid
Chakra: 30
Damage: N/A
Description: A seal with the word 'Maintain' will be placed somewhere on the users body. The seal will passively drain chakra from the user which it will then redirect into the surroundings so as to detect attempts at manipulating space (affords no other kind of sensory). When a technique that seeks to distort space/time is utilised within the users vicinity (Mid range radius) this seal will activate, passively draining chakra from the user to erect a barrier that will instantly spread outwards and prevent the space time continuum from being manipulated - in effect the seal will serve to neutralize space time techniques such as summoning jutsu, or techniques that utilise portals such as 'Stick Earth Drop' from being utilised as it forcibly maintains the fabric of space and time. The seal activates automatically upon detecting an attempt at space/time manipulation, and is effective against such jutsu up to, and including A rank. However it is wholly ineffective against S ranked space time manipulation (Such as S rank summoning techniques as the jutsu utilises more chakra than this technique to bring a stronger summon to the field, however it will still be effective against lower ranked space time techniques even if the substance that they attempt to bring to the field is higher ranked)
Note:
- The user can start the battle with the seal already placed, in which case it must be posted at either the start of the battle or in the users bio. Otherwise the user will have to manually place the seal, which counts as a move and can only be done twice.
- The seal can only activate once per turn, and the user cannot use Fuinjutsu above A rank the turn after it triggers.
- The seal passively drains 5 chakra from the user per turn
- When triggered, a barrier of the appropriate strength will be set up (i.e A rank to counter A rank S/T) that will prevent the space time technique and last for that turn. An A rank barrier can be set up once, and a B rank barrier can only be set up twice. For C rank and below however, on account of there being virtually no S/T techniques that weak barring the summoning of certain lesser animals, the barrier can be triggered continuously to prevent these critters from taking to the field.
- As activation is passive, (But does count towards move count) the user is free to continue as normal.
- Won't work on 'Flying Thunder God' as it is a S ranked Space-Time technique.
Rank: A
Range: Short - Mid
Chakra: 30
Damage: N/A
Description: A seal with the word 'Maintain' will be placed somewhere on the users body. The seal will passively drain chakra from the user which it will then redirect into the surroundings so as to detect attempts at manipulating space (affords no other kind of sensory). When a technique that seeks to distort space/time is utilised within the users vicinity (Mid range radius) this seal will activate, passively draining chakra from the user to erect a barrier that will instantly spread outwards and prevent the space time continuum from being manipulated - in effect the seal will serve to neutralize space time techniques such as summoning jutsu, or techniques that utilise portals such as 'Stick Earth Drop' from being utilised as it forcibly maintains the fabric of space and time. The seal activates automatically upon detecting an attempt at space/time manipulation, and is effective against such jutsu up to, and including A rank. However it is wholly ineffective against S ranked space time manipulation (Such as S rank summoning techniques as the jutsu utilises more chakra than this technique to bring a stronger summon to the field, however it will still be effective against lower ranked space time techniques even if the substance that they attempt to bring to the field is higher ranked)
Note:
- The user can start the battle with the seal already placed, in which case it must be posted at either the start of the battle or in the users bio. Otherwise the user will have to manually place the seal, which counts as a move and can only be done twice.
- The seal can only activate once per turn, and the user cannot use Fuinjutsu above A rank the turn after it triggers.
- The seal passively drains 5 chakra from the user per turn
- When triggered, a barrier of the appropriate strength will be set up (i.e A rank to counter A rank S/T) that will prevent the space time technique and last for that turn. An A rank barrier can be set up once, and a B rank barrier can only be set up twice. For C rank and below however, on account of there being virtually no S/T techniques that weak barring the summoning of certain lesser animals, the barrier can be triggered continuously to prevent these critters from taking to the field.
- As activation is passive, (But does count towards move count) the user is free to continue as normal.
- Won't work on 'Flying Thunder God' as it is a S ranked Space-Time technique.
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Battles
Won: None
Lost: None
Lost: None
Approved, welcome back.
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