Relius Clover

Relius Clover is Carl Clover and Ada Clover's father, and Ignis Clover's husband. He is a colonel in the Engineering Department for the Novus Orbis Librarium, and works alongside Hazama as one of the main antagonists of the series. He is a playable character starting with BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend.

Information
Relius is a genius alchemist known as the "Puppeteer". At some point before the start of BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, he disappeared without a trace.

Relius is known and feared by Tsubaki Yayoi and Makoto Nanaya. He also seems to know and dislike Jubei of the Six Heroes. Carl, his son, hates him for taking Ada and his mother away. Carl spends a majority of his travels in pursuit of Relius. During Noel Vermillion's story in BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, Relius attempted to kidnap her in order to 'examine' her, and he seems to have gotten a hold of Arakune at the end of his respective story. He did not hesitate to attack his own son when confronted by him.

His experiments include the resurrection of the Nox Nyctores named Deus Machina: Nirvana, which he harvested his daughter's body to create. He completed this project with help from Kokonoe of Sector Seven. His own puppet, the Fluctus Redactum: Ignis, was created from the body of his wife, Ignis, who is similar in appearance to Nirvana, although she has a red dress, blue, human-like eyes, a more slender head dress, a top hat instead of a bow, and hooked fingers.

Other creations of his include the artificial body of Yūki Terumi: Kazuma Kuvaru; Relius became the tutor of Kazuma and is inadvertently responsible for his fusion with Terumi to become Hazama.

He also seems to have been involved with the creation of Lambda-11 and Nu-13, as told in Lambda's storyline and the extra story "That Which is Inherited", and by extension, possibly the other Murakumo Units as well.

Relius is seen alongside Phantom and the Imperator of the NOL. He is also working with Hazama to achieve his goals, which at this point are unknown.

In the past, he worked alongside Kokonoe, under a group known as the "Sin Architects". During an experiment with Shūichirō Ayatsuki while using the first Boundary Interface Prime Field Device, they unknowingly unleashed the Black Beast that was sent back through time.

Continuum Shift Extend
In Relius' arcade ending in Continuum Shift Extend, he runs into Hazama following his defeat by Ragna the Bloodedge (possibly in the true ending). The two aren't antagonistic towards each other by their conversation, but Hazama decides to fight him for an unknown reason. After losing, Yūki Terumi tells Relius that the Life Link between him and Noel is secure, along with speaking of "Kushinada's Lynchpin". After hearing from Phantom that Ragna defeated Kusanagi, Relius uses Ignis to rip out Terumi's throat and force his spirit from his body; an opportunity which Terumi uses to infiltrate and disable Takamagahara. Relius stays behind and contemplates on the current situation.

In both his and Valkenhayn R. Hellsing's Continuum Shift Extend story modes, it is revealed that when he was swallowed by the Cauldron during the initial experiment with Terumi and Shūichirō Ayatsuki, he did not die; he was actually sent forward 80 years into the future, to the year 2179. In the process, he lost his memory, but gradually started to regain it over the years, stating that the feeling was as exhilarating as placing books back on shelves (a personal pastime of his). After reuniting with Terumi, he continues working with him in secret, and during the timeskip to the present day meets and marries Ignis, which in turn leads to the birth of Carl and Ada.

Personality
Relius is the twisted, evil mirror image of his son Carl. While he is calculating and courteous like his son, he is cold and utterly devoid of empathy. His only true care in the world is his research. Relius is even willing to go so far as to kill gods for the sake of science - a curiosity which Terumi just so happened to pique.

It is revealed through Continuum Shift Extend's Story Mode that part of Relius' lack of empathy stems from his prior experiments, as well as his experience in the Boundary. During the process of creating Nirvana, as well as the time he fell into the Cauldron, he saw what he believed to be a person's "true form", which appears to be something akin to a ball of bluish-green light. It is not known what this light is, but it could possibly be a person's soul. Regardless, because of his belief that the light was a person's true form, Relius began seeing humans as nothing more than "things", rather than living beings and therefore their existence is meaningless (excluding himself).

In BlazBlue: Chronophantasma, it is revealed that his claiming to only have an interest for his research is only part of the truth. In fact, Relius has a genuine sadistic personality. He admits relishing the act of witnessing the collapse and corruption of a soul under a burden too great to shoulder.

Appearance
Relius is similar in appearance to his son Carl. He shares his son's light blond hair and an affinity for the color purple, although the shade of purple he wears is magenta instead of violet. He also wears a golden opera mask, but the reason for this has not been made clear as of yet.

On his younger years, his appearance is not too different; key differences, however, include shoulder-length hair, a white chemise collar shirt with maroon cuffs, a white scarf with a purple gem, a purple vest, and black trousers.

Powers and Abilities
Relius possesses a vast knowledge of both science and magic, and has created several weapons utilizing his intellect, such as the Murakumo Units, the Nox Nyctores named Nirvana, and his own puppet Ignis. He has also survived numerous brushes with death.

With the use of his puppet Ignis, Relius has been shown to be one of the most powerful beings in the BlazBlue universe, having fought and defeated the likes of Valkenhayn of the Six Heroes in some of their encounters.

Trivia

 * The log entry parts of BlazBlue: Phase 0 suggest that Relius Clover was eaten by the Black Beast, being as dead as Terumi in the story, since the frightened Shūichirō was unsure whatever he was dead or not.
 * His Astral Heat uses different binding methods for each character (an asterisk [*] indicates the use of a magic circle on the floor to further trap the character):
 * Ragna: Crucified on an X-shaped stake.
 * Jin: Arms are chained spread-eagle, while legs are chained at the ankles.
 * Noel, Lambda, Nu, Mu: Placed inside a Murakumo unit test tube. The Japanese text on the right of each device has different readings for each Murakumo. Naturally, Noel and Mu have the same readings, but with different character sprites, while Lambda and Nu use the same sprite but with palettes swapped. During this time, dry ice-like fog can be seen on the floor.
 * Rachel: Tied via vines to a cross. Gii is morphed into a tabernacle and Nago, still an umbrella, is being choked by a vine.
 * Taokaka: Locked inside a pet cage.
 * Tager: Limbs magnetized by 2 U-magnets. This one actually uses various different sprites for Tager.
 * Litchi*: Hands tied to her enlarged staff. Lao Jiu is tied above her, unable to help.
 * Arakune: Poured inside a huge lab beaker/flask while being burned alive by a bunsen burner.
 * Bang*: Hands are tied behind his back as cinderblocks are placed on his knees to break his legs. A large row of cinderblocks yet to be placed are seen behind him.
 * Carl: He and Ada are suspended by puppet strings in a marionette fashion.
 * Hakumen: Tied to the seal Kokonoe uses on him in Story Mode, which is also the seal he uses in his Astral.
 * Tsubaki*:
 * Continuum Shift Extend: Sits on the floor praying, facing the wrong way (back turned to Relius) as her blindness has overcome her. Strangely, some of Izayoi's feathers are seen around her.
 * Chronophantasma: Stands with hands chained above her head, back still turned to Relius.
 * Hazama*: Sits in a chair looking bored. The way he sits is a reference to Phase Shift 1.
 * Makoto*: Trapped inside a bubble akin to a hamster ball.
 * Valkenhayn: Strapped via leather belts to an iron maiden and gagged so he cannot bite back.
 * Platinum: Inside a barrel with swords slotted in, crying a fountain of tears.
 * Mirror-Relius: Lies asleep in a different chair opposite of the winning Relius, while the losing Ignis is disabled and going to be subject to experimentation.
 * Amane: Locked inside an ancient Japanese brothel cage, used for displaying prostitutes, sitting down and facing away from Relius.
 * Bullet: Put in crawling position, hands bound behind her back with red tape.
 * Azrael: Crucified on a cross made from a long board and stocks, then hung upside-down from a magic circle on the ceiling.
 * Izayoi: Arms held above her head by a giant puppet arm, which sprouts smaller arms that grab the rest of her body.
 * Also, in his Astral Heat, if one looks closely at the lighting on the walls, several shadows of dangling corpses can be seen as well as what appears to be their blood. They are possibly previous test subjects who died during procedures.
 * The intro of Relius-Carl matchup in Continuum Shift Extend has Relius dodging Nirvana's Con Fuoco, then summoning Ignis, with whom Nirvana continues to trade a Distortion Drive clash (Rhapsody of Memories for Nirvana and Duo Bios for Ignis). When the dolls have finished their clash, the two puppeteers meet each other. This is currently the longest intro in the whole game.
 * As of Chronophantasma, however, the intro has been shortened.
 * Relius' Astral Heat is the first case of international censorship within the game itself, as so far, only the games' covers had been edited. In the North American version of the game, the blood splatters on the walls of the background, as well as the shadows of the dangling corpses have been removed to avoid an M-rating by the ESRB/PEGI. The European version of the game is not censored, however.
 * When using his Astral Heat against Hazama, Carl, and Makoto, he gives a unique dialogue different from everyone else.
 * Most of Relius' special moves are in Latin, while most of Carl's are Italian. This could be a comparison likening Relius to Rome, which was the predecessor of modern Italy, represented by Carl. Oddly, however, the Clover family is Austrian.
 * Relius' color palette based on the Persona series is Theodore, instead of Elizabeth who is playable in Persona 4 Arena.
 * Coincidentally, both characters have the same voice actors, Jun'ichi Suwabe and Travis Willingham.
 * Even more ironically, both Theodore and Relius are related to a character voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro in Japanese.