Topic: Castlevania: Umbra of Sorrow (1999 Fan Project)

[Donoffrio]

No, just misunderstood 

[Shiroi Koumori]

No, just misunderstood 

What difference does that make? 

[Donoffrio]

Him being a sith lord? 

[theplottwist]

So, here it is - Everyone's favorite half-vampire son of Dracula in his 1999 attire, sporting the Alucard Spear in it's basic, initial form!



There are more things to pick apart in this artwork. Let's see what will pick your interest first.

Also, many kudos to Drac9-san. He's acting like my reality-checks as the development goes forward. If it weren't for him, the spear's head on the sprite would be the size of a car.

[VladCT]

The card seems to draw quite a fair bit of my attention, does it serve any particular purpose?

[theplottwist]

The card seems to draw quite a fair bit of my attention, does it serve any particular purpose?

Yes it does. Slightly spoily but I'll post anyway:

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The card is the Sword Card. Alucard wouldn't be Alucard if he didn't have a sword to attack with. While his spear is meant to be his heavy duty weapon, the Sword Card is meant for faster, evasive combat.

In Umbra, Alucard slashes through the air with the card, and the Sword Familiar's blade comes out of it to strike his foes, vanishing back inside the card when Alucard finishes swinging it. It can also be summoned as a familiar, of course, but only under specific circunstances.

But now, this raises one question that can also be quite spoily to respond: If Alucard needs a sword, why doesn't he use HIS sword? If there is enough interest, I can answer this one too.

[Shiroi Koumori]

I approve of this image. I wonder when did he decide to dye his hair black? hehehehehehe.
Send me the Alucard story via PM. I have an idea why he can't use his sword but I don't have the time now to write it down.

[VladCT]

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I'm guessing that he can't use his sword due to a specific circumstance that required him to switch to his spear in the first place?

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

I'm almost sure Alucard's hair being black has been a thing since CV3.
I'm not sure which is his 'true' outfit, since his SotN outfit would've been quite anachronistic in Trevor Belmont's time.

Or, he got old and it's not that his hair is blonde, but rather that it's silver from age.

He uses "Just for Men".

[X]

Alucard's original hair color was black so I don't see any issues here. If anything it's going back to his character's origins. And Alucard's true outfit was what we saw in CV3. His SotN duds were of the times in which the game (SotN) took place--1797. They could not have existed back in 1476 as tailcoats came about in the late 1600's, and early 1700s'. Alucard looks fine to me as he is. Though I will admit that the image bares a similar resemblance to Hector from CoD. The torn red material hanging off of Alucard's belt is the piece that strongly brings this out.

[theplottwist]

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I'm guessing that he can't use his sword due to a specific circumstance that required him to switch to his spear in the first place?

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Well yeah, this is kind of obvious lol

Here is a hint: He can't use his sword because the sword itself is physically impossible to reach at the moment. Same goes to his shield. Let's say that both do not exist at the moment. In fact, they have not existed for more than a hundred years now.

But they can go back to existing, should Alucard do what it takes.

Oh, and for the dudes overall: In Umbra there is an explanation for Alucard's hair being black. This explanation has some pretty good evidence from the official sources to back it up, even. It's nothing incredible, though. So, if you expect a plot-twistey thing that will blow your mind, stop right now. His hair being black is more like a side-effect than something being intended to happen.

But expect to see Alucard's hair being platinum too!

[Shiroi Koumori]

Thanks for the PM plot! 

[VladCT]

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Well yeah, this is kind of obvious lol

Here is a hint: He can't use his sword because the sword itself is physically impossible to reach at the moment. Same goes to his shield. Let's say that both do not exist at the moment. In fact, they have not existed for more than a hundred years now.

But they can go back to existing, should Alucard do what it takes.

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Can't quite put it together yet, looks like I'll have to fish out another hint. Was the spear created after the sword and shield became unavailable?

[theplottwist]

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Can't quite put it together yet, looks like I'll have to fish out another hint. Was the spear created after the sword and shield became unavailable?

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Yes.

Though Alucard DID create the spear for third parties to use and to compliment the Vampire Killer's power, and not for himself to wield. However, Alucard fully expected the spear to return to his hands.

Thanks for the PM plot! 

No prob, Shiroi-chan~!

[theplottwist]

OK, a little update and FINALLY some background on Julius Belmont. Before reading, keep in mind that this is all subject to change. Julius' origin is the absolute hardest part of this story to pull off successfully.

Also, I'll be skipping one part of this background because Nagumo has recently thrown a wrench on my plot, by discovering that Albus calls ALL the villagers of Wygol as "distant relatives to the Belmonts". This part will need to be re-written, and yes, it probably means that Irina is not a direct descendant of Richter anymore, nor that Nicholai is an amnesiac Richter Belmont.

Enjoy!

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After the events of Order of Ecclesia, Shanoa returns to Wygol, intending to spend her days with elder Daniela [1]. But, as she arrives at the village, she's met by Alucard, who had returned to the land after sensing Dracula's presence. He arrived just as Dracula was destroyed, however, and decided to discover who had achieved such a feat without the need for the Vampire Killer, reaching Wygol before Shanoa's return and staying there after hearing word about her accomplishments from the villagers [2].

After a long meeting, Alucard learned everything from Shanoa about Ecclesia, Albus, Dominus and herself. To ensure that Shanoa was truly free from the venomous influence of Dominus, he decided then to scan her spirit for traces of it, but ended up discovering something completelly different and much more valuable instead: A solid fragment of Belmont spirit.

After Shanoa absorbed the essences from every of the villagers, they amalgamated and solidified themselves into a small but powerful fragment of a Belmont spirit. This fragment was what ultimately protected Shanoa from Dominus' influence, and she had become a living vessel to it [3].

Having made this discovery, Alucard then disclosed the reason why the Belmonts had disappeared, and enlisted Shanoa's help in restoring the souls of the direct Belmont descendants, who had been left with a crack on their souls many decades before due to Shaft's controlling of Richter. Shanoa agreed to assist Alucard, and to do this, she retrieved Barlowe's research on the creation of Dominus from the now abandoned Ecclesia[4].

Dominus was created by extracting power from Dracula's soul contained in the stone vessel, and converting it into a glyph. By using the same study, and after pouring her own soul into it, Shanoa managed to forge a new glyph - the last glyph - from the Belmont spirit shard contained into herself. As Dominus had been born out of Dracula's soul to be the ultimate glyph of destruction[5], Sanctuary was born from the Belmont spirit shard to be the ultimate glyph of healing.

The glyph was powerful, but to heal such a scar on the soul of the Belmonts, it still needed time. With Alucard's help, the glyph was inscribed into the land under Wygol, encompassing the entire village. The Belmonts were finally allowed to come out of hiding to live in Wygol, where now they'd be guarded by Alucard's watchful eye, and where their soul would be gradually restored as time passed.

Alucard knew now that it was only a matter of time before the Belmonts were back on their feet, but he also knew Dracula and his worshippers wouldn't wait. With him disabled from fighting Dracula, he had to take measures, and the Alucard Spear was born as a way to lend his power to another clan, who would assist the Morris in fighting Dracula while the Belmonts recovered[6].

--

Many years later, in May of 1985, an incident drew the attention of Alucard and the Church: A house in Wygol had collapsed on top of three inhabitants due to a massive explosion of unknown origin. Two adults were found dead, and a five-year-old child - a boy - was knocked unconscious. The adults were the boy's parents, and died due to the collapsing, but he was found unscathed, his body enveloped by a bright holy aura, next to his mother. The explosion coincided with the complete vanishing of the giant glyph created by Shanoa more than a century ago.

The Church recovered the child, and by scanning his spirit searching for the holy aura's origin, they confirmed he was a direct Belmont descendant. They also discovered that the crack that had plagued the souls of the Belmonts for generations was completelly cured, as the spirit shard that powered the vanished glyph now filled the faulty space in the boy's soul. The glyph had accomplished its mission.

When the child woke up, he had no recollection of the incident, though he remembered everything prior to it. The traumatic experience caused the boy's fragile mind to lock the memory of his parents' death, and his survival was attributed to an instinctive release of holy power that protected his small body from the explosion and the house's collapsing.

With the fulfillment of Nostradamus' prophecy drawing near, and with the boy's ancestry and impressive display of resistance discovered, he was choosen to inherit the Vampire Killer. As a reference to the month predicted by Nostradamus for Dracula's resurrection, the boy was re-baptized as "Julius", his name representing the month where the legacy of the Belmonts itself was destined to be revived through the boy's hand, by prevailing over the looming menace of the King of Terror's return[7].

In 1986, one year after the incident in Wygol, Jonathan Morris - the guardian of the dormant Vampire Killer - was contacted by Alucard. Julius' and the entire hidden existence of the Belmonts was made known to him, and he got tasked with raising and training Julius Belmont to inherit the whip and assist the Church in preventing Dracula's return[8].

Details:

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[1] - This eventually leads Shanoa to inherit the Stellar Sword, which belonged to Daniela's grandfather Maxim. The sword would then pass unto Shanoa's descendants, until it reached Eric Lecarde through his wife.

[2] - As of now, Alucard's whereabouts are not defined. However, he knows where the direct descendants of Richter Belmont are.

[3] - Thanks to the Belmont power she had absorbed from the villagers, Albus was protected from having his will erased. If it happened to Albus, then it's very likely the same thing protecting Shanoa from being corrupted:

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Albus: It would seem the blood of the holy whip's legacy makes many things possible. One of life's fortunate miracles, you might say. Betrayed by the old man, I fled with [Dominus]. In this way I had taken your place as bearer, and you were no longer at risk. Alone, I continued my research into methods of controlling [Dominus]. As you know, that Glyph's power is Dracula's as well. To this end, I required the blood of the sacred Belmont clan. Since they vanished years ago, I set out to find any traces of their heritage.

Shanoa: ...The villagers.

Albus: Exactly. Fate drew them to the village...all thirteen of that line. I studied their blood with great diligence... In the end, even that power wasn't enough to contain [Dominus], and the Glyph consumed me.

Shanoa: ...But with your body gone, your spirit remains--absorbed into the Glyph. And now, that soul dwells within me, alongside the power of [Dominus].

Albus: By all accounts, [Dominus] should have overpowered and erased my will. However, the villager's power courses through you, and that tethered me here.

[4] - In the ending of OoE, it's said all records of Ecclesia "vanished in the mists of time". They vanished because Shanoa was the one to retrieve all this research and put it to use in the glyph she forged. However, there is one last object from Ecclesia that will surface...

[5] - This is canon; Dominus is, according to Barlowe and Shanoa, a glyph of ultimate destruction, and "no less could ever rid the world of Dracula."

[6] - The Alucard Spear was created to compliment the power of the Vampire Killer. But its creation will need a post for itself, since it deals with how the whip got to the Morris and why were the Lecardes chosen to guard both the spear and the secret to unlock the whip.

[7] - Nostradamus' prophecy states that the King of Terror will be revived in the "seventh month". So, July = Julius.

[8] - The existence of the Belmonts was a complete secret from everyone, including Jonathan. Only the highest ranking members of the Church knew about Wygol. Jonathan was aware that a Belmont had to appear to take the whip before 1999 thanks to Wind's reveal of the prophecy, but he was not allowed to know about the Belmonts before this.

Whew... Finally I get to put this here

But remember! Everything is subject to change! Though I doubt I will change this anymore. You all have no idea how many drafts for this exist.