Relius Clover

""Quite the interesting specimen. Now then, it's time to experiment....""

Relius Clover (レリウス＝クローバー), known to many as the Mad Puppeteer (狂気の人形師), is the patriarch of the Clover family and the former Colonel of the Novus Orbis Librarium's Engineering Department. He was once the leader of the Ten Sages, known as The One (ザ・ワン) and formerly belonged to the Immortal Breakers, having worked alongside Valkenhayn R. Hellsing. He wants to destroy the world and rebuild it as its architect.

Relius first appeared as an NPC in BlazBlue: Continuum Shift and was made playable in its remake, BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend. His appearance in Bloodedge Experience was revealed for BlazBlue Alternative: Dark War on February 4th, 2021.

Appearance
Relius is a tall, well-built middle-aged man. He has spiky blond hair and a short chinstrap beard. His most distinctive feature is the gold and black domino mask which he wears at all times.

Relius wears a fine purple shirt, white pants, and white gloves. Around his collar, he wears a white cravat topped with a purple jewel. He has tall purple boots with golden metal buckles and toes. His boots also have silvery metal adornments which resemble cross-shaped screw heads. Over his clothing, Relius wears a purple cloak with a huge collar, held on by a cross-shaped buckle similar to Carl's. The bottom of this cloak has two metal rings attached to it. The inside of the cloak is green.

As a young man, Relius was clean-shaven, and his hair didn't stand up as it does now. Though his cloak and gloves were the same as they are now, his other clothing consisted of a simple black and purple suit with a white necktie. Most strikingly, he covered his eyes with a black blindfold instead of his domino mask.

As The One of the Ten Sages, Relius wore a dark purple hooded robe with light purple markings and large golden fasteners. The cross-shaped buckle on this robe had two long, belt-like leather straps attached to it. He is clean-shaven like his young self, but wears the domino mask he does now.

When Amane uses his Astral Heat on Relius, he appears with hair similar to his current self, but clean-shaven. He wears the same boots, cravat, and domino mask as he normally does, but lacks his cloak, and wears a simple white dress shirt and vest with black pants in place of his regular clothing. The jewel on his cravat is colored brown.

Personality
"Consistently self-centered. He has barely any interest in things that are unrelated to his research, and detests wasting time. He can be social, but aside from his research it's only to "maintain appearances." It's not that he doesn't experience changes to his mood, but rather that he won't let himself lose his calm and collected demeanor. He behaves extremely coldly to the ignorant, whom he regards as fools."

Apathetic to everything and everyone that is not research or the fulfilment of his own goals. Relius is a self-centered individual who surrounds himself in the pursuits of every science and Art, giving everything he has to understand what is presented to him. His research mainly concerns the soul and anything related to the Boundary, but he has expressed interest in a wide variety of subjects. Because Relius only sees people as souls, which he further sees as reducible elements, the lives of others are trivial to him. Relius does not care for emotions, bar hatred and determination, two things which can strengthen the soul.

Relius' fascination in his own research and lack of interest in anything else also extends to his family. He has demonstrated no love towards Carl, seeing him as an annoyance and not a son. It is only when Carl began to demonstrate hatred towards him that Relius finally acknowledged the boy and began to educate him in his research. His love towards Ignis and Ada also seems questionable at best, having only ever complimented them on their souls and willingness to commit to his research.

Professionally, Relius maintains a social facade in order to fulfil his goals, but that does not mean that he feels genuine affection or connection to any of his colleagues. There are times when their actions interest him, such as Hazama wanting to fulfil his wish and Izanami's desire to know if she has a soul. Other than the arts and science, Relius has expressed an interest in other subjects such as philosophy and literature.

When he is not researching, Relius enjoys opera.

Powers & Techniques
Far more powerful than his appearance would suggest, Relius has an entire arsenal of various abilities at his disposal and years worth of experience against extremely powerful opponents.

Formerly The One of the Ten Sages, Relius is a master of magic, sorcery, and alchemy. He rarely uses any of the three, however, preferring to discreetly use sorcery to mess with his opponents. His Drive allows him to create marionette arms from any surface - these can be used for offensive purposes by ensnaring enemies or or forming a shield to protect him from attacks; these arms can even be created from Relius' own clothing so he is never without them by his side.

As a scientist, Relius is the creator of the Detonator line of weapons, most notably including the Fluctus Redactum: Ignis which was made from his own wife. Ignis and Relius are a deadly combination as he can command her to do any number of attacks without being constrained with having to wield a weapon. Because of Relius' exceptional knowledge, he can recognize nearly any technique and have a counter for it - one such time was him employing sorcery when fighting against Rin Hazuki so she could not copy his techniques using vision. Izanami taught Relius a technique that allows him to amplify his speed to levels fast enough that even Jin Kisaragi could not see him.

In gameplay, Relius' Drive is , which allows him to summon Ignis behind him. Any Drive input will make Ignis attack, but Relius himself is free to move while she does so. Relius' attacks include summoning his marionette arms and gears or having Ignis fight on his behalf. His Astral Heat has him torture his opponents with devices specially tailored for them.

Relius does not have any exploitable weakness. His eyes cannot see Celica A. Mercury, but that is all there is. He cannot be bribed, blackmailed, distracted or bested in combat unless his opponent has exceptional skill and power. There has only been two times where Relius has been bested - once by Clavis Alucard when they were younger, and the second by Kokonoe when Relius' underestimated the capabilities of the Deus Machina: Nirvana. Though he is mortal, Relius has the offensive and defensive abilities to give the impression that he is not.

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Official Site Profile
''According to the instructions of the Imperator, he arrives in the Thirteenth Hierarchical City "Kagutsuchi" to monitor Hazama's actions. He fundamentally carries no interest in anything other than his research, and even his own son Carl is not an exception. ''

BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma Official Site Profile
''To him, all phenomena are nothing but "experiments." Such is the man called "Relius Clover." The creator of the Boundary Interface Prime Field Devices, as well as the Colonel of the Engineering Department for the current Novus Orbis Librarium, he created "Kushinada's Lynchpin" a long time ago together with "Shuuichiro Ayatsuki." Knowing that the Lynchpin now lies within Ikaruga, he begins searching for it. ''

BlazBlue: Central Fiction Official Site Profile
''The colonel of the Novus Orbis Librarium's Engineering Department, and the creator of the Boundary Interface Prime Field Devices. He fundamentally carries no interest in anything other than his research, and even his own son Carl is not an exception. Bringing along his wife, whom he had altered into the "Detonator," he investigates the gathering of the Chosen in Kagutsuchi. ''Consistently self-centered. He has barely any interest in things that are unrelated to his research, and detests wasting time. He can be social, but aside from his research it's only to "maintain appearances." It's not that he doesn't experience changes to his mood, but rather that he won't let himself lose his calm and collected demeanor. He behaves extremely coldly to the ignorant, whom he regards as fools. ''
 * Story
 * Personality

BlazBlue: Central Fiction Library Entry
''Carl's blood-related father. A well-known doll maker, who is also a Captain in the NOL. He is also the creator of the Boundary Interface Prime Field Devices.
 * Relius Clover

''He covers his eyes with a mask, but generally maintains a chivalrous manner of speech and attitude. Nevertheless, one feels a darker side that he keeps hidden behind the façade, when coming into contact.

''His personality is extremely methodical, and egoistic. He cares little for anything that does not relate to his research, and he is witty enough to manipulate even Hazama – a bonafide mad scientist who sees humans as objects, and has no hard feelings using them in his experiments.

''As proof, he used his own wife as the basis for the Detonator, Ignis, and Ada as the platform for Nirvana.

''Upon discovering Shuichiro Ayatsuki's ultimate and ancient creation, the Kushinada's Lynchpin was located in Ikaruga, he wastes no time traveling there.

BlazBlue 10th Anniversary Official Site Profile
''Extolled as the greatest Mage in the history of Ishana's Ten Sages, who suddenly disappeared one day. Much about him remains steeped in mystery, and even now the seat of "1" within the Ten Sages remains empty.''
 * The One

''A well-known genius alchemist and the father of Carl Clover. He created the mechanical doll "Fluctus Redactum: Ignis" by himself, and fights alongside her like two bodies in one. Ignis is special as both Carl's mother and Relius' wife.''
 * Relius Clover

BlazBlue Alternative: Dark War Official Site Profile

 * Relius Clover (BE)

''The sort-of-young? form of Relius.'' ''While he has yet to manufacture Ignis, he is still a person that fights his battles with marionettes. Even at this point in time he was already hiding and concealing his eyes with a mask.''

Appearances in other Media

 * The mobile game, Mabinogi Duel, stars Relius as a playable card.

Trivia

 * In the BlazBlue 10th Anniversary Character Poll, Relius placed 39th out of the 84 candidates, being the lowest scoring playable character. He scored one place above Touya Kagari and one place below Trinity Glassfille. He had 389 votes.
 * The One, Relius' name as one of the Ten Sages, was counted as a separate character in the poll. The One placed 54th out of the 84 candidates, being one place above Homura Amanohokosaka and one place below Nobody, having been bested by her by one vote. He received 97 votes.
 * Even when combining Relius' and The One's votes, he is still the lowest placing playable character.
 * All of Relius' movelist is named in Latin.
 * It is heavily hinted that Relius cannot see Celica A. Mercury.
 * In his electrocution sprite, Relius' left arm is mechanical and there are gears in his right kneecap.
 * Relius Drive in canon is to summon marionette arms to his side, something that he does in gameplay with his B and C normal attacks. His gameplay Drive is to use Ignis. He is the only known character whose lore Drive and gameplay Drive are different.
 * Library Mode erroneously calls Relius a "Captain" of the NOL, but he was a "Colonel".
 * In BlazBlue: Central Fiction most of Relius' scenes were cut from the final game. In an interview with creator Mori Toshimichi in the BlazBlue: Central Fiction Official Setting Material Collection he stated that Relius was originally going to be acting in secret, and had his scenes been left in, it would have almost doubled the content of the Story Mode.
 * In the English translation of Izanami's Act III Arcade Mode in Central Fiction, Relius references French philosopher René Descartes. He repeats the famous phrase "I think, therefore I am", also known as "cogito ergo sum" which appears in Descartes' book Discourse on the Method.