Relius Clover

""I am the one who is quite normal here... It is this world that is insane.""

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 and formerly belonged to the Immortal Breakers, having worked alongside Valkenhayn R. Hellsing.

Relius first appeared as an NPC in BlazBlue: Continuum Shift and was made playable in its remake, BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend.

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."

Bloodedge Experience - Part 1
In his, presumed, late teens, Relius was a member of the Immortal Breakers, an organization for hire that dedicated themselves to the eradication of extremely powerful individuals. Relius joined the group under the pretext of needing the money to fuel his research on the perfection of the ultimate doll, something that also required numerous strong souls. With Valkenhayn R. Hellsing, the two of them were hired by the Mitsurugi Agency and kept under the management of Kiiro Hikagami. They were deployed to Shin Kawahama City, Japan, to find and kill Clavis Alucard, a vampire.

In October, Valkenhayn sensed the presence of a vampire and attacked Naoto Kurogane. It was only under Relius' insistence that the lycanthrope left him alone. As Valkenhayn left, Relius taught Naoto fighting techniques that could be used against immortals. He detected the presence of Raquel Alucard, and asked that she keep her presence better hidden lest she attract Valkenhayn again.

Later on, Valkenhayn and Relius found Clavis inside Naoto's apartment and battled against him. Relius, using his Drive, managed to suspend Clavis above the ground with various puppet arms. Unfortunately, they all fell to the floor as Clavis effortlessly and cleanly sliced them in two. As Valkenhayn was thrown out of the nearest window with Clavis following after him, Relius continued his pursuit. Ultimately, they were both unsuccessful with killing the vampire.

Bloodedge Experience - Part 2
In the same week of October, Kiiro had relocated Relius and Valkenhayn to destroying the numerous bugs created by Spinner Superior. The two of them talked about the reasons why they joined, and questioned who was dealing with the various Apostles located around Shin Kawahama. The both of them were interrupted by Saya Terumi, who attacked Valkenhayn because of his assault on Naoto earlier in the week. Relius watched on as they battled against one another, taking interest in a special technique employed by Saya that allowed her employ incredible speed and power. Even as Valkenhayn as edging closer to death, Relius took no part in the battle, but instead displayed interest in Saya's Drive - Soul Eater. Despite her Drive automatically making her a target for their organization, Relius asked that Valkenhayn did not kill the girl, but they were interrupted by Naoto, who had come to defend his sister.

Relius and Raquel took a backseat as Naoto and Valkenhayn were raring to fight against one another. Before the battle could commence, however, Spinner himself appeared and kidnapped Saya. Quickly creating a plan, Relius ordered Valkenhayn to help destroy the various sorcery circles that Spinner created in order to weaken him and allow Kiiro the opportunity to kill the mage. Kiiro eventually completed the plan, but Naoto had lost an arm and leg in the battle against Spinner. Relius went out of his way to fashion replacement limbs for the boy, creating an arm and leg that functioned as naturally as his real ones once did. Relius and Valkenhayn had kidnapped an unconscious Saya and taken her back to the Agency in the middle of the battle with Spinner, and were found by a man calling himself Hazama.

Remix Heart, that which is inherited, Spiral Shift
After the annihilation of Ibukido, Relius visited the ruins, finding Meifang Lapislazuli there. He wondered how she had survived, marvelling at her soul. He had Ignis attempt to grab her, but the soldier relented, claiming her body belonged to the Imperator alone. Relius decided to observe her from then on. Relius immediately went missing afterwards, having taken Ignis to be with himself and leaving Nirvana behind. Sector Seven had attempted to keep track of him with undercover assistants, but all five of them had disappeared without a trace. Carl came home not long afterwards, and found the incomplete Nirvana with Ada's body inside.

He would later visit the Military Academy, eliminating the Guardian on the lower levels and telling Ignis to not pursue Cypher Albar as he was not worth their time. On the higher levels of the Academy, he came across Mai Natsume, noticing her soul is both male and female before leaving, noting how intriguing such a phenomenon is.

Variable Heart
Upon learning that Meifang had plans for both Mai and Bell, Relius went to the Hazuki estate in the 11th Hierarchical City of Shinatsu. There, he incapacitated Houichirou Hazuki and Rin Hazuki, using sorcery specifically to prevent Rin from copying his techniques with Vision. He held them there to prevent them from interfering with Meifang's plan, but let the couple free after stating that he would not go any further. Upon leaving the estate, Rin prevented Houichirou from attacking Relius, and the Colonel noted that Meifang had become boring.

Continuum Shift
"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."

Chrono Phantasma
"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."

Central Fiction
"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."

Like many others, Relius was absorbed into the Embryo and became one of the chosen – Ignis still accompanied him. His memories were completely unaffected, unlike many others who had been taken inside it. He found Makoto in the Kagutsuchi museum and began commenting on the strength and brightness of her soul despite her being taken into the Embryo. He later found Izanami bathing, and they discussed her vessel and the creation of Prime Fields before leaving for Ikaruga.

Independently, he found Nine and the two began discussing the Nox Nyctores, the Dark War, and how to remove the Tsukuyomi Unit that was protecting Amaterasu. He suggested contacting Hazama as he believed him to be bored with nothing more to do. A short time afterwards, he found Litchi, and commended her on being able to hold herself together inside the Embryo and using Lao Jiu to retrieve memories from the Boundary. He did warn her, however, that her body will deteriorate if she comes too close to Arakune In Akitsu, he found Ragna investigating the cauldron, and was fascinated at how he was able to hold his sense of self despite not being chosen. He battled him to verify some speculation and left soon afterwards after asking him to fight Izanami so he could watch the aftermath. The puppeteer later found Nu being assaulted by Arakune and he repelled the monster, then offered to conduct repairs on the Murakumo Unit.

His son had found him eventually, and asked Relius if he could be taught of his father’s knowledge. Relius agreed to help Carl, interested in what in his son could do with all of his knowledge. With this, Relius explained to him the Prime Field War, and how he had seen it with his own eyes, verifying the information. He sent his and Ignis’ information into the Embryo, finding Hakumen and Tsubaki within it – the data fought the member of the Six Heroes, and evaporated after it had observed what Relius needed. He told Terumi the shape of Hakumen’s soul and soon left the Embryo using the Boundary as a travelling device with Ignis as the method to survive inside it, having observed everything he desired after giving Carl one of his “eyes”.

Relius Clover
''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.

''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.

Trivia

 * Library Mode erroneously calls Relius a "Captain" of the NOL, but he was a "Colonel".