Lore

This page refers to the key world setting and lore within the BlazBlue franchise. These are only brief summaries of each concept, and more can be found on each of the terms' respective articles.

Universal Lore
This refers to lore which relates to all media within the franchise

Azure
The Azure is at the center of the BlazBlue franchise. It is a mysterious, omnipotent force that can grant the wishes of anyone who obtains it. It rests deep within the Boundary, and much is unknown about it.

BlazBlue is essentially the stories of those who attempt to claim the Azure and the events that unfold.

Embryo
An Embryo is a crystallization of Azure that is formed from thousands of souls. It has the power of Phenomenon Intervention and is capable of turning into anything, from a single person to a whole world.

Soul
A soul is the essence of what makes a person, and is possessed by every living thing. In the BlazBlue franchise, the concept of souls and their properties are part of the motives of certain characters. All souls return to the Azure after death.

Possibility
A Possibility refers to one of the many different parallel worlds that run concurrent to one another. There are three major possibilities in the BlazBlue franchise: the BlazBlue possibility, the XBlaze possibility, and the Bloodedge Experience possibility.

Media and stories within the BlazBlue possibility include:
 * BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger
 * BlazBlue: Continuum Shift
 * BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma
 * BlazBlue: Central Fiction
 * BlazBlue: Remix Heart
 * BlazBlue: Variable Heart
 * BlazBlue: Phase 0, BlazBlue: Phase Shift 1, BlazBlue: Phase Shift 2, BlazBlue: Phase Shift 3, BlazBlue: Phase Shift 4
 * BlazBlue: Chimelical Complex
 * BlazBlue (manga)
 * BlazBlue: Alter Memory

Media and stories within the XBlaze possibility include:
 * XBlaze Code: Embryo
 * XBlaze Lost: Memories

Media and stories within the Bloodedge Experience possibility include:
 * BlazBlue: Bloodedge Experience - Part 1
 * BlazBlue: Bloodedge Experience - Part 2

Logic
Logic is a fundamental set of rules that the universe adheres to. All things exist within Logic, with the exception of seithr and certain creatures. Arts were made to counter beings that exist outside of Logic. Anything created with an Art exists outside of Logic, such as a flame made with magic.

Boundary
The Boundary is a dimension that exists outside of time, and is the place where all possibilities intersect. Seithr exists in limitless quantities within this dimension, surging out into the world through cauldrons. Unless extraordinary precautions are taken, most biological material cannot survive the Boundary as it becomes corrupted by the vast levels of seithr present. The Azure rests deep within the Boundary.

Cauldron
A Cauldron is an entrance into the Boundary. Seithr spews into the world from these locations, which are usually deep underground.

Seithr
Seithr is a substance which is used to fuel most Arts. It is a particle substance which constitutes every living thing and usually exists as a gas-like fuel. It is usually invisible but can be seen in thicker quantities, where it is poisonous. Seithr can mutate living creatures and surges out of the Boundary.

Art
Art is the umbrella term for all abilities, powers, and techniques which require seithr to function. Some of these Arts are exclusive to certain possibilities, while others are universal.

Universal Arts include: Sorcery, Magic, and Alchemy.

Sorcery
Sorcery is an Art which does not require seithr, and is the only one that does need it. Using mana, the essence of nature, a sorcerer can manipulate the world around them, creating fire, lightning, light, etc.

Magic
Magic is an Art which requires seithr. It is functionally similar to sorcery.

Alchemy
Alchemy is an Art used to make bodies, souls, and objects more perfect. It uses scientific principles in order to function.

Drive
A Drive is the physical manifestation of the soul, allowing Drive users to employ powers unique to them. Only the strongest of souls are capable of manifesting a Drive.

The term Drive is also used in the C-Series fighting games to refer to a character's unique gameplay mechanic.

Sankishin
The Sankishin are three entities that are the equivalent of gods. Each one deals with an aspect of time.

Amaterasu Unit
The Amaterasu Unit governs time, and is capable of both major and minor phenomenon intervention.

Tsukuyomi Unit
The Tsukuyomi Unit protects time, and makes a large shield that repels any force when activated.

Susano'o Unit
The Susano'o Unit slashes time. It is a large set of armor that makes the user impervious to the Boundary.

Onlooker
An Onlooker is a powerful individual who can watch events unfold, yet is unable to directly intervene. They are immune to phenomenon intervention and can remember events and circumstances, even if phenomenon intervention has been used to change them. They are also capable of employing phenomenon intervention.

In the English localization, this term was merged with Observer.

Observer
An Observer is a person who can employ phenomenon intervention to discreetly manipulate the world around them. They can acknowledge a similar possibility and enforce their will upon it in order to make it a reality. There are great risks associated with the power, and there are limits that the average Observer must adhere to.

Phenomenon Intervention
Phenomenon Intervention is the ability to discreetly change the world around them. The power can be employed by Observers and Onlookers. Minor phenomenon intervention can be used by the average Observer, such as changing what they had for breakfast. Major phenomena, such as whether or not someone falls down a cliffside, can only be changed by certain individuals and Observers, such as the Amaterasu Unit.

Black Beast
A Black Beast is a creature made from seithr. It has nine heads and is the size of a city. They emerge from the Boundary and can exist for many different reasons.

Prime Field Device
A Prime Field Device is an artificial human. Different possibilities have different models of PFDs built for different purposes.

Ishana
A city that is cited as the birthplace of sorcery and magic. It is an island situated in the middle of the Atlantic and is the one location in the world that appears in every possibility.

Grimoire
A concept that means two different things between the BlazBlue and XBlaze possibilities. In the BlazBlue possibility it is a device used to access Ars Magus, and in the XBlaze possibility it is both a device and ability used to access the XBlaze ability.

BlazBlue Lore
This refers to lore that can only be found in the main BlazBlue franchise.

Dark War
The Dark War was a conflict between a Black Beast and humanity that lasted between 2100 and 2110. The war was won with the help of the Six Heroes and the creation of Ars Magus. The aftermath of the war radically changed the BlazBlue possibility, making it the most unique out of the three major possibilities.

Six Heroes
Six warriors who appeared to fight the Black Beast. They consist of Hakumen, Nine the Phantom, Trinity Glassfille, Jubei, Valkenhayn R. Hellsing, and Yuuki Terumi.

Ars Magus
An Art made by Nine the Phantom by combining Magic and science in order to fight the Black Beast. Since most people cannot use magic or sorcery, this made power outside of Logic more accessible. After the Dark War, it shaped every single faucet of society, even replacing the use electricity.

Ars Armegis
An Art that is a more weaponized version of Ars Magus

Nox Nyctores
The ultimate weaponised form of Ars Magus. There are 11 Nox Nyctores and each of them has a unique property. They are, to a degree, sentient and choose their wielders. Despite granting nearly unmatched power to their wielders, the weapons will affect and damage both their mentality and emotions.

Gigant: Take-Mikazuchi
The first Nox Nyctores that takes the form of a giant humanoid within a satellite. Its raw power rivals the Black Beast and can destroy cities with a single blast.

Mucro Algesco: Yukianesa
The second Nox Nyctores that takes the form of a katana and sheathe. Its blade crystallises the moisture in the air, creating ice that erodes away at the soul.

Arcus Diabolus: Bolverk
The third Nox Nyctores that takes the form of a pair of guns. Its Ars Magus bullets pierce through space and collapse into an Ars Magus blast. It seals the emotions of its user.

Deus Machina: Nirvana
The fourth Nox Nyctores that takes the form of a giant doll. The wounds it inflicts cannot be healed with conventional Ars Magus.

Mucro Somnio: Musashi
The fifth Nox Nyctores that takes the form of two short swords. It can cut through things that cannot usually be cut through, such as magnetic fields.

Interfectum Malus: Ookami
The sixth Nox Nyctores that takes the form of an oodachi. It can nullify Ars Magus with its blade.

Arma Reboare: Muchourin
The seventh Nox Nyctores that takes the form of a large wand. It can materialize objects but takes its users memories.

Geminus Anguium: Ouroboros
The eighth Nox Nyctores that takes the form of a chain with a snake head. It can directly manipulate the emotions of its victims.

Phoenix: Rettenjo
The ninth Nox Nyctores that takes the form of a large nail. It can destroy other Nox Nyctores'.

Lux Sanctus: Murakumo
The tenth Nox Nyctores that takes the form of a large sword which transforms into bladed armour. They are the only Nox Nyctores' where more than one exists, and were designed to destroy the Sankishin.

Corpus Sepulcro: Requiem
The eleventh Nox Nyctores that takes the form of a large humanoid. It can use phenomenon intervention on the level of the Amaterasu Unit and was designed to replace it.

Beastkin
A species of sentient animal-like beings that existed in the shadow of humanity until the Dark War. They are treated like second-class citizens.

Demi-Human
A species of humanoids that are physically identical to humans except for some animal-like features, like tails. They were made to fight the Black Beast, but are treated like second-class citizens.

Half-Beastkin
A species of humanoids that are the result of human and beastkin parentage. They are physically similar to demi-humans and treated like second-class citizens.

Kaka
A species of cat-like humanoids made from the DNA of Jubei, a beastkin who was one of the Six Heroes. Nearly all of them are women and their village is situated in the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi. They are treated like second-class citizens.

Novus Orbis Librarium
An organisation that regulates the Grimoires in the BlazBlue possibility as well as the Hierarchical Cities. They are a military power as well as a world police. As it regulates the Hierarchical Cities, the NOL is closer to a government than a private organisation. Due to its power and influence, it is not well-liked by certain groups, and is disparagingly called "The Library".

Hierarchical City
24 cities created on the mountaintops of the world after the Dark War. The amount of seithr that spewed from the Black Beasts body after its death ended up covering the lower altitudes of the planet, making it uninhabitable. All Hierarchical Cities are managed by the NOL.

13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi
The main setting of the C-Series. A Hierarchical City that is rife with crime.

15th Hierarchical City of Torifune
Also known as the Military Academy. It is where the NOL soldiers are trained and functions as its own small city. It is the main setting of BlazBlue: Remix Heart.

Sector Seven
A group that opposes the NOL and prefers to rely on science instead of Ars Magus.

Ikaruga Federation
A group of six Hierarchical Cities that declared independence from the NOL. They were defeated in the Ikaruga Civil War and disbanded afterward.

Ikaruga Civil War
A war between the NOL and the Ikaruga Federation that lasted between 2191 and 2197. Despite the NOL's overwhelming strength, the war was dragged on for many reasons. Eventually, the Ikaruga Federation was completely crushed.

XBlaze Lore
This refers to lore that can only be found in the XBlaze franchise.

Bloodedge Experience Lore
This refers to lore that can only be found in the Bloodedge Experience franchise.