Relius Clover

"You're an impressive specimen. Now, let the experiments begin!"

- Relius Clover

Relius Clover is a playable character and one of the main antagonists from BlazBlue. He is Carl and Ada's father and the husband of Ignis. He is a Colonel in the engineering department for the Novus Orbis Librarium, and works alongside Hazama. He is voiced by Junichi Sawabe in Japan and Travis Willingham in English.

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

Relius is known and feared by Tsubaki Yayoi and Makoto Nanaya, and he also seems to know and dislike Jubei of the Six Heroes. His son, Carl, hates him for what he did to his sister and mother, and thus spends the majority of his travels in pursuit of Relius. During Noel Vermillion's story in Continuum Shift, he tried to capture her to "examine" her, and he seems to have gotten a hold of Arakune at the end of his respective story, for reasons unknown yet immoral. He did not hesitate to attack his own son Carl when he encountered him.

His experiments include the creation of the Nox Nyctores Deus Ex Machina: Nirvana, which he used his daughter's body to create. He completed this project with help from Kokonoe, a fellow scientist from Sector Seven. His own puppet, the Fluctis Redacium: Ignis, was created from his own wife Ignis' body, who is similar in appearance to Nirvana, although she has a red dress instead of blue, human-like eyes, a more slender headdress, a top hat instead of a bow, and hooked fingers. He also seems to be responsible for 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 also seen working with Phantom and the Imperator Librarius. He is also working with Hazama to achieve his goals, which at this point are unknown. In the past, he worked with Kokonoe under a group known as the "Sin Architechts". During an wxperiment with Shūichirō Ayatsuki while using the first Boundary Interface Prime Field Device, they unknowingly created the Black Beast that was sent back through time.

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

In both his and Valkenhayn's Continuum Shift Extend Story Modes, it is revealed that he did not die when was swallowed by the Cauldron during his initial experiment with Terumi and Shūichirō. Instead, he was actually sent forward 80 years into the future, to the year 2179, losing his memory in the process. However, he 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 own). 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 their children Carl and Ada's births.

Chronophantasma
In Chronophantasma, Relius mostly focuses on obtaining Kushinada's Lynchpin as he and Hazama arrive to the Ikaruga Federation. Previously, on the request of Hazama, he captured the creature Arakune and fused him with the remnants of the 11th Murakumo Unit, Lambda-11, empowering Arakune further due to Lambda's Idea Engine and also turning him into his personal servant/attack dog. Additionally, Hazama has also secured the services of the doctor Litchi Faye-Ling due to her personal problems and desire to save Arakune, but Relius majorly considered her useless aside of the theory she brought. He is also implied to know the truth behind the massacre of Bullet's unit.

Relius appears as a final boss for Carl's Arcade Run. Unimpressed with how Carl clings on humanity, Relius then attempts to goad him with an offer: To rebuild Ada as a human. Likewise, he also serves as Bang Shishigami's final boss, Bang was extremely cross at how Relius apparently manipulated Litchi, but Relius was more interested at how he brought the Kushinada's Lynchpin along with him... this is in fact the true form of Bang's nail, the Nox Nyctores Phoenix Rettenjou. Relius reveals that the Nox is not just capable of separating the world from the Boundary, but can also be used as a seithr nuke, to rid the world of all seithr, and subsequently push civilization back to something akin of stone age. When asked why, Relius just replied that he's just curious on Bang's burden and awaited the phenomenon he dubbed 'Day of Destruction'.

It is later implied that Relius succeeded in taking the Rettenjou away from Bang, but he either personally did it, or he left the dirty job to Arakune. He's also the final boss of Valkenhayn's Arcade Route, where he came close in killing Valkenhayn for good (they're apparently rivals from the past), but a time disturbance sent Valkenhayn back in time. His own final boss is Hakumen, whereas after the battle, he left a cryptic remark that everything's going according to plan.

Story mode however was different as his plans were foiled by Bang and being abandoned by Izanami along with terumi as well as a humiliatiing defeat by Valkynhym and now is under the mercuy of Carl and Licthi until he fixes ada.

Profile

 * Alias: The Puppeteer, the Mad Puppeteer, the Puppet Master
 * Race: Human
 * Birthday: June 1
 * Birthplace: The 2nd Heirarchial City of Iwatsuchi
 * Gender: Male
 * Age: 100+
 * Relatives: Carl Clover (son), Ada Clover (daughter), Ignis Clover (wife)
 * Weapon: Fluctus Redactum: Ignis
 * Hobbies: Research
 * Likes: Opera
 * Dislikes: Disorganized Bookshelves
 * Drive: Detonator
 * Over-Drive: Maxima Dance
 * Astral Heat: The Puppeteer's Altar

Personality
Relius is a twisted, evil mirror image of his son Carl; while he is just as calm, collected, calculating and courteus as his son, he is cold and utterly lacking in empathy. The one thing in the world he truly cares about is his research. He 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 in Continuum Shift Extend's story mode that his lack of empathy stems from his prior experiments, as well as his experiment on the Boundary. During the process of his creation of Nirvana, as well as falling 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. While what that light is remains a mystery, it could possibly be a human's soul. Regardless, due to his belief that the light was a person's true form, he 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 affinity for the color purple, although the shade of purple he wears is magenta instead of violet. He also wears a golden opera mask for reasons unknown 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 vast knowledge of both magic and science, and has created several weapons utilizing his intellect, such as the Murakumo Units, the Nox Nyctores Nirvana, and his own puppet Ignis. He is also presumed to be immortal, and has survived several brushes with death in the past.

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:
 * 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.
 * 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: Trapped 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 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: 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.
 * Chrono Phantasma: Stands with hands tied 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 of 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 his Ignis is disabled and is going to be experimented on.
 * Amane: Trapped inside an ancient Japanese brothel cage, used for displaying prostitutes.
 * Bullet: Put in crawling position, hands bound behind her back with red tape.
 * Azrael: Crucified upside-down on a cross.
 * Izayoi: Arms held above her head by a giant puppet arm, which sprouts smaller arms that grab the rest of her body.
 * Kagura Mutsuki: Hands tied behind his back, being suspended from a gallows stand. His Zweihander is on the ground and out of his reach.
 * Yuuki Terumi: Sitting in a chair, hands bound behind it. Behind him is a mirror which reflects his ghost form.
 * 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 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.
 * 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 is Blazblue's counterpart of Raven and Crow (although Crow's counterpart is Kokonoe). It is even notable that Relius has more similarities with Crow than Raven, both being mad scientists and both wanting to obtain powerful experiment.
 * Depending on the language, even if his core character is unchanged, Relius' personality may differ a little. In Japanese (Junichi Suwabe), Relius uses a monotone emotionless style of speaking, and generally hard to show impression. In English (Travis Willingham), he's shown to be not above showing excitement and raising his voice enthusiastically in front of certain things.
 * 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, Junichi Suwabe and Travis Willingham.
 * Even more ironically, both Theodore and Relius are related to a character voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro in Japanese.