Xula

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The details below contain SPOILERS, you may want to view this after completing the storyline in-game.

Xula
Title	Elder of Grandis
Current Residence	Unknown
Gender	Female
Race	Sage (Dog Anima)
Affiliations	Elders of Grandis (formerly) Four Symbols (formerly) Gerand Darmoor Gerand Darmoor Apostles
Minions	Four Symbols (formerly) Master Tai Yu (formerly) Researchers of Odium (formerly) Constables of Odium (formerly) Guardian Kalos and the other Guardians (formerly)
Enemies	Ancient Gods Adversary
Status	Alive
Name (Other Servers)
JapanMS	戌拉 (Inu ra)
ChinaMS	戌拉 (Xū lā)
TaiwanMS	戌拉 (Xū lā)
MapleSEA	Sula

Xula is one of the twelve elders of Grandis, and one of the six elders who betrayed the others in order to join Gerand Darmoor.

Story

The Elders of Grandis

Xula was a dog Anima who lived during the era of the Ancient Gods, famed throughout Grandis for her strong sense of duty and her desire to help the world by sharing her wisdom and knowledge. Alongside her were eleven other wise and courageous Anima, who became known as the elders of Grandis.

The elders' talent and convictions drew the attention of the Overseers, whom the elders revered as the will of the world. The Overseers tasked the elders with a direct mission to quell the chaos of the gods by creating beings capable of facing them in combat. In order to do so, the Overseers created a powerful relic known as the World Heart, capable of stripping a god of all their power.

The Adversary Experiments

In order to aid the elders with their experiments, the Overseers imbued them with their divine blessings, giving them a nearly infinite lifespan and an army of researchers to serve as their helpers. With this divine blessing, Xula ascended to sagehood and worked with the other elders to create the beings that the will of the world had asked of them.

With their ample resources, the elders created a large, floating laboratory known as Odium. In order to protect them and their research, the elders called in the four strongest Anima in the world - Ara the Blue Dragon, Shuli the Vermillion Bird, Baekyeon the White Tiger, and Gaon the Black Tortoise. These four warriors were blessed by the will of the world and became known as the Four Symbols.

In Odium, the elders began conducting research on how to weaponize the immense divine power inside the World Heart. Their experiments led to the creation of the Godsphere, a relic modeled off the World Heart. As these man-made Godspheres were weaker than the World Heart, they did not possess the power to drain the energy of higher beings, nor did they share the conditions required to awaken its power.

Instead, the Godspheres had their own unique conditions - namely that they would only awaken in response to the collective determination of the people, such that their immense power could never be monopolized by a single individual. The Godspheres were similar in nature to the holy relics of the Ancient Gods, which awakened in response to the believers of those respective gods, choosing a champion whom the followers of their religion placed their faith in.

With the creation of the Godspheres, the elders began conducting experiments to fuse mortals with the Godspheres in order to give them the power to match the gods. In order to do so, the elders created mechanical Guardians to defend the laboratory, as well as to identity suitable test subjects. Worthy candidates were known as Vessels, who would then be experimented upon in order to be fused with the Godspheres.

As the elders conducted their experiments, they began using a combination of magic and cybernetics to enhance their Vessels and make them stronger, as well as to forcibly make them compatible with the Godspheres. Their early experiments resulted in a number of failed test subjects, many of whom were deemed defective and either contained inside the laboratory or thrown off the edge of Odium.

Over time, the elders began perfecting their research and were soon able to successfully unite the Godspheres with their Vessels, giving rise to the first Adversaries. Imbued with the power to challenge the gods, the Adversaries began the conflict that would one day be known as the Ancient War. With the success of their experiments, the elders began mass-producing Adversaries in order to subdue the gods and end their chaos.

The Ancient War

As the war progressed, however, the elders soon began noticing that their research had a critical flaw. As a result of their experimentation, their Adversaries began losing everything that made them human - their memories, their emotions, their free will, and their sense of self - thereby reducing them into empty shells devoid of anything except their single-minded obsession to fulfill their assigned purpose as Adversaries of the gods.

This lack of humanity was called contamination by the elders, who were shocked and disgusted with themselves for having forcibly taken away the humanity and free will of so many heroes of the world. Nevertheless, as they had been given a direct mission by the Overseers to end the rampage of the wild and unaccountable gods, the elders continued with their research, despite knowing that they were committing grave atrocities and compromising all the core values that they held sacred.

Soon after, the elders also realized another side-effect of their Adversaries - one which had been directly created by the Overseers themselves. The Adversaries' power to destroy higher beings made them a great danger to the world, for while they were working to end the chaos of the gods, allowing such powerful and dangerous weapons to remain in the world was a grave risk, as their mere existence had the potential to usher in a new age of chaos, equal to that of the Ancient Gods.

For this reason, it had been ordained that the fate of every Adversary - from the moment that they awakened - was to die soon after fulfilling their purpose. As a result, their Adversaries - after defeating the gods - began falling one by one. Because of this, the elders continued requiring candidates for their experiments in order to give rise to more Adversaries.

Kaling and the Four Perils

Over time, the war continued progressing as the elders had hoped, with the gods falling one by one to the Adversaries' power. Eventually, only one god remained and the elders continued their experiments to create an Adversary to confront the last god standing. Though their test subjects were typically brought in from outside Odium, there was one amongst the researchers who aided the elders named Kaling, who was deemed a suitable candidate for experimentation, despite the research team's reservations about whether she would be compatible with the Godsphere.

Kaling readily agreed to undergo the brutal experiments, though she was ultimately deemed a defective Vessel. Over time, the contamination began overtaking Kaling, whose humanity was stripped away from her, leaving her obsessed with fulfilling her purpose to defeat the Ancient Gods. Because of this, she created four mechanical monsters whom she released into Grandis, intending for them to consume smaller monsters and amass strength, which she would them combine with a Vessel and a Godsphere to give rise to an extremely powerful Adversary.

Despite the elders and the researchers recognizing the signs of contamination in Kaling, they turned a blind eye to her experiments, refusing to believe that the contamination could affect even the best of them.

The Bell Mysticant

Over time, however, the elders and the researchers began realizing that the contamination was beginning to affect even them, slowly eroding away their humanity. Hoping to stop the contamination, an elder named Weio proposed that they create an object known as a mysticant, which would be able to cleanse them of their contamination and wash away their grave sins.

Several elders refused, claiming that they should view their lack of humanity as punishment from the will of the world for their abhorrent crimes. However, some of the elders agreed with Weio and began experimenting alongside her to create an object to stave off their contamination. Their efforts resulted in the creation of the bell mysticant, whose ring would be able to cleanse their sins and their contamination. However, as the bell would only ring in the hands of someone with an exceptionally pure heart, Weio - a sheep Anima - left the bell with a sheep Anima village, entrusting them to find someone who could make the bell ring.

End of the War

By the end of the war, the contamination completely took hold of Kaling, erasing her morality and causing her to fall completely to evil. After she released her four monsters - Hundun, Qiongqi, Taowu, and Taotie - into the world, her creations began consuming fiends and terrorizing the entirety of Grandis with their impunity, causing them to be reviled as the Four Perils. Though Kaling was unconcerned, believing that the results of her experiment would win the war, the last god was defeated at the holy city of Cernium before Kaling's experiment could finish.

At the end of the war, the elders realized that they could no longer turn a blind eye to Kaling's madness, and so they sent another defective Vessel named Tai Yu in order to stop Kaling and her Four Perils. Tai Yu successfully sealed away Kaling in a place that the researchers could not reach, and in a way that left no trace.

After the war ended, the elders realized that their contamination had spread critically, which threatened to completely erode their humanity. They also realized that though the war had ended, their research to create beings capable of destroying gods had the potential to give birth to a new age of chaos. For this reason, the elders, in accordance to the will of the world, decided that they would clear away their research and sequester themselves from the world in order to prevent both the contamination and the secrets of the Overseers from leaking out.

Shangri-La, the Realm of the Sages

With no Godspheres left in Odium, the elders took the World Heart - the original template made by the Overseers - and forcibly fused it with Hundun, the strongest of the Four Perils. As the World Heart's power was so strong that even they could not handle it, the elders hoped to deplete its power in order to ensure that no one would be able to misuse it. After fusing it with Hundun, the elders used him as the power source of Odium. Meanwhile, Tai Yu sealed away the other three Perils, though the elders kept the truth about Hundun secret from both Tai Yu and the researchers.

The researchers, using some of Kaling's old research, created mechanical dolls called Constables - sentient robots made in the researchers' own image, with their Anima features replaced with metal equivalents. The Constables were then tasked with maintaining the laboratory in the researchers' absence. Additionally, the elders left Guardian Kalos, the strongest of their mechanical Guardians, to serve as the laboratory's sentinel. With Hundun and the World Heart powering such a vast and complex mechanical system, the elders hoped to slowly deplete the World Heart's power over the span of many ages.

With all the Adversaries meeting their demise as a result of their preordained fate, the divine power of the Godspheres - originally stemming from the World Heart - permeated deep into the land. The elders then locked all remnants of their research - including the monstrous creatures born from their failed experiments - inside the laboratory, tasking their Constables and Guardians with safeguarding Odium. With all traces of their research cleared away, the elders used their power to create Shangri-La, also known as the realm of the sages, where they planned to imprison themselves.

Shangri-La - a realm made completely out of magic - was created in the image of a beautiful painting and structured with four inner realms that corresponded to the four seasons. The outermost barrier was Spring, which led deeper into Summer, Autumn, Winter, and finally to the innermost pavilion where the elders lived. Shangri-La was created to be closed to outsiders, with only a true sage being allowed to enter and leave, either physically through a special hanging scroll, or by astral projection through their dreams.

In order to prevent outsiders from forcing their way into Shangri-La, the Four Symbols who protected the elders were tasked with guarding each of the inner realms and their barriers. Ara the Blue Dragon protected Spring, Shuli the Vermillion Bird protected Summer, Baekyeon the White Tiger protected Autumn, and Gaon the Black Tortoise protected Winter. Each of the Four Symbols had their life forces tied to special scrolls that served as gateways in and out of their respective realms.

With the natural balance of the four seasons, the elders hoped that the contamination spreading to themselves and the researchers would be halted. After imprisoning themselves inside Shangri-La, the elders spent the ages filled with guilt and remorse for the atrocities that they had committed during the war. Because of the contamination, the elders and the researchers also began having their humanity stripped away, slowly eroding their ability to feel. Nevertheless, the spiritual balance of Shangri-La countered the contamination and prevented it from worsening.

Filled with unending regret, the elders branded themselves as the Sinners and waited ages for the one who would ring the bell and wash away their sins to appear. Despite their guilt and their contamination, the elders maintained their strong sense of duty and morality for which the Overseers had chosen them. Seeing it as their continued responsibility to quell the chaos of the world, just as the Overseers had ordered, the elders sent Tai Yu and several other sages to the outside world in order to correct all that had gone awry.

In Shangri-La, Xula took the responsibility of overseeing the realm of Autumn, alongside Shensung and rooster elder.

Joining Darmoor

Over the ages, Xula began growing resentful of her imprisonment in Shangri-La and sought to escape the will of the world and its imposition of order and duty. Exacerbated by the contamination eating away at her humanity and sense of responsibility, Xula and five other elders who similarly sought to escape their situation - Shensung, Maolang, as well as the tiger, dragon, and rooster elders - were able to send a message through to the outside world and contact Gerand Darmoor.

Hoping that Darmoor would help them escape the will of the world, the elders came to aid Darmoor in his mission and fell into his favor. Shortly after the Angler Company's attack on Odium, Darmoor learned from Kaling that the Adversary had taken the World Heart to Shangri-La. As Darmoor owed the elders for unknown reasons, he instructed Kaling to enter Shangri-La in order to help the elders escape, which would also allow her to confront the Adversary and take back the World Heart. As Shangri-La was closed from the inside, he contacted the elders and told them to bring down the barriers in order to let Kaling in, as well as to monitor the Adversary.

Escaping Shangri-La

After Shensung and Maolang weakened the barriers of Shangri-La with Kaling's contaminated Godspheres, Kaling unleashed three of the Four Perils upon Shangri-La until she was defeated by the Adversary. Xula then accompanied Shensung and the rooster elder back to Spring, where they successfully escaped Shangri-La and met with Darmoor. Having escaped their prison, the elders created a new dimension within a painting, similar to Shangri-La, which was composed of a dark skyline. This dimension became the new residency of the traitorous elders, who began working with Darmoor in order to escape the will of the world.

Mission to Carcion

After freeing the elders, Darmoor tasked them with creating a new Adversary for him. In order to find suitable test subjects for their experiments, Darmoor sent Xula and Shensung to accompany Limbo aboard a High Flora battleship to Carcion, where Limbo had been tasked with taking the power of an Ancient God named Keira.

As they headed for Carcion, Limbo informed his colonel, Albaire, that Reina had finished securing the Transcendent powers of Cygnus, though Albaire pointed out that the power of Shinsoo had been absorbed into the World Heart by the Adversary first. Limbo noted disdainfully that even with the power of the gods bestowed upon her, Reina couldn't even manage to secure Shinsoo's power, noting that it spoke volumes about her capabilities. He then ordered Albaire to increase the ship's speed, as they would be arriving at the sanctuary soon.

Upon hearing Limbo give the order to increase speed, Shensung approached him and smirked before asking whether he was feeling nervous that he wouldn't be able to successfully complete his mission, mockingly reassuring him not to worry, as that was what he and Xula were here for. An annoyed Limbo warned him to remain quiet so long as they were in his ship. He then wondered exasperatedly why Darmoor had requested the help of such fools, to which Shensung amusedly retorted that it was because the elders' powers were on another level entirely compared to Limbo's Specter powers.

Xula then scolded Shensung and told him to have some manners, reminding him that it has been their own decision to accompany Limbo. Shensung dismissively replied that he understood that they only had to do what they had come for, to which Xula told him that though she understood that he was excited about coming outside for the first time in a long time, she reminded him that it was only the beginning for them.

She then apologized to Limbo for Shensung's insolence and promised him that they wouldn't interfere with his work. Limbo huffed and told Xula to see to it that they didn't hinder his plans. Just then, Albaire reported that they had arrived, to which Limbo laughed and told him not to let a single person get away.

After the High Flora arrived at Carcion, Shensung unleashed his newest creation - Specters which could disguise themselves as people, which he used in order to confuse the native snake and turtle Anima. Because of this, the High Flora quickly seized control of Keira's temple, where Limbo, Albaire, and the elders found Keira sealed inside a large water bubble.

As Limbo began working to destroy the barrier, Shensung suggested to Xula that they find a nice place to conduct their experiments, though he doubted that they would be able to find a suitable candidate in the area. Xula noted that Darmoor may be trying to test their skills, to which Shensung replied that for the sake of ‘that day' to arrive, he would gladly do any kind of research.

Shensung and Xula began ordering the disguised Specters to kidnap the Anima of both tribes and bring them to the makeshift research laboratory that the elders had constructed using technology from Odium. There, Shensung and Xula began conducting special experiments by combining the Adversary research of Odium with Specter research. Their investigation led them to confirm the presence of a 'special soul', which was capable of resisting being taken over by Specters.

At Limbo's request, Xula and Shensung had the Specters send the Anima test subjects to the temple after their use had expired. Soon after, the elders returned to the temple and found the area polluted with Darmoor's power, as well as the kidnapped turtle and snake Anima lying on the floor. Shensung amusedly noted that he had been wondering what Limbo was doing with the Anima after requesting for them to be sent to the temple after experimentation. He asked Limbo whether he was screening the Anima while Keira watched, laughing that he had poor taste in hobbies. Limbo asked Shensung whether he was feeling empathy for the Anima, adding that they would be dead either way, causing Keira to stir uncomfortably within her seal.

Shensung laughed and noted that he hadn't heard the word ‘empathy' in a while, adding that it seemed that even an Apostle of Darmoor could believe the elders as being capable of having humanity. At his words, however, Xula told Shensung to stop being so crass. Just then, Albaire reported that the Adversary had been sighted with two members of the Alliance and the Black Tortoise, with the news of Gaon's arrival surprising both Shensung and Xula. Limbo asked Albaire to buy him time until he could finish his work, with Xula and Shensung accompanying Albaire to meet their targets.

Albaire then arranged a trap to capture Gaon and several other Alliance soldiers at the caverns. Xula, Shensung, and Albaire appeared before the captured Alliance soldiers, causing Gaon to express his shock at seeing Shensung and Xula, whom he referred to as ‘masters', causing Shensung to laugh that Gaon would still refer to them as such.

Shensung noted that after hearing how Gaon had left Shangri-La, he had been interested in seeing how determined Gaon was to see his decision through, though he laughed that Gaon was still as naïve as ever. Duhan, the leader of the turtle Anima, then demanded to know where the real Anima were being kept, to which Shensung told him not to worry, as the captured Anima were sound asleep, alongside their precious goddess. He then mockingly imitated the cries of the Anima children begging for the Anima leaders to save them, and for Keira to grant them her blessing, adding that they had sounded quite pathetic.

Albaire suddenly interrupted and told Shensung to be quiet before addressing the Alliance soldiers, noting that they had fallen into his trap so easily that it was almost laughable. He then ordered his forces to begin the extermination. Suddenly, the water levels in the cavern began to rapidly rise, threatening to drown the Alliance soldiers, who had been trapped in a force field.

As the water levels continued rising dangerously, Shensung noted that Albaire had chosen a cautious method of killing them, adding that he had been looking forward to a battle between a High Flora colonel and one of the Four Symbols. However, Albaire curtly replied that there was nothing that he would gain from exerting himself, as he had already seen Gaon's martial prowess.

Disappointed, Shensung decided that he would return back to the sanctuary, noting that as much as he wished to see Gaon's final moments, he also had work that needed to be finished. He then told Xula to follow him back before heading off. However, Xula remained for a moment and looked at Gaon silently before addressing him. She then revealed to him that Ara and Baekyeon were still alive and asked him to let that knowledge give him ease in his final moments before leaving as well.

Back at the sanctuary, Albaire arrived and reported that the Adversary had successfully rescued their friends, and that they would be arriving at the temple soon. After Albaire left to face the enemy on Limbo's orders, Shensung laughed that Gaon was quite persistent, though he noted that if they were to leave him be, he would continue to be a nuisance. Realizing that they still needed to take care of Ara and Baekyeon as well, he wondered what they ought to do. However, Xula told him that they would decide what to do after discussing it with the other elders.

She then asked him whether he was thinking of staying, pointing out that they had already gathered enough data, and that they could safely conclude that there was no suitable candidate amongst the Anima in Carcion. Shensung agreed, adding that they ought to get back to the others before Maolang started making a fuss again. He then addressed Limbo and informed him that they were heading back before things became noisy, to which Limbo merely snapped at him to leave if they were done, adding that they would only get in his way. The elders then opened up a hanging scroll that sent them back to the dimension where the traitorous elders were residing.

Gallery

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  NPC Portrait of Xula