Zigang

Zigang
Title	Elder of Grandis
Current Residence	Shangri-La
Gender	Male
Race	Sage (Rat Anima)
Affiliations	Elders of Grandis Four Symbols Kaling (formerly)
Minions	Four Symbols Master Tai Yu Researchers of Odium Constables of Odium Guardian Kalos and the other Guardians
Enemies	Ancient Gods Gerand Darmoor Kaling Shensung Maolang
Status	Alive
Name (Other Servers)
KoreaMS	자강 (Jagang)
JapanMS	子康 (Ko Kō)
ChinaMS	子康 (zi kāng)
TaiwanMS	子剛 (zi gāng)
MapleSEA	Jagang

Zigang is one of the twelve elders of Grandis and their de-facto leader.

Story

The Elders of Grandis

Zigang was a rat Anima who lived during the era of the Ancient Gods, famed throughout Grandis for his strong sense of duty and his desire to help the world by sharing his wisdom and knowledge. Alongside him 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, Zigang 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, who was close to Zigang, 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, including Zigang, 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, Zigang - who was highly respected and regarded as the de-facto leader of the elders - took the responsibility of overseeing the realm of Winter, alongside Chouxian and Haia.

Meeting the New Adversary

Eons after the end of the Ancient War, Tai Yu brought a new Adversary to Shangri-La after the Angler Company's invasion of Odium. In the realm of the sages, the Adversary and their allies, Brighton and Oz, were greeted by the Four Symbols, who were impressed upon seeing the Adversary, who had been created in the outside world.

Shuli told the Adversary that the Four Symbols had protected the elders and the researchers when they had been conducting their experiments, and that in all the ages since then, none of them had seen anything quite like the Adversary, who was the only one of their kind to have retained their sense of self. She added that she would be lying if she were to say that their existence wasn't a surprise, not only to them, but to the elders as well.

Just then, four of the elders – Zigang, Maolang, Shensung, and Weio – appeared. Zigang noted that Shuli was right, and that his surprise ran deeper than simply his expectations being surpassed, as he found the whole situation inconceivable. He noted that Tai Yu had certainly brought in something interesting, adding that Tai Yu always seemed to find ways to defy their expectations.

He then addressed the Adversary by name, noting that they were the new Adversary that Tai Yu had spoken of. However, he explained that he had been told that they were a completed Vessel and asked why it seemed that they were now empty. The Adversary explained that they had lost their Seal Stone during their travels, as Gerand Darmoor had shattered it. They told the elders that they had already used the Seal Stone's power to defeat a corrupt Transcendent once before, though they added that it was still not enough, as they needed the power of the Adversary to face Darmoor, for which they had come to Shangri-La.

A surprised Zigang asked if he had heard correctly that they had already killed a god, expressing his shock that they hadn't met their fate, even after fulfilling their purpose as an Adversary. An equally shocked Weio noted that as the Seal Stone was an item modeled after the Godsphere, it meant that the Adversary's destiny must have remained the same. An amused Shensung noted that their situation was interesting, as it seemed that it was possible for an Adversary to avoid their destiny in such a way.

The confused Adversary asked him what he was talking about, to which Shensung laughed and told them that they could figure it out just by thinking. He explained that the will of the world had wanted the Adversaries to be weapons to create order, adding that as the Adversary had once been completed, they ought to know the extent of an Adversary's power.

He told them that the Adversaries were weapons that could take down gods and asked what they thought would happen if such weapons were allowed to be released into the world. He explained the chaos that would ensue would be as though the Ancient Gods had never left, as it would simply be a new set of perpetrators replacing the first. The Adversary immediately realized what Shensung was implying, with Shensung confirming their thoughts by revealing that all Adversaries, from the moment that they awakened, were destined for death after fulfilling their purpose.

He explained that if the Seal Stone had remained inside them, then they would not have been able to avoid their destiny. He then laughed and told them that it meant that they owed their life to Darmoor. A shocked Oz realized that if Shensung's words were true, then it meant that Darmoor had deliberately chosen to destroy the Adversary's Seal Stone in order to allow them to escape their destiny. Brighton noted that it seemed quite strange, as he wondered why Darmoor hadn't chosen to kill the Adversary after destroying the Seal Stone.

Zigang then interrupted and told them that there was nothing further to hear after learning that there was an Adversary who had rejected the will of the world, adding that there was no way that they could allow the Adversary to leave Shangri-La alive. Though Tai Yu cut in and told Zigang not to be hasty, Zigang angrily scolded Tai Yu, explaining that when he had sent Tai Yu down to the outside world, he had expected Tai Yu to take responsibility for his own actions, as Taowu and Qiongqi – the Perils that Tai Yu had sealed – had broken free.

He reminded Tai Yu that his task had been to learn how the Perils had escaped, as well as to recapture them, and so he asked Tai Yu what the meaning of bringing outsiders to Shangri-La was. Tai Yu calmly replied that he had figured out the cause of the broken seals, as well as where the Perils were. He revealed that Kaling had released them, adding that Zigang should surely remember Kaling, as she had been his favorite researcher.

A surprised Zigang immediately realized that Kaling had set out to complete her experiment. Nevertheless, he told Tai Yu that there was nothing to worry about, as her experiment would never be completed. Tai Yu knowingly asked him whether it was because Hundun was sealed in the heart of Odium, to which a shocked Zigang asked him how he could possibly know that.

Tai Yu revealed that Guardian Kalos had been defeated, which meant that the path to Odium had opened up. An aghast Gaon noted that if Kalos had truly been defeated, then it meant that the laboratory was once again exposed to the outside world. He immediately confronted Tai Yu and demanded to know if he was telling the truth. Tai Yu reaffirmed his words and explained that he – along with the Adversary, Brighton, and Oz – had all been witnesses. He explained that Odium had awakened, and that Kaling had entered its heart, where she had found not only Hundun, but the Godsphere that he had been fused with.

Shensung asked Tai Yu what had happened to Hundun and the Godsphere, to which the Adversary presented the Godsphere and explained that Hundun had died after bestowing it upon them. They told the elders that the Godsphere was a shell of what it used to be, and that they had come to Shangri-La in order to seek their help on how to restore its power, as they had been told that the elders would known a way to do so.

Shensung examined the Godsphere and told Zigang that the Adversary was telling the truth, adding that it really was the World Heart. He then cursed Hundun, claiming that he had been quite clever to make such a mess of things at the end of his life. Tai Yu then addressed Zigang and the other elders. He explained that he understood plainly that if the will of the world didn't allow it, none of them would interfere in the affairs of the world, even if the sky itself were to come crashing down.

He then pointed out the consequences of their inactivity, with both Kalos and Odium having fallen. He explained that the worst had been avoided only thanks to the Adversary, and that they couldn't hope to be so lucky forever. However, Zigang merely noted that Tai Yu had done quite a bit while they hadn't been watching and asked how he still couldn't understand that none of it was their concern.

Shensung then turned to the Adversary and asked what kind of nonsense they were uttering with their talk of having come to Shangri-La to “seek their help”. He told them that Hundun had simply wanted the elders to see the Adversary – someone who had defied the will of the world and their destiny – with their own eyes as some sort of sick joke. Maolang then spoke up and asked Zigang how long he was planning to give the outsiders the courtesy of listening to their nonsense.

Zigang agreed with her and ordered Gaon to seize the Adversary. He claimed that the Adversary had defied the will of the world, and that they would one day throw the world into chaos. In order to prevent that, he explained that they would seal the Adversary, along with the World Heart, in Shangri-La's Winter, which would ensure that they would never set foot in the outside world again.

Shensung then ordered Baekyeon the White Tiger to seal Tai Yu in Autumn while they figured out what to do with him. He began wondering what they should do about Oz and Brighton, to which Maolang pointed out that they were outsiders with no reason to be in Shangri-La, and so she ordered Ara the Azure Dragon, the gatekeeper between Shangri-La and the outside world, to expel them from the realm of the sages. With that, the elders disappeared and the Symbols left to carry out their instructions.

Kaling's Invasion

Soon after, however, Kaling - with the help of six elders, including Shensung and Maolang - broke into Shangri-La and unleashed the three Perils that she had regathered - Qiongqi, Taowu, and Hundun. In the face of the crisis, the Adversary worked alongside Gaon to defeat Kaling and her Perils. The World Heart, upon feeling Darmoor's Transcendent powers inside Kaling, immediately reacted and drained Kaling of all her power with a bright light, resulting in her death.

After the Adversary returned to the pavilion, Zigang told them that he had been waiting and admitted that the elders, against their will, were now indebted to them. He explained that they had seen the light coming from the World Heart, even from the pavilion, and noted that the Adversary likely had much to ask them. The Adversary asked Zigang if the World Heart was a Godsphere, explaining that Kaling herself had mentioned that it was something greater than a Seal Stone.

Zigang replied that it wasn't just the Seal Stones that it was greater than, as not even the Godspheres could compare to the World Heart, which was the original created by the will of the world, with the Godspheres that the elders had mass-produced merely being replicas of it. He explained that though he had never encountered a Seal Stone before, he supposed that the Seal Stones had been created in the same way as the Godspheres, using the World Heart's power that had permeated deep beneath the continents of Maple World as a template.

The Adversary then asked Zigang about the light from the World Heart, to which Zigang explained that the World Heart had been created to subdue the Ancient Gods' power, and as such, it had the ability to take away the power of gods and god-like beings. He told the Adversary that the divine light that they had seen shining from the World Heart had been in reaction to the power of a god, which Kaling had been lent, causing the Adversary to realize that Kaling had been given part of Darmoor's own Transcendent powers.

Zigang then told them that he couldn't speak on the matter any further, as they already knew too much. He explained that some of the elders had been against the idea of even allowing them to return to the pavilion, and that they had wanted Gaon to use his remaining power to seal them and the World Heart away. He admitted that he was inclined to agree with the other elders, as the Adversary was far too dangerous. However, he conceded that the reality was that they had saved Shangri-La, and so he would overlook it just this once.

He then turned to Gaon and added that the same went for him, warning him to never defy the elders again, after which he ordered the Adversary to surrender the World Heart and leave Shangri-La immediately. Gaon then nervously spoke up and told Zigang that he wanted to leave with the Adversary and go down to the world below.

He admitted that he understood that they had just fought off Kaling and the Perils. However, he explained that in his time in Shangri-La, he had been under the impression that the outside world had been a utopia, adding that he wanted to stop believing the things that he had simply been told without seeing the truth for himself. He explained that he had been afraid that any intervention on his part would have caused chaos in the world, and because of that fear, he had been blinded for far too long.

He admitted that he could not look away any longer, as he believed that he needed to use his strength to protect the world. However, an angry Zigang immediately refused his request, reminding him that the Blue Dragon and White Tiger had been taken away by the traitorous elders during the battle against Kaling, and that the Vermillion Bird was resting from her severe injuries. With Spring, Summer, and Autumn all having fallen, Gaon and the barrier of winter were all that protected Shangri-La. He then demanded to know whether Gaon intended to neglect his responsibility given by the will of the world itself.

Just then, Tai Yu interrupted and told them to settle down, as fighting wouldn't help anyone. He explained that Shangri-La, in its current state, wasn't suited to hide something as important as the World Heart. He also noted to Zigang that they both knew that once Gaon's mind was made up, it would be difficult for anyone to change it. He admitted that the elders could try to force their hand, though he added that it would a waste for them to use their remaining power in such a way.

He then presented an alternate arrangement and offered to stay in Shangri-La himself, explaining that with the strength that he had gained from his travels, combined with the strength of the remaining elders, they would be able to create new barriers for Shangri-La. Regarding the World Heart, Tai Yu pointed out that there wasn't much choice but to leave it with the Adversary, as it seemed much safer than leaving it with the elders, given everything that had happened.

Brighton asked Tai Yu whether he was up to it, as Shangri-La had, from its creation, been guarded by four protectors, not one. Tai Yu laughed and explained that while his strength couldn't match that of the Black Tortoise, he could more than make up for it with a few tricks, adding that it would be quite simple with the elders' cooperation.

Weio noted that Tai Yu's words were sound, and so she asked him to come close. Zigang begrudgingly concurred and told Tai Yu to prove himself if he was so confident. The elders then bestowed their power onto Tai Yu, who combined it with his own magic to strengthen the core of Shangri-La and restore the other seasons. Zigang noted that he could feel a portion of the other seasons returning, and though it wasn't perfect, he admitted that it was good enough for the time being.

He then told Tai Yu that he was right, and that they couldn't protect the World Heart, nor could they stop Gaon from leaving. He also admitted that Tai Yu's suggestion for the elders to lend their strength hadn't been without merit, and so he curtly told them to leave it at that and ordered Gaon and the Glory Guard to leave immediately, disappearing soon after.

NPC

Shangri-La

Sinners' Paradise

Zigang
Location	Sinners' Paradise

Four Seasons Pavilion

Zigang
Quests involved	[Destiny Weapon] Battle of the Chosen [Destiny Weapon] The Adversary's Weapon
Location	Four Seasons Pavilion

Plum Blossom-Scented Spring

Zigang
Location	Plum Blossom-Scented Spring

Bamboo-Resting Winter

Zigang
Location	Bamboo-Resting Winter

Gallery

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  NPC Portrait of Zigang
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  NPC Portrait of Zigang
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  NPC Portrait of Zigang
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  NPC Portrait of Zigang
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  NPC Portrait of Zigang
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  NPC Portrait of Zigang
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  NPC Portrait of Zigang (contaminated)