Aephorul

* Sprite
* Portrait

## Appendage

♫ Aephorul Returns♫ Fury of the Fleshmancer: The Final Stand

> "*To think that you could stop me with a snap of your fingers... But no, you choose to cling to the silly belief that this all turns to good someday.*"
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>      ― *Aephorul*
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**Aephorul**, also known as **The Fleshmancer**, is a character in *Sea of Stars*. He is an evil immortal alchemist who creates monstrous creations and unleashes them upon the world. He is responsible for creating Dwellers and for the Gorilla Matriarch's affliction.

## Profile

### Appearance

Aephorul conceals his body with a purple hood and dark clothing. His arms have fleshy extensions, and two horns protrude from his upper back. Whether any of these monstrous features are natural, intentionally sought, or unintended side effects of his advances into forbidden alchemy is unknown.

Before the passing of centuries made his body hideous, his horns were shorter and his hood was down. At that time, he had long white hair, red earrings, and green-tinted skin.

### Personality

Aephorul grew to be heartless when he gained immortality. He treats those who life average-length lives as worthless, and thus expendable. He considers himself a god, and is easily angered by disrespect. Although, the truth is that he hates how immortality has withered his body, and his horrible crimes against natural things as the Fleshmancer are a reflection of his bitterness and desire to spread the suffering and pain he has endured onto every other lifeform. He is apathetic to the suffering of his followers.

In contrast to all this, his interactions with Resh'an reveal a different side of him. They talk as peers, equals, like the former colleagues and fellow immortals they are, and former friends they were. Unlike with every other person, Aephorul actually expresses respect for him, even plainly stating that certain aspects of Resh'an's work is plainly better than his own, even as they stand opposing one another.

## Boss Fight

### Overview

Aephorul's boss fight shifts between two types of combat: the standard turn-based combat, and non-standard "shoot-'em-up" combat. The latter type of combat is previously first seen during the initial ending, when fighting the World Eater for the first time. Aephorul's health must be depleted in both types of combat before the fight can be completed.

The battle against Aephorul starts off with turn-based combat; when Aephorul's health is depleted, it transitions into shoot-'em-up combat, where he will fly up out of the arena, with Zale and Valere pursuing him. There, he takes on a new form, and attacks Zale and Valere with projectiles coming from his four limbs. The health of his limbs are represented by a purple health bar, and the health of his head weakpoint is represented by a teal health bar. The teal health bar cannot be depleted until the purple health bar is depleted, which occurs when all four of his limbs are destroyed.

After the four limbs are destroyed, Aephorul becomes vulnerable for a short time. The vulnerability eventually wears off, and he follows up with a powerful beam attack, which can be dodged with good timing by diving. When the beam attack is finished, his limbs will regrow and shoot projectiles once again. This pattern must be repeated until the teal health bar is depleted, returning the player to the main fight. Alternatively, Zale and Valere are returned to the main fight early if they are hit five times by Aephorul's shoot-'em-up attacks.

In either scenario, a large percentage of Aephorul's health during turn-based combat is restored, and it must be depleted again in order to either complete the fight or in order to attempt the shoot-'em-up combat again. Damage made to Aephorul's teal health bar during the shoot-'em-up phase is not reset, and is retained across multiple attempts. The fight will end on the attempt Aephorul's HP during turn-based combat is depleted when Aephorul's HP during shoot-'em-up combat has already been fully depleted.

### Skills

#### Standard Attack

Aephorul hits one party member with an energy shot. This attack ignores any Lunar Shields, destroying one of them in the process.

#### Maw

Aephorul hits all party members with a giant flesh maw.

#### Sap

Aephorul targets one party member, which summons 1-3 seed enemies, dependent on the number of locks left. This attack ignores any Lunar Shields, destroying one of them in the process. The seed enemies are harmless, but they are resistant to all types of attacks and can transform into appendages if not destroyed.

#### Throne of Flesh

Aephorul uses Throne of Flesh immediately after Sap. It will move Aephorul out of the fight, making him invulnerable, and transforming the seed enemies into different-colored appendages that can attack the player. Their attack involves wrapping their mouth around a single party member, striking them 3 times in a row. Each appendage is randomized to have one specific weakness, which corresponds with their color: gray appendages are weak to sword, brown appendages are weak to blunt, orange appendages are weak to sun, blue appendages are weak to moon, green appendages are weak to poison, and purple appendages are weak to arcane. After all of them are defeated, Aephorul returns to the fight.

## Main Story

Countless millennia before the events of *Sea of Stars*, Aephorul was a powerful alchemist who set out to create the Elixir of Life, along with another alchemist known as Resh'an. The two succeeded and gained immortality, but at a price, as their bodies decayed and became disfigured, which they hid underneath their robes. The two spent centuries nurturing the world. But eventually, Aephorul became embittered and began cursing the world with his monstrous creations created through forbidden schools of alchemy. He embraced the title of "The Fleshmancer."

Resh'an attempted to intervene, but The Fleshmancer and his creations became increasingly powerful. In desperation to gain ground against The Fleshmancer, Resh'an boldly performed transmutation alchemy on the space-time continuum, breaking reality down into countless timelines and parallel universes. Aephorul was delighted at the countless universes to destroy, though in order to find a measure of peace in their immortal conflict, he struck a deal with Resh'an, to allow the fate of each timeline to play out on its own.

During the events of *Sea of Stars*, their deal is unintentionally violated when Resh'an has the Vial of Time, his weapon, taken from him and thrown at the Dweller of Strife at Clockwork Castle. Aephorul immediately arrives on the scene and gets a free shot at the Solstice Warriors as recompense, and then departs to his lair. When the party meets him at his lair, he summons his top general, Elysan'darëlle, to fight in his stead. She is defeated in the initial ending. During the real ending, Garl confronts Aephorul for his cowardice in refusing to fight for himself, which agitates Aephorul and prompts him to fight the party, rather than summoning Elysan'darëlle. In both endings, after the fight is completed, Resh'an arrives to personally oversee Aephorul's banishment from Zale and Valere's timeline.

## References

> "*Is he hiding somewhere here too?*"
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>      ― *Valere*
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