Queen Candace

"*Your souls shall be remade to my liking.*"
— Candace descending on the party.
Queen Candace is a superhuman entity akin to a goddess currently dormant in a classified location. Despite her seemingly benign and beautiful appearance, interactions with her have been deemed highly unsafe and are strictly relegated to members of the Society. It has been deduced through behavioral studies and analyses that Candace, as she calls herself, is not intentionally violent, but becomes extremely hostile in the presence of humans. In brief and sparse exchanges, she has stated that her objective is to collect and refine all human souls and assimilate them into a "greater lifepool." From documents procured on site, it has been learned that she was intended as a "perfect being" to encapsulate the essence of all living creatures on Aquila. She was to act as the purest expression of Aquilan existence as an interdimensional emissary. Her creation involved the infusion of calculated amounts of the blood and gametes of all Aquilan creatures into a human female test subject (whether she was alive is indeterminable). The experiment, titled PROJECT Γ-000, failed when Candace awakened her abnormal and extreme powers, and it would seem the combined existence of her and her counterpart led to the shutdown of the site by its twisted director.

## Characteristics in Lore

### Appearance

Candace appears as a woman seemingly in her early 30s and stands at an unusual height of 1.83 meters. Her hair is long and light brown, and can seemingly defy gravity. She wears a crimson dress and sleeves with matching shoes. Most interesting is Candace's phenotypical diversity; she has the eyes of a Voshi, the skin tone of a Kazimiri, the stature and posture of a Dashari woman, the accent of a southern Kilranian, the build of a Hinterlandic gymnast, and the body language and mannerisms of a wealthy Occan. Judging from her documented origins, it is possible that these traits were specifically selected to create the most conventionally beautiful Aquilan possible. Whether her many potential "parents" consented to be involved in the experiment is unknown. Candace also displays superhuman strength despite her build being within human range. She can tap into the quintessence in her surroundings to temporarily change her appearance and "cycle" through select desirable phenotypes, but it is evident the described form is her true one.

### Personality

Candace is highly intelligent. When not in the physical presence of other humans, she is amicable and conversational. To date, she has been a master of all Aquilan languages used in behavioral testing, and somehow has read and can perfectly remember almost all or all of the books and texts in the world; she was able to recite everything from a western Aphelian cookbook to the Ayndric Charter to the Kárivhímla perfectly and in all languages. She also seems to be mildly telepathic, as she has advised some researchers to rest or feast when they were thinking of doing so or otherwise subconsciously wanted to. In speaker tests, she reacts most positively to the voices and opinions of high practitioners of law such as judges and lawyers, and peculiarly newlywed parents. She has expressed no desire to leave her site, but plans are in motion to ensure it is impossible that do not rule out her death; she is, in the view of some researchers, an easily irritable omnicidal maniac.

## Gameplay

*Note: The following information is not canon and written entirely for fun with the layout and tone of an RPG guide.*

The general existance of Dig Site 69 is first alluded to by Syde in Ville, who states that there is a persistent quintessential anomaly somewhere west of the town. However, Candace's own existence is alluded to by a member of the white mage coven on Iris who says he believes there is an entity neither good nor evil that seeks to punish humanity for its sins by taking away the ill-gotten profits. It is likely in context that the coven received this information from the DCS, who unofficially sought to pay the player party to eliminate the beings at the bottom of Dig Site 69 for hefty compensation, and was encouraging them to do so from behind the scenes.

Candace and the rest of Dig Site 69 are accessible once the final boss is defeated and the pailing around the site weaken enough to be penetrated by codanium-powered skyships. A quest granted by the coven, "Emanation's Call," has the objective of retrieving an Angel Feather from the mysterious site. Using the Resplendent Sphere crafted by combining the two sphere halves given to the party by the DCS and the white mage coven, the party can reveal the entrance to the site and enter. The site is home to the most powerful monsters in Aphelion, all capable of besieging and torturing the player party in unique ways.

Upon reaching the fifth sublevel, the site splits off into two wings: east and west. The east wing, decorated with flowers from all over the world and illuminated with soft glowstone lighting, leads to Candace and is inhabited by some of the game's deadliest and most beautiful enemies that each require careful planning to beat as a result of their high stats as well as the cunning strategies they employ and the status effects they inflict to hinder the party. At the end of the wing, in what seems to be a well-kept Occan mansion bedroom called Deadly Harmony, a brilliant light shines in the center with seemingly no source. Upon stepping into the center of the light, Candace materializes and descends from above, attacking the party.

 Transcend
 Purify
 Divine Judgment
 Deep Sky
 Sacred Mirror
 Regal Radiance

Candace's power needs little further explanation. In her battle, it is vital that players have top-notch reflexes and act accordingly so as to not die unexpectedly as the result of her atmospheric changes, reactions to attacks, or forgotten debuffs. She is one of only two foes in the game to have intelligence at 100, as well as the only one to have agility at 100. The latter officially makes her the fastest enemy in the game, making Haste a crucial buff. Her HP, while far lower than Gibous', is nonetheless daunting as there exist practically half the opportunities to attack her. Offensive classes will need the steady cooperation of supportive classes to defeat the synthetic goddess.

Upon defeat, Candace always drops an Angel Feather and a Pearl Orb. The former can be taken back to the Iris mage coven for 1,500,000 credits, or roughly 128 emerald blocks. Madame Elise will also give the player party the Bunny Slippers, which is equipable by all and halves all magic damage taken while increasing the wearer's agility by 25. The Pearl Orb is one of two orbs necessary to open the door to the sixth sublevel, where there are computers that allow for the re-summoning of Gibous and Candace for battle and also a teleporter leading to the hidden locked basement of Bistro Garlande. Outside on the Bistro end is the "Debug Room" in which the creators and testers of the game left personalized messages. From then on, Dig Site 69 is accessible from Dreiton itself.

Defeating Candace earns the player party the achievement "Candy's All Eaten."