Andromeda Norwood

* **Overview**
* Gallery
* Synopsis
* Relationships

> Now I am the "traitor". This lie, I will carry with me down into my grave.
>
> Andromeda to The Faceless

A female royal knight born an "Incapable" from Zodiacus. Losing her most treasured friends in the Great War, out of grief, she made a deal with an Outer Entity to bring her friends' soul back to Zodiacus. Unfortunately, they were already reincarnated, and she died with a broken soul which itself is reincarnated into 2 Worlds Medeis and Orohscope as Rosalia and Sirrah, both of them retain their memories. Sirrah used the space-warping power gotten from the pact to send Crew 12's souls to Medeis to accomplish Andromeda's dying wish. While her grave can be seen in the noble graveyard, stuffs seem to be more complicated than they present themselves...

It's turned out all the reincarnation stuff is a lie. Rosalia, the one disguised as Corvus, **is** Andromeda, and Sirrah **is** Andromeda, **the.very.same.Andromeda** who started everything in first place. Her deal with the Outer Entity has lasted for 14000 years in a timeloop which broke all rule of time and space, and the current Medeis is an alternate from the one she really is from, result of her trying to change her friends' doomed fate. As she knows she cannot live any longer due to the loss of Mortality, she pulls off an identity switch with Corvus - her partner during the timeloop - so that when Crew 12 recall their past lives, they won't have to feel bad for her.

Before her final loop, she pulled off all karmic threads that had entangled her since the start of her journey and fully developed into a Guilty under the name Alpheratz, the Chained Lady.

## **Physical Description**

Andromeda is described as a girl of average appearance with fair skin and blonde hair commonly seen from Zodiacians. Her eyes however is frequently noted to be very beautiful due to their lapis lazuli shade. She keeps her hair at mid-back length and commonly braided them into a bun.

Due to how she abused the power of Void to turn back time, she gradually ceases to exist as a mortal; in another way - becomes a nameless Void Being. If she still tries to force herself, her skin and flesh will melt into black liquid, leaving her skull and bones exposed and eyeballs falling out of orbit.

## **Personality**

Andromeda is a gentle, heroic and kindhearted person, and rarely if ever treats anyone negatively unless she finds them absolutely despicable. Though usually avoided by people due to being an Incapable, she understands that prejudice is difficult to put aside and doesn’t hold grudges against anyone. Having lived most of her childhood with her father - a knight - she has the sense of chivalry ingrained deep inside her heart, causing her to be polite and proper even to her closest friends. A patriot, she devotes herself to Zodiacus regardless of how she was wronged and misblamed, and still went on fighting for it despite knowing in the end what awaited her was just death.

She is attracted by kindness and will grow utterly loyal, almost dependent, to people who are nice to her. Because of her mother's abuse, she doesn't have the highest sense of pride, always thinks of herself as inferior to anyone she meets and is quick to degrade or endanger herself for others' sake because she believes her own well-being worth less than them. She blames the whole situation in the Great War on her failure to prevent the Empress from committing suicide, and the guilt from being the last person to survive in the Empire drove her to making a Heart Pact with Elareus.

## **History**

Andromeda was the result of an arranged marriage between the knight Ducan Norwood and Vanessa Rochdale, daughter of a baron. Though welcomed, she was soon discovered to be an Incapable at the age of 2, which caused Vanessa to try to send her to the orphanage and then divorce her husband when the latter wanted to keep Andromeda. Kicked out of the shared mansion provided by Baron Rochdale, Ducan brought his daughter with him back to his old house where he raised her alone, sometimes with hired nannies. She never went to school since no school in Medeis took magicless students, so she was home-tutored with basic education and etiquette. Her father also trained her in swordplay after she expressed interest in following his path and often brought her to training sessions of his unit in the Lapis Crescent Order, where it was discovered that she was a gifted swordswoman. She became known in the circle of nobility as a prodigy, but unfortunately, she suffered more from discrimination when her status as an Incapable got out. Though she had no friends of her age, Ducan’s unit was excited to see her join them one day and acted like a second family for her. Notably, she shared a particular bond with Jerome Vesper who too was incapable of magic just like her.

Ducan died in the territorial conflict of Dorado in 4683, leaving Andromeda orphaned at 10. Though some knights in Ducan’s unit offered to adopt her, the law forced her to be returned to her mother’s care since none of her paternal relatives were capable of taking her in. Having grudges against her daughter for destroying her social standing, Vanessa locked Andromeda away in an attic, deprived her of proper nutrition and hygiene, and whenever Andromeda tried to defy her, she hit her and verbally abused her. This chain of abuse lasted for 4 years, permanently destroying Andromeda’s self-esteem and giving her obsession with affection, and only stopped when she stabbed her mother with a sharp candlestand for insulting her late father. She was brought to the court, but thanks to the Lapis Crescent knights who had lost tracks of her 4 years ago now stepping out to defend her, Vanessa was the one judged guilty instead after evidences of her abuse were brought to light and sent to jail once she recovered from the stab wound. Afterwards, she had her first audience with Empress Astraea, who personally apologized for a fault in the law and told her the prophecy of "Gatherer of Stars", alluding to her as the Gatherer in question.

Andromeda was adopted by the old and childless Baroness Cassiel via the introduction of a knight formerly under her father’s care, who treated her as her own granddaughter. During 3 years, she studied and trained to become a knight as well as recovering from the abuse of her mother, when she was summoned by the Empress to find and collect fragments of the Stellular, a divine relic keeping track the Mana Circuit of Eplia Capital, that scattered all over Zodiacus after it exploded in the "White Night" event (Since she didn’t have Mana Circuit in her body, she was the only one who can be in contact with the fragments for a period without being damaged by mana overload). Accompanying her would be Arielle Belier and Geminiano Heraldton, though Geminiano ran away after the news so at first she only left with Arielle. Across her journey, she met, helped and had the rest of The Faceless join her party, and successfully accomplished her mission after 2 years while also bringing back many talented figures who would serve for Zodiacus’ greatness, fulfilling the "Gatherer of Stars" prophecy.

She underwent training for one more year and was officially titled knight at 20, joining the Lapis Crescent Order where she primarily gave important figures escort, In 4695, she met Elena Alvalion during a trip to Lorenous.

## **Appearances**

### Major

* ***Restart series*** - Andromeda is the central character of the series, being the one who caused the time loop to start in the first place and whose struggle is focused on the most.
	+ ***Restart • Aurora*** - She debuts as Rose Norwood in the first arc "Strayed", then appears in the form of Corvus from the second arc onwards and only reveals her true identity during the "Annual Magic Festival" Arc.
	+ ***Restart • Evenfall*** - She mostly appears as *Nameless*, a major enemy to the Moned who will constantly assassinate soldiers and sabotage camps while also almost impossible to track down. Her survival will affect some of the endings.
	+ ***Restart • Anteluca*** - Main Antagonist; Final Boss of Chapter XIII: *Collapse*.

### Minor

* ***The Lady Wishes For the Throne*** - She appears in Elena Alvalion's flashback when she escorted Geminiano to Lorenous and befriended Elena and Sirius in 4695.

## **Power and Abilities**

### Skillset

* **Multilingualism:** She has strong ability with foreign languages, especially English as Aquarius and has earned gold medals and first prizes at contests.

### Abilities

* **Swordplay:** Andromeda is deemed a genius at swordplay and declared "the strongest swordswoman in Zodiacus" by Moned soldiers.
* **Time Returning:** The form of it she possesses is to grow ice on any non-living surface, though she can not control its particular shape nor take it off the surface; they either exist as they be or evaporate without a trace, and can be melted with fire.

### As Alpheratz

As a result of build-up karma and influence of Elareus’ Heart, along with more than one thousand years of cultivation, Alpheratz is recorded as one of the most powerful Guilties ever existed with Authority comparable to the entire pantheon of Medeis.

* **Manipulating Reality:** With the combined power and accumulated karma from various time loops after devouring Emperor Alvah, Alpheratz can destroy and create new reality where she reigns as the supreme entity.

## **Preferences & Hobbies**

### Likes

* Astrology
* Clocks
* Literature
* Potato bacon pastry
* Sky
* Warm berry tea

### Dislikes

* Alcohol
* Salty foods
* Rain
* Sunlight
* Wet clothes
* White

### Fears

* Arguments
* Being scolded
* Darkness
* Pain

### Hobbies

* Writing
* Sleeping

## **Etymology**

Andromeda is one of the 48 ancient constellations listed by Ptolemy after 150 AD alongside our twelve zodiacs and Corvus.

Her Guilty name, Alpheratz, is taken from the brightest star of Andromeda constellation.

## **Quotes**

* *"If anything, I don't want to die alone... Father, everyone, anyone, please...I don't want to die alone—!"* — Her last though
* *"You ripped me off my father, my friends, my country, my EVERYTHING– And now you dare to ask me to join you?!"* — To Jerome Vesper
* *"How am I so calm? I don’t know. Maybe that day, when I jumped down the river, my insanity had drowned in my place."* — To Jerome Vesper
* *"I am alive no longer."* — To Mercedes Machinatio

## **Trivia**

* She is actually physically dead for the entirety of *Aurora*. Her awakening at some point during Last Dream is her spiritual incarnation, and that itself is barely alive.
* If she hadn’t suffered that much from the entire timeloop, she could have fallen for Corvo. Too bad when they’re finally at peace, she’s already dead.
* Despite the difficulties of living in the shadow and constantly on the run, namely the lack of food, hygiene and comfort, she was able to pay it little mind because her abusive childhood with her mother made her get used to all of that.
* She is the indirect reason the Great Retaliation takes place, because her constant breaking of Medeis' spacetime allows the Dark Force to enter Medeis.
* According to original concepts, Andromeda was supposed to be an angel with rose motif. This is reflected on her Guilty form Alpheratz that has mechanical wings and rose-shaped details.