Aria Ruzen

Aria Ruzen (voiced by Deanna Martinez)

**Aria Ruzen** is one of the three main protagonists in *Obsolete Souls*™. Aria is a brash person with a big heart, and a short temper. She grew up with her younger brother in a small village under military supervision. When Aria was 17, her brother was executed. This created a hole in her heart filled with rage, and sadness. She wanted to get revenge on the executioners, but fate wanted otherwise. In investigating her brother's death, Aria came across a man that promised to lend her the power she would need for her revenge. All she had to do was help this man in his quest, and he would help Aria in her's. In aiding this man, she was cast into a string of ridiculous events. Now Aria is an Insignificant, and a Nebrajin. Although her life continues to be a roller coaster, her new friends make it a somewhat enjoyable ride. - (*obsoletesouls.com*, 2018)

## Profile

### **Appearance**

        A young adult with light skin, long red hair, and light blue eyes. After Aria's Nebrajin status surfaced, the left side of the hair on her head became black. Aria wears a green sleeveless shirt with a black band around her torso. She also wears blue jean thigh high shorts, black gloves, and long brown boots with a white bottom trim.
Before she joined Nebra-tech, she wore a light green sleeveless shirt (without a band), blue jeans, black gloves, and long black boots.

When Aria reaches her max power as a Nebrajin, dark purple wings form behind her shoulder blades, and her eyes turn a deep purple.

### **Personality**

Aria is introduced as a hot headed person that forces confrontation. As aggressive as she is, it is clear that Aria is an individual with a strong sense of determination. Early in the game, she is deemed as someone who believes that an end will justify her means. This was shown when she lied to Vinny and Dex. After Aria spent some time learning about Nebrajins with Diderot and Trent in Nebra-tech, she became more sympathetic towards others. However, her sparks of anger remained due to the building frustration of never finding her brother's killer. Her brash attitude becomes more calm as she goes through many troubling experiences with her friends. By the end of the game, Aria is viewed by her friends as one of the more level headed characters, and the most understanding of them all. To show her growth as a person, she atones for her lie at the beginning of the game by giving Vinny a deep apology along with the Nebrajin Remedy.

In her youth she shared a bond with her younger brother, but after his execution she became obsessed with revenge. Aria met Tosen, and through traveling with Tosen they became acquaintances. After the Span of Distinction, Aria builds a strong friendship with Diderot and Trent.  As Aria becomes an Insignificant, and meets more of the Insignificants, she develops a friendship with them as well. At the end of the game, Trent confesses his love for Aria, but she lacks the time to respond to his confession. From there on it is assumed that Aria reciprocated his affection, but due to each of them never seeing each other again, it is never truly known if Aria felt the same way. Before the events in Belial's Hovel, Aria became good friends with Aki as well.

## Story *(contains spoilers)*

Aria grew up in the Kingdom of Lestormine with her younger brother Eric Ruzen. When Aria was 17, her brother was executed by Queen Taiza. Eric Ruzen was part of an underground experiment led by the King of New Egypt. Although she wasn't supposed to know, Aria eventually learned that her brother was privately executed for retaining memories of the horrid experiment he went through. Aria was unaware of the reasoning at the time, but she knew the Eric was taken away, and never returning. Aria dedicated herself to finding her brother's executioner, and set out on her own journey. Aria comes across Tosen through her travels, and he promises to help Aria find Eric's executioner if she can help him find the Dauphinius Stone. They travel together for an unknown period of time until they reach Acadia. In Acadia, Aria meets Vinny and Dex. Aria recognizes them as Sir Adon's presumed killers, but is advised to ignore them by Tosen. Aria and Tosen continue to follow a tip that eventually leads them to Dave (who she assumes is the executioner, and also happens to be working with Vinny and Dex).

Aria chases Dave into Lestormine castle where she corners him, and stabs him in a blind ignorant rage. As she wanders through Lestormine castle in search of an exit, Aria encounters Vinny and Dex again. Before she can be interrogated, Aria tells Vinny and Dex that Tosen killed Dave. (Fortunately for Aria, the two of them believe her.) Afterwards, a spirit known as The End confronts the three of them, so Aria teams up with Vinny and Dex to fight the spirit, but they lose the battle. In order to survive, Aria, Vinny, and Dex escape Lestormine castle by slipping into a water chute that jets out of the castle, and launches them into the sea. After escaping Lestormine, Aria washed upon the outskirts of Stobon. Upon arrival in Stobon, Aria unconsciously released a burst of her gamic energy, and injured many people. Shortly after, Aria was taken in by the scientists Diderot Duphaine and Trent Stralade of Nebra-tech for Nebrajin experimentation. When Aria awakened, she noticed that the left side of the hair on her head became black. Diderot and Trent taught Aria about the effects of her Nebrajin abilities, and trained her to control her abnormally powerful gamia with the hopes of recruiting her for a plan to rid Earth Alpha's people of Nebrajin status.

Aria was reluctant to aid Diderot and Trent at first, but after an incident where she accidentally attacked Trent with her gamia, she quickly changed her mind. Aria went through many rigorous exercises, painful experiments, and complicated missions in order to help Diderot develop a cure for the Nebrajin disease. For Aria to reach her full potential she had to learn to control every aspect of her gamia. To do this, Diderot made a drug that would force Aria into her deepest gamic state. It was a very painful procedure, but over the span of 3 months she learned how to successfully maintain a neutral level of gamic control. Amidst helping Diderot create the Nebrajin remedy, King Absen announced that he would be traveling to Stobon to make a special public announcement. Trent expressed how important the announcement was going to be to him, so Aria decided to go with him out of good friendship. The announcement was a disaster that ended with Dex being framed for the murder of Queen Taiza. During the madness, Aria saw the familiar faces of Vinny and Dex.

Trent chased Dex out of the building after Taiza's assassination, so Aria followed Trent out of fear for his safety. Once she caught up to Trent, she met Eli, Justice, and Tamara. Aria also meets with Vinny and Dex again, but this time she notices something different about Vinny. (Aria suspects that Vinny is a Nebrajin, but she keeps this to herself for now.) Aria also learns that Tamara is Trent's sister, so the two of them try to calm him down by explaining that Dex isn't the true culprit of the assassination. After riding in Justice's submarine, Aria travels with the current group of people (as an Insignificant) to Jervachen. Justice leaves the group in Jervachen and tells them to find Titania. Trent leads the group in finding Titania, so Aria follows him along with the rest of the group. On their journey to find Titania, they are intercepted by a group of people in strange clothes.

The group of people in strange clothing attack the Insignificants, and at the end of the battle they end up capturing Tamara. After Tamara is kidnapped Trent reveals that Titania is his older sister, and that she'll be able to help them get Tamara back. Once they find Titania in the Kingdom of Treblem, they are all arrested except for Trent. Aria is released, because Trent uses his ties to Titania (who is also the Queen of Treblem) to save Aria from potential execution. Aria gets angry with Trent for only speaking on her behalf instead of Vinny, Dex, and Eli's as well. Aria refuses to stand for what she believes to be Trent's injustice. After Trent is deeply scolded, he is convinced to tell Titania to give Vinny, Dex, and Eli a private hearing for their freedom. Of course this was with the expectation of failure, but once Titania realizes that they were sent by Justice she decides to keep them alive as long as they choose to hide away in her castle. Aria and the Insignificants remained in Titania's castle for the day, but fled the castle grounds in the middle of the night after realizing how much danger they could bring to Titania.

Aria traveled as an Insignificant to Ravinan castle where she partnered up with Vinny to face off against the group that kidnapped Tamara. (Here they learn that the group is called Litilnumia.) Before the battle begins, Vinny recognizes Dave as a member, and Dave reveals to Vinny that it was actually Aria who tried to kill him instead of Tosen. Afterwards, Aria and Vinny are badly beaten by Litilnumia. At this time Trent leaves Ravinan castle with Tosen to an unknown location. Aria awakens in Stobon to be met by Sheldon, who tells her that she is part of a team that is destined to save the universe. Afterwards, Aria is quickly tasked with infiltrating Kentron E., Itwern Cavern, and the Vortex of Consequence alongside Jane Duphaine, and Eli Zerka. Inside of the Vortex of Consequence Aria encounters Tosen again. They discuss their previous relation, and Tosen tells Aria that Trent talks about her often. They battle until the Vortex of Consequence begins to collapse, and forces them to take their leave to return to Stobon. Upon leaving, Tosen steals Thorg's Eye from the Vortex of Consequence. Aria, not sure of where her close friend Trent is, had to wait patiently for him to return to Stobon. Diderot, Dex, Jane, and Justice went off to battle Tamara, Titania, Tosen, and Trent to stop the resurrection of Thorg. Fortunately, the Duphaines were successful, and they returned to Stobon with Tamara, Titania, Tosen, and Trent. Aria was truly excited for Trent's return, and rather than being angry at him for attempting to resurrect Thorg, she lets him know that she'll always have his back no matter what he decides to do. Shortly after Trent's return, the Insignificants learn of Litilnumia's hideout, and plan to resurrect Zadroga.

As a prominent member of the Insignificants, Aria joins everyone on their journey to Litilnumia's hideout in Ravinan castle known as Belial's Hovel. Aria battles against Hope inside of the Hovel, and is easily defeated. Eli, Tamara, Trent, and Zach (who was previously introduced by Diderot as a friend of Vinny's) carry Aria and many others out of Belial's Hovel. As they exit the Hovel, they are intercepted by the VANEF organization. In order to get away from VANEF Aria uses the last of her power to unleash a large burst of gamic energy. With Aria's gamia rapidly rising in power, Trent uses a device known as the Nebrajin Vacuum to absorb Aria's gamic energy, and save her life. After they escape, an unconscious Aria is brought back to Nebra-tech for healing, but is rushed out of recovery to attempt to fight Litilnumia one more time. After a few week's time, Aria and the Insignificants enter Belial's Hovel to try to stop Zadroga's resurrection again.

Aria has a rematch with Hope, and is finally successful after exhausting most of her gamic energy. After defeating Hope, Aria (along with Tamara, Trent, Kohiid, and Phalle) set out to Belial's Happy Place to finally stop Zadroga, but as Tamara reaches the door she is ambushed by Dave and Joey of Litilnumia. A fatal blow is dealt to Tamara that causes Trent to stay behind in order to protect his sister. Before Trent offers himself to hold back Dave and Joey, he tells Aria that he loves her, and thanks her for being one of the few trustworthy friends he has. After Aria is devastated by Trent's actions, she moves into Belial's Happy Place to face Edge.

(Edge is standing in front of Zadroga's supposed coffin.) Aria, Kohiid, and Phalle (who are now joined by Vinny and Dex) defeat Edge, but it proves meaningless because the conditions for Zadroga's revival were already met. Zadroga returns to the universe, so Aria and the remaining Insignificants prepare to fight again, but they are utterly defeated. Zadroga begins to draw power from the universe, but the same energy that's drawn begins to flow into Aria, Vinny, and Dex which allows them to overcome Zadroga. However, their victory came at a great cost. The energy Aria and Vinny absorbed from the universe forced their gamic energy to it's absolute limit, and their Nebrajin status began to fully consume them. In their final moments, Aria reveals the sole Nebrajin Remedy that Diderot had finally finished.

Trent gave Aria the Nebrajin Remedy to save herself, but instead Aria uses the remedy on Vinny. Aria tells Vinny that giving him the Nebrajin Remedy is her way of apologizing for trying to kill Dave. As Aria dies in a massive burst of gamic energy she sees Vinny's gamia quickly begin to settle. This allowed Aria to find comfort in knowing that her contributions to saving the Nebrajins were worth it, because she was able to save at least one person.

## Gameplay

***In combat, Aria has low defensive capabilities but very strong gamia.***

Aria is a **"*Fisticuff*"** fighter**.** She can equip **"*Light Armor*"** and **"*Small Shields*".**

(***Aria's attributes after the time skip.)***

**Aria's move list is as follows:**

## Musical Themes

Aria Ruzen's theme song is respectively titled Aria's Theme, and can be unlocked through the Jam Room. Her song can also be heard on the Obsolete Souls OST. Her song is meant to represent her sad past, and the unfortunate circumstances that she is constantly falling into.

https://dennelcake.bandcamp.com/track/arias-theme

## Gallery

Artwork of Aria from the gallery in Obsolete Souls™.Artwork of Aria from the gallery in Obsolete Souls™.Artwork of Aria from the gallery in Obsolete Souls™.Artwork of Aria from the gallery in Obsolete Souls™.Artwork of Aria from the gallery in Obsolete Souls™.Artwork of Aria from the gallery in Obsolete Souls™.Artwork of Aria from the gallery in Obsolete Souls™.Artwork of Aria from the gallery in Obsolete Souls™.Aria in the wallpaper from the Dennel Cake Christmas promotional advertisement.Aria in the Thank You photo at the end of the game.
## References

1. Obsolete Souls™ video game
2. www.obsoletesouls.com
3. (Weatherspoon, D, D., personal communication, 2019.)
4. www.dennelcake.com