Throne

The ****Throne**** (座, *Za*?), also known as the ****Divine Throne**** (神座, *Shinza*?) or the ****Taikyoku Throne**** (太極座, *Taikyokuza*?) among many other names, is the most important device in the Shinza Banshou series. The Throne is the core of the series' story, the nucleus around which all events in it revolve around. It is the root of the universe and the source of all phenomena, upon which the God ruling over all of creation seats. This special space, thought of as a higher dimension lacking the very concept of time, stands above all of God's domain, acting as the nucleus of past, present and future, as well as that of an infinitude of parallel universes (after the Fourth Heaven's takeover).

The main conflict of the main games spanning the Shinza Banshou series (be it Paradise Lost, Dies irae, or Kajiri Kamui Kagura) usually revolves around the crisis that ends the current God's reign and replaces it with another, leading to a very different Law and universe, with different rules, taking its place.

## Origins

Despite what appearances may suggest, the Throne is but an artificial construct created by humans, a machine designed to bind the universe to one's will. The **Divine Throne System** (神座システム, *Shinza Shisutemu*?) was created during an era of Interstellar War as a byproduct of theories involving the binding of the universe and time leaps. It was a completely accidental creation, and not what its creators had originally intended.

At the culmination of the Interstellar War, one of its most notorious warriors, a woman named Mitra, took hold of the machine and became the very first God to possess the Throne, thus giving birth to the endless cycle of strife and fighting that is the struggle for it.

## Functions and power

Being the nucleus of the universe, the Throne is the place the ruling God inhabits and, therefore, acts as the source and control device for all the phenomena and souls in creation. The Throne stabilizes the utmost Craving of its ruling God, giving it direction and allowing it to paint over its domain. This turns it into a new Law that dictates how things will work from the new God's ascension onwards. It is also a support device that allows the universe to continue existing as, without it, the spiritual pressure of its owner would destroy everything that exists.

As their Cravings paint over their inner universe and not the outside, Transcendence-type Gods are not eligible candidates to take over the Throne. Therefore only Hegemony-type Gods, who subjugate the outside world to their will through their Craving, can take on the Throne for themselves. Thanks to this, even if the highly unlikely event of the ruling Hegemony God being taken down by a Transcendence God were to happen, their world won't be washed away due to there being no God to emanate his, leading to the dead God's world's permanence until a new Hegemony God takes the Throne.

The device's main defense mechanism is referred to as the **Judgement of Mortality** (必滅の審判, *Hitsumetsu no Shinpan*?).

This mechanism, thought of as a trial to see if the aspiring God is worthy of challenging the Throne's owner, hits the challenger with a blast of the Throne's very killing intent, which annihilates any existence it hits, leaving absolutely no trace of the target. Naturally, to take over the Throne, the challenger must be able to overcome this defense system.

### Recording of defeated Gods

Upon defeating the previous holder of the Throne, the new ruling God takes over all of their domain. Not only are the souls under the loser's control passed on to their successor, the Throne also records the loser's Law and stores its vestiges into itself, allowing the one who controls the Divine Throne to reproduce and call upon the power of their predeccesors. These "recordings" within the Throne manifest as replicas of the defeated Gods when called upon by the ruling God. This feature is not limited to storing recordings of those who've held the Throne, it can also store records of those challengers who, even if they have not taken the position of supreme deity, held a strong connection to a God who did. That way, the Principles of both the Golden Beast and the Eternal Moment, who were only challengers with no chance of taking over the Throne, were also recorded, as they held abnormally strong connections to the Fourth and Fifth Heavens.

Naturally, even when normally this faculty of the Throne should be able to be used by anyone controlling it, there are numerous variables that can affect its overall performance, or its ability to be used at all. That way, the Mercurial Snake couldn't possibly have used this feature, as he was a "distortion" of his predeccesors. The Sixth Heaven, Hajun, couldn't use this feature to its maximum capability due to his utter disrespect of his predeccesors, whose records he considered "shit staining his body". This way, he could only reproduce their Principles to a limited extent, and couldn't deploy their full power. However, the Goddess of Twilight, who craved to "embrace everyone and everything", and the Seventh Heaven, who faithfully reproduces the Laws of nearly all of her predeccesors, can deploy these recordings with their full power.

### Observers

The figure known as "the Observer" is a constant in the struggle for the Throne, who always appears near the time the crisis that kickstarts the change of ruling starts, and spurs the numerous actors into action. Even his involvement is unknown to most parties involved in the change of Throne God, though the Samsara Vartin of Anima Entelecheia appeared to be vaguely aware of this figure's involvement while still not knowing of its motives.

In truth, the multiple Observers across the many worlds the Throne has served as a basis to are reincarnations of Zurvan, a derivative of Varuna, a warrior involved in the War that spiralled into the Throne's creation, as lieutenant to Mitra, who'd go on to become the First Heaven, and whom he had a lover-like relationship with. After his beloved took over the Throne, Varuna and Mitra's other companions, calling themselves "Naraka", inserted themselves into it, fulfilling a role similar to "hardware", while the ruling God is the "software" reality runs on. This way, the Naraka ended up becoming the Throne's consciousness itself. Varuna himself acts within the world through the multiple Observers, reincarnations of his Sensory across the ages (though they are often unaware of being mere prolongations of Varuna's being), to further Throne change in order to stop civilization from achieving advancement superior to that of the era he was born into, which would allow them to create a superior system to the Divine Throne System. By instigating a change in the God who currently owns the Throne, he ensures civilization never reaches that point. The Observers' involvement, unaware of being following a pre-established plan, is normally very subtle. All of them share the common characteristics of being supernaturaly good in the use of firearms, dressing in flamboyant styles, as well as hatred (or contempt at least) for the Gods.

While the Naraka's agenda is still unknown at large, they seem to desire the gathering of ten Hegemony Gods for an unknown purpose, as of now. Mitra, upon her resurrection by their hand, declared however that "the history of the Throne had being predetermined". By Dies irae: Pantheon's prologue, the Naraka are shown to inhabit the innermost layer of the Throne. None of the Gods, with the exception of Hajun (who uses his Heavenly Eye), can perceive it.

These are the Observers of each world:

* Ahura Mazda: Zurvan.
* Paradise Lost: Judas Strife.
* Zoar: Unknown.
* Omega Ewigkeit: Shirou Yusa.
* Anima Entelecheia: Officer persecuting the Samsara Vartin.
* Mahamara: Sukuna Tenma.
* Amaterasu: To be determined.

## Territory

When it was first created, the Throne's domain was barely that of a single universe which, depending on the Law of the current God, could even branch into multiple higher dimensions. However, upon the appearence of the Mercurial Snake and its takeover of the device, his Law added the principle of "parallel universes" to reality. This way, the Throne came to encompass an infinite number of parallel worlds, its domain turning into a multiverse. Furthermore, the device itself was changed from a machine to something different, divine in nature.

The Mandala of the ruling God is synonymous with the territory under the purview of the Throne.

## Accessing the Throne

The Throne is not a place one can arrive to through walking or flying. It is a hyperdimensional space that cannot be described by language. As such, the only way of truly accessing it is by opening a Singularity, that is, tearing the canvas of reality asunder, and diving through the newly made hole. This event can normally only be brought about by the clash of two conflicting Laws coming from Hegemony Gods, though very special circunstances can also allow Transcendence Gods to open up a Singularity.

The depth of the Singularity changes with the power of the ruling God: the stronger the God holding the Throne is, the deeper it will be (thus, it will be harder to open in the first place). Diving into it and reaching the Throne itself is also a real trial of endurance for any challenger.

## Throne Gods

The following list of Hegemony Gods have taken the Throne, and established their Law, at some point:

* The Truth, the First Heaven. Established the world of Ahura Mazda.
* The Remorseless, the Second Heaven. Established the world of Paradise Lost.
* The Morningstar, the Third Heaven. Established the world of Zoar.
* The Mercurial Snake, the Fourth Heaven. Established the world of Omega Ewigkeit.
* The Goddess of Twilight, the Fifth Heaven. Established the world of Anima Entelecheia.
* The Hajun, the Sixth Heaven. Established the world of Mahamara.
* The Dawn, the Seventh Heaven. Established the world of Amaterasu.

Aside from this, two aspiring Hegemony Gods also exist:

* The Golden Beast, the Fourth Heaven's Apoptosis. Despite having no real chance of ever holding the Throne, he'd have originated the world of Du Söllst-Dies irae.
* The Eternal Moment, the Fourth Heaven's shadow and the Fifth Heaven's foremost guardian. He'd have originated the world of Also sprach Zarathustra.