Ethereal Emperor

Osric Fulgencio III, better known as the **Ethereal Emperor**, is an antagonistic Rider fought in *Monster Hunter Stories Ultimate*. He is the founder and leader of the Ethereal Knights, making him one of the primary villains of the fangame.

## Description

The Ethereal Emperor is a human man of average height and athletic build with tan skin, icy blue eyes, short, white hair, a trimmed white mustache and beard, sharp facial features, a lantern jaw, and thin, silver eyebrows, though these traits are difficult to see underneath his armour, which he rarely takes off. He wears a full suit of armour that somewhat invokes the Ethereal Knights' mascot, the Myo Galuna, with it possessing a white helmet with gold highlights and a pair of pale gold antlers, a flowing white cape with a pinkish-red underside and pale gold trim, a white breastplate, shoulder guards, vambraces, gauntlets, greaves, and sabatons with gold patterns, a pinkish-red skirt and tabard with white highlights and pale gold trim, and black trousers. Like many forms of Gunner armour, the design is asymmetrical, with the left arm possessing a larger pauldron that bears Myo Galuna's face and a bulkier vambrace adorned with whitish-yellow crystals similar to those seen on Akura Vashimu's armour. He wields a special Heavy Bowgun that resembles a cross between a Kamura Heavy Bowgun and a Myo Galuna, having a face modeled after the Elder Dragon's and being adorned with white crystals, and comes with additional properties, such as a long, howitzer-like muzzle that holds a bayonet.

## Personality

Like the group he leads, the Ethereal Emperor is strongly determined to create a new world where technological advancement and human prosperity are encouraged above all else, seeing it as necessary to bring order, civilization, and peace to the world and protect the innocent from Elder Dragons, and is willing to go to extremes to achieve this goal. Harboring an immense hatred of Elder Dragons save for those that utilize his beloved Aether Element, he seeks to exterminate them all and perform experiments on the survivors out of the belief that they are nothing but vermin that bring disaster wherever they go, and that driving them to extinction will improve life for humanity as well as the environment. In addition, he holds non-human races in contempt, seeing Wyverians, Sea People, and Troverians as primitive and having too miniscule populations to make a difference for him and the world he wishes to create outside of enslavement and viewing Lynians (and Canynes by extension) as weak, worthless pests that do nothing but parody and hold humanity back and deserve to be wiped out for it, and works towards turning people against them by claiming that they're to blame for the woes civilizations have endured since the Elder Anomaly took place. Very prideful in himself and the group he leads, he views them as the ultimate authorities on what constitutes as good and evil due to their collective might, and although he talks in a friendly manner towards outsiders, including non-humans, his tone gives away his true feelings about them, and he will slip in backhanded compliments in an attempt to throw them off and aggravate them; that said, he does offer genuine respect to those he feels are mighty enough to deserve it, with him considering individuals like the protagonists of *Monster Hunter Stories* and *Monster Hunter Stories 2* to be worthy adversaries. He is also a dedicated mechanist and zoologist, taking pride in his inventions and the work he put into researching monsters within the Paladin's Eminence, and has a strong fascination with the Myo Galuna of legend, seeking to discover its whereabouts and unleash it onto the world to subjugate his opposition, even if it means allowing hundreds, if not thousands of lives to be taken by the borderline omnicidal Elder Dragon for what he considers to be the greater good.

While mostly known for his pride and murderous beliefs, the Ethereal Emperor puts a strong focus on logic and rationality as well, preferring to spare settlements instead of destroying them to allow for resources his troops can utilize and allowing the towns and villages he subjugates to maintain their cultures and customs as long as they give him tribute, which lessens the chances of them turning against him, and sways people to his side by promising that he will provide them with order and safety so long as they do everything he says; sure enough, the territories he owns are noted to be relatively safe from monster attacks and criminals, and are provided with stable equipment and clean food and drinking water so long as residents pay their taxes, which can be rather high. He is benevolent towards his subordinates, giving them stellar payment and treating them with respect, and takes care to avoid making the same mistakes the Ancient Civilization did, such as creating new forms of life, due to seeing them as madmen who bit off more than they could chew and prematurely ended their reign, and comes up with failsafes in the event a plan of his goes south, such as using an Azzar'Kha as a portable castle in the event his domain in the Paladin's Eminence falls victim to a Myo Galuna attack. Although he likens himself to a paladin and considers himself more righteous than any other person, he refuses to be referred to as a god, and chides anyone who sees monsters as godly beings; this is because belief in him as a deity could demoralize his troops and create anarchy among them if he was overthrown or killed in battle, whereas the latter belief does nothing but hold back the advancements he wishes to create. This obsession with logic and rationality is part of what contributes to his unwavering belief in conquest and extermination, and what makes him a major player; because he sees his own feelings as objective logic and guided by rationality, he considers himself as infallible, and this belief in infallibility renders him unable to be swayed towards a more compassionate path.

## Background

Born and raised in a Rider kingdom within a golden spire connected to lush plains that would eventually transform into the Ethereal Empire, Osric Fulgencio III was the only child of the current Ethereal King and Queen, Osric Fulgencio II and Edlyn Fulgencio, who both had very high hopes for their son and heir and doted on him since birth. An aspiring soldier, ecologist, and mechanist who was deeply invested in the tales of heroics enacted by Riders and the Aether-based monsters who called the region home due to spending much of his time with the family advisor and caretaker, the original Ethereal Magus, the young Osric enjoyed spending time with the smiths, scholars, and soldiers of the kingdom, venturing out into nearby landscapes, watching and jotting notes about the properties of the Aether Element and the wild monsters and Endemic Life native to the land he called home in addition to designing new weapons and practicing his fighting skills on small monsters before moving up to larger ones, with onlookers noting that he was especially skilled with ranged weapons like bows and Bowguns, and the combination of battle, exploration, and research made him feel more alive than anything else, with him believing that a future leader should be both proficient in warfare and in the sciences in order to lead their people to greater prosperity. In particular, he developed a very strong interest in the legendary Myo Galuna that was said to have been sealed away within the Labyrinth of Paradise by his ancestor and founder of the kingdom, the legendary Traugott Fulgencio, over a century ago, wanting to enter the treacherous mountainscape and see the "demon of paradise" for himself in order to gather proper research on it, as he was skeptical of the notion of there being gods and demons within the world he lived in. All of these aspects of him combined would lead to him becoming a very promising heir to the throne, and the people of the Ethereal Kingdom held him in high regard for his power, wisdom, and vision alike.

Unfortunately for Osric, his parents and the clergy that shared power with them did not share this sentiment, feeling troubled by his desire to turn their kingdom into an expanding nation of warfare and science due to it clashing it their beliefs of isolation and religious and spiritual worship of the monsters that called it home, with Elder Dragons and Elder Dragon-Level Monsters being viewed as gods and demigods by them, respectively, and his disinterest in women outside of their contributions to the nation did not help matters, either, as the two royals and the clergy alike saw the prince as broken for not wanting to marry or bear children and preferring to focus on battle, industrialization, and research instead. Over the years, what started out as a future heir to the throne being showered with love and adoration by his parents quickly turned into a tumultuous relationship, with the king and queen becoming increasingly cold and unloving towards the young prince for his "heretical" beliefs and "broken" sexuality and attempting to goad him into pursuing a more "normal" path for rulers by forcing him to live within the clergy's monastery until he changed his ways, with members of it destroying his inventions, tearing up his research books, neglecting to feed him, scolding him every chance they got, threatening those he considered friends with exile and execution, and even striking him with scourges in attempts to get him to change his course. However, no matter how horrid his living conditions became, the prince was resolute in his goals and continued to do what he liked due to him believing that he was in the right no matter what anyone said, often doing it right in front of the clergy and the royals alike and insulting them and their beloved Elder Dragons within earshot in acts of defiance, and at one point, he ripped a scourge right out of a deacon's hands and proceeded to flay him alive with it as revenge for the torment he faced before being restrained by soldiers loyal to the clergy and the royals, with the deacon dying of blood loss later that day. Eventually, the king gave him an ultimatum demanding him to repent or face exile from the kingdom, along with everyone else who stood by his side, including the Ethereal Magus, who was previously a devout supporter of the clergy. Once again, the prince defied his parents and the clergy alike, and was cast out alongside the smiths, scholars, and soldiers who sided with him, and angry with them for defying him his birthright and subjecting him to a difficult life, he left for the plains and vowed that they would soon regret their decision, ready to build his own great nation.

As they were cast out of the great mountain, Osric and his devout supporters made their way through the caverns to gather materials needed to build their own kingdom, taking all the ore available to them along with cavernous Endemic Life that Osric and his scholars could study and eggs that could be used to hatch monsters and make them into livestock and beasts of burden, with Aptonoths and Bulldrome being used to pull carts and provide meat, and in addition to this, they raided a Felyne settlement within the caverns, took every single item within it, and bludgeoned all the residents to death before skinning them and making off with their hides for use as clothing and rags, believing that they had the right to do so due to Felynes being seen as second-class citizens all over the world as a result of their weakness compared to humans and Osric finding the idea of wild animals forming their own civilizations to be ridiculous and a pale imitation of humanity. Walking off with their spoils and ready to create a settlement of their own, the exiled prince and his followers soon entered the plains of the Paladin's Eminence, and after gathering enough materials from the forests, they began working on their very own kingdom. Knowing that he couldn't get a proper kingdom running straight away, even with the collective might and intellect of both himself, his followers, and their Monsties, Osric decided that, despite his desire to begin right away, it would be best to take the advice of his scholars and start small before moving his way up due to the fact that it is impossible to run a great nation without a proper economy, and under their direction, he created farmland to help keep his followers fed, sustained by small monsters like Aptonoth and Mosswine, wells that could be used to harness clean drinking water, and a metallurgy that could be used to craft tools and weapons before moving up to bigger ideas like the formation of a library where he could place his self-published books detailing the science behind the flora and fauna of the Paladin's Eminence, a trading post that could be used by foreign emissaries to gain new products and a proper army of Riders that would be disciplined by both him and those he trusted enough to be captains and commanders, and nearly everyone within his nation, from the mighty commanders to the humble janitors, were treated with a great amount of respect by him for their contributions; as a result, he was a beloved leader who was followed out of respect and admiration instead of fear. While it was a difficult process at first due to the powerful monsters that lived within the plains being unhappy with sharing their domains with humans, merchants largely being unwilling to trade at first due to believing that the Eminence wasn't a very profitable place because of frequent Elder Dragon sightings or being put off by his condescending tone, and assorted raiders hired by the clergy of the mountain kingdom attempting to make off with their supplies, the prince continued on with his goals, and eventually, the attacks lessened due to his brutal punishments towards those who would inconvenience him in any way, shape, or form, including slavery and purges, making the nation a safe place to live for those seeking refuge. The sheer efficiency of this new kingdom impressed outsiders and members of the mountain kingdom alike, to the point where they considered joining his side due to all the benefits associated with it and overlooked the abuses committed by it, and proud of what he accomplished in mere months, Osric soon laid out plans to expand his new nation, deciding that what he was doing was best for humanity. Unfortunately, this kingdom would soon fall on hard times.

One fateful day, as Osric and his followers were planning methods of expansion, the plains were suddenly invaded by Elder Dragons of all stripes, who proceeded to wreak havoc upon the land and wantonly slaughter the native monsters and Endemic Life, and caught by surprise with little time to prepare, the exiled prince and his soldiers took up arms and attempted to fend them off the best they could with the aide of their Monsties. While they fought valiantly and managed to slay a large number of them, the kingdom was reduced to ruins and many civilians along with a large number of soldiers were brutally killed by the dragons, the remainder of whom only ran off after an Azzar'Kha and a swarm of Ichukha were spotted near the mountain, not wanting to attract the former's attention after such a violent battle that left both sides weak. Saddened by the sheer loss of life and the loss of his beloved kingdom, Osric decided that it would be time for him and the survivors to lay low and work on recovering from the battle, gathering salvageable materials for use in rebuilding and working on replenishing the plant life that once made up the forests with seeds that were scattered all over the region, and that once they did, the Elder Dragons would suffer for their crimes against them. To add insult to injury, the clergy and the royals of the mountain kingdom had learned of the disaster that occurred, and believing that Osric and his followers deserved what happened to them for defying their "gods", they invited them over to their kingdom under the false pretense of offering aide and shelter and acted friendly at first, then proceeded to tear into them once more for their acts of "heresy" and blamed them for the attack, stating that the only way to repent was to abandon their goals of expansion and research and start worshipping the Elder Dragons, and drew their scourges before demanding them to kneel and take their punishment for "heresy". Incensed by the victim blaming and lack of empathy exhibited by those they once called allies, the sorrow of the exiled prince and his followers quickly turned into fury, with them seeing it as further proof that Elder Dragons were not worth keeping around, and they drew their weapons at the clergy and royals, ready to kill them and take their land as punishment despite their own losses, but before a battle could play out, the Azzar'Kha appeared before everyone after being alerted to lush food sources within it by the Ichukha swarm, taking them all by surprise. Knowing things would end very badly if they stayed due to even other Elder Dragons fleeing the moment it was spotted, Osric and his followers urged the civilians, the clergy, and the royals alike to flee while they could, but the unrepentant clergy would not budge at all, insisting that they were chosen as the righteous ones and that anyone who tried fleeing would be deemed as blasphemers and flayed alive before being fed to the Azzar'Kha and its Ichukha swarm as punishment. Deciding that the clergy had gone mad and that Osric was telling the truth all along, the civilians, the royals, and many of the soldiers who were once loyal to them acted on his pleas to flee the mountains, while the clergy bowed before the Elder Dragon and commanded it to blast Osric and the defectors. Unfortunately for them, the Azzar'Kha saw no distinction between any of them, and proceeded to lay waste to the mountain kingdom and violently rip the clergy and their loyal soldiers to shreds for getting between it and the food that was spotted, leaving no survivors, and once it was satisfied, it left in search of more food. These events would serve as a catalyst for Osric's future plans of expansion and research.

With his mindset gradually becoming warped by everything he bore witness to and experienced for himself, Osric became increasingly incensed by the presence of Elder Dragons bar those that utilized Aether, making an exception for them due to them naturally harnessing his beloved element, and decided that it was time to take things up a notch and show no mercy to them in the slightest. To accomplish this task, he sent his soldiers out to collect data on the tools and weapons utilized by nations outside of the Paladin's Eminence and gather items needed to expand his own nation, and developed new, specialized tools and weapons for hunting Elder Dragons more effectively; these weapons included a portable Demolisher that would unload intense Dragon energy into a target, a handheld Dragonator that fired spears designed to pierce through rock-hard scales and inflict deep wounds, a fine mist akin to the kind emitted by Vases of Tranquility that bolstered metabolism and adrenaline and was stored in intricate vases called Dawn Vases, and an alloy that was stronger than titanium while being lighter than aluminum, which he used to craft his signature weapon and armour, which were additionally modeled after Myo Galuna due to his fascination with it. Ready to mobilize after rebuilding what he lost, Osric declared himself Emperor of the rebuilt nation and retrained the soldiers after equipping them with these new tools and weapons to ensure that they would get the job done at any cost, with these new soldiers being dubbed the Ethereal Knights, and with their help, he would instill an expanding extermination campaign against Elder Dragons, starting with those that lived within the plains and mountain of the Eminence. The new army and their leader invaded every Elder Dragon nest in sight in search of eggs belonging to those that didn't utilize Aether, using notes given to them by the scholars to differentiate them from the eggs of monsters like Aetheo Alqueda, and on the Emperor's demand, they smashed every single Elder Dragon egg in sight and slew the hatchlings with impunity so as to lower their numbers as fast as possible, and any Elder Dragon that drew too close to the fledgling empire, including those that utilized Aether, would be slain on sight, with survivors being subjected to painful experiments, like the testing of nerve agents; in addition, the Emperor would make sure that his parents, whom he still held a deep resentment towards for their cold treatment of him in his youth and their apathetic response to his people's plight after the Elder Dragon invasion, were there at all times to witness the acts as punishment, mocking them for mourning the monsters he considered vermin all the while, and later flayed them alive with a scourge as revenge for allowing him to be abused by the clergy, causing them both to die of blood loss soon after. His brutal and merciless campaign against the Elder Dragons in his region led to all but those that utilized Aether becoming eradicated and soon drew international attention, with some praising him for making the region safer for humanity and other monsters alike and allowing advanced technology to prosper while others condemned him for eradicating entire species and potentially triggering another Great Dragon War like the one that wiped out the Ancient Civilization ages ago. Regardless of what anyone said, however, Osric continued to pursue his goals, believing that they would allow for human technological advancement and bring order to a world that needed it, and he and his loyal soldiers would continue expanding their empire.

Over time, Osric and his Ethereal Knights would venture all over the world, ranging from the rest of the Ijotria region to the Old and New Worlds, and were ready to share their visions of human prosperity and technological advancement with the world no matter what anyone said, and were content to resort to violence and subjugation to any region in sight if they felt it was necessary, earning them a reputation of being imperialists, and while some were happy that there were more people around to help fight off the Elder Dragons that threatened humanity for years, others, such as the Hunter's Guild, were furious about their presence. Not helping matters was that Osric and many of the Ethereal Knights had expanded their focus from simply hunting down Elder Dragons to subjugating all non-human civilizations and exterminating Lynians as a whole, viewing Wyverians, Troverians, and Sea People in contempt for being primitive and unable to make a difference to them outside of servitude in their eyes due to their small populations compared to humans and wanting to wipe out Lynians due to them being seen as pests to many human settlements and the Emperor believing that their civilizations were mockeries of humanity and that animals could never be equal to humans, with him using their weakness and status as second-class citizens in most societies as excuses to wipe them out. Their refusal to discern benign individuals from hostile ones, preaching about human superiority, and willingness to use force to get their way earned them much scorn from communities all over the world, though some were willing to cut them some slack due to the Empire providing subjugated citizens with clean food and drinking water, stable equipment, and protection from monsters and criminals alike and allowing them to continue practicing their cultures and customs in exchange for them paying tribute to it, with non-humans and their sympathizers having to pay higher taxes. Things came to a head when a number of Ethereal Knights who were unhappy with having to oppress and kill friendly and benign non-humans and would have preferred to stick to the original goal of eradicating Elder Dragons started pushing back against the campaigns, leading to a civil war among them that ended in these defectors leaving to form a civilization of their own within the mountain spire of the Paladin's Eminence after forming a truce with the Emperor, with this one being known as Anxopolis. And things would continue to become more extreme from there.

A year after Osric initiated his expansion campaign, a catastrophic event known as the Elder Anomaly took place worldwide, with Elder Dragons going berserk and invading areas non-stop, and believing that his campaign had to get tougher to thwart the threat and any other like it, he and his Ethereal Knights became increasingly violent and tyrannical towards any that would oppose their rule or get in the way of progress, enacting campaigns like clearing out Naubaka Island and all its residents to make room for their own territories and stealing old blueprints for EX Monsters from Dr. Manelger and Itsy-Bitsy, who both died from cyanide poisoning after refusing to go along with their plans for conquest, and after striking a deal with a corrupt sect of Guild officials known as the Dengeki Triad, who promised to give him the materials needed to make more EX Monsters in exchange for money and valuable goods from the Paladin's Eminence, he went to work on expanding his army of subjugated monsters, even creating new types of EX Monsters like the Flurros EX, the Cereukas EX, the Ferogul EX, and the Flurreligar EX, with them serving as guards for his territories and soldiers for use against anything he would consider a menace; however, he disavowed the experiments conducted by the Ancient Civilization despite his beliefs being similar to theirs, with him seeing their acts of creating new life to be too impractical and costly when he was already achieving success with what he had. Osric's actions would soon catch the attention of an Elder Dragon-worshipping cult known as Draconis Automata, who held him and the Ethereal Knights in contempt for their violent campaign against Elder Dragons and threatened to instigate another Great Dragon War if they persisted, and an omnicidal army of torturers and human traffickers known as the Conquerors of the Void, who wanted all life wiped out and saw the Knights as an obstacle that needed removing, and the three would be involved in frequent clashes with each other for supremacy. Word of a mysterious sighting within the Labyrinth of Paradise also piqued the Emperor's interest, though because the peace treaty with Anxopolis forbid members of their separate nations from entering, he settled for having his scouts appear around it in the hopes of finding leads, only acting if he was sure that what he was looking for was there. Nonetheless, he proved to be a rather successful enemy, holding off the Guild and the rival groups alike from territory he considered his and his alone and gradually stepping closer to his goals of complete conquest, though one particular outsider could either prove to be the key to a complete victory, or a complete loss.

## Abilities

Like his subordinates, the Ethereal Emperor specializes in the Aether element, utilizing it through his special Heavy Bowgun known only as the Divine Ruler. He exhibits mastery in both warfare and engineering, being an accomplished soldier turned emperor skilled in both single combat and group tactics and inventing new types of weaponry (ex. a portable Demolisher and a handheld Dragonator) and EX Monsters, both of which he uses in his goals of conquering nations and enacting the extinction of Elder Dragons, bar those that naturally utilize his beloved "holy" element, such as Aetheo Alqueda. He also exhibits more power, speed, and durability than the average human, and his Heavy Bowgun comes equipped with a razor-sharp bayonet that he can use to gouge opponents, making him dangerous to fight in long-range and close-range combat alike. His Monsties of choice are an Aetheo Alqueda, a Lustrous Rajang, a Ropistom, a Sacred Eostage, a Thiraveos, and a Baithepha, all of which were infused with various offense-based genes to bolster their power and allow them to fight Elder Dragons more effectively.

## Tropes that Apply to Them

* A God I Am Not: Although he's very prideful, seeing himself as an emperor more righteous than any other before him, he dislikes being viewed as a god due to it not meshing well with his science-based ideology and reminding him of the Elder Dragons he despises so much, and would rather have his subjects simply refer to him as their king. Unfortunately for him, this has done nothing to stop a cult of personality that sees him as godly from forming around him, with it threatening to throw his kingdom into anarchy if he becomes overthrown.
* A Taste of the Lash: He was subjected to scourging as a teenager for refusing to comply with demands from his parents and the clergy who worked alongside them to disavow his "heretical" beliefs and "broken" nature. This went on until he snatched the scourge from the head deacon and flayed him alive with it, resulting in his exile, and he later subjected his parents to the same fate after the clergy was ripped to shreds by an Elder Dragon attack.
* Authority Equals Asskicking: He's the emperor of the Ethereal Knights, and is one of their most accomplished fighters, possessing the highest level among them along with a variety of weapons and dangerous Monsties optimized for battle performance.
* Berserk Button: With the exception of those that naturally use the Aether Element, he reacts poorly to the presence of Elder Dragons, viewing them as vermin that need to be experimented on and rendered extinct for the betterment of mankind and chastising Riders who make use of them unless it's done to further his ideals for a world without them. This includes the player unless they sided with the Ethereal Knights (in this instance, he permits it because the dragons will be experimented on and put down once the Knights' goals come into fruition).
* Benevolent Boss: In spite of his brutality, he is noted to hold his Ethereal Knights in high regard and treats all of his workers with respect and dignity, proclaiming that all of them are important to the prosperity and stability of his kingdom.
* Blood Knight: While it's not immediately evident due to his overall stoic demeanour, he loves to fight, stating that it makes him feel alive and refreshed and holds a great deal of respect to those he considers worthy opponents in battle, and does everything he can to optimize his and his troops' battle performance so they can have the greatest brawls possible.
* Big Bad:
	+ He's one of the two primary villains of MHSTU's main story, exploiting the Elder Anomaly by using the Elder Dragon outbreaks as justification for conquering whole continents in the name of "purity" and attempting to enslave or exterminate entire nations that will not align themselves to his ideology.
	+ In addition, he's the primary threat of MHSTU's Low-Rank campaign and a major player in the G-Rank campaign, being the one who came up with the idea of freeing Myo Galuna from its bonds and having it wreak havoc upon the Ijotria region and other nearby continents to subjugate them, and gets his subordinates to enact his vision all across the world and cleanse it of anything he sees as "impure".
* Combat Pragmatist: When fought, he'll directly attack the player despite Riders not being allowed to directly attack each other outside of moves that hit multiple targets at once (in that case, it's due to loophole abuse), and has no qualms with calling for backup. He'll even give himself an extra turn just to do away with any status debuffs he was inflicted with.
* Dark and Troubled Past: He endured years of neglect, abuse, and exile from his parents and the clergy of his former home, who were heteronormative Elder Dragon worshippers who deeply resented him for being both an intellectual and asexual, and suffered the loss of an entire kingdom to an Elder Dragon attack when he was only in his teens, a plight in which his former family was unsympathetic to and even blamed him for causing due to his refusal to give in to their belief system. This past played a large role in molding him into the sociopathic, imperialistic tyrant he is today, to the point where even some of his opponents comment that he could have been a very different person if he had just been shown love and compassion by those who were supposed to take care of him.
* Disproportionate Retribution: He slaughtered the Numbers simply because he found their intro annoying.
* Emperor Scientist: He's both the leader of the Ethereal Empire and a dedicated inventor, engineer, and zoologist, designing new varieties of EX Monsters along with new weaponry designed to help humanity excel in their attacks against Elder Dragons, taking extensive notes on the biological functions of monsters, including Elder Dragons, and running a laboratory where he and his empire's researchers study the nature of monsters and Endemic Life found within the Paladin's Eminence, to the point where he was largely responsible for the knowledge on them hunters have access to today.
* Enemy Civil War: He despises Draconis Automata due to their goals of having Elder Dragons wipe out civilization itself clashing with his goal to put mankind above all other lifeforms, and also dislikes the Conquerors of the Void due to their one true goal being the eradication of all life as opposed to just specific sorts of life, sending his troops after both parties and ordering the player to destroy both groups if they're taking the Ethereal Knights route.
* Even Evil Has Standards: He despises cannibalism, seeing it as disgusting and vile, and as a result, he has a very negative view of both Draconis Automata and the Conquerors of the Void, who both permit it.
* Faux Affably Evil: He'll talk politely to the player and others, but does so with a mocking tone that gives away his true feelings towards them, and will throw backhanded compliments at them to try and aggravate them. He's genuinely polite to those who have earned his favour, however, giving them sincere praise for their accomplishments.
* Face Death with Dignity: If the player opts to kill him after defeating him for the final time, he accepts his fate and commends them for being such a worthy opponent before lowering his neck and calmly telling them to do it properly, all while bearing a wide smirk.
	+ Defiant to the End: However, if the player kills him during the Draconis Automata or Oblivion Routes, he'll offer no respect, simply spitting in their faces and telling them to burn in Hell before he dies, and bears a more wicked smirk than the kind he shows above.
* Flaying Alive: He flayed an abusive deacon with his own scourge, causing brutal injuries that resulted in him dying from blood loss a day later, and later subjected his parents to the same treatment for allowing the deacon and his fellow clergymen to abuse him for years on end. Those who greatly anger him in the present day are also threatened with this to demoralize them, with him going through with it if they continue to provoke him; ironically enough, the most frequent recipients of this punishment are Conquerors of the Void, who love to threaten people with it.
* Freudian Excuse: His unwavering hatred of Elder Dragons aside from those that utilize Aether stems from him being neglected, abused, and exiled by his parents and the clergy of his former home, who were ardent Elder Dragon worshippers, and losing his beloved first kingdom to an Elder Dragon invasion that nearly left the plains of the Paladin's Eminence unhospitable, and the residents of the mountain kingdom largely being unsympathetic to his plight did not help matters, either.
* Founder of the Kingdom: He's the founder and architect of the new Ethereal Empire.
* Holy Hand Grenade: He utilizes the Aether Element in battle.
* Jerkass Has a Point: While his methods are very brutal and imperialistic, he does point out that his territories are safer for people to live in due to his merciless campaigns against Elder Dragons, Lynians, and assorted criminals and him providing citizens with clean food and drinking water along with stable equipment, that there are people much worse than him (ex. the Conquerors of the Void), that many societies see Lynians as lesser beings despite calling him out on his hatred towards them, and that the Hunter's Guild has its fair share of corruption and cruelty, engaging in activities like vivisection without anesthesia on captured monsters, the creation of extremely dangerous monsters like Starving Deviljho for the sole purpose of appeasing battle-hungry hunters, and allowing the superweapons project that made the Contaminated Wasteland what it is today to happen.
* Knight Templar: He believes that he and his Ethereal Knights are the ultimate authorities on what constitutes as right or wrong and is willing to go to extremes to accomplish what he believes is best for humanity, including genocide against non-humans and wiping out entire species of monsters, no matter how benign they may be.
* Moral Sociopathy: He has a sense of morality and duty, holds his civilians and soldiers alike in high regard, wishes to maintain an empire where human prosperity and technological advancement are encouraged, offers respect to those he considers worthy opponents, and condemns groups like the Hunter's Guild, Draconis Automata, and the Conquerors of the Void for not working towards what he sees as the common good. He also sees no problem with enslaving and massacring entire races and species along with their supporters under the guise of helping humanity prosper or with releasing a borderline omnicidal Elder Dragon from its confines to coerce people into seeing things his way, is smug and condescending towards those who don't see things his way, exhibits little guilt or remorse over his actions, and is unwilling to take a more compassionate path under the assumption that his brutality is necessary to bring about positive change.
* Might Makes Right: A variation; although he doesn't refer to humanity as the strongest species, he believes that it is the most resourceful, adaptable, durable, and "pure" species, and as a result, it should be put above all others.
* Nay-Theist: A variation; although Elder Dragons aren't actually gods, they exhibit powers that border on the supernatural and are considered a major threat to ecosystems, to the point where some cultures view them as gods. He still refuses to fear or worship them, and will gladly insult anyone who considers them as such.
* Necessarily Evil: He sees his violent, imperialistic campaigns as a means of achieving the greater good and bringing order to a world in desperate need of it.
* The Needs of the Many: He uses this as justification for his brutal campaigns, stating that the "few" (in this case, Elder Dragons, Lynians, and non-human races) have to be sacrificed to ensure that everything and everyone else will survive. The player can call him out on this line of thinking and point out how dangerous and destructive it can be or offer alternatives, but it will fall on deaf ears.
* Nominal Hero: A large number of his actions can be interpreted as heroic, with his brutal and merciless campaigns against Elder Dragons, various Elder Dragon-Level Monsters, Lynians, and assorted criminals making the world safer for humans to live in and providing work for Hunters and Riders alike, and in addition, he saves villages and towns that are under attack and is sincere in his intention to protect humanity from anything that would threaten it; as a result, a number of Hunters and Riders view him in a positive light and may turn against the player if they oppose him. The key things that make him villainous are that he's a murderous, genocidal imperialist who sees no distinction between benign and hostile members of the races and species he holds in contempt and will enslave and eradicate them on a moment's notice, that he has a tendency to subjugate the people he saves once the threat has been dealt with, and that he has no problem with turning against those he vows to protect if he believes they're being ungrateful in any way, shape, or form, even threatening to release a borderline omnicidal Myo Galuna from its confines to coerce them into seeing things his way.
* No Sympathy: He has no love for non-humans, Elder Dragons and Lynians in particular, and will enslave and eradicate them in the blink of an eye.
* The Paladin: He sees himself as a righteous warrior working towards making the world a better place, and similar to a typical paladin, he exhibits control over a "holy" element and has a focus on healing and defense. However, he is this archetype in name only, as he primarily excels in ranged combat (he will fight in close quarters if he has to, however), operates on more science-based ideals as opposed to religious or spiritual ones, refuses to believe in higher powers, and is more like a Knight Templar in function.
* Pragmatic Villainy:
	+ He prefers to spare settlements instead of destroying them due to the fact that they're much more useful to him and his soldiers when intact, and will provide conquered settlements with clean food and drinking water, stable equipment, and protection from monsters and criminals to sway the subjugated residents to his side. In addition, he also lets the residents, including non-humans, continue practicing their own cultures to reduce the chances of an uprising, though anyone who doesn't fully submit to him and/or is a member of a non-human race will be forced to pay higher taxes if they wish to continue receiving his services. The refusal to spare settlements in addition to a ploy to usurp his throne is part of why he cast out Ivory Gryphon, previously one of his highest-ranking captains, and banished him to the Fonron region.
	+ Although he wishes to advance humanity and put them above all other species, he refuses to make use of nuclear weapons or the experiments the Ancient Civilization practiced, seeing the former as an impractical choice of weapon due to them running the risk of completely destroying territories he wishes to conquer and a danger to his allies and the latter as too costly and unnecessary when he already has access to a large supply of powerful monsters and EX gear.
	+ Despite his brutality, he is not keen on keeping openly psychopathic, narcissistic, or Machiavellian individuals on his side, no matter how useful they are to him, and will blacklist and reassign them to areas he knows they're likely to get captured or killed in, with Ivory Gryphon and his team being notable examples. These individuals are considerably more likely to steal from, desert, and betray their leaders and allies than normal people are in addition to giving them a bad image, making their presence a liability in the long run.
* Repressive, but Efficient: Played with. Although he and his Ethereal Knights are ruthless, brutal tyrants, their territories are noted to be quite safe for civilians (particularly those that were not enslaved for being non-human), providing clean food and water, stable equipment, and protection from aggressive monsters and criminals alike so long as residents pay their (very high) taxes and obey his curfews, and due to this aspect of them, some civilians will vouch for them in spite of their evil actions. As a consequence of this ruthless efficiency and his desire to maintain it, however, he unintentionally built himself a large cult of personality that would easily lead to anarchy if he died, and individual guards and higher-ups aren't above taking bribes from the player.
* "Stop Having Fun" Guys: If the player faces him without optimizing their present Monstie for offense (ex. equipping them with genes that provide skills like Might (L) or Potential to bolster their damage output) and/or optimizing themselves for defense or support (ex. equipping themselves with skills like Tenacity and Order Cost Down (L) to boost their support abilities), he'll mock them for it, seeing their party lineup as primitive and poorly-made and making direct jabs at their intellect in attempts to aggravate them.
* Used to be a Sweet Kid: He started out as a kind, idealistic boy who wanted to bring prosperity to his people before years of physical and emotional abuse and neglect followed by exile, the destruction of the beloved kingdom he built with his own hands, and the cutting, unsympathetic responses of the royals and clergy who abused and exiled him spurred him into becoming the brutal, sociopathic tyrant he is today. The general consensus among those who knew him when he was as a kid, including his detractors, is that he could have been a much kinder person had those who were supposed to care for him had treated him with love and respect.
* Visionary Villain: His ultimate goal is to reshape the world into his own image, creating a worldwide empire that encourages human prosperity and technological advancement, with humanity reigning supreme above all others and enjoying a world free of Elder Dragon attacks, and he proclaims that the worldwide empire he wishes to create will be even greater than the Ancient Civilization.
* Would Hurt a Child: With the exception of eggs from those that utilize Aether, he orders his troops to smash every single Elder Dragon egg they come across and kill off the hatchlings, stating that the best way to get rid of "weeds" is to pull them up from the roots.

## Notes and Trivia

* Osric is an Old English name for boys that means "God's rule", whereas Fulgencio is a Roman name that means "white/bright". The former name was chosen for irony due to his refusal to see himself or anything else as godly (he does consider his rule more righteous than any other, however), whereas the latter was chosen to reflect his usage of Aether and light-themed aesthetics.
* The Ethereal Emperor is one of the few characters in *Monster Hunter Stories Ultimate* whose death actually raises the Karma Meter instead of lowering it or leaving it the same as it was. This is due to his ultimate goal pertaining to the genocide of many non-humans as well as anyone who refuses to abide by his ideology, to the point where he was willing to release a borderline-omnicidal Elder Dragon from its confines within the Labyrinth of Paradise and allow it to raze innocent villages and towns to prove a point.
* The Ethereal Emperor's prejudice towards Lynians was based on Lynians being seen as second-class citizens in lore due to their weakness compared to humans.