Meta Clockworker

**Meta Clockworker** was a clockworker of the Magic Kingdom Levianta, the fiancé of Gallerian Chirclatia, and the older sister of Irina. Created by Pale Noël from the "reset" Meta Salmhofer, Meta became an artisan for the Clockworker Family. After Gallerian met her after she was cured of her Hereditary Evil Raiser Syndrome, the two became engaged and lived happily together with Irina for a time.

## History

### Early History

After Pale Noël transferred Meta Salmhofer's soul into a new body and reset her memories, the ghoul child woke up inside Lunaca Labora where she was greeted by Pale. Later, Meta was adopted by the artisan Clockworker, thus becoming part of the Clockworker Family as a music box craftsman. Living in Lighwatch, she gained fame as the "Clockworker". At some point, Meta realized she suffered from Hereditary Evil Raiser Syndrome and began resisting her urges to commit malicious deeds against others. Later on, her father adopted a second ghoul child, Irina. As the girl grew up, she began assisting her sister in creating music boxes in her work. Sometime during the first decade in the Evillious Calendar, Meta met the younger brother of the last local priestess, Gallerian Chirclatia, and she fell in love with him, the two bonding.

When Gallerian left town to study HER, Meta accepted him as her assistant and they began living together, the two became engaged. Afterward, to express her wish for a happy future for them all, Meta crafted a music box that played the Clockwork Lullaby's melody, which she gave as a gift to her fiancé and little sister.

### Project 'Ma'

After Gallerian and Irina were selected as two of the potential candidates for the seventh Project 'Ma' in EC 013, she met the director of Project 'Ma', Pale Noël. Noticing their resembling hair and eye colour, Pale claimed to be a ghoul child like her, convincing Meta he was likewise freed of Hereditary Evil Raiser Syndrome and trying to save the country from the rampaging HERs through the project. Later on, Meta witnessed Gallerian stab Irina in the back and, shocked, discovered how Irina was a HER.

After Gallerian was accepted as a project, Meta began suspecting Pale and despaired over their loss; around the same time, the music box she crafted broke. Meta later attended the ceremony celebrating Gallerian's coronation; as Gallerian presented himself as the new King before the public on the temple altar, Meta felt happy for him, but also great grief over Irina's death.

### Catastrophe

About six months later, Meta lamented the tragic situation she was in before hearing the voice of what she thought was Irina, not knowing that it was Behemo pretending to be her. Behemo instructed her to resurrect her with Sin and restore everything. Desperate, Meta took Irina's corpse and covertly carried her to the forbidden ark in the temple as the voice instructed. She then cast the Clockwork Secret Art on Irina's corpse, causing it to regenerate. She also cast it on Sin to reverse its time and make it usable, placing her sister's body in the ark. Unwittingly, Meta's genetic relation to Pale also allowed her to activate the Black Box Type L within the ark, as Behemo hoped all along.

Despite this, the Black Box soon malfunctioned from previous damage and its misuse, causing a massive explosion that destroyed the Magic Kingdom around them. Mortally injured, Meta was left unconscious in the rubble when the dragon body of Levia-Behemo scooped her up in one of its mouths and flew out of the temple. After the dragon destroyed the kingdom before falling apart, Meta survived and remained in the ruins. Thanks to the events of the Catastrophe she was also, through unknown means, given all of Pale Noël's memories.

### Castaway of Time

"*Aron's prophecy. I must ascertain the truth of that. For that is the mission for my atonement that was assigned to me.*"
―Meta
To atone for what she'd done, Meta set about to fulfill the mission of ascertaining the truth of Aron Merry-Go-Round's prophecy. To this end she began creating music boxes that could turn gears of "karma", planning to make twelve in all. As she began to create these music boxes, she learned about the future of the world through their songs, such as the future of her fiancé Gallerian following the Catastrophe.

She was later found by the sun god of the Third Period, TALOS. As TALOS initially regarded Meta as a threat due to the Catastrophe, he attempted to control her, only for Meta to repeatedly outwit him using her knowledge gained from Pale's memories. The sun god eventually gave up trying to control her and, with TALOS's help, Meta was able to incorporate a Black Box system into the music box she was creating. Over the course of her work, Meta and TALOS would continue to exchange e-mails with each other.

As time went on, Meta headed out to the mysterious land of Angolmois to continue her work. As she worked on her fifth music box there, she learned about how Irina and the dragon gods were now cursing her beloved Gallerian's body as he now took the name of Clockworker, enraged and grieved by the revelation. As the years went by, Meta continued her work, proceeding with the compactification of the BB system and acquiring new components for her music boxes, slowly gaining understanding of the world and of Aron's prophecy. As part of that, she determined that Behemo would be the one to destroy the world.

Having determined the world's destroyer, Meta set about trying to determine its savior. In the middle of this, she was interrupted by the arrival of two ghostly children, Hänsel and Gretel Twiright, sent to her in Angolmois by TALOS. Surprised to meet them, Meta listened in peace to the ninth music box, another one regarding Gallerian, determining with the children that Behemo could also become a savior if he could regain his humanity.

Over the next two music boxes Meta learned more about two other "saviors" at the end of the world, Carlos Marlon and Irina, contemplating on the imperfect "salvations" they offered. As she was on the cusp of creating the final twelfth music box, the Third Period was destroyed and then saved by Rin and Alexiel, leaving Meta's work incomplete. Later she received an e-mail from TALOS commenting on the state of affairs, suggesting Meta go meet with any remaining souls in the Third Period she wished to see again or go to the new Fourth Period Rin and Alexiel created. There she reunited with Gallerian, helping to restore his former soul to a perfect condition, and the two finally got married.

While in Angolmois with her husband, Meta heard the singing of the other souls as they also prepared to move on to the Fourth Period. She then watched as the gears in the unfinished music box began turning of their own accord, and concluded that she hadn't needed to make them in the first place to make the gears of "karma" turn. Despite this, she resolved to finish the music box to accompany the singing. As she did, however, she had a revelation that there were more than just twelve music boxes to be made. She wrote an e-mail to that effect to TALOS, explaining she was leaving Angolmois with her husband and that she would continue to make music boxes as long as songs existed for them. Afterwards, Meta and Gallerian presumably went out together for parts unknown.

### Legacy

After the twin gods Levia and Behemo as well as Irina's revived self cursed Gallerian's body, thanks to Meta's usage of Black Box Type L, Gallerian was unaware of the curse and just felt weakened. Believing her to be among the many losses incurred by the Levianta Catastrophe she unwittingly caused, the now immortal took up the name "Gallerian Clockworker" in memory of their engagement and grieved over her during the succeeding centuries.

The revived Irina blamed Gallerian for the catastrophe and her loss of a human body, continuing her rivalry with him. The Catastrophe was historically labeled as an accident caused during an experiment at the royal institute, and Levianta remained a ruined wasteland for nearly three hundred years before finally being resettled.

## Personality and Traits

Despite being a HER, Meta was a kind and optimistic woman, well regarded by her peers and caring for her family. Resisting her malicious impulses until eventually being cured of her condition, Meta hoped for the salvation of the Magic Kingdom Levianta and believed in the good intentions of those around her, such as trusting Pale Noël's intentions and believing her sister Irina was different from other Ghoul Children. Similarly, after Levianta's destruction, she dedicated herself to atoning for her role in it by helping the world with her karmic music boxes. She seemed to develop a fascination with the fate of the world and a fondness towards many of its inhabitants, particularly at the world's end.

Despite this, Meta was aware of her dark past as a Ghoul Child and the common tendency for others of her kind to cause havoc. She herself allegedly rampaged through Levianta in her bid to revive Irina, and displayed a seemingly vengeful side towards Behemo after Gallerian's curse. Despite this, unlike most HERs Meta had the capacity to forgive, still regarding Irina as her beloved sister and even forgiving Behemo after Gallerian's soul returned to stability. In addition, Meta showed a stubborn streak after Irina's death in regards to TALOS' attempts to control her, as well as a pragmatism in keeping a gun on hand in case of intruders.

## Skills and Abilities

Gifted with strong magical potential, Meta was able to perform the powerful Clockwork Secret Art and use it rejuvenate aged magical devices. Being a clockworker, she was similarly skilled in creating and maintaining magic tools. Her skill also extended to being a general artisan, becoming well known among her peers for the music boxes she crafted; after the Catastrophe she began making music boxes which themselves could serve magical tools, through which Meta was able to monitor the fate of the world around her.

Being a clone of Pale Noël, Meta shared Pale's impressive intellect. However, unlike Pale, Meta had the willpower to resist her darker nature as a HER. She was also one of the few humans capable of hearing the voices of Levia and Behemo from within the Sin ark, allowing her to communicate with the twin gods; she also, having the DNA of one of its crewmembers, was one of the few people that could use the technology of the Sin. Following the Catastrophe, Meta somehow gained all of Pale's memories and employed the knowledge she used to great effect. Due to her unique experience, Meta was able to exist in Angolmois for hundreds of years as she worked.

## Character Connections

Gallerian Chirclatia: Meta's fiancée. Coming to love Gallerian deeply, Meta cared for and trusted Gallerian enough for the two of them to work together in her shop. Meta was thrown into a despair after Gallerian was cursed and desperate to get him back to normal; similarly, after the Catastrophe her rage at Behemo was only cooled after Gallerian's soul returned to stability, and the two lived happily together once more.

Irina Clockworker: Meta's little sister. Meta loved and trusted Irina, believing her to be different from others of their kind and not able to succumb to the malice of other Ghoul Children. After she was revived, Meta realized her true nature and was inconsolable. Despite this, Meta returned to loving her and continually monitored her fate, saddened by the incomplete nature of her "salvation" in the end.

Behemo: A god who cursed Meta's fiancé. As Behemo initially tricked Meta into believing she was her sister Irina and caused her to facilitate the Levianta Catastrophe, Meta was embittered towards Behemo and filled with overflowing rage when she learned that he had cursed Gallerian. After being reunited with Gallerian and watching Behemo regain his humanity, Meta's feelings towards him softened considerably.

Pale Noël: Meta's creator. Meta originally believed that Pale was a Ghoul Child such as herself, and trusted the passionate director of Project 'Ma' as one of the few Ghoul Children to not cause destruction in Levianta. Following the death of Irina and watching Gallerian's coronation, the clockworker reluctantly began to believe that even his motives were suspect. After gaining Pale's memories, Meta used his knowledge for her own purposes.

TALOS: Meta's later partner. Meta had a partnership with TALOS that began from her own stubbornness and resistance to being controlled by him, but which later turned warmer. The two exchanged e-mails and Meta accepted his help with the construction of her karmic music boxes, as well as being genuinely grateful to the god for returning Gallerian to him. By the end of the world the two were on good terms, although Gallerian realized that Sickle was as of yet still hiding things from her.

## Trivia

### Conceptualization and Origins

* Meta is based on the canon character Meta Salmhofer and is role swapped with Kiril Clockworker and Pale Noël.
* Meta's name is partially inspired by the name of her representative Vocaloid, MEIKO, with both names sharing the first two letters.

## Appearances

* Whereabouts of the Miracle
* Recollective Musicbox
* Original Sin Story: Crime
* Original Sin Story: To
* Judgment of Corruption ~A Court of Greed~
* Evils Court
* Original Sin Story -Act 2-
* Original Sin Story: Complete Edition
* Clockwork Lullaby (album)