Mysterious guildian (...priest?)

[pablo69]

This is my first post in here so: hi everyone!
Gladly and finnaly a place, where people actually have knowledge and interest in Last Exile.
That's why I'm here.

I've just watched this great series for the third time in my life, but I've never found almost any information about that one, strange guild member appearing exclusively in the opening (before the encoutner with Maestro), and literally nowhere else in the series (but I may be wrong).



He (it?) can also be found in the Aerial Log, where he's presented as 神官, which jisho.org translated into "shinto priest".
Probably more information can be found in the further description below in japanese, but I'm not able to translate it.



Maybe someone spotted him along the series, or knows something that I don't. Also maybe somebody is able to translate it and solve the great mystery!

[-TK-]

Hi and welcome!

I don't remember any detailed description of this strange Guild member in either booklets, Aerial Logs or any other random stuff.

If he is a sort of "priest", then I think he is probably connected to the ancient religion of Prester, now forgotten. Otherwise I guess 神官 (i.e. shinto priest) could be read as "very-high-rank bureaucrat" or top-class servant.

Unfortunately the text of the Aerial Log does not help because it speaks of Guild servants in general but nothing specific about this weird 神官...

It basically says that Guild servants are not "human beings" anymore, since they never feel hungry, they never feel thirsty, they never feel cold. However, they have also lost the most important thing for a person: a heart to love people, a heart to feel, a heart to share things with the others. They blindly execute the orders of their senior technical officers, as their role is just to keep the Guild systems running. They usually walk alone and ignore the other servants because they do not know things like friendship or affection.
So they will never know the true meaning of "freedom" because they have sold their souls to this small community in the sky called "the Guild" and thrown away all the blessings that a life can give, but are focused only on their duties.

[pablo69]

Thanks a lot for translating it, even if it didn't bring the answer.

What is a bit suspicious, wherever those two other guildian slaves are presented (somewhere in the other theme book or premium materials), 神官 is not with them. The only places I could spot him was the opening and that separate page from what I have got saved as "Aerial Log", but the title is not certain.

By the way 神官 appears to be huge, doesn't he?

[Csilla Aria]

It's probably not able to move around very much considering whatever it does do, requires it to be a giant video game cartridge.
.... I didn't think those things were actually living people. I thought they were just some weirdly stylized computer things.. that makes the Guild even creepier. I wonder if the people in that position ever get out of those things, or if once they are chosen for the job they just have to stay there having all there physical needs taken care of by machines or something, and they're just stuck in place till they die while their bodies atrophy.

[Tara]

I wonder if the people in that position ever get out of those things, or if once they are chosen for the job they just have to stay there having all there physical needs taken care of by machines or something, and they're just stuck in place till they die while their bodies atrophy.

According to a section of Chronicles that I translated, and I'll copy paste it: it talks about two ways to become a "Guild member." One is, obviously, being born into it. The other talks about educational and military institutions, where only the best are chosen from, but this still just for lower class/servants. They came from "the ground," are are known as "apprentices" as they learn/train. And when the best of the best are chosen ... they get a test at 17, which, if failed, results in a mind-wipe which is what those Guilders with the weird makeup and chanting all are.

SO it sounds like a lot of the monotone/non-human Guilders were at one point closer to human as they learned and trained for the test, only those ones obviously failed it. Also, they have generic names pertaining to their jobs because they're seen as a "part" of the Guild instead of a "person" of the Guild which is more what Lucciola and Cicada are, having passed their tests at 17 it seems like (hence the forehead markings as Lucciola doesn't sport his as a child).

Also hello and welcome, Pablo!

[Csilla Aria]

I wonder if the people in that position ever get out of those things, or if once they are chosen for the job they just have to stay there having all there physical needs taken care of by machines or something, and they're just stuck in place till they die while their bodies atrophy.

According to a section of Chronicles that I translated, and I'll copy paste it: it talks about two ways to become a "Guild member." One is, obviously, being born into it. The other talks about educational and military institutions, where only the best are chosen from, but this still just for lower class/servants. They came from "the ground," are are known as "apprentices" as they learn/train. And when the best of the best are chosen ... they get a test at 17, which, if failed, results in a mind-wipe which is what those Guilders with the weird makeup and chanting all are.

SO it sounds like a lot of the monotone/non-human Guilders were at one point closer to human as they learned and trained for the test, only those ones obviously failed it. Also, they have generic names pertaining to their jobs because they're seen as a "part" of the Guild instead of a "person" of the Guild which is more what Lucciola and Cicada are, having passed their tests at 17 it seems like (hence the forehead markings as Lucciola doesn't sport his as a child).

Also hello and welcome, Pablo!

Thanks! I remember possibly reading this somewhere before, I think it was somewhere else you had it posted.

I was kind of wondering about the face markings too. There obviously not just makeup, and I'm pretty sure some are just tattoos. Dio's mark just seemed to appear on him as Agoon got closer though, and Reciuse said if he was able to hold out it would fade, I think... I just kind of wonder if Guild people have the markings written into their DNA or something. It sounds weird, but they seem so dependent on cloning, and genetic manipulation....

[Tara]

Bumping an ass-old thread with some new stuff about this since I was going to get to this sooner! Anyway, having gotten a load of setting material papers, there were a couple of these types of Guilders.

http://i.imgur.com/xh1YBow.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/cGV604i.jpg
And this isn't the same one, but one of the other sorts of ~weird ass Guilders that were mentioned along with them~: http://i.imgur.com/uknomL4.jpg

Anyway, as we can see in the second image, the lines on their faces can differ in number. I can't make written stuff out as well but it mentions the number of lines, and then something about the size-- possibly the size of the outlines on the faces since they seem to get a little smaller with less lines which may have to do with rank/job/whatever.