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So what the hell are exorcists?

Discussion in 'Priest Guides' started by Archie, Aug 30, 2010.

  1. Archie Mexocan

    This is a compililation of everything I know about what exorcists in DFO are based off from. Anyone with information I might be missing is welcomed to inform me.

    Exorcists are one of the most intriguing classes in the game. Physical exorcists can wreak havoc as they swing an unhumanly sized axe with one hand (especially post patch), while magical exorcists have almost unsurpassed zoning abilities. There isn't another class with two separate skill trees that follow seemingly unrelated ideas..

    Every class is built around an idea. Spitfires are tactical military fighters, strikers are hardcore martial artists, berzerkers are bloodthirsty psychopaths, and summoners being summoners, somebody will eventually ask:

    What theme is the exorcist class built around?

    Now here's a better question: What is an exorcist? Anyone can look it up in a dictionary and find that they are "a person who practices exorcism". Of course, that doesn't get us anywhere. Here's an even better question:



    What exactly is exorcism?

    A while ago, I asked to the general DFOS community if they could point out what magic exorcists were based from. Dice Dragon told me something interesting that explains why there are two drastically different skill trees. I also had come across a book on exorcism in my high school library, which helped explain what the guy from before had meant. I picked up the book and skimmed for information I was interested in.

    To exorcise a demon from a body, you have two main methods available to you.

    1. The simple and most straightforward method. Beat the demon out of the body. This is a very obscure method that I can't really get deeper into as far as internet sources give me, but it's out there. This, translates to physical exorcists who are brute and straight-to-the-point.

    (It would make more sense if exorcists used mauls instead of axes though.... I've read from somewhere that RL priests would only use a blunt weapon because bladed weapons can bleed people.)

    Physical exorcism is illustrated in the Boondocks, lols (ty, Rad):

    2. And the most well-known method, of course, is to call their god's power to exorcise a demon away. This, obviously translates to magical exorcists who force demons "out of the material plane" by entrapping the demon.

    And so, it turns out that the class name of exorcist fits physical exorcists more than what people think. Physical exorcists are in fact, actual exorcists.


    What exactly are magic exorcists?

    For any typical Western DFO player, we wouldn't necessarily know what they actually are. I've been told that magic exorcists are basically Onmyōji. They are practicioners of onmyōdō, which is a Japanese esoteric cosmology, influenced by Taoism, Buddhism, and Shintoism.

    Protection from evil spirits and control over shikigami? That pretty much describes magic exorcists.

    ~ The Shikigami ~

    A shikigami is similar to a familiar in European lore; they are summoned to assist its caller with various tasks, such as (but not limited to) using magic.

    The pet "pheonix" that follows exorcists are exactly what it is, a shikigami.

    As for the other shikigami available to magic exorcists, you first would want to understand that they are based off of the four symbols, used to separate the Chinese constellations by seasons. The four symbols are:

    Black Tortoise of the North

    White Tiger of the West========Azure Dragon of the East

    Vermillion Bird of the South

    I have read that the four symbols are popular to depict Asian media, so it's no surprise that it is referenced in DFO. Anyways, the four symbols translate to:

    White Tiger, the level 30 skill
    Black Tortoise, the level 35 skill
    Legion of Shikigami (The birds skill), the level 45 skill
    Blue Dragon Hammer, the awakening.


    But why do tigers and tortoises look so different from what their names suggest?

    Okay, we established why those skills had those names. Now, I can explain why the skills are what they are.

    Black Tortoise

    I found this one to be quick to figure out. Black tortoise, as a summon itself, is based off of the Tian Gou (lit. Sky Dog). It is a Chinese mythological dog that is said to swallow the sun during a solar eclipse, just like how black tortoise leaps on a monster to immobilize them.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tian_Gou

    The character in the skill icon literally means earth.

    White Tiger

    The origin of this skill was tricky to hunt down, and I'm still missing info.

    Though the skill itself (being a silly game of hot potato) is extremely likely to be original to DFO, white tigers are very loosely based off of the Komainu (lit. Korean dogs <lolwdf?), which are based off of the Chinese guardian lions.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komainu

    The Komainu, are a pair of lion-like statues guarding entrances to Japanese shrines from evil spirits. An interesting part I read about them were komainu has one of them with a mouth open, the other closed. The komainu with an open mouth is pronouncing "a", while the one with the closed mouth is pronouncing "um". Together, represents "Aum" or "Om", a syllable that is really significant to Hinduism, Jainism, and more importantly for the sake of this article, Buddhism.

    Ever noticed how white tigers start with their mouths closed, then they open their mouths when they become a node? That proved to me that white tigers were based off of the komainu.

    As for the actual hot potato ball that tigers pass around, I figured was based off of the pearl that a Chinese guardian lion (which are very similar to the komainu) would have. Pearls, as far as I know, are associated with wisdom.

    "The lady that is summoned with the white tiger is most likley a preistess of sorts. The garb is very traditional of preistesses in Fudel Japan." (ty Revenolt)

    The character in the skill icon means "sky", though it is more commonly meant as "empty".


    ~ Amulets and talismans ~

    Muahahaha! Exorcists tossing silly pieces of paper! IMO, these are not too different in function from magical scrolls found in European fantasy settings.

    However, these relatively small rectangular pieces of paper are more closely associated into dealing with spirits, usually to ward off evil spirits as far as I know. Some times, you'll see these tags placed in front of a person's head, to bind a soul onto their bodies (e.g. Zombie mushroom from Maplestory). Other times, you'll see these papers have even more different uses. (e.g. In Naruto, you'll see those tags being set off into explosions)

    The symbol for holy amulet's skill animation means "destroy".

    The characters in the supression and lightning amulet predictably means "opress" and "lightning" respectively.

    ~ Special thanks ~

    Dice Dragon (For explaining the two ways to exorcise demons)
    Disowned (For giving me a start on white tiger's origin xD)
    HunterXZelos (For introducing the four symbols/shikigami nonsense)
    BlanixtheBlood (For making me look up Tengu, making me bump into the Tian Gou article)
  2. BlanixTheBlood Perfect hair

    I was mentioned! :D
    Nice going man, I love these kinds of things and it was a cool read.
  3. Ring "...that's my role."

    It's more fun to beat the shit demon out of the possessed person though and the better method.
  4. RawrBomb New Member

    Cool read Archie. Would read again. 9001/10
  5. geenareeno Not gReenareeno

    Aw this is sweet. NeoPeople really did a great job.
  6. BlanixTheBlood Perfect hair

    fixed
  7. geenareeno Not gReenareeno

    Uhhh wut lol
  8. BlanixTheBlood Perfect hair

  9. ArtSlay _________________________

    Actually the character in white tiger skill icon means "sky" itself, but is more commonly used to mean "empty".
  10. Archie Mexocan

    Thank you.

    The chinese dictionary I used must suck then xD
  11. \/iolent/\ngel It's all in the reflexes.

    I always did think that fiery... buddhist... angel... thing was a pretty dodgy looking phoenix...

    [IMG] Forgive me, I've no seen it, but is this the symbol? Like on Gouki/Akuma's back? Amano Kujaku's t-shirt and Pai (3x3 Eyes)'s slave/boyfriend's forehead?

    The character from 3x3 Eyes explained it quite well. He talks about the Chinese "Wuu" and the Japanese "Ten", sign of the void, attached meanings of Heaven, Sky, infinity and emptiness... It took me a few years of not looking it up to come up with the idea that the "Sky" is "Empty" in this context. It's not so much one or the other, it's the same thing.

    Warning: this symbol/concept can lead to some really daft threads...
  12. Archie Mexocan

    This is the symbol:

    [IMG]

    Doesn't quite look like the character you posted above =p
  13. BlanixTheBlood Perfect hair

    The character Violent posted is japanese for sky/heaven/weather, said aloud is 'Ten'.
    I don't know if it carries the same meaning over in japanese, most kanji don't,

    Also welcome to SSA Violent.
  14. Archie Mexocan

    From what very very little Chinese I know, it has very similar meaning in Japenese, though I am not sure about it meaning weather.
  15. Psych Oh you so pringles!

    Hey, can anyone clarify what those broken, golden rings are?
    The ones on the phoenix cosmetic, tortoise and tiger.
  16. Archie Mexocan

    I haven't found anything on those broken rings, sadly =/ Nothing that can be directly tied with exorcists.
  17. gongfuren GongJiZhe

    I am actually Chinese, so I can confirm that it means "empty" by itself (空). It is pronounced "kong." But, when combined with "tian" (天) as in "tian kong" (天空), the phrase now has the meaning of "sky."

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