Part 62: Episode LIX: Billy Lee Black and the Ethos’ Filler HQ

Episode LIX: Billy Lee Black and the Ethos’ Filler HQ

Music: Emotions


Man it’s been forever since we’ve been able to freely move about the world map and this is the first time we’re actually able to explore the whole planet. First things first, we really ought to look at a map and figure out where in the hell we are...


... How did we...? Just where in the HELL was Citan flying that airship...?! The top rightmost dot on the map was the Kislev base we stole the Goliath from. We are now literally on the other side of the planet. Remind me to never let Dr. Uzuki drive anything again.


In any case, we are now in the Aquvy region, which is composed of the series of islands and large landmass occupying the bottom left quarter of the map. Xenogears’ world is roughly the size of Rhode Island. In any case, according to the charts the Ethos...excuse me ‘Ethos’ H.Q. (sarcastic air quotes are an important part of their dogma) is due north from the Thames.


But let’s explore Aquvy a bit. The Yggdrasil II follows most JRPG boat vehicle conventions of only being able to land on beaches. Only here, it can drive right up off beach straight into any sandy tract of land. I don’t think physics works that way, but there you have it. There is the Orphanage that Billy and Jessie mentioned earlier to the east. But let’s skip that for now. Instead, that location dead center in the middle of the region looks interesting...


There, we find Babel Tower. Suddenly the whole part begins speaking different languages, except Rico who just doesn’t say anything. The tower then falls on Bart’s head. End of Act 3.




Okay, maybe not. But, that is quite the tall tower. Funny, it looks like it’s made of metal. Hmm...a giant metal shaft reaching up to the heavens in the middle of an area that looks like a huge watered over crater. I wonder what that’s all about.


Unfortunately, we cannot investigate the Tower of Babel at the moment as there is some manner of barrier blocking the way. Said barrier also has the ‘Ethos’ symbol on it. Well, I guess we’ll get back to that some other time...


The large continent to the east of Babel Tower is devoid of anything interesting outside a sole functional lighthouse. We cannot actually enter it or anything. At least not right now. Give it about 40 hours...


Oh well. That’s about it for Aquvy at the moment. I suppose we might as well hurry up and take Fei’s comatose ass to the Vatican for a check-up.

Music: Ship of Regret and Sleep


Welcome to the other Xenogears world religion’s HQ. While Nisan is pretty much Gnosticism with nuns and a fem-Pope, the Ethos are more or less straight up the Catholic Church with giant robots.


I mean, they’ve even got a confessional and everything. They aren’t even trying to hide it. Subsequently, guess which of the two presented churches are going to turn out to be evil...


“I received permission to treat Fei so long as it is in the practice hall's infirmary. Let us 'Ethos' staff take care of the rest."
*nods* "Please, take care of Fei for me..."
”And no giving him any sort of augmented sunglasses. There’s no way Fei can pull off that look.”
“...I see.”

A short while later...


Billy informs us that Fei has been moved to the infirmary off-screen after a quick fade out asks us to follow him there. This doesn’t really make sense since they would have had to take Fei through here to get to the infirmary in the first place and there’s no reason why everyone wouldn’t have followed along then. But details...

The party walks further into the chapel. One of the priests wanders out from the back...


“...”
"It is said that there was an attack on an excavation site which injured many of my 'brothers' and workers. Well, you're such a fine Etone - destroying Reapers and proving the justice of the 'Ethos' to the world. But your father is..."
"We are father and son in blood only! I have nothing to do with that man..."
_{”Oh great, someone with daddy issues...”
“There’s no need to be mean. I’m sure you have taken issues with your father before.”}
“My parents are DEAD!”
“Oh...umm...sorry to hear that...”
"Don't get me wrong. I don't suspect you, our good 'brother'. I just wanted to inform you about your father."

Father Verlaine wanders off...


Spoilers: Billy’s story arc is a lot of “no FUCK YOU dad”.


In any case, Billy proceeds to lead the party to the super high-tech basement level of the church where Fei is being kept. Yeah...the church has an Umbrella Laboratory in the basement. Not suspicious at all...


“The patient hasn't regained consciousness yet, but we see no abnormality with his brain. The low water temperature lowered his metabolism and saved him. One false step and he could've suffered from brain death.”
"That means..."
“Yes, don't worry. However, we need to conduct more tests for a while. After that, he can be treated at your medical facilities.”
”We’ve got like a repurposed storeroom with a nurse stuck in it. That kosher for a ‘medical facility’?”
“As long as it has a bed without lice, then that should work...”
"...Will Fei ever regain consciousness?"
“The reason why he hasn't regained consciousness is physical exhaustion. He overworked himself. It'll probably take him a few more days, but don't worry, he'll wake up.”
”He’ll need to stick to a strict regiment avoiding boss rushes for at least two weeks.”
“That’s asking for a miracle to happen, doc.”

Elly walks over to the bed...


"Elly, that is not true. You cannot resist being hypnotized.”
“Furthermore, that battle really had nothing to do with your actions aboard the Yggdrasil. So your self-loathing due to that is rather unwarranted.”
“More importantly, you saved Fei. Fei could not have been protected from Kahr without you. Is that not correct?"
"Thank you..."
"Hey, we don't want to disturb his recovery. Let's take a little walk. It may take a little longer to finish treating Fei."
”I don’t think that is al—“
"I...would like to stay a little while. Is it okay?"
”I really have to do more te—“
*nods* "I agree. Fei will feel at ease that way. Please let us know when you finish treating Fei. We will leave the rest up to you."


Elly sticks around and gets in the way while Citan and Bart nose around the Ethos H.Q. being a bother to everyone. There’s no real point to the segment. We just need to wander around aimlessly for a bit to kill time.


Bugging people for info will reveal a few things. It seems Babel Tower was built by some ancient jerks. It was too big and kind of an eyesore so God got pissed and destroyed it. Except God was apparently kind of hung over that day since the thing is clearly still standing. Said ancients went on to live in Shevat. It would seem the Ethos are none too fond of Shevat as they throw around flattering terms like “the cursed” and “house of sinning hermits” to refer to them.


We can also learn a bit about the Reapers/-Wels-. Apparently they used to be humans but were transformed into monsters for their sins as Xenogears’ God is apparently all Old Testament dickish in this world. Also they might come from those jerks in Shevat too. So the rumors say...


The last bit of info we can glean from the area is the fact that the Ethos is on Jessie’s shit list for some reason. And not like the usual “those religious whackos made my son into a fuckin’ pussy” sort of shit list. I’m talking “getting drunk and tossing sticks of dynamite down Ethos dig sites and shooting at workers” sort of grudge. Jessie continues to be awesome.


Eventually, Elly will get bored of staring at Fei’s comatose ass and seek out the rest of the party. Maybe they’re done by now...

Everyone shuffles back to the infirmary...


"Did Fei regain consciousness?"
“Unfortunately, the patient hasn't regained consciousness yet. But there's no need to worry. When he recovers physically, he'll also regain consciousness. You can take him to your ship now.”
"Thanks a lot!"
“Please don't worry. I did my job as a clergyman.”
"Um... Where is Billy? I'd like to thank him..."
“Oh yes, brother Billy... He went back to the orphanage. He was worried about the children left behind.
"We are in Billy's debt. We should go thank him."
"First, let's take Fei to the Yggdrasil. We can go thank him afterwards."
”Alright. I got the left foot. You take the right... Elly, you’re on door opening duty.”

Later that day...


Welp, that was a really pointless chapter. But I’ll leave you all with this on the way out the door...














Billy Lee Black Portrait – Nice bowtie.