Verse Material Analysis: Theonite

 

In the world of Skullgirls, there exists a mysterious and powerful element known as Theonite. This crystal-like substance has existed long before mankind, yet is only slightly more common than meteorites, leaving a surprising amount about the substance unknown. So what IS, Theonite; where does it come from; what can it be used for; and how dangerous is it? Today I will be answering all of this by going over all the data that I have gathered.

Theonite in short, is the byproduct of the Divine Powers of the Goddess Trinity, made up of the Sister gods of Spacetime, Venus and Aeon, and their all powerful Mother, that takes the form of a crystal that maintains some of their power. It was first introduced on Earth thousands of years ago during the Skullgirls equivalent of Ancient Egypt. At this time the Goddess Trinity existed in the world in mortal form and the Theonite that resulted from their power created a race of immortal, sentient creatures with magical abilities known as Theon. 

These Theon were made of Theonite and could bond to hosts to grant them power in exchange for nutrients, members of this race included Samson, Leviathan and Sekhmet, among others. Wanting the gods power for herself, the Theon, Sekhmet, and her host Murdered the sister gods human forms. Unbelievably enraged by this, the Mother Goddess laid waste to the entire kingdom, and left the earth behind, never allowing herself or her daughters to reincarnate there. Theon have been referred to only as Parasites ever since.

But this wouldn’t be the last time Theonite was leaked into Earth. As punishment for betraying them, Venus and Aeon created The Skull Heart, which every Seven Years would turn the peoples own selfishness against them by creating powerful destructive beings known as Skullgirls to devastate the planet. This Skull Heart is made entirely of Theonite just like modern parasites, and every time it unleashed a Skullgirl it leaked more and more Theonite into the world, making it a rare, but renewable resource.

Naturally, like any resource, it has been used and experimented with by the various dominant species’ of this world. In ancient times it was forged by special weapon smiths into semi-sentiment tools known as ‘Living Weapons’ to be used in combat. And in modern times it has been studied by ASG, who used it as a power source to create powerful Skullgirl combating soldiers, make Anti-Skullgirl Weapons and Gadgets, and even a slew of artificial ‘Synthetic Parasites’ to make a whole new generation of super-powered hosts to stop Skullgirls. And that’s our History Lesson on the substance, so let’s break down what it is capable of.

Theonite is a divine and Reality Warping Element, SO potentially powerful, that a small amount of it was able to cause a Multiversal Crisis, that nearly Destroyed Infinite Timelines. Also since it’s so heavily connected to The Trinity, Skullgirls, Parasites, Living Weapons and ASG Tech, it is incredibly versatile and Very Few characters in the series don’t rely on it in some way.

Just like the Goddesses it comes from, Theonite has immense influence over space and time, it allows characters like Squigly and Peacock to create and destroy space itself, teleport, create portals, and travel to other dimensions. It halted Annie’s aging so that she never grows older, is used by Isaac to travel through time, and lets Peacock and Valentine Stop Time completely. Theonite also exists not only physically, but Astrally, Mentally and Absolutely, and is able to hit things on all of these planes of existence. It is the source of the soul destruction abilities of Skullgirls and Squigly, the Soul Hax Resistance of Skullgirls and the Soul Contamination of Synthetic Parasites. Theonite is responsible for Brain Drain’s mental powers, it can be used to control minds, restore or destroy memories, and create illusions. It also allows characters like Skullgirls, Peacock and Robo-Fortune to see the 4th wall and interact with Metafiction just like the gods. Theonite has massive regeneration abilities, allowing the Skull Heart to recreate itself from total destruction, and grants several users of it impressive healing factors. It can raise entire armies from the dead, cure poison, resist mind control and absorption, and allow someone to create matter and even life out of only their thoughts. Things using Theonite have been able to molecularly manipulate objects, or straight transmute things altogether. It can summon or control the elements, such as Earth, Fire, Electricity, Acid and Darkness. Users of it can have Flight and Telekinesis, create powerful explosions, shapeshift and fire energy blasts. It also can be used for Incredible detection abilities, enough to sense someone's entire character and history, or detect everything on a city wide basis through sight, smell and hearing. Speaking of hearing, it can manipulate sound, to use as an attack, or even allow a user to turn into sound waves as a means of travel. It also has Death Manipulation powers, and is able to drain or absorb energy and blood. It can even warp reality to give Painwheel a normal life again, or curse Annie to never be able to utter a swear word.

Name: Theonite

Origin: Skullgirls

Classification: Element, Crystal, Divine Artifact

Uses: Powersource, Magic Tool, Weapon

Threat Level: HIGH Multiversal

Capabilities: Spacetime Manipulation, Effects Physical, Astral, Mental and Absolute Planes, Regeneration, Death Manipulation, Elemental Control, General Reality Warping, Various Other Powers

Prevalence: Rare

Just to give some Points of Comparison I found Interesting:

If you put Theonite in DC Comics it would be VERY hectic for the story, this is an element that could cause a crisis on par with the COIE if used by ANYONE with level 3 or higher intellect, and thus would be fairly sought after by villains and heroes alike to use or contain respectively. It could easily be used to quickly give lots of people powers, although it cannot give powers directly, it can make tools and beings that grant such. It would be interesting to retroactively incorporate it, have it be the source of numerous random magic artifacts that weren’t well explained before.

Blazblue has most of the Fighters draw from an energy called Seither so I thought it would be interesting to compare those. Seither is basically MUCH more prevalent than Theonite, being the result of the dead Black Beast, it exists basically everywhere on Earth floating around as invisible particles. Beings in Blazblue also use surrounding Seither rather than directly having it in their own bodies or weapons. Seither is far more versatile than Theonite in regards to its insane lists of hax and resistances. However it does lack potency compared to Theonite, it cannot threaten an Infinite Multiverse, and also cannot affect the Metafictional plane.

Lastly, I think the most direct comparison I can make to Theonite is Energy X from Freedom Force. Like Theonite it is a Multiverse Threatening Divine Energy source that leaked into Earth and is responsible for the superpowers of Nearly the entire cast of Heroes and Villains. The Primary Differences are that Energy X directly goes into people and grants them superhuman powers, whereas Theonite needs to be done through use of a tool, parasite or artifact. It would be really interesting to me to think about swapping Energy X for Theonite in these two series and think of ways you could try to give the characters similar powers despite these differences.