Starlevel the Great

"Starlevel"

- appearing in front of Rocky Bank.

About
Starlevel the Great is an enigmatic being who has made several appearances throughout the Rance Series.

An artificial hybrid of Human genes and those of a Kurupistonian, an alien race from the planet Kurupiston that exists within the same universe as The Continent, Starlevel the Great was created under the name "Mars the Great" (火星大王, kasei daiō) for the purpose of assimilating within human society in order to acquire females of the species for use in kurupistonian breeding.

While the eccentricities that stemmed from being an alien lifeform caused Mars the Great to do an extremely poor job of blending in with humans, it also bestowed him with an unconventional charisma that caused others to be drawn toward him. Over time, Mars the Great amassed a cult of personality around himself, and was able to found a city in the southwestern corner of the Free Cities Alliance, which was named Mars in tribute to him. Despite often enacting unusual policies, such as requiring that all citizens wear clothing similar to his own, Mars the Great proved to be a surprisingly excellent mayor, causing his city to prosper and his followers to remain slavishly devoted to him.

At some point after becoming the mayor of Mars, Mars the Great chose to become a Level God for unknown reasons, changing his name to "Starlevel the Great" in the process. Seemingly no longer interested in the goal he was created for, he began travelling across the Continent and appearing before hardworking people who had reached their Level Caps in order to temporarily increase them in recognition for maintaining a positive outlook on life even after reaching the full extent of their potential. As he was no longer able to directly govern over the citizens of Mars, Starlevel the Great instead became a figure of worship, with the city's name being altered to Mars Star in celebration of his ascension to Godhood. As their god, Starlevel the Great bestowed the people of Mars Star with a wide variety of level cap enhancing items and commanded them to use them on any weak-looking person that passed through the city. While increasing the level caps of random individuals is considered illegal within level god society, Starlevel the Great was able to continue this practice for several years, avoiding detection by appearing before people suddenly and disappearing just as quickly.

During the events of Rance VI, Starlevel the Great appeared numerous times in front of Rocky Bank, a scrappy second-class Zethan citizen and member of the resistance movement Ice Flame. Starlevel the Great would reveal himself to Rocky whenever the young resistance member had managed to lift himself from a momentary bout of depression caused by hitting his level cap by resolving to try his hardest regardless of his strength. As a reward for his optimism, Starlevel the Great increased Rocky's level cap by a value of ten each time he appeared, substantially improving his potential in the process. Starlevel made no attempt at consulting consulting Rocky before raising his level cap, causing him to increase it even when Rocky had decided to retire from the battlefield in order to assist Kimchi Drive in running her orphanage, forcing him to continue fighting even when he didn't want to.

Starlevel the Great makes an additional appearance in Rance VI if Rance leads his party down the spiritual path leading to "Hope" in the depths of the Disposal Dungeon; an enormous dungeon that connects directly to Hell. Appearing at the end of the pathway, Starlevel the Great rewards the group's efforts by increasing the level cap of a random party member who had already reached theirs by two. Starlevel the Great can be visited repeatedly, and can increase every character's level cap up to a value of 50. No explanation is given as to why he is present at the bottom of the disposal dungeon, though it is possible that he utilizes the location in order to avoid having his illegal activities get found out by the denizens of the Gods' Realm.

During the events of Rance X, Rance is able to lead the forces of the Dark Lord Extermination Squad through Mars Star if he chooses to accompany the Free City Alliance's representative Copandon Dott to the city of Diptheria in the operation to defeat the Dark Lord Lei. The citizens of Mars Star immediately begin flocking around Rocky, now a member of the Dark Lord Extermination Squad, and attempt to persuade him to use one of their level cap boosting facilities. Before the flustered Rocky has a chance to respond, Willis, Rance's personal level god, appears and declares that she will report the city's possession of illegal level cap altering facilities to her superiors. The panicked people of Mars Star begin praying to Starlevel the Great to rescue them, causing his voice to echo throughout the city from parts unknown an begin chanting in a strange language. In the blink of an eye, the entire city of Mars Star and all of the citizens who inhabited it disappear off the face of the Continent, forcing the baffled Dark Lord Extermination Squad to continue on their way.

In the non-canonical Kichikuou Rance, Starlevel the Great appears while still acting as the mayor of Mars under the name Mars the Great. While conquering the Free Cities, Rance, the newly-appointed king of the Kingdom of Leazas, is given the option of seizing control over Mars through either negotiation or force, with Mars the Great's role changing depending on the choice.

If Rance chooses to use negotiation to capture Mars, Mars the Great will agree to relinquish control over the city under the condition that he be treated as a commander in the Leazas Army. If Rance accepts this proposal, Mars will begin halfheartedly working under him as the commander of a small group of soldiers from the Leazas Black Corps. As a commander, Mars the Great will regularly scout out women living in Leazas Castle to capture, eventually luring them to the roof to be abducted by a kurupistonian spaceship. Mars the Great can target any one of Sill Plain, Eleanor Ran, Merim Tser, Yamamoto Isoroku, Saulnia Benz, as well as all of the unnamed women in Rance's personal pleasure chamber, permanently removing them from the game if he is able to successfully get them captured. If Mars the Great is able to abduct all six of these targets, he will complete his mission and be allowed entry into the kurupistonian saucer to return to outer space, never to be seen again and leaving only a dumbfounded Maris Amaryllis as a witness.

If Rance chooses to capture Mars by force, Mars the Great will attempt to defend his city with a small army of civilians and die in the process. After being killed in battle, he will immediately resurrect himself using necromancy as "New Mars the Great" and raise a massive army of the Undead to attack Leazas Castle. He will persistently continue to attack Leazas until he and his army are completely destroyed. Alternatively, Rance can bring Merim Tser to investigate Mars the Great's palace in the city of Mars, where she will discover his original body sleeping in a coffin. Rance will then burn the body, killing Mars the Great permanently.

Personality and Appearance
A very bizarre-looking lifeform, Starlevel has an appearance that resembles a pale man in a giant suit of a yellow star. His face is humanoid and he has a white hair styled to one side. He's always glowing and emitting an almost blinding light. He's also always seen carrying a wand that resembles a toy, which he waves when casting spells.

Befitting his strage appearance, Starlevel also possesses a very strange and flamboyant personality coupled with odd habits of his. He speaks in a combination of human language and what appears to be real-life French (which doesn't exist on The Continent), making half of his sentences incomprehensible for the humans of the continent and further mystifying his nature. His odd mannerisms and behavior leads those that meet him to a state of confusion and perplexity, especially because he likes to make flashy and sudden appearances out of nowhere when he's satisfied with a certain individual. Despite his unusual personality, Starlevel is a seemingly good-natured entity that greatly appreciates positive traits in humans like bravery and confidence, and he will immediately reward those that fit his definition of what is admirable. He's decisive and won't even listen to the requests of those he's helping, merely assisting them as he feels like without paying attention to their state of mind. He also seems to be obsessed with what he calls electromagnetic waves, and sometimes will randomly shout about them with pleasure. He refers to the ejection of these waves as "climax" and defines them as a wonderful thing, and these grant him such happiness that he will randomly increase the Level Cap of those close to him in the process.

Due to his status he's presumed to be able to teleport to the Gods Realm, but as he's frequently found in the Disposal Dungeon instead this might be his residence of choice for whatever reason. It is also unknown why he abandoned his former mission given to him by his creators, but he lives a seemingly carefree and happy life without worrying about it.

Abilities
A moderately powerful Level God, Starlevel possesses the ability to either raise or drop the Levels of anyone he wishes to interact with. The spell he chants is fast and flashy, allowing it to take effect before the target can react. He's also capable of raising the Level Caps of any mortal, and by a considerably large amount, as well as multiple times if he wished to. It is unknown if he has the authority to do such a thing (probably not) but he's elusive and subtle enough to avoid being punished for it if he's not. Like all Level Gods he can instantly teleport through different locations with minimum effort, allowing him to appear in front of those that catch his interest in the blink of an eye, making his appearances all the more jaw dropping considering his unusual appearance.

Considering his relatively impressive performance when raising the Level Cap of Rocky Bank, it is likely that his power is close to or matches that of High Ranked Level Gods. However, as Level Gods still stand at the lowest of the Hierarchy of Gods, his power is not even comparable to that of truly powerful members of the Divine.

Trivia

 * He originally made an appearance in Kichikuou Rance as a different character named Mars the Great. Whether Mars remains as his true name or not is unknown.