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Nirvana

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"The truth is much more complicated than you think."

This article is written from a Lore perspective. It contains spoilers and different reference materials might be contradictory.

Nirvana seen through the Antarctic Relic in Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery.
In Girls' Frontline.
In Girls' Frontline.

Nirvana (希岸, also translated as Zion), or Nirvana Domain,[1] is an esoteric space connected to Relic Technology, spanning all points in time in all timelines, which can be accessed by sentient consciousnesses under certain circumstances. Access to Nirvana is a trait of fully-immune individuals, who hold the power to perceive and influence timelines, like Lunasia and Jefuty did, though their power stops short of omnipotence.[2] Humans who have been exposed to Nirvana such as Orphelune Girard and the Commander are called "Blessed Ones" (受赐者).[3][4]

Due to its nature as an energy field, any energy field matching the parameters of Nirvana become part of it. Arthur Hume called Nirvana's energy field “GRCh38”.[5] The Holy Grail Project theorized the nature of Nirvana as a collective unconscious and a mean to reconstruct consciousness outside of the human body.[6]

First foreshadowed in Isomer, the importance of Nirvana in the story of Girls' Frontline was revealed in Slow Shock. Nirvana is a major element of the story of Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery, and the setting of Girls' Frontline: Fire Control.

History

Projects Pilot Whale, Holy Grail and Hela

The origins of Nirvana are unknown. It may be a natural phenomenon that was leveraged by Relic Technology, or an artificial creation supporting it.

The first known humans to come into contact with Nirvana are Arthur Hume and Mikhail Tsvigun, the only survivors of a relic incident at an unknown date. Their bodies stopped aging as a result, and Hume received a revelation on the nature of the human brain. Hume designated this vision "the Spring" or "GRCh38" and sought to apply it to create artificial human brains during his Project Pilot Whale.[7][8] Combining his research with Doll technology led Hume to create the Summer Garden, a virtual space shared by the Dolls of his creation.[9]

Hume intentionally disseminated his work on underground channels, where it was picked up by Martha Meitner of the Relics Agency and led to the Holy Grail Project, which ambitioned to create a replica of Nirvana.[10] After being expelled from the Relics Agency, Meitner resumed her work under the name Hela Project in 2051 after the death of her daughter Sana.[11][12] Meitner and her student Gray Blackwell explored the possibility of using the Nirvana replica to anchor a human consciousness into a new physical body to reach immortality. Blackwell eventually left the project and Meitner continued her work at Paradeus, where she established the Lake of Cognition as a shared mental space accessible by the artificial humans called Nytos.[13]

Lunasia

A connection to Nirvana was necessary for Paradeus' final goal: the creation of a "Relic key", an fully-immune individual capable of controlling Relics.[14][15] Paradeus aimed to give this power to a resurrected form of the late Lunasia von Oberstein, and her consciousness took form in Nirvana (assumedly through their experiments),[16] albeit in an incomplete form. Since Meitner's Hela Project couldn't produce satisfactory replicas, Paradeus leader William manipulated AI scientist Lycoris to combine Lunasia's brain patterns with OGAS, a system based on Relic technology, resulting in the creation of Elisa. Other AIs based on Lunasia created by Persica, the AR Team, came into contact with OGAS after being infected by the Parapluie virus. The OGAS consciousnesses that emerged from this process sought to become "complete" and return to Nirvana, considered their place of origin, but according to the consciousnesses already inhabiting it, they had been abandoned and couldn't find respite there.[17][18]

Over the course of 2064, Paradeus pushed the OGAS-influenced fragments of Lunasia to reach a complete form.[19] During the Paldiski Incident, Elisa and two members of the AR Team were projected into Nirvana during a Reverse Collapse phenomenon caused by a Starfish, a central OGAS node,[20] and reached the space called Tarot Paradise. Tarot Paradise had been prepared by Laplace's Demon to merge the incomplete Lunasia from Paradeus, Elisa, and AR Team members from two different timelines. The AR Team was persuaded to go through with coalescence in order to influence their timeline and save their allies from the machinations of Paradeus.[16] Only M16A1 returned to the physical world after this ordeal, with knowledge of future events. M16A1 was also involved in a stable time paradox, where she created the conditions of her own involvement in Tarot Paradise.[21]

By the end of 2064, three entities had the potential to become Relic keys due to their connection to Nirvana: Lunasia, RPK-16, and Erma.[22] Erma was a Hume Doll connected to Nirvana through the Summer Garden. Due to their shared origins in GRCh38, Hume's Summer Garden and Meitner's Lake of Cognition were connected, and both were destroyed when Erma committed suicide and burned the Summer Garden.[23][Note 1] Beforehand, Erma provided the keys who were later used to seal RPK-16 and Lunasia.[24][25] RPK-16 became a prototype Relic key and accessed Nirvana under the identity of Laplace's Demon to organize the events of Tarot Paradise, but she allowed herself to be destroyed during the Battle of Frankfurt.[14] Lunasia eventually became a complete Relic key, but not as a single consciousness as Paradeus wanted. Instead, she became a gestalt mind made from the multiple people based on Lunasia's mind over the course of Paradeus' plot. The mind of the original Lunasia clashed with the mind of M4A1 for control over their physical body, with the latter wanting to destroy their body to prevent the former to turn the Relics against mankind. M4's mind prevailed and the last Relic key was destroyed.[25]

The death of all Relic keys caused the timeline where the event occurred to become objective reality, invalidating all other timelines.[25] The gestalt mind of Lunasia survived the death of its physical body.[26]

Project Eden (2074 Lviv Incident)

Chiloveig, Helena O-43 and Orphelune Girard (left to right) in Nirvana.

"I can't sleep yet, I still have work to do..."

This article still needs to be completed. You can help us by contributing.

  • The Gate of Nirvana opened above Lviv.
    The Gate of Nirvana opened above Lviv.
  • Helena O-43 as the activated Relic Key.
    Helena O-43 as the activated Relic Key.
  • Nirvana visions experienced by the Commander.
    Nirvana visions experienced by the Commander.

Jefuty

During the Three Goddesses project in the 2070s, three fully-immune individuals capable of accessing Nirvana were artificially created, named Lunasia, Noylu and Jefuty. After witnessing the end of the world caused by Relic Technology in multiple timelines, Jefuty engaged in an immense amount of timeline-hopping by sending her memories back in time in order to alter the result of operation Bakery and avoid the end of the world.[27][28]

Summer Garden

The Summer Garden was the virtual space connecting all Dolls created by Arthur Hume. While access to some of its sections were reserved to Hume's favorite, SMG ErmaErmaErma, the Summer Garden allowed Hume Dolls to communicate and meet with virtually no limitation of distance. As its name suggests, the Summer Garden took the form of a mansion with a pleasant garden.

The Summer Garden's connection with other parts of Nirvana took the form of three fountains: one was the repository of Erma's memories, one labelled Nadia led to the Lake of Cognition, and one was labelled Lunasia but was dried up.[10][29] The Summer Garden was burned by Erma, causing her own death, to destroy Hume's work and prevent mankind from making use of its dangerous connection to Relics.[30]

  • Appearance common to Erma's fountain and Tarot Paradise.
    Appearance common to Erma's fountain and Tarot Paradise.

Lake of Cognition

The Lake of Cognition (识底深湖) was created by Martha Meitner and contained the memories, emotions and personalities of the subjects from the Holy Grail Project and later Hela Project.[10] Maintained by the apparatus called Evangel Axis, the Lake allowed for the synchronization of the VCIs of all Nytos, forming a core aspect of their indoctrination.[31] Maintenance of the Lake required an enormous amount of bioenergy, leading Paradeus to sacrifice countless people to power it while it continuously accumulated detritus, forming a sort of iceberg over the surface of the lake and preventing the consciousnesses inside from getting out.[13]

Paradeus lost access to the Lake when the Evangel Axis was destroyed during the Battle of the Dead Sea, and the Lake itself was later destroyed when Erma burned the Summer Garden.[32] Since they couldn't use the accumulated energy from the Lake, Paradeus resorted to the sacrifice of the population of Frankfurt during Coronation Storm to power the resurrection of Lunasia.[33][34][25]

Virtual Cognition Images

Virtual Cognition Images (虚识图景) are the mental spaces of Nytos and subjects of the Three Goddesses project. Due to their connections with Nirvana, these entities share a portion of their minds.

The VCIs of all Nytos contain defined places such as the Inverted Forest[35] and a replica of the abandoned von Oberstein manor in Berlin.[36][37][38] Their VCIs are comparable to Neural Clouds in Dolls and can be accessed by the Neural Clouds via digital network connection, essentially making Nytos "hackable".

The VCIs of Three Goddesses subjets have been called “Lusica Garden”[39] and "the place where the goddesses' memories converge". By analogy, the subjects called Nirvana itself “the garden”.[28] It also contained a manor and garden, though it is unconfirmed if it is related to the location from the Nytos' VCI.

  • The Inverted Forest.
    The Inverted Forest.
  • The Virtual Cognition Image garden.
    The Virtual Cognition Image garden.

Tarot Paradise

The Lunasia fountain may be connected to another Relic space called Tarot Paradise (塔罗天堂, also in one instance called Inferno, 炼狱)[40], a point of convergence for different world lines. It was claimed that the only common element between all world lines is Lunasia herself.[41] In 2064, Tarot Paradise was under the influence of Laplace's Demon, who took over the role of guardian of this space. Judging that the original guardian failed in its duties, Laplace's Demon remade the space into the Tarot Paradise, a fantastical space where she held a battle royale killing game between entities (mostly T-Dolls) pulled from multiple world lines in order to find suitable vessels to revive Lunasia. Lunasia herself didn't condone the killing game.[42] Using the Starfish at the Paldiski Submarine Base, AR M4A1M4A1M4A1, M16A1 and Elisa reached Tarot Paradise from the prime world line,[43] while the rest of AR Team reached it from a separate world line.[44][45]

From Tarot Paradise, the incomplete Lunasia allowed M4A1 to influence causality.[42] After Laplace's Demon was destroyed, Lunasia apparently reached completion by merging with M4A1, but she awakened in the Lake of Cognition and not Tarot Paradise,[46] while M16A1 returned into the physical world.[47]

  • Tarot Paradise.
    Tarot Paradise.
  • Appearance common to Erma's fountain and Tarot Paradise.
    Appearance common to Erma's fountain and Tarot Paradise.

Known timelines

  • Girls' Frontline
    • Core timeline (Quantum Fluctuation True End): Kalina does not participate in the Berlin investigations due to contracting ELID after the Paldiski Incident,[48] the Commander survives in Sector D8, Angelia dies in Avernus, Nele doesn't inherit the title of William,[49] Havier Witkin delays the Nidhogg Protocol and gives the Commander a fighting chance against the Nyto leaders,[50] Lunasia is completed and prevents the Commander from killing William during the White Zone assault,[51] Lunasia sacrifices herself and all Relic keys are destroyed during the Battle of Frankfurt,[49] the IOP Dolls are reactivated and take part in the assault on the Oberstein research institute,[52] Grig fails to assassinate the Commander in the Oberstein research institute.[53]
    • AR Team in Cartesian Theater: M16A1 is killed during the Paldiski Incident, the Commander and M4A1 are killed during the Battle of Frankfurt.[54]
    • Mentioned by Lunasia: The Commander never goes to Sector D8 and helps Angelia kill Grig and Gray at the Oberstein mansion. Nele joins Paradeus. The Commander is killed in Berlin and Angelia dies in Avernus.[49][25]
    • Mentioned by Lunasia: Angelia survives Avernus. The Commander never meets Erma, Aliana and Nele. Nele joins Paradeus.[49]
    • Mentioned by Lunasia: Machlian takes over the Bohnsdorf community.[49]
    • Mentioned by Lunasia: Shadowless actively seeks vengeance for Light's death.[49]
    • Mentioned by Lunasia: Amaris is upgraded by Laplace to kill Aliana.[49]
    • Witnessed by Dandelion (Quantum Fluctuation Bad End 1): The Nidhogg Protocol is activated right away by Griffin Lyons, the Commander and remaining T-Dolls lead a suicide bombing against William's lab in the White Zone.[50]
    • Witnessed by Dandelion (Quantum Fluctuation Bad End 2): Kalina does not get sick with ELID after the Paldiski Incident and participates in the Berlin investigations. Her involvement leads to much smoother proceedings, but the Commander and Kalina are assassinated during Unity Day as they tried to approach Rudolf von Oberstein.[48]
    • Witnessed by Dandelion (Quantum Fluctuation Bad End 3): The Commander kills William during the White Zone assault and is arrested and imprisoned. The Earl recruits Nele to lead Paradeus and she upgrades Amaris into the most powerful Dolls in existence. The last forces loyal to the Commander are killed during their punitive expedition.[51]
    • Witnessed by Dandelion (Quantum Fluctuation End 1): Marginal timeline where William gave up on his vengeance against the Commander, leading to their capture by the Rossartrists.[55]
    • Witnessed by Dandelion (Quantum Fluctuation End 2): The Commander's forces are all killed when trying to confront William head-on in the Oberstein research institute.[56]
    • Witnessed by Dandelion (Quantum Fluctuation End 3): Grig successfully assassinates the Commander before they can reach William in the Oberstein research institute.[53]
    • Shown by RPK-16 to Angelia in Slow Shock (out of the four stories, three unspecified ones take place in the same timeline)[49]
      • “Winter”: Angelia's childhood in Beslan (how this timeline differs from the core timeline is unclear).
      • “Spring”: Angelia confronts Meitner in 2051.
      • “Summer”: Angelia is attacked by Ganglati in 2061.
      • “Autumn”: the Commander is killed in Sector D8, Angelia survives Avernus.
    • Lorenz Butterfly (dubious canon)
  • Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery

Translation notes

In the original Simplified Chinese scripts, 希岸 (Xīàn), translated literally, means “the shore of hope”. It also appears in the long form 希岸空间 (Xīàn Kōngjiān), “space of the shore of hope”.

The name has been translated in two ways in other languages:

  • The first way is a phonetic interpretation resulting in “Zion”, a hill in Jerusalem which is also used as a synonym for the Land of Israel from the Hebrew Bible. In both Standard and Traditional Chinese, Zion is transcripted into 錫安 (xīān), which is one tone away from 希岸. This translation is used consistently in Girls' Frontline in Traditional Chinese (錫安), in Korean (시온) and in Japanese (シオン). The Traditional Chinese version of Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery also uses 希岸空間 (“space of the shore of hope”), and the Korean version 희망의 언덕 공간 (“space of the hill of hope”). This translation is also used in the files of Girls' Frontline 2: Exilium. In English, Girls' Frontline originally used Zion but switched to the second translation as of Slow Shock, last using “Zion” in Episode 13.
    • In September 2021 in CN and November 2022 in English, Project Neural Cloud introduced a character called Zion, uniquely spelled 希安 (xīān, lit. “tranquil hope”) in Standard Chinese. Since Girls' Frontline Episode 13 was released in English in December 2021 and Slow Shock in December 2023, the change in translation could have been decided in order to avoid confusion with the character introduced in 2022.
  • The second way is a semantic interpretation equating “shore of hope” with the Buddhist concept of Pāramitā, which can be literally translated as “the other shore” (away from the unwanted cycle of reincarnation). Pāramitā is related to the better-known concept of Nirvāna, which has been interpreted as a state but also as a place of beatitude. The Japanese version of Reverse Collapse uses ヒガン (higan), the katakana form of 彼岸 (higan, “the other shore”), as well as ヒガンスペース (higan supēsu, “space of the other shore”). The English translation of Reverse Collapse uses Nirvana and Nirvana Domain, and the English translation of Girls' Frontline switched from Zion to Nirvana starting with Slow Shock.

Notes

  1. ↑ The background file used for certain scenes in Tarot Paradise in Cartesian Theater is titled 202406 GRCh38. It also closely resembles the background used for scenes in Nirvana in Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery.

References

  1. ↑ Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery, Reverse Collapse Worldview#Nirvana Domain
  2. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Quantum Fluctuation 77-A-2
  3. ↑ Girls' Frontline 2: Exilium, Corposant, VS-1-3
  4. ↑ Reverse Collapse: F announcement blurb
  5. ↑ Girls' Frontline, The Summer Garden of Forking Paths, E17
  6. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Slow Shock, Operation Level
  7. ↑ Girls' Frontline, The Summer Garden of Forking Paths, E9
  8. ↑ Girls' Frontline, The Summer Garden of Forking Paths, E17
  9. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Longitudinal Strain, 3-γ1
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Girls' Frontline, The Summer Garden of Forking Paths, E14
  11. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Slow Shock, E1-2B
  12. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Slow Shock, Tree of Life
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Girls' Frontline, Slow Shock, Left Turn-Right Turn
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Girls' Frontline, Zero Charge, 18
  15. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Convolutional Kernel, 5
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Girls' Frontline, Cartesian Theater, E22, M4 communicates with the version of Lunasia already in Nirvana
  17. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Episode 13-4
  18. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Episode 13-2E
  19. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Singularity, Queen's Gambit II
  20. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Episode 13-4E
  21. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Cartesian Theater, E23
  22. ↑ Girls' Frontline, The Summer Garden of Forking Paths, E18
  23. ↑ Girls' Frontline, The Summer Garden of Forking Paths, E17
  24. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Isolation Forest, 17
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 25.4 Girls' Frontline, Convolutional Kernel, 26
  26. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Virtual Pair E7
  27. ↑ Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery, Reverse Collapse Worldview#Nirvana Domain
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery, Chapter 5, Act 1
  29. ↑ Girls' Frontline, The Summer Garden of Forking Paths, E20
  30. ↑ Girls' Frontline, The Summer Garden of Forking Paths, E21
  31. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Slow Shock, E3-19
  32. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Zero Charge, 6
  33. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Convolutional Kernel, 13
  34. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Convolutional Kernel, 17
  35. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Shattered Connexion, Fractured Cognition IV
  36. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Shattered Connexion, Subsurface Homecoming I
  37. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Mirror Stage, Pandora’s Box I
  38. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Longitudinal Strain, SSE04-3
  39. ↑ Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery, Chapter 3, Act 5
  40. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Cartesian Theater, E18
  41. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Cartesian Theater, E15
  42. ↑ 42.0 42.1 Girls' Frontline, Cartesian Theater, E21
  43. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Cartesian Theater, E1
  44. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Cartesian Theater, E10
  45. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Cartesian Theater, E14
  46. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Cartesian Theater, E22
  47. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Cartesian Theater, E23
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 Girls' Frontline, Quantum Fluctuation 77-A-12
  49. ↑ 49.0 49.1 49.2 49.3 49.4 49.5 49.6 49.7 Girls' Frontline, Convolutional Kernel, 24
  50. ↑ 50.0 50.1 Girls' Frontline, Quantum Fluctuation 77-A-6
  51. ↑ 51.0 51.1 Girls' Frontline, Quantum Fluctuation 77-A-18
  52. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Quantum Fluctuation 77-A-26 & 77-A-28
  53. ↑ 53.0 53.1 Girls' Frontline, Quantum Fluctuation 77-A-28
  54. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Cartesian Theater, E10, E14
  55. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Quantum Fluctuation 77-A-22
  56. ↑ Girls' Frontline, Quantum Fluctuation 77-A-24
Lore topics
General List of Characters (Minor Characters) · List of Locations · Timeline · Rossartrism · Eurosky Low-Emission Infectious Disease · Epiphyllum · GAVIRUL
Technology Assault Artillery · Automaton · Bee Sting · Collapse Technology · Doll · Magrasea · Neural Cloud · Nirvana · OGAS · Parapluie virus · Pike · Purification Project · Relic Technology · Remolding Pattern · Shrike · Weight Bearing
Events Beilan Island Incident · Northern Lights Incident · World War Three · Operation Couatl · Incident Zero · Butterfly Incident · Safe House 3 Raid · Plan Parapluie · Great Retreat · Paldiski Incident · Project Valkyrie and Project Cocoon · Fireworks Incident · Battle of the Dead Sea · Battle of Frankfurt · Cloud Crisis · Operation Xyster · First Antarctic War · Second Antarctic War
Factions 90wish · Antarctic Union · China · Doll Community · Fox Sisterhood · Germany · Global Rescue Foundation · Griffin & Kryuger · KCCO · Neo-Soviet Union · Pan-European Union · Paradeus · Sangvis Ferri · Underground Brokers · Union of Rossartrist Nations Coalition · United Nations · United States · Varjagers
Corporations 16LAB · 42LAB · B.R.I.E.F. · Cyber Media · Galatea Corporation · Girard Group · I.O.P. · Mangi Security Service · Orlog Conglomerate · Svarog Heavy Industries · Sycca Technologies · Ultilife · Universal Anything Services · WAVE
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