Paradias Organization
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In the anime and manga series Yu-Gi-Oh!, the Paradias Organization (known as the Doma Organization or simply Doma in the Japanese anime) is a fictional company and group of duelists that serve as the primary antagonists of Season Four of the anime; they do not appear in the manga. The organization is created by Dartz and has heavy ties to the fictional history of Atlantis within the anime.
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[edit] History
The organization was formed by Dartz after the fall of Atlantis in order to revive his monster the Leviathan that is defeated in the battle for Atlantis. Dartz and the members of the organization assist the evil and corrupt throughout history, gathering the souls of those oppressed by them using the powers of the Orichalcos in order to fuel the rebirth of the Leviathan.
While in Egypt, Dartz sees the Pharaoh Atem and his Egyptian God monsters battling Bakura and Diabound. Sensing the power of Atem and the God monsters, Dartz comes to the conclusion that Atem's soul will be more than strong enough to revive the Leviathan by itself. However, Dartz abstains from capturing Atem due to his battle with Bakura, and when the battle ends, Atem's soul has been sealed within the Millennium Puzzle.
However, Dartz is aware of a prophecy that Atem will be reincarnated, and he thus resolves to wait until that happens. Dartz is also aware of Atem's connection to the realm of Duel Monsters that had opposed him centuries before during the battle for Atlantis. During that battle, the Three Knights of Atlantis had defeated the Leviathan, and anticipating their return with Atem, Dartz begins searching for powerful duelists that might be able to defeat the Knights.
In the present day, Dartz has formed the organization into a powerful multi-national corporation, although its exact role as a company is not established. However, the company is well known as a rich and powerful group with suspected ties to politics and rival companies, and also secretly manufactures its own version of Kaiba Corporation's Duel Disk, referred to as a Chaos Duel Disk in advertisements. When Atem is reincarnated into Yugi Muto, and he collects the Egyptian God Cards, Dartz then has his henchmen (known as the Three Swordsmen of Doma in the Japanese anime) steal the cards, baiting Yugi, the spirit of Atem inside him, as well as Seto Kaiba and Joey Wheeler (Katsuya Jonouchi), into a series of duels to gather their souls using the Orichalcos and revive the Leviathan.
[edit] The Orichalcos
Before the organization formed, a meteor known as the Orichalcos fell on Atlantis. The meteor led Atlantis into a technological golden age, but also corrupted its citizens and turned them evil. The shards of the meteor eventually corrupted Dartz, who became convinced that the Orichalcos revealed the true nature of its subjects, and the people of Atlantis only became evil because they were truly evil. Dartz thus resolved to destroy humanity and rebuild the world using pure-hearted humans that the Orichalcos did not corrupt. This led into a battle between Dartz, the Leviathan and the Orichalcos Soldiers against his father Ironheart, his daughter Kris, the spirits of the Duel Monster realm, and the Three Knights of Atlantis. The Knights became sealed as Dragons, but were successful is destroying the Leviathan by the battle's end.
Using the power of the Orichalcos, Dartz began to steal souls to revive the Leviathan. The shards of the meteor are shown as glowing green stones that bestow various powers upon their holders: Dartz himself displays telepathy, telekinesis, and other psychic powers while under the stone's influence, as well as near-immortality. The main way in which the stone's powers manifest, however, is in the form of the Spell card The Seal of Orichalcos.
The Seal of Orichalcos is the trademark card of the members of the Paradias Organization, shown in one scene in the anime to be formed from shards of the Orichalcos meteor, also known as the Orichalcos Stone. The card is played as a Field Spell, casting a symmetrical six-pointed star around the dueling field with a ring of mysterious text surrounding it. As a spell card, the card increases the ATK of all monsters owned by its controller by 500, as well as allowing the controller to play monster cards in their Spell and Trap slots, effectively doubling the number of monsters they can play. The card is also immune to destruction by normal card effects. The Seal also exists as the cards Orichalcos Deuteros and Orichalcos Tritos, adding a second and third layer of text outside the seal. These cards are only used by Dartz.
Beyond its effect on the duel, the card also influences the physical world. The seal creates a magical barrier around it, preventing anyone outside from entering the duel, or anyone in the duel from leaving. The Seal of Orichalcos also appears on the duelist's forehead, tinting their eyes red and affecting their personality. Under the effects of the Orichalcos, duelists become increasingly more aggressive and brutal in their dueling tactics; in the cases of Rafael and Atem, their personalities completely change from calm and focused to cruel and harsh. When a duelist loses the duel, the seal shrinks around them and takes their soul, sending it to Dartz's temple near the ruins of Atlantis.
The name of the Orichalcos is based on the mineral orichalcum, a mineral that, according to Plato and the Critias dialogue, was the source of Atlantis' wealth and power. However, orichalcum is described as red in color and is speculated to have been copper or gold, while the Orichalcos is consistently depicted as bright green. The design of the Seal of Orichalcos is based on the unicursal hexagram designed by Aleister Crowley, for which one of the members of the Paradias Organization is named. The text around the seal is Enochian, and translates to "Oreichalcos". Also, the power of the Orichalcos is negated in the presence of the three Knights of Atlantis: Tomias, Hermos, and Cridius.
[edit] Members
[edit] Dartz
Dartz is the former King of Atlantis and the head of the organization. After being forced to kill his wife who had been turned into a monster by the orichalcos, Dartz was himself corrupted, turning his right eye green. Dartz led the forces of the Orichalcos against his father, daughter and the forces of the Duel Monster realm, but was defeated. Dartz then spent the next ten thousand years collecting souls to revive the Leviathan, which he felt could be easily revived using the soul of Pharaoh Atem.
After having his henchmen steal the Egyptian God cards, Dartz has them duel the three duelists chosen to wield the powers of the Knights of Atlantis against him. After their initial failures, Dartz summons an army of Orichalcos Soldiers to steal souls from around the world in a final effort to acquire the energy he needs. When finally confronted by Atem and Seto Kaiba at his temple, Dartz duels them, but is defeated by Atem using the powers of all three of the Knights of Atlantis. However, upon having his soul taken, Dartz's own soul is enough to revive the Leviathan. After a battle between the Leviathan and the forces of the Duel Monster realm, it is killed again and Dartz is released from the influence of the orichalcos, going peacefully to the afterlife with his father and daughter.
Dartz uses an Orichalcos deck, focusing on the Seal of Orichalcos and strengthening it using Orichalcos Deuteros and Orichalcos Tritos. His key monster, Orichalcos Kyutora, absorbs battle damage and transforms into Orichalcos Shuneros, a monster based on the dogū which has ATK equal to the damage that Kyutora absorbs, allowing it to become stronger the longer Kyutora is on the field. Besides this, Dartz's offense is provided by Mirror Knight Calling and the Mirror Knight Tokens it summons, who have power equal to the power of the monster they battle and are immune to destruction, allowing them to destroy any monster, no matter how powerful.
[edit] Rafael
Rafael is the strongest of Dartz's henchmen and is the duelist meant to defeat Atem and Yugi Mutou. Rafael once had a family that was killed while on an ocean cruise, leaving him stranded on an island (in the English version, the family was still alive, but have completely forgotten about him). With only his dueling deck to keep him company, Rafael developed a deep bond with them before he was rescued. Bitter at the world, which he now saw as evil and corrupted, Rafael willingly turned to Dartz and joined the organization with the promise of cleansing the world of darkness. Rafael later discovered that Dartz was the captain of the cruise the night his family was killed, and willingly sailed into the storm that wrecked their ship in order to orchestrate Rafael's turn to evil. Rafael is the only duelist to lose a duel without losing his soul to the orichalcos, being able to purify his heart of its influence during the duel and free himself of its hold on him. After confronting Dartz about what he has learned about the orichalcos' powers, he falls victim to him and loses his soul, but is restored when Dartz is defeated.
Rafael uses a Guardian deck, relying on monsters that can only be summoned by having an appropriate Equip card on the field. Because of his bond with them, Rafael cannot bear to have his monsters destroyed and thus utilizes several cards to protect them, often at the cost of his own well-being. His main monster, Guardian Eatos, can be summoned without Tribute with no monsters in his Graveyard, and gains power the more monsters there are in the opponent's Graveyard. Under the dark influence of the orichalcos however, Rafael plays Guardian Dreadscythe, an evil incarnation of Eatos that grows in strength the more monsters Rafael sends to the Graveyard, leading to him sacrificing all of them due to the orichalcos tainting his judgment.
[edit] Valon
Valon is Dartz's second henchman. Abandoned at a young age, Valon was cared for by a nun at a church and protected her from a local street gang. However, when the nun was killed in a fire and the church burned down, Valon assaulted the gang and was sent to juvenile prison. While there, the headmaster taught him how to duel and had him take the souls of the other inmates. Afterwards, Dartz recruited Valon into his service. What Valon was not told was that the headmaster worked for Dartz, and Dartz was the one who set the fire that killed the nun. The story of the nun and the street gang is cut from the English anime, and Valon's story of being in prison is mentioned to be caused by his penchant for street fights.
Valon develops feelings for Mai Valentine (Mai Kujaku in the Japanese version) when she joins the organization, thus making his grudge with Joey Wheeler (Katsuya Jounouchi in the Japanese version of the anime), who Mai loved, a personal one. Mai does not return his feelings and tells him that Joey is to be her opponent, not his. After dueling and losing to Joey, Valon has his soul taken, but his body is recovered by Rafael and taken to safety, and he is restored when Dartz is defeated.
Valon uses an Armor deck, relying on monsters that attach to him as physical pieces of futuristic armor. Although they have limited physical strength, when combined their special abilities gives the appearance of a single, high-powered monster with powers such as immunity to destruction, destroying monsters, and inflicting direct damage. Valon summons his Armor pieces en masse using various Armor Gravitation cards, making the Seal of Orichalcos pivotal to his strategy by allowing him to summon more pieces than normal.
[edit] Alister
Alister (known as Amelda in the Japanese anime) is Dartz's third henchman. Alister lived in a town in the middle of a war as a child, leading a resistance group with his brother after their parents disappear. When his brother is lost during an attack on the town, Alister blames Kaiba Corporation, who financed the weapons in that attack. (In the Japanese version, both his parents and brother were killed.) In reality, the weapons were funded by Dartz. To this end, Alister targets Seto Kaiba, but when Alister learns of his bond with his own brother Mokuba, he becomes more sympathetic and willingly loses the duel to ensure Mokuba will not have to bear losing his brother as he did. Kaiba, also understanding Alister's grudge towards him now, carries his body to safety after the duel, and Alister is restored when Dartz is defeated.
Alister uses a Toon deck while pretending to be Maximillion Pegasus, relying on the Toon monsters and exploiting their various powers such as direct attacks. When revealed, Alister changes to a Pyro deck relying on Gorlag and its power to revive the monsters it destroys. In his second duel, he uses an Army deck of Machine monsters like KC-1 Krayton and Spell Canceler, highlighted by Air Fortress Ziggurat and the Toy Robot Tokens it spawns, both of which are based on an action figure his brother owned.
[edit] Gurimo
Although not addressed by name, advertisements render his name as Gurimo. Gurimo is a fourth member of the organization and duels Atem atop a skyscraper. Despite using one of the God cards, he is defeated and loses his soul to the orichalcos. Gurimo's backstory is not explored in detail, but he is distinctly older than the other three members.
Gurimo uses a Warrior deck, relying on Marauding Captain and Bronze Knight to summon multiple low-level Warrior-types to the field, and strengthening them using the Seal of Orichalcos as well as the Spell card The A. Forces, which powers up Gurimo's Warriors as more of them come into play.
[edit] Mai Valentine
- Main Article: Mai Kujaku (As this arc does not take place in the manga, Mai is known as "Mai Valentine" in all English versions of this story arc; "Mai Kujaku" is used in Japanese versions and the original English-language manga)
After losing to Marik Ishtar in Battle City, Mai becomes tormented by dreams of losing her soul and joins the organization to attain power to prevent this from happening. When she joins Dartz they improve her deck but keep the theme of "harpy ladies". The two mostpowerful cards they give her (except for "The Seal of Oricalcos") are "Harpy lady Phoenix Formation" & "Harpy lady Sparrow Formation".
[edit] Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood
- Main Articles: Dinosaur Ryuzaki and Insector Haga (As with Mai, they are known by different names in the English language manga, and the story arc discussed does not exist in the manga)
Former professional duelists, they blame Yugi and Joey for the downward spirals their careers have taken, and join the organization to get revenge. Like Mai, Dartz improved their decks with the Seal of Oricalcos, but kept the theme of the deck.
[edit] Orichalcos Soldiers
Large monsters vaguely resembling armored knights that are shown in flashbacks to have been Dartz's primary forces in his battle with the Three Knights of Atlantis. Their right arms resemble large sword blades with the pattern of a Duel Disk's card slots on them. Dartz later revives more of the soldiers to attack the world and gather souls in the modern era before his battle with Yugi and Kaiba. Although their decks are not explored in detail, the soldiers are capable of dueling, and use orichalcos cards like Dartz.
[edit] Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Although the organization and its members do not appear in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, the character Jim Crocodile Cook possess an eye of orichalcum. Given to him by an old man as a child, he is told that when the meteor of orichalcum appears in the sky, he can make a miracle occur. The eye is bright red with gold trimmings, and allows Jim to see into the mind of Jaden Yuki and perceive the dark power that has possessed him. After Jim is defeated, the eye falls into the possession of Axel Brodie, and is used to free Jaden from the power that has taken him over, shattering afterwards. Despite similar origins, Jim's eye is distinctly referred to as orichalcum and is not the same as the orichalcos stones.
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