Soulcalibur

Background

The Soul series is a franchise produced by the game development company, Bandai Namco. The series first launched in 1995 with the arcade game Soul Edge (or Soul Blade in some countries), which was later ported to game consoles and officially started the franchise. Come 1998, the sequel titled Soulcaliber was massively popular, and became the new name of the franchise.

Soulcaliber is a historical fantasy epic taking place in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, revolving around the intertwined fates of two powerful blades, and the dozens of men and women seeking them out for their own personal reasons. The cursed sword, Soul Edge, and the holy sword, Soul caliber, are bound together by fate and act as the central forces of the entire plot.

Most notably, in 1583, a young German soldier named Siegfried Schtauffen acquired the Soul Edge, which transformed him into the series' face villain, Nightmare. The Azure Knight, Nightmare, is a terrifyingly destructive force who acts as a constant threat in the series, whether it be Siegfried behind the mask or another elusive force. Those who wield Soul caliber are charged with defeating Nightmare, to reign peace upon the world.

The first six mainline games of the franchise tell a cohesive story from 1583 until 1607, before the series was later given a soft reboot in the form of Soulcaliber VI, an alternative (yet majorly similar) timeline of events. The franchise has also produced a large amount of spinoff and non-canon titles, ranging from mobile games to its own Pachislot game.

Terms

• Soul Edge: Known as the cursed sword of legend, Soul Edge is a blade that had been tempered in the blood of hundreds of innocent men, and craves the souls of all living beings. It has a powerful shapeshifting ability, able to perfectly replicate the form of whatever weapon style its wielder most prefers. Along with being able to transform its host into the Azure Nightmare, it can create a pillar of dark energy known as the Evil Seed, which rains down on the world and transforms people into creatures known as the Malfested.

• Soul caliber: A sword commonly referred to as the holy blade, specifically created to destroy the Soul Edge. It exudes divine healing powers and strengthens those who wield it. Unknown to history, however, is that the Soul caliber was actually created using a shard of the Soul Edge, which explains why it contains similar powers of shapeshifting and replication. Despite this, however, it is entirely a holy sword and can purify the souls of virtually anyone.

• Malfested: A group of people who had become infected by the cursed power of the Soul Edge, either through exposure to the Evil Seed, or through direct contact with the Soul Edge itself. Those who become inflicted with Malfestation usually turn into deranged beasts of men, violent and destructive with no regard for even their own loved ones. The Malfested can sometimes age drastically fast, or in sometimes stop aging completely. In cases with people such as Raphael Sorel, they can essentially become vampires able to spread Malfestation to other people.

Power of the Verse

The verse has characters around Wall level with Supersonic reaction speeds, though those who wield and scale to the Soul sword reach above Large Building level. The higher echelon of characters can reach Universe level, those these are very few and far between.

This verse’s general hax include Martial Arts, Aura, Sheer Will, and Damage Boost for its regular characters, but has hax such as Power Mimicry, Adaptation, BFR, and Weather Manipulation for the Soul swords.

Canon

The canon timeline of the games is very straightforward, as the chronology of the events are generally laid out in officially-released timelines found in art books and in the games themselves. However, it is good to note that there are now officially two timelines present in the series, and some titles can be considered non-canon.

Original Timeline

• Soul Blade/Soul Edge (1995)
• Soulcaliber (1999)
• Soulcaliber II (2002)
• Soulcaliber III (2005)
• Soulcaliber IV (2008) | Soulcaliber: Broken Destiny (2009)
• Soulcaliber V (2012)

New Timeline

• Soulcaliber VI (2018)

Non-Canon/Spinoff

• Soulcaliber Legends (2007)
• Soulcaliber Mobile (2012)
• Soulcaliber: Unbreakable Soul (2014)
• Soulcaliber: Lost Swords (2014)
• Soulcaliber Pachislot (2017)

Knowledgeable Members

• SuperSaiyan2Link

Characters

Soul Swords

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  Soul Calibur

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  Soul Edge

Original Characters

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  Siegfried

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  Nightmare

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  Raphael

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  Amy

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  Viola

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  Sophitia

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  Cassandra

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  Hilde

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  Arthur

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  Patroklos

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  Pyrrha

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  Inferno

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  Elysium

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  Night Terror