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Free of Spoilers: This page contains no spoilers from the events of the games. Feel free to read it as much as you please. |
| “ | Welcome to this remote area. Could an old man like me be of use to you? | ” |
—Ho-Raga, greeting a visitor to his tower. | ||
| Ho-Raga | |
|---|---|
| Japanese | ホ・ラガ |
| Romanization | Ho-Raga |
 (c)アリスソフト | |
| Race | Human |
| Age / Birth | 1522 / GL0504 |
| Sex | Male |
| Ht. / Wt. | 175cm / 79kg |
| Status | Alive |
| Class | Mage |
| World | The Continent |
| Affiliation | The Legendary Five |
| Level limit | 80 |
| Skill levels | Magic Lv3 (?) |
| Games | |
| Appeared in | Kichikuou Rance, Rance X |
| Mentioned in | Rance VI, Rance Quest |
About[]
Ho-Raga was one of the members of the Legendary Five, the party of adventurers that became legend for their feats during the Gele Era and that are believed to be the strongest adventuring group in history of humanity.
Born as a mere human in an era where humanity was enslaved by the Monsters and the Demon King, he was among the lucky ones that was able to live a relatively safe life on secluded areas. However, while Ho-Raga also felt constant fear and anxiety, he was able to live with that fear and get used to a life of uncertaity, managing to still grow into a carefree and easygoing man that was aware his life could end at any time. One of Ho-Raga's biggest interests was his great thirst for knowledge, and dedicated his life to learning through travelling despite the danger such decision carried. He's also homosexual that finds great amusement and pleasure in finding young boys to sleep with(on the penetrative side). At some point during his travels he met the hero British, who was travelling with the goal of defeating the dread Demon King Gele and her Dark Lords. Upon meeting him, Ho-Raga became enchanted by his character and fell in love with him. Since he was also interested in knowing more about the Dark Lords, he didn't hesitate to join him in his journey, becoming a key member of the hero's party. He also steadily met other similarly astounding people that joined British on his quest, including the renown thief Chaos, the JAPANese samurai Nikkou and the incomparable priestess Café Artful. United under British's leadership and with a shared desire to defeat the Demon King, the five became a close knit group of skilled adventurers who quickly became famous across The Continent for their heroic deeds. The group focused on finding a way to destroy the Invincibility Field that protects Dark Lords, since they knew they would not be able to stand a chance against them without first destroying their protective barrier.
After going through countless adventures and facing many hardships, the group eventually ventured into the Ancient Ruins, an extremely large dungeon where they believed they would find a clue. Through their long quest inside they managed to find four golden statues, which they believed where the keys to open the mysterious door on the entrance that was shut with an unbreakable seal. After placing the statues on the pedestals near the door, the group was disappointed when the seal was not broken and attempted to leave the area with the sour feeling of failing. However, they were immediately attacked by a mysterious creature. It was a monstrosity that Ho-Raga had never seen, with an abnormal appearance and an unfathomable strength. The mysterious entity attacked the group, resulting in a lengthy and difficult battle, the hardest the group had ever fought. Despite the incredible power it carried, the party was able to come out victorious and successfully slay the creature, an event that caught the attention of another being that was observing from a secluded distance. Interested on the group, he decided to open the Sealed Gate for them, but British stayed behind to recover as he'd been severely wounded during the battle. The remaining four went through the gate and, to their surprise, were greeted by an entity that presented himself as one of the Three Supreme Gods, the God of Balance Planner. The God notified that the beast they defeated was a Proto-God, a failed attempt at creating a God that resulted in a mindless lifeform, and was impressed by their impressive feat. He offered something invaluable, to grant them each one a wish of their choice. Ho-Raga made a bold request and asked for "Ultimate Knowledge of Dark Lords and the Demon King". The God of Balance laughed and claimed that he would grant their wish, before they were all overwhelmed by an intense light that transported them all to different locations outside of the ruins, losing consciousness in the process.
When he woke up, Ho-Raga noticed his grave mistake. His wish was granted by Planner, but twisted to his will by his warped idea of balance. Ho-Raga asked for "Ultimate Knowledge of Dark Lord and the Demon King" but, as they serve a key fundamental role on the structure of Ludo-Rathowm's world, Planner instead granted him absolute knowledge of everything in existence. With this newfound curse, Ho-Raga now carried absolute knowledge, discovering everything about the Gods, the Planner Scenario and the role of humanity in the Gods' eternal drama. His heart was overcome by an incomparable emptiness, since upon knowing everything, he realized that there was no point in doing anything, as there was nothing else to learn about. All these things made Ho-Raga eternally bored over the entire concept of reality, and felt like life didn't have any meaning for him anymore. Unfortunately, Planner also granted the four immortality, even though they didn't ask for it. Ho-Raga decided to lock himself on his home tower at the northeast of the continent where Helman would be founded years later, and never came out again.
During the following centuries, Ho-Raga remained on his tower without interacting with anyone unless they entered his tower. The only thing that still interests him is sex with young boys, and if a man that strikes his fancy visits his tower, he offers his knowledge in exchange of a night with the man. He's granted very important information to important historical figures like Gross Leazas, and his tower became known as the Tower of Wisdom because of this. However, because it is located in a highly inaccessible place in a frozen wasteland separated from the Helman Cities, it is extremely rare for someone to enter it.
He made his first physical appearance on the Rance Series in the non-canon Kichikuou Rance, where Ho-Raga's tower may be visited upon conquering Helman cities with paths connecting to his residence. If the player decides to venture to his tower with a unit, the majority of its forces will be lost in the harsh journey, and Ho-Raga will only meet with men. He expresses interest in sleeping with any of Rance, Ogawa Kentarou, Rick Addison, Hubert Lipton, Bound Less or Ex Banquet, and will agree to trade valuable information for a night with any of them, rejecting anyone else. If Rance meets with him after he gets Chaos, the two will re-encounter after almost 1500 years separated, though Chaos is less than happy with the occasion, and Ho-Raga will be willing to trade knowledge of his time with the other members of the Legendary Five with Rance. After spending a night with him, Rance would be emotionally scarred and refused to talk about what happened with anyone.
Personality and Appearance[]
In his youth, Ho-Raga was a notably attractive man with a long black hair and small squared glasses. He wore a large and stylish brown robe. At present, he has the appearance of an old man, with a long white beard though he keeps his old attire from the past.
On the outside, Ho-Raga presented himself as a charming, elegant and agreeable man. He was naturally charismatic and held a friendly disposition to strangers, and he kept a smooth and eloquent manner of speaking that turned him into a likable person that leads others to quickly drop their guard around him. This, however, was a bit of a facade and Ho-Raga is in fact a mostly self-centered and egocentric individual that acts based on his own desires or feelings. Those that get to know him better quickly realize of his true nature, and would always remain wary with him. He was not a bad man, but was indeed selfish and was only driven for whatever personal interests he held. He was noted for his vast knowledge and intellect, which he had great proud of to the point of making him come off as arrogant. He was a valuable member of the party, but he was probably the most conflictive one, as he didn't get along well with some of his companions. He had an intense curiosity, and he was largely interested in learning about many things. If an unanswered question arose, he would be eager to investigate and learn more about it, becoming more straightforward and focused on his new mystery. He was also very calm and serene, never driven by anger and always keeping an air of superiority with those he interacted with.
He has an impressive ability to make calm judgments even on the heat of a battle, and he was the most reasonable and clever member of the group along with Nikkou. His behavior outside of the adventures was carefree, and he was notoriously flirty with any young man that he liked, using his charming looks and sweet words to seduce anyone he liked. He took pleasure in shameless flirting with countless men during his journeys, and as a result sleep with many. His favourite type of men were the young, naive, inexperienced and handsome kind with boyish faces. However, he was not always up for consensual sex with his enemies, and was not above sexually abusing his defeated foes if they stroked his fancy, something that put off and even scare some of his companions. Ho-Raga is somewhat similar to Rance, being largely a self-centered and narcissistic man motivated by his sexual urges. Additionally, similarly to how Rance is largely uninterested in men, Ho-Raga also held next to no interest in women in general, something that earned him the intense hate from Eina, who failed at seducing him leading the her pride as a woman to be shattered. His feelings towards women was that of apathy, and had neither a negative nor a positive view of them.
Despite all this, Ho-Raga had genuinely fallen in love with British, and felt no shame in admitting that he held a special place for him in his heart. He held an immeasurable amount of respect for him, and believed him to be the greatest man he's ever met, and he still treasures the memories of the time he spent with him even to this day. While he was always flirtatious with any man he liked, he was never like that to British, and kept a close and supporting relationship without trying to force him onto anything. Also, while he didn't care about women, he held Nikkou in a higher regard than any other female, describing her as a magnificent and extraordinary woman and declaring that "he would have fallen for her had she been born a man". He didn't get along with the remaining members of his party however. While he valued Café for her abilities as a priestess and saw her as an ally, he didn't really care about her at all beyond that, and was annoyed by her personality. His relationship with Chaos was a very poor one, as they both had an intense dislike for the other. Ho-Raga saw him as a rude brute without any redeemable traits beyond his abilities as a thief, while Chaos utterly despised his overall personality and for the way he raped his enemies, something he found disgusting.
At present, Ho-Raga became apathetic and extremely unmotivated, to the point he hasn't expressed intention of leaving his tower not even once in 1500 years. He lives a comfortable and carefree life on his tower along with his faithful dog, the only with who he shows some affection towards. Despite having grown eternally bored, he still keeps his old times adventuring with the members of the Legendary Five close to his heart, and enjoys reminiscing about the past. He becomes very nostalgic when meeting his former companions, suggesting that he holds some form of affection for them as well, but has never made any attempt of re-encountering with them despite being aware of their locations. Some of the aspects of his personality didn't really change however, as he still keeps a selfish lifestyle. Even though his vast and infinite knowledge would be invaluable for many in the world, he chooses to not give any use to it but only to trade it in exchange of sex with any willing man he likes. He's also completely uninterested in any of the world's affairs, and doesn't take action in anything, only observing and judging. The only time he showed legitimate interest in something was when Gross Leazas visited his tower to request for help with the seal that kept trapped Demon King Gele. Despite the fact that Gross was an ugly man, Ho-Raga still agreed to assist him in his predicament because of the intense grudge he held against Gele during her era, suggesting that he still loathes her even a millennium later.
Abilities[]
An incomparable mage, Ho-Raga was one of the most powerful magic users to ever live.
One of the greatest talents of The Continent, Ho-Raga was gifted with a Magic Lv3 skill, making him among the few Lv3 users in history, and a revolutionary living legend in the field as a result. Being an absolute genius of the magic arts, he was very knowledgeable of countless spells, mastered all the elemental schools of magic and easily learned to cast the incredibly powerful White Destruction Beam. He also had an extraordinary Level Cap of 80, and had reached the staggering Level of 47. This things made him one of the most powerful magic users in history, probably surpassed only by the Magic Master Rune himself.
Aside from his magical abilities, Ho-Raga was a very savvy man, capable of adapting to many situations and with a great ability for understanding and learning, as well as displaying an excellent memory that allowed him to boast his vast knowledge, providing his allies with a reliable source of information. His travels had granted him with extensive information of the world, which is a real treasure in a world where humans were mostly isolated and lacked the means to learn about the rest of the world without exposing themselves to danger. He was wise, cautious and perceptive, becoming the brain of the party during their time together. His wide knowledge allowed him to perform quick analysis and make accurate guesses of uncertain events or encounters.
At the end of his quest after meeting Planner, Ho-Raga gained immortality as well. It is unknown if he can be killed, but he won't die through natural means. Unlike other similar immortals like the Dark Lords, Ho-Raga did age up to a certain point, and his physical performance weakened as a result. It is unknown if his magical ability rusted or not, but he's presumed to be pretty powerful regardless. His greatest skill is his absolute knowledge granted by his wish to the Supreme God, which allowed his extensive knowledge to reach normally inaccessible heights. Thanks to this, Ho-Raga has knowledge over everything in existence, from the most obscure and inconceivable to the most trivial, however this power came with the severe drawback of destroying Ho-Raga's purpose of existence, making his absolute knowledge ironically pointless, as he knows everything but he doesn't care about anything.
Gallery[]
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| ••• British The Hero ••• Chaos The Thief ••• Nikkou The Samurai ••• Ho-Raga The Mage ••• Café The Priest ••• |
