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Jul. 1st, 2025 08:31 am
KLEIN MORETTI
—THE LORD OF MYSTERIES—
"I won't lose too much, just myself. There are always some things that are more important than others."
Zhou Mingrui (周明瑞)
Mr. World
Sherlock Moriarty
Gehrman Sparrow
Kalvatua
Dwayne Dantès
Clown Angel
Mr. Clown
Merlin Hermes
. . . (spoilers)
China
Chinese
Former Nighthawk
Former Detective
Former Adventurer
Former Tycoon
Former Magician
Former Sea God
The World
The Fool
Lord of Mysteries
Other Physical Traits.
Sometimes there will be instances of Klein's skin becoming aged like a centenarian's, or see-through where you can actually see past the skin to the blood and organs under it, or masses of flesh coming off of his skin in horribly disfiguring ways, or even there may be a case of spiritual maggots and other such worms of a spiritual nature crawling around in and through him.
These are signs of a Beyonder of his Pathway nearing a berserking state and should be taken seriously as such.
IC Permissions.
(YES)
adaptable
shenanigans
Background.
"One stops worrying when there are too many debts. Perhaps it might create opportunities and let my debtors end up fighting…"
Zhou Mingrui was your average modern man of the Great Foodie Empire (re: China, somewhere in the southwestern region) who had a mom, a dad, and a questionable direction in life when it comes to work post-university in the field of engineering and physics. Things weren't bad but they weren't great, and when he found a book entitled Quintessential Divination and Arcane Arts of the Qin and Han Dynasty, he just had to try out this Luck Enhancement Ritual in it and... well...
He woke to find himself in a different place, with a hole in his head.
Or rather, he awoke in the body of Klein Moretti who had just shot himself in the head due to an unfortunate encounter with a certain cursed book unrelated to this Luck Enhancement Ritual.
Klein's memories were fragmented but Zhou Mingrui was able to piece together and, eventually, incorporate Klein's life as his own. This included having lived a life in a seeming Victorian-esque technologically-leveled place with a blood red moon, a father who died in war, a mother who died from sickness in poverty, an elder brother who was working himself to the bone to keep his siblings afloat, and a younger sister who had a gifted inclination toward the study of technology. Klein, being a post-graduate of history and ancient languages, had been in the process of looking for work to also support his family when he came across that cursed book and... well...
From there, Zhou Mingrui now Klein Moretti began to seek his way back home to Earth. Trying the Luck Enhancement Ritual again, however, only resorted in him ending up in a strange place above a gray fog... where he accidentally summoned two individuals and quickly had to assume the identity of A Higher Being Who Totally Intentionally Did Such A Thing As A "Test"—The Fool.
Sometimes you start a secret organization at the same time the Church of the god your new identity's family worships comes knocking on your door because It's Highly Suspicious You're The Only One Who Survived This Cursed Book. Thus began Klein Moretti's story of joining the Nighthawks, a group of Beyonders (magic-users) who work for the Church of Evernight, while hiding his true identity and his role as an up-and-coming god while constantly looking for a way back home.
Unfortunately, it's not such an easy nor smooth journey...
Personality.
"A person who’s very sentimental;
A person from Earth, but to a certain extent, a person who has been reconstructed into a new person because of the fusion with Klein Moretti’s memory fragments;
A person who didn’t spend too much time with the Nighthawks but has had that period of time deeply influence his actions and choices;
A person who tries to play safe and is afraid of danger but is able to change his mind at the critical moment;
A person who truly wants to skive, eat delicious food, travel, and enjoy life, but he has no choice but to be busy with more important matters;
A person who loves money but is willing to spend large sums of money for his siblings;
A person who hides his pain inside while showing a smile to others;
A person who’s used to lampooning inwardly but appears gentlemanly on the surface;
A person who can overcome his psychological traumas but never crosses his bottom line;
A person who feels embarrassed for his acting;
He’s also a guardian, a miserable wretch that is constantly fighting against threats and madness!"
The above quote is actually Klein's take on Who Zhou Minguri/Klein Moretti Actually Is.
As a person, Klein is someone with a soft heart when it comes to the plight of others. He's someone who finds the inherent state of poverty in a society to be lamentable and will do everything he can to try to remedy the situation, or at least help others find comfort in their sufferings.
He is a person who cares very much for his family no matter which life they are from and is a dedicated friend, colleague, and... well, he can be a bully of a boss at times, but he always means well and it generally benefits his underlings. He has a healthy amount of self-preservation—usually. When it comes to protecting those he cares for and loves, however, he can override his own survival instincts as much as necessary. Even to the point of nigh self-destruction.
He is someone who appears to be, as stated, gentlemanly. He is also someone who can harbor an intense outrage and fury. Vengeance is a concept he is not unfamiliar with. Nor is he unfamiliar with the satisfaction of having carried out revenge against those who have done him and his harm. They're not emotions he is fond of having, and he would rather put on a smile for others than show the true feelings lurking beneath, but they are still what drives him to continue onward down his Pathway.
Everything else is pretty much addressed by his own musings of himself. And the reason for such a moment can be seen below...
Other Details.
"As long as everyone sends out as much light as the heat inside them, it might bring some hope."
One key element of the magic system in The Lord of Mysteries is that when a Beyonder chooses one of the 22 Pathways and takes a potion for the corresponding Sequence (level, essentially), they have to Act within certain perimeters that are hinted to by the name of the Sequence and its potion.
For Klein, he went down the Pathway of the Seer, which involves quite a bit of Acting, frequently changing aspects and details of himself as needed.
The key to this "Acting Method", however, is to always remember: You Are Only Acting.
Without keeping this detail in mind, Beyonders can easily lose control to their Sequence and berserk into eldritch abominations of horror.
And so, Klein has made a point to always be mindful of what and who the real "Zhou Mingrui/Klein Moretti" is. It's for this reason that he has not lost control yet, even when going to higher and higher levels. However, the higher one goes into the Sequences, the less human they are and the more god-like they become—one must constantly remind themselves of their own humanity or else be lost.
"We are guardians, but also a bunch of miserable wretches that are constantly fighting against threats and madness."
—Captain Dunn Smith, Nighthawk of the Church of Evernight