St. Germain

St. Germain (サンジェルマン) is a legendary figure, said to have appeared at various points in history throughout medieval Europe's high society and claimed to be among other things, an immortal, a time traveler, and a technician capable of repairing broken jewels. Most of the legends associated with St. Germain are rather dubious ones, and as such much of it is considered by many to be false.

In the world of Toaru Majutsu no Index, the legends of St. Germain are fake, but at some point they may have been given "life" by Magicians who used existing legends and Magic to make them real. First introduced in Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index, the concept of St. Germain is later shown to be a collective identity, similar to the Misaka Network, apparently spread through the ingestion of pills that carry microbes allowing an individual to be part of the collective of people who believe themselves to be the magician known as St. Germain.

Appearance
Being a collective identity, the appearance of the individuals who call themselves St. Germain differs, however they all share similar attires. Common elements in their attires include tailcoats, monocles and top hats, appearing overall as something similar to the outfit of a or something out of a costume shop.

The St. Germain who was used to manipulate Kanou Shinka is a college-age woman with waist-length, wavy blonde hair, blue eyes and white skin. She resembles an older Frenda Seivelun, a resemblance that was likely intentionally made to use Kanou. She wears a golden, wing-shaped monocle on her left eye and wears a tailcoat resembling a stage magician's bunny suit and jacket combination.

Personality
First and foremost, St. Germain is a liar, though he wouldn't admit it. He is quite willing to spread an infinite number of falsehoods and deceive anyone he can manipulate in pursuit of his goal. St. Germain has little regard for the people he manipulates and is quite happy to lead them to their deaths or subject them to cruelty if that will achieve what he wants. He also holds no reservations about twisting and trampling on the truth in order to support his lies. St. Germain holds himself in high regard and apart from others, denouncing those who denounce him as delusional and foolish, even arrogantly claiming that he himself is an entire third category apart from Magician and Magic God.

Though St. Germain may claim otherwise, many of his actions are not logical and contradict themselves. St. Germain may present them in a way that makes them seem like part of a grand plan, but there is actually no plan at all - St. Germain simply can't keep up one thing for too long and will make up new goals on the spot, overwriting his memories and thought processes, and fabricating his morality afterwards to cover the lie and continue his act. As a result of this continual overwriting and pilling up lies to both others and himself, St. Germain's mind is an inconsistent mess with little that can truly be called its own.

Background
Given the dubious nature of St. Germain and the lies that accompany him, much of his background is uncertain and the subject of speculation.

St. Germain is said to have been a mysterious noble who appeared throughout medieval Europe's history over multiple regions and across multiple time periods. Among other things, he is said to have acquired a secret technique of immortality, not aging and eating nothing but water, wheat and pills. It is also said, from the strange and irregular frequency of his appearances and records of him possessing knowledge he should have had no way of knowing, that he had a method of travelling through time. He is also said to be capable of perfectly repairing scratched diamonds, a skill prized by nobles, and said to have wrote a grimoire owned by. In the legends and records associated with him, nothing is truly known of St. Germain, with no accurate records of birth or death, no claims of descent, no reliable graves and no record of defeat.

However in reality, St. Germain was originally nothing more than a name, and associated with a rare sort of con man. In those times, it wasn't uncommon for someone to just assume a famous name in order to infiltrate nobles' parties. The identity of St. Germain however was built from the ground up, using deceptions such as lies of places never visited, forged and delayed letters, and false appraisals, to support the various claims that were made, and was used as a sort of free pass to attend formal events or acquire investments.

Though the identity of St. Germain was originally nothing by a name and a free pass with no credibility, at some point someone gave it "life", using existing legends and Magic to see if they could make it real and then stimulating the small core they had created within the sea of knowledge to create a real crystal. Whether this was done out of fascination or to disguise something else isn't known, but the identity of St. Germain that was given life survived, using the alluring spread of legend to pass between those involved and those seeking to be witnesses, synchronizing and infecting their minds with St. Germain's ideology and organizing them into a single crystal.

The identity and the legend of St. Germain have continued to spread since then, becoming famous enough to leak from the Magic Side to normal society, and according to Othinus, if one were to ask a random magician to name ten famous people, St. Germain's name would come up along side Rosenkreuz and Mathers. St. Germain has even persisted when the world has been altered from changing the phases.

St. Germain Arc
Aware of the descent of the magic gods upon the world, St. Germain begin their plans in besting the magic gods, targetting Touma, the person they are after. However, due to the very nature of St. Germain his plans and thoughts often contradict each other. Regardless of this, he somehow involves Kanou Shinka into his plans and goes as far as learning of his relationship and history with Frenda Seivelun. On December 1st, St. Germain occupies Dianoid, sealing it off from the rest of the city. St. Germain first appears after Touma gets separated from Kanou Shinka, confronting him in the form form of an old man. Touma, already reeling from the trauma he remembered from the phases Othinus had made him experience in his brief meeting Shinka, becomes unhinged at St. Germain's mere boast of being beyond Othinus.

Despite his target being Touma, St. Germain doesn't kill him but instead shows off his Chambord spell, seemingly changing the world before Touma's eyes and continuing his fall into despair. St. Germain then changes tracks, returning the world back to normal, much to Touma's relief. He reappears before Kanou Shinka, hiding after witnessing what St. Germain did. This causes Shinka to faint, allowing him to take Shinka to the roof of the Dianoid. Meanwhile, displaying the contradictionary nature of St. Germain, many St. Germains are arguing amongst themselves regarding how to proceed with their plans.

Initially frightful of him, St. Germain manages to calm Shinka down and offer him a drink. St. Germain later shows to Shinka that he eats pills. Then, St. Germain reveals that he is also after him, Kanou Shinka, not Aihana Etsu. He talks circles around him until he tells him he has to leave in order to retrieve "Anne's Shield" from TV Orbit. He then implies that Frenda is already dead and that Shinka may lose his chance in finding the last vestiges of her. He allows Shinka to roam freely in order to do what he needs to do. Before leaving he introduces himself to Shinka.

Another St. Germain later appears before Mugino Shizuri, who is incessantly attacking the Dianoid to escape. As he rambles on about his plans, Mugino orders Saiai to protect Rikou. Mugino is annoyed by St. Germain's overconfidence, and later vaporizes his arm and the Chambord spear it was holding with her Meltdowner. As people panic at their battle, St. Germain still projects an air confidence despite his missing arm and then later makes a suicide attack on them using a bomb strapped on himself.

Another St. Germain later attacks Touma after he discovers that they aren't magicians, forcing to draw them out in order to keep Othinus safe in order to help in finding a way to beat St. Germain. The St. Germains' attention later focuses on Kanou Shinka after he met Touma again and divulges the St. Germain's obsession with him. The St. Germains later take him back there he finds another St. Germain in the form of a woman chosen to look like Frenda had she lived and grew up. Before they talk, Shinka makes St. Germain promise not to harm Touma, which she assures him so long as he keeps talking to him. Before starting, Shinka once again sees St. Germain eat a pill. Here, St. Germain divulges to him their "history" and their "plan". She reveals to him, including several references to magic side terms that confuses the uninitiated Shinka. Eventually she tells him that she is looking for the one who can wield Queen Anne's Shield, and the only one who can do that is someone who is genetically close to the mythical twin sister of King Arthur, Queen Anne, which in this cases is supposedly Shinka. St. Germain praises Shinka, disparages herself, and later goes off on-tangent during their conversation. But in the end, she tells Shinka that because he was chosen by the shield then they would serve him as a king. She later hands to him the golden shield they took from what was supposed to be delivered to TV Orbit for a show, claiming it to be the same shield in the myth giving him "power". Despite being a Level 0, Shinka hesitates in accepting the shield that would supposedly grant him power. But St. Germain pulls a fast on him, referencing the "last vestiges of Frenda Seivelun".

After eating another pill, St. Germain reveals that they have gained access to Frenda’s room's DNA computers. And after much prodding from Shinka reveals to him a video. Much to his horror, it is the video of Mugino Shizuri confronting Hamazura Shiage just after killing Frenda. Shinka breaks down after seeing the video, demanding answers from St. Germain. Before answering, she references the graviton-style artificial gravity control device in the basement of the Dianoid as a bomb, leading to Shinka to ask if it is what Frenda left behind, though St. Germain doesn't answer him straight. As the building shakes because of Mugino's attacks on the St. Germains below them, she identifies to Shinka that the one who is attacking is the same one who was carrying Frenda's corpse in the video. Despite that, she says that she doesn't matter. She tells Shinka that Kamijou Touma is the one to blame as he wasn't there during the incident as Frenda would've definitely been saved if he was there. Having now fallen to despair, wants vengeance and demands to make use of the "weapon" that is Queen Anne's Shield. He is later taken to the basement of the Dianoid where the gravity control device of the building is located that could be turned into a black hole bomb that could destroy the planet. After St. Germain mocks the Magic Gods, Shinka wonders why Touma couldn't save Frenda in time, and in the end wonders why didn't arrive in time to save her himself.

Thus, Shinka need only to wait for Touma to arrive as the black hole bomb will draw Touma in order to prevent it from happening. Instead however it is Hamazura Shiage who arrives, having prevented Touma from letting Shinka attack him despite the fact that he was not involved at all in Frenda's demise. Shiage tells Shinka that he was the one who let Frenda die and that it makes no sense for him to attack Touma as he is a much more suitable candidate for revenge for Frenda. St. Germain tries to intervene but Shinka stops them. Shiage urges Shinka to fight him and he relents, despite the fact that he knows that he is only hurting himself by doing his revenge. Little did they know that Touma has arrived, sneaking into the basement. Not wanting to let Shinka fall into vengeance, he tosses the gift that Frenda prepared for Shinka prior to her death next to him. St. Germain tries to intervene but Shinka stops them. Here, Shinka sees that it was a voice message from Frenda for his birthday. The message has Frenda admire him for being a crybaby, and that she respects him for it as it prevents him doing awful things. There, Shinka is finally lifted from his despair. He casts aside the shield, the name of Aihanu Etsu, and calls himself Kanou Shinka again. He tells St. Germain that he will not accept him. Realizing that their ruse has been found out, destroys Frenda's present, though Shinka remains steadfast. With that, Kamijou Touma and Hamazura Shiage decides to aid him against St. Germain at the same time as their respective group of friends arrive in the basement.

A fight breaks out between the St. Germains and Touma and friends, with the former using their carbon-manipulation powers to create plant-like beasts to attack them. The battle is only used to occupy the St. Germains while Index and Othinus try to develop a countermeasure against St. Germain's framework. During the battle, Touma calls out the St. Germains for deluding themselves into thinking that they are something special, even beyond a magic god, when in fact they are just normal magicians. And much later, Touma sees right through the St. Germains' bluff that they could spread their collective identity through television when in reality they use pills to put themselves in a trance. With that, Index need only unravel the spell that binds the person in a trance that makes them believe that they are St. Germain. With the St. Germains being affected by Index's song, Touma uses the opportunity to point out that St. Germain's true enemy was beside him all along, and that was Kanou Shinka. With that, Touma allows Shinka to punch the St. Germain that looks like an older Frenda.

With St. Germain defeated, their control over the Dianoid breaks and the trapped people are able to get out.

Salome Arc
Following the incident at the Dianoid, Kihara Yuiitsu acquired one of the pills used by St. Germain. After cultivating and attenuating sample of the virus, Yuiitsu made use of the attenuated St. Germain virus to rewrite her brain so that Kamisato Kakeru's severed and stolen right hand would be recognized as hers, allowing her to acquire World Rejecter.

Post-Coronzon Arc
While at the Tower of London, Anna Sprengel ate a pill containing the unattenuated St. Germain virus, which had been preserved and brought to England after the incident in Academy City, remarking that its quality was not what it used to be and that the St. Germain of her generation left more of a tingle on the tongue. She soon turned her attention to other things, forgetting the St. Germain she ate and killed.

Abilities
St. Germain's form is that of a collective identity, held between multiple members of a synchronized and parallel network, with a structure similar to that of a pure diamond. Similar to how the nucleus of the crystal and the materials around it are identical, there are no central units in this network, with all members acting as control towers and terminals. As such, it can continue functioning even with the loss of a member.

The crystal that is St. Germain expands by infecting others with St. Germain's thoughts and ideology, much like a virus, synchronizing them and making them part of the crystalline network. The crystallization alters the victim's personalities through means of an acting trance. It operates in a similar manner to the way in which ritual magicians purify their thoughts and synchronize themselves (e.g. wearing the same uniform, eating the same foods, going to the same place at the same time, etc) in order to dye themselves in the same colors and achieve the optimum result when they carry out their ritual. The legend of St. Germain has the same tendency, with St. Germain appearing in gatherings of nobles cut-off from normal society and using his understanding of their hopes and desires to dye himself in their colors before making use of them, enticing and manipulating them with his appealing claims, eventually leading to their positions reversing and them becoming dyed in his colors instead. Those who are involved and those who seek to be involved with St. Germain are gathered, drawn in by curiosity or desire, and gradually dyed in St. Germain's colors to the extent that they become part of the crystal. The network doesn't utilize brainwaves and can expand into anyone regardless of their genetic code, providing that the conditions are met.

Much like how even the purest diamond is only 99.9% pure, with the remaining 0.1% impurities determining the diamond's overall properties, the giant crystal and parallel network that is St. Germain has an equivalent controller or settings file. In this case, it comes in the form of the black pills that St. Germain carries around with him, as mentioned in his legend. These pills are comprised of microbes, dried by the thousands and while dry, mostly inert but capable of remaining alive for years. When the microbes are absorbed by liquid, such as saliva, they resume functioning and invade the body of the person who has ingested them. As well as providing the final trigger, they are used in order to stabilize errors, such as with new or weary members, or members who have been worked loose from the crystal and lost control, preventing unwanted impurities from building up, causing defects in the crystalline structure and leading it to collapse.

Chambord
The Chambord (シャンボール) is a spiritual item which is used by St. Germain to manipulate carbon. It takes the form of spear in the shape of a, with the words 'St. Germain' engraved on it. Named after, it provides the tools St. Germain needs to pursue his research themes. Derived and developed from the legend of St. Germain being able to repair scratched diamonds, the Chambord can manipulate carbon-based materials, such as diamonds, melting them down and forming them into new shapes, such as spears, walls, and even more Chambords. In carbon-rich environments such as the Dianoid, which is almost entirely constructed from carbon-based materials, St. Germain is capable of skewering his opponent with spears from all directions. The Chambord is also fairly durable, capable of withstanding and catching a shot from Mugino Shizuri's Meltdowner.

As organic matter is also comprised of carbon, the Chambord is also capable of manipulating it. Aside from the microbes that allow St. Germain to spread and opening up holes in people to allow the spears to pass through them to the target, St. Germain uses this aspect of the Chambord to create beasts made up of plant cells. Unlike normal plant cells which provide all necessary life functions but lack mobility, these plant cells are divided between different functions and reunified to stimulate optimization. The beasts created from this plant matter are stronger than ones of animal matter, given the cell wall that the plant cells have as opposed to an animal cell's membrane. These incomplete beasts can incorporate St.Germains into their structure and can also split into different smaller creatures. Some of them are also capable of producing and emitting.

Character Art Designs
According to Haimura Kiyotaka, he thought his initial designs for the gentleman type and lady type St. Germains were too plain, and so for the second version, designed them to look like they had put together a magician costume from the party section of, making them really look like scam artists. He also gave the Chambord a treble clef motif. The common theme for the outfits is kept for the several variations of St. Germain, with the Chambord being kept small enough to be held in one hand.