Orboros
I’m thanking “The Legendary Super Wing,” for this. Plus, I changed a few things from character entries that mentioned facts of Orboros.
According to (modern)legend, Orboros is a mythical realm that’s only accessed by Legendary Super Wings and to do so, they must fly across one of the 12 Vile Vortices(ex: Bermuda Triangle, Devil’s Sea, etc.), which all lead to this cloudy realm via a thick fog that swallows them. In Orboros, it’s describes as the original home of the Legendary Super Wings who developed world-changing achievements, and the realm was entirely peaceful and full of creative minds. However, a storm had broken out and it destroyed hope for a modern golden age on Earth, in other words, the Legendary SWs’ achievements no longer have the chance to be presented to public. It was also the birthplace of Spirit Keeping. Having a geographical connection to Earth, Orboros was the largest empire of modern times, having to exist since the end of the first World War.
Detailed Breakdown
Creative Paradise: New for past Legendary Super Wing generations, Altan and Celena formed specialized factions each Legendary can manage over: Sport, Health, Manufacture, Entertainment, Law, Nature, Morality, Science, and Drama. Each faction assisted others during challenging times the war has given them with unique inventions.
Hurts to Smile: The wars Altan and Celena observed had taken a mental toll on the former’s views regarding the Legendary Super Wings’ efforts in maintaining happiness. Celena thinks it’s humane(but still bad) for this to happen, yet Altan urged otherwise. Due to this, Altan began dismissing any signs of negativity and threatened the Legendaries to “smile as wide as possible, until [they and their clients] cry in joy.” Altan began ordering his Legendary SWs to mass produce ways to maintain the stability of happiness on Earth, while exerting the pressure of their smiles.
The Fall of a Legend: One day, because his Legendary SWs did not ultimately meet Altan’s standards, even if they begged to stop smiling as their cheeks grew sore, Altan was ABSOLUTELY furious. Celena had to do something to restrain Altan from going nuts, so she secretly met with the Legendary SWs to come up with a safer way to convince Altan that humanity is not perfect. However, Altan mistinterpreted this as betrayal and declared war on his own followers(even his own sister who led the plan!). Confident that 10 aircraft will outnumber 1, Celena knew that she will gain the upper hand. That is, until the heroes got floored by Altan, causing the glory of Orboros to crumble quickly. Moreover, it was said that a great quake shook Earth during the battle.
On the other hand, here comes the biggest irony of Altan’s path to antagonism: he wants to ensure everyone’s happy around the world, right? So why is he contributing to Earth’s train wreck and ignoring the Legendary SWs’ complaints about their sore cheekbones? Pretty hypocritical of Altan.
Aftermath
Ghosts of War: Across the world, many have reported sightings of wispy figures with a smile curving towards the cheeks and nearly touching the earlobe. Those that inspected up close described these phantoms taking the shape of ghostly vehicles, the majority of them being aircraft. Furthermore, they have been sighted lurking near 10 of the Vile Vortices, which were the entrances to Orboros. Most of them come out as hostile, and they could be one of the reasons why several people and vehicles never returned home.
Altogether, these witnesses dubbed the ghosts as the Smiling Phantoms. Additionally, when these ghosts are angry, a storm begins with a differently colored sky, but this is different for each Smiling Phantom. For instance, a recovered anonymous account at North Africa reported that a Smiling Phantom resembling an egyptian dog “casted a horrible sandstorm that blinded [my] vision entirely, as the sky turned a dusty magenta and [I] floated in the air while grains of sand began pecking on my eyes.” Another account in the Devil’s Sea reported that a “beast flowing with magma shot out from the sea and dunked on a poor unsuspecting boat, the sky glowing an eerie green upon crashing and the air suddenly growing unusually hot even if the weather claimed that it was cool enough to fish.”
More on the Smiling Phantoms in a separate post from this.
Hopeful Spirit: Decades later after the war, the Super Wings(and somehow Goldenboy) uncovered an ability lost to the Legendary Super Wings known as Spirit Keeping. In summary, this ability is considered the most powerful of all SW modes: despite having a pacifist role, Spirit Keeping boosts the power of a user with the Spirit of a Legendary SW’s deceased predecessor(basically passing the torch). In the past, it was part of Celena and the Legendary SWs’ plan to soothe Altan down, and it did not require fists until now.
More on Spirit Keeping in a separate post from this.
You Must Be a Legend Unlock my Tragic Backstory: Today, the Super Wings holds the basic and modified criteria of a Legendary Super Wing: no need to smile all the dang time, just try your best! However, the highly confidential kind of info is kept in the dark by the last surviving Legendary SW of Orboros: Draco. If you’re Draco himself, you’d have a detailed experience of Altan’s wrath and how that generation of Legendary SWs perished, but you’re just too busy hiding your identity from Altan because who knows where he is now. I mean, you’d later discover that the Smiling Phantoms are actually the angry spirits of your former colleagues, but whether Altan is dead or not remains a mystery(that we’ll explore more in a separate post, however).
And that is kinda scary to think about it.
Misacellanous
A few of these are my own development notes regarding Orboros.
Mythical Inspiration: When I was developing Orboros, I was thinking of two mythical cities:
• Shambhala: In an environmental case, it looked like Uncharted 2’s Shambhala has a bottomless pit, so I went for the idea of Orboros being only accessible by flying Legendary SWs, since I imagine the realm having a foggy and bottomless pit. Additionally, the Hall of Fame in “The Legendary Super Wing”(S6) shows aircraft on the frames only, so that also contributed to the bottomless idea above too.
-According to Tibetan Buddhism, Shambhala is ruled by a line of Kalki Kings, and when the world is hopefulessly engulfed in war and greed, “the twenty-fifth Kalki king will emerge from Shambhala with a huge army to vanquish ‘Dark Forces’ and usher in a worldwide Golden Age”(newworldencyclopedia). Altan’s obsessiveness to vanquish negativity on Earth with his Legendary SWs and bring forth a modern age of pure prosperity slightly refers to this Shambhala legend.
• Agartha: Originally, Orboros was to sit on the center of Earth, therefore it would have been an underground empire. However, by remembering the core in “Drills and Thrills”(S2), I had to re-think this choice. Because the show deals with world culture, I then went for the idea of Orboros being a ridiculously gargantuan empire that spreaded across Earth(well, this is more like speaking on Empire AU terms).
How Are They Legendary: “But worldairportwonders, Dizzy isn’t a L—“
Yes, but think of Spirit Keepers as some kind of AU timeskip where Dizzy to Astra are Legendaries. I mean, they’re prominent SWs at this point so they have a good chance of becoming Legendary Super Wings in the future. This includes Jerome and Mira, since they were veterans that received special modes too(not counting one season-newcomers).
The Smiling: Now I know this is character-focused and not subject-related to Orboros, but it does have a connection to that realm. Altan has the case of toxic positivity:
• He thinks he’s some god: Altan’s very obsessed with keeping everyone happy on Earth and ensuring no war is made(and his sister is creeped out by this kind of behavior, to point she believes Altan does not care for her twin sister anymore and is more of a pawn to his goal of universal tranquility). Moreover, he dismisses negative points from others. However, he takes things deeper and makes sure not a single soul is making a mistake. The world must be perfectly clean to him.
Additionally, Altan TRIES to be sane and calm whenever one of his followers fail his orders, or if he’s watching a war erupt. He’s even forcing the Legendary SWs to smile the whole time, even though they’re not feeling like it.
• Even creepier, Draco thinks he’s being watched. Every step he takes, there’s a sting in his chest. He might just be overly dramatic, as that’s what Teen Wing criticizes about. But part of the crime fighter thinks that her father might have a point, especially with the recent disappearances across the world...I mean, humans that luckily escaped are reported to have some illness of sorts even if they were healthy before. For vehicles, they appear to have scratches.
So...Altan may or may not be watching everyone from who knows where. Maybe not in-person though, but possibly using someone as a surveillance tool. Could be more than one; best not to think about it.
Empire AU: In this AU, Orboros is renamed as Terreland and it’s separated into 8 kingdoms, the Axis Stronghold being the base manager of these kingdoms:
• Darman Kingdom: Ruled by Dyre
• Stone Kingdom: Ruled by Gami
• Tele Kingdom: Ruled by Belle
• Nora Kingdom: Ruled by Whisper
• Cthu Kingdom: Ruled by Xuthu
• Fate Kingdom: Ruled by Voyn
• Sigma Kingdom: Ruled by Mercury
• Jia Kingdom: Ruled by Draco and Ryoko
• Axis Stronghold: Governed by Altan and Celena
The Hawk Haunt AU: In this AU, all members above, except for Altan, are head witches. Moreover, they were the original holders of their titles before Jett and his main gang took their places. I already shared this on a chart, but this is a review just in case:
• Abomination: Celena; Successor is Jett
• Bard: Belle; Successor is Jerome
• Beast-Keeping: Whisper; Successor is Paul
• Construction: Gami; Successor is Donnie
• Healing: Dyre; Successor is Dizzy
• Illusions: Draco and Ryoko; Successor is Teen Wing
• Oracle: Voyn; Successor is Grand Albert
• Plants: Xuthu; Successor is Mira
• Potions: Mercury; Successor is Astra
All are under the power of Altan and the Emperor’s Coven, and must be present in the Day of Unity...for mysterious reasons. Though this generation did not handle it well, as Celena proposed a rebellion against her own brother, which led herself and her colleagues to a petrifying execution.
