Orphnoch - Background

Background

There are two types of Orphnoch in the most of series: the Original Orphnoch who are "born" when a certain human suffers a violent death and 'resurrected' into an Orphnoch and Sired Orphnoch that are created when certain humans survive being attacked by an Orphnoch and become ones themselves, though weaker than the Original Orphnoch. But the most unique of type that appear in the series finale are the Evolved Orphnoch, the first of this type is the Orphnoch King, which are genetically perfect to the point of being unable to resume human form. An Orphnoch King can remove the genetic flaw from other Orphnoch, evolving them as well at the cost of their humanity.

All Orphnoch have their senses enhanced to a superhuman level, able to hear, smell or see great distances, tuning out background noise to focus on their target. They can also regenerate an ability as well as a first sense when the Orphnoch survived its human death, with the regenerating abilities depending on the Orphnoch in question. The stronger Orphnoch may fire energy blasts from their hands, though used a surprise attack due to its attack speed being slow and inaccurate for long distance attacks. But the Orphnoch's greatest ability is to 'siring' other Orphnoch (similar to vampires or werewolves) by attacking humans and (usually) stabbing them through the heart. This has a very low success rate, and usually results in disintegrating the human in question. Some Orphnoch seem to be capable of using long, skin piercing tentacles specifically for siring others. However, most cases of siring occur when the "sirer" is in Orphnoch form.

Every Orphnoch can interchange between their original human form and a unique Orphnoch form, light grey in colour with characteristics of either a plant or an animal with a body armour resistant to standard small firearms blasts and its strength varies wildly among Orphnoch as good measure of one's power. Only more powerful conventional weaponry can penetrate the body armour and harm or even kill some Orphnoch, while others can withstand even the basic attacks of the Rider Gears. Orphnoch can also generate signature weapons from their bodies. While in Orphnoch form, some of their kind can assume a Hybrid Form, becoming more creature-like in form. Few Orphnoch can assume a Secondary Form, increasing their standard Orphnoch form abilities at the cost of losing self-control.

It is uncertain when or how Orphnoch die of natural causes due to the infinite lifespan, but they are almost invulnerable to just about untimely demise ranging from various injuries that would be fatal to humans. In addition, their wounds recover quickly; Orphnoch can be seen injured when small blue flames burst from their wound. Unfortunately, it seems that they can only be destroyed at the hands of a Rider (in which their respective Rider symbols appear in the foreground of the flames) or another Orphnoch; possibly because they're powerful enough to kill them, disintegrating as a result.

Former chief of Smart Brain, Hanagata, learned a revelation that only few Orphnoch know of, that "human body cannot stand such a rapid evolution", and that as such, they were doomed to die of inevitable break down and disintegration within any number years of becoming an Orphnoch depending on their transformation into and out of Orphnoch form or use of the Rider Gears, which takes an amount of time from that person's lifespan. Others, however, have exhibited signs of early disintegration (the process starts with the skin turning grey, and slightly ash-like, before their entire body is destroyed) but subsequently showed a recovery. The only known solution to this problem is the Orphnoch King, who can "complete" Orphnoch' evolution, apparently forcing them to remain in Orphnoch form, but granting long life and a higher level of power.

In Paradise Lost, although the Orphnoch King is not seen or mentioned, Orphnoch no longer seem to suffer a limited lifespan.