Atma

Atma is a demon virus in the Digital Devil Saga series that allows people to transform into empowered demonic forms called Atma Avatars. Atma awakens the Junkyard residents to emotions and makes them hunger for the flesh of other demons.

Profile

Atma is one's "true character", drawing out one's ability to transform into demons called Atma Avatars present in their data. This comes at a price: those with Atma must feed on others to survive and maintain their sanity.

While the individual still has control over themselves, they may transform into their avatar or revert to their human form at will, though the initial infection causes an involuntary, berserk transformation. Additionally, the Embryon's first fight after their initial infection suggests that, when an individual with Atma is confronted, there is a response prompting them to transform.

When an individual has Atma, their skin is branded with a symbol. These brands have names and represent their avatar in some way. While transforming, the brand will glow and spread many lines on the individual's skin, resembling circuitry.

In the Digital Devil Saga games, infection by the Atma virus allows the Junkyard's residents to awaken to emotions, represented visually by their normally gray eyes gaining color. In other cases, their demon form's personality may take over their human personality, which may lead to them forgetting their humanity. Hunger causes the individual's demon form to take over, becoming berserk in the process. Sera's song is capable of staving off the mental effects of hunger, though it is not effective in all circumstances.

In Quantum Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner, the phrase "Om mani padme hum" acts as a mental command for the Atma transformation. Hunger causes the Atma to digest the human body in order to sustain itself. The result of this digestion is the body turning into a black tarry substance, though it can be reverted by feeding. Sera's presence instills calm in those nearby, preventing them from going berserk, while her blood can substitute for food. Atma in the Junkyard can feed on any flesh, but outside of the Junkyard they instead require non-cloned human protein. The acquisition of Atma has an immediate effect on the Junkyard's residents' personalities, heightening their self-consciousness and emotions. Feeding directly influences the Atma's power, giving them additional strength and durability.

In Quantum Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner and "Dog Days", Atma are divided into categories. These are Lesser (or Common) Atma and High Atma. Lesser Atma are shared between multiple individuals, who will also have the same brands on their bodies. High Atma are unique, having the power equivalent to dozens of Lesser Atma.

Gameplay

At the beginning of combat, the party transforms into their Atma Avatars, allowing them to use their skills and adopting their resistances, though they may not be able to do so in time when ambushed and will instead start in their human forms. They may transform into or out of their Avatar at any time, though certain skills or Ailments may force them to revert. Generally, being in human form is disadvantageous as they cannot use skills and take additional damage from all attributes, but Avatars are incapable of using guns and possess different resistances from humans.

In Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner 2, high levels of Solar Noise may cause the party to instead start battles in a half-transformed state called Berserk Mode. Additionally, the Karma Soldiers may start in their human form and later transform into a demon.

Defeated demons are devoured by the party after a successful battle, granting them some health and Atma Points which progress their current Mantras.

Game Appearances

Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner

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After the object containing Sera opens in Ground Zero, beams of light hit the people of the Junkyard, granting them Atma. The initial infection caused at least those present at Ground Zero to uncontrollably transform and attack each other, ending with the Embryon winning their skirmish with great losses to the Vanguards and scaring Harley into hiding in their base at Svadhisthana. By the time the Embryon wake up, Serph's gray eyes become white, symbolizing the awakening of his emotions. In the process of hunting down and killing Harley, Argilla and Heat accomplish the same. When the Embryon return to Muladhara, Argilla is weak from hunger, while Gale is aggressively hunting Cielo. Both Argilla and Gale are saved by Sera's song.

The introduction of Atma, along with Angel's interference requiring Sera to be taken to Nirvana, allows the stalemate between the tribes to be broken, as they must devour each other to survive. By the time the Embryon first approach Jinana to ally themselves with her Maribel, she notes that only a minority are not yet infected, and the war of the Junkyard will escalate because of it. Bat's defeat causes him to awaken to his own emotions, which allows him to break the laws of the Junkyard and conspire with the Solids against his own Tribe and the Embryon.

During the attack by the Embryon-Maribel alliance against the Citadel in Anahata, Mick the Slug appears in person to defeat the Maribel and Jinana. He awakens to his own emotions then, leaving the Embryon to deal with a hungry Jinana. In her dying moments, Jinana awakens to her emotions as well. When the Embryon return to Muladhara, finding it had been attacked by the Solids to capture Sera, they find that Cielo was left alive to tell them where Sera would be. The Embryon leave to Coordinate 136, and Cielo awakens to his emotions as he asks to go with them, but is forced to stay.

Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner 2

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The members of the Embryon and some of the Karma Society have Atma; these are called "Tuners", primarily by the latter. The Lokapala obtain a sample of the virus and test it on a subject, but Gale deduces that they must have killed him, which Roland admits to, saying that the subject could have lost control. Later, Roland infects himself with the virus to accompany the Embryon, joining them when they reach the Internment Facility as a combatant.

It is revealed that the Atma Virus, being a corruption of one's data, prevents Cuvier Syndrome, which is also a corruption of data. This is key to Margot Cuvier and Jenna Angel's plans to allow humanity to live under the black Sun: Margot Cuvier wants to enact the "Nirvana Project", where all humans become Tuners and their hunger is held back by Sera's song, while Jenna Angel instead wants natural selection to take its course.

During the events of the Power Plant, Sera inherits Serph's Water Crown, being able to transform into Varnani.

During the second visit to the EGG Installation, it is revealed that Heat's Atma mutated due to the EGG's data, instead letting him transform into Vritra. This is reverted once his data ascends to the Sun. Within the EGG, Serph encounters the data of Heat O'Brien, who transforms into Agni; Serph Sheffield, who transforms into Real Varna; and the original version of Serph created by Sera, who transforms into Fake Varna. The other Serphs are defeated, returning their and O'Brien's data to the natural circulation.

It is revealed that, when the Sun turned black, some individuals transformed into demons. One of these is Serph Sheffield, who killed several people and was shot to death himself. Four unspecified individuals became the Archangels, who mostly lost themselves to their demonic identities and sought to destroy the world to bring about the Millenial Kingdom, but they were sealed. The last known individual is the one who became Meganada, who suffered a similar fate. Meganada and the Archangels would later be unsealed under Angel's orders; the former would be set upon the Lokapala and die in the Power Plant explosion.

While Serph and Sera's data is ascending to the Sun, they fuse into Seraph, granting them a new Atma in Ardha. The Sun also contains the data of Harley, Bat, Mick the Slug, Varin Omega and Meganada, all of which are fought in their demon forms by the Embryon.

Novel Appearances

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"Dog Days"

Zada has the Arachne Atma, which is typically a Common Atma. However, after devouring the other Casuals, she acquires a Rare Talent, elevating her Arachne beyond its usual capabilities. Zada's Arachne becomes significantly larger and more durable, and gains the ability to produce small spiders which can take control over its victim.

Trivia

• In Yu Godai's original draft, instead of Atma, a person would be possessed by a "totem", which was a guardian spirit.

Nomenclature

Atma comes from the Sanskrit आत्मन् ātman (nominative आत्मा ātmā), which refers to the impersonal self of an individual.

Names in Other Languages

Language	Name	Meaning
English	Atma
Japanese	アートマ Ātoma	Atma
Korean	아트마 ateuma	Atma

Gallery

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  Water Crown Atma Brand