Serph is the protagonist and player character of Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner, and one of the main protagonists in its sequel, Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner 2. He is the leader of the Embryon, one of the six Tribes of the Junkyard. As a general in the war facilitated by the Karma Temple, he is tasked with leading his tribe to victory and reaching Nirvana.
Profile
Serph is the main protagonist of Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner, and the leader of the Embryon tribe. He is known for his calm, measured leadership, and for his generally quiet, expressionless demeanor.[1] While he is capable of making decisions quickly under pressure, Serph tends to weigh and consider the viewpoints of his comrades before acting hastily; he appears to deeply trust Gale, who is responsible for managing the Embryon's strategic and tactical affairs. Though he seemingly has good intentions for those around him, it can be difficult to discern what Serph is thinking at any given time.
Serph's physical appearance matches his cool and subdued personality; he has a slender build and gray eyes that match his neck-length, silvery hair. His Atma Brand is called the Water Crown, depicted as a sharp-toothed, squared head with curved, crown-like protrusions extending from its forehead, branded into his left cheek. His Atma Avatar itself, Varna, is a tall, gray-blue demon with a row of shark-like teeth, gills on its neck, hard protruding fins on both sides of its face, and a spindly build with highly-defined, lean musculature. Its long retractable claws are capable of carving through flesh and bone.
Gameplay
- See also: Varna (Atma) § Gameplay
Serph transforms into Varna at the start of every battle, unless the party is ambushed, in which case he may start the battle as a human, and he may also spend a turn switching between forms during battle. His human form nullifies Expel, takes extra damage to all attacks and wields a pistol, which deals Gun damage to one target. As Varna, Serph instead resists Ice and is weak to Fire.
As per series tradition, Serph's stats are determined by the player, where 3 points can be distributed between any of his stats on every level up. As with every party member, his skills must be set outside of battle, where any skill from any Mantra that Serph has mastered can be equipped. He starts with the Devourer Mantra equipped at 300 AP.
Serph starts with 4 skill slots, gaining an additional 2 slots on level 10 and another 2 on level 20.
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| Name
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Level
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HP
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MP
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| Serph
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1
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30
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24
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| Basic Attack
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Attribute
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Target
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Hit(s)
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| Gun
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Single enemy
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1
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| Skills
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| Skill
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Element
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Cost
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Description
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| Bufu
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Ice
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3 MP
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Light damage
～Ice
～1 enemy
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| Void Ice
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Shield
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3 MP
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Null ice attacks
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Serph behaves the same as in Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner, with the addition of a Gun weakness common to all humans. Outside of battle, Serph is the only character that can initiate a Field Hunt.
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| Name
|
Level
|
HP
|
MP
|
| Serph
|
1
|
30
|
24
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Basic Attack
|
Attribute
|
Target
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Hit(s)
|
| Gun
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Single enemy
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1
|
|
| Skills
|
| Skill
|
Element
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Cost
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Description
|
| Bufu
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Ice
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3 MP
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Light damage
～Ice
～1 enemy (freeze)
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| Void Ice
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Shield
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3 MP
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Null ice attacks
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|
Manual
| Manual Descriptions
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| Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner
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The player's character and leader of the Embryon. His decisive leadership has allowed the Embryon to be recognized as one of the six strongest Tribes, despite their smaller numbers.
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Game Appearances
Serph is the leader of the Embryon Tribe, one of the six major Tribes of the Junkyard, operating from Muladhara. He leads the Embryon during the operation at Ground Zero, believing that the mysterious object there belongs to the Vanguards Tribe, and briefly engages in a skirmish supported by Argilla, Heat, Gale and Cielo. The object then detonates, infecting every inhabitant of the Junkyard with the Atma virus. Those at Ground Zero immediately transform into violent demons, with the Embryon killing enough of the Vanguards to instill fear into Harley and force them to retreat. The Embryon fall unconscious, mostly forgetting the incident, before noticing a black-haired amnesiac girl named Sera in the crater left behind by the mysterious object, who they take back to Muladhara.
The Embryon then go to Svadhisthana, seeking answers from the Vanguards, though Harley is still hostile to them out of fear, prompting them and other Vanguards members to transform into demons for battle. The Embryon corner and kill Harley, gaining control of the Vanguards. Following this, the Dissemination Machine summons the remaining Tribe leaders to Sahasrara for an unspecified reason, though it was actually Angel hijacking the Karma Temple's systems for their own purposes. Angel decrees that winner of the Junkyard war, that being the one that kills the other leaders and who brings Sera with them, will gain access to Nirvana. As the Embryon have Sera, a gag order regarding her existence is instituted.
Gale then suggests that they should break the stalemate between the Maribel and the Solids by allying themselves with the Maribel, defeating the Solids, then betraying the Maribel to gain control of both Tribes and using their forces against the Wolves and Brutes. The Embryon go to Manipura and defeat Bat, Jinana's second-in-command, but Argilla refuses to devour their potential allies, which earns Jinana's respect and she accepts the alliance. The Embryon-Maribel alliance attack Anahata, with the Embryon directly infiltrating the Citadel, but Bat betrays their plan to the Solids. In response, Mick the Slug initiates the occupation of Manipura, personally attacking and overpowering Jinana and leaving her to die at the hands of the Embryon, and Bat learns that the Embryon have Sera by eavesdropping on Argilla. Returning to Manipura, the Embryon are baited and trapped inside, delaying them so the Solids can attack Muladhara and take Sera. The Embryon meet Mick the Slug and Bat atop Coordinate 136, who are holding Sera hostage. Heat then pretends to betray the Embryon and fight Serph, ultimately planning to rescue Sera for the Embryon, but they are interrupted by Sera escaping from Mick the Slug's hold and jumping off the roof, even commanding Mick to release her once she is caught. Bat catches her with Camazotz's flight, though Cielo flies in himself and damages Bat's wing, forcing him to drop Sera, who Cielo catches. Mick, now cornered and without leverage, attacks the Embryon as a last resort, but is killed himself.
The Embryon, recognizing that their forces will not be enough to win the war outright, devise a plan to bait Bat and the Brutes into the Deserted Ship by spreading rumors of Sera's presence there, then blowing up the ship, while establishing a new hideout for Sera. The plan is successful, killing Bat and some of the Brutes's forces. Then, Lupa of the Wolves contacts the Embryon in Svadhisthana, planning to form an alliance, as the Wolves had fallen to Varin Omega alone. They accept the alliance, planning to take the newly-discovered Samsara Tunnels directly to Ajna, though Lupa himself falls victim to Hunger Wave, and the Embryon are forced to kill him in self-defense. After successfully infiltrating Ajna, they kill Varin Omega, who reveals in his dying words that him and the Embryon were all people that died in Nirvana. Sera then disappears to Sahasrara, having regained her memories. The Embryon chase her to the top of the Karma Temple and meet with Angel's real identity, Jenna Angel, who they fight and defeat, inadvertently causing the destruction of the Junkyard, though everyone barely manages to escape.
Serph, shortly after leaving the Junkyard, appears in the real world. He joins with Argilla, Gale, a child named Fred and his friend to gather information on Sera's whereabouts. They are led to the Underground City and the Lokapala. The leader of the Lokapala, Roland, reveals the nature of the Junkyard as a virtual world designed to create combat AI to be implanted in soldiers' brains and details surrounding the appearance of real people in the Junkyard. The Embryon agree to cooperate with the Lokapala to find Sera, liberating the Internment Facility and gaining access to the EGG Installation from Jenna Angel, though they discover that Heat, under the pretense of keeping Sera safe, is working for the Karma Society. In the EGG Installation, the Embryon find Sera and Heat wounds Serph against Margot Cuvier's orders. Serph drags Heat with him into the EGG and is presumed dead. Immediately following this, the Sun begins to download the Earth's data.
Later, Serph awakens in the EGG's fluid, having been sustained and healed by it, in the company of Schroedinger. Schroedinger reveals to Serph the details surrounding his existence and the incident that caused the Black Sun five years prior: Serph was based on a researcher, Serph Sheffield, who was in charge of the God Project. In contrast with Serph, Sheffield was a megalomaniac who sought the power of God for himself at the expense of others, chiefly Sera, who created a virtual paradise to escape from the mental stress of the Project with AI duplicates of Sheffield, Heat O'Brien, Cielo and Argilla. This information distressed Serph, but he was comforted by the still lingering data of Heat O'Brien. The data of Sheffield and the AI Serph that existed prior to the Junkyard also manifested themselves, though Serph and O'Brien destroyed both of them, finally putting the latter to rest and letting all of their data join the circulation. Serph then returns to the Embryon by tearing Vritra from the inside, fatally wounding Heat, who dies moments later.
As a last resort against the destruction of Earth, Sera proposes to upload her data to the Sun via the HAARP Facility, to which the Embryon decide to join her. They head to the Airport in search of a plane and run across Jenna Angel. Gale is left alone with her while the remaining Embryon continue, and both ultimately die by each other's arms. On the way to the facility, Cielo also dies defending the airplane. Sera manages to upload herself and Serph's data, killing their bodies in the process. During the travel to the Sun, they fuse into Seraph and are joined by the data of their fallen comrades.
In the future, after humanity recovered from the Black Sun, there is a child bearing Serph's name and likeness under the care of a now adult Fred.
Novel Appearances
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Manga Appearances
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Chapter 16 follows from chapter 6 of the Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner Anthology Comic. Serph remembers the members of the Embryon that were deleted before he could lead them to Nirvana, and names each of them before finding the Lokapala. Upon seeing Roland, he is happy that the rumor he spread turned out to be true, though this upsets Gale and Argilla. Serph recounts the events of the previous anthology's 6th chapter in a flashback sequence to Roland and Adil, then gets knocked out by Argilla with a nail bat. Serph later wakes up after Gale and Argilla finish the Underwater Cable, and gets caught up on the story after Gale physically pushes the next panel of the manga away to create a time skip. The Karma Society researcher gets tired of waiting for them, though Serph gets riled up again after seeing his glasses and vows to make a new Nirvana in his image with Sera's help. The prior events are revealed to also be a flashback, much to the surprise of those Serph was supposedly telling his story to, those being Sera, Gale, Cielo and Fred, who get knocked down at learning that the story is actually supposed to start at this point. He puts off the Airport to realize his plans of Nirvana, sending Sera to list ten attractive things for a reward. The Lokapala approach Serph with their own fixations, and he promises to lead them to Nirvana as well. Sera later wears many of those items, but still does not understand what they are talking about, so Serph notes that another woman might be able to explain it better. By the next day, she can only remember what Kathy told her about chest hair, so every man and Schroedinger wakes up with large amounts of chest hair.
Trivia
According to Quantum Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner: Extra Files, his name was Nagare in the draft.[2]
Nomenclature
Names in Other Languages
| Language |
Name |
Meaning
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 English
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Serph
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 Japanese
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サーフ Sāfu |
Serph
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 Korean
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서프
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Gallery
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Render of Serph as Varna from Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner
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Render from Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner
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Render from Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner
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Render from Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner
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Render from Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner
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Model of Serph as Varna from Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner
References
Artwork of Serph as Varna from Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner
Render of Serph as Varna from Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner
Render from Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner
Render from Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner
Render from Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner
Render from Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner
Render of Serph's Berserk Mode from Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner 2
Model of Serph as Varna from Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner
