Cayenne Riesling

Cayenne Riesling is a major character and the elusive main antagonist of Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2.

Personality

TBA

Physical Appearance

(work in progress)

Biography

Little is known of Cayenne himself, other than the fact he was a close, personal friend of General Merlot and Gasco's president, Shayne Muscat. He worked as a personal tutor for those who'd hire his services, which included both of Shayne's daughters, Cannelle and Vanilla.

Like Sheena, Cayenne can manipulate Nono for spellcasting, but he's far more powerful than her, with his main specialty being illusion and persuasion spells. During his fight, he also used powerful spells that could severely damage the Taranis.

History

Fuga: Melodies of Steel

Although Cayenne doesn't directly appear in the first game, its events played a huge role in what happened afterwards. During the Berman invasion of Gasco, Cayenne's wife Marjolaine and his son Selim were among the many Felineko victims of Doktor Blutwurst and his horrific experiments at Mau. Their deaths led to Cayenne becoming consumed by a murderous desire for vengeance towards all of Berman for what they did to him.

Distrustful and fully aware of the high chance Berman would invade Gasco again, Cayenne tried to convince Shayne to take a more militaristic stance against their neighbor. Unfortunately for him, the president sought to instead make peace with the empire (and to reconstruct the lands, since this rendered Gasco too weak to counterattack), which angered Cayenne. It's highly likely Cayenne was the one responsible for the Taranis' retrieval, as it was part of his proposal to defend the country.

6 months before the events of events of the game, Shayne, his wife Jelly, and daughter Vanilla intended to observe Gasco's reconstruction. Cayenne joined them as a representative for all those who lost loved ones in the war.

While alone in a car with the Muscat family, he used spells to put them to sleep and to destroy all the other cars traveling with them. By causing the nearby cliff face to collapse, he made it all look like some freak accident had occured. What's more, he stole the clothes off Shayne and hypnotized Vanilla into believing her father had rescued her from the crash. Cayenne would fake his own death and would create an illusionary face of the president over his own. To hide potential flaws in his illusion, Cayenne covered his face with bandages to make others believe the president had suffered burns due to the accident (which caused most people to avert their eyes from him to avoid disrespect, further fooling those around him).

From this moment forward, Cayenne then assumed the position as acting President of Gasco, with the whole nation (and Vanilla) believing that Shayne had saved Vanilla and that Jelly and Cayenne had both perished in the tragic accident.

Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2

Cayenne appears before the children 6 months later, when they are summoned by Cannelle Muscat to open the doors of the Taranis. He presents himself as President Shayne and introduces Vanilla to the children before returning to his office to rest. After the Taranis escapes, the office he is in is burned to the ground, causing Vanilla and the children to believe that the President is dead.

Cayenne secretly sends messages to Jihl throughout thr game to inform him of the location of the 5 Crusade temples.

Some time later as the Belenos begins to retrieve more of its auxiliary generators, Cayenne begins sending letters at every port the children reach, with a small boy always delivering them to Vanilla and quickly slinking away without giving any details about who the were from. The letters revealed that "Shayne" was still alive, shocking Vanilla. They instructed her to delay the Exo-Taranis as much as possible, as the Belenos must become perfect. The last letter then warns her to prevent the Exo-Taranis from interfering with the Belenos at all costs, and to use a bomb that came with the letter if need be.

A call from Lieutenant Muscat later reveals that the office was fully burned to the ground, and that the President's remains were never found. Due to a shortage of manpower, the search had been temporarily called off. This acts as confirmation to Vanilla that her father may secretly be alive.

When the Belenos is fully completed, Cayenne reveals himself to the Heroes of Gasco, first shocking them as since they believe it is President Shayne, then shocking them more when he removes his disguise and reveals himself to actually be Cayenne Riesling. He then recounts how killed Jelly and Shayne half a year ago and plans to use the Belenos to revive the Vanargand to fully destroy the Berman Empire, all to fulfill his revenge for the death of his family.

After failing to defeat the children with Belenos' perfected form, he brainwashes Vanilla to use the bomb from his last letter, which she successfully detonates in her hands in the engine room of the Exo-Taranis, killing her and damaging the Exo-Taranis so that it cannot move or fire its weapons. Shortly after Cayenne fires off a blast of energy from the Belenos that completely destroys the Exo-Taranis and its crew, sending Malt Marzipan to the Deep Depths for a third time.

Thanks to the Maestro making an alteration to the timeline, Vanilla's sabotage and death were erased and Cayenne was unable to destroy the Taranis before the facility they were in collapsed, leaving him no choice but to retreat and enact the last part of his plan. He then traveled to the ruins of Old Paresia, where he fused the Belenos to Vanargand's head, resurrecting the Titano-Machina in the process.

With his new weapon, which also amplified Belenos' regenerative powers, Cayenne set course to Pharaoh, intending to level the city. He also unleashed a massive horde of Berman Geists that rampaged across the entire country. Once he arrived to Pharaoh's landmass, he was confronted by the Gascoan military, led by Merlot. Merlot attempted to confront him, but Cayenne was too far gone to listen and attacked, slaughtering a large chunk of his air forces. Just as the Vanargand set foot on Pharaoh itself and fired at everything indiscriminately, the Exo-Taranis attacked its frontal legs, knocking it off balance. Cayenne tried to repair the damage as fast as he could, but he failed to stop the tank from climbing up the monstrosity's back. He tried to throw the Taranis off by making the Vanargand spin, but instead the tank fell atop Von Stollen and Von Baum's airship, which allowed them to confront Vanargand's head personally.

Once the children were up close, Malt noted the strange, shielded plate beneath the Belenos. To the children's horror, they realized Cayenne was there, having merged himself with the revived abomination. His mind rotted by delusions of grandeur, Cayenne gloated that he was now immortal and invincible thanks to Vanargand's might, and that his enemies were doomed to fail and die by his might. Malt told him he understood his grief, but his actions were completely unjustifiable and he and his friends would end his insanity right then and there. Cayenne smugly stated that the world would never know peace until his vengeance was sated and Berman was obliterated. When he heard the AI Hax speak and learned his identity, Cayenne broke into laughter and thanked the children for bringing him the one Berman he despised the most on a silver platter and raved that his vengeance had the support of the divine. He then attacked, beginning the final fight.

Cayenne, upon noting the children's stubbornness, attempted to use the Vanargand's mouth weapon to eliminate them, but was stopped by Merlot's forces firing upon its maw. The damage was severe enough to expose Cayenne, who was promptly struck by the Taranis' weapons. Before the children could deal critical damage to the Vanargand's command core, Cayenne used the Belenos' power to fully regenerate, gloating that there was nothing they could do to stop him.

When Hax realized the only way Cayenne could be defeated was by severing the Belenos from Vanargand, he recommended the use of the Soul Cannon. Seeing Malt's hesitation in risking harm to Hanna and Jihl, Cayenne stopped his attack and mocked him, knowing he was unwilling to risk killing his friends.

Knowing he couldn't bring himself to harm them, Malt took a different choice: He reached out to his friends in the Belenos. Soon, he was joined by the other children. Jihl used his newfound freedom to break free. Without the Belenos, Cayenne lost control of the Titano-Machina, which promptly stopped moving and began to roar uncontrollably. Cayenne panicked and begged the Lost God to stop, but it was no use.

Soon, the Exo-Taranis fired the Soul Cannon and destroyed Vanargand's head, obliterating Cayenne as well. In his final moments, Cayenne decided to "impart" one last lesson to the children: The Taranis' power would consume the world, and there was nothing they would be able to do to stop it. He then thought one last time on his family, before being reduced to less than cinders by that final, golden blast.

Trivia

• Continuing the food based naming convention that many characters in Fuga have, Cayenne's first and last names have two food meanings:
  • "Cayenne" is a red pepper originating from South America, and is named after the city of Cayenne in French Guiana.
  • "Reisling" is a type of grape wine famously originating from Rhine, Germany (ironic for someone born in Gasco), and is thought to have been produced in both Germany and France in the Middle Ages.
  • His son "Selim" is named after Selim peppers, also known as "Grains of Selim". They are dried seed pods from the Xylopia aethiopica tree, native to West Africa. The grains are also a key ingredient in Touba-style coffee (called café Touba in French).
  • His wife "Marjolaine" is a classic French pastry that consists of layers of meringue, buttercream, and nuts.