07th Expansion

Summary

07th Expansion is a series of visual novels, manga, and audio drama CDs, created by Ryukishi07 and 07th Expansion. There are 3 main entries which together comprise the When They Cry (no Naku Koro Ni) series: Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, Umineko no Naku Koro Ni, and Ciconia no Naku Koro Ni; and multiple tie-in entries that expand on the world and cosmology of the setting.

The genres vary greatly from horror and murder-mystery to science-fiction and comedy-harem.

Higurashi takes place in 1983, in the small town of Hinamizawa. Keiichi Maebara moves to the town, befriending his classmates. The village appears to be simple, peaceful, and quiet - however, this ends after the annual Watanagashi Festival, a celebration to give thanks to the local god, Oyashiro. Keiichi that every year for the past four years, one person has been murdered and another has gone missing on the evening of the Watanagashi Festival, and is soon drawn into the strange events surrounding the Festival.

Umineko takes place in 1986, during the timeframe of October 4th and October 5th. It starts off on the island of Rokkenjima, owned by the eccentric business Kinzo Ushiromiya. There, the family conference for the Ushiromiya family is taking place, where it will be decided who will get the nearly dead Kinzo's inheritance. However, a typhoon traps the family members on the island, and over the night, strange things start to happen and people start dying.

Ciconia takes place in the 22nd century, 100 years after the end of World War 3. Cutting-edge technology saved the planet from a nuclear winter, allowing its population to reach the tens of billions once more. This eventually gave rise to a new ultimate military technology, the Gauntlet. People who wore these on their left arms were called Gauntlet Knights, and without carrying any additional equipment, they could use this unrivaled power to fly like fighter planes, fight like aircraft carriers and battleships, and repel all sorts of attacks like tanks.

After competing against each other in the International Battle Standard Festival, a group of Gauntlet Knights from all over the world became fast friends, swearing to support the walls of peace from both sides and prevent another World War from ever occurring. However, World War IV was steadily approaching, like a line of falling dominos...

When three worlds become one, Alice will awaken.

Once you have cycled through the three completely different worlds until the very end, you will find out "Alice's Truth."

Marie is trapped in a horrible situation. She's being constantly tormented by her classmates and regularly molested by her teacher. With nowhere else to turn, she finds herself asking for supernatural help from one of the seven demons of the seven mysteries of her school. All she desires is the death of her cruel classmates and teacher. How far will Marie be willing to go in order to achieve the murders that would free her from her living hell?

Taking place in Japan at the end of World War II. Devastated in the aftermath of defeat, the Japanese government complies with the Allies' reconstruction plan. Japan begins to recover from the loss after a few years, but America and China intricately divide the nation on a municipal level. Eventually, China's military districts become Chinatowns, and places controlled by the United States are Americanized. The many Chinese and American immigrants make Japanese people the minority in their own land. Some Japanese are unwilling to accept this fate and secretly gather their strength to challenge the new system.

A girl named Rose Haibara works at the club Primavera and lends money to Japanese people so that they can rebuild their lives. Meanwhile, Leo Shishigami is best known for his reputation among women. Everything begins to change when that legendary man meets Rose in the spring of 1947.

It's July 2016, and the Tadamura family gathers in the Hirasaka village for the funeral of the grandmother and head of the family: the young man Yukito, his step-sister Yue, his father Masashi, his uncles Nobuteru and Tsunemasa, and his cousins Terumi and Teruya, all come to pay their last respects.

But on that evening, Yue witnesses an incomprehensible scene: the grandmother's dead body starts to move and disappears into the night! The morning after, the family wakes up in a strange world, seemingly cut off from reality, where two suns shine...

Haworthia is a short drama-CD made as a prototype for Ciconia no Naku Koro Ni for Ryukishi07 to tests future Ciconia concepts. The story is of a civilization trying to leave their planet which became unhospitable for them, but it became a paradise for an artificial lifeform designed by this civilization. At the end of the drama-CD is revealed that the planet is Earth 500 million of years ago, right at the point of the Cambrian explosion, and that the artificial lifeform is life as we know it.

Kohinata Asanaro is your regular everyday high school student. He likes light novels, porn games, and fantasizing about the girls in his class. One day when walking home from school he inexplicably releases a demon from a sealed bottle. Her name is Zepafur, and she won't rest until her debt is repaid!

"Now begins the Lovey Dovey Harem Royale!" cries the demon, weaving a most curious magic. As a result, Asanaro's regular high school life transforms into a love-comedy series of harem shenanigans, with four girls from his school all vying for his affection!

But...unbeknownst to our dopey protagonist, the four girls are in the midst of a horrific survival game under threat of death and eternal torture. She who fails to capture Asanaro's heart will be confined to the depths of hell.

Just who will survive? Who will thrive? And who will meet their demise?

Power of the Verse

07th Expansion is one of the most powerful visual novel series and fictional verses out there.

The first point of the cosmology is the Human Domain, where, at it's lowest end, there exists casual superhuman characters able to perform 9-B to 8-C feats, followed by avatars of magic beings capable of creating mountains of cake as big as Everest, destroy a 10km island, or even crush the Moon. Further higher exists beings beyond the 5th Dimension and an even higher narrative space from where everything bellow, including the story, is stopped. All of this culminates into a void beyond time and space that fully encompasses all the Human Domain's space-time, including hierarchies of worlds and infinite dimensions, which is Ascendental.

As you go further to the higher points of the cosmology, you have the Witch Domain, which completely transcends and exists beyond the entirety of the Human Domain, the lower domain appearing as just fiction to everyone in the Witch Domain. Beatrice's Catbox and its layers are at the lower layers of the Domain, the Catbox itself having multiple Ascendental layers.

Above Beatrice's Catbox is Bernkastel's Catbox, from where the former is merely a Kakera and the latter is unreachable for it, making this Catbox High Ascendental.

The Witch Domain goes up from there in an infinite High Ascendental hierarchy of layers, each lower layer being complete fiction from the point of view of the higher one, populated by beings capable of easily traversing said layers.

Beyond the Witch Domain there exists the 3rd Domain, an infinite High Ascendental structure to which the entirety of the Witch Domain is nothing but fiction than can be easily manipulated and rewritten, where the avatar of Featherine Augustus Aurora lies.

Transcending all the expansions of layers and Kakera exists the Sea of Oblivion, an endless sea of nothingness residing on a High Ascendetal level that represents the Hell of Meta Beings.

The True Form of the Witch Featherine exists fully transcendent of everything enumerated till now and resides on an even higher High Ascendental level from where the difference between Domains is to her nothing more than the difference between the backgrounds of a stage.

But even further beyond all of this there's the Realm of Zero and The Creator, a formless entity completely freed from all restrictions, even compared to other High Ascendental beings.

However, the size of the cosmology isn't the only aspect where 07th Expansion Series shines, there's also the hax capabilities of the characters. Even the lowest tier characters have abilities which can erase beings on a conceptual level (on a High Ascendental level), warp reality, or are concept themselves. Plot Manipulation is a very common ability in the verse, with all beings from the Witch Domain and above possesing it. There are also weapons with such traits as conceptually denying defense, buying time, evasion, and erasing the target on a conceptual level.

Supporters

Explanation of the Cosmology

The 07th Expansion cosmology consists of a metaphysical evolutionary journey of being/spirit, from the point where one's existence is that of a Human, to the almighty and boundless Creator, which resides beyond all restrictions. This journey is divided into two Poles/Sides, the side tossed around by Fate, and the side that creates Fate. Those 2 Poles are themselves divided into multiple existential hierarchies, the hierarchies themselves being divided into existential layers, and even those layers, in some cases, being divided into multiple dimensions.

Those hierarchies are usually called Domains or Worlds, and there are 3 of them: The Human Domain, the Witch Domain, and an Unnamed 3rd Domain (usually referred to by fans as The Creator's Domain).

A vital part of the 07th Cosmology are Kakera or Fragments (sometimes they are also called pieces). They look like small crystals, but they actually are the conceptual form of things such as lower worlds, parallel worlds, fates, possibilities, theories, games, fictional stories, and so on. Their crystallized conceptual forms are part of the higher Domains (Witch Domain and 3rd Domain), and only their contents can appear in the Human Domain, be it an entire world, or something more abstract like a feeling. Beings of the higher Domains can merge together Kakera to create stories, as we see above in Higurashi - Matshuribayashi-hen, or Catboxes, as seen in Episode 7 of Umineko

The Human Domain, or "Ningen Domain" (ニンゲンの域), is not just the domain of humans, but the domain of those tossed around by fate, the first Pole/Side. This includes humans, Yokai, ghosts, higher-dimensional beings, aliens, etc.

While the Humans don't have the power to create anything, they have the ground under their feet. This means that Humans don't need to actively define their existence (like higher order beings), and can go day to day without the fear of losing one's self. They also don't evolve through the layers of the Human Domain, as their only form of evolution is into a Higher Order being into the Witch Domain. Humans aren't even aware of the layers of their Domain or about the complexity of their reality, they are pretty much watching the shadows on the cave's wall without knowing of the existence of the fire behind them, or of the world outside of the cave.

As already mentioned, the superiority of the Domain of Witches over the Domain of Humans is compared with the superiority of the 3rd Domain over the Domain of Witches. Accordingly, they should have a similar internal structure. Then it is logical that the domain of humans should also be a similar hierarchy.

The Witch Domain (魔女たちの領域), or the World of the Gods, is the 2nd domain in the cosmology and the first one of the higher pole, or the side that creates fate. This domain is purely abstract in nature and the concepts of the lower domain can be visualized as Kakera.

The words and languages of the Human Domain are limited compared to those in the higher domain, and they can’t express the concepts of the Witch Domain or understand them. So the fictions/stories created by Humans that make up the Human Domain would never be able to reach into this higher domain because of this limitation of expression.

But those limitations aren’t only to language, but to one’s own spirit/being too. The only known ways of reaching into the Witch Domain is by either being led there by a higher being, becoming their Piece or Miko, in this way the higher being guaranteeing your existence in the Witch Domain; or by an internal evolution of the spirit.

The former requires a lot of time, as was the case for Rika and Bernkastel. Only after hundreds of years of traveling the Sea of Fragments in Hanyuu’s protection was Rika starting to delimitate from her human self and internally evolve into a higher being, the Witch Bernkastel.

The Sea of Oblivion is the void where beings of the higher domains go when their existence gets erased, destroyed, or conceptually denied. It lies at the bottom of the Sea of Fragments, beyond the infinite layers of the Witch Domain. Concepts such as life and death have no meaning here.

This is the “Hell” where Voyager that “misses a step” on the ladder, or beings that lose their purpose and self to the Sea of Fragments, also go.

Powerful enough beings, like Bernkastel, can send others here or take them out from here. However, even weak Meta Beings can regenerate from here and reform as long as they can regain their will/sense of self.

Not much is known of this domain, not even the name is known, but it’s the domain to which Featherine returned to after touching the Kingdom of God, and also the domain where Beatrice’s internally evolved to.

Unknown to herself, Beatrice begane to internally evolve and transcends the Witches Domain, taking steps into the 3rd Domain. From this we know that this domain is also a hierarchy of layers, but how large is this hierarchy? Well, it is infinite, because one’s journey to the Creator has no endpoint by definition.

So this 3rd Domain is its own infinite hierarchy of layers, and being residing here transcends the Witch Domain to the point that its entire infinite hierarchy is all but just a game board (fiction) to the beings of this much higher domain.

Beyond the expansions of the 3 domains lies the Kingdom of God, the last boundary that Featherine reached before the Creator. At this point, the number of restrictions is almost non-existent, with the only ones being related to one’s meaning and self.

This is the place where Featherine’s true form exists, and, to her, there’s no difference between her human avatar and her Witch avatar, similar to how to an actor there’s no difference between the roles he plays, as they are all just roles in the end.

Beyond this boundary lies The Creator. Boundless, omnipotent, and freed from all restrictions. Beings who reach here lose their self and meaning and become one with The Creator.

07th Expansion Series Cosmology and Explanation Page.

Terminology

General

The definition of a witch is vague, but the most accepted theory is that one is a witch at the point when they gain a power surpassing humans and are able to use it freely.

And the world - or possibly fragment - in which that can be freely used is called their "territory". Most witches cannot leave their territory, but those who are capable of transcending its boundary at will and wandering the fragments are called "voyagers".

Worlds of different fates and circumstances are called fragments, and witches who are able to cross the ocean of endless fragments are called voyagers. It is also another name for a high-order (high-level) witch, and witches who are unable to leave their territories cannot compare with their power.

However, perhaps because they do not have specific territories, their personal values are unstable, and it is easy for their souls to become faint. As a result, it is not rare for voyagers to disappear like scraps of seaweed in the ocean of fragments.

Their voyage has no endpoint, and perhaps you could even say that it is a journey to escape an endpoint.

The Creator is a sacred being who can create 1 in the sea of nothingness. It can give birth to 1 from 0, give birth to the endless, and then return it to 0 again in a flash. Free from all restrictions, the voyagers in particular call him God.

In that sense, the Witch of Origins Maria may be the chosen girl who was promised to be the Creator.

The voyagers fear that the end of their own journey is to become the Creator. As to why they would be frightened of evolving into a higher-order being, none can understand except they themselves.

Umineko

Truths are an ability used in Umineko no Naku Koro ni. They are rules introduced in a game board for the battle between witches and humans. There are multiple kinds of truth that each have a different function depending on how they are used and who can use them.

For more information about Truths, you can check this page

A set of demon duel pistols prepared by Zepar and Furfur. The number of shots loaded depends on the format of the duel. In most cases, it holds just a single round.

The emotions of the duelers are loaded into it, and if the bullet grazes any part of the body, the concept of the target will be denied withotu exception. In the past, duels were performed in the classic style of swords, but this took a great deal of time before an outcome was reached, which displeased certain impatient theatergoing witches.

For this reason, a duel weapon that would always kill with a single shot was asked for and created. Of course, this weapon is not particularly popular among theatergoing witches who are fans of drama.

One of the repentance enforcement agencies supervised by the Great Court of Heaven. Its area of jurisdiction is the 7th District. It is made up of 7 Inquisitors of Heresy, with the first-class Archbishop Dlanor at their head, as well with several Assistant Inquisitors. This body is tasked with performing heresy interrogations, carrying out executions, and sometimes bestowing redemption. However, in almost all cases, the Great Court of Heaven considers sending them only after the completion of a heresy interrogation and a tentative guilty verdict, so they are, practically speaking, no different than an execution squad.

Their spectacular achievements are great in number, and they are extremely well-known, even among the other agencies. Other famous enforcement agencies include the "SSVD" of the 8th District. It is rumored that this group's leader, 'Wizard-Hunting Wright', also known as the Twenty Wedges, is even more powerful than Dlanor.

One of the Repentance Enforcement Agencies under the direct supervision of the Great Court of Heaven. Responsible for the 8th District.

It has a long history, even among the other enforcement agencies, and is known for its strict and fundamentalist attitude.

Many say that they do not keep up with the times, but they are also highly praised by some for continuing to preserve the basis of the law's spirit to this very day.

It is traditional for their Head Inquisitor of Heresy to inherit the name "Wright".

A weapon for emergencies used by official Inquisitors of Heresy belonging to Eiserne Jungfrau. Dlanor's primary weapon. Unlike a normal weapon, whose purposes is to cause physical damage, this special tool is known as a conceptual weapon, and it is used to deny the existence of people.

Regardless of whether the target is physical, mental, or conceptual, it is impossible to use any defensive concept, such as physical barriers, mental isolation, and conceptual inheritance, to defend against this weapon. Because the concepts themselves are denied, even the concept of resisting an attack does not exist, and it is impossible for the target to endure regardless of their stamina. Furthermore, all supernatural methods of buying time, such as amelioration, time reversal, revivals, and inheritance are impossible. Because denials of concepts conform to verdict procedures dictated by the Great Court, all future concepts that disobey them will be denied immediately. In addition, when the Red Key forms a complete barrier, all concepts of evasion cannot be successful.

Defense is impossible, evasion is impossible, buying time is impossible. This ultimate conceptual weapon is the embodiment of these three impossibilities.

A strict investigation by the Great Court of Heaven is required for the use of the Red Key. Because of this, the very act of dispatching Dlanor, who arms herself with it, is equivalent to a death sentence.

The primary weapons used by official Inquisitors of Heresy belonging to Eiserne Jungfrau.

Like the Red Key, it is a conceptual weapon, but instead of denying the existence of concepts, it is used to create self-doubt and forces others to deny themselves. For this reason, it is called the Blue Key of Reflection, in contrast with the Red Key of Judgment. Unlike the Red Key, it is possible to evade and defend against it. However, while the Red Key has severe restrictions regarding how it can be used, the Blue Key can be wielded with great ease and manipulated at will in all situations.

Furthermore, because the shape of conceptual weapons is purely conceptual, their outward appearance differs depending on the individual Inquisitor. In Dlanor's case, they appear as a long sword and a short sword, but some use them in the form of spears or guns, while others make them take shape as phenomena such as magic or miracles. The red and blue charms used by Gertrude and Cornelia are yet another shape taken by these keys.

Ciconia

Aerial Augmented Infantry, otherwise known as Gauntlet Knights, are soldiers recruited by militaries all over the world and chosen to wield Gauntlets, devices worn on their left arms that grant them various abilities. Gauntlet Knights are said to be fighter jets and aircraft carriers combined into one, having firepower and defense that far surpasses either of them.

While Knights are capable of feats such as flying and reflecting bullets, there are still risks to be had; improper use of Ricochet Flying can cause Knights to go blind. Test cases of Knights trying to use the Dimension Container and exploding are also common.

Due to the intense amount of training and the high P3 levels required, only kids and teenagers are capable of becoming Knights; there are only a select few adults who can use Gauntlets, if barely.

The Eight Million System, abbreviated as 8MS, or Eimiss, is a series of nanomachine systems present throughout the A3W world.

Named after a Japanese belief that eight million kami existed in all things, 8MS was first invented in B3W by the Yaoyorozu Nanotech Firm and designed to alter the Earth’s environment to make it more habitable to humans. Since then, countless types of 8MS have been designed for various functions, from purifying the atmosphere and eliminating odors to affecting the rate at which plants grow.

8MS is also present within the human body, with Gauntlet Knights using Anti-G 8MS, necessary implants that allow them to perform Ricochet Flying without destroying their bodies.

The widespread nature of 8MS and the potential for harm to the body is present, but creation of malicious 8MS is theoretically impossible due to how tightly the International Peace Mediation Association monitors 8MS research worldwide.

A Selcom is technology existing in the A3W world that acts like a computer inside people's brains. People can chat with friends in virtual rooms and play games while focusing on other things in the real world. Selcom usage is tied with P3 levels, as higher levels means a Selcom can be used more easily due to the stress it puts on the brain.

Selcoms have had much technology and apps developed for it, but the most popular is Kizuna, a translation tool which allows users all over the world to easily form friendships with others.

Selcom also comes with Keropoyo, an AI.

Parallel Processing Power, or P3, is an important part of Gauntlet Knight training. Parallel Processing is where Knights are able to multitask, often focusing on things in real life as they do other things in virtual reality such as playing games or talking in chat rooms. Higher P3 levels means Knights are more adept at multitasking, conserving energy, and combat.

In order to become a Knight, children have to train in P3 as soon as they are born. The stress of constant training on their brain can sometimes lead to Knights becoming Congenital Parallel Processors (CPPs), who develop alternate personalities that can interact with the main personalities as if they were separate people. Even if one personality is in control all the time, it appears that alternate personalities can continue to do things on their own. CPPs are seen to be very skilled Knights.

Character Profiles

Almighty Beings

Almighty Beings

God	The Witch of Theatergoing, Drama, and Spectating
The Creator	Featherine Augustus Aurora

Voyagers

Voyagers

The Witch of Miracles	The Witch of Certainty	The Witch of Pieces	Lord Christmas
Bernkastel	Lambdadelta	Piece	Santa Claus

Higurashi

Gods

Gods

Oyashiro-sama	The New Oyashiro-sama	Devil	Ancient God
Hanyuu Furude	Eua	Une	Tamurahime no Mikoto

Humans

Hinamizawa Villagers

Reincarnation of Oyashiro-sama	Trapmaster	Kyute Mode	Sonozaki Family's Heir
Rika Furude	Satoko Hōjō	Ryuuguu Rena	Sonozaki Mion

The Magician of Words	Sonozaki Family's Black Sheep	Satoko's big brother	Curry Demon
Keiichi Maebara	Sonozaki Shion	Satoshi Hōjō	Chie Rumiko

Police

The Old Detective	Investigator from TMPD	Chief Inspector	Okinomiya Police Officer
Ōishi Kuraudo	Akasaka Mamoru	Tomoe Minai	Kumagai Katsuya

Tokyo

34	First Lieutenant	Coach	Leader of the Yamainu
Takano Miyo	Tomitake Jirō	Irie Kyōsuke	Tetsurō Okonogi

Umineko

Witches

The Golden and Endless Witch	The Golden and Endless Sorcerer	The Witch of Truth	The Witch of the Future
Beatrice	Battler Ushiromiya	Erika Furudo	Eva-Beatrice

The Witch of Resurrection	The Finite Witch	The Witch of Origins
Ange Ushiromiya	Virgilia	Maria Ushiromiya

Eiserne Jungfrau

Chief Inquisitor of Eiserne Jungfrau	Third-Class Priest	First-Class Priest
Dlanor A. Knox	Cornelia	Gertrude

SSVD

Chief Inquisitor of the SSVD	Heavenly Cat
Willard H. Wright	Diana

Furniture

Bernkastel's Familiars	Low-Level Furniture	27th Ranked Great Demon	33rd Ranked Great Demon
Wild Cats	Theory Goats	Ronove	Gaap

Purgatory Sisters	Kinzo's Furniture	Kinzo's Furniture	The Imperial Guard Corps
The Seven Stakes of Purgatory	Shannon	Kanon	The Chiester Sisters

16th Ranked Great Demon	34th Ranked Great Demon	64th Ranked Great Demon
Zepar	Furfur	Flauros

Ushiromiya Family

Head of the Ushiromiya Family	2nd Ranked of Ushiromiya Family	3rd Ranked of Ushiromiya Family	4th Ranked of Ushiromiya Family
Kinzo Ushiromiya	Krauss Ushiromiya	Eva Ushiromiya	Rudolf Ushiromiya

5th Ranked of Ushiromiya Family	6th Ranked of Ushiromiya Family	7th Ranked of Ushiromiya Family	Forgery
Rosa Ushiromiya	Jessica Ushiromiya	George Ushiromiya	Black Battler

10th Ranked of Ushiromiya Family	11th Ranked of Ushiromiya Family	12th Ranked of Ushiromiya Family	The Successor of the Ushiromiya Family
Natsuhi Ushiromiya	Hideyoshi Ushiromiya	Kyrie Ushiromiya	Lion Ushiromiya

Servants

Doctor	Head Butler	Elderly Servant	Ushiromiya Family's Chef
Terumasa Nanjo	Genji Ronoue	Chiyo Kumasawa	Toshiro Gohda

Ciconia

Warcat

Grand Master of the Order of the Public Bath	Super Genius	Auxiliary Major General
Miyao Mitake	Jayden	Gunhild Gustafsson

Grave Mole

Second Lieutenant	Clay Girl	The Pandora
Chloe Ironside	Lilja Viljakainen	Koshka

Baibao

COU's Queen of Aerial Augmented Infantry	The Stubborn Warrior
Lingji Liu	Momotake	Aysha

Suparna

Sujatha	Andry	Rukhshana

Thalathat Suyuf

Naima	Stanisław	Naomi

Yeladot Shavit

Leah	Stephania	Fatma

Squad 601

Rethabile	Ishak	Abdou

Cairo Memorial Squad

Noor	Mariana	Gannet

Healthy Military Balance Oversight Committee

Maricarmen	Valentina

The Three Kings

King of Fury	King of Ridicule	King of Sorrow

Others

Grand Master of the Order of Prometheus	Grand Master of the Order of Wisteria
Seshat	Toujirou Mitake

Trianthology

Witches

The Witch of Gutting
Alice

Higanbana

Yokai

The 1st Ranked School Youkai	Reaper of the Thirteenth Step	The Dancing Higanbana	Azami the Vengeful
The Headmaster	Izanami	Higanbana	Azami

Kyou of the Mirror	Renoir of The Art Room	Sumire of the Twilight	Mesomeso-san
Kyou	Renoir	Sumire	Marie Moriya

Second Rank from the Shadows	Hameln of the Music Room	Guardian Deity
Black Tea Gentleman	Hameln	Sakunoshin