The Astral Plane Rank : Berserk Guide

[POW]

To make this short I wanted to create a sort of gauge in terms of ranking astral beings and creatures tied to the Astral plane in the Berserk Universe. The 3 worlds of the Soul (Ideas), Human world(Living) & Astral Plane(Dead) are interconnected.
We know that the Astral plane is connected to the psychical world via mental energy of humans that have an effect on shaping the Astral world and for creating creatures such as trolls etc. There is also a clear Shinto religious aspect via spirits that have connection to physical elements such as Tress , rivers and the basic elements.

*Ranking is not based on fighting ability but the depth of connection to the Astral realm.

So I'll just dive into it and add some notes at the end.

S-Rank - Superior Pure Astral beings (way too dense or powerful for the physical plane)
Idea of Evil
Four Kings of the World: Gedula(Fire), Ve(Water), Ate(Air) & Markt (Earth)


A-Rank - High level Astral beings (usually too dense or powerful for the physical plane)
Godhand: (Void, Femto, Ubik, Slan, Conrad )
Spirits: ???

B-Rank - Mid High level Astral beings
Elite apostles: (Emporer Ganishka, Zod, Locus, Grunbeld, Irvine, Egg apostle)
Interstice: Skull Knight
Spirits: Hanafubuku(Elf king ), Kundalini (Water Snake Spirit), Magatsukami (The Blaze Wheel Spirit), The Lady of the Deep Water, God of the Rotting Roots
Creatures: Sea God

C-Rank - Mid level Astral beings
Average apostles: (Count, Wyald, Snake Baron & Mozgus)
Spirits: Sylphs(wind) , Salamanders(fire), Undines(water) & Gnomes(earth)
Creatures: Ogres, Trolls, Kelpie, Hydra, & Dragons

D-Rank - Low level Astral beings
Spirits: Fairies & Bownie
Creatures: Incubus


Notes:
- There may be beings technically SS-Rank making them above that of 4 Kings and Idea of Evil ...
- Ranking doesn't necessarily mean all beings of the same class are equal
- I left out humans and witches on purpose so as not to muddle things but may add them in later
- I separated things into different sub-classes for clarity as Spirits which are connected to nature and Creatures which are created from the fear and subconscious mind etc.
- We don't have much info on the World of Souls(Ideas) and how it effects the Physical and Astral world
- The Astral Planes has depths such as the Abyss the deepest part where souls who have accepted death pass through.

 

[shionoro]

To make this short I wanted to create a sort of gauge in terms of ranking astral beings and creatures tied to the Astral plane in the Berserk Universe. The 3 worlds of the Soul (Ideas), Human world(Living) & Astral Plane(Dead) are interconnected.
We know that the Astral plane is connected to the psychical world via mental energy of humans that have an effect on shaping the Astral world and for creating creatures such as trolls etc. There is also a clear Shinto religious aspect via spirits that have connection to physical elements such as Tress , rivers and the basic elements.

*Ranking is not based on fighting ability but the depth of connection to the Astral realm.

So I'll just dive into it and add some notes at the end.

S-Rank - Superior Pure Astral beings (way too dense or powerful for the physical plane)
Idea of Evil
Four Kings of the World: Gedula(Fire), Ve(Water), Ate(Air) & Markt (Earth)


A-Rank - High level Astral beings (usually too dense or powerful for the physical plane)
Godhand: (Void, Femto, Ubik, Slan, Conrad )
Spirits: ???

B-Rank - Mid High level Astral beings
Elite apostles: (Emporer Ganishka, Zod, Locus, Grunbeld, Irvine, Egg apostle)
Interstice: Skull Knight
Spirits: Hanafubuku(Elf king ), Kundalini (Water Snake Spirit), Magatsukami (The Blaze Wheel Spirit), The Lady of the Deep Water, God of the Rotting Roots
Creatures: Sea God

C-Rank - Mid level Astral beings
Average apostles: (Count, Wyald, Snake Baron & Mozgus)
Spirits: Sylphs(wind) , Salamanders(fire), Undines(water) & Gnomes(earth)
Creatures: Ogres, Trolls, Kelpie, Hydra, & Dragons

D-Rank - Low level Astral beings
Spirits: Fairies & Bownie
Creatures: Incubus


Notes:
- There may be beings technically SS-Rank making them above that of 4 Kings and Idea of Evil ...
- Ranking doesn't necessarily mean all beings of the same class are equal
- I left out humans and witches on purpose so as not to muddle things but may add them in later
- I separated things into different sub-classes for clarity as Spirits which are connected to nature and Creatures which are created from the fear and subconscious mind etc.
- We don't have much info on the World of Souls(Ideas) and how it effects the Physical and Astral world
- The Astral Planes has depths such as the Abyss the deepest part where souls who have accepted death pass through.

What gave you the idea to include apostles beside the godhand as being connected to the astral realm?
I never thought they had any connection at all and were deeply rooted in the human world..
Unlike fairies, there were never apostles which any human had problems seeing. They also don't have their special hidings spots outside of the human world, such as trolls.

--- Double Post Merged, Aug 28, 2016, Original Post Date: Aug 28, 2016 ---

So, I'd think it goes more like this: There are ebing with a naturally close connection to the astral world, for example fairies.

However, humans and apostles alike can come into deep contact with it.

While the branded ones are connected with the astral world so that they can be haunted by astral beings, apostles can even become god hand which reside very deeply in the astral world. Similarly, i'D think the egg apostle was connected to it. But guys like grunbelt? I think their only real connection is that they are dragged down into the abyss when they die into the idea of evil.

The idea of evil (if we assume it canon) however is not an astral born being, but comes out of the world of ideals, much like the dragons, unicorns and hydras which have appeared in the berserk world, and possibly the sea god. It is very possible that the sea god had no connection at all to the astral world and came out of the world of ideals after griffith disturbed the realms.
It seems to me like a lot of creates are born in the world of ideals and then just swap over into the astral world, like the trolls.

So, i think if we talk about connection, i think it depends on how deeply or high you can go on the astral plane.
I'd think that a witch is able to go deeper than any given normal apostle while still making it back.
Apostles probably need the interstice to enter, while entities like the fairy king don't and can move between the world.

However, the god hand (as until now) could not freely move between the astral and physical plane.

It is hard to rank that.

 

[POW]

What gave you the idea to include apostles beside the godhand as being connected to the astral realm?
I never thought they had any connection at all and were deeply rooted in the human world..
Unlike fairies, there were never apostles which any human had problems seeing. They also don't have their special hidings spots outside of the human world, such as trolls.

--- Double Post Merged, Aug 28, 2016, Original Post Date: Aug 28, 2016 ---

So, I'd think it goes more like this: There are ebing with a naturally close connection to the astral world, for example fairies.

However, humans and apostles alike can come into deep contact with it.

While the branded ones are connected with the astral world so that they can be haunted by astral beings, apostles can even become god hand which reside very deeply in the astral world. Similarly, i'D think the egg apostle was connected to it. But guys like grunbelt? I think their only real connection is that they are dragged down into the abyss when they die into the idea of evil.

The idea of evil (if we assume it canon) however is not an astral born being, but comes out of the world of ideals, much like the dragons, unicorns and hydras which have appeared in the berserk world, and possibly the sea god. It is very possible that the sea god had no connection at all to the astral world and came out of the world of ideals after griffith disturbed the realms.
It seems to me like a lot of creates are born in the world of ideals and then just swap over into the astral world, like the trolls.

So, i think if we talk about connection, i think it depends on how deeply or high you can go on the astral plane.
I'd think that a witch is able to go deeper than any given normal apostle while still making it back.
Apostles probably need the interstice to enter, while entities like the fairy king don't and can move between the world.

However, the god hand (as until now) could not freely move between the astral and physical plane.

It is hard to rank that.

It's already stated there is overlap between at least 2 of the 3 worlds at any time and thus there is deep cross connection in all 3 worlds. The Astral World is deeply connected to humans via their mental thoughts and subconscious fears and desires which shape and even create some of the beings there. However it's not just humans but also all living things that have a representative cross energy that extends to the Astral world hence why there are Water Spirits and Elves etc. things connected to nature.

Witches specialize in tapping into the Astral realm which allows them to travel and fly using their Astral body and they use magic by making connections to Astral Spirit beings.

The GodHand and various apostles are humans who have used the various Behielt's which open a special doorway to the Astral Realm and are transformed. The different level of Apostles are measurement of their Astral presence with the largest being the Godhand which are too dense to exists in the physical world under normal circumstances. That's why Griffith had to go through a special ceremony in order to be return to the psychical plane as normally his Astral form is too dense to exist in the physical plane.

For the record Grunbeld is an apostle as he transforms into giant dragon

- Just as weak astral creatures such as Incubus can only appear at night and have a very weak footprint in the physical world. Think of the physical plane like water buoyancy an object that is too light can't even break water tension but can walk on water like a small bug. An object that is too dense like a stone will simply sink to the bottom. In order to float requires an object be dense enough to break though water tension but not so dense that they sink rather than float.

If you prefer an astronomy analogy think of it like the Goldielock zone where the planets environment can't be too hot or too cold for life i.e. to exist in the psychical plane requires a certain level of Astral density not too much or to little.

 

[Demonspeed]

I don't see why the Four Kings would be above the God Hand. Both can't manifest in the physical plane under normal circumstances, but Wizards can become their vessels via spells, it's not very different from what the God Hand does. Plus we at least know that the latter can warp reality and predict the future to an extent while we are in the dark regarding the Kings. At the very least they should be at the same level.

Ganishka is stronger than the new Hawks. Zod was weaker than him and needed Guts' help to stop him. He is even more powerful in his Shiva form. So far no Apostle compare to him. As for the Skull Knight, he and Zod are evenly matched, if he uses his Sword of Actuation he's probably stronger. With all the hype about the Fairy Queen I can't imagine her below him. And I would not put some creatures like Dragons below the likes of Sylphs.

 

[POW]

I don't see why the Four Kings would be above the God Hand. Both can't manifest in the physical plane under normal circumstances, but Wizards can become their vessels via spells, it's not very different from what the God Hand does. Plus we at least know that the latter can warp reality and predict the future to an extent while we are in the dark regarding the Kings. At the very least they should be at the same level.

The 4 Kings are the Astral representatives of natural energy Fire, Water, Earth & Wind itself of course they are above the Godhand. We are talking about the base elements of mother nature a cornerstone of laws of the world. The Godhand are demon kings but even they recognize they are not god itself,

Wizards can act as conduits for a small amount of the 4 Kings power and yes the Gohand like Conrad & Slain can use mediums as we have seen. However the Gohand are humans who are transformed into demons by the Idea of Evil compared to Cornerstone spirits of ALL OF NATURE that the 4 Kings are.

Ganishka is stronger than the new Hawks. Zod was weaker than him and needed Guts' help to stop him. He is even more powerful in his Shiva form. So far no Apostle compare to him. As for the Skull Knight, he and Zod are evenly matched, if he uses his Sword of Actuation he's probably stronger. With all the hype about the Fairy Queen I can't imagine her below him. And I would not put some creatures like Dragons below the likes of Sylphs.

Also I did state this wasn't measure of purely fighting power but their astral presence and not all same ranks a exactly equal as it's gauge of range which has depths.

- Ganishka in his first form was unique because of how his powers worked. He was more like a mage because he used his astral powers to manipulate Water + Air to create moisture-mist body thus manipulates lighting. In his 2nd form his Astral presence may very well reach or near A rank.

- Zod, Skull Knight & Fairy Queen are all ranked as B-rank making them fairly strong astral bodies but their abilities are very different which is why they are separated by subclass.

- Slyphs & Dragons are both categorized as C-rank I merely separated them by subclass as Spirits & Creatures. It's tough to say since we have never seen Dragons in action but just as Kelpies are Water creatures I see Dragons as Fire creatures on a similar level.