Veneration

Human Rising Arc

Foreword

Well, I guess I'll say hello.

This is my first time in general posting content online for others, let alone a project as big as I intend for this to be. That being said, I do have a definitive goal in mind for this work. Veneration is first and foremost a project of passion. A passion inspired by several sources. First of course being Campione(!) Funnily enough, despite my immense appreciation for Campione(!) I do have strong criticisms of the work. I don't just mean the anime; I've actually read the original Campione(!) light novels. Foremost is canon Godou. I understand what he was supposed to be, but it never sat right with me. In my opinion canonical Godou was never developed correctly; his inbuilt contradictory nature was more of a problem than a strong point for the story. Combined with my frustrations with other aspects of the work and I started imagining what could have been.

Which led to me reading reading fanfic of Campione(!). In that miasma I found a certain story called 'God Slaying Blade Works' by Marcus Galen Sands. Reading that epic piece of work, which I strongly suggest you go read if you haven't, convinced me to try my own hand at an AU of Campione(!). Leading me too here.

Let me reiterate, this will be an AU of Campione(!), with light elements of HighSchool DxD and other series. Some characters and plot lines from these works will be incorporated, many others will not. For those hoping for a large helping of DxD cast don't get your hopes up. They will be there but only the ones that work within the confines of the world I'm setting. For instance, DxD Ophis will not be making an appearance; she simply doesn't work with the word building I'll be doing. Anyways. Veneration will be my take on those characters and situations. They'll be acting as I interpret them from the canon. Their behaviors and thoughts will be driven by what I consider to be their core essence. That said this is also an AU. Different paths lead to different experiences, thus different outcomes. Meaning the characters from others works may behave differently in Veneration than they would in their official series. I will attempt to do them justice, but that's all I can promise.

Now, moving on to the meat of the matter. Veneration will be my take on Campione(!). Initially the story will heavily follow Campione(!) canon (light novels). After a certain stage that will no longer be the case and Veneration will be in full AU territory. I have several reasons for writing the story as such. I'll avoid divulging specifics so as not ruin the story, but the main reason is the canon cast. They will have a central role in the story and its themes. If I wanted to avoid overly similar plot lines, I'd have to push the canon cast out of meaningful roles. Which I didn't want to do as I appreciate the characters. And for those of you wondering yes, Godou will be in the story. It took some work, but I managed to give him a meaningful role while keeping him somewhat true to Campione(!) canon. No, he will not be a Campione.

Veneration will follow an OC. I said OC, definitely not an SI. I have no interest in doing that sort of work, because frankly, I'm not all that interesting. At least not enough to drone on about myself. For those of you who issues with OC led stories I understand, I've read bad OC centric fics myself. But this is how I want to do this fic, so that's how it's going to be. If you can't accept that, well, no one is forcing you to read this, so goodbye.

For those of you who are still here, all I can say is thank you. This will likely be a mess, but I will do my best to write this ambitious fic from beginning to end. I am happy to receive criticism whether positive or negative, so long as it's constructive. I'm not saying don't flame, I'm just saying it will be ignored if it's just plain insults without actual critique.

Now let's get this show on the road.