Ruth Orcus

Ruth Orcus (ルース・オルクス), born Ruth, was an orphan that lived with Moorin at her orphanage in the Kingdom of Velka. He later joined the Liberators after he and his fellow orphans were abducted by he Holy Church. He would eventually become the head craftsman of the Verand Workshop (formerly Orcus Workshop) in honor of Karg D. Verand.

Appearance
Ruth was a young boy with spiky black hair.

As an adult, he had a tall frame with grizzled features of a hardened craftsman.

Personality
Ruth is rash and can be rude at times, but cares very much about his family. He later takes it upon himself to act more like a leader to his fellow orphans after Dylan becomes comatose.

Although he was not afraid to speak him mind, Ruth was hesitant to admit anything that he considered too embarrassing to reveal in public.

After discovering his Job as a Synergist, Ruth became utterly focused on using his transmutation Magic as much as possible. Like Oscar, he tended to go overboard when implementing various features on his creations that others consider unnecessary, and even dangerous.

Biography
One day when Oscar was visiting Moorin's orphanage in the Kingdom of Velka's capital Velnika, where Ruth and the other children he grew up with were living, he detected an unfamiliar person inside. As Oscar saw that it was a beautiful girl named Miledi, he was about to attack her due to her childish antics, but Ruth and the other kids suddenly arrived to stop him and claimed that she was a guest. During dinner, the kids were bragging to Miledi about how great Oscar was, but it quickly changed when Ruth claimed that Oscar was weak due to not using his abilities as a Synergist to create anything that he considered to be impressive at the Orcus Workshop. Moorin immediately demanded that Ruth apologize to Oscar in a various serious tone, but he refused to do so. In addition, the oldest of the children, Dylan also tried to stop Ruth from insulting Oscar, but he still refused to listen. Miledi then refuted Ruth's accusations by claiming that she could tell how great a person Oscar was, and that she had found someone very special to be with. Everyone else was shocked by Miledi's declaration, to which she responded by jokingly accusing Oscar of already having found himself two young wives in Katy and Corrin. This prompted Ruth to insult Oscar further by calling him weak, as well as a pervert. The conversation ended when Oscar threw Miledi out and told her to stay away.

One week later, Ruth and the other orphans were abducted by the Holy Church and taken to the kingdom's mines. Ruth had been separated from the rest of the orphans due to being incompatible with the experiments that the church was conducting, and was placed in a holding cell with other children that were there for the same reason. After thinking back to the time he spent with Oscar when they were younger and remembering being told by him that "It’s the eldest’s job to protect his younger siblings", Ruth resolved to free himself and the other children. While there were no guards nearby, Ruth grabbed a small stone and outlined a magic circle near the cell's bars. When he was finished, he attempted to transmute the bars open due to him also possessing the "Synergist" Job like Oscar. Unfortunately, Ruth was unable to create an opening for him and the others to escape. It was immediately afterwords that a templar knight came to check on the children after seeing the light from Ruth's magic. Realizing that he was trying to escape, the knight was prepared to kill Ruth, but was suddenly taken out by Oscar after he arrived to rescue the missing children. Bewildered by Oscar's sudden arrival, all Ruth could do was call out "brother" to him, despite having not called him that for a long time. Oscar then noticed Ruth's earlier attempt to use his transmutation magic to escape, to which Ruth told him that it didn't work. Oscar revealed that it was because the bars were made of a special material that dissolves Mana, known as "Sealstone". Oscar then managed to free Ruth and the others by transmuting the bars by pouring more mana in them than they could withstand. He then approached Ruth and praised him for his earlier efforts in trying to escape since that was what lead him to the children. This ordeal caused Ruth to re-evaluate his opinion on Oscar entirely. Oscar soon noticed that the other children from the orphanage were not present, to which Ruth explained that they were taken away to another location.

When Oscar lead the children out of the cell, he instructed Ruth to take them to the surface through a passage that he transmuted as a way for him to escape after he would rescue the rest of the children. As the other children headed out, Ruth stayed behind in order to apologize to Oscar for how he had previously mistreated him, but was stopped by a sudden incoming spell. Oscar managed to pull Ruth away to safety before he was struck, but saw that the passageway he made was now blocked. Furthermore, the two of them saw that they were being surrounded by 10 templar knights. As Oscar was prepared to fight them, Ruth didn't think it would be possible to escape, and begged him to reconsider. Oscar, however, assured Ruth that he would protect him. One of the templar knights then offered Oscar the chance to save himself if he let them have Ruth, as well as beg for his life, to which Oscar rejected the offer in a very curt manner. This immediately prompted the knights to attack him. Despite their best efforts, they were all killed by Oscar thanks to his powerful array of artifacts. Oscar's display of fighting prowess utterly amazed Ruth and realized exactly how incredible he was as a Synergist. He then properly apologized to Oscar for how he had treated him in the past. As Oscar sent Ruth back on the path he reopened, Ruth told Oscar where he could find the other children based on the various minerals he remembered seeing during his time in captivity.

After Oscar, and later Miledi, rescued the other children, Ruth and his family were taken in by Miledi's group, the Liberators, for their protection. Unfortunately, both Dylan and Katy were unconscious due to being experimented on by the Holy Church, and could not be healed through normal means. They eventually reached the Liberators' hidden village at the bottom of Reisen Gorge. During that time, Ruth assisted them by using his Synergist skills to repair whatever he could, as well as creating traps around the village in case of an enemy attack, Months later, the Liberators were attacked by mutated demons from the Igdol Empire. They were forced to evacuate, with Ruth having to carry Dylan out. They were eventually met up with members from the Schnee Clan and found refuge with them in their hidden village in the Obsidian Tundra. Soon afterwards, they were met with Meiru Melusine, as she could use her own Ancient Magic to heal Katy and Dylan. While she had been successful at awakening them, the damage they received to their souls was beyond even her ability to restore. As such, the two of them were only capable of executing the simplest of movements, and could not communicate properly.

Relationships

 * Oscar Orcus - Ruth looked up to Oscar while they both lived at the orphanage. He learned the basics of being a Synergist from Oscar and aspired to be like him someday. After Oscar began working at the Orcus Workshop, Ruth lost his respect for him and treated him badly due to Oscar not using his abilities to create weapons or anything that Ruth considered to be impressive. After Oscar rescued him and the other children from the Holy Church, Ruth regretted how he treated Oscar after seeing all of his powerful Artifacts and regained his admiration for him. It had gotten to a point where several of the Liberators were annoyed with how much praise Ruth was openly giving him. Ruth was the one person Oscar choose to visit him once the latter was forced to spend he rest of his life in his Labyrinth. During their time together, Oscar would train Ruth into becoming a skilled craftsman.
 * Moorin - Ruth's foster mother.
 * Dylan - Ruth looked up to Dylan as the oldest orphan, but would become disturbed at his perverted habit of ogling big breasts (particularly Meiru's)
 * Corrin - Ruth was very protective of Corrin.
 * Susha Liv Doumibral - The two of them had a complicated relationship, which usually ended up with them arguing. It was implied that Ruth had a crush on Susha, but was too proud to admit it, as well as knowing that Susha was in love with Naiz Gruen Caliente.

Powers & Abilities

 * Mater Craftsman - Ruth was a highly skilled craftsman. During his youth, he had developed his transmuting magic at a fast pace by simple watching Oscar transmute things when they both lived at the orphanage. While he was with the Liberators, Ruth continued to improve his transmuting and manage to create various traps for the base. After studying under Oscar following the Liberators's defeat, Ruth went on to create many powerful artifacts that would have an impact on Tortus's history over the centuries. He was skilled enough that he even impressed Hajime Nagumo.

Skills

 * Transmute - The base skill of the "Synergist" Job class. It allows the user to control, transform and manipulate any kind of ores, minerals or materials in any way or shape the user desires.

Weapons & Equipment

 * Gloves - A pair of black gloves given to him by Oscar in order to enhance his skills as a Synergist. They had transmutation circles engraved into them, and strengthened the cohesiveness of the user’s mana. The range of their use, however, was limited to within a two-meter radius.
 * Green Glowsone Grenades  - Ruth created flashbombs made of Green Glowstone.

Trivia

 * The name Ruth is derived from the Hebrew "re‛ûth > rûth", meaning "friendship, companion, mate, neighbor woman".
 * Among the artifacts Ruth crafted as an adult include over half of the weapons used by the Hero Party, such as Hajime Nagumo's transmutation gloves, Kaori Shirasaki's staff and Shizuku Yaegashi's knight sword.