Ever Maiden (エヴァーメイデン ～堕落の園の乙女たち～, literally "Ever Maiden -The Maidens of the Garden of Sins-") is a Visual Novel of the Yuri Genre, developped by Liar-soft and first released in 2022 on PC, and 2023 on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, removing the adult content and adding a few short stories. Aside from being a romance, Ever Maiden is also a Sci-Fi story of the Clock Punk variety, examining the attempts of humanity to create a new society in a ravaged world, through the eyes of young girls chosen to be a part of a world-changing project to rebuild human society, according to a strict set of morals.
Isolated and locked away in a remote forest lies a strange and ominous school by the name of Puellarium, in which young girls from all over the land reside as Maidens, governed by a strict code of conduct. In its walls, cold-hearted values and repression of feelings are enforced upon them as they are trained towards a single goal: Becoming the Ever Maiden, a being destined to save humanity and revered as a goddess. Among the young Maidens in training are six people known as the Special Class, designating the very best of the entire school and the closest to become the Ever Maiden.
Each and every Maiden of the Puellarium harbor a strong and potent energy named "Ether", which allows them to use a special ability known as the "Power of Creation". Through special devices, this power can be used to create objects from thin air, such as plants, clothes or even spare parts and complex mechanisms, using knowledge found in books and learning machines using augmented reality. The Special Class is given access to all of these tools and special treatment to facilitate their learning, while the rest of the school belongs to the General Class, whose affinity with ether is weaker.
This daily routine is then suddenly disturbed in a strange series of events. During one of the regular morning prayers in the chapel, a mysterious girl appears before the door, seemingly lost and amnesiac, only remembering her name: Alouette. As she began to introduce herself, the usually silent clock tower began to roar as if attempting to warn the Maidens from a terrible disaster. Facing a possible expulsion from the Puellarium for trespassing on forbidden grounds, Alouette is saved by a Special Class student through a clever use of the school's rules: She is given a test to create a flower from scratch, as only Maidens in training can be allowed to stay.
Despite her precarious situation, Alouette surprisingly passes the test by creating a myriad of colorful flowers thanks to a strange vision in her memory, and is given a seat in the Special Class. After getting to know her six other classmates, she begins to explore the school and quickly discover its strange customs and cold rules, clashing with her own values from the outside world. Driven by an endless curiosity and wanting to recover her memories, she ends up involving herself in strange incidents and mysteries around the Puellarium, pointing to the greatest mystery of them all: Rook, the very best amongst all Maidens and the embodiment of the Puellarium's cold-hearted and inhuman values, yet saved Alouette from a certain death.
Tropes of Creation:
- After the End: Ever Maiden is implied to be set in a decaying world, as explained to the Maidens who are expected to dedicate their power to help mankind.
- Applied Phlebotinum: Most of the story and the setting involve the use of Ether, a life energy said to be the source of all things.
- Chromosome Casting: As usual for the genre, all of the characters are girls no matter what, while men are not mentioned and don't seem to exist in the setting. This becomes very important near the end of the story, as Alouette realizes that the concept of sex itself was also removed from their minds, thus erasing everything related to it, such as romance and the male gender.
- Closed Circle: The location of the Puellarium itself is unknown for security reasons, as all of the Maidens were transported inside it while unconscious. It is also forbidden to leave, and trying to escape is said to be very difficult, if not impossible because of the wild forest and white brambles surrounding the building and its walls.
- One-Gender School: Only girls seem to be enrolled in the Puellarium, and its only teacher is a woman. One of the reasons would be to remove from the girls' memories the very concept of male from their minds, as the scientists consider it an "unnecessary data" because of its relation to sex and romance, which can disturb their learning.
- The Power of Creation: All of the Maidens have a strong potential for creating things with Ether, ranked by individual ability.
- Two-Teacher School: The entire Puellarium is managed by Adler, who assumes the role of a teacher, headmistress, and janitor.
