Website and data research by 101Leafy.
Shin Megami Tensei II story, races, and official art
Shin Megami Tensei II
The Super Famicom manual (Atlus, 1994) tells the story of Tokyo Millennium, gives its timeline, and describes every demon race by alignment. Megaten Maniacs (Atlus, 2017) and Shin Megami Tensei Chronicles (Koei, 1996) print art of the characters and the bosses. 101Leafy translated the lines from the Japanese books.
Story
The great city once called Tokyo had been struck by one upheaval after another, and now it lived on as Tokyo Millennium... Tokyo Millennium, the city of the Messian church, which gathered the people's faith by preaching that the messiah would soon come down. It was built to bring about the thousand-year kingdom, but neither the messiah nor God has appeared there yet. Before anyone noticed, a strict line between classes had formed among its citizens.
The classes of Tokyo Millennium
The ruling body of the Millennium, known as the Center.
The Temple Knights, an elite force under the Center that also holds police power.
First-class citizens, allowed to go in and out of the Center.
Second-class citizens, allowed to own an arm terminal.
Common citizens, only allowed to live inside the Millennium.
Hawk
The Valhalla Area, the busiest part of Tokyo Millennium. Fights staked on life and death go on there today as always, and the crowds are wild for them. Lately a fighter called Hawk has appeared, just like a comet. The audience stared at his strength. He won fight after fight and drove the crowds wilder still. But no one knew where he came from or who he really was. Not even Hawk himself...
Timeline
199X, the Great Destruction of Tokyo: Thorman presses the ICBM button.
203X, the Great Flood of Tokyo: huge shifts in the earth's crust sink and flood the land around Tokyo.
203X, the Community is founded: a free group that took in anyone, Messian or Gaian.
204X, the rise of the Messian church, and the Gaian riots: the Gaia cult and Gaians who oppose Messian rule riot, and the Temple Knights put them down.
205X, the Center is finished: with great capital behind it, the old Cathedral is completed and named the Center, and the city-state plan is declared the Millennium. Demonoids: work on artificial life goes ahead to secure labor.
206X, the Millennium is nearly finished: Valhalla, the Factory (the production area), and the other places built to house the people are nearly complete. Casinos and other entertainment are added. Pollution: warming, the loss of the ozone layer, and radiation make the land outside the Millennium unlivable, so people crowd into the Millennium, a fully controlled environment. The Temple Knights become a special police: having put down several Gaian demonstrations and riots, the Temple Knights win the Center's favor and become an elite, and then something like a special police force, a sign that the Center is tightening its control.
20XX, and then the messiah was born...
Characters
Demon races
The manual sorts the races by alignment, from Light-Law to Dark-Neutral. Each race page quotes its line.
Bosses
Maps
Official art
