Tianon

Tianon of Teki (狄のティアノン) is one of the three rival characters introduced in Cannon Dancer.

The sole female member of the mercenary group Teki^[1], Tianon is a lean and athletic fighter with very powerful and flexible techniques. Tianon is a tall blonde woman whose hair is styled into a single short ponytail, clad in a full-body brownish-gold suit with a purple vest on top and large leg greaves in gold and dark purple, and wearing a black and red cape with the image of a phoenix. Described as cheerful and bloodthirsty, Tianon is a highly skilled martial artists that can only enjoy fights to the death where both participants risk their lives^[1]. Her relationship with Kirin is complex, as she harbors very strong feelings for him^[2] but at the same time has also wanted to face him in a battle to the death for a long time.^[3]

Story

As the other members of Teki, Tianon confronts and attempts to kill Kirin after he was betrayed by Jack Layzon. They all do so for personal reasons: Tianon takes this opportunity to force Kirin into a duel to the death as she has always desired.

As the Teki's fighting order is based on player choice, Tianon can face Kirin at one of three different locations. If she comes out first, she faces him at an underground chamber within the mining complex in Cabil, exclaiming how she's been looking forward for the day they'll kill each other in battle. If she comes out second, she faces him aboard an airship flying over the Indian Ocean, exclaiming how Kirin's beauty "sets her body ablaze" before battle. If she is the last surviving Teki, she instead appears in front of Kirin at the Forest of Memory blocking the path leading into Prague.

Tianon stops Kirin's advance into Prague and tells him how brave he was back then, asking him if he has forgotten the day he lost to her technique and died. She then commands him to choose the place he once died as a way to remember it all. When finally defeated in the simulation, Tianon realizes she was the one killed in it, and wishes new life by Slaver so she could fight Kirin once again. As an unique detail from the other Teki upon defeat, her body is destroyed but her cape stays behind, slowly floating down as Kirin prepares to continue his quest.

In the final confrontation at Saskiraf, Slaver uses her powers to bring the three Teki back from death to stop the advance of a battle-lust Kirin. They proclaim to have developed an invincible formation in Hell they call "Die Rudel Taktik" and attack Kirin at the same time. Undeterred, Kirin manages to beat them all and continues ahead.

Abilities

Tianon is an incredibly talented fighter with a martial arts technique that closely resembles Kirin's Secret Style, focusing on incredibly powerful limb strikes. Her kicks are described as being "capable of creating a vacuum"^[1], producing large shockwaves of energy with each strike, in a similar way to Kirin's ability to create plasma arcs by kicking at full power. Tianon's arcs are, however, larger than Kirin's, and she's shown to be capable of using any of her limbs to produce them. Tianon compliments her powerful fighting style with elegant and refined movements, dancing across the air with the finesse of a ballerina as she approaches and attacks her target.

During battle, Tianon moves across the area by spinning in mid-air, usually trying to position close to Kirin to start attacking. Once she finds solid ground, Tianon proceeds to strike in Kirin's direction with several shockwave attacks. Thanks to her highly flexible body, she can turn and twist her body around to angle the attacks as directly to Kirin's position as possible. She performs several attacks from her position before moving away. As she takes flight, her next action is to glide at Kirin's position in an attempt to grab him, only stopping if successful, if avoided or kicked away. Sometimes during her kick phase, she'll also perform another attack where she creates several explosions in a circle to Kirin's position. This attack is only used if Kirin is at the right mid-distance from her. Tianon repeats this cycle of moving around and attacking until defeated.

Since Tianon's attacks have a longer range than Kirin's attacks even when powered-up, the best strategy is to avoid her when she attacks and instead intercept her when she flies around the stage. When hit, Tianon retreats and changes directions to attack from a different angle. While pursuing her, one has to look out for her grab move and other attacks. Using the shadow clones to strike at her from a safe distance is also recommended.

Although her attacks can be interrupted if hit fast enough, it's hard to approach her while she's in the middle of attacking due to her speed and superior range. She can also be grabbed off mid-air by Kirin's throws, although this is a risky move given Tianon's speed and her own grab move.

Attacks

• Shockwaves: Once Tianon reaches solid ground, she starts striking in Kirin's direction with two separate energy arcs, produced by the act of kicking and punching in his direction. The two arcs come in parallel to each other, and Tianon can twist her body around to change the angle of her attack and aim at Kirin's position directly. Tianon attacks several times in quick succession, never leaving her position until done or when hit. This attack is long and has more range than Kirin's own plasma arcs, so it is difficult to approach Tianon while she does this and not get hit.
• Turning Cape: Instead of doing spins while gliding, Tianon performs several moves with an aura effect as she rushes at Kirin. If Kirin makes contact at any time, Tianon performs a grab move of her own where she grabs at Kirin's head with her cape, spins him around her body and when on top of her, kicks him upwards. This can't be stopped once initiated.
• Explosions: Tianon stops her movement and moves her arms in a circular motion clockwise, releasing a series of explosions in a circular radius at around mid-distance from her, aimed at Kirin's position. Only done if Kirin is far enough from her.
• Taunt: If not engaged in battle, Tianon leans forward and dares Kirin to fight her, then leans back and laughs. She is left open for attacks during this action.

Design Notes

Tianon, like the other Teki, was initially planned to be one of four selectable characters, but difficulties in adapting them led to this idea being scrapped, and they were reworked as rival characters for Kirin. Their design was decided as part of an internal competition: Isuke would issue a 1-sentence description for each character, staff members would create designs for it and they'd later choose the best one among them^[4]. Tianon's description as given by Isuke was simply "long range attacks".

Initially, Utata Kiyoshi's design was chosen for her. Kiyoshi's design included an elaborate headdress, a large collar and a one-piece leotard imprinted with the same Kanji emblazoned on Kirin's chest^[5]. During the sprite creation, however, it was decided Tianon's design lacked definition and felt very flat, plus it was difficult to adapt into sprites. So in the end it was discarded, and the design of another staff member, Nishiiro-san, was selected instead. Nishiiro was also in charge of drawing her sprites.^[6]

Tianon's name is borrowed from a previous game by Isuke, the 1991 visual novel-styled Nostalgia 1907. In the game, there's a passenger on the eponynous cruiser Nostalgia called Tianon. This Tianon is a middle-eastern fortune teller who the player has to interrogate like the other passengers in order to solve the mystery of the game's main plot. This character has puffy black hair tied over a bandanna, traditional Arabian styled clothing including a jacket and transparent pants, and can be found in her cabin, sitting at a table.

Gallery

Dialogue art

Main artwork

Second artwork

Old artwork from debut

Concept art

2023 rerelease artwork

Anniversary card given by Gamest

Gift card included in the 2023 rerelease

Twitter banner by Strictly Limited Games

Face sketch by Utata Kiyoshi

References