Ark of Horus

Siegfried - Incomplete host

Strato - Incomplete host

Lyle - Host

Isaak - Imperfect host

Ferdinand - Host

Dietwald - Final host, becomes Ulysses II

The Ark of Horus, known as the Philosopher's Stone, is the main antagonistic force of Laigos SaGa, called by the latter name during most of the story's events. An artifact from the Lordless Lands that is rumored to contain the essence of every kind of magic and holds the secrets to attain divinity, the Ark is the collective consciousness of the entire population of Daskania, among others.

## The Ark's traits and personality

The Ark of Horus is a gemstone that varies in color and shape. It's one of the mightiest objects created by men. It also houses the essences of millions of different beings ranging from humans to demons, combining all those species' traits into a single consciousness and nature.

The Ark's goal is to offer as many souls as necessary to a device to remake humanity, with all essences converging to become intrinsic parts of a new being to fulfill their destiny by freeing themselves from God's oppression. As such, the Ark will attempt to sow as much chaos as possible to converge the fallen's souls into the device.

Any who holds the Ark has their soul consumed, becoming a vessel for it. Although its first owners, such as Aleister and Isaak, couldn't be controlled due to the Ark's dormant state. Such a dormant state means that its very consciousness doesn't know what it is or the meaning of its existence at first.

The Ark has shards that amplify someone's powers but doesn't have the side-effect of taking them over. Mateus is the only one known to tap into the entirety of the power of a shard of the Ark.

## Antiquity

### Background

In Antiquity, Daskania was an Empire in Elam, now called the Lordless Lands, and the first practitioners of magical powers, whose influence reached Avalon through the Darthians and even the Far East. Its elites, attempting to bypass the limitations of the human body, started making abominations using magic, animals, humans, and demons. When the faithful claimed this was a violation of God's laws, the elites disparaged their belief in God, claiming such laws are rooted in God's fear of humanity's potential.

Under this belief, the Daskanian elites waged war against Laigos, then ruled by the kingdom of the same name. The Daskanians overwhelmed their enemy with their magic and monsters. Laigos, for the following years, became a client state of Daskania and a testing ground for many of their twisted experimentations, eventually leading to the creation of mystics.

### Creation

While Daskania overwhelmed Laigos, it faced internal problems. The elites were opposed by the faithful, starting an uprising. Eventually, remnants of the ancient regime also rallied to the side of the faithful alongside Daskanian slaves and mounted an invasion of Niniveh. It was too much for the Daskanians to handle, who resorted to their *magnum opus*, the Ark of Horus, a stone of pure magical and spiritual essence containing a massive amount of souls, converting into a single temporary existence, leading to a transcendent, metaphysical new form through the Zenith. The Ark acted like a cocoon.

The most powerful of the Daskanian sages conjured a continent-wide magical circle that destroyed everybody involved in the battle in Niniveh and the remainder of the empire, trapping their souls into a gemstone, effectively reducing Daskania's to inexistence and eradicating demons from memory, as they too became part of the Ark. After the incident, the Stone stayed dormant for the next millennia and a half.

### Legacy

A mystic who survived the ordeal managed to get his hands on a piece of the Ark, which he would later call the "Philosopher's Stone," using it for his nefarious purposes.

Centuries later, a Darthian mystic, Zalmoxis, during his seclusion, discovered the truth about the Ark and vowed to bring an end to it to bring peace to those who have fallen for its creation. Using his powers over the fabric of time, Zalmoxis could see the people of Laigos trying to get their hands on the "Philosopher's Stone" and the construction of a human weapon immune to the Ark's possession by a skyward civilization.

## Era of Crisis

### The "Philosopher's Stone" emerges

Aleister Blackthorn, an occultist serving as a counselor for Count Glendale, starts corresponding with Greham, who tells him of a powerful artifact from the Lordless Lands that can bring his dreams to reality. In 1473, Aleister manages to convince Count Glendale to form a search expedition for the artifact in the hostile lands. Only three out of the 15 members of the party returned, traumatized from the journey, including a seasoned marine, Glanmor, and a bishop, Lyle, fearing for their lives. The third one, a merchant, returned without his eyeballs and with a gaping hole in his chest, carrying the Stone. Salazar, who was present, quickly noticed the Stone was what sustained him alive. When accosted by medics to treat his wounds, the merchant went berserk and started hurling wicked powers at everyone present, wounding the Count. Salazar countered by casting magic against the possessed merchant, who screamed and exploded to pieces. Aleister took the Stone for himself, and the Count never recovered, living two agonizing years before expiring.

### The War of Arcadia

During the War of Arcadia, the threat of war dragons employed by the Dalkians against Granwell and Arcadia prompted the Granwellian population to seek hope to defeat such terrible creatures. Though they pretended to be horrified by the display of the Stone in Laubholz, the Granwellian elites saw it as a tool to bring about their revolution in the field of magic. Aleister, now Earl of Laubholz, sent Glanmor, who presented the Stone to Eschata, whose leaders marveled at its power.

During the events of the War, Zalmoxis educates Salazar about the Stone's true nature and why that merchant followed his fate. Moved by Zalmoxis, Salazar is successful in convincing the Arcadians to formulate a plan to destroy it, thus thwarting Aleister's plans for the time being and forcing Glanmor to return to Laigos with the Ark. Glanmor would be forever affected by its power.

### Interlude

Following the fall of Arcadia in 1483, Aleister and Strato became bitter enemies after the latter discovered the truth about Aleister's motivations with the Ark and relayed it to Duke Siegfried, his friend. A year after Ulysses' banishment, Strato goes to Castle Hanova after learning that Siegfried acquired the Ark. Blinded with fury over the nerve of being lectured by Strato, Siegfried awakens the Ark's consciousness and begins to be consumed by it. However, Strato brawls with Siegfried and takes the Ark away from him, allowing himself to be consumed by the Stone, prompting Siegfried to kill him.

The Ark of Horus reappears in 1493 through Lyle, who had become mad with his journey 20 years ago and the subsequent wars. Lyle managed to acquire the Ark through a dying brigand. His religious beliefs changed when he touched the Ark, now believing it was a medium to communicate with an angel. Through him, the Ark awakened its consciousness again and destroyed his body, fashioning another from his mind to prevent others' intervention like the last time. Lyle**'**s consciousness mingled with the Ark's, being its spokesperson with an illusion of free will.

> "*They were fools. That**'**s the truth. They believe in anyone who can manipulate anything outside they can conceive. I never called myself an envoy of God. This Lyle was no different. He believed that drivel, and I ripped his body apart for his pestering*."
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"Lyle," armed with his new power and belief system that God had forsaken the Church, Lyle led a widespread rebellion against Granwell due to its corruption and the Church for supposed heresy. The Imperial Army and the noble houses crushed his rebellion. Confronted by Ulysses, a mercenary leader, the Ark's sociopathic personality completely takes over, calling his followers fools for believing in its preaching. The Ark transports its enemies to a pocket dimension, where its monstrous avatar is fought and defeated. As the Ark returns to its dormant state, Lyle regains control over his dying body and mocks Ulysses' motivations and past before crumbling to dust. The Ark remains there, with Ulysses unaware of it.

### Warring States of Avalon

The dormant Ark was lost by Aleister following Lyle's death, being used by brigands to terrorize villages the years after until finding its way into Isaak's hands.