Conduit

**Conduits**, also known as **Praemén** (New Greek, *Gifted*) and originally known as **Veltio̱mén** (***Veltio̱mén**es*, Old Greek for *Enhanced*), are people with superhuman, supernatural, and paranormal abilities, which range from manipulation of a form of energy, matter, or element, to flight, enhanced senses, and modified reflexes, all afforded to them by a Conduit Gene.

## History and Origins

### Creation, Discovery, and War

The first Conduit appeared around 1400 B.C. when extraterrestrial humanoids, Amadeus and his father, Xanathos, crash landed on Earth and their souls broke into several pieces, affecting over 20,000 humans. 24 individuals were chosen to be the most powerful above all Conduits, as well establish the power and breed classification and create an equillibrium. These men and women were the first Primes and would become the Ancients, becoming vital to the existence of Conduits, without the Ancients, conduits would have no power and be entirely average.

After the emergance of Conduits, they began to rally all of their kind together and established the Children of Statera, a monastic order dedicated to maintaining the balance within the equilibrium and keeping peace in the galaxy, independent from the Galactic Republic. Unfortunately, around 316 B.C., two Staterans began dabbling in darkness and corrupted a third of the Order, leading to the First War of the Equilibrium. The Dark Staterans, renamed Zwarst Teras and Zwarst Igetis, established the Order of the Tenebrae, while the Staterans that survived the war reorganized and established the Deian Order.

After the war, the Equilibrium was in tatters and completely out of balance, instilling a fear that the peace would never ever return. The Magistrates, leaders of the Children of Statera and, for a short while, the Deia, prophesized the coming of a hero that would bring peace to the galaxy, restore balance to the equilibrium and end the terror of darkness. This prophecy gave many people hope that the peace would one day return and that the balance would be restored, it was this hope that encouraged seven Staterans to hide themselves away in a separate realm within a holocron, where time progresses very slowly, so that when this hero, called the Son of the Mountain, emerged they could teach him the ways of balance, therefore assisting him in restoring the lost balance. This prophecy was fulfilled in the year A.D. 1965 when Joseph Everest VI was born to Deian Master Dominic Everest and Republic senator Sienna Guerra.

### End of the War and Legend of Monstrosity

Around the year A.D. 0096, the conflict between the two Orders reached a turning point in favor of the Deia, when they successfully captured and sealed away Zwarst Teras, the Supreme Lord of Darkness and primal founder of the Tenebrae, within the Holocron of Xanathos. Though indeed a great victory, it was not as crucial as they believed as Igetis, Teras' apprentice and co-founder, simply succeeded his master and took on his own apprentice, Zwarst Jaina, and instituted a new hiearchy: the Triumvirate Regime, which allowed Jaina to take an apprentice of her own and granted that apprentice the ability of free range within the Order and acted as their representative when needed. Jaina would indeed take an apprentice and name him Zwarst Abaddon, the first Supreme Will of Darkness. Igetis, Jaina, and Abaddon would reign over the Tenebrae for nearly 400 years.

362 years later, the prolonged conflict would come to a close, when Edan Everest, the 3rd Oracle of the Consulars and the descendant of Zwarst Igetis, challenged his ancestor to a long and gruelling duel which resulted in Igetis' imprisonment and sealed within a special Holocron. This Deian victory had actually weakened the Tenebrae, due to Jaina's lack of leadership skills and incompetence overall, her leadership actually led to the slight collapse of the Order until she was overthrown by Abaddon and his apprentice, Zwarst Aiskhúlos. Abaddon reformed the Order and abolished the Triumvirate, believeing it to be the Orders primary weakness, thinking the order was better when there was only two in power and the Darkness wasn't spread too thin, therefore Abaddon had established a new policy: the Regime of Two. After his long fight, Edan would hide Igetis' holocron on an unmapped planet outside the borders of the galaxy, fearing whatever Tenebrae was left would try to find Igetis and attempt to set him free.

After all of this, the natives of Boromi'ir began a legend that would be hailed all through out the planet, and even reach the ears of the Deian Order: Teras, now hailed as Monstrosity, would eventually be set free by the "Son of Zeus" and would wreak his vengeance against all of humanity and then consume the whole galaxy. However, it was prophecized by the Magistrates that Monstrosity could be defeated and stopped by only one man- the Son of the Mountain. It was even prophecized that Igetis would be set free and declare war on the Deia and bring death and destruction upon the entire galaxy, promising to finish what his master started.

### An Anomaly: The Arcanists

Around the year 0495, the Deia discovered an anomaly in the equillibrium and the natural selection process, it birthed a kind of Conduit that could not use powers and bore no connection to the Will. Regardless, the Deia took these Conduits in and trained them in Kombat, they created a special secret task force and served as the Deia first line of defense. Due to their secretive nature within the Order, the Deia named their kind **Arcanist**. Though Arcanists did not posses normal abilities like those of other Conduits, they could manipulate the one thing Deia did not have a full understanding of yet- Mana, the ethereal energy that determines the power and strength of powers as well as fueled them.

Three hundred years later, the Deia discovered Wells, a nexus of mana that served as an intermediary between the Realm of Repentance and the Physical Realm. They placed Arcanists in charge of guarding these wells and safeguarding their existence, keeping it secret from the Republic and the galaxy at large. This would prove to be a fatal mistake, as one of the Arcanists discovered they could harness the Mana and advance their own powers, thus they, as an entire group, initiated an ulterior motive: help the Order find all the Wells, then harvest their mana in order to exist independently from the Deian Order.

However, inevitably so, the Order discovered their motive and expelled them, forbidding them from interfering in any and all Deian operations there on. But this would not stop the Arcanists in achieving their goal, and thus they rose against the Deian Order for ownership of the Wells. Another fatal mistake, as this convinced the Order that the Arcanists were extremely dangerous and could not continue living and thus killed the ones with knowledge of the Well's location, which, to their dismay, was a very large number of them, resulting in the Great Purge. Though the Arcanists were immune to their powers and to their Will powers, they were not immune to their Magik spells, therefore they banished them to exile on Earth, never to leave. Because of this, the Arcanists were brought to the brink of extinction, there were even some in the Order who believed they were extinct. Though the Arcanists were cursed to remain on Earth, it was discovered that this spell was not permanent as Sienna Guerra, an Arcanist tribeswoman, was able to leave Earth with no harmful effects, and later another Arcanist tribesman named Vincent Becker could leave Earth without any repercussions to himself, this allowed the Arcanists to finally begin plotting their revenge against the Deian Order for several years.

### Revenge of the Tenebrae

In the year 1970, Dominic Everest was seduced by darkness and became Zwarst Bezaleel, the Supreme Lord of Darkness, and nearly exterminated the Deian Order, with the survivors either going into hiding or renouncing the Deian ways. After Dominics transformation, his four children were separated and sent to different worlds, with Joseph being sent to Earth with his brother and mother and Ichigo Utagawa and Alexxander Smith, Dominic's former Deian master and Noble guardsman, in tow, awaiting the day to train the boys in the ways of the Light.

Twenty-seven years later, Joseph, now a full-fledged Deian Knight, redeemed with his father back to the Light, fulfilling the prophecy in part, by destroying the Tenebrae, however temporarily, through redeeming his father and killing his former master the Emperor, also the former Lord of Darkness Zwarst Achilles. However, Joseph's victory was not complete, as when he killed his fathers dark apprentice, Zwarst Nicodemus, he had only killed his disembodied conscious, allowing it to reunite with his disembodied heart and restore Demitiri Adolfo, who would take the name Zwarst Kairos and resume his masters plan to accomplish the Absolute Design.

Ten years later, Kairos emerged and revealed that his plan in ressurecting the 24 Beta Primes was nearly complete but he needed one last vessel- Joseph Everest. His friends, however, foiled his plan to use Joseph and saved him from the Tenebrae, who had all but declared an all-out war against the Deia for the second time in nearly 2,000 years. The Deia and Tenebrae were now engaged in the Second War of the Equilibrium, also known as the Holy War, a conflict which would last for nine years.

At the end of the war, Zwarst Kairos and his ressurected master, Zwarst Hercules, had accomplished their plan to personify and make real Zwarst Xander- a Tenebrae deity that would be the most powerful Conduit in the galaxy, yet can only be born by unifying 23 Beta Primes into one body. Kairos, now Xander, would go on to Phase Twoof the Absolute Design- open the door to darkness at the median of the galaxy: the planet, Earth. Joseph, who become a Stateran and a "pure-blooded Everest", arrived in time to challenge him and save Earth and all others from eternal slavery. Xander gladly accepted his challenge, hoping to incapacitate him in order to absorb his immense powers into his own, however, Joseph had proven to be a great challenge for him, as he would soon discover, because he had finally fulfilled his prophecised potential and became exceedingly powerful. After having evolved twice, Joseph decided to bring the duel to an end by unleashing his Gladius' awakening- Deo Israel- fusing with the Holy Spirit himself temporarily and calling upon his holy control over the stars to annihilate the dark and unjust.

After Xander's fall, Joseph had come upon Kairos' dying body and sought to redeem him, giving rebirth to Demitiri Adolfo, however the Tenebrae had not entirely fallen as Hercules was still alive. With the Sword of Judgement, Joseph finally killed his foe of 32 years and finally fulfilled the next part of his prophecy by defeating the Tenebrae for the third time. Though he was entirely sucessful in destroying the Beta Primes and once again foiling the Tenebrae's plans, he was forced to sacrifice his immortailty in order to use such a holy power. While Joseph had defeated the Order of the Tenebrae, it was only temporary as they would be reborn many years later as the One Tenebrae.

### Return of the Arcanists

Fifty-four years later, when all seemed calm, the Arcanists suddenly emerged, enacting their long-awaited revenge by attempting to destroy the Deia, now under Joseph's leadership. The Arcanists began their revenge by launching an assault on the Citadel, which was to cover up their invasion into the Citadel's archives to locate the wells and become the formidable force in the galaxy. Joseph, now 105 years old, brought the horrid battle to a close when he summoned forth the Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse and killed nearly 10,000 men and women in a single swoop, with the battle now at a close, Joseph surmised that another war has begun: the Great Schism. Now in the midst of another war, the Council needed a way to defeat the Arcanists quickly and quietly, leaving the Council only one choice- the weapon they used to defeat the Fanistís just 40 years before: the Equalizer, a precursor weapon that "deletes" or eradicates people with a certain genome or same heritage, effective against the Fanistís who were DNA-Based cyborgs with the same genetic make-up. It could be used effectively against the Arcanists because all Arcanists have a common ancestor: Ethan Everest, the first born son of Edan Everest. The Council believed it to be too great a risk, as it would select Joseph and eliminate him as well, but Joseph reveals his ancestor is Edan's second son and fourth child, Enoch Everest, therefore Joseph would be spared from the Equalizer. The Council reminded Joseph that without the assistance of the Eye (the A.I. that created and controled the Fanistís), Joseph would be subject to the immense and raw power of the weapon and would be destroyed as a catalyst for the weapon. Joseph decided, however, that it was a necessary sacrifice to bring an end to yet another conflict, this one with the potential to bring much devastation and sorrow to the galaxy.

The plan was flawed, as the Arcanists realized that the Deia would resort to the Equalizer and placed a large blockade around the planet it was on, preventing anyone from reaching the weapon. Meaning the Deia had no choice, they must engage the Arcanists in battle in order to shorten their numbers and, therefore, weaken the blockade, allowing the Deia the penetrate their defenses and reach the Equalizer. With this in mind, the Deia realized the conflict would most likely endure for a very long time, as their declaration showed they had a very large number and they were incredibley stronger than ever before, but with Joseph as their leader, it was something they were prepared for.

Two years into the Schism, Joseph wondered how they grew so large and snuck away to Earth to investigate, however his search would lead to great despair as when he came upon his home planet, he found it razed, stripped apart and completely barren. Though sorrowful, his research was frutiful, finding a camp of defectors in the ruins of San Francisco who divulged the Arcanists plans: invade the Citadel, search the records, and find the Ulitimate Well, which was actually a backdoor to the Realm of Repentance, and absorb every Repentant (fallen Conduits who were now mana-based spirits) to become an Ancient and take control of the galaxy. Shocked, Joseph raced back to the Citadel to see if they were sucessful in razing the Archives and finding the Map of the Wells. Much to his surprise and extreme relief, the Map never even existed within the Archives bringing the Arcanists search to halt. However, in the Archives was a list of people who knew its location, and, to Joseph's chagrin, half the people were missing, and the other half had been dead for centuries.

As time went on, Joseph would come to discover who was at the head of all Arcanist operations and their de facto leader: Vincent Becker, Joseph's lifelong friend who had already betrayed him in the Great War of the Equilibrium. Vincent reveals that when he learned of the Deian curse, he set in motion a plot to release them so that they may have their revenge on the Deia, harness all the Mana in the galaxy, and become Immortal- dominating all life in the universe. Vincent also revealed that this was not just his idea, it had always been the Tenebrae's failsafe plan in case their Absolute Design failed, relying on the Arcanists hatred of the Deia to see that their foes would meet their ends no matter what. It was clear that this was no ordinary Arcanist assault- this time, they had the Darkness on their side.

With no other alternative in sight, Joseph gathered all 25,129 Deian Masters, Knights, and Neophytes and lead them on an invasion of the planet Malevanent, the planet holding the Equalizer. All Deian forces massed, they stormed through the blockade surrounding the planet and landed on the planet, now face-to-face with the Arcanist ground forces numbering well over 200,000, severely outnumbered, but not outmatched. Both forces charged at one another with all the strength they could muster, beginning an instant blood bath, with over 10,000 Knights and 5,500 Arcanists falling within merely two minutes. With the battle tensifying, Joseph decided to make his way towards the Equalizer, with many Arcanists in his path, as he neared the Obelisk and Power core, Joseph had but one more obstalce to overcome- his treacherous friend Vincent Becker. After exchanging somber words and farwells, the two clashed and cross blades for the second and last time.

After a long and strenous battle, the two former best friends brought their battle to a close with a draw, with Joseph emerging victorious and killing Vincent. Vincent pleaded with Joseph to forgive him for his double offense, stating all he ever wanted was to surpass Joseph and become the new Hero of the Republic. Now with his friend passed on and his fight over, Joseph walked to the obelisk, placing the bone marrow from Ethan Everest and the core of his ancestor's old droid as the catalyst, the Arcanists were instantly evaporated and the Great Schism was finally over. War was now over and finally a new era of peace could finally begin, or so everyone believed, as the Deia were now facing a new problem. Though the final battle was victorious, the Deia numbers were now extremely low, from 25,000 to well over 500.

### Second Fall of the Order

With no other choice left, Joseph takes it upon himself to rebuild the Deia from the ground up. He promotes the surviving masters of the Schism to the Ranked Masters Council to fill in the rest of the now vacant positions, and the rest of the Knights to Master. Utilizing the Eleazar Precedent, Joseph built an Deian College as well as a new Grand Citadel on the planet Canaan and planned to move the High Council to the planet. Joseph made his first seven apprentices, known as the Virulent Seven, the Colleges overseer's and selected a number of the surviving Neophytes, knighted them, and reconstituted the Acquisition Division to bring new Initiates to the College. To start the College off on its feet, Josephs sister, Aziza Dubois-Summers, sent her oldest children, twins Jaxon and Janessa Summers, to train with Joseph as his first Initiates.

### Rising of the Syndication

Around the year 1138 F.A., the New Deian Order and the One Tenebrae had both dissolved and the mysterious Syndication emerged, proposing themselves to be the Deians successor.