The Epoch

The **Epoch** is a sacred artifact bearing boundless power.

## Description

The Epoch was created by goddess Eterra to provide humanity a means to prevail in the worst of times. It is a blue crystalline artifact that can control time. As much as it keeps timelines stable, it is just as much capable of warping and altering them in a whim. Therefore whoever owns the Epoch, also reigns supreme over not only civilizations, but entire worlds too. It is also possible to travel through time with the artifact, however it can't mend damaged timelines.

Fragments of the Epoch still possess a sizable fraction of immense power. While the fragments do not continue granting the properties of the whole artifact, they alone contain enough energy to drive away the alien substance of the Void and cleanse the corruption caused by it. They cannot however restore humans and any living creature, who have fallen victim to the Void's corruption. Assembling the Epoch's shards will take their holder to The End of Time, the end of all timelines.

The Epoch's shards are magically connected to each other. They seem to form a personality of some sort that becomes more apparent, when the binding is strong enough. An almost reformed Epoch can call to its holder and eventually tell about visions from the future.

## History

### The Outset - Divine era

By the Divine era, the Epoch has been fragmented into three shards by Goddess Eterra. She hid one in her own temple, while the other two have been given to her entrusted followers (known as Keepers): one remained at the Council Chambers, while the remaining shard was given to a nomadic contingent of the Keepers.

In 12 BE, the wandering Keepers get ambushed by Rahyeh's forces. Most of them are either killed or imprisoned, and a sole survivor, Keeper Leena is captured by the raid leader, Haruspex Orian. As the Osprix officer forces her to hand the Shard over, the Traveler arrives and defeats him. The Shard is then handed over to them, while Leena also opens a rift forward in time with the help of the artifact.

### Fighting the Void - Ruined era

In the Ruined era, one shard has already been in possession of the Traveler.

The second shard is kept in the Council Chambers by the Elders, keeping the close vicinity of the area more or less safe from the Void. Complications arise however, as the corrupting Void slowly takes over people's minds and drives them mad for power and servitude under Orobyss. Elder Pannion takes the Shard and tries to use it himself to harness its power, but the Traveler defeats him and takes their prize back.

The third shard is found deep in the ruins of the Temple of Eterra, in its inside Sanctum Bastille. The Traveler visits this destination, but they come across the Emperor's Remains, a corrupted and twisted skeletal being resembling the Immortal Emperor. The two have a fight over the artifact, in which the Remains succumbs and is warped away. The Traveler reforms the Epoch, and uses it on various occasions to travel through time, revisiting ancient locations to recover key artifacts and gain the blessing of various deities.

### The Corruption of Majasa - Divine era

After gaining Lagon's blessing, the Epoch is carried to Nagasa territory and eventually used to travel some time forward, when Vessel Maiden Apophis uses dark powers to tear the fabric of time in order to bring the Void in the Temple of Majasa. Drawing power from the artifact, Apophis travels forward in time along with the Traveler, leaving them behind.