First Light

Most of VALORANT's story stems from a point in time in the near future named First Light. Although substantial information has been given about the repercussions of First Light, it is not known exactly what it was or why it occurred. Described as a 'supercharged radianite event' or 'the blackout', the major event radically altered the Mirrorverse, causing the worlds to change forever.

## What is First Light?

The exact details of what First Light is or what occurred during the worldwide event are not known, however, information from various sources allows us to piece together certain occurrences and immediate repercussions of First Light.

The most prevalent detail about First Light is that it likely acted as a global electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that wiped out power across the globe. This EMP lasted multiple hours before power was restored to the world.

It has also been revealed that there were experiments being conducted on the newly discovered element radianite during First Light, which may have played a part in causing it to occur in the first place. This radianite is the first to be discovered and experimented on in at least a century, if not more.

## Causes

The direct cause of First Light is unknown. As the details of what occurred during the events of First Light are ambiguous, the cause of First Light cannot be derived. However, certain causes can be speculated from various texts that have been released on First Light through the years.

The texts revealed at the end of the VALORANT Lore // Art server Alternate Reality Game mention a 'research lab somewhere not far from here' that is experimenting on radianite, a substance previously unbeknownst to the modern world. Due to the fact that this lab is operating during First Light (a supercharged radianite event) and is experimenting with radianite, there is a significant chance that this lab has to do with the occurrence of First Light.

In a Lore AMA on Reddit, David Nottingham (one of VALORANT's narrative developers) replied to a question asking "Who created this alternative universe or timeline?", with "Who or What? might be the question....". First Light was very likely the cause of the split between worlds, so it can be inferred that Nottingham may be referring to the cause of First Light. He implies that First Light may not have been solely caused by a person, but another event or object may have been involved.

## Repercussions

### Mirrorverse

The creation/discovery of Omega Earth occurred during or soon after First Light. The Mirrorverse is a result of First Light, either as a repercussion directly from the events of First Light or from the emergence of radiants and radianite.

### Radianite

The existence of radianite was unknown to the modern world until the occurrence of First Light. Before this, radianite's last known appearance was during the Japanese Edo period, during the time of Yoru's ancestor. Radianite plays a significant role in the events following First Light, both in creating radiants and affecting the world around it. Many organizations and individuals around the world have found uses for radianite such as energy production, enhancing building materials, and weapons manufacturing.

### Radiants & Children of First Light

First Light is described to have significant effects on life around the world, namely people across the world gaining "hyper-natural powers". These early radiants likely gained their powers due to their unique genetic makeup, which predisposes 'unactivated' radiants to react, absorb, and be affected by external events. The genetic makeup of radiants also appears to be hereditary, as shown by Reyna and her sister Lucia, and Yoru and his ancestor. It is not known whether this is the case for all radiants.

The re-emergence of radianite is what lead to radiants appearing around the world, as it is required to transform a person with the genetic makeup of a radiant. Although many radiants appeared during First Light, some received their powers due to direct contact with radianite or being involved in other large radianite related events such as rift storms. One such radiant is likely Neon, whose contract card shows an enormous rift storm and unconfirmed origin story mentions her being found near a rift storm as an infant.

### Organizations

Kingdom was a prominent figure on Alpha Earth before First Light, however, after the sudden increase in radianite supply, they quickly became one of, if not the, largest corporation in the world. Kingdom likely utilized their Research and Development team to create innovative technologies with radianite, as well as using it for energy production. At present, they provide three quarters of Alpha Earth's energy production using radianite. In Yoru's Patch 4.0 voicemail, he mentions that Kingdom discovered radianite 10 years prior to the date of the voicemail. This could mean that Kingdom was the organization running the research lab mentioned in the VALORANT Lore // Art server ARG texts, and may have been involved in causing First Light.

The VALORANT Protocol was also created in response to events that occurred shortly after First Light. The organization was created by secret backers to combat the repercussions of First Light, primarily new conflict between Alpha and Omega Earth. Initially, operations were carried out in small teams with one or two Agents, however, the conflict eventually escalated to bringing whole teams to the battlefield. The VALORANT Protocol also deals with occurrences such as dangerous radiants and other multiverse events.

### Other Repercussions

Rifts are another repercussion of First Light. They have appeared many times throughout VALORANT's timeline, from Skye's Agent trailer, to Venice Rising. They have not been explored extensively in VALORANT, however, they allow for transportation across space, and possibly through time and other universes. Rifts can be seen in various locations, such as Neon and Sova's playercards, Skye's reveal trailer, and locations such as Ascent and The Range.

New government organisations have also been mentioned in various sources about First Light. This aspect of First Light has not been expanded upon, and the nature of these governments is unknown.

## Timeline

First Light-like events have been hinted at occurring multiple times in the past. The earliest known mention of First Light is from the Japanese Edo period, where Yoru's ancestor is from. Yoru's mask also has ties to the Astral Guardians, as his mask was the same gold color as Astra and Harbor's mask before Yoru painted over it. This along with the implied age of Astra's gauntlet and Harbor's bracelet means that supercharged radianite events have occurred previously on Earth, and possibly outer space.

The most recent 'First Light' event took place at least 11 years prior to the current setting of VALORANT. It is the first recorded supercharged radianite event, likely due to the lack of technology that it was able to affect during prior years. The previous event likely only caused the appearance of radiants and radianite as Earth was not as socioeconomically globalized during ancient and medieval times.

It is not known why all traces of radiants and radianite seemingly disappeared prior to First Light despite the existence of hidden artifacts, radianite filled islands such as Breeze, and a massive Red Seal ship filled with radianite located on Icebox. First Light likely led to these places abundant with radianite to be able to be found again, although it is not known how they were hidden from the world prior to First Light.

 ***Unearthed: The Gauntlet***
The *Unearthed: The Gauntlet* card shows Astra's gauntlet lying at the bottom of a lake, where it presumably lay until Astra found it.

 ***Unearthed: The Bracelet***
The *Unearthed: The Bracelet* card shows Harbor's Bracelet in the cave where it was discovered on a hand sculpture.

 ***Unearthed: The Mask***
*Unearthed: The Mask* shows Yoru's mask in an opened box, with the snow in the background hinting at a cold location, presumably Icebox.

The Multiverse Museum on Pearl depicts a timeline of various events that have occurred in the relatively recent Omega Earth timeline, and hints at the events occurring during the years surrounding First Light.

## Sources

1. VALORANT is a secretive organization that has assembled a cast of diverse agents from across the world to come together and respond to this threat. These are the best at what they do and they’re battle ready. They come from all different backgrounds. Some have military background, some may be criminals. Some may have fought together in a past life and have an existing friendship. Others may have fought on opposite sides and have profound conflict. But they all must come together to fight because this external threat is bigger than their differences.
Source: https://www.sportskeeda.com/valorant/news-the-lore-history-behind-valorant-explained
2. ... certain people around the world end up with new hyper-natural powers... These new powers brought about massive global changes, including the rise of new governments. Eventually in response to the events that occur around First Light, a new organization called VALORANT is created by secretive backers.
Source: https://www.polygon.com/2020/3/4/21163705/valorant-riot-games-story-fortnite
3. FIRST LIGHT - a few weeks from now
A global event. A sudden flash consumes the globe. Electrical grids and power systems worldwide shut off. Civilization plunged in darkness for a few tense hours before just as mysteriously, power restores, engines hum back to life. What just happened? Is this a new climate-based tipping point?

A RESEARCH LAB Somewhere not far from here...
A mysterious research lab is operating during First Light. Its experiments intended to observe a hitherto undiscovered substance in the universe, and to discover its truths. First Light is a super charged RADIANITE event and for the first time (or is it?), humankind is able to record it. With this new secret discovered, events will follow that transform the world as we know it, leading to an unimaginable progress of change leading up to the events of IGNITION (Episode 1) Is the world ready? Will mankind harness these secrets for good, or ill?
Source (both texts): https://discord.com/channels/698265763491872768/700802526848614471/904941619697025034 (must join VALORANT Lore // Art discord server)
4. VALORANT takes place on a version of Earth in the near future following an event known as First Light. This event spans the entire globe, leading to big transformations to life, technology, and how governments operate. However, select people across the globe start to gain abilities stemming from this massive event. These gifted individuals are called radiants.

In response to First Light, a shadow organization founds the VALORANT Protocol, which pulls together Agents from all over the world. These Agents consist of radiants and other individuals equipped with radianite technology. Due to the backstories of these characters, the VALORANT team features interesting dynamics as the individuals not only sometimes know each other, but they also come from a wide spectrum of backgrounds ranging from crime to the military.
Source: https://www.gameinformer.com/preview/2020/03/02/valorant-preview-a-deep-dive-on-the-new-hero-based-tactical-shooter-from-riot
5. VALORANT takes place in a distant future version of Earth, one that follows a mysterious event called First Light. Spanning the entire globe, First Light transformed everything in sight – from developing a new technology called radianite to creating government administrations.

The event notably spawned a select group of newly formed inhuman individuals called radiants, who together with other Agents using radianite-powered technology are on a secret operation, called the VALORANT Protocol, to respond to the aftermath of First Light and a new "evil" organization called Kingdom.

We're telling the story through the perspective of our world, which is a world that is being attacked by these agents that are coming in. They're planting the spike and trying to steal radianite, but why are they doing this? Why is radianite so important? What even is radianite? There's definitely a story there we're waiting to tell.

That's what gets us back into this whole origin story, going back to the First Light, and what that event was. We're gonna start to provide some more of that information soon but I don't want to necessarily go back in time so I want to find ways to reveal those bits to players in the course of the journey we're on.
Source: https://www.bandwagon.asia/articles/valorant-david-nottingham-fan-theories-spotify-playlists-year-2-riot-games-jett-pheonix-reyna-lore-interview-july-2021
6. Brimstone's Office Patch 3.07 Email
7. Brimstone's Office Patch 5.09 Email
8. Brimstone's Office Patch 4.0 Yoru Voicemail
9. Patch 4.04 Dossier
10. David Nottingham's response to who caused the split between worlds

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Information revealed by David Nottingham at the end of the VALORANT Lore // Art Discord server's Alternate Reality Game (must join VALORANT Lore // Art Discord server)Go
2. ↑ Nottingham's reply to a question asking what caused the splitGo
3. ↑ The GameInformer article describing First Light as "leading to big transformations to life, technology, and how governments operate"Go
4. ↑ The Polygon Article describing "hyper-natural powers"Go
5. ↑ David Nottingham talks about how Radiants gain powersGo
6. ↑ An unsubstantiated claim on Neon's origins involving a rift stormGo
7. ↑ Yoru's Patch 4.0 voicemailGo