Fragments of Emergence

"Our ancestors fought gods themselves, they used power far beyond anything we could hope to harness today. That power allowed them to stop the Ruined from destroying the world, if not for them, we could not be here today, we owe it to them to continue to protect the world today, as they once did for us in the ancient past.

I stand before you you today, with "Last Stand" in hand as I do every other day, this shield is proof of these battles, proof of our ancestors. This shield, the embodiment of protection and selflessness, was passed down to me by my mentor and his mentors before him, all tracing their origins back to those who stood alongside the Champion of Bahamut during the Re-emergence.

All those that fought then, want to the same as us now, protect others and make the world a better place, but to do that, we must root out the corruption left behind by the Ruined. While our ancestors had to craft these items to be able to fight the ruined, the Ruined gifted their power directly to their armies, the most powerful being their very own champions.

Upon the Ruined's banishing, these champions collapsed in on themselves, unable to handle the power they were given without their masters nearby them. They were forced inside the very weapons they wielded, trapping them for all eternity in a prison of their own gods creation. These weapons have sprung up around history, most will remember the Cult of The Abyss that was destroyed by the mortal-born God Volkur, this cult possessed one of them.

They possessed such a fragment of the Ruined's powers that once spelt near destruction for the world. These weapons are powerful, they are all corrupting and evil, but they are just pieces of the Ruined's power, this is how they gained their name, they are just that, Fragments of Emergence."

- *Excerpt from Professor **Unora Hekoth's** recounting of a speech given by the leader of Celesitos, **Kalmion Brightborn***

During the Age of Despair, destruction was known all to well by the inhabitants of the world. The Ruined spread siege with their vast armies upon every civilization, caring about nothing in their way history speaks of how they shattered mountains and sunk entire pieces of continents.

This time was no place for hope, but still did the people of this age endure. They fought back the ruined however they could, some created spells so powerful that to replicate them today would require all the magic of the most powerful mages alive. Some created machines so large that they cast shadows over entire empires.

Some are said to have looked to the Harmonious instead, or was it the Harmonious who called upon them? The world may never truly know, but nonetheless the people of this age began worshipping the Harmonious once again, wishing for their salvation and help from the gods. They answered.

With the Harmonious trapped behind the Divine Barrier, they could not interfere with the world in normal ways, nor could they gift their full strength to help fight back the Ruined, so instead they whispered blueprints for items beyond imagining into the minds of mortals across the world. These items would allow the gods to channel their power through them, giving whoever held these weapons a fighting chance against the Ruined and their armies.

These weapons were harnessed by the Harminious's Champions to banish the Ruined Gods behind the divine gate with their brethren, so that a calamity of this scale would never again be able to occur. This action sacrificed the champions lives, and their weapons fell upon the world, buried by the ruins of the battles. Some of these items have been lost to time, others found and passed through generations, such as the Last Stand, the shield of Bahamut, which has been used by the leader of Celsitos since the Age of Dispair.

Although some see them as myths and stories, they are very real, and if in possession of the wrong person, they could bring about a whole age of destruction in it of themselves. These items are known as the Relics of Harmony, and are some of the powerful items to exist in all of Dissaria."