The Sapphire Eye
The Krysheek
The story of the Sapphire Eye begins with the Krysheek. The Krysheek were a bipedal race closely resembling a cross between wolves and foxes. Hailing from a planet they dubbed ‘Kryshendar’, their civilization was far different from what one would encounter on Earth. Their planet was savage in nature, leading the Krysheek to struggle to make a civilization for themselves. Between the hostility of their environment and the wildlife that choked the entire planet, there was little chance that they could ever gain purchase, but eventually, their future changed.
Through the discovery of their powers, mystical abilities that allowed them to wield supernatural elements, they were able to finally make a home for themselves. Over the course of hundreds of years, they built tribal villages, towns, and, eventually, cities, making their planet fully their own. As they managed to finally gain a home to call their own, their technology also began to rapidly advance. They learned how to make tools and more complicated machinery, accelerating their growth as a species, but the biggest breakthrough occurred with the invention of the automatons!
The Automatons
Infused throughout Kryshendar’s crust is a strange type of mineral resembling a crystal, but the properties of this mineral are almost magical in nature. As the Krysheek developed their technology, slowly, they began to discover the properties of these mysterious crystals. They learned how to make them work with their machinery and invented countless machines that were ten times stronger thanks to these strange crystals, but among all the crystals, the most revolutionary were the ones called ‘Soul Cores.’
One day, entirely on accident, an engineer made a breakthrough when he accidentally plugged a soul core into a machine. Much to his shock, the machine began to move and function without input. At first, his colleagues believed it to be possessed, but after some experimenting, they realized that they had, quite literally, brought the machine to life! This was the very first interaction the Krysheek had ever had with an automaton, and the revelation sent shockwaves through their society.
In essence, automatons are a mechanical version of a living being. They have thoughts, emotions, feelings, and everything a flesh and blood creature could possibly hope to possess, but they cannot function without being connected to a mechanical body. Once connected and brought to life, they only need two things to survive. A constant source of power, and a purpose. What each automaton wants more than anything else is a reason to exist, a purpose they can fulfill that gives their life meaning, and there were certainly plenty of opportunities on Kryshendar.
It only took a few years for automatons to become a staple of life on the planet, but they quickly found a place for themselves in every corner of the world. Some were used as laborers for mining while others were employed as servants. Across the world, automatons joined society and grew alongside the Krysheek, paving the wave for further growth and development that promised an era of prosperity. That was not, however, what awaited them…
The Clockwork Crisis
As the world continued to develop, five major powers began to vie for power. Chief among them were the Crimson Empire, Adecia, and the Eclipse Empire. While they remained on seemingly friendly terms, the world was effectively locked in a state of cold war, each empire pointing a gun at each other from behind their back. While the world remained at peace, it was an uneasy peace, and skirmishes were quite frequent along their borders. It seemed like anything could potentially cause a catastrophe, and the spark that ultimately ignited the fire was an invention called a ‘loyalty lock.’
Loyalty locks were abhorrent creations that ultimately rendered an automaton brainwashed. Once locked, it lost its free will and could only follow the orders of its masters. While most of the empires outlawed this technology, the Eclipse Emperor saw an opportunity. In secret, he began to grow an immense mechanical armada the likes of which the world couldn’t even imagine! He collected the very best engineers his empire had to offer and began to build horrors and monstrosities that exceeded even the most advanced of designs, and, slowly, darkness fell over his domain. Over the course of a few years, his armies swelled by the tens of thousands, and any automaton within reach was turned into a mindless soldier. After several years of biding their time, the Clockwork Armada was finally unleashed upon Adecia, shattering the world and igniting the Clockwork Crisis.
The Clockwork Armada spread like a wildfire on their continent. No force was able to hold them back, and they quickly conquered the southern half of the continent all the while pushing north to their neighbors of Adecia. Because of the mountains that dominated the continent, Adecia massively underestimated the reach of the Eclipse empire, and they paid dearly. The entirety of the Clockwork Armada swept down from the mountain passes they had carved out themselves, and with their gunships covering the skies, Adecia was completely and hopelessly outmatched. In a matter of days, Adecia was wiped off the map, and the survivors could only leave for the other continent and pray that they were out of reach.
However, in these opening throes of the savage crisis, a single spark of hope ignited. Hailing from a village in the mountains, Caleia was one of the first victims of the Crisis. Her entire family was slaughtered as her village was burned to ash before her very eyes. Alongside only a handful of other survivors, she retreated north to Adecia in hopes of rallying the defenders, but her pleas fell on deaf ears. Instead of giving up, she took up arms, determined to die fighting the monsters that had taken her home, and what she saw unfold scarred her for the remainder of her life. Caleia took part in one of the bloodiest battle in all the crisis and witnessed, firsthand, the Adecia army crumble before the might of the Armada, but, in the wake of devastation, something within her sparked to life. Rallying what was left of the defending army, Caleia led the retreat back to the capital, saving thousands upon thousands of lives and ensuring that at least some survivors made it off the continent. She was heralded as a hero in the eyes of those that fought alongside her, but, for her, all she wanted was revenge.
When the Clockwork Armada reached the eastern shores, they were met with heated resistance, and Caleia was at the forefront of the battles. She fought battle after battle to keep the Clockwork Armada at bay, and while she was able to slow their advance, there was only so much that she could do. It was around this time that she was approached by a secretive group, the Archons. The Archons were a secret society that had formed many hundreds of years ago to keep watch over the world and protect it from any world ending threat. With the Clockwork Crisis a clear threat to society, the Archons were ready to spring into action, and Caleia was pulled into their fold.
Alongside the Archons, Caleia fought the Clockwork Armada all across the northeastern part of the continent and felled thousands of automatons single-handedly, but they were outmatched and steadily losing ground. Eventually, the fighting reached the Crimson Empire’s territory, and the Crimson Emperor was finally involved. Much to the surprise of the Archons, he was eager to add his legions to their ranks and defend the people he was responsible for, even going so far as to lend them his oldest son. Alongside the Archons, a final frontline was established right at the heart of the Crimson Empire, the city of Orden.
Wave after wave of automaton soldiers hit the city walls. Time and time again, the walls were breached, but the enemy was constantly repelled through the might of the Archons. Days turned into weeks, but the city held, enduring all the Eclipse Empire had to throw at it, but hope seemed a distant dream. There was no sign of the Clockwork Army relenting, and all hope seemed to wink out. Luck, however, had not forgotten them. In a twist of fate, a chance encounter in the Karasi saw the Clockwork Armada’s most powerful weapon, the Dusk, get disabled after a fateful encounter with a Raijin. Upon hearing of the weapon’s status, the Archons launched an operation to eliminate the weapon, and, after an intense battle, successfully destroyed the dusk along with the entirety of its escort force. With such a massive loss to their frontline, the Clockwork Armada was finally defeated, but the war was only just beginning.
With momentum on their side, the Archons pushed the Armada off the western continent entirely and back out onto the sea. Alongside the remnants of the other empires’ fleets, the Crimson empire was able to meet the Clockwork Navy head on and sink their most powerful carrier, paving the way for a full naval invasion of Falador, the Eclipse Empire’s seat of power. In a brutal blitz, the Crimson Empire made landfall and rapidly established a beach head, giving them direct access to the heart of the Eclipse’s power. In order to pave the way for their assault, the Archons made numerous attacks against the Eclipse factories and, ultimately, their primary Aerodrome, seeing the fall of the Eclipse gunships and revenge for Caleia as she felled the Captain of the Gorodon.
With their armies scattered, a final stand was made in the Eclipse capital, and it turned into a bloodbath. Thousands upon thousands of lives were lost over the course of just a few hours. The Crimson Empire hit the city with all it had, enduring artillery the likes of which they had never seen, and almost seemed ready to lose. However, a heroic sacrifice saw the walls of the city crumble and opened a path for the Crimson legion to advance. With Caleia at the helm, the Crimson legions moved into the city, eradicating the strongest war machines the Eclipse had and destroying their second Dusk. With nowhere left to run, the Eclipse Emperor was slain and the Crisis was brought to an end, but all was not over just yet.
The Archonic Council
Although the Clockwork Crisis had come to an end, the world was in ruins. Dozens of capital cities had been reduced to ash, thousands upon thousands had been slain, and entire empires had fallen. The world was leaderless and in complete disarray, and the stage was set for yet another Crisis to begin before the Krysheek people could even recover. It was a dire time, and it seemed certain that the world was about to spiral into chaos yet again, but from the fires of calamity rose a glimmer of hope.
After spearheading the counterattack and fighting on the frontlines for so long, Caleia had garnered the respect and adoration of her comrades, and it was Caleia that suggested how their world should move forward. It was her belief that the aloof nature of the Archons is what ultimately allowed the Crisis to occur, and she believed firmly that it was time for them to step out of the shadows in full. Following the fall of the Eclipse, a meeting was had between the heads of the Archons, Caleia, and the Crimson Emperor. Seeing as how the entirety of the world’s order had been decimated save for the Crimson Empire, it was decided that the world would be unified under a single banner, the Crimson Empire. Going forward, the Crimson Empire would rule each corner of the world, ensuring that there would be no future battles between nations, but Caleia didn’t want the empire to function without some oversight.
At her suggestion, it was decided that the order of Archons would be reduced to five heads that would watch over the corners of the world. These Archons would work alongside the emperor to ensure that the world ran smoothly and no threats were allowed to grow. Additionally, they would serve as guides and counters to the emperor to ensure that should an emperor ever go out of line again, they could be stopped in a heartbeat. It was only natural that Caleia was chosen to be one of these first Archons, and with the other four selected, life for the Krysheek finally began to stabilize, but not everything could go back to what it was…
Reconstruction
With the Crisis at an end and a new world order established, the Krysheek began to pickup what remained of their lives. Cities were repaired, refugees were assisted with finding new homes, and peace began to settle in once again. However, the wounds of the Crisis ran deep, and not all could be forgotten so easily. Because of the role that technology played in the Crisis, a new stigma emerged against anything mechanical. Though it was not the fault of the automatons, the Krysheek began to distrust and even fear their automaton companions. Most automatons were effectively outcast from society and reduced to rolls that kept them away from population centers. Additionally, almost all information related to the schematics and designs of the Clockwork Armada were burned, leaving no trace of the engineering that powered such advanced designs, but it didn’t stop there.
Because of wounds suffered by the emperor himself, he decreed that technology would be banned for the foreseeable future, leading to a technophobic atmosphere that would linger for hundreds of years. The Krysheek lost access to the improvements that technology had allowed for so long, and they effectively rolled backwards as a civilization by several hundred years. Effectively, their species was locked in a bubble, time flowing around them but no development occurring in the slightest way. While the Archons had opinions of their own about this, there was little that they could do, not that they even wanted to. Their people had suffered enough, and they needed time to heal, though, none of them could imagine how long it would take.
A Thousand Year History
After the events of the Crisis, the Krysheek species entered an era of undisturbed peace. Hundreds upon hundreds of years passed without anything of note happening. There were no wars or major crises. Cities were built and rebuilt. Trade flourished and communication around the world slowly eased as their species continued to develop, albeit at a slower pace than before. This period lasted for roughly one thousand years, and if one chose any point during these years to visit, they would find mostly the exact same thing. A people trapped in a more feudalistic era going about their lives in peace. Roughly 900 years into this era, however, things began to change.
During the long years, technology had slowly begun to find its way back into the heart’s of the Krysheek. Automatons began to be constructed once again, but not quite in the same amount as before, and engineers started appearing all across the world. This leakage of technology back into society was exceptionally slow, and underdeveloped. All the knowledge the Krysheek had once possessed was gone, so they were struggling to learn everything again from scratch. However, the pace changed with the passing of the emperor and the rise of new leadership.
With the ascension of Dagan the First, technology was suddenly back at the forefront of the world. It was his belief that losing access to such wondrous technologies was the biggest mistake ever made by his forbearers, and it was his desire to see it reintegrated into society. He instated programs in the imperial academy to promote the development of engineering knowledge and sponsored dozens of workshops across the continent, leading to a sudden boom in technology. Old war machines that had been kept around in locked warehouses were suddenly dismantled and reverse engineered, leading to the rise of the scrapyards in Anshal. This boom of activity saw engineering become a much more common thing to encounter, and while it was still seen as taboo, it was much easier for a curious mind to access, and this is what ultimately paved the way for the Sapphire Eye to be born.
Sapphiria
Just shy of a thousand years following the Crisis, something miraculous occurred. To the complete shock of the entirety of the Krysheek, a shasheek was born in a color no one had ever been, blue. This young girl’s name was Sapphiria, and she represented an anomaly that had never been accounted for. She had a fur color never before seen, massive ears, and seven tails, making her an enigma to scholars and even the Council itself. Unfortunately, while her birth should have been seen as a miracle that opened up new doors for Krysheek development, it was instead seen as a curse. Because of tradition and the thousand years of relative ignorance, Sapphiria was effectively raised as an outcast.
Sapphiria grew up on the south side of the continent in effective isolation. Her family lived far out from any villages, and any time she tried to make friends, she was shunned. Her days mostly consisted of her hiding from people and spending time learning all she could. She was an adventurous spirit with a mind tuned for learning, and while no one wanted her to achieve much of anything, she still tried her hardest to make something of her young life. It wasn’t until a fateful journey with her father, however, that would shape her path forward.
Given her father’s vocation as a blacksmith, he was frequently in contact with engineers, and this is how Sapphiria was ultimately exposed to them. When she was brought along to a workshop for the first time, she was enthralled. The inventions were so incredible, but what really captured her heart were the automatons she met there. She was enraptured by their noble hearts and curiosity, and this simple, innocent interaction is what inspired her to begin pursuing an automaton of her own!
Years passed as she delved into the world of engineering, stealing manuals and parts from the workshop in secret and learning as much as she could in the secret corners of any library she could find. Additionally, during this time, she stumbled across a series of Aqua Farms ran by automatons, leading her to meet Trigon, an old, old clockwork automaton. While she didn’t trust him initially, the two of them became fast friends, and she ultimately began to see Trigon as the family she never truly had. He supported her however he could and always made time for her whenever she came around, and he even assisted her with teaching engineering when she ran into problems she couldn’t solve on her own. After many years, and through a gift from Trigon, Sapphiria was finally able to build her first automaton, Atom!
With Atom, she finally had the friend she had always wanted, but life wasn’t easy for her just yet. She was still an outcast, and was determined to find acceptance no matter how stacked against her the odds were. After many, many years, an opportunity finally presented itself when the Archon of Orden, Kaden, began to search for an apprentice. After a year and half of struggling, against all odds, she managed to become his candidate and finally ended her status as a freak, paving the way for her to finally jumpstart her engineering in a major way!
Engineering Revolution
As the apprentice, Sapphiria had access to the funds and knowledge that she had never even been able to dream of having! With the backing of the Council, she was able to finally bring all the inventions to life she had always dreamt of, an endeavor that was heavily supported by the emperor himself. She managed to construct a massive workshop and built a huge team of automatons to help her, and she slowly began to build to some of the more incredible ideas she had always had.
Among these ideas were two massive inventions that would change the course of history. Because of Sapphiria’s connection with Trigon, she had knowledge of many systems and technologies that had been lost to history, a story to discuss another time. This information is what gave her the idea for something she calls an Endless Generator. These generators would be massive improvements to all power sources they were aware of at the time. Using three power cores, the generator could create a sustainable charge that would be capable of increasing to match the load of whatever it was connected to. It wasn’t literally endless, but it effectively had the power of multiple nuclear reactors packed into a machine about the size of a basketball. This machine was a humongous leap forward, but it was another piece of technology that really blew the doors off what was believed to be possible.
Before Sapphiria ever existed, another engineer was able to create something called a synthesizer, a machine capable of replicating matter. However, the machine was effectively useless because of the ludicrous energy requirement to power it, leading to it being forgotten in a closet. With the endless generator, however, the synthesizer suddenly had a use. In Sapphiria’s hands, she was able to create a constant stream of resource for her engineering, and rapidly began to escalate her operations. She created more automatons, bigger and more powerful inventions, and truly began to position herself to revolutionize the way their world operated. All signs pointed to their society changing forever, but then tragedy struck.
The UEC
One day, without any warning or provocation, the Krysheek homeworld was attack and decimated by a UEC fleet under the command of James Stockton. Believing their planet to be valuable and seeing the existence of any alien species as a threat to his control of the UEC, he had marked the Krysheek for extermination, and he was merciless. As the planet was laid to waste, a desperate plan was hatched by Kaden, leading to Sapphiria, Atom, and a handful of her assistants surviving the destruction, but what awaited them on the other side was a hell they never could have dreamt of.
In the wake of the destruction, Sapphiria and her friends were captured by the UEC. For years, Stockton’s teams had struggled to create a subservient AI that they could use to supplant and control the population, but their efforts had ultimately ended in failure. Seeing Sapphiria’s automatons, however, enraged Stockton, and he was determined to replicate the technology for himself. Sapphiria was brought to his primary research facility in the city of Valstadt where Sapphiria, begrudgingly, agreed to construct automatons for him in exchange for the safety of her friends. However, she wasn’t stupid. She was aware that Stockton was planning to have her exterminated once she was no longer useful. She bided her time, slowly planting the seeds for his downfall before, finally, she was able to act! Using Stockton’s own arrogance against him, Sapphiria escaped captivity along with her friends and coerced Admiral Keller to lead a coup against Stockton, seeing his reign over the UEC come to a fiery end. Away from Stockton’s clutches, Sapphiria’s group was finally given the chance to process everything they had survived and grieve, but Kaden’s final words continued to ring in her mind…
What Remains of Our People
Before their world had fallen, Kaden had told her to lead what remained of her people once the bombs had stopped dropping. Although her people had been eradicated, her automatons remained, and she resolved herself to leading her automatons to a brighter future and giving them a life worth living as a true society! After landing on a verdant world not too different from the one she lost, Sapphiria began the long process of building a civilization. Utilizing a collection of cores pilfered from her planet by Stockton that she had stolen back from him, Sapphiria recreated her endless generator and synthesizer technology, allowing her small, ragtag group of automatons to begin building. Progress was slow at first, but, eventually, they were able to span the entire planet and launch themselves back into space as a true civilization!
This first launch ultimately jumpstarted their growth, allowing them to begin constructing their own starships and colonizing other worlds. The automatons began to rapidly swell in numbers, and steadily began to develop their own organizations. A legion formed, and a science division, and a team of rangers, and so many others. From a rusty freighter full of crystals to an entire empire, the Sapphire Eye grew, but they didn’t truly become an empire until it finally came time for them to decide how to govern themselves. At Sapphiria’s behest, the automaton leadership came together to vote on how they would organize themselves. Sapphiria left herself out of the meeting because she didn’t want to influence their development. It was her desire that her automatons build a life for themselves the way they wanted to, without her bias and past haunting them the whole way, but what she didn’t count on was the respect and loyalty she had garnered. To her extreme shock, her automatons voted to become an empire with her at their head. Though she was horrified and initially refused, she was finally convinced to accept the position after reflecting on all she had wanted to be as an Archon.
With Sapphiria anointed the empress, the Sapphire Eye bulldozed a path forward into the future. They rapidly grew in strength thanks to the technology they had stolen from the UEC and expanded rapidly across dozens upon dozens of worlds. Their numbers swelled, and their ranks were joined by some… colorful, individuals they hadn’t been expecting. As Sapphiria had wished, they had become a true empire, one capable of reshaping the galaxy, but path changed abruptly and without warning. Their intelligence network learned of another atrocity similar to what had befallen Sapphiria’s people, a fresh one committed under Keller’s eye. Enraged to a degree never before witnessed by anyone in her life, Sapphiria declared that the UEC’s time had come to an end and set her empire on the path to exterminating their species fully and completely, not just to avenge those they had slaughtered, but to protect anyone else from falling to the same fate. From this point, the Sapphire Eye began to grow its legions, steadily rising to meet the UEC head on in what will prove to be one of the most pivotal decisions that will affect life in every corner of the galaxy…