This is not the first chapter of the story, rather, consider it a sort of prologue. A very few of you may remember this story back when it was called "Dragongelion". School and other things in my life more or less forced me to stop writing for a long time, but recently things have calmed down enough for me to want to try taking up the pencil again, and I decided to take one more shot at this bastard, once again starting from scratch. In order to understand a lot of the non-Eva side of the story though, there are things you all need to know and would be difficult to integrate with the actual story. This'll probably be pretty dry stuff, but I ask you to please bear with me.
Here's how this'll work (Warning, Exposition Heavy, Spoiler Heavy): This story functions as a crossover with the Eva universe and an original universe containing the Slinn-Klyyd Empire, originally consisting of four sentient species from the planet Slinn-Klyyd, a massive, subterranean tunneling species called Corocanji; large, eel-like beings known as Sahjhenka; a small, avian-reptile species called Arejiko; and the cousins to the Arejiko, the dominant species in the Empire, and the most plot relevant, the Slyyn-Yii.
Slyyn-Yii are, basically, space dragons. Artificial, they were genetically modified from the Arejiko and enhanced with every physical and mental capability that could be thought of to create the ultimate fighter. The name Slyyn-Yii means "Image of God", as they were patterned after the Dragon's God, Yiisea. Somewhat larger than an adult human, they are dark green with light green undersides, and tails that typically run three times the length of their bodies. They have huge, deep red wings, which are their third pair of limbs, they do have arms and legs. Their basic body shape is akin to a raptor, ala Jurassic Park. They have three fingers and one thumb on each hand, and three toes on each foot, all tipped by large claws. They have blade-like spines from the bottom of their necks to their tails, and are capable of retracting and extending them at will. They are, of course, capable of breathing fire, in addition, they have venomous fangs that can deliver a very potent neurotoxin. They have incredible regenerative capabilities. Their most prominent characteristic, though, is that they are all psychic.
The Arejiko are the primary genetic template for the Slyyn-Yii. They are smaller though, and lack arms. Also lacking their cousins' spines, they do share their fire-breathing abilities and venom. Approximately 40 percent of the population is psychic.
Sahjhenka are, naturally, aquatic. About forty feet long, they are a bright orange color. Unusually for fish, they have fully evolved arms and hands, tipped with claws. Approximately 55 percent of the population is psychic.
Corocanji are about the size of an elephant and are brown. Quadrupedal, they spend most of their time underground. They have massive digging claws on their front legs/arms with opposable thumbs, small vestigial horns and a stubby tail. Approximately 65 percent of the population is psychic.
The Slinn-Klyyd Dragon Empire spans a large portion of the galaxy, and includes a great number of client species. Earth is within Slinn-Klyyd space, but humans are not a client species. The title of Emperor is currently shared by identical twin Slyyn-Yii brothers, hatched from the same egg. Collectively or individually, these four species may be referred to as dragons.
What follows is a timeline of this crossover universe, detailing significant events from both Eva and Dragon continuities. Certain things, like opinions developing, take place over time, and the dates they are attributed to are when they first start to form these opinions. Unless specifically dated, these are approximations. Here we go!
15 billion years ago: The universe is born.
4 billion years ago: The First Ancestral Race seeds the galaxy with Black and White Eggs. Planets with White Eggs are eventually populated by massive beings referred to by humans as Angels. Planets with Black Eggs are eventually populated with small, highly numerous beings. All beings born from this process possess a unique "AT-Field". No planet is seeded with both. Earth is seeded with a White Egg. Slinn-Klyyd is not seeded and life develops naturally. In modern times, all planets seeded with Black Eggs are permanently quarantined; nothing gets in, nothing gets out.
65 million years ago: A drifting Black Egg collides with Earth in what will one day be known as Japan, causing First Impact. The Prime Angel, later called Adam, is reduced to a dormant state in Antarctica. Humanity is seeded.
4500 years ago: The Slyyn-Yii are artificially created by the other Dragons as ultimate soldiers. After approximately 300 years of servitude, they rebel and take over. Eventually, a treaty is reached by all four races and their sights turn skyward.
4000 years ago: The Dragon Empire is forged and begins expansion through both warfare and diplomacy. Colonies are founded by either adopting empty "Garden Worlds", or sterilizing populated Garden Worlds, if the population has not attained space flight. A Warrior class, exclusive to Slyyn-Yii, is created as the absolute height of Draconic martial ability, each capable of enacting sterilization individually, and the strongest of these is known as the God of Warriors.
1538 AD: Riiskare, Kanstath, and Yasdek are born as the sons of Creestouth, a Slyyn-Yii. Kanstath and Yasdek are twins. Riiskare acquires a large wound across his right eye from an egg shard. As hatchlings are unable to regenerate yet, the eye must be replaced with a bionic replacement, while the rest of the wound is allowed to scar. This is considered a sign of strength amongst Dragons: surviving Hatch Wounds.
1539 AD: Riiskare is identified as having the potential to be a Warrior.
1546 AD: Riiskare shows what is eventually recognized as an evolving ability of the Slyyn-Yii, Energy Manipulation. Birth records later indicate that he was the first one to hatch that possessed this ability.
1563 AD: Riiskare is officially inducted into Warrior training.
1565 AD: Screege is born as the daughter of Jotaliik.
1583 AD: Kanstath and Yasdek enter into the mandatory military training for Slyyn-Yii of 15 Years (45 Earth years) of age. Riiskare, undergoing Warrior training, is exempt.
1610 AD: Screege enters mandatory military training.
1628 AD: Riiskare completes Warrior training. At 30 Years of age, he and his clutch-brothers are legally adults. Riiskare becomes an official Warrior. Kanstath and Yasdek enter politics.
1655 AD: Screege is legally an adult and becomes a xenobiologist.
1732 AD: Screege and Riiskare meet on a Colony World and begin seeing each other.
1738 AD: Screege and Riiskare become Mates.
1751 AD: Riiskare challenges and kills the current God of Warriors, inheriting the title.
1778 AD: Kanstath and Yasdek become Twin Emperors, and are the youngest to attain Rulership of the Empire.
1784 AD: The Kyrodians, a race of multicolored bird-people, are offended by the Slinn-Klyyd colonization methods and declare war, targeting their colonies, and so forcing ground campaigns. Using surprising technologies and tactics, they make unprecedented headway against the far more physically adept Dragons.
1790 AD: After many planets are both won and lost, Riiskare is dispatched to the heavily contested world of Hyalf. Screege volunteers to join the campaign as she had been throughout the war. The planet is won for the Dragons, but Screege suffers what is thought to be a fatal wound. Enraged, Riiskare personally obliterates the retreating Kyrodian fleet. He then rushes to Kyrodia, and, displaying a level of power unseen before or since, directs a massive blast of energy straight to the core of the planet and cracks it apart. There are no survivors. It is only later that he discovers that Screege will recover, barely. As God of Warriors and clutch-brother of the Twin Emperors, Riiskare is not punished for destroying a Garden World, which is the only charge that would have been leveled against him.
1806 AD: The star of Slinn-Klyyd unexpectedly goes supernova. The majority of the population is evacuated, but a new center of government must be decided. For reasons to be detailed within the story, the Twin Emperors choose Earth, and do NOT have it sterilized, instead burrowing beneath mountain ranges and keeping humans unaware of their presence. Primarily government officials and their families relocate there, though others do so as well. Riiskare and Screege are among these. Most evacuees go to various Colony Worlds.
March 23, 1905 AD: Nichos Ramaiden is born in England.
January 4, 1906 AD: Craven (Doesn't know his last name) is born in England.
1908 AD: The Ramaidens travel to the newly established Commonwealth of Australia. Craven's family is on the same boat. A few miles offshore, a violent storm sinks the ship. A Mated pair of Slyyn-Yii happen upon the wreckage and find Nichos and Craven still alive. Finding no other survivors, they decide to take the children back home with them. They petition to have the boys accepted as citizens of the Empire and adopt them officially.
1909 AD: The decision is made to have Nichos and Craven Hybridized. A common practice in the Empire, a non-Dragon citizen is genetically enhanced with DNA from a sponsor Slyyn-Yii, in order to bring them up to physical par with the Slyyn-Yii's immense strength and grant psychic abilities. Depending on the species, the Hybrid can come very close, but matching it is almost always either impossible, or manifests noticeable Draconic phenotypes. During the process, it is discovered that humans are capable of being Hybridized to the point that they can match a Slyyn-Yii's physical capability with the only side-effect phenotypes manifesting being pointed ears and slitted pupils. The full abilities granted to Nichos and Craven are as follows:
Superhuman Strength, Speed, and Reflexes. Extreme coordination and agility. Organic redundancy matches that of a Slyyn-Yii. Perceptions are capable of being accelerated to a kind of "Bullet Time" at will. Claws can be extended and retracted from finger and toenails, based on the spines of a Slyyn-Yii. Extended canine teeth, exceedingly sharp but lacking in venom. Physical durability and stamina, all five senses are enhanced, and the full measure of psychic abilities are granted. Speed of aging and longevity are predicted to match that of a Slyyn-Yii. Most noteworthy, however, is that each human appears to manifest a unique psychic based power: Nichos develops the ability to manipulate matter with his mind, Telekinesis. His body emits an imperceptible energy field that is controlled by his thoughts, and this energy field can interact with matter independently from his body. Even more unusually, he appears to be able to use the field as a sensory organ, perceiving everything within its boundaries. This field grows in size as Nichos ages Craven, on the other hand, can Eclipse himself from other's perceptions, essentially becoming invisible, inaudible, and incapable of being felt or smelled at will. He can only be sensed by psychics and Nichos's new power. Both boys spend a year in a medically induced coma as their bodies are reconstructed according to the new genetic information.
1910 AD: Nichos and Craven awaken as Hybrids. They are raised as brothers by the pair that found them. Screege begins research on the two, helping each recognize and develop their new abilities. Throughout their lives they are entered into various human societies with fake names and the express knowledge not to reveal their origins. Nichos, observing the ridiculous speed that humans develop their technology and unstoppable survival instinct that they exhibit, eventually forms the opinion that humans and Dragons should enter into an open alliance. Craven, on the other hand, starts showing dissatisfaction with the dragons, and begins to indicate that they should leave Earth.
1913 AD: Nichos is identified as being capable of becoming a Warrior, the only non Slyyn-Yii to do so.
August 17, 1918 AD: Iris Daileth is born in America.
1922 AD: Nichos is officially inducted into Warrior training. With a cunning tactical mind and novel use of his Telekinesis, he quickly excels. Meets Riiskare for the first time
1928 AD: During one of their sojourns into human society, the boys meet Iris and become fast friends.
1929 AD: Iris's family is killed by criminals. Nichos and Craven convince their parents to take her into the secret of the Dragons. Iris is adopted by another family and agrees to undergo Hybridization.
1930 AD: Iris awakens as a Hybrid. Furthering the theory that each human Hybrid has a unique psychic power, Iris exhibits the ability to completely Dominate someone's will if she makes eye contact. While lesser abilities exist in many psychics, Domination offers absolutely no chance at resistance. If one is unaware of her ability, they never even notice any difference.
1944 AD: Craven and Iris enter mandatory military training. After completion, Craven begins Assassin training. Iris begins Mentalist training.
1966 AD: Nichos and Craven begin competing for Iris's affections. Iris eventually chooses Nichos.
April 29, 1967 AD: Rokubungi Gendo is born in Japan.
March 30, 1977 AD: Ikari Yui is born in Japan.
1985 AD: Kaji Ryoji and Akagi Ritsuko are born in Japan, June 17 and November 21 respectively.
December 8, 1986 AD: Katsuragi Misato is born in Japan.
1988 AD: Nichos completes Warrior training and becomes a legal adult. As a Warrior, Nichos is recognized as one of the strongest. In addition to his duties as a Warrior, he begins lobbying for the revelation of Dragons on Earth. The Twin Emperors refuse.
1989 AD: Craven and Iris become legal adults. Nichos and Iris become Mates. Craven disappears.
July 11, 1991 AD: Ibuki Maya is born in Japan.
1999 AD: Gendo and Yui marry. Gendo takes her name.
2000 AD: Ikari Shinji is conceived. Second Impact occurs as a result of a "Contact Experiment" with the recently uncovered Adam by the Katsuragi Expedition. Misato is the only one to survive Ground Zero, with critical injuries. During one of the tremors incurred by the massive release of energy, Screege is killed. Adam is reduced to an embryonic state.
After the initial catastrophe dies down, Nichos approaches a mourning Riiskare with the proposition to start an organization with the express purpose of revealing Draconic presence on Earth, convincing him with the argument that if Dragons and humans interacted, Second Impact could have been prevented. Riiskare joins.
A refugee incident sparks a war between India and Pakistan. This leads to war between many different countries. The original Tokyo is destroyed by nuclear weaponry.
After gathering as many like-minded individuals as he could, Nichos approaches the Twin Emperors, stating his intention to reveal the secret. They declare all of them traitors and order them executed. Nichos and his followers fight their way out and go into hiding. Nichos determines that even if they had agreed, merging human and Dragon societies wouldn't be as easy as he had thought. He would have to give more thought to the human side of the equation. First things first, he had to make sure that humanity survived the next few decades.
2001 AD: The Valentine Treaty is signed, ending the Second Impact Wars. The U.N. is retooled into a unified governing superpower. Ikari Shinji is born in Japan, June 6. Sohryu Asuka Langely is born in Germany, December 4. Nichos begins secretly acquiring human allies, and starts gathering information on Second Impact. He uncovers the existence of Project E and the Human Intrumentality Project.
2002 AD: Misato is recovered from Ground Zero, rendered mute by trauma.
2003 AD: Gehirn begins constructing Evangelions. War breaks out between China and Vietnam, the JSSDF is formed in response.
2004 AD: Ikari Yui brings Shinji to the first activation of Evangelion Test Type Unit 01. Shinji witnesses his mother's disappearance into the Evangelion. Made aware that Gendo plans to eventually have Shinji brought back to pilot the Eva, Nichos intervenes. Using her Domination ability, Iris has Gendo turn custody of Shinji over to her and Nichos. They raise Shinji as their own, and he grows up as though a citizen of the Empire(albeit a renegade citizen), recognizing Dragons as people and fully aware of his destiny as an Eva pilot. Additionally, Shinji is trained in combat and helped to unlock the latent psychic abilities that all potential Eva pilots possess(not what allows them to pilot, Nichos, Iris, and Craven are as unable to pilot as anyone born before Impact. The psychic abilities can be considered symptomatic of what enables piloting capability). He does not receive the more arduous Warrior training, but is personally trained by Riiskare. He is still an introverted person, but has lived an altogether more emotionally supportive life and is generally more relaxed. Finally, he actually enjoys conflict, a product of being raised around Dragons, who make it a point to enjoy conflicts(ranging from simple disagreements to all out brawls, typically non-fatal, but even that can be fun to them).
Ayanami Rei I is created. She is designated the First Child.
2005 AD: Sohryu Kyoko Zeppelin activates Evangelion Production Model Unit 02. She is driven insane in the attempt. Her daughter Asuka is later selected as the Second Child. Kyoko commits suicide. Construction begins on Tokyo-3 over the Black Egg, referred to by humans as a Geofront. Misato, having since recovered her speaking ability, meets Akagi Ritsuko and Kaji Ryoji in college. Misato and Ryoji begin dating, eventually moving in together.
2007 AD: Misato and Ryoji break up.
2008 AD: Construction begins on the MAGI Supercomputer Series. Ritsuko graduates and joins her mother, Akagi Naoko, in work on the MAGI.
2009 AD: Ryoji and Misato join Gehirn, Ryoji in Japan, and Misato in Germany. Misato becomes Asuka's guardian.
2010 AD: Ayanami Rei I is first introduced to the public. Construction on the MAGI is completed. Naoko strangles Rei, and commits suicide shortly thereafter. Ayanami Rei II is created. Gehirn is disbanded and replaced by Nerv.
2012 AD: Eight years after Yui's "death", Shinji and Gendo meet at her grave for the first time since he turned over custody to the Ramaidens. They have a brief, somewhat less than civil conversation, and go their separate ways.
2013 AD: Shortly before Ibuki Maya graduates college, Nichos contacts her and, after an extended conversation, she joins his organization. Maya graduates and is hired by Nerv. Nichos introduces her to Shinji, explaining that he will eventually be the Third Child.
2015 AD: Misato transfers to Nerv-Japan in Tokyo-3. Rei is injured in an activation test with Evangelion Prototype Unit 00. In anticipation of the Third Angel's attack, Gendo sends for Shinji...
WHAT ALL THIS MEANS
Shinji has been raised with the knowledge, either intimate or cursory awareness, of everything detailed above, and is in full support of Nichos's goal. Being aware of both Seele's and Gendo's plans, this obviously means that they will have to be dealt with, so that humanity might actually survive to eventually ally with the Dragons. Shinji's training, I feel the need to point out, has not made him into a super-competent, Ranma 1/2-esque death machine. He remains entirely human, and is bound by human limitations, and the fact that he is fourteen years old. The psychic training does mean that he will start off with a somewhat higher sync ratio, say, 52% or something, but as stated above, psychic abilities≠piloting skills. The strongest skill that Nichos teaches Shinji is tactical thinking, and his greatest weapon is knowledge. In addition to being charged with killing Angels, both he and Maya are to subtly sabotage the "Scenarios" and bring the other pilots around to becoming potential allies. Riiskare, having something like a godfatherly relationship with Shinji, is to serve as an unseen bodyguard.
Nichos and Iris will work behind the scenes for the most part, and the majority of their characterization will come from flashbacks to Shinji's childhood. They will eventually show up in Tokyo-3, though. The main reason that they and Riiskare must rely on Shinji and the Evas, is the same one as for the rest of the world: The Evas are the only weapons that can combat the Angels. The Empire does have weapons that can overpower an AT-Field, but as they are all renegades, they cannot access them.
And I think that's everything. Thank you for making it this far, please continue to the first chapter, which should be much more enjoyable. If you have any questions, please feel free to include them, and I will do my best to answer them. Thank you.