(Author's note: I don't own the Twilighters, Elysila, Stoletta, or the anything that is related to the Twilight Realm they are all Crystalkeyblader's, which I got permission. But I do own the Templars, Venicians, Venica, Venician Machine Beasts or anything that is connected to the Venicians.)
Prologue: Historia Semper Repetit (History Repeats Itself)
In the early days of the Venician Empire, there was group of defenders called the Templars, not to be confused with the Knights Templar of Earth. These Templars were masters of psychic abilities, able to absorb all matter and energy around them and convert it into psychic energy.
(We see an old manuscript of a Templar in meditation.)
The Templars were formed around the time when the mushroom clouds of the 12th Venician Civil War were banished from the surface, allowing the sun to shine on Eden I again. But sadly, the sun beat down on a post-apocalyptic desert.
(We then see an image of a sandy wasteland that surrounds the city.)
The once formal capital city of Venica itself became a home to mutants and bandits. But it would not last for long, for in a small river village, called Yarvis, lived two psychic users, Jorim Jean Nicholas and his twin brother Jakan Stavros Nicholas. Though they were mere fishers, Jorim would one day be the father of the Venician Imperial Family. Jakan's destiny was to betray his brother and the Templars.
When Jorim and Jakan were young children, Venician explorers returned from a mission to a distant planet called Earth. They brought back artifacts from the planet and told of the Earthican's belief in an all-powerful unseen being they called Deus (God). Among the artifacts was a book, called the Holy Bible, which contained many stories of the works of this powerful Being and the rules He had laid down for the Earthicans to follow. Young Jorim was fascinated by these stories and studied the book whenever he could. He gradually began to find a sense of peace in the message of this Being and found that it added meaning to his life. Jakan, on the other hand, dismissed it as simple folklore and a sign of weakness among the inferior Earthican people.
One night Jorim had a dream. In his dream he saw Venica glowing brightly and above the city a gold cross appeared. This was a vision from Deus, which would lead him to unite other psychic users from other tribes and villages to form the Templars. With the banner that had the golden cross on it, raised high, he would lead the Templars on a crusade to scourge the mutants and the bandits from the city. This would be known as the Grand Crusade.
(We then see a young man with black hair, green eyes, and dark tanned skin, who was wearing a bright red Templar outfit, preaching among his fellow Templars. Then moves to two images of the crusade: one shows the Templars pushing back a mutant attack; the next image shows a Templar executing a bandit.)
After the crusades, the two brothers helped rebuild the city to its former glory and Jorim was proclaimed Grand Master and Saint, while Jakan was proclaimed Seneschal (Second in Command) of Venica. The Venician people soon returned to the city and for a short time it was peaceful….that is until a new threat emerged.
(The next image shows the rebuilding of the city.)
Soon, the Machine Beasts, ancient war machines of the old Venician Republic, were attacking villages and merchant caravans. Grand Master Jorim ordered his brother to take a division of Templars to meet the machine threat; this would spark the Templar-Machine Beast War.
(We then see an image of an army of Templars facing off with large horrendous looking machine-dragons called, Fallen Angels.)
Shortly after the machines' bitter defeat, the Templar's discover a realm gate that had lain hidden ever since the 12th Civil War broke out. The Templar marshals insisted that they activate the gate, while the scribes say they should study it. Both sides continued to discuss the matter, until Grand Master Jorim ordered the gate to be moved to the capital city. Then he ordered the gate be activated.
The Grand Master selected 12 brave Templars to go through the gate and explore the world beyond. He named 8 knights, 1 sergeant, 1 chaplain, and 3 under marshals, all battle tested and loyal to the empire. Before they departed, the priests led them in a prayer for safety and success. They then stepped through the gate and into history.
(Then we see a scene of the explorers being blessed by the priests as they entered the gate.)
When the explorers passed through the gate, they experienced a wondrous moment filled with amazing colors and strange melodious music. They were filled with joy and a sense of peace. And then they stepped out onto a world entirely different from anything they had ever imagined before.
(We then see the explorers leaving the gate and entering a forest that had blue leaves. They then came across a road that leads to a settlement. As they entered the town called Elysila, were they were greeted by a group of people.)
The explorers have entered into a realm called the Twilight Realm, home to the Twilighters, a group of people with strange powers that were sealed within them at birth. When the Templar explorers first encountered the Twilighters, they thought they were Venicians that had escaped the horrors of the 12th Civil War. Later they then discovered that the Machine Beasts had escape into the Twilight Realm to rebuild their fallen army and were attacking towns and cities, so the Templars, with knowledge of their old foes, offered to help by defend Twilighter cities and settlements.
(We then see Templars patrolling the Twilighter cities and towns.)
Over time the Templars that were in Twilight Realm began to take up the Twilighter life style but still remained true to their Templar Order. In order to avoid conflict, Jorim offer to take a Twilighter bride to strengthen the Templar-Twilighter relationship. So he married Stoletta Ignatia, and soon after they gave birth to their first born son named Josiah Michael Nicholas.
As Josiah grew, it became obvious that he was very different – neither purely Venician nor Twilighter. His psychic powers were greater than either of his parents ever imagined. He possessed great physical strength and the ability to heal. By age 10, he began to develop Twilighter wings which made his parents realize that he had inherited the unique characteristics of both their races. The only question was how powerful would he become and would he use these powers for good or evil?
But when Jakan got word of this, he was both worried and disgusted, calling Josiah an abomination and saying that he should be the Grand Master, a true pure blood Templar, and not letting half-breeds join the order. With this statement brought a split in the Order which led to Jakan killing Jorim.
(We sees Jorim walking down the palace hallway, till Jakan came up from behind him and stabbed him.)
With Jorim dead, Jakan then proclaimed himself Grand Master of Venica, and ordered all half-breeds to be captured or killed. But then an idea struck him. What if he could extract the half-breed DNA and powers, and place it into a pure blood Templar? With this he created a machine called the Divider, which pulled the Twilighter powers out of a half-breed and into a Templar. This new type of Dark Templar was then called a Planet Eater.
(We then see the Divider pulling a half-breed's Twilighter powers out and then placed into a Templar.)
While Jakan began his rule, Stoletta and Josiah escaped into the wilderness and hid in the town of Aradesh, where over time Stoletta taught Josiah how to control his Twilighter-Templar powers, Stoletta died when Josiah turned 20. He, like what his father did, united the other half-breeds in other towns, tribes, villages who had escaped Jakan's reign of terror. With the same banner that was used during the Grand Crusade, raised high, he and his army marched to the capital city. But when his spies returned to him with the news, they told him that Jakan was building a terrifying machine called, the World Eater, which was the size of the capital city itself and could turn a planet into a molten rock within minutes. With much determination, he and his army made haste to the capital, where in turn Jakan was waiting for them and the Battle for Venica begins.
(We then see a massive battle between the Templars and the Planet Eaters. Then we see Josiah facing off with Jakan. They continue to throw a couple of slashes and dodges, until Josiah cuts Jakan's arm off and stabs him.)
Now with the death of Jakan, the remaining Planet Eaters in the city either gave up or kept on fighting. Others were never heard from again. With this victory, Josiah ordered a monument to his father's vision, a tall pillar with a golden cross on the top, called Culmen of Luminarium (The Pillar of Light). The cross on the top of the Culmen of Luminarium was powered by psychic energy that came from the Templars, and it was also built to keep any Planet Eaters that were still alive away from the city. As for the World Eater, which was never used, Josiah ordered it to be placed in a large chamber, where it would remain…..forever.
(Then we see the doors to the World Eater's chambers locked up, and Josiah gives each of the codes to four Templars.)
To make sure that the World Eater would never fall into the wrong hands, Josiah ordered four of his best Templars to head out into the galaxy and hide part of the codes on other worlds. But just then the Venician Church requested that all the Templars returned from the Twilight Realm for a victory celebration over the Planet Eaters, which Josiah did. But as he looked out his chamber window he had a sense of foreboding. Later, as one of his Templars was about to ask him about the celebration…..he vanished.
(We then see Josiah in desert robes, as he looked on the city for the last time and headed out into the desert.)
The sense of warning he had, came true…for the Venician Church set a trap for the remaining Templars, and had all of them killed or put in torture chambers. They declared them heretics of the faith saying they would destroy the faith like the Planet Eaters tried too. They even destroyed the realm gate to the Twilight Realm to make sure that no Templar escapes "Deus's Judgement". Soon……all the Templar were dead. But their achievements remained in stone silently waiting for their return.