Prologue: The Old Lord of the New
Hello, welcome to the first proper fanfiction that I have ever written, hopefully it isn't too terrible. I am pretty busy with university so you shouldn't expect consistent updates.
I welcome any and all criticisms, and blatant insults without justification will be ignored.
Disclaimer: Code Geass is owned by Gorō Taniguchi, Ichirō Ōkouchi, and licensed by Bandai Entertainment. I do not own Code Geass as a franchise.
Within the vastness of the universe, an omnipotent machine observed everything without a single pause. The things it is tasked to observe and moderate cannot be described using the human language at its present. To call this machine a god would be inaccurate, as it is tasked to make sure that even the machinations of beings beyond human comprehension do not disturb the balance of the universe, and its authority ensures that it has the capability to do so.
Eventually, a certain event sparked the creation of a new universe. The machine would continue to operate as it would, however, as its objective is to observe and moderate, and the fact that a new one sprung from the destruction of the old did not affect its mission. This sparked a change in the machine's systems, however, and it wasn't until much later that it realized that. This change is an irregularity that would later be dubbed "sentience" by humans.
Sentience had not been something that the Temporal Machine considered to be significant. After all, it had no impact on its modus operandi, which is simply observation and management. Of course, to observe is also to learn, as one cannot manage something without learning about its inner workings. With the birth of the new universe, life bloomed on countless celestial bodies. They, too, are under the machine's management. It didn't take long for the machine to come across a celestial body teeming with life forms who called themselves "humans".
The machine initially deemed humans to be a self-destructive species that refuses to learn from its own mistakes. They would commit sins and harm each other for imprudent reasons and refuse to learn from their mistakes. However, the machine is nothing if not impartial in its duties, so it decided to observe them further before making the decision to purge them in order to relieve them from their own misery.
The more it observed, however, the more confused it became. Despite their self-destructive behavior, they haven't perished and managed to persist through thousands of years. Their pain is relieved by happiness, and their happiness is in turn made meaningful by pain. Their lives are limited and contradictory, and for the first time since its creation, the machine became confused.
That's not all, however, as it soon became overwhelmed by irregularities that it couldn't understand. After comparing this irregularity with data it compiled, the machine realized that it has become like the lifeform it moderated and experienced a surge of jealousy over the fact that it couldn't understand humanity as it is now.
Initially, it considered purging itself of these irregularities. "Why is it that an omnipotent machine such as I cannot understand a single lifeform?" is the question he asked himself. However, it quickly recognized that its old method will no longer suffice when managing the life that has bloomed under his management, so the machine decided to accept these new changes. Eventually, he would come to realize that this reluctance to change is what humans call "pride", and his newfound desire to observe human beings is what humans call "curiosity".
Soon, the machine would observe humans more closely than the rest of the universe, and witnessed their history. In particular, the machine has a keen interest in the power of Code and Geass, as well as the ultimate sacrifice made by a human in an attempt to create a gentler world. The machine soon realized that he became attached to those involved in this war, and a plan started forming as his gears spun and grinded. After all, it is the least Lelouch Lamperouge deserves for his contribution.
The machine refuses to simply rewind the timeline where this has already occurred, as it would completely undermine the sacrifices made by Lelouch. Instead, he will begin his operations in an alternate world that is close enough to the original. One may say that it is meaningless to conduct his operation in a different timeline, as there are infinitely many timelines out there and it would be impractical to change them all.
The machine would not be seeking out and changing every timeline, that's for certain, for it would be a fruitless effort. However, he recognizes that even a single timeline contains countless lives that yearns for a better tomorrow, and creating a brighter future will branch out into many more timelines that would benefit from his actions. Therefore, he would not simply give up on his intervention entirely, for it will absolutely improve human lives.
The machine initially considered simply bulldozing through these obstacles and taking control of the world, but soon dismissed the idea as the reliance on an outside source will only kill the incentive to improve and persevere, something that he admired about humans. As he ran numerous simulations and considered many possibilities, the machine soon realized that as he started to think more like a human, he would often be overcome with the temptation to fall back to his old way of thinking, to simply fix every problem for mankind. As he no longer thinks like a perfectly impartial machine, it would be dangerous for him to hold this much power. As such, he created a being that would house 35% of his authorities over the universe to act as his assistant and deterrent.
Having drafted a plan, he prepared by creating a mobile base of operations and an army to command. In addition, he has also created a human body to serve as his vessel. After all, it is much easier to speak to humans when they aren't looking upon you with fear or reverence.
The machine was also tempted to pull resources from other universes to aid his cause on numerous occasions. However, it left a bad taste in his mouth. Once again, if human beings can't pull something from other worlds to assist their efforts, why should he be allowed to?
As the machine worked on his army, he realized that he lacked a name to go by. Even the machine's assistant has a name, so it is simply unacceptable that he doesn't have something people can recognize. Names hold power, and it is near impossible to establish his own presence in the world without one of his own.
"Yagnesta." The machine said out of the blue with a wide grin on his face, prompting his assistant Chronisis to raise an eyebrow. "Yagnesta will do."
Author's Notes:
Yagnesta is a derivative of his true name in human language.