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Sephiroth was born of Hojo and Lucrecia of the Shinra Corporation.
Both of them were assistance to Professor Gast, a scientist researching
an ancient race of planetary migrations with special abilities to
communicate and manipulate the planet itself. The race itself was
known as Cetra or 'The Ancients'. Professor Gast believe to have discovered
the preserved remains of a cetra whom he named Jenova, and was funded
by Shinra to research and create a human with the abilities of the
cetra. This experiment and research was called the Jenova Project.
Hojo and Lucrecia gave up their unborn child to this experiment. While
still in the womb Sephiroth was injected with Jenova Cells. Unfortunately
after this fact Professor Gast discovered that Jenova was not a cetra.
Jenova was in fact a life form composed of viral cells that fell from the heavens over two thousand years before the birth of Sephiroth. Jenova is also known as the Calamity from the Skies or Heaven's Dark Harbinger. A meteor struck the planet Gaia creating a great wound in the planet. Jenova emerged from this crater and approached the Cetra, using psionic abilities to clean their minds of memories and emotions, then taking form of their dead loved ones. With this Jenova was able to get close to the cetra and infect them with a disease. Most of the cetra became insane and mutated into monsters but a few managed to survive. The planet began a process to defend itself, creating massive creatures known as Weapon. These creatures would awake and destroy all life on the planet, returning its energy back to the lifestream. The surviving cetra fought to prevent these creatures from awakening, and succeeded by trapping and containing Jenova. With this the planet stopped its creation of weapon and was no longer threaten by Jenova.
Sephiroth would grow up to be the elite soldier of the Shinra Army due to his superhuman abilities. On assignment to inspect a Makou Reactor he would discover the library of Professor Gast and the flawed reports of the Jenova Project that claimed Jenova was a cetra. He would come to believe that he had not been born, but created from Jenova. This drove him insane and began a hatred first for Shinra, and then the world. He would raze the town the Makou Reactor was in and attempt to recover 'his mother' which was being held in the Reactor. His efforts would be stopped as reaction for his destruction of the town. Sephiroth was mortally wounded in the battle that ensued within the reactor, but managed to escape by diving into the lifestream. He had only managed to get Jenova's head. What remained of Jenova would be taken back to Shinra Headquarters.
With the death of Sephiroth the Shinra Corporation restarted the Jenova Project in hopes to create a Sephiroth Clone. Hojo would lead this project which used the same experiment as the Shinra SOLDIER Program, in which members of Shinra Army were injected with Jenova Cells and showered with Makou, such as Sephiroth had been. The Sephiroth Clone Project would use higher doses of Jenova Cells than that of Soldier. But unlike Sephiroth both the Sephiroth Clones and members of Soldier did not present the same superhuman abilities that Sephiroth had, but the difference was Sephiroth was injected while still developing in the womb. Hojo also had a second agenda to prove a theory he had about jenova cells. In his theory he stated that when Jenova is divided, the cells will instinctively thrive to rejoin. He called it the Jenova Reunion Theory.
Five years after his death Sephiroth would reappear. During this time while in the lifestream he had merged with Jenova's head and the knowledge of the cetra held within the lifestream. Upon his return he began a simple plan of action, to create a wound on the planet such as Jenova had done. When such a large wound is created, the planet will gather its energy at that point in an attempt to heal it. Sephiroth would create a wound and stand at the epicenter of energy, absorbing both the planet's lifestream and the knowledge held within. During this time Sephiroth was still indeed mortally wounded, but using his will he manipulated Jenova for his own needs. Pieces of Jenova would take his form and do his bidding. Sephiroth would summon a meteor from the heavens using black materia, a composite of magical energy from the negative lifestream. But to use this he had to gather his energy, so he summoned the Sephiroth Clones to him and killed them, rejoining the Jenova Cells within their bodies with Jenova itself. This would increase his power.
The meteor was successfully summoned but thwarted in its attempt to strike the planet. Various groups attempted to stop it using various technology and magical summons, but ultimately it would be the planet who defended itself, by summoning the lifestream to the surface and gathering its energy. Sephiroth was not at the epicenter and was yet again defeated and destroyed, by the same person who had mortally wounded him in the Makou Reactor. Yet again though Sephiroth did not die, returning to the lifestream his will was stronger than the planet, and his body was not disbursed into the lifestream. But before he pulled himself from the lifestream his spirit had been pulled into three separate pieces.
Two years later these three remnants would manifest themselves into human forms, all with resemblances to Sephiroth. The Shinra Corporation had found Jenova's Head and removed it from the Northern Crater, the site of her arrival thousands of years ago. This would cause the Remnants of Sephiroth to emerge and seek her head, along with vengeance against the planet. They would recreate the Jenova Reunion. Many of the people who were near the meteor strike that Sephiroth had summoned had become infected with a disease, known as Geostigma. This disease was the invasion of jenova cells into ones body, the body would overwork itself to extract the cells which typically resulted in death. People had become infected when the planet used the lifestream to defend itself against the meteor. As the lifestream flowed above the planet, it also brought jenova cells with it. The Remnants of Sephiroth themselves lack jenova cells, making it difficult for them to detect Jenova's Head. They would use these diseased people as bloodhounds to find it, and in the end they would summon them in a reunion to recreate Jenova. But they required Jenova's Head so they themselves could reunite.
Yet again Sephiroth would be reborn, but only for a brief period. The leader of the three remnants would finally get his hands on Jenova's head and reunite, changing his physical form to Sephiroth. This time his plan was to kill the planet and use it as a vassal to travel space. He would migrate with the dead planet Gaia to a new planet, where he could re-attempt his original plan of becoming a god. He would use those infected with Geostigma, drawing them together in a reunion and destroying them all. The Jenova Cells within their bodies would return to the lifestream, causing the planet to choke and die. But yet again he would be defeated by the sole survivor of the original Jenova Reunion, who was dubbed 'brother' by the remnants, and yet again Sephiroth would return to the lifestream. The spirit of the last cetra along side the planet cured Geostigma and effectively destroyed most of Jenova.
But still Jenova lived on, what remained of her was now disbursed into the planet's lifestream along with Sephiroth. Almost a century would pass before Sephiroth was able to reform himself. As the theory of Hojo, Jenova Cells will thrive to reunite with one and another. Even though they were disbursed in the lifestream, they managed to reunite and combine with the will of Sephiroth. But he would wait in the lifestream until the time was right.
He would be reborn for a fourth time, reemerging from the lifestream when he sensed the passing life of the last Sephiroth Clone. He would reappear to a different planet and a new world. Sephiroth spent his time walking among this new population of people which had now begun to overcrowd the planet. He could sense the planet was yet again dying. Makou Energy had been rediscovered the reactors scattered the planet, slowly draining its life. With these turns of events Sephiroth would retreat to the Northern Crater and use what energy he had left to prevent the planet from saving itself. There was no resistance and the planet with its people died. For an untold time Sephiroth would remain dormant within the dead planet Gaia, drifting in space. He would stay alive on what little lifestream was left inside the planet, waiting to collide with another.
Untold time would pass before the Planet Gaia would collide with a planet known as Toril. Gaia itself had withered away into a husk of its former self, void of almost all its lifestream it was only the size of a moon. It fell in the southeast part of the planet at the northern tip of the continent called The Great Realms. This impact site would be given the same name as Jenova's impact site on Gaia, the Northern Crater. With this impact Sephiroth had a chance to accomplish his goal of godhood. The wound caused by Gaia caused Toril's lifestream to gather at the Northern Crater, but in his weaken condition he was unable to be at the epicenter of this event. Sephiroth would dive into the Torilian Lifestream to replenish his strength, and seek the knowledge of this planet. He would watch the Great Realms as it was thrown into chaos from the collision of Gaia. Civilization would collapse and rebuild itself.
Sephiroth would remain in the lifestream waiting for a chance of opportunity. He still possessed the Black Materia used eons ago to summon Meteor to the planet Gaia, and with the knowledge he had learned in the Torilian Lifestream he would use both to his advantage. He knew an untold time ago, the Elder God of the planet Ao had taken on a deity apprentice. Elder Gods were the highest form of deities, able to forge planets, life and control fate. They would take on Apprentices from time to time, who would be trained in the craft of Elder Godhood, and then be sent off into the universe to create their own planet.
For their final test before being sent off into the universe, the Apprentice must create his own world on one of the continent's of his trainers world. Ao's Apprentice was given the Great Realms in which he forged his idea of a near perfect world. But the Apprentice would become drunk with power and go insane. Upon Ao's arrival to the Great Realms and the Apprentice's World he would find death, destruction and chaos. Forests burning, the seas churning with blood. Ao would confront his Apprentice and they would do battle. In the end Ao would strike the Apprentice down, and trap his soul in a small rock and cast it into space. The Great Realms would be purged of life and not be reawaken for centuries. When it did, it would be under Elder God Apprentice Nisstyre Bloodstoner, a non-deity chosen by Ao for apprenticeship.
With what remained of the Gaia Black Materia, Sephiroth would call out from the lifestream and into space, and locate the rock containing the Apprentice. With the Black Materia he summoned the Apprentice back to Toril. Sephiroth would wait one thousand, two hundred and sixty four years before the Apprentice would reach the planet. The outside world knew little of this, only a small cult of wizards who dwelled in the High Tower of Sorcery knew what this meteor was, and attempt to warn the world. The rest of the population only knew one thing, a large meteor was approaching the planet.
Sephiroth would emerge from the lifestream and make an appearance to the people of the Great Realms. He would call himself the High Priest of the Apprentice, charged with the task of completing the Apprentice's resurrection. He would explain the Prophecy of Ao and what exactly the meteor was. RagNaRok, the twilight of the gods. It was the small rock that Ao trapped the Apprentice's soul in, he had grown in power and now returned to the planet to reclaim the Great Realms, and then take control of the planet. After his appearance Sephiroth would make his way north to Mahn'Tor and the Northern Crater. He would enslave the Minotaur people of the Mahn'Tor Keep and force them into labor. The Minotaur people constructed Sephiroth a Makou Reactor, technology that at the time was unknown outside the Tripower government. From this point Sephiroth would remain quiet in his quest for godhood. His plan would be the same, to create a wound on the planet and to stand at the epicenter, absorbing the planets energy and knowledge to become a god.
Jenova had no physical form since Sephiroth's third death. With the cleansing of Geostigma most of her cells were destroyed, leaving what remained of her within the lifestream. Sephiroth absorbed most of this in his travel on the dead planet Gaia, and what was left in the collision with Toril was disbursed into the Torilian Lifestream. Over the course of a millennia her cells have become a part of many living creatures. Insignificant to create the disease geostigma or have control over its host, only vague traces. What remains of Jenova in the lifestream has created a negative lifestream, an attempt at regeneration through the absorbing of energy created by negative souls, the tormented, damned, insane and twisted beings that roamed the planet. With the growth of the negative lifestream, Sephiroth becomes stronger.
Several religions have appeared in the Great Realms, various groups who worship Sephiroth or the Apprentice.
One religion is only known as The Black Church, made up of black cloaked figures who claim Sephiroth to be the one true god. Their members believe they have been blessed with a high concentration of Jenova Cells and have been chosen to aid Sephiroth in his plans. Various congregations can be found coast to coast in the Great Realms. The Kingdom of Deva which has spent fifty years in governmental unrest has fallen into the hands of the Black Church, who now control the majority of the government. Various members are found on the streets attempting to preach the words of Sephiroth, it is noted their members have numbers burned into their wrists. These were the same characteristics of the Sephiroth Clones of Gaia.
The Faction of Jihad is built from five various branches of cults that believe in the Apprentice and seek to aid in his return. Certain branches believe that the Apprentice has attempted to return to the Great Realms before in the same manor he has returned now, as a meteor. But his resurrection was thwarted, RagNaRok fell but he was not reborn. Other branches believe by aiding in the fall of RagNaRok, they will be reborn into the Apprentice's new world. One fanatical group which calls itself Dissonance made up of Cyricists believe The Prophecy of RagNaRok to be the prophecy of Cyric ascending to Elder Godhood as the Apprentice.
The Prophecy of the Apprentice is his sworn vengeance against Ao, and that he would return to Toril to reclaim the Great Realms and Ao's throne. The Prophecy of Ao tells how the Apprentice can be destroyed. During the battle between Ao and the Apprentice, the sword Ao used to strike the Apprentice down shattered into four pieces. Upon his sworn vengeance of returning, Ao cursed the Apprentice to his death and damnation. He told the Apprentice that if he returned, he would be destroyed by mortal hands with the same sword Ao struck him down with.
The four broken pieces of Ao's Sword were forged into Four Elemental Swords and casted into the small rock with Ao. Upon RagNaRok's arrival many eons later these swords would be discovered in a temple on the meteor, wielded by four elemental beasts. The creatures would be slain and the swords would be scattered to the wind. Ao's prophecy spoke that the swords must be placed in the Temple of Light, where their energy would combine and destroy the Apprentice and RagNaRok.
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