Difference between revisions of "Lux Veritatis"

Revision as of 14:42, 5 November 2011

In the 1300's a man named Pieter Van Eckhardt was born, and grew up to become known as the Black Alchemist. He was contacted later in his mortal life by an extinct race known as the Nephilim (the product of relationships held between fallen angels and humans) and entered a blood pact with them in exchange for immortality, and was tasked with the creation of a powerful weapon known as the Sanglyph (literally 'blood-sign'), able to utilise human blood and body parts to resurrect the Nephilim if it would ever become necessary. To keep the Sanglyph safe, Eckhardt split it into five pieces and hid each piece behind five paintings he created depicting evil imagery.

As time went on, Eckhardt grew ever more evil and powerful, and eventually form a group known as the Cabal, four individuals who all shared the same desire for immortality. To attain this immortality, the Cabal prepared to resurrect the Nephilim. Eckhardt believed that by using the Nephilim he would attain immortality and, in the end, dominate over all. In the mid 1400's the Lux Veritatis led by a monk called Brother Obscura, managed to capture the alchemist Eckhardt and imprison him in a containment pit beneath their stronghold, Castle Kriegler located near Germany. They used three daggers known as Periapt Shards when combined, the power of the three blades can destroy any immortal being. This threat was held over the allegedly immortal Black Alchemist, should he attempt to escape.

For years the Lux Veritatis hunted for the source of Eckhardt's powers. Brother Obscura then confiscated the five paintings that contained the pieces of the Sanglyph, and painted over the previous images of evil with new religious images. These were hidden throughout Europe in locations known only to the Lux Veritatis, and were christened the Obscura Paintings. He secretly made copies of each, referred to as the Obscura Engravings, with each engraving containing an encoded map to the location of the original painting.

Many years passed Brother Obscura died, and his body was buried alongside one of the Obscura Paintings in an extravagantly built tomb beneath the French city of Paris. The reanimated Skeletal Knights of the Lux Veritatis guarded his tomb from anyone seeking its secrets. It is suggested that in 1666 the Lux Veritatis and the Cabal had a battle which caused the Great Fire of London. During these times the Lux Veritatis managed to wipe out the remaining members of the Cabal, leaving Eckhardt as the lone survivor.

Five hundred years after his imprisonment, before the end World War II, Castle Kriegler was bombed causing the shards to split and Eckhardt escaped from the prison once again free to practice his dark arts. In the next 60 years Eckhardt reformed his Cabal with new members. The new Cabal devoted to hunting down and killing the remaining members of the Lux Veritatis in revenge for his imprisonment five centuries before.

In 2001, Eckhardt murdered one of the last members of the order: a man called Konstantin. In doing so, Eckhardt managed to obtain one of the three Periapt Shards. Safe in the knowledge that as long as he possessed it then no harm could come to him, Eckhardt hid the dagger in his laboratory.

However, before his death, Konstantin had passed on the weapons of the order to his son Kurtis Trent. He then inherited the remaining two Periapt Shards, and the Chirugai, his fearsome bladed weapon.

In 2003, Kurtis tracked down Eckhardt in Prague. However before he had a chance to avenge his father, he was mortally wounded by Kristina Boaz of the reformed Cabal.

After this event, Kurtis's whereabouts and the fate of the Lux Veritatis bloodline remains unknown.

The Lux Veritatis is also central to the plot of the fan-created custom games Tomb Raider: Legacy and Tomb Raider: the Angel of Darkness 2