Eden forge

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Eden forges, often mistakenly called Titan superweapons, are ancient Titan devices of immense power, ruins of which are scattered across the Galaxy. Rarely in a functional state, their hollow shells often become places of worship or study for less advanced races. Originally meant to create life on lifeless worlds or to implant new life forms to stabilize crumbling ecosystems, they also possess great destructive potential and have therefore been used on rare occasions as weapons of mass destruction.

Functionality[edit | edit source]

Although no blueprints or deciphered descriptions of intended functionality survive, much can be inferred from the remaining intact pieces of machinery. Eden forges, once instructed with patterns for specific life forms, were capable of assembling them from raw organic matter or a specific (now lost) material produced by the Titans. They then dispersed these life forms in massive numbers across a planet and differentiated their genetic code to maintain diversity. It is also believed they possessed the capacity to scan existing life forms and modify them according to Titan designs on large scale. Smaller eden furnaces have been discovered, with an overall greater ratio of functionality, and occasionally used to create singular life forms designed by specific modern day individuals. However, due to the implications of creating life at a whim with no supervision, eden furnaces are outlawed.

The advanced functions, such as assembling and disseminating life forms, are very rarely intact. The parts usually left in a semi-functional state are usually power generation (impossible to replicate with current knowledge) and power distribution, with "species targeting" subsystems occasionally still working. As a result, the eden forge loses all of its intended original functionality and becomes a weapon of mass destruction, capable of unleashing enormous amounts of energy in various forms, depending on the state of its machinery. On various occasions, they have been used to wipe out specific species, wipe out all intelligent life on a planet, randomly alter a planet through seismic disturbance caused by the unleashed energy, or even to destroy entire planets.

Known examples[edit | edit source]

Atlantis superweapon[edit | edit source]

The Atlantis facility on Earth was equipped with an eden forge which is speculated to have once been used to create humanity and other species inhabiting the antediluvian Earth. Discovered by humans in the Titan ruins over 15,000 years ago, it was originally called "house of the gods" and was converted into a temple after a small amount of repairs to the damaged external structure. The high priests of Atlantis in time began pulling random levers and pushing random buttons during their worship rituals, usually not imputing any coherent instructions into the remains of the forge. However, after the Bolla Incident, when a high priest accidentally launched the device and wiped out most of Earth's halflings, in addition to causing a massive earthquake in Atlantis itself, the temple was closed and its usage forbidden.

Several centuries later, after radical elements took over the governance of Atlantis, the forge's destructive capabilities were considered an asset. Despite the fear of its power and side effects of its use, the kings of Atlantis finally authorized discovering the correct combination to wipe out all non-human intelligent life forms on Earth. After about a century, the superweapon was prepared for launch. Before it could be successfully used, elven sabotage damaged the feedback containment, causing upon launch a massive cataclysm which reshaped the entire planet and wiped out most non-humans. Atlantis itself was also destroyed, breaking apart and sinking, but human race survived and escaped the crumbling ruins, spreading across the emptied planet.

The weapon itself collapsed and was eventually splintered into small pieces, some of which lie off the coast of Spain, some deep under the Atlantic Ocean and some were carried away near the Bermudas. These pieces occasionally radiate energy which can occasionally cause death of sailors above them and pull apart their ships.

Silver Peaks[edit | edit source]

One instance of an eden forge is speculated to have been the source of power (and ultimate doom) of the vans of Ivarind. Although no mass extinctions are tied to the cataclysm that destroyed the Silver Peaks, the destruction otherwise fits perfectly with the usual pattern of malfunctioning eden forges. Who attempted to launch the weapon and for what purpose remains a mystery and vans themselves speak only of "gods punishing them for their hubris".

Nex[edit | edit source]

An eden forge was once found by the Xa'tac on Nex, a world they conquered late in their campaigns. Once home to a religious dwarven community that worshiped the enormous citadel, the Xa'tac wiped them out through their usual means and attempted to harness the superweapon to hasten their conquests. The final moments of these experiments are not known, but eventually, the weapon suffered a catastrophic failure, destroying the entire planet and sending its moon spiraling out into the outer edges of its solar system. The device was later found largely intact on the moon, and quarantined by a Djedsuti force after destroying a surviving Deathlord who attempted to use it again.

Saroth[edit | edit source]

The sphinxes of Saroth are known to be maintaining an eden forge they claim is still fully functional. A few powerful villains from Saroth attempted to gain access to it in order to either wipe out all life on Saroth or to remake it in their own image, but all have so far failed. Due to the bans on contacting Saroth, its device was never carefully examined, therefore the claim of its functionality remain unproven.