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cdr2002 · 1 month ago

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Mortal Kombat Odyssey Bio: Shinnok

From the moment of his birth, Shinnok was unlike his fellow Elder Gods. While all among their number were created from the coalescence of natural forces of the universe, only Shinnok was born from its primal darkness. His mother, the Elder Goddess of Time, Kronika, had created him explicitly to embody this force, as it was a niche then-unoccupied by any among the Elder Gods. The concept of balance was always something of value to her, something which she personified into her children.

Shinnok in particular was to have a dual existence, not only to embody darkness, but also death, which she believed would be a proper counterbalance to the power over life that the Elder Gods commanded.

This essence of death was collected from the energies of Elder Gods who died in battle with the One Being. It was an act deemed questionable by the other Elder Gods, a possible desecration of their remains and memories.

This immediately created a rift between Shinnok and the others. From his perspective, they had no right to question the nature of his existence. He was here now, it didn’t matter how to him, and as members of the same race, they were meant to support one another.

Despite the misgivings of the other Elder Gods, Shinnok was ultimately accepted, his intuition making him a valuable asset in the war with the One Being.

Near the war’s end, the Elder Gods crafted the six Kamidogu as their ultimate weapons against their eternal foe. While powerful, they were not quite a match for the One Being’s sheer might. That changed when Shinnok made use of his divine powers to craft a seventh talisman: the aptly named Amulet of Shinnok. With this amulet, the Kamidogu could be united into a tool with which the user could master all reality.

Ultimately however, the Elder Gods were able to successfully fell the One Being wielding the Kamidogu separately. Shinnok was on some level… disappointed. That power over reality, a power which no one Elder God could wield innately, as even for all their accomplishments, none of them had a full grasp on the inner workings of the universe… it fascinated him.

But alas, the opportunity to explore that power had passed in the eyes of the Elder Gods. Shinnok offered some protest, arguing that the Kamidogu should be united on the simple principle of testing the limits of their collective power, but the other Elder Gods refused, fearing what such power might do. His mother was able to convince him to desist, and so Shinnok joined the others in turning his attention to the new universe that was born from the One Being’s defeat. On one such day that he was as surveying the infant universe, the Elder Gods scattered the Kamidogu amongst the new realms… and refused to tell him where they had hidden them. They didn’t trust him. Nor frankly did he them, at least not completely. Shinnok refused to surrender his amulet for similar safekeeping, and the Elder Gods decided to not press the issue after being persuaded by Kronika.

The loss of those keys to infinite power would not be the only change brought upon by this new universe.

At the dawn of the newborn world, Kronika had created Shinnok’s sister, Cetrion, as an embodiment of the life and vitality found in these newly born realms. Shinnok felt an immediate kindship with her, a feeling he had previously felt only for his mother. Cetrion was joyous, and curious in her own way. She made Shinnok feel… less isolated. Less alone.

Over the eons, Shinnok would observe the development of that life in this new universe that Cetrion seemed to intrinsically cherish. While many of the other Elder Gods were fascinated, or at least amused, Shinnok found the new life… unimpressive. Lesser. He did not see the value that the others did in these lifeforms. They were small. Limited. Chaotic. Incomparable to beings like he and his fellow Elder Gods.

And yet, the others felt something parental towards them. A need to protect them, safeguard them… coddle them. They put aside what in Shinnok’s mind was their obvious superiority to allow these beings room to grow and change. He believed that as Gods, they should hold dominion over these beings. Servants, rather than charges.

But his mother convinced him to stifle those feelings, which he did… to the best of his ability. Shinnok’s disdain would cause a rift between himself and his sister, who felt nothing but love for these creatures. The Elder Gods believed that they had defeated the One Being to craft their own destinies, and allow other lifeforms to do the same. Cetrion quickly came to believe this as well.

Shinnok believed that they had killed the One Being and were now owed their mantle of supremacy.

But for more eons, Shinnok would be tempered. The other Elder Gods, especially Cetrion, were convinced that they could bring him over to their point of view.

A decision point came when his mother completed work on the Hourglass, and quickly fell into her obsession with the manipulation of time. Her children were the first who she told of what she had seen, which now included the sentinel Geras. Having watched the mortals from the Heavens himself, everything his mother shared had aligned with what Shinnok had come to believe.

At this point, he no longer saw the mortals simply lesser than the Elder Gods, but also wholly incapable of ruling themsleves. He found that when left to their own devices, mortals were prone to chaos, petty power struggles, killing each other senselessly, and destroying their own worlds. Kronika’s vision of structuring their destinies to create perfection, to eliminate their poor decision making, was highly appealing to Shinnok.

Cetrion, conversely, was mortified. The rest of the Elder Gods had similar reactions, and acted against Kronika quickly.

Although he agreed with her intentions, Shinnok did not side with his mother. He knew immediately that the other Elder Gods would disapprove, and for the moment, he did not wish to jeopardize his own position. He could not bring himself to do battle with his mother either, and so chose a position of neutrality in the ensuing conflict. When Kronika was defeated and he was called upon to cast his vote, Shinnok aligned himself with the others, knowing it would be useless to dissent.

Shinnok watched mostly silent as his mother was stripped of her status as an Elder God and banished to the mortal realms below. He had hoped that the Elder Gods would not squander the power of the Hourglass. If he acted quickly, he could implement her vision, and modify it to suit his own. But alas, the device was locked away, restricted with such heavy magic that not even the Elder Gods themselves could breach the Keep. Nor could they lift said protection without invoking their combined power. Shinnok could sense their distrust of him in this decision. A distrust that they had always carried for him due to his nature, and one which it was becoming increasingly difficult for Shinnok to stomach.

Their rules had become difficult to stomach as well.

66 million years ago, Shinnok had finally had enough of the Elder Gods’ restrictions. He would save the mortals from themselves and gain the worship he felt entitled to, and he would do it in the most direct way possible.

Suspecting that his fellow Elder Gods would not follow, Shinnok departed the Heavens abruptly for the mortal realms, setting his sights on Earthrealm as his first conquest. While he was correct in his suspicion, he was not able to completely escape their wrath.

Cetrion spotted him leaving, and the other Elder Gods acted quickly. They stripped Shinnok of his status as a full Elder God, but the barrier separating the Heavens from the other realms prevented them from completely rendering him mortal as they had done to his mother.

Shinnok fell from the Heavens a lesser deity than he had been, but still powerful, and undeterred. In fact, his rage was only greater. His schism from the Elder Gods was complete, and as he completed his conquest of the realms, he vowed that he would take time to spit on the face of all they had intended.

Shinnok’s one-man invasion of Earthrealm brought devastation like nothing the realm has ever seen. He collided like a meteorite with the ground of the realm and began subjugating everything in sight, annihilating those who defied him.

The creatures of Earthrealm, including its first intelligent race; the Saurians, were all but helpless against Shinnok’s onslaught. Many reluctantly submitted to his rule, believing their situation to be hopeless.

As Shinnok suspected, the Elder Gods did nothing. Too high and mighty to descend from the Heavens and actually save their precious mortals, just as they did nothing to correct their chaos.

But of course. The Elder Gods had already assigned agents to protect the realms in the absence of their direct action. And in Shinnok’s hubris, he underestimated those guaridans.

Raiden, the Thunder God of Earthrealm and its Protector, intercepted Shinnok’s advance through the realm and engaged him in combat.

Their battle raged across the realm for ages, Raiden holding nothing back in the face of having to battle an Elder God, even a weakened one.

As a consequence, apocalyptic destruction was brought in their wake, the very world they fought upon being scorched by their power. Many of Earthrealm’s creatures, including much of the mighty dinosaurs, were wiped out, mere collateral damage of a clash between gods.

The Saurians were ultimately forced to flee to the realm of Zaterra, leaving Earthrealm behind as Raiden and Shinnok continued to fight.

By the time the battle had finally ended, it was the mark of a new era for Earthrealm. Though struggling greatly against the might of the fallen Elder God, Raiden eventually managed to prevail after such a lengthy war.

With Shinnok defeated, Raiden did his duty and turned him over to the mercy of the Elder Gods.

Rather than stripping of his power and memories and allowing him to start anew, as they had done with his mother, the Elder Gods this time erred on the side of spite.

They decided that for his crimes against their laws and against Earthrealm, Shinnok deserved punishment. He was chained and banished to the depths of the Netherrealm, left in the “care” of Hell’s protector god, Lucifer, who was assigned to torture him for his sins and so that he would never be a major threat again.

His amulet was taken from his possession and locked within a fortress constructed by Cetrion herself known as the Temple of Elements. The temple was guarded by powerful spells and four younger gods who embodied the base elements of Earthrealm, which included Raiden’s younger brother Fujin. During the battle with Shinnok, they had been focused on preserving life and evacuating areas where the carnage was spreading, attempting to allow Raiden the piece of mind needed to cut loose. Fujin in particular assisted in ferrying many Saurians to the wild realm of Zaterra. The Elder Gods and the Earthrealm deities agreed that the powerful artifact could never again be wielded by any who would misuse its power, especially after they discovered how well Shinnok had made it.

Charged with a greater amount of divine power than any individual Kamidogu, and quickly discovered to be indestructible, the amulet was deemed a weapon of mass destruction to be kept under lock and key. One or all four of the elemental gods would stand guard over it at all times, eternally vigilant.

As for Shinnok himself, he would undergo torment at the hands of Lucifer for millennia, the Lord of Hell taking a dark delight in his suffering.

Shinnok would remain imprisoned until the fateful day where he was met by a fledgling demon-oni sorcerer by name of Quan Chi. The sorcerer had recently started an uprising against the powers that be in the Netherrealm. He and his people had been enslaved by Lucifer’s servants to serve as labor, and after uncovering a spellbook of black magic, Quan Chi had vowed never to be bound again.

Moreover, he had begun a campaign to liberate all those which the cruel masters of his realm had imprisoned. When he had received word that an Elder God had been fallen victim to the warden of Hell, Quan Chi had decided that said Elder God would make a powerful ally.

Using his unique ability to create portals that could breach past most protective magics meant to block out mystical forms of transportation, Quan Chi entered Shinnok’s cell after coordinating an attack on the Prison of Souls with the forces under his command.

Once in the Fallen Elder God’s presence, Quan Chi proposed an alliance against Lucifer. Shinnok’s aid in overthrowing him for his freedom. Shinnok was impressed by the audacity of this demon, to attempt to bargain with an Elder God. But it was obvious that Quan Chi recognized no superior. Shinnok, who had defied those who had tried to decide how he should wield his power… could understand.

He agreed, and Quan Chi freed him. Together, they razed Lucifer’s forces, took the Prison of Souls for themselves, and waged a continuous campaign for control of the Netherrealm.

After his forces had dwindled, either through defeat or desertion, the Elder Demons had been slain, and his arcane relics had been scattered or seized by the Fallen Elder God and demon sorcerer, Lucifer found himself all but alone. His fortress was raided and Shinnok challenged Lucifer personally in front of hordes of demons and sinners from both sides.

Despite Lucifer’s mastery of the dark magics of the Netherrealm, he was unable to withstand the onslaught of Shinnok, who was enraged at his captor.

Lucifer was defeated, and never seen again. Whispers began to spread that Shinnok had found a way to kill an immortal. After all, who would know better than an Elder God?

Shinnok immediately named himself as the new ruler of the Netherrealm, and began to shape the realm in his image.

Shinnok began to claim territory by force. For the people of this realm, he began preaching his ideology that mortals were chaotic, unruly beings who needed the grace of his order to protect them from their worse impulses. He used the sinners reincarnated in the Netherrealm as examples of this to win the support from demons, oni, and those who sought redemption from his past sins.

Previously something of a freedom fighter, Quan Chi would be quickly swayed by Shinnok’s rhetoric about the unfair hand dealt to he and the people of his realm by the Elder Gods, especially as they favored the mortals of the living realms despite their countless sins.

He also convinced his followers that as Netherrealmers, they were a form of immortals and therefore superior to those who lived in the realms above.

Shinnok promised freedom from the depths of Hell for all who joined, a glorious ascent in which they would claim true freedom and smite those who had attempted to oppress them, including the Elder Gods themselves. With Quan Chi, Shinnok would form a cult with himself as its god and his sorcerer ally as its leader: the Brotherhood of Shadow.

His influence over the Netherrealm would rapidly expand, until almost every explorable corner of the realm was under Shinnok’s rule. The only outliers were the wastelands where Oni who chaffed against his dominion roamed, and the lowest plane of the Netherrealm… where the darkest souls dwelled and were meant to never escape.

Shinnok would begin to rapidly industrialize the Netherrealm, organizing labor parties and utilizing his own fabrication sorcery to turn the sparse towns and miles of dead lands into sprawling cities for the denizens of the Netherrealm to inhabit… all with heavy Brotherhood of Shadow oversight.

The first of these was Nekros, built atop an ancient Soul Stone which enhanced the magics of any sorcerer within range, who’s abilities were usually weakened in the Netherrealm.

The magics unique to the Netherrealm itself became a fascination of Shinnok’s, and he began an intense study of the dark arts, studies which he shared with Quan Chi, increasing the potency of both their magics, and opening new doors for achieving their goals.

Necromancy would become a valuable to the Fallen Elder God, seeking to command all souls, both living and dead.

His iron grip over the Netherrealm would continue for millennia. Minor resistance movements failed to gain traction and the Brotherhood of Shadow continued to spread Shinnok’s gospel.

But he did not keep his gaze fixed to the Netherrealm exclusively. Using his divine powers, he peered into the developing Earthrealm, the conquest that Raiden had denied him so long ago. Shinnok swore that he would have his revenge for that act…

However, Earthrealm itself continued to fascinate him. Where the societies of most realms turned their attention to sorcery and the advancement of magic as a means to improve their day to day lives, Earthrealmers, humans, made very sparing use of the mystic arts, and instead used their ingenuity to create incredible pieces of technology which Shinnok saw great value in. During the process of his industrialization of the Netherrealm, he would begin to mold the realm in some ways into a mirror of Earthrealm, a reminder of the prize he sought to acquire.

He also kept eyes on the realms of Edenia and Outworld. Due to the unseen cosmic shackles placed on him by the Elder Gods, Shinnok was restrained to the Netherrealm. The only object with enough power to free him was his amulet… and that was too heavily guarded for his followers to reach. For all its intricacies, Netherrealm sorcery could not counter the Elemental Gods.

As such, he would need to seek allies elsewhere.

By the time Shinnok had solidified his control over the Netherrealm, the former protector god Shao Kahn had already taken the throne of the Outworld empire. Shinnok dispatched Quan Chi to offer an alliance between their two realms, ostensibly motivated by their mutual opposition to the Elder Gods and desire to bring about the fall of Earthrealm.

Shao Kahn accepted, both sides trading agents to advance their schemes, making an agreement to take Earthrealm together. In secret, both anticipated the moment that why would need to betray each other. Shao Kahn played along with the alliance to gain access to the Netherrealm, hoping this would allow him to discover dark magics which could assist him in eventually battling Shinnok.

Shinnok meanwhile enabled Shao Kahn’s campaign against Earthrealm, giving him resources that would assist in invading the realm. In secret, he planned to swoop in after the war between Earthrealm and Outworld was over and conquer both realms no matter the victor. If Earthrealm prevailed over Shao Kahn, Outworld would likely be leaderless, but Earthrealm would likewise be greatly damaged by the Emperor’s onslaught. If Shao Kahn won, Earthrealm would be crushed without Shinnok having to lift a finger, and Shao Kahn would have expended a great amount of troops and resources to accomplish it.

Shinnok also saw the need for agents to destabilize Earthrealm directly. He dispatched demons of the Brotherhood to form cults of his worship, some of which preformed arcane rituals of fusing human and demon in order to create sleeper agents for Shinnok’s eventual invasion.

His most valuable agents in Earthrealm however would not be forces directly under his command, but rather his allies; the crime syndicate known as the Red Dragon.

Shinnok had aided in the founding of the Red Dragon centuries ago when he observed the awakening of the Edenian demigod Daegon. Projecting a mystical image of himself, Shinnok intercepted Daegon and manipulated his anger and resentment towards his parents to turn him into a crucial ally for the Fallen Elder God’s plans for the future, particularly a great conflict which Daegon’s mother Delia had forseen in visions. As the Red Dragon’s criminal network grew across Earthrealm, so to did the depth of intelligence that Shinnok had access to.

The final piece of his grand plan was regaining his amulet so that he could free himself from the confines of the Netherrealm and walk freely among the mortal realms again. To that end, Quan Chi had been seeking a viable agent to obtain the amulet, and was beginning to narrow down his assessment to a small selection of assassin clans in Earthrealm.

With the amulet in his possession, Shinnok would again be free to wreak havoc on untold billions. A fallen Elder God risen again.