F*** it, curse me if you want, I'm posting this:
There's so much to the story of Daegon, Taven and Edenia that could be explored! Their realm was the place containing the most knowledge in the Universe, the place where the most gifted from all other species and realms would go to study and learn to master their powers of flying, master elements such as water, fire or smoke or master mind reading (heirs and rich children from the races of saurians, seidans, enenras etc would also be sent to Edenia to study). They had an implemented system of portals powered by Argus that allowed the inhabitants to travel everywhere across the realm, an essence in the fruit of the enormous tree of life that grew in the middle of the Capital, from which all Edenian babies were fed and which slowed their aging once they reached their 20th birthday giving them long lives and protection against diseases and a continuous summer wind that ensured nights were warm and crops were rich all year long. Edenians didn't have written records but their knowledge was all available through a mental database accessible from everywhere and by everyone. Every image ever seen and every thought the people had could be uploaded in the mental database and accessed as a projection. Children in schools (eg: Jade) would learn using this global linking interconnected system. The protagonist of Armageddon we know is a few thousands of years older than his brother and was already an accomplished warrior by the time Shao Kahn attacked Edenia 10.000 years ago, as he was winning fighting/dueling competitions with Daegon, from what Shinnok tells us in Armageddon. There's this whole vibe of Anakin or Genesis Rhapsodos to Daegon. We know that his father was a god and his mother a powerful sorceress. They, with the power given to them by the Elder Gods, were busy with watching over the realm, ensuring that the sun rises and sets, that the crops feed all Edenians and the essence provides medical care for millions of inhabitants. So, Argus and Delia didn't raise the children themselves. As a baby, Daegon was entrusted to the royal family and King Jerrod took him in, the dragon Caro being assigned as his teacher, friend and mentor.
Edenians all believe in the Elder Gods and have faith that they will save them if an invasion occurs. They are certain of their voctory in an upcoming war. However, they are aware that the Elder Gods do not normally interfere within the realms and that they have lost 9 tournaments in a row to Outworld, so their subconscious forces them to breed, as it is an attempt to survive. Because of the approaching war, Edenians start having children. Having very long life spans, they normally have one child every 20.000 years but with Shao Kahn closing in, the survival instinct ensues and a new generation of children comes in most families. Kitana is part of that generation as well. The birth of the beautiful princess is a reason of celebration and she is immediately loved by all Edenian citizens. Because of tragic events that happened 1.000 years ago, Taven had renounced his Edenian heritage, gone rogue and traveled the realms as a mercenary all this time, hating his parents all along, only having his dragon by his side as a voice of knowledge. He was leading his own sellsword company, comprising warriors of different races, among which Smoke (ancestor of current one), a young Hotaru, Ashrah (his love interest) and Kintaro. They were the most expensive company as they were renowned for always winning.
So Kitana and Daegon grow up together at the castle as Edenia loses for the 10th time in a row and Shao Kahn's army enters the realm. He protects the young Princess at all times as he becomes skilled both with sword and in combat, trained by the Prime General of Edenia himself. King Jerrod sees him as his own son. Kitana and Daegon grow close and develop a children's love, watching every morning from the palace garden how the God Argus, protector of the realm, creates the sunrise. The love turns into an adolescent one, with them planning their first love night. With no alternatives, Argus and King Jerrod send a messenger, Blaze, the devoted priest of Lady Delia's temple and long-time friend of Taven to bring him back to defend the realm. Blaze tracks down Taven and succeeds in convincing him to come back by offering his army the immortality the fruit of the Sacred Tree grants, once Shao Kahn is stopped. The mercenary group is comprised of evil ruthless warriors as opposed to the Edenian army which is disciplined and avoids killing and they steer controversy as they march onto the Edenian capital's streets demanding coin, women, food and wine in exchange for their services. The arrogant Taven flirts with Kitana and she is confused at the sight of this great warrior that all young ladies of her court dream of, including Tanya. Enigmatic Rain (under a different name), who also loved the princess, was the only Edenian who could match Daegon's strength in the competitions, boosting his ego as everyone knew Daegon was a demigod. His ancestry made Daegon ineligible to participate in the Mortal Kombat to defend Edenia. Rain was also refused participation despite his strong desire, him not being aware that he was also a half-god. Rain was however not the product of infidelity, but rather that of dark magic a powerful demoness from the Netherealm (the same woman from Jade's ending) had conjured using his father's blood. Argus rescued the boy from the Netherealm where he was forged by the demon sorceress and had faith that the taint of evil will disappear from him, took him to Edenia but trusted no one with the secret that the child was half god and half demonic, making him the most powerful entity living in all the realms. He instead made up the lie about his own infidelity and entrusted Rain to be raised by the loyal General. When the General died in the first counter-offensive against Shao Kahn's invading forces, orphan teenager Rain becomes part of the Edenian Resistance movement. A kid called Jade not more than 10 years years old becomes Kitana's handmaiden. She is cunning for her age and, at the princess' request, has her secretly trained into the arts of war and theft. Jade also facilitates a clandestine meeting between Kitana and Taven where she wishes him to return safe from war.
The souls of the dead in Edenia are not allowed to ascend to the Heavens anymore as Shao Kahn, helped by a mysterious sorcerer, has the power to absorb and torment them. Much of the Edenian army is crushed. A decade long war begins as Edenia refuses to fall, the greatest cities surviving long sieges under the wards of Argus and Delia as no portals of Shao Kahn can penetrate them, but suffer because the Emperor's armies are camped right outside their gates and the effort of keeping up the ward as well as ensuring food and water can't be sustained indefinitely by the Protector Gods. The Emperor divides his forces in 3, each contingent being lead by an immensely powerful warlord: Reiko, Drahmin and the mysterious sorcerer. Reiko is a long-time ally and friend of Shao Kahn who believed in his message that the strong should rule the weak, that together they will make all realms a better place and with the help of whom he had fought his way up Onaga's gladiator arenas a long time ago. Drahmin is a formidable Outworld warrior who won the title of greatest fighter and Mortal Kombat champion. He was rewarded with prizes and lands of immense value and so he went mad with power, abused and killed his family. Sieging the Edenian Garden-cities, the Emperor threatens to rape every man, woman and child who don't submit, but promises to give freedom and mastery over their own destiny and soul to all who join his army. Many Edenians express their desire to leave the under-siege cities and deflect to his camp and are allowed to exit rather than be forcibly retained. Among them is Tanya, who willingly relinquishes her body to the Emperor. The Elder Gods don't interfere even when Argus cries out to them because they consider the torments Shao Kahn causes to bodies or souls are finite to only thousands of years and therefore the realms don't suffer permanent damage. Only the terrifying Elder God Shinnok comes down to Edenia for the first time in a hundred thousand years and offers his tactical help, giving cryptic advice seemingly because the rules forbid him to directly interfere, but secretly following an agenda of his own. In order to end the war, Shao Kahn agrees to fight at the same time the best 3 warriors Edenia has to offer. Taven, Daegon and Rain come out of the city and so, the sons of Argus make battle with the Emperor in the great dessert. They manage to perforate the Emperor's heart but his anger is so great that he refuses to follow the mortal rules set by the Elder Gods and he doesn't die, instead healing himself, to the surprise of mortals and gods alike. As the youth of Rain and Daegon causes the trio to loose the battle, they are forced to retreat into the capital. After one year of war, the Princess and Jade evade the capital without her father's knowledge through a secret passage in order to seek an alliance against Shao Kahn. They go to Seido and Vaeternus but can't offer terms. They travel to Outworld and the Princess pleads her case to Sub-Zero, King of Cryomancers, the last bastion in the icy mountains of Outworld opposing the Emperor, but the cryomancers are too few to change the outcome of the war. Crossing Outworld, the Princess is captured and taken to Shao Kahn's palace. Daegon, the realm's greatest chance of survival and young commander of the army, abandons his post having left to rescue her. He traces her steps, but gets captured too. Shao Kahn rapes Kitana under Daegon's eyes and gelds/mutilates him, letting him live in the dungeons with the feeling that he couldn't rescue his lover. Those images are uploaded into the Edenian mental linking system so all people witness the suffering of their Princess and their greatest hero. This brings down the Edenian society as citizens turn on eachother, killing, raping and pillaging.
Taven leads an offensive into Outworld that saves his brother and Kitana and brings them back to the Capital City. Jade becomes one of the mysterious sorcerer's slaves, who reveals his name as Quan Chi. He treats her kindly because she reminds him of his daughter. Quan Chi creates for Shao Kahn 100 Mileena clones. Smoke, Ashrah and Kintaro all die in battles one by one and their souls are taken by Shao Kahn. Taven mourns their loss but finds his inner strength, reconciles with his parents and accepts the Elder Gods. Hotaru is the last remaining warrior in Taven's mercenary group and he is sent to his home, the binary planet system of Seido, the realm with most inhabitants in the Universe, which had remained neutral up to this point. Seido had already lost 5 MK tournaments to Outworld and they knew that their downfall was imminent after the 10th loss without Edenian technology that they had not been granted permission to before. Concerned about giving immortality to Seidans, Edenians give them the fruit of the Sacred Tree combined with an essence that reduces to almost nothingness all evil thoughts and ensures they always choose the right thing to do. Hundreds of thousands of battle equipped seidans enter Edenia.
Kitana is helped by her mother, Queen Sindel, to get over her ordeal. Unable to resume his relationship with the Princess, overcome with the shame of being rescued by his brother and seeing that Taven becomes the hero in Kitana's eyes, as well as being declined magical healing by his God-parents, for Edenians encouraged people with disabilities and deformities to accept themselves, Daegon slowly becomes insane. Shinnok steps in as a father figure, comforting him and telling him that his parents have the powers to heal the damage done to his body by Shao Kahn but instead are aiding Taven. As the armies of generals Quan Chi, Reiko and Drahmin are pushed back from Edenia by Taven's new-found inner powers and the Edenian-Seido alliance, Argus and Delia come up with the plan to prevent Armageddon.(MKA intro scene) Delia's visions and the fact that they could not see the future themselves had made the Elder Gods realize that one among them is interfering with their hindsight. This prompted the 6 of them to bestow upon a chosen warrior a tenth of their power. They instruct Lord Argus and Lady Delia to put the 2 brothers to sleep in a place not even themselves will be aware of, while Blaze sacrifices his human body and his life in order to be the vessel of the power of the Elder Gods. Daegon is summoned to his father's throne room and senses something is about to take place, mentally contacting Shinnok, who in turn is able to follow their mental connection to his underground burial place in Earthrealm. Shinnok doesn't want the turn of the war to shift in favor of the Edenians, so he appears as monstrous Kochal to a group of clerics in Seido and removes the Edenian essence from their blood, giving them the power of choice once more. He tells them that all things come from chaos and will end in chaos, as chaos is the true way. One of the clerics, Havik, is tasked with triggering a cataclysmic event, resulting in the smaller of the 2 binary planets to be slowly moved of its axes and drawn towards the bigger one. This causes light rock formations to apparently defy the laws of gravity as they are drawn by both planets. The event known as The Tempest not only frees, but also damages the minds of the surviving inhabitants trapped on the smaller planet, which becomes Chaosrealm. Seidan forces are forced to retreat from Edenia and protect their own realm, as chaosrealmers travel by means of portals to the bigger planet and convert/infect seidans.
Daegon is awoken by Shinnok who uses magic to trick Caro into thinking Blaze had signaled the release of the demigod. Shinnok knows Shao Kahn can't enter the capital, the last refuge of millions of Edenians, as long as the magical ward created by Argus and Delia stands. He needs someone to infiltrate and kill them, something only another god could. Daegon confronts his parents for all his suffering and is almost calmed by his mother until she tells him that even mutilated he still has a place of is own in the Universe, that even though he will be in his brother's shadow he will still be their beloved son. If Kitana doesn't love him anymore he must accept his brother as the chosen one. In a fit of rage, Daegon stabs his mother 100 times in the chest and then kills his father and all the servants, children and lesser deities in the palace. He chains his dragon and forces it to open a portal to Earthrealm, where he evades. King Jerrod has the Tree of life cut down and burned, only preserving a flowery seed that he entrusts his daughter with hiding. Had the fruit of the tree been drank by a being as powerful as Shao Kahn it would have granted him godlike power similar to the Elder Gods. Shao Kahn's army enters the capital and he heads directly to Delia's temple. From there, he accesses the only portal in the known realms leading into the Heavens. He finds himself in a large hall in the presence of the 5 Elder Gods (minus Shinnok). They address him with the sweet loving words a parent would address a long lost son, showing him images from his life. They regret that he had chosen this path and that he had suffered so much but tell him that it is now time to accept the rule of mortality. In an instant, Shao Kahn is chained down on his hands and knees. As the Elder Gods tell him that they see the future and all possible outcomes and that this is where his road ends, Shao Kahn, blood flowing from his nose and ears, breaks his chains, rises and and throws his sword through an Elder Goddess, killing her, to the horror of the other Gods. As he charges towards them, they combine their might to magically seal the portal and retreat, leaving Shao Kahn victorious in the Edenian temple. As he comes out unhurt with the weapons in his hands, the warriors in his army, starting with Reiko, kneel before him and acknowledge him as the greatest warrior that ever existed. Through the fighting in the capital, King Jerrod, wielding his ancient family sword that is told to have protected the Elder Gods themselves eons ago, therefore granting his family the rule of Edenia, challenges the Emperor. The old king still has great power in him and even fuses himself with the souls of his greatest generals and councilmen. In a fearsome battle, he cuts Shao kahn's tendons and gets him on his knees before plunging his sword through his skull. As he believes the ordeal to be finally over, the sword slowly comes out of the Emperor's head and he refuses to die once more. Shao Kahn kills King Jerrod, though admits that he respect him and he had fought with honor. He keeps his soul and those of the entire Edenian dead warriors and fuses them into Ermac. A 15 year old Kitana, protecting the last survivors, fights one last fight and, after a fearsome battle, sends Drahmin to Hell decapitating him with her fans, earning the respect of the Outworld army and that of Shao Kahn as he states no more Edenians will be harmed if they embrace his new religion. Edenians are promised a new Golden Age under the rule of Shao Kahn who makes a marriage union with Queen Sindel and gives her his word that she and her daughter will never be touched by him ever again. Rain betrays the last bastion of the Edenian Resistance. He is branded a traitor and forced to cover his face and assume his new identity. (his MK 2011 bio card)
Quan Chi tells Jade that hundreds of thousands of years ago he was actually a human, a count from Edenia, long before King Jerrod lived. He was introduced to dark magic by a very beautiful and charming demon-witch (the same woman from Jade's ending). She corrupted his soul and made him sacrifice his wife and daughter to Lucifer in order to become a powerful sorcerer. After having done so, she still went back on her word and intended to kill him, but he mortally wounded her instead. Overcome with desperation, he traveled to the Netherealm to bring his wife and daughter back but learned that they don't belong to Lucifer and never have. They ascended to Heaven when he killed them. He then went to the gates of Heaven to retrieve them but was thrown down by the Gods and condemned to live in the Netherealm with the memory of what he had done. He vowed to obtain the power to brake the gates of Heaven and get them back. In time, he lost all his compassion for human life. His hatred for the demon-sorceress turned into contempt for all women as he enjoyed tormenting them. A young Jade reminded him of his daughter. She convinces him to kill all Mileena clones as this could allow Shao Kahn to kill Kitana and replace her at any time. Knowing that this is treason, Quan Chi frames Reiko for the deaths of the clones. He departs from Jade saying that they would better not meet again and disappears from Shao Kahn's service, taking Ashrah with him. Without Quan Chi's assistance, Shao Kahn cannot retain the souls of the dead Outworld warriors so Drahmin and the others who died in the final battle are dead for good, bound to the Netherealm. The attempts of the Emperor's shadow priests to create other Mileenas end in grotesque failures. Shao Kahn finally sits on Edenia throne but, with his victory achieved, he feels that he is bound by mortal laws once again. He tries to close his eyes and rest but he cannot as enemies are everywhere and are already whispering to overthrow him. He is cursed to reign in fear.
Shinnok has the 4 remaining Elder Gods weakened, right the way he wanted them. He goes to Earthrealm, home of 2 species: few primitive human tribes and numerous dominant saurians, as well as the center of the Universe, a place from which he can unleash a catastrophic destructive event set to spread everywhere. The Elder Gods empower Raiden, Fujin and other gods to stop him. Tidal waves the size of continents and huge earthquakes form as much of the planet is destroyed. The last surviving cryomancers and their King come to help and freeze Shinnok's gigantic tidal waves falling over the few saurians and humans who survive (gathered in the hard to destroy temples of Argus and Delia on Earth), sacrificing themselves in the unprecedented freezing process. Shinnok is separated from the Amulet and the war is won. As the remaining 4 Elder Gods cannot hold the realms by themselves, 2 lesser deities from the Heavens are allowed within their ranks in place of Shinnok and the deceased Goddess. Raiden is given the title of Protector of Earthrealm. Taven and Orin, buried deep beneath, survive unharmed the destruction on the surface of the earth. The few saurians left receive a new home from the Elder Gods in rich Zaterra as compensation and so that they can live separately from the surviving humans. The Amulet is hidden in the newly constructed and hidden Temple of Elements where the 4 elemental gods, vulnerable to only someone who possesses the power of control over one such element, are assigned to guard it. Shinnok is imprisoned into the Netherealm, the Elder Gods not having the power to completely destroy him. The Earth's shape, with its current continents, is established after the ravaging war and, in centuries, Edenian refugees come to different locations on the newly formed continents, in accordance with the multi-regional origin of modern humans. They mix with the surviving primitive humans, bringing with them the Agricultural Revolution and tools for farming based on Edenian technology, but are now forced to rely only on technology, something they do not fully master, and cope without the magic of the gods who ensured rich crops and long lifespans. They also bring knowledge from the Edenian realm and the religion in gods, together with the story of the Tree of Life from the Garden of Eden. They merge with the indigenous human population, now the only intelligent life present on the planet after the departure of the saurians. The last living cryomancer baby is also brought to Earth after the genocide of his entire race and he is raised in a community in the far east (later China). Raiden, the Protector of the Realm, chooses to divide the human communities in order to ensure their survival. They populate the entire globe, one settling in the west and being the ancestors of native-Americans (Nightwolf).
Daegon infiltrates the palace and visits Kitana one last time, intent on killing her, but cannot bring himself to do so. He realizes his mistakes and they forgive each other. He can't stay at her side as he has caused the doom of his people and is a broken man. She tearfully promises that she will search for him every morning at sunrise, from her balcony, although she knows he will never return. Finding him wondering the realms, the Elder Gods approach Daegon with a mission....
After a while, Kitana stands by the window in her palace room as masses bow below to the new God Emperor Shao Kahn. He informs them that the Elder Gods have proposed a truce, he shall keep the souls that his army had won but be bound by Mortal Kombat in invading other realms. He has challenged Earthrealm and Zaterra to Mortal Kombat, to the horror of Sindel. He says that together they will make the greatest, richest and most beautiful empire the world had ever seen, far surpassing the beauty of Edenia under the royal family's dynasty. Kitana, walking to her great balcony, looks towards the sun, but knows that Daegon is never coming back. She touches her belly and knows she is with child....
(didn't see that coming? keep in mid that she is 10.000 years old, it would be normal if did she did have at least a child at some point. I won't say who was the father and why the child will die in his youth, but there's more to this story)
