Exodia

Exodia was the greatest machina city, a symbol of human supremacy during the Exodian Era. Most information regarding Exodia has been lost to the ages, but there are tales immeasurable about life there and the influence that Exodia exerted on the rest of Amestria. The history described on this page is theorized to have begun around five hundred years before Exodia's fall.

The detailed information on this page was recovered from relics found in the exodian ruins in addition to verbal accounts. The accuracy of this information is not guaranteed, however our best scholars have tried their best to piece together an entire historical account.

Background Information

In a time long before recorded history, it has been said that humanity was nothing more then a bunch of primitive villages scattered across the western coast of Amestria. The ancient forest was a vast expanse that covered much of the Exodius Continent's interior, and stretched almost all the way to the western coast leaving little area for settlement. Humanity dared not venture into the ancient forest, for there were giant beasts which could kill men in a single strike. Life was hard during this period, food was scarce and plagues were common. If not for a single event, humanity would likely have never influenced Amestria on the scale that they become notoriously known for. This event was the appearance of a single man, known only as The Magician, who spread the practice commonly known as magic to all of humanity.

History

Advent of Magic

As the aetherial arts started to spread from village to village, a new horizon appeared before humanity. They began to clear the ancient forest, the fierce beasts and wildkin of the forest proved to be no match for man's newfound aetherial power. As the borders of the ancient forest receded, resources and space for farmland helped fuel humanity's growth and thirst for knowledge. Much of today's open land on the Exodius Continent is thanks to early human expansion. New methods were discovered for storing aetherial energy in crystals, allowing for humans to cast limited magic without draining their own stamina. This little discovery would lead them down a path of which there was no return, whether they knew it or not destiny was now in their hands.

The Machina Age

Human civilization continued to grow, their cities would eventually cover the landscape. Humanity experienced very little infighting during this period, they had all been unified under the banner of progress and enlightenment. Their society continued to evolve, and with it their understanding of the aetherial arts and technology. Little did they realize that they would soon discover the most powerful branch of magic that humanity had ever known, machina. Ancient stories state that machina started out as little more then simple machines which used both physical and aetherial energy to perform a set function. They were limited by the energy stored within special crystals, and thus had to be recharged by humans regularly. But then something seemingly impossible happened, a new method of drawing immense power autonomously was discovered. Ever since the fall of Exodia, the secrets to this immense source of aetherial power have been lost.

Birth of an Empire

With the recent discoveries associated to machina, there was no longer a limit to what humanity could achieve. Everything from brushing one's teeth to transportation would be taken care of by machina. A new city which was built from the ground up to harness the immense power of machina was built, the city that all would come to know as Exodia. The city quickly became the shining beacon of human civilization, and was so successful in it's purpose that a smaller machina city was even built in the desert (Jeth). Exodia would become known as the city that never sleeps, gigantic towering structures of stone and steel dominated the landscape for as far as the eye could see. Countless roads suspended in midair between buildings connected the city like a giant web. No longer did humanity need to toil in the fields or work by the sweat of their brow, machina was able to do all the work.

Twisted Experimentation

Humanity had become like gods, but they desired even more. The old saying goes: Humanity's greed and lust is immeasurable. The goal was immortality, and in order to achieve it humanity would do anything. They began to experiment on everything known to Amestria, creating some of the most vile abominations that had ever been known. They took innocent aetherial spirits of the forest and bound them to bodies of flesh and bone. Some of the native sylfae who had been captured while clearing the ancient forest were used in diabolical experiments. Species upon species were twisted and combined in countless ways, all proving fruitless in humanity's attempt to achieve immortality. For a time, it was thought that immortality was out of the reach of humanity forever.

The Fountain of Life

Just as humanity was convinced that they had done all they could in the pursuit of immortality, a small spring deep in the western mountains was discovered. Anyone who drank from it's waters would instantly die, but the reason behind this proved to be remarkable. Using all the knowledge that humanity had collected since the discovery of magic, they discovered that the waters of the spring contained the very essence of life itself. Upon drinking the water, the life essence would attempt to completely reform the victim and kill them in the process. It did not take long for Exodia to summon forth it's most renowned researchers and to try and discover a way to tap into the essence and become immortal.

To Become a God

Using the water from the fountain of life, humanity created a serum that had a small chance to make one ‘immortal’. Countless people volunteered to take the serum, in the hopes that they would survive and become the pinnacle of human society. All of these people perished, and not a single one of them had achieved immortality. The elite of exodian society were desperate for results, and eventually forced people who lived on the lowest streets in poverty along with criminals to participate. They were offered wealth and riches beyond imagination if they survived, which spurred the desperate individuals into action. Souls immeasurable would die throughout the whole process of the serum trials, and it is still unclear whether humanity actually succeeded in creating a god. Some believe they did, while others believe that humanity was doomed to never achieve immortality.

The Crimson Descent

The original immortality serum would eventually be replaced by another serum that was supposedly more reliable in making one ‘immortal’. This was done by imbuing human blood and some very powerful spells into the preexisting serum, causing it to change from a golden color to a crimson red color. Many were reported to have survived the transformation, but were supposedly insane and killed many people before disappearing, never to be found again. It was after this particular event that people reported children being born with red eyes. Many present day religious scholars believe that this was a sign from heaven that humanity had crossed the line, and that judgement would soon be delivered.

The Fall of Exodia

It was unclear how it happened, only that buildings started to crumble and the ground itself began to shake furiously. Fervent displays of lightning struck human cities, countless people fled for the safety of the countryside. Exodia was not the only city destroyed, all human cities were simultaneously obliterated by the cataclysm. Most of the smaller human cities that accompanied the two great machina cities had been completely turned into rubble, with the great machina cities having been turned into towering stone and steel ruins. The power source of all machina disappeared after the cataclysm, which was a major problem, since humanity had come to depend on machina for storing their knowledge. All human knowledge had been erased in an instant when their machina shut down, sending humanity back to the earliest stages of magical and technological progress. All of this happened in a single night, an event that would be forever remembered by all in Amestria. Some believe that the destruction came from the heavens as divine punishment for humanity trying to achieve godhood. Others believe that it was a result of the immense power source of machina failing, and is the reason why machina is banned in all human societies today. The only thing for certain is that humanity was now back where they had started, and would be forced to rebuild everything from scratch.

Aftermath

Human refugees flooded the agrarian landscape which surrounded their once magnificent cities, cities which had once fulfilled their every wish. People now struggled to survive on barren land that had been stripped of abundance after many centuries of progress. Most who survived had a basic knowledge of elemental magic, it was the only thing keeping them alive in a now hostile world. They would have to confront horrifying monsters of their own making, empowered by the twisted magic of vile experimentation and set on the taste of human blood. These creatures were originally held in captivity among human cities, but the destruction of said cities had granted them freedom and they started roaming the countryside. None dared enter the ancient forest for refuge against the horrors, for every aetherial spirit, beast, and sylfae now hated humans with ever fiber of their being. In time the monsters would be slain and the land would be restored into lush farmland, but humanity would never be able to recover what they once had. Machina would be declared forbidden, and future generations would warn against the pursuit of such vanity.

Effects

Being the single greatest event in human history, the rise and fall of Exodia has impacted Amestria in countless ways. It is believed that red eyes is directly related to the fall of Exodia and human vanity, a curse to permanently remind humanity of their sin in trying to achieve godhood. This is further reinforced by the fact, humans who are not of exodian descent do not have the red eye mutation. Another effect of Exodia was the creation of the kitsune race, which never would have happened without the advanced technology humanity had at their disposal at the time. Exodia is responsible for all civilized sylfae, as the entire Syveri culture was formed when exodians took sylfaen captives as clerks and personal servants. The Fae'Naru would despise humanity forever, after humanity had cleared the majority of the ancient forest. Many aspects of exodian culture are still present throughout human society today, such as gender equality which is not present in human cultures which lack exodian roots. The Holy Cardinal Pontificate formed soon after the fall of Exodia, and has played an important role in human politics since.

Assorted Info

• There is a myth that humanity actually did succeed in creating not one but two gods, and applause and cheers of joy could be heard throughout all of humanity on that day.
• Some of the horrifying monsters created during the Exodian Era still roam uninhabited areas today, they especially favor machina city ruins such as Exodia or Jeth.
• The creation of vampires is indirectly associated with the fall of Exodia, since their appearance was soon afterwords.