The Fall of Shinnok
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At the beginning of time, there were the elder gods and the minor
gods. Shinnok had two sons; Rayden and Shao Kahn. As a
test, he made them battle each other to see who the stronger one was.
Rayden came out on top and Shao Kahn dissapeared from the scene for
quite a while. After the earth realm was formed, the
elder god
Shinnok gave in to greed and false illusions of power; he decided to take the earth for
himself, to rule over it with unmatched power. In order to enter the earth realm without
the intervention of the other elder gods, he created a sacred amulet that could only be
created once....
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Upon entering the earth realm, Shinnok was faced by a young god who was
appointed to defend the realm -- Rayden, god of thunder and his own son. Destructive battles raged between
Shinnok and Rayden, plunging the planet into centuries of darkness. Rayden rose
victorious... and with the help of the true elder gods, he banished
Shinnok into the Netherealm. After the great |
| darkness that covered the land, humans were
called together to create a massive temple in the Himalayan Mountains. It was to house the
sacred amulet and |
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keep it from falling into the wrong hands. Rayden appointed four guards
to protect the amulet, each representing one of the four elements that make up the earth
realm: Wind, Earth, Water, and Fire. Known by many names,these are the four elemental
gods who are necessary in balancing the earth's forces but can be extremely destructive to
the earth's inhabitants... As long as the Amulet remains in the earth realm, |
| out of
Shinnok's reach, Shinnok would be trapped in his confines in the Netherealm. Over the
centuries, the stories and legends that were passed on from generation to generation,
eventually died in man's unrecorded prehistory; these events were undocumented other than
a single map, the Sacred Map of Elements.This map tells of the great battle between Shinnok and Rayden
and shows the way to the massive temple in the Himalayas. When the fallen elder god
Shinnok arrived in the Netherealm, it was ruled by Lucifer; or better known as Satan. The
dregs of hell tortured and tormented Shinnok for thousands of years... |
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The Fall of
Edenia |
| A civilized realm known as Edenia was once a living planet
similar to the earth. A peaceful, quiet planet it was ruled by King Jerrod and Queen
Sindel. Edenia used a fighting tournament to defend itself against invaders just like the
earth does now. But |
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the dark emperor
known as Shao Kahn managed to successfully invade
Edenia and take the life of Jerrod, just shortly after the birth of Princess
Kitana. Kahn then sapped the realm's energies, causing Edenia to
become a large wasteland known as The Outworld. Shao Khan took Sindel as his queen and
Kitana as his step-daughter, the realm would remain in this condition until Kahn's reign
over it would end. The thought of serving Shao Kahn eventually drove Queen Sindel to
madness, thus committed suicide at a young age. Kahn was enraged by this. He |
| withheld her soul from moving on
to a higher existence and used it as a token for his victory over Jerrod, as well as a
constant reminder of his power to Princess Kitana. |
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Over the years, Princess Kitana was trained as a personal
assassin for Shao Kahn, working alongside her friend, Jade. Another of the many assassins
trained to serve Shao Kahn was Rain, the son of a general in Edenia's army who was killed
by Kahn during his invasion. Shao Kahn's next target was the realm of
earth. The rise of Shinnok in the Netherealm later in
the millennia, a free roaming sorcerer named
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| Quan Chi approached Shinnok, aware of his
suffering for those thousands of years in the Netherealm. Quan Chi agreed that he would free Shinnok from his
confines and |
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assist
him in defeating Lucifer, in exchange for power and the position to rule at Shinnok's side
when he escapes the Netherealm entirely. The two waged a war against Lucifer and his
minions, it lasted for centuries following. But eventually, it came to an end as Shinnok
defeated Lucifer
and took his seat as the new ruler of the Netherealm. But unlike the Outworld, the
Netherealm has never been a living planet --
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desolate wasteland of fire and brimstone, inhabited by grotesque demons. So he decided to
create a physical world, he transformed the demons into as human a form as possible, and
tried his best to emulate the realm he wanted so badly: earth... But the Netherealm was
and always will be a dead world, only with its true form being hidden by its new ruler.
Shinnok gave Quan Chi the position of arch-sorcerer to rule at his side in the
now-expanded Netherealm, for freeing him and helping defeat Lucifer's forces. If Shinnok
could escape from the Netherealm entirely, they could rule over a much larger territory,
but the only way that could happen is if Shinnok regained possession of the amulet. |
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Quan Chi went on to spend centuries making attempts at acquiring the Map
of Elements, with one failure after another. The Shaolin temples discovered the sacred Map
of Elements and kept it hidden within their temples in China, only a select few knew of
the map's existence and the story it told, including a Shaolin monk named Kung Lao. |
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The
Mortal Kombat Tournament |
| Soon after Shao Kahn's takeover of the Outworld, an order of
the wisest men in the far east received visions of the dark emperor. In order to prevent
such an invasion on the earth, they created their own tournament. The tournament was known
as Mortal Kombat, hosted by the Shaolin temples -- warriors from around the world are
invited to compete in it, once every generation. But if Outworld warriors win 10
tournaments in a row, Shao Kahn would be allowed to enter the earth and do with it as he
pleases. |
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The First Rise and Defeat of
Shang Tsung Shang Tsung |
| Shang Tsung, an earth-born servant of Shao Kahn, soon gained
the championship of |
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Mortal Kombat. In
order to please the emperor, he not only took the lives of his
opponents, but their souls as well. After repeated victories in the
tournaments to follow, Tsung became over confident before reaching ten
victories. Tsung's over confidence proved to be his un-doing as he was
defeated by Kung Lao, representing the Shaolin temples. |
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The
Lin Kuei Clan For centuries |
| In the north eastern parts of China existed a secret clan of assassins and
thieves |
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known as The Lin Kuei, thriving on the
evil intentions of those who would pay for
their services. Its warriors are humans with special skills and abilities, chosen at birth
to be raised apart from the workings of day to day civilization, stripped of their former
lives and only the clan knows of their existence. Their abilities are passed on from |
| generation to generation and honed
throughout the experiences in their lives. A fifth |
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generation Lin Kuei warrior, known by
the name of Sub-Zero, once had a normal life in America. He lived there with his mother,
father, brother and sister.. Eventually, the two sons were found spotted by the Lin Kuei
clan and they brought them to China; their mother, father and |
| sister were never seen
or heard from again. The older son would soon use the name of
Sub-Zero. |
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The Ninja During Japan's feudal period |
| When a renegade Japanese-born Lin Kuei warrior named Takeda
returned to his homeland, he offered his services to various lords and generals; many of
his skills and techniques were soon copied and learned throughout Japan, eventually
"evolving" into the art of Ninjitsu. Unlike the Lin Kuei, the art of Ninjitsu
involves the use of weapons and magic's that can be mastered by any human with enough
practice. The Ninja never existed as a single collected clan, but rather worked as a
loosely connected spy network made up of several small clans; the first Ninja clan was the
Shirai Ryu, founded by Takeda himself, making them instant foes of the Lin Kuei and |
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Takeda
a target for assassination. The Reign of Terror Soon came with the mysterious death of one of the
three Mortal Kombat tournament masters. Shang Tsung returned, prematurely aged and
weakened for his previous failure, and brought the half-human dragon, Goro, a member of
the Shokan (a race of four-armed creatures from the Outworld) along with him...
Together, they were |
| to unbalance the furies and tip the scales of order
toward chaos. In a brutal battle, Goro defeated Kung Lao and became the new Mortal Kombat
champion. Shang |
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Tsung took Lao's soul,
retaining the former-champion's thoughts and
memories, he took control of the Mortal Kombat tournament; it was the beginning an era
that alienated the Shaolin from their own tournament... Goro retained his title for nine
generations, leaving the earth one last opportunity to defend itself against an Outworld
invasion. All it needed was one earth warrior who could defeat Goro and break the
Outworld's streak... Free Roaming Sorcerers Bargain Shang Tsung discovered the location of
the sacred Map of Elements through Kung Lao's thoughts and memories. |
Shao Kahn made him a
free roaming sorcerer for devising a plan that could almost assure the Outworld's success.
About ten years before the time of the new tournament, Shang Tsung struck a deal with Quan
Chi: in exchange for the location of the map, Shinnok was to take Sindel's soul, taint it
with evil, and reincarnate it on the Earth realm itself. Giving Shao Kahn the ability step
through the dimensional gates between the earth and Outworld in order to reclaim his queen
It would take over a decade for Shinnok to accomplish this. In doing so, Kahn could
overtake the Earth, and bar Rayden and the Elder Gods from intervening, whether Goro wins
his 10th victory or not in Mortal Kombat... But Kahn knew, the plan could only be
activated, a thousand years after it was created. |
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Scorpion and
Sub-Zero
- Also see the mythologies section - |
| What Shang Tsung failed to tell Quan Chi was the fact that the
amulet was being guarded by the four elemental gods. The mere existence of these guards
made it impossible for Quan Chi to enter the temple where the amulet rests, but if he
could get a human to enter, one who could perhaps defeat the elements... |
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The first Sub-Zero (the oldest of two brothers (who would both once
use the name of Sub-Zero) learned of his abilities as a young adult -- the ability to
harness the element of cold. The Lin Kuei's Grandmasters knew his skills had the ability
to develop much faster than those of other Lin Kuei clan members. |
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Among his first missions as a Lin Kuei warrior, Sub-Zero was to steal
the sacred Map of Elements from the Shaolin Temples in the heart of
China.Quan Chi realized the fact that he was one of the only humans
with the ability to defeat the elements. |
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Takeda managed to elude assassination by the Lin Kuei until his elder
years, when his life came to an end not from a vicious battle, but from a poison
Scorpion, send by Shang Tsung, holding the soul of a former member of the Shirai Ryu
named Hanzo Hasashi (code name Scorpion). Scorpion took over his body, altered his flesh
and soul in that of pure evil, and got onto Takeda's latest mission. |
| He was to also,
travel into the heart of China, home of the Lin Kuei and location of the Shaolin temples
where he was also to steal the sacred Map of Elements to serve Quan Chi.
Sub-Zero and Scorpion both arrived at the Shaolin temples and
soon confronted each other. Scorpion was killed in the confrontation and Sub-Zero returned
to Lin Kuei headquarters with the sacred Map of Elements, suspicious of Quan Chi for
retaining the services of a Shirai Ryu ninja. Sub-Zero was then to go on |
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a mission through
the temple that housed the amulet. Scorpion was given a chance by his demons to return to life
in order to avenge the death of his family and clan but in doing so, he would lose his memory of his wife and
child forever. He chose to return, to kill the murderer of his family
and clan which he thought was Sub-Zero. Meanwhile Sub-Zero
managed to defeated the elements just as Quan Chi had foreseen. Quan Chi got the amulet and Rayden was enraged, |
| he sent
Sub-Zero into the Netherealm itself to regain the amulet back before Shinnok uses it to
enter the earth realm. Sub-Zero managed to get the amulet |
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back into the hands of Rayden and thus
so he prevented the destructive battles between Shinnok and Rayden from being faught once
again, at least for the time being... He arrived back in Lin Kuei headquarters, and was
then to compete in Mortal Kombat, once again under the command of Shang Tsung.
He boarded the boat to Shang Tsung's uncharted island. Scorpion, in the |
form of a reincarnated specter, soon learned of Sub-Zero's intentions and
followed the Lin Kuei warrior onto the boat...
The Kombat Begins
New earth warriors were also chosen for this new tournament.
Among the top competitors were Johnny cage, Kano, Liu Kang, Sub-Zero, Hanzo (reincarnated by Quan Chi as
Scoprion), and Sonya Blade. From this point on, the new Mortal
Kombat tournaments took place as described in the Games and Movies of
Mortal Kombat (These storylines can be viewed on this site, within the
other Storyline sections).
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