Virage Embryo

"My world. My future. My heart."

- The Virage Embryo murmuring in its sleep The Virage Embryo is a major villain and mythological figure in the 1999 video game ''The Legend Of Dragoon. ''A god formed over eleven millennia prior to the start of the game, its true purpose is shrouded in mystery and kept secret for much of the game. Though not introduced until the climax of the third disc, it appears throughout the preceding discs in a variety of historical guises and names, even joining the main characters for a time as an integral member of the party. For much of the game, it remains hidden in a human body, its true malevolence unknown to both the party and the players.

For much of the game, the Virage Embryo's most popularly recognized form is that of the Moon Child, a human infant born with the soul of the ancient deity once every 108 years; worshiped as a messiah throughout Endiness, the Moon Child is prophesied to one day purify the world with its divine powers. However, an entity known as the Black Monster has been killing the Moon Child on every occasion it has been reincarnated, supposedly delaying the holy purification. As the game eventually makes clear, however, the Moon Child's true mission is to reunite with the body of the Virage Embryo - currently trapped in orbit around the planet as The Moon That Never Sets - and purify Endiness through its destruction.

The final species given life by the creator Soa, the Virage Embryo was created solely to destroy the planet and create a new world in its stead. Unknown to all but a select few, the current Moon Child is none other than Shana, Dragoon and love interest to Dart, the hero of the game; even Shana has no idea of her true nature. However, her powers and potential make immensely desirable to those who wish to complete Soa's divine plan - hence the events that begin the game.

The 108th Fruit
Thousands of years prior to the events of the game, the god known as Soa created the world that would become Endiness, forging a new planet from what had once been empty void. However, the world was little more than a barren husk and unable to generate life of its own accord; so the creator sowed a magical seed in the earth of the new planet, and in time, the seed grew into a colossal plant that eventually became known as the Divine Tree. Under Soa's guidance, the tree's many branches bore one hundred and eight fruits, and from each of those fruits, a new form of life emerged.

Most of the species given life by the tree are unknown or simply too mundane to mention. However, the last few fruits of the Divine Tree gradually emerged as the pinnacle of life on Endiness: the 97th fruit became the Gigantos, renowned for their towering physiques and incredible strength; the 105th fruit gave birth to the Dragons, known for their great power and ferocity; humanity emerged from the 106th fruit, making up for their lack of strength with intelligence and guile; finally, from the 107th fruit emerged the Winglies, born with the power of flight and an innate gift for magic. However, unknown to the newly-populated world, Soa had realized that his creation would one day succumb to stagnation and fall into decay; unable to bear the thought of his masterpiece ruined through simple entropy, he empowered the 108th fruit of the Divine Tree to counteract the decay.

Named the Virage Embryo, the 108th fruit was ordained as the God of Destruction, designed specifically to annihilate Endiness and build a new world in its stead. However, according to Soa's divine plan, the Virage Embryo did not set out to destroy everything from the moment of its creation; instead, it remained on its branch of the Divine Tree, waiting for the corruption of the world to reach intolerable proportions. On that day, it would finally be born and emerge from the 108th fruit to cleanse the world of all imperfection.

However, perhaps eleven thousand years prior to the events of the game, Soa's plan went awry: by this time, the Winglies parlayed their magical gifts into an empire that dominated much of Endiness, forcing the other species of the world into slavery. Under the rule of Emperor Melbu Frahma, the empire sought to control everything in the world, from what children they would permit the privilege of birth to the destination of the soul after death; it was this all-encompassing desire for domination that led Wingly researchers to delve deep into new sources of magical power - where they eventually discovered the Virage Embryo.

Recognizing the threat that the God of Destruction represented, Melbu Frahma had the Virage Embryo's soul separated from its body in the hope that it would be enough to prevent the apocalypse. For good measure, he even had the now-vacant body plucked from the Divine Tree and transported into space, where its lack of movement eventually inspired later astronomers to call it "The Moon That Never Sets." However, Melbu Frahma's lust for power soon drew him to the wellspring of infinite magical energy that the Virage Embryo's soul offered, eventually leading him to imprison the disembodied spirit within a crystal sphere. Through the use of this powerful talisman, the Wingly Emperor was able to draw on almost godlike powers.

Fortunately, Melbu Frahma's sister Charle was more cautious in her approach; already disenchanted with the ruthless exploitation of other races and not interesting in seeing such power abused, she created five magical signet spheres, hiding them deep within the greatest cities of the empire. These powerful magical constructs were specifically designed to limit the amount of energy that could be drawn from the crystal sphere, but they were also able to keep the Virage Embryo's body permanently sealed off, ensuring that the world was kept safe from both the Emperor and the God. Unfortunately, Melbu realized the truth and commissioned a number of magical talismans that would allow him to disable the signets; known as the Divine Moon Objects, he only managed to acquire the Moon Gem, the Moon Dagger and the Moon Mirror - and even then, he never had a chance to use them.

Birth Of The Moon Child
Eventually, the Winglies' rule grew too oppressive for the enslaved species to tolerate. Following a devastating magical bombardment that left the land of Gloriano a barren desert, resentments that had been simmering just below the boiling point for years overflowed, resulting in great uprisings and rebellious that eventually united under the banner of the human leader known only as Emperor Diaz. Styling himself as the ruler of Imperial Gloriano, Diaz organized the enslaved peoples of Endiness into a dedicated army of followers, eventually drawing upon the power of the Dragons to gain a major advantage over the Wingly empire: through the use of Dragon spirits preserved at the moment of death as magical pendants, seven compatible warriors were able to become the first of the Dragoons - legendary knights armed with the strength and magic of Dragons.

With their ability to command Dragons, these seven Dragoons formed humanity's trump card over the course of the war; with the help of Charle Frahma and a small cabal of other defecting Winglies, they were able to outmaneuver the imperial counterattacks and eventually launch an all-out assault on the capital city of Kadessa. There, while the other Dragoons dismantled the city's defenses, the Dragoon leader Zieg did battle with Melbu Frahma himself and slew him in single combat.

Unfortunately, the crystal sphere was shattered over the course of the battle, freeing the Virage Embryo's soul from captivity and allowing it to be reincarnated among the human race. Worse still, one of the signets had been disabled in the destruction of Kadessa, removing an obstacle from the Virage Embryo's path to victory.