Template:Infobox ObjectThe six Pillars are bizarre uncut diamonds the size of a brick, created by a race of super-ancient people.
History
Early History
Though unconfirmed, the Pillars were most likely constructed by the super-ancient beings, since they included them in their second trial.
At a currently unknown point in Earth's history, the Super-Ancient Beings discovered the Dark Sun and set about constructing a machine that would repel it before it came too close to the planet. During their endeavors, they managed to reshape six diamonds into the Pillars, doing so in a technological process that would appear to modern humans that they had been shaped this way naturally. The Super-Ancients also constructed two tools, later known as the the Philosopher's Stone and the Basin of Rameses II, which would work in unison with the Firestone of the Golden Capstone to cleanse the Pillars before they were to be set into their corresponding Vertex of the Machine. Furthermore, the first five Pillars were designed to be placed into their corresponding Vertex during a Titanic Rising event, while the sixth would need to be laid at the moment the Dark Sun's full radiation was upon the Earth.
Though they were able to prevent the Dark Star from approaching in their time, the Super-Ancient Beings realised that even after they were gone from the Earth, there may yet be intelligent life, and so left the Pillars and Sacred Stones so that human kind could use them to aid their attempts to rebuild the Machine. They were also able to manipulate the Pillars' molecular structure so that when they were placed into their Vertex, give whoever possessed it a reward, either Knowledge, Heat, Sight, Life, Death and Power.
Eventually, all of the Pillars came to be kept in Egypt under the Pharaoh Khufu's keep (himself apparently being a King of one of the Four Legendary Kingdoms). Ultimately, however, the priest Thuthmosis stole the Pillars and the Sacred Stones and took them with him as he fled Egypt, unwittingly putting the Earth at greater risk of being destroyed by the Dark Sun.
Thuthmosis, taking one the name Moses, would keep the Pillars within his familial line until they ended up with Jesus Christ. Jesus, apparently unaware of their importance, would end up scattering the Pillars and putting the Earth's future in greater jeopardy.
He gave two of the Pillars, the Fourth and Fifth, to the families who would eventually become the Great Houses of Europe and the remaining four Pillars to his brother James. James would hide the Second Pillar in the Temple of Solomon, and kept the First and Third Pillars at the fortress in Van. After his crucifixion, Jesus's body was taken by his brother James and entombed in an ancient salt mine, where the salt crystals would preserve his body, and the Sixth Pillar was buried with him.
Before The Six Sacred Stones
In the thirteenth century, Genghis Khan and his army invaded Van, and he took possession of the First and Third Pillars. Genghis would give the First Pillar to a Bedouin tribe as a gift of thanks for aiding him, a tribe which would soon become the Royal House of Saud. The Third Pillar was given to the Shogun of Japan, who after discovering the entrance to the Third Vertex in Hokkaido, had an elaborate trap built within the maze to contain the Pillar until someone worthy came to place it.
Around the same period, Templars stole the Second Pillar from the Temple of Solomon, and under unknown circumstances it soon ended up with the Neetha tribe.
By the second World War, the Americans suspected that the Third Pillar was still being held by the Japanese Imperial family, and after Japan's defeat they searched fiercely for where they believed Hirihito may have hidden it, but had no success.
Over the centuries, the Fourth Pillar remained with the British Royals, while the Fifth was shared between the Royal families of Russian and Denmark. By the present day, the Fifth Pillar was held by the King of the Kingdom of Land, Vladimir "Carnivore" Romanov.
Towards the end of 2007, various parties were preparing to restore the Machine, and began making their own preparations to obtain the Pillars so that they could obtain the rewards for themselves.
The Six Sacred Stones
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The Five Greatest Warriors
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Purpose
The six Pillars are intended to be placed at the massive underground Temple-Shrines, the Vertices, each connecting to a corner of the Machine during a Titanic Rising. When each Pillar is set, a triangular shape is removed with the bottom end of the Pillar, creating the tip of the inverted pyramid and thus readying the Machine.
Each Pillar must be cleansed by the Philosopher's Stone and the Firestone before it can be placed, and the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Pillars must have a second cleansing in the Basin of Rameses II.
They initially appear as cloudy, with an anomalous void in the center containing a liquid form of Helium, H-3. Upon being cleansed the Pillars are translucent like glass, with the Helium void becoming silver in appearance.
Pillars and their Rewards
The First Pillar - Knowledge
The First Pillar was kept by the House of Saud. After leaving the possession of Jesus Christ, it was left at a fortress in Van for years by before Genghis Khan raided it and took the two Pillars there. He gave the First Pillar to a Bedouin tribe as a gift of thanks for aiding him, a tribe which became the Royal House of Saud.
Its reward is 'Knowledge', which appears as formula and text on the sides of the Pillar, in the Word of Thoth. As Alby and Lily discovered, the secrets given by the pillar (one on each of the four sides) include; instructions for an ultra-strong yet ultralight form of carbon-fibre; a diagram of the star Sirius and its two companion stars, Sirius B and Sirius C, which is a zero-point field; and an explanation of the Universal Expansion Problem. The fourth piece of knowledge was never revealed.
The First Pillar was placed on the 10th of December 2007, at the first Vertex beneath Lake Nasser near Abu Simbel, and is currently kept in an abandoned mine at Jack's farm.
The Second Pillar - Heat
The Second Pillar was kept by the Neetha tribe. After leaving the possession of Jesus Christ, James (Jesus's brother) hid one of the Pillars in the Temple of Solomon, until the Pillar was taken to Africa by the Templars and somehow ended up with the Neetha.
Its reward is simply described as 'Heat', which Wolf's chief researcher, Felix Bonaventura, believed was the secret of perpetual motion, or limitless energy.
The Second Pillar was placed on the 17th of December 2007, at the second Vertex beneath Table Mountain near Cape Town, and is currently kept in an abandoned mine at Jack's farm.
The Third Pillar - Sight
The Third Pillar was hidden within a trap system, which was in turn within the Third Vertex. After leaving the possession of Jesus Christ, it was left at a fortress in Van for years by before Genghis Khan raided it and took the two Pillars there.
The Pillar's reward is 'Sight'. This was theorised by Wizard to be the ability to see one's own death, due to rumours of a holder's blood being on a pillar and seeing their demise. After being placed at the Third Vertex, Jack and Wolf were given a vision one of them falling into an abyss beneath another Vertex, and was believed to be Jack's death since it was apparently his blood on the Pillar. However at the sixth Vertex it was revealed to actually be Wolf's death, and that it was his blood that had been on the Pillar.
The Third Pillar was placed on the 11th of March 2008, at the third Vertex beneath a Hokkaido cliff-side, and is currently kept in an abandoned mine at Jack's farm.
The Fourth Pillar - Life
The Fourth Pillar is was kept by the British Royal Family. After leaving the possession of Jesus Christ, the Pillar was passed on to one of the families who would become the House of Saxe-Coburg.
Its reward is 'Life', which has not been revealed. This could be the ability to bring people back from the dead, and Wizard and Jack theorise that it could work in conjunction with the Fifth Pillar's reward; 'Death'.
The Fourth and Fifth Pillars were placed simultaneously on the 18th of March 2008, at the fourth Vertex beneath Lundy Island, and is currently kept in an abandoned mine at Jack's farm.
The Fifth Pillar - Death
The Fifth Pillar was kept jointly by the Royal families of Russia and Denmark, and was held by Carnivore. After leaving the possession of Jesus Christ, the Pillar was passed on to one of the families who would become the Houses of Romanov and Oldenberg.
Its reward is 'Death', which has not being revealed. Some believe this to be a weapon, dealing death to the enemies of the one who holds it, and Wizard and Jack theorise that it could work in conjunction with the Fourth Pillar's reward; 'Life'.
The Fourth and Fifth Pillars were placed simultaneously on the 18th of March 2008, at the fifth Vertex beneath Diego Garcia, and is currently kept in an abandoned mine at Jack's farm.
The Sixth Pillar - Power
The Sixth Pillar was hidden within the tomb of Jesus Christ. This was the only Pillar to never leave Jesus's possession, and upon his real death was left with him in his tomb in the middle of the Dead Sea in Israel. The tomb contained a false sixth Pillar to fool any thieves.
Its reward is 'Power', which grants whoever holds it whatever they wish - be it world domination, the death of an enemy or the destruction of cities on their whim. Lily was accidentally granted this power when she placed the final Pillar at its Vertex, and it overpowered her will, making her kill several people before Jack managed to get her to stop.
The Sixth Pillar was placed on the 20th of March 2008, at the Sixth Vertex beneath Easter Island, however, Jack knocked it into the abyss soon afterwards, believing no one should have its power, and so it was presumably destroyed.