Lux Veritatis
History
1300s
In the 1300s a man named Pieter Van Eckhardt was born, and grew up to become known as the Black Alchemist. He was contacted later in his mortal life by an extinct race known as the Nephilim (the product of relationships held between fallen angels and humans) and entered a blood pact with them in exchange for immortality, and was tasked with the creation of a powerful weapon known as the Sanglyph (literally 'blood-sign'), able to utilise human blood and body parts to resurrect the Nephilim if it would ever become necessary. To keep the Sanglyph safe, Eckhardt split it into five pieces and hid each piece behind five paintings he created depicting evil imagery.
Eckhardt grew more evil and powerful, and eventually form a group known as the Cabal, four individuals who all shared the same desire for immortality. To attain this immortality, the Cabal prepared to resurrect the Nephilim. Eckhardt believed that by using the Nephilim he would attain immortality and, in the end, dominate over all.
1400s
In the mid 1400s the Lux Veritatis was formed and led by a Christian monk by the name of Brother Obscura, managed to capture the alchemist Eckhardt and imprison him in a containment pit beneath their stronghold headquarters, Castle Kriegler located near Germany and eliminate the Cabal. They used three daggers known as Periapt Shards when combined, the power of the three blades can destroy any immortal being. This threat was held over the allegedly immortal Black Alchemist, should he attempt to escape.
For years the Lux Veritatis hunted for the source of Eckhardt's powers. Brother Obscura then seized the five paintings that contained the pieces of the Sanglyph, and painted over the previous images of evil with new religious images. These were hidden throughout Europe in locations known only to the Lux Veritatis, and were christened the Obscura Paintings. He secretly made copies of each, referred to as the Obscura Engravings, with each engraving containing an encoded map to the location of the original painting.
Many years passed Brother Obscura died, and his body was buried alongside one of the Obscura Paintings in an extravagantly built tomb beneath the French city of Paris. The reanimated Skeletal Knights of the Lux Veritatis guarded his tomb from anyone seeking its secrets. It is suggested that in 1666 the Lux Veritatis and the Cabal had a battle which caused the Great Fire of London. During these times the Lux Veritatis managed to wipe out the remaining members of the Cabal, leaving Eckhardt as the lone survivor.
1900s
Five hundred years after his imprisonment, before the end of World War II, Castle Kriegler was bombed causing the shards to split and Eckhardt escaped from the prison once again free to practice his dark arts. In the next 60 years Eckhardt reformed his Cabal with new members. The new Cabal devoted to hunting down and killing the remaining members of the Lux Veritatis in revenge for his imprisonment five centuries before.
2001
In 2001, Eckhardt murdered one of the last members of the order: a man called Konstantin. In doing so, Eckhardt managed to obtain one of the three Periapt Shards. Safe in the knowledge that as long as he possessed it then no harm could come to him, Eckhardt hid the dagger in his laboratory. However, before his death, Konstantin had passed on the weapons of the order to his son Kurtis Trent. He then inherited the remaining two Periapt Shards, and the Chirugai, his fearsome bladed weapon.
2003
In 2003, Kurtis tracked down Eckhardt in Prague. On his mission in avenging his father, he met Lara Croft also on the same mission to hunt down the Alchemist and they form an alliance to stop Eckhardt. He is later wounded on that mission by Kristina Boaz after he sends Lara to destroy Echkardt.
After this event, Kurtis's whereabouts and the fate of the Lux Veritatis bloodline remains unknown.
