Lore - The Life Factory

When speaking of time-travel it is important to establish a base-line for comparison - A Year Zero.  For residents of Rift, that year is the year Port Scion fell and the division between Defiant and Guardians officially occurred.

The Knowledge Collective states "The original life factory was discovered near the city of Port Scion in the twentieth year of Prince Zarepph's reign."  However, we need a bit more information to place this in history. *

Life Factory Images (9)

The Life Factory's history dates back to an ancient Eth city-state of Arkeen.* Investigation into its function suggests it was used to conduct experiments into the replication, creation, alteration, and resurrection of life in all its forms.  "Their study became the basis for the experiments [they] would conduct when [they] explored their halls many centuries later."

Many centuries later suggests it is estimated to be at least three-hundred years in history, though the word "many" is subjective and without further information we cannot know for sure how far into the past the Eth's research stretched.

According to the Knowledge Collective, when Meridian fell to the Guardian seige the Life Factories were already in such a state to support life.  The Defiants "shut [themselves] within [the life factories] to continue [their] studies, barring the doors and creating magical fortifications to keep [themselves] save to pursue Project Omega." *

What Project Omega is referring to is never discussed in the collectives, however we can guess that the project centered around the development of a system to engineer Ascended.   The Defiant city of Meridian fell to the Guardian Ascended.  The assults were held back by the Defiant technology for a short time, but when Cyril lead an army of Ascended soldiers, each with the power of three men, the city inevitably fell.  It is clear that many Defiants may have seen their lack of Ascended as the element that tipped the scales in the Guardian's favor. This fact, along with the many experiments that are running in the Life Factory when Defiants return is a good indication that Project Omega did in fact concern ascension.   Remember that Sylver Valis calls the returning Defiant Ascended a marvel of science, his finest work, their last and greatest project. 

At the time of Defiant ascension, the Life Factory we are present in has lost contact with all other bases.   It is believed they have since been destroyed by Regulos in his destruction of Telara, but, as we never have the opportunity to view their work, it will never be known if they too had successfully engineered ascended.