Crystal Arc

The Crystal Arc is the first major story arc in Paladins, which currently remains unresolved. This story arc focuses on the Crystal War, a conflict between the Magistrate and Resistance that engulfs the entire Realm, based around newly discovered Crystals.

Major characters in this arc include Karne, Valera, Corvus, and Barik, though many characters have their own roles in the arc.

This arc first began in early 2018 with the A Realm Divided lore cinematic, and technically continues to this day, though it largely shifted to the sidelines due to the Darkness Arc, and now seems to have quietly ended with the introduction of the Ska'drin Arc.

Story

The Discovery

The Realm was enjoying almost a century of peace following the defeat of the dragons by the Warders and the Goblin Scourges by the Paladins, however, this would all begin to change.

A new form of magic focused through crafted crystals was discovered, offering power that rivaled that of the Magistrate. Their uses were near limitless, and a crystal-powered revolution overtook the Realm, with many inventions being created such as robotic mining suits and crystal-powered wings; the Realm's future looked brighter than ever.

Though not everyone had good intentions. There were accidents and horrible misuses of power, explosions destroying entire buildings, events Karne, the Grand Magister of the Magistrate, feared would destroy all that had been built throughout the Golden Age, ultimately leading to his decision of banning crystals from common use for the safety and peace of the Realm.

Conflict

However, not everyone agreed with Karne, as a group rallied behind Valera, his former partner and leader in the Paladins all those years ago. They believed crystals should be useable by anyone to improve everyone's lives.

Valera began making preparations, weaponizing the crystals to use against the Magistrate, and reawakening the Stagalla that had helped the Paladins fight off the Goblin Scourges, to once again fight for her, the Stagalla oath-bound to accept. When the Magistrate came to collect crystals, the newly formed Resistance struck.

A battle erupted. At first, the Resistance gained the upper hand, with the Magistrate soldiers no match for the power of the Stagalla; however, thing soon changed, as the Magistrate warrior, Ash, arrived and easily destroyed the Stagalla known as Terminus, seemingly killing him. Terminus was not the only thing that had shattered, as the resolve of the Resistance nearly completely shattered along with him, until the remaining Stagalla, Inara, rallied the Resistance and gave them a new fighting resolve.

Following this, both sides would make their own preparations; the Resistance would gain several new members such as Cassie and Tyra, while Valera urged the group to take up the flag of the old Paladins. Meanwhile, the Magistrate would call upon all royal houses loyal to them such as House Aico to assist in their battle against the Resistance. With this, the Crystal War had officially begun.

The Realm's Response

With the growing conflict slowly engulfing nearly the entire Realm, many different individuals and factions responded to the war in their own way. Nature and those living in it responded in several ways; most of the Vulpin of Brightmarsh left to serve as medics for both sides, leaving their home abandoned. Most of the Leipori fled into the forests to avoid getting involved, while one of them, Moji took it upon herself to summon the great nature spirits to defend the world. The faerie of the Summer Court, though normally waging an endless war against the encroachment of modern civilization, would largely stay back to bolster their dwindling numbers, with Willo being one of the only faeries to take up arms against both sides of the Crystal War. Grohk, the chieftain of the Red River Orcs, sensed a storm brewing and joined the battle on behalf of his tribe. Makoa, the ancient protector of the Temple Isles, is summoned to the mainland to combat this greater threat to the Realm. Finally, Grover, the embodiment of nature that had once helped stop the Goblin Scourges, awoke once again to defend nature from the spread of humanoid civilizations, rampant industrialization, and the growing war.

Other individuals however, joined the war for more selfish reasons, such as Kinessa, Maeve, and the Thousand Hands Guild, who all refuse to pick a side, as more money could be made by taking contracts from both sides.

And of course, there are individuals who do not appear to care for the war at all, largely sticking to their own agendas.

Results of the War

The Magistrate and Resistance would naturally come to battle several more times when the two sides encountered one another, such as when the two sides were attracted to the Warders beacon lit be Jenos, in which the Resistance won and left with a pair of Warder's Gauntlets.

The two sides would meet again in the Shattered Desert, the Magistrate led by the officer Corvus, who sought the Legend of the Shattered Desert in the hopes of defeating the Resistance, while the Resistance themselves would journey there following a warning from Jenos. The two sides fought over strange tears in reality in the desert, before later coming to battle yet again in Bazaar, a city of the Followers of Io. At first, the Magistrate appeared to have the upper hand, but Valera and Jenos begged for Io to join the battle herself, which should would, attacking Corvus and driving off the Magistrate.

Following this, Corvus grew worried and desperate, believing the Resistance had gained the support of Io and Jenos, he thought they would instantly crush the Magistrate and slaughter countless more at any time to win the Crystal War, allowing for Seris to appear and take advantage of this desperation to trick Corvus into summoning Raum, Rage of the Abyss into the Realm, resulting in Corvus being exiled from the Magistrate.

However, with the release of this monstrous Abyssal Lord, on top of the Darkness monster Yagorath, the two sides of the Crystal War were forced into a truce to combat these treats.

Now though, with Yagorath defeated by the Eternal, Azaan, who also appears to be dealing with those of the Abyss, as well as the Magistrate being entrusted to House Aico, one wonders what has become of the Crystal War.

Sources

• Information found in "The Discovery" comes from the A Realm Divided lore cinematic, Imani's bio, this loading screen tip, one of Rei's teasers, and this dev statement.
• Information found in "Conflict" comes from the A Realm Divided lore cinematic, and Inara and Lian's bios.
• Information found in "The Realm's Response" comes from Grover, Grohk, Moji, Willo, Makoa, Kinessa, Maeve, and Zhin's bios, as well as the Trials of the Realm description for Brightmarsh.
• Information found in "Results of the War" comes from the Dragon's Call and Dark Tides lore cinematics, the Fight of the Shattered Desert story, Io, Raum, Yagorath, and Azaan's teaser trailers, various dev statements, this stream, and Azaan's cards Eternal Strife, Overwhelming Presence, and True Conviction, the official pages for the End Times event, as well as the A Conflict Reignited lore cinematic.