Anthem of Creation

The Anthem swims through your mind... It knows you. It knows us all... — The Girl in White .

In the world formed by the Shapers, the Anthem of Creation is not merely a force—it is the breath of existence of everything in Coda. It sings through the mountains, hums beneath the rivers, and roars in the storms. The Anthem is the unknowable melody that gave rise to the world and continues to shape it, often violently, always mysteriously.

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Everyone knows what an overload of Shaper energy from a relic looks like—well, maybe not everyone except most Arcanists and many cyphers—but inversions of energy are relatively rare. Such events are referred to as “conjunctions” because to all appearances the energy that normally radiates outward from a Shaper instrument is instead pulled into it and... through to connect some other location. What location? Where is it going? We have no idea. It may not even be a location within our physical reality. Energy goes in and objects—even living creatures!—come out from wherever it's connecting to. How do conjunctions form? What's their function? Further study will bring us answers. — M. Sumner

For a Collection of similar Cortex Entries, See: Anthem of Creation (Cortex Collection)

Creation and Destruction

An Amplification Sphere that can Power Up anyone Inside

The Anthem is described by scholars and mystics alike as a willful, ever-changing tune. It is not a tool, nor a servant to any cause. One Arcanist famously warned that the Anthem “must create, for it is creation. In that way, it must also destroy, for creation and destruction are merely two edges of the same sword”. This duality defines the Anthem’s nature: it births life and obliterates it with equal indifference.

Attempts to understand or harness the Anthem have led to catastrophe. The Dominion’s effort to seize control of a Shaper relic known as the Cenotaph resulted in the Heart of Rage—a violent, decade long Cataclysm that annihilated the city of Freemark and continued to threaten Bastion. The Anthem resists control, and those who try to bend it to their will often find themselves broken.

It is perplexing to see that the Anthem can create and destroy. It does not want to be controlled. It has been shown to possess a will where it helps anyone who wants to keep it from being controlled, such as the time when the Freelancer fought the Monitor. It is almost as if the Anthem itself is alive!

Echoes and Echo Mirages

Echoes inside a Lake

The Anthem can show itself in various forms. While the whole of the Anthem cannot be controlled, these fragments can be beneficial in many circumstances. Stray fragments can even silence volatile Shaper Relics.

Fragments of the Anthem, known as echoes, often hover near Shaper relics. These semi-animate globes of energy can be used to silence some types of Cataclysms, though the mechanism remains theoretical. Raban Maur’s theory of Amplifonic Force suggests that inserting an echo into a relic provides enough power to counter measure the Anthem, effectively using its own energy to suppress itself. Another posits that the Anthem retreats when confronted by competing creative forces. Echoes can be found anywhere and everywhere.

Echoes are not inert. Over time, they alter their surroundings, transforming minerals and microorganisms, and even forming new materials. Stronger echoes may take on temporary forms, mimicking flora, fauna, or even humans called Echo Mirages. Some arcanists have discovered ways to trap echoes using Echo Devices. Even Scars are known to trap echoes inside cages, somehow. Other interesting forms of Anthem energy are the Cymatic Notes. They can stabilize reality for a short duration, especially when inside a cataclysm.

Elementals and Chimeras

A Titan Slumbers inside a Shaper Ruin

The Anthem’s influence extends to the creation of sentient beings. Elemental beings are born from the clash between Shaper instruments and the Anthem’s violent energies. The fire-spewing wyvern is a common example.

While elementals are sapient, there are the more mindless Chimeras. They, by contrast, are existing fauna transformed by Shaper energies. Such creatures are Shaper corrupt. These creatures purpose is to destroy everything, and the only way to stop them is to destroy them.

Conjunctions and Gates

A Closed Storm Cloud of a Conjunction

The Anthem’s energy does not always radiate outward. In rare cases, it inverts, forming conjunctions—events where energy is pulled into a relic and emerges elsewhere. These phenomena suggest connections to unknown realms, possibly beyond physical reality. Living creatures have emerged from these conjunctions, though their origin remains a mystery.

Gates are another manifestation of Shaper disruption. These rips in reality allow beings to “skip through” and emerge elsewhere. The process is dangerous and unpredictable. Repeated use has driven humans mad, though Scars seem immune to its effects and use gates to ambush their prey.

The Gateway and Human Interface

To interact with the Anthem safely, humans rely on a buffer known as the Gateway. This interface allows the mind to channel will into ember-based technology. While it reduces direct exposure to the Anthem, cyphers—those attuned to its frequencies—remain vulnerable to madness or death. The Gateway behaves unpredictably when amplified, making its use perilous. The discovery of the Gateway by Hrennan was a turning point. One account describes how knowledge of it was passed in whispers, eventually reaching Vassa, who used it to help liberate humanity from the Urgoth. The Gateway became a symbol of resistance and survival.

Cataclysmic Activity

Various Cymatic Notes inside a Cataclysm

When the Anthem overwhelms a Shaper instrument, it erupts into a Cataclysm—a storm of raw creation, destruction, and reality alteration. These events are unpredictable and devastating. One Cataclysm may reverse watefalls, another may spawn new wildlife or elemental beings. The only certainty is chaos and if too late, permanent change. The Anthem has a tendency to disperse Cymatic notes within cataclysms to keep the reality stable.

The Heart of Rage remains the most infamous Cataclysm. Born from the Dominion’s attempt to control the Cenotaph, it destroyed Freemark and unleashed horrors. The Emerald Abyss became a place of disappearances, and Shadowmark began to sink into the ground. The Anthem’s fury reshaped the land, and its expansion threatens Fort Tarsis itself. While the Anthem cannot be controlled, it can be harnessed to an extent. Just look at the Storm class Javelin, or even the Valkyrie. In perhaps the most well-known account, General Helena Tarsis faced a Cataclysm head-on. As wind and debris tore through the valley, she observed the Shaper’s great rings and chose not to destroy them, but to repair them. Her insight restored the path to the Fortress of Dawn and demonstrated that even amid the Anthem’s fury, understanding—not domination—could prevail.

The emotional toll is captured in a lament of the emperor, Valus Dell “Remember Freemark! Our thriving city to the north, gone in an instant. Many thousands of voices swallowed by the Shaper’s tool”. The Anthem does not mourn. But humanity does. And if humans aren’t careful, more cataclysmic events could emerge, like the Echo of Reality, which was another futile attempt of the Dominion to control the Anthem through Vara Brom.

The World with Anthem

Cypher Faye Navine being Consumed by the Anthem

Because only Freelancers are trained to silence Shaper relics before they could go completely volatile and burst out into a violent cataclysm, the world needs them. Hence, they uphold the tradition of being wary of the power of the Anthem.

The Arcanists and Engineers on the other hand, may try to tamper with it, but they are much too cautious. The Sentinels and Corvus, almost never touch anything Shaper related because they know the consequences of dealing with the Anthem’s terrible cataclysms. Regulators, like Sentinels, are vigilant. They may try to “regulate” Shaper related objects, but they themselves never try to coerce it to their desire.

Cyphers, who are the closest to the Anthem in a metaphysical way, can hear it in the back of their ears as a chthonian tune; if not careful, they can be enthralled by it. Their minds will be consumed by the Anthem and render them comatose.

So far, only the Dominion and Scar have a serious connection in playing games with it by trying to force it to bend to their will.

The World against Anthem

The Anthem of Creation is not a resource to be mined or a weapon to be wielded. It is the pulse beneath reality, the song that shaped the world and continues to echo through every storm, relic, and whisper. It creates and destroys with equal force, and those who seek to master it often find themselves undone.

Through echoes, Cataclysms, elementals, and gates, the Anthem reveals its nature: unpredictable, untamable, and deeply woven into the fabric of existence. The Shapers may have sung its tune, but they left no guide. Humanity must choose—whether to listen, to learn, or to fall silent beneath its melody.

There is a reason why Arden Vassa said “We must sing the Anthem as we hear it, and none should be forced otherwise.” And whether one believes in the Anthem or have given up on it, it will eternally remain something special; nothing can change that.