Plot Summary

The game begins in the present day, the backstory is explained in various dossiers in the extra section of the game and the walkthrough guide: in the present, a top-secret U.S. Special Forces organization, the Department of Occult Warfare (DOW), is a global-spanning agency dedicated to fight the unseen paranormal & demonic forces that besiege humanity on a daily basis, with the general population kept unaware. The top-secret combat arm of this agency are Jericho Squad Teams, a seven-man elite commando unit trained in conventional and occult warfare, and are specially trained, mentally and physically, and equipped with magical & projectile weaponry. These teams are sent on the most dangerous of such missions.

One of Jericho's primary directives is to be constantly on the alert for the activation of Operation Godseal; a top-secret need-to-know project that commands a Jericho team to venture into the Pyxis and seal the Breach made in the god-holding seal.

The Beginning

This sacred duty did not start with the DOW and Jericho, but began far into the past: Originally, when the Firstborn was forsaken by God, God couldn't destroy the Firstborn (due to it being too powerful), so instead he carved a slice of reality into The Box (or Pyxis in Latin), and imprisoned the Firstborn inside the heart of the Box; Pyxis Prima.

Sumerian Era

With time, the Firstborn reached out with its power and seduced the High Priestess of a Sumerian Order, Ereshkigall, through her dreams with promises of power and forbidden knowledge, and then taught her the rites to make a blood sacrifice strong enough to break the seal over the Box and allow the Firstborn to escape through the Breach (a rip in time that allows access to different layers of reality in the Box) to the mortal world, where it would take it's revenge upon humanity for being God's favorite children. Ereshkigall took an army of 10000 to the Rub-Al-Khali desert and erected the Tower of Babal, a colossal tower that, at the pinnacle, resided the original gateway to Pyxis Prima, and the other original structures that would eventually become Al-Khali. Upon completion, Ereshkigall slaughtered her army, and as their blood ran down the temple's steps, the seal was broken and the Firstborn walked the Earth once again.

However, a secret group of seven warrior priests, led by Antadurunnu, were hidden amongst Ereshkigall's army, and, as the rest of his comrades battled to contain the Firstborn and Ereshkigall in Pyxis Prima, Antadurunnu himself bound himself to the Breach and closed the Box. Not only did the force of doing so destroy his body (yet his soul lived on), but the Firstborn took the local area of Earth with it, and added it to the domain of the Box. In doing so, it also takes the inhabitants of that place with it, sealing them along with the Firstborn inside the Box with no possibility of escape. In the Box itself, normal rules of reality do not apply to those trapped inside. Hunger, thirst, sleep etc., all common urges for sustenance disappear, and time itself doesn't move, and day and night do not apply. Everyday, the abominations living in the Box battle those trapped. While death doesn't technically apply, those who are slain are engulfed and consumed by flies in seconds and are soon reborn, and while they retain their normal appearance (at first, but with time they become more and more unrecognizable), they belong to the Firstborn, assimilated to do it's bidding.

Before his body was destroyed, however, Antadurunnu used the last of his power to send a telepathic message to his followers in the city of Ur, commanding them to form a brotherhood to defend against those who would seek to free the Firstborn for their own gain, and if necessary send in another group of seven to seal the Breach. This last part is done by Antadurunnu himself, whose soul is linked to the Breach, making him the only one capable to closing it, and his body is reassembled by the group, and destroyed again after performing the rites.

Roman Era

These incidents have occurred at least three times. The first was in the era of the Roman Empire, where Al-Khali was the furthest known southern province of the now-dying Roman Empire, with postings to this forlorn place effectively exile. The ruler of Al-Khali was Governor Cassus Vicus, a twisted sadist, glutton and a fan of all kinds of bacchanalias, most especially orgies and cannibalism, and used his position at Al-Khali to turn the area into a carnival of decadence and depravity. The shedding of so much blood attracted the Firstborn's attention, and he contacted Vicus through his dreams, and then again through Vicus' clairvoyant slaves. The Firstborn tempted Vicus to open the Breach with a massive feast of blood and cannibalism, in exchange for an eternity of orgies and parties.

At this time, however, Centurion Tercius Longinus, the empathic commander of Al-Khali's military garrison, had been reluctantly doing his master's bidding to attack trade caravans if they didn't pay taxes. The group they attacked however, was instead a lone group of extravagantly dressed fortune tellers and wizards descended from Antadurunnu's Sumerian sect; who then, in a single stroke, wiped out all of Tercius' troops save for himself, as their leader; Mahvash, found he was the prophesied seventh member of their group destined to aid in their attempts to stop Vicus from opening the Breach. While the Group of Mahvash (named after their leader) failed to stop Vicus from opening the Breach, they took advantage of the chaos and confusion to get through the Breach and seal it, with Tercius realizing too late that doing so would mean permanent imprisonment. While the Group of Mahvash were all eventually killed after a lifetime of fighting off the creatures in the Box or Vicus' demonic legionnaires, Tercius was tortured and crucified, and upon death was continuously resuscitated. Tercius has since endured his torture for 3000 years, while Vicus got his wish and has enjoyed his orgies and parties non-stop ever since.

Medieval Era

The next time the Firstborn tried to escape, in the era of the Crusades, the Firstborn instead was contacted. It was done by Bishop Maltheus St. Claire, a Christian church official who was fearful and dangerously paranoid for his eternal life, as he suffered from leprosy (which in those days was considered a sign that God had cursed whoever was afflicted by it), and his continuously harsher penances weren't helping. Seeking aid in the Vatican Library in Rome, Maltheus immersed himself in the study of forbidden texts and scriptures, and eventually found references to the Legend of the Firstborn. Believing a being so like God would save him from eternal damnation, Maltheus realized the only way to gain his favor was to free him. To this end, Maltheus went before Pope Innocent III, and, claiming to have found the location of the Garden of Eden at Al-Khali, convinced him to authorize a Crusade to retake it from the hands of the Saracen "Infidels". Maltheus also went so far as to convince the Pope that the crusader army would be composed of children, that, while they lacked military training or strength, the innocence of good Christian children would protect them from Saracen weapons.

After almost a years' journey, in which the holy army encountered many hardships and perils, Maltheus dragged thousands of children all the way to Al-Khali. The local crusaders of the great fortress of Les Innocents refused to partake in such insanity, and the children themselves, weak, starving and convinced they would be killed, pleaded to be saved, but Maltheus demanded battle. The Saracens pleaded with the children to surrender, but they refused at Maltheus' order. The battle that ensued was little more than a massacre, one of the worst of the entire Crusades. The crusaders at Les Innocents gathered up the bodies of the children and buried them in the crypt beneath the castle, while Maltheus also went into the nearby chapel to expedite his sins. As it turned out, the Breach was opened by the deaths of the children, and the entire local area was sucked in when a secret group of Knights Templar warrior priests, led by the telekinetic Sir Richard De Gray, having arrived too late to stop Maltheus' insane plans, instead went into the Box and, after many difficulties, sealed the Firstborn once again. Maltheus believed what he was seeing was the end of the world, so, when he suddenly heard noises from beneath the chapel, coming from the crypt, Maltheus, having become forlorn and devastated over sending all those children to their deaths, believed what he was seeing was a miracle, that Almighty God, in his benevolence, was returning his children, and coming for him. When Maltheus ran down to the crypt to receive his warriors of Christ with open arms, he instead found his children, while indeed were being resurrected, but instead were spirits twisted and full of hatred, not only because of the effects of the Box, but also towards the adults who let them die...especially Maltheus. Maltheus was then brutally killed by the children, his screams going on for days, and the Templars sealing him in the crypt and leaving him to his fate. Maltheus did indeed resurrect, now with divine power and protection, and believed that he was subjected to yet another one of God's tests to enter paradise; to exorcise the children, who he now believed agents of the Devil. To this day he has been exorcising wave after wave of children spirits, not losing his determination for a single moment as his eternal life was at stake, not understanding, or unable to see, that, not only is he eternal (though not in the way he thought), but trapped in purgatory for his sins.

WWII Era

Al-Khali was effectively abandoned after this, and was buried under the desert's sands, until the age of World War 2, where an elite army unit of German soldiers trained in psychic warfare, acting on the advice found in the Templar's books and following the organizations' code, invaded and garrisoned Al-Khali, enslaving the local population and driving them to make psychic excavations of the area, in an effort to find the Temple of Babal. The leader of this unit was Psychic Commander Hanne Lichthammer, who while the vision of beauty, was also extremely cold and enjoyed torture utilizing her psychic abilities and was a sadist in every way. The Germans hoped to find the Temple and utilize the Breach's energies to fuel the war effort.

News of Lichthammer's efforts in Al-Khali reached the British Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the DOW's former-parent organization. The OSS sent an elite group of British veterans, personally trained by renowned occult expert Aleister Crowley, and crafted into a commando squad unit trained in occult and conventional warfare (tactics used to train Jericho Squads after their formation). Under the command of Psychic and highly-decorated & infamous Major Patrick "Pat" Buckland, the commando team; codenamed "Blackwatch", set off for Al-Khali.

It is not clear what occurred shortly after Blackwatch's arrival. It can be assumed that, either the psychic excavations reached a point the Breach was opened accidentally, with the deaths of many slaves due to starvation, heat and exhaustion fueling the paranormal activity to the point it would break the seal, or that Lichthammer's own psychic abilities gained the Firstborn's attention as the excavations went deeper. Whatever the case, the storm created by the Breach's opening appeared and sucked all into the Box, and covered up any trace of the excavations. Blackwatch, with the aid of De Gray, sealed the Box, and so the Germans were left at the mercy of the Firstborn, with all being assimilated by the Firstborn and transformed into demonic soldiers mind-controlled by Lichthammer, who now appeared as demonic as she was in personality, and her psychic abilities and her knowledge of the Box expanding greatly.

Present Era

The Firstborn's final attempt at freedom began when the Firstborn contacted a highly prominent agent of the DOW; General Arnold Leach. After seducing Leach with many promises of untapped power and forbidden knowledge, Leach eventually went renegade after being expelled from the DOW and his termination secretly authorized. After faking his death (amidst causing a paranormal outbreak in a Dallas shopping center that took many lives, including several DOW operatives, before the outbreak was contained), Leach founded and led the "Brotherhood of the Dark Rapture" (BDR), a fringe religious death sect bent on worshipping and freeing the Firstborn. Possessing careful insight, patience and planning, Leach directed his followers to perform many ritualistic acts across the world; killing infant babies, blowing up schools, terrorist attacks, mass sacrificial murders etc., all gathering up massive amounts of negative karma.

After 20 years underground, Leach gives up subtlety and his BDR followers finally successfully gain entrance to the ruins of Al-Khali, attacking the local DOW research facility & command centre; Outpost Vigil. Upon taking the data necessary to find the intersection of leylines in the field of paranormal activity; Leach and his followers commit mass ritual suicide; with the dying Leach activating a "Trantric Spell", or "Karma Bomb" a particular skill which accumulates karma to release it all at once in a single envocation. The psychic explosion and resulting shockwave opens the Breach, and is felt all over the world.

DOW Agent Muriel Green, the lead investigator & facility head of Outpost Vigil, having survived the attack on the base, raises the alarm, and Operation Godseal is put into effect. Jericho Team 23, under the command of Captain Devin Ross, is sent to Al-Khali to neutralize Leach and BDR forces and undo whatever damage they have caused to the seal. Although the local Swiss Guard garrison believes the storm around Al-Khali is impenetrable, Jericho finds an entrance, and gains entrance to the lost city of Al-Khali.

Upon entry, Jericho senses something disturbing about their environment; how the day has suddenly turned to night, how the local atmosphere feels (according to Ross and Jones) "empty" and "dead", all communications with the outside world are cutoff. These feelings are confirmed when they find three BDR cultists, who, having been resurrected by the Firstborn, are now twisted abominations even more dangerous than before. The team does battle with the cultists at multiple points.

To stop Green from interfering, Leach orders his followers to attack and re-invade Outpost Vigil, effectively gutting the base and brutally murdering Green. Jericho, as a result, must find a way to seal the breach without her assistance, and the only way, according to Rawlings, is per terms of Operation Godseal: go into the Box and seal it from the inside. The team agrees to do this, and eventually Jericho reaches the location of Leach's blood sacrifice and the first Breach, but, having been spied on by Leach as they neared the altar, are attacked by BDR cultists with the ability to fly. Upon dispatching them, Ross is drawn to the altar by some unknown force, and finds the Breach opening...only to be surprised and attacked by Leach himself. Leach, upon his re-birth, had been twisted and turned into some form of monster, similar to a flying cultist, but retained telepathic abilities, and is far stronger and faster than other creatures. He retains his individuality, however, and remains committed to trying to free the Firstborn. Leach proceeds, at the Firstborn's order, to pull Ross into the air, repeatedly slash him across the chest with his extremely long & sharp talons, and then drop him from a steep height, the fall breaking off Ross' right arm and left leg. Despite the aid of his teammates; Ross dies within seconds, though his soul takes refuge in the bodies of his teammates.

Jericho escapes pursuing BDR forces through the Breach, where Ross convinces the others it is really him, and he interacts with each member of his team by possessing each of them, at different areas of the game. The team find themselves inside the WWII era, and soon come into confrontation with Lichthammer. After some battles with her demonic soldiers, Jericho encounters Buckland and the other surviving members of Blackwatch, and are taught more about the Box and the Firstborn. Eventually the two teams split their numbers; with Blackwatch and most of Jericho leading a diversionary attack on the area where the Breach is, Rawlings, Church and Cole break into Lichthammer's compound and Church uses her blood magic to restrain and capture her. After exorcising Lichthammer, it is found that every person who led the effort to free the Firstborn contains the key to opening the next Breach in their blood. To this end, Jericho and Blackwatch reunite at the Brandenburg Gate, where the Breach must open, defeating Lichthammer's army in the process. Church is directed to perform a sanguimancy ritual, involving spilling Lichthammer's blood, to open the Breach. Lichthammer, having used her psychic abilities to unearth disturbing secrets of certain Jericho members in an effort to stop them, desperately begs Church to spare her life. Lichthammer, however, makes the mistake of addressing Church as "Wilhelmina", a name Church despises as her father (who, according to Lichthammers' invasion of their minds, repeatedly raped his daughter while Church was still in the care of her parents) was the only one to use it. Church slashes Lichthammer's throat and kicks her off the Gate to her death, the shower of her blood opening the Breach. After a farewell from Blackwatch, Jericho enters the Breach.

Jericho arrives in the time of the Crusades, and, acting on Blackwatch's advice, head for Les Innocents, now a desiccated and ruined haunted castle, to seek the Templar's advice and aid. The team reaches the entrance of the castle, though Rawlings, Cole and Jones are sent to the castle's catacombs after falling from the drawbridge when it is destroyed by a BDR flying cultists' attack. Delgado, Church and Black are then greeted by De Gray, who ushers them inside. However, De Gray suddenly betrays the team by sealing them in the castle's catacombs, just before they reach the entrance to the castle's main areas. It is revealed that, after the Box closed, De Gray and his men believed God would open the gates of Heaven to them, though this naturally did not occur. After initial disorientation, the Templars realized they were trapped. After centuries of fighting without rest, against the local heretical populations drawn into the Box alongside them, the creatures of the Box, and eventually each other, with claims of blasphemy and heresy driving them to torture, imprison, and eventually slay each other. This advanced to madness, and the remaining Templars disfiguring and demonizing themselves as penances to God. De Gray, however, possessed the strength to maintain his faith, though his judgment became non-existent. Leach discovered this, and deceived De Gray and his remaining men into thinking Leach was a member of the Holy Seraphim; the Archangel Gabriel, and their dedication and sacrifice to their lord will grant them their great reward; a place in the Kingdom of Heaven. As such, at Leach's order, De Gray trapped them in the catacombs, with Leach hoping the demonic children would be the end of them. Leach then continues his journey further into the Box, while De Gray departs to rally his men to fight Jericho.

Seeking another way to escape, the Jericho members go through the castle's catacombs, fighting off the dangers infesting the castle's underground. Suddenly, Black heard crying sounds from behind a weak wall, and so they went through using her telekinesis. Not only did they find a way to escape through the sewers, but also found Brother William De Auxerre; one of the Templar Knights who was the first to lose his faith (though not the first to go completely crazy, although William was the only one brave enough to admit it), and as such was turned on by his fellow knights and, after torture and imprisonment, was abandoned in his cell. William maintains his lucidity, and recounts the tale of Maltheus to the Jericho members, who resolve to save their friends.

After fighting off the Templars, and eventually making their way through the children's crypt, the Jericho members rejoin the rest of the team. Jericho then enters the castle's chapel and confronts Maltheus, who after a few choice words, is outraged a group of heretics have dared to defile the holy place (which itself is also the home of Maltheus' own coffin). Maltheus summons the children to fight them, but, while they do so, they also attack Maltheus himself. Jericho notices this, and while Maltheus uses his divine powers to drive the children back and inflict heavy injuries on Jericho, his protection goes down for a few seconds every time, allowing Jericho to punch through his barrier of divine protection and eventually fatally injure Maltheus. In a final desperate act, Maltheus re-summons the children to destroy Jericho, but, with his powers broken, the children instead turn on him and tear him apart. The flies consume and take Maltheus away forever, while the children free themselves from their curse, their souls giving up their twisted nature, and depart for Heaven. The Breach opens over Maltheus' coffin, and Jericho enters through it.

Jericho arrives in the time of the Romans. On the road to Vicus' palace, Jericho finds Longinus, who interfaces with Jones to communicate with them. While the connection between them is unstable and eventually breaks down; Longinus does give the team directions to find Vicus, while at the same time, makes them understand certain reasons behind the Firstborn's behaviour; that it only hates mankind because they received something the Firstborn was meant to have but was instead bestowed upon mankind when the Firstborn was left unfinished and abandoned in the Box, something that mankind take for granted and as such despises mankind for it; a soul.

After breaking into Vicus' palace through the bath houses, Jericho is trapped in the underground catacombs of the palace's Colosseum-like arena by Vicus, now horrendously overweight and as gluttonous as ever but retaining psychic abilities courtesy of his consumption of Mahvash. Jericho fights through Vicus' soldiers and pets, and ultimately kills the depraved Governor himself, with Black using her telekinesis to maneuver Vicus' body into position and let his body be consumed by the opening of the Breach. Jericho enters through it.

Jericho's last time jump takes them to the time of the Sumerians, with them arriving at the entrance of the Tower of Babal. Antadurunnu's spirit then interfaces with Jones, welcoming his "brothers" (Antadurunnu recognizes Jericho is the latest incarnation of the brotherhood he started, and they share the same sacred duty). Antadurunnu explains that, following the first sealing of the Box, Ereshkigall, enraged by their "betrayal", used the Firstborn's power to corrupt and demonize Antadurunnu's comrades and turn them into her servants; commanding them each to guard a piece of Antadurunnu's body. To regain Antadurunnu's body and allow him to seal the Breach, Jericho, while initially scattered throughout the Tower by teleportation beams, hunt down, fight and slay each of the corrupted Sumerian priests and send each piece of Antadurunnu, kept in gold urns, to the Tower's pinnacle, where Antadurunnu reassembles his body.

Upon reuniting with him on the Tower's pinnacle, Antadurunnu, his body fully assembled and functioning, assures the worried and scared Jericho members about what will happen to them after he successfully binds himself to the Breach, closing it: Jericho will enter a collective consciousness upon the closing of the Box, a dreamless sleep where they will join in the comfort of all those that came before them, with their peace only broken when evil men again seek the Firstborn. Antadurunnu leaves to seal the widening Breach. As Antadurunnu begins the ritual to seal the Breach, Jericho's members exchange farewells with each other; some professional (Rawlings and Jones exchanging hand-shakes over serving together), while mostly personal (Delgado holding Church, who is frightened and wants to be held by her lover, Ross admitting to Black that he isn't scared about what will happen to him, believing whatever happens to his soul must be better than his current status, and Rawlings apologizing to Cole for dragging her down with them and offering to pray with her, with Cole accepting his apologies and gently refusing to pray, as she is an atheist). Suddenly, Delgado declares Antadurunnu is lying: he believes that there is no collective consciousness, that, upon seeing their predecessors; Blackwatch, Templars, Longinus and the Sumerian Priests, suffering an eternity of torture and madness in purgatory, and that if the Box is closed, Jericho will suffer the same fate. Instead, Delgado options to break the cycle of the Box being opened and then closed again over-and-over, and instead confront and kill the Firstborn itself to end the threat it poses to mankind. Rawlings is the only one to oppose Delgado, and the two men draw weapons on each other, the former so Delgado won't do anything to endanger all of mankind, while the latter accuses Rawlings knows and accepts they must suffer eternity in the Box for mankind's sake (something that has been implied throughout the game; displayed when Rawlings expressed deeper knowledge of the Box and its dangers than his teammates, Rawlings knew about Godseal, and some characters theorised Rawlings was employing some measure of deception against them). In the end, Ross ends the matter by pulling rank and expressing his belief that Delgado could be right. Telepathically restraining Rawlings, Jericho confronts Antadurunnu, interrupting the ritual. Antadurunnu warns that, if they betray him, everything they love in the world is lost. Delgado, coming to a stop mere inches away from Antadurunnu, counters that everything he loves is right here, and then pulls his pistol out and shoots Antadurunnu through the head, killing him. Delgado leads the team through the Breach to Pyxis Prima, with Rawlings agreeing to aid them in their seemingly futile effort to kill the Firstborn.

Jericho arrives underwater, and swim to reach a huge underground chasm; Pyxis Prima. It is here, Jericho faces the Firstborn; who is revealed to be actually the mysterious child-being enshrouded in mist and subtly guiding the team over the course of their journey in numerous encounters, sometimes giving aid, but always appearing just before conflict with the Box's monsters ensues.

The Firstborn declares that the individual magical abilities Jericho's members possess will finally allow him to gain the strength to break free of his imprisonment in the Box, having gathered strength from many who sought to contain him. The latest is Leach himself, who the Firstborn has now tied to a wall, seeing no use for him. Ross keeps the Firstborn talking, allowing Cole to scan and detect the Firstborn's weaknesses. As Cole is about to mention who Ross should possess to defeat the Firstborn, the Firstborn fires magical energy bolts at Cole and Jones (the former because she knew his weakness, and the latter because he has since gained an insight into the Firstborn's mind by being allowed to use his astral projection ability on him at different areas of the game. These two characters also do not have any offensive powers that the firstborn can possess and use against the team), causing both of their bodies to explode and kill them. Ross then commands the others to fire. The final battle to contain the Firstborn begins, with the Firstborn channeling the team's respective magical abilities against them (as Cole predicted and warned Ross of before her death).

At the height of the battle, Church (having a divine nature or destiny, implied so over the course of the game and detailed in dossiers, despite her terrible past) uses her blood magic to seriously weaken the Firstborn (revealing it was Church who Cole was about to indicate as the only one possible who could weaken the Firstborn), and then repeatedly slashes him across the chest and sends him spinning to the ground. Leach is then able to break free, and has realized he was nothing more than a pawn for the Firstborn. Intending to end what he has started, and attempting to redeem himself (or so says he), Leach secured the Firstborn in his talons and flies into a tunnel of light, destroying them both (or so it seems).

The chasm then begins to collapse, and Ross directs his remaining teammates to head back into the water and swim deep. Jericho does this, and they swim to safety from the collapsing cavern, and (from Church's point of view), Ross and the others emerge in the middle of a vast ocean under an orange sky, and the game ends.

It is currently unknown what will become of the team; whether they are still trapped in another part of Pyxis Prima, or were released from the Box and are stranded at sea. The answers will come in the confirmed sequel. At the moment, the ending it is extremely open-ended, and so far no solid proof of what will happen in the potential sequel exists. Besides, since they "only" were the sixth of the seven prophesised league of seven chosen warriors, it is not even known if their hypothetic survival in the upcoming sequel is of any importance, as introducing the "final" and seventh squad would seem more logical - not to mention the current Jericho seven-men squad has been reduced to a maximum of five