Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille Zur Macht - Story

Story

Episode I mainly serves as an exposition for the characters and the developing plot. After Dr. Matsuda discovers the Original Zohar in 20xx AD in Turkana, Kenya, the focus shifts to the transport of a Zohar Emulator aboard the Galaxy Federation starship Woglinde. The Zohar Emulator was discovered in the wake of the disappearance of the planet Ariadne. The Woglinde is also the current location of Vector Industries' KOS-MOS development project headed by Shion Uzuki. The project proceeds through a test experiment on the battle android KOS-MOS, during which a mysterious young girl (Nephilim) is encountered. After the test, Shion has another vision of Nephilim while investigating the Zohar Emulator. Eventually, the Woglinde is attacked by a group of Gnosis who are after the Emulator. This attack is partly orchestrated by U-TIC Organization operatives Vanderkam and Cherenkov, who wish to acquire the Emulator for their boss, Margulis. During the attack, KOS-MOS is activated suddenly, the Gnosis escape with the Emulator, Shion and Cherenkov are touched by Gnosis, and the U-TIC operatives escape (sans Cherenkov, who joins up with Shion and crew). Federation Lieutenant Virgil is also shot by KOS-MOS in a friendly fire incident and dies. After the Woglinde is destroyed, Shion, Cherenkov, Allen Ridgeley, and KOS-MOS are rescued by the Kukai Foundation's Elsa starship, which was investigating the ruins of the Woglinde as potential salvage. On the starship, the group encounters a mysterious boy, chaos, before asking Captain Matthews to escort them to Second Miltia.

Meanwhile, Margulis explains the significance of U-TIC's plan to recover the Original Zohar from Old Miltia. Thereafter, Vector's CEO, Wilhelm, is shown ordering Red Testament to "gather the necessary factors". Cyborg Ziggurat 8, nicknamed Ziggy, is assigned by the S.O.C.E. to rescue the 100-Series Realian Prototype, MOMO, who was kidnapped by the U-TIC Organization because she carries the Y-Data, which contains the steps to finding the Original Zohar on Old Miltia, among other information. The S.O.C.E. then orders Ziggy to bring MOMO to Second Miltia for extraction of the Y-Data. Ziggy reaches the U-TIC headquarters (Pleroma) and rescues MOMO. However, the duo is chased by U-TIC operatives in hyperspace until they encounter the Elsa. The two parties meet, defeat the pursuing U-TIC forces, and decide to join together on their journey to Second Miltia. During this incident, the never-aging U.R.T.V. unit, Jr., is attacked by a U-TIC battleship while investigating the Woglinde wreckage for any signs of the Zohar Emulator. His group is unable to find the Emulator.

After stopping at the Dock Colony, the Elsa runs into the Cathedral Ship, a planet-sized Gnosis created from the missing planet Ariadne and made complete with the Zohar Emulator taken from the Woglinde. While escaping the Cathedral Ship, Cherenkov mutates into a Gnosis and is killed by the party (from having been touched by one from earlier, though Shion was also touched by one and shows no ill effects). The Elsa and the party are rescued by Jr. and his Durandal starship, which was passing by in search for the Emulator. Jr. apprehends the Zohar Emulator from the destroyed Cathedral Ship and explains that he now has the twelve Emulators, but that the Emulators only contain a fraction of the power that is housed by the Original Zohar, trapped on Old Miltia. Jr. takes them back to the Kukai Foundation, where the party is introduced to Jr.'s fellow U.R.T.V. unit, Gaignun Kukai. The Galaxy Federation files charges on the Kukai Foundation for the destruction of the Woglinde based on a U-TIC-created forgery combining the battles between the Woglinde and Gnosis and between the U-TIC and Durandal. In order to prove their innocence, Shion Uzuki leads an Encephalon dive to into KOS-MOS's subconscious to retrieve an encrypted and verifiable recording of the Woglinde's actual destruction by the Gnosis. In the Encephalon, Shion and Jr. navigate a world based on childhood memories from the Miltian Conflict. The party meets Febronia, Febronia, who explains that a time will come where KOS-MOS will encounter the wave existence known as U-DO. She then requests that Shion free her sisters from their captivity. Febronia also states that all factions involved must travel to Old Miltia.

U-TIC realizes that their plot to distract Kukai and Miltia in order to apprehend MOMO has failed, so they dispatch Jr.'s brother and fellow U.R.T.V. unit, Albedo, to formulate his own strategy. Albedo decides to activate the Song of Nephilim, which generates a Gnosis attack around the Kukai Foundation. In the confusion surrounding the attack, Albedo kidnaps MOMO and brings her to the Song of Nephilim. Shion and the party go to the Song and defeat Albedo, but before escaping, Albedo successfully searches MOMO for the Y-Data and extracts an incomplete copy. Afterward, the Blue Testament appears and demands that the party travel to Old Miltia. The Song deactivates and the Gnosis attack is thwarted. However, Albedo summons Proto Merkabah, the space station created by Joachim Mizrahi, in an attempt to destroy Second Miltia and the Kukai Foundation. Albedo quickly destroys the entire Federation fleet in the region with a single salvo. He then prepares to fire on Second Miltia. This does not adhere to the plans of U-TIC, but the Blue Testament, revealed to be the previously-killed Lt. Virgil, decides to let it continue.

Inside Proto Merkabah, the party encounters Albedo, who summons a Gnosis to "test" the party and to buy Albedo time to escape. Albedo sets Merkabah on a collision course with Second Miltia, which the party stops by breaking the space station into thousands of pieces. However, during re-entry, the Elsa's heat shield begins to disintegrate. KOS-MOS' and chaos's combined powers form angelic wings to prevent the Elsa from being destroyed. Meanwhile, Albedo discovers that the Y-Data is protected and tells U-TIC that MOMO will have to connect to the U.M.N. before he can retrieve the rest. While these events are transpiring, Wilhelm stares at his Compass of Order, understanding that his plans have started in full motion.