Émigré Manuscript

"The secret of the Formors from the bottom of the sea, Émigré!"

- Roger Bacon about the Émigré Manuscript in Koudelka.

The Émigré Manuscript, also known as the "Émigré Document" and the "Manuscript of the Exiles", is a forbidden tome and a central part of each game in the Shadow Hearts videogame series. The book has the power to manipulate time and undo death. The Manuscript is one of the 3 books of terrifying magic known as the Three Ancient Tomes.

Origins of the Émigré Manuscript
The Émigré Manuscript is a book of ancient secrets recorded by the Formor Druids, rather the original was. The book was given as tribute to Alexander the Great during his campaign across Europe by the Celtic descendants of the Formor Druids. Alexander stored the book in his great library, luckily it was saved before the great fire that would eventually destroy the library. The Émigré Manuscript would eventually be stored in the Pope's secret library in the Vatican. In the 12th century, examination of the book showed it was deteriorating and so the Pope called in Roger Bacon, the greatest scribe and philosopher of the day, to translate and rewrite the book before it was completely destroyed, what Bacon could not translate out of the book he pieced together from other passages and knowledge of Druidic culture and alchemy until the book was completely remade.

When the Émigré Manuscript was rewritten, the Pope tried to have Roger Bacon killed. Roger Bacon had learned much from pouring over the text though and received what he called a revelation, Bacon learned a process to make himself immortal and he escaped death and his would-be executioners. Though immortal, Roger Bacon had forgotten to account for aging process and he continued to experience the ravages of time. As a result of his revelation, Roger wrote two other books as well the Pulse Tract and Codex of R'lyeh, all three books had the power to warp the very fabric of the universe and though Roger knew the danger the books presented, he was unable as a scribe to bring himself to destroy the ancient knowledge he had accumulated. All three books would come to rest in the safety of the Pope's secret library though, where they would never be read or even recorded but simply remain a part of antiquity.

Koudleka
In the videogame Koudleka, the heroine Koudelka Iasant was called to the Nemeton Monastery by the ghost of a woman named Elaine Heyworth. Elaine had been murdered in a robbery and her grieving husband Patrick Heyworth had payed off a Cardinal of the Vatican to steal the Émigré Manuscript. Patrick intended to bring Elaine back from the dead using blood rites recorded in the book, he preformed the ritual on top of an inquisitional dungeon within the monastery, killed animals and later people few at first and over time more and more. Patrick tried to justify his actions at first, but over time reading the Émigré Manuscript, he became more and more indifferently homicidal. The Émigré Manuscript's recipe finally payed off after the ritual sacrifice of over two hundred people and brought Elaine back to life, but only Elaine's body was brought back as an undead monster with Elaine's soul tethered to it but unable to inhabit it, in despair Patrick let himself be killed by Elaine's body. Koudlka eventually heard the whole story of the Émigré Manuscript's involvement from Elaine's ghost, Patrick's notes and Roger Bacon himself. Though Elaine's body was eventually killed the Émigré Manuscript was never recovered.

Koudelka Manga
The book was taken back after Patrick's ritual and the the specifics of who took it or how it wound up in Patrick's possession in the first place would not come to light until the events of Shadow Hearts, but the book's power would come into play again during the manga Koudelka a follow-up to the Koudelka video-game and precursor to Shadow Hearts. The events in the, Koudelka manga reveals further information about the Manuscript. In the manga the Royal Medical Society is revealed to be the ones that encouraged Patrick's acceptance of the sacrifices the Émigré called for and that they had done so with assurances that once Patrick's research was complete they would be given the secrets over life and death, this arrangement was apparently how Patrick was afforded the resources for his experiment. Even with the book missing the Royal Medical Society's leader Lord Leslie opted to work around the situation by having his man Dogol, who helped Patrick with his preparations, collect Patrick's notes on the Manuscript and filling-in the missing portions with the original Manuscript of Exiles itself. Leslie acquired the original book through a series of well placed bribes in the Vatican. Even once the Royal Medical Society had the Manuscript of Exiles it was of no immediate use since as the church had suspected long ago it had become so old opening it would cause complete disintegration, however Dogol and Leslie formed a plan to use it all the same as leverage to gain Koudelka's cooperation with their plans. The plan was to have Koudelka use the Manuscript of Exiles as a focal point to channel the spirit of the book's Author to show them the Manuscript's full power directly. The Royal Medical Society had heard of Koudelka's involvement and done research on her, they found out that she was a witch and about her ability to channel spirits. The Royal Medical Society kidnapped Koudelka, Roger Bacon and Koudelka's friends and used them to blackmail Koudelka into helping them. Koudelka attempted to warn them of the forces they were dealing with by letting them know what had happened to Patrick and Elaine and Roger attempted to do the same by telling them that such an Author would not be a simple Druid's ghost but the pagan god who the Formor Druids themselves worshiped, but Leslie and Dogol's minds were made up and with them still holding the lives of Koudelka's friends in their hands, and Koudelka had no choice but to cooperate and channeled the Author.

The Author was brought forth possessing Koudelka's body as a conduit and asked what it was the Royal Medical Society wanted. Leslie had wanted the full unrestricted power of the Manuscript of Exiles, to resurrect his daughter. The Author heard the request and began to accommodate it. As the Author begun, rats started dropping dead and birds fell from the sky Leslie noticed something was wrong. Roger told Leslie that the Author's full power would gather up all the lives he could use to power the ritual, but being a god, the Author was not restricted by the few hundred people the Royal Medical Society was prepared to sacrifice and instead was about to drain the life of every living creature on Earth. Leslie attempted to stop the rites but Dogol kept them going, for like Roger, Dogol had used the Émigré Manuscript to become immortal thus allowing him to remain unaffected by the Author and smashed the container holding Leslie's daughter so he would be the recipient of the magic the Author was gathering instead. Dogol had apparently suspected what the Author would do for some time and was just manipulating Leslie's grief as he had Patrick's. Thanks to Joshua, one of Koudelka's friends, Koudelka was awakened from her trance when Joshua presented Koudelka's amulet which she had set as a hypnotic trigger for herself to reboot her mind once she saw it. The Author was still present in Koudelka's body, she was just in control of her body again and as a result, of the power of the Author dwelling within it. Koudelka turned the power of the Author on Dogol, since Dogol's immortality had come from the Author's own Émigré Manuscript, the Author's power was able to overcome, neutralize and soon kill Dogol. The blast incinerated the original manuscript along with Dogol though Roger was still concerned as to what happened to his copy.

Shadow Hearts
In the videogame Shadow Hearts, Yuri Hyuga, the protagonist, discovered the Émigré Manuscript in the hands of a man named Jack. Jack was using the Émigré Manuscript to try to bring his mother back to life, Jack's experiments with the Émigré Manuscript would yield similar results to Patrick's though unlike Patrick, Jack was less remorseful about the steps the rites required. Jack was also a schizophrenic, it is unclear if Jack's schizophrenia was due to the Émigré Manuscript or a preexisting condition but he did become unrepentantly homicidal upon reading the book. Jack was eventually killed by the creature he had brought back to life though, Yuri and his friends would go on to defeat the monster, Mammon. Yuri picked up the book from Jack's lab, as it turned out the book was given to Jack by a man named Albert Simon.

Yuri would eventually meet Roger Bacon after attempting to save Kouldelka, Roger told Yuri much of the book's sordid history. Yuri heard of a man named 'Albert Simon' he thought was just a Cardinal of the Catholic Church who had something to do with Roger Bacon, Albert Simon had been using the name of his mentor, Roger Bacon, and Yuri had met Albert many times as an enemy; By the time Yuri met the real Roger Bacon he realized the two were one and the same. Roger told Yuri Albert had been the thief within the Vatican Patrick had payed off for the book and that Albert certainly had taken the Émigré Manuscript back from Patrick when he was done with Elaine. Albert was Roger's most gifted apprentice and Roger taught him everything he knew except for the specific formulas recorded in the Émigré Manuscript. Albert had been embittered by the betrayal of the Church and Albert's own apprentice Grigori Rasputin, when Albert heard about Patrick, he stole the Émigré Manuscript for him but not before reading it himself and using the power and revelation the Émigré Manuscript and it's sister books afforded him to become immortal and the most powerful warlock in the world. Albert confesses that he had given the Émigré Manuscript to Patrick and later Jack to test out the rituals before undertaking his own rites with the Codex of R'lyeh to summon God. Yuri Eventually killed Albert putting a stop to his mad plans with the books.

Shadow Hearts: Covenant
In the following videogame Shadow Hearts: Covenant, Yuri is hunted down by a cult organization called Sapenties Gladio who were run by Rasputin and had been following Yuri ever since Albert's defeat fearing him now as much as they had Albert. The lieutenant of Sapenties Gladio, Rasputin's right-hand, Nicolai Conrad, had Roger Bacon captured and tortured to reveal the location of the Émigré Manuscript but Roger had not given in, so instead Nicolai offered Yuri Roger's safe return if he brought the Émigré Manuscript. When Yuri retrieved the Émigré Manuscript Nicolai had a trap waiting for him and took it. Eventually Yuri would escape and free Roger in the process but by then, Nicolai was long gone with the book.

As it turned out, Rasputin had not given the order to retrieve the Émigré Manuscript and Nicolai had used Sapenties Gladio to steal it for his own schemes. Kato, a friend of Yuri's working for the shadow ruler of Japan, Minister Ishimura, had been ordered by the Minister to establish a secret alliance with Nicolai. Nicolai was the bastard son of the Tsar of Russia and intented to help Rasputin with his own schemes to kill the Tsar then kill Rasputin himself. Since Nicolai had a blood claim to the throne, Japan could make a more legitimate looking alliance with him than Rasputin and so he was the one Kato was sent to negotiate with. Kato convinced Ishimura that the Émigré Manuscript could be used to create undead super-soldiers for Japan and was the price he asked for from Nicolai in exchange for their support in his coup. The truth behind Kato's interest in the Émigré Manuscript was that he had lost his commanding officer and love interest, Lieutenant Colonel Yoshiko Kawashima and wanted to use the Émigré Manuscript to bring a version of her back to life. After Nicolai made the exchange to Kato and Kato pledged Japan's resources to Nicolai, Kato sent the Émigré Manuscript back to Japan to create undead soldiers he called 'the Mutant Apes', the last of the Apes was Ouka, a physical copy of Lt. Col. Kawashima's body. Kato had gotten around the bitter price of the Émigré Manuscript by only bringing back the body and not the soul and so Ouka was born an entirely separate person from Kawashima but did not become a mindless undead monster.

Kato eventually had a breakdown when Ouka was killed by Nicolai, Kato immediately killed Nicolai in retaliation. After seeing the woman he loved die in his arms a second time Kato reassessed his priorities, left Ishmura's services and gave Yuri back the Émigré Manuscript. Yuri's love, Alice, had died immediately after the events of Shadow Hearts and Kato knew she had meant as much to Yuri as Kawashima had meant to him. Kato gave back the Émigré Manuscript telling him he would use it's knowledge to destroy the world and that if Yuri wanted to stop him he would have to read the book anyway so it was in the world's best interests for Yuri to try to bring Alice back anyway.

Yuri had thought about using the Émigré Manuscript more than once to bring Alice back but knew if he tried there was a good chance all it would do is end up perverting her body and or soul, Roger had also felt the temptation of the Émigré Manuscript often but for the same reasons refused to use it, even though he was the one that penned it; But with Kato putting the world at stake Roger said he had made up his mind to risk it and Yuri quickly warmed up to the idea once Roger was on-board. After retrieving a crystal to use as the focal point of the ritual Roger locked himself and Yuri in the lower levels of his lab to attempt to bring Alice back. Roger warned Yuri that there was a good chance even with Roger himself preforming the ritual they would give birth to a monster or that one of the two of them would become a monster too in the process and that if that happened the other one would need to be willing to immediately kill the other ending the spell, Yuri agreed to the grim terms and stood by while Roger began the ritual to bring Alice back. After the incantation Roger knew what Kato was planning but could not tell Yuri until the rite was complete. At the zenith of the ceremony the crystal broke under the pressure and the spell looked like it was about to go bad. When the Malice, that had formed the body, began to manifest Yuri used his power to eradicate it before it had time to corrupt the remains. Whether the result of Yuri's power, the nature of the ritual or Alice's soul reaching out to Yuri, Alice's body briefly came to life to tell Yuri she loved him but without the Malice to maintain the body it quickly disappeared. Though less destructive than Patrick or Jack's attempts to bring back the dead, the Émigré Manuscript had once again only succeeded in bringing pain to the resurrector.

The rite called for Roger to open the gates of time to call to Alice's soul and he knew Kato was using his knowledge of the Émigré Manuscript to go beyond the gates of time once the ritual was complete, in effect having Yuri and Roger catalyze his quest to unmake the world for him. Yuri and friends quickly went off to defeat Kato once the Émigré Manuscript was used and they knew where he was and what he was up to.

Shadow Hearts: From the New World
In the game Shadow Hearts: From the New World, the Émigré Manuscript once again plays a pivotal role. The game revolves around a boy named Johnny Garland trying to help a shamaness named Shania stop a monster called Lady. Johnny discovers he can project Malice shortly after encountering Professor Gilbert who had been studying Lady and so Johnny teams up with Shania to not only help her but answer the questions about his links to Malice. Overtime Johnny and Shania encounter Roger Bacon, Bacon had journeyed from Europe to America to find Lady himself and eventually confesses to Johnny that he had met him and Lady before. Roger told Johnny that his father Graham, who had died mysteriously some time ago, had stolen the Émigré Manuscript. Johnny did not know his father had dabbled in the black arts but even more surprising was that Johnny found out that he and his sister had been dead. Johnny remembered he had a sister but not what she looked like, upon seeing an old photo in his father's lab he realized his sister was Lady. To Johnny his sister had died in a car accident when he was young, what he had not recalled was he was in the car too.

Roger told Johnny that Graham had been contacted by a wannabe warlock named Marlow Brown, an old friend of Gilbert's and the one who had inadvertently set off Johnny's powers before being killed by a monster. Marlow heard about the Émigré Manuscript and helped Graham steal, study and eventually use the book. For Graham all he wanted was to use the ritual to bring back his children, for Marlow it was a matter of establishing himself as a real live magician instead of a meager occultist. By the time Roger found out, the Émigré Manuscript was moved from it's hiding place and tracked down the thieves Graham and Marlow who had already started their ritual. Roger tried to tell them they were playing with dark forces but both men were too invested in the ritual to listen and Marlow restrained Roger while Graham preformed the ceremony. Graham and Marlow's method to power the ritual actually worked better than any previous attempts because the original remains were not used, they instead used Malice to reform the body and the counter force Will to anchor souls to them, both forces embodied spiritual concepts with Malice the negative ones, and Will the positive ones, but both were dangerous if manifested, however Graham was the first person to use both in the ritual and kept them in balance using equal parts for body and soul.

Despite Graham's innovative technique with the Émigré Manuscript, his ritual ultimately went bad. Graham had started to bring his daughter, Grace, back to life and as she awoke from death he stopped the ritual to gaze in awe at her, contrary to the now even more frantic warnings of Roger who warned him not to delay the ritual once started. Grace looked across at her brother Johnny as his body was about to be overtaken by Malice without any Will to call his soul back into it thanks to Graham's delay and in the delicate climax of the ritual Grace gave up the Will in her body to Johnny rather then see him die again or worse. Sure enough, Grace managed to save Johnny and Graham had indeed brought both his chidlren back to life but without the Will to bind Grace's soul, her reanimated body was brough back to life as an avatar of Malice, the being Johnny and Shania had met called Lady. When Graham attempted to interact with "Grace" she killed him, Marlow ran off terrified and Roger stayed behind to clean up the lab and get Johnny back to his guardian, Lenny. What happens to the Émigré Manuscript after the events of Shadow Hearts: From the New World is never stated, it is assumed to have once again been hidden by Roger Bacon, since he could never bring himself to destroy his creation no matter how much harm it did.

Trivia

 * The word "émigré" means to "migrate out" which could mean a reference to the spirits migrating out of the realm of the dead to the world of the living. It is used to describe residents of a country who leave for social-political reasons, which could reference the book's vast travels from state to state.
 * The word embossed on the cover ("Εμιγρσ") is the Greek word for "Émigré". *The codex is also written in Greek, having been either transcribed or translated by the real Roger Bacon.
 * The Manuscript can smell of either violets or lilies.
 * Several of the scenes in the Koudelka (game) and Koudelka manga seem to reference a real-life mysterious codex known only as the "Voynich Manuscript", which is written in an undecipherable script. Coincidentally, it is said to have been authored by Roger Bacon.
 * The skull-shaped manuscript as it appears over the course of the series is actually only about 650 years old, having been transcribed from an older copy by Roger Bacon under orders from the Pope at the time.
 * In some of Patrick's notes, he references that the presence of Saint Daniel Scoutus delays a ritual called the "Ceremony of Émigré", which is named after the Émigré Manuscript itself and it could possibly mean that holy icons or magic has power to delay the process of some of the rituals within it, which would then also prove that the Émigré Manuscript is a piece of the dark arts.
 * The Codex of R'lyeh alongside its other 2 counterparts of the Three Ancient Tomes derives from H.P. Lovecraft's stories. The Codex of R'lyeh itself is a direct reference to the nightmarish city R'lyeh which is supposed to an ancient sunken city and the resting place of which Cthulhu, one of a group of alien gods known as the Great Old Ones, awaiting for his foretold resurrection. H.P. Lovecraft's work is much seen in all Shadow Hearts games, while Lovecraft himself stars in Shadow Hearts: From the New World as a friendly NPC (Non-Playable Content).