Atlantean Scion

"And there's this little trinket – an age old artefact of mystical powers buried in the unfound tomb of Qualopec. That's my interest."

- Jacqueline Natla

The Atlantean Scion was a pendant containing power beyond that believed to be held by God. It was divided into three pieces and held by the three rulers of Atlantis, but its power was abused by Natla, resulting in her cryonic freezing. After she awoke, she relocated the pieces of the Scion to bring about a new age, but was stopped by Lara Croft, who destroyed the Scion and kept its remains in her vault.

History
The Atlantean Scion was divided into three pieces, each held by one of the three rulers of Atlantis; Natla, Qualopec and Tihocan. Its division kept its power, beyond even the Creator, from being used to its full potential.

Natla came to desire the evolution of the Earth's population and used the Great Pyramid to breed a mutant army to overthrow Qualopec and Tihocan. Her plan was foiled and her piece of the Scion ripped from her and hidden in the City of Khamoon in Egypt while she herself was cryogenically frozen. Qualopec and Tihocan took their pieces to their respective graves; Qualopec's in the City of Vilcabamba in Peru and Tihocan's beneath the site in Greece that would later become St. Francis' Folly.

After a US nuclear weapons test released Natla, she founded Natla Technologies and amassed a large fortune. In 1996, she hired Lara Croft to recover Qualopec's piece of the Scion and Pierre DuPont to find Tihocan's. Lara ultimately managed to find all three pieces and restored its full power before it was taken by Natla, who used it and the Great Pyramid to create a mutant army. To stop her, Lara shot the Scion, damaging it and foiling Natla's plans.

Lara later returned to the Great Pyramid and took the remains of the Scion, keeping them in her vault at Croft Manor.

Tomb Raider Anniversary
The Scion returned in Tomb Raider: Anniversary with a new look. It is still composed of three pieces lying in the same three locations. Its powers of creating mutant soldiers for the army of Atlantis remain as well. An extra feature as explained by Natla was the Scion being a memory bank of knowledge from the civilizations of Atlantis and its predecessors. Basically, it contained a blueprint of all ancient civilizations. The Scion was required to burn Atlantis in order for the Seventh Age to begin. The age and its purpose remains a mystery.

Unlike the original game, Lara doesn't retrieve the scion.

Powers and abilities
Brother Herbert of St. Francis' Folly described the Scion as possessing "powers beyond the Creator himself". It seems to be the power source of the Great Pyramid, which Natla was able to use to create mutants. Additionally, putting pieces of the divided Scion together can cause the bonder to have a vision of the past.

In Anniversary, the Scion activated the pyramid as per usual but Natla mentions it being needed to burn Atlantis in order for the Seventh Age to begin. She states that not only did it contain the history of Atlantis but also "All the knowledge of the Ancients; things none of you could could comprehend". The Scion possibly might have contributed to the destruction of Atlantis. This is in contrast to a meteor which destroyed Atlantis in the original game.

Richard James Croft believed the Scion contained all the knowledge of the ancients within, and that in finding it, he could be reunited with his beloved wife who disappeared in Nepal years before.

Behind the scenes

 * An early FMV not featured in the final version of Tomb Raider shows the three pieces of the Scion forming together. The Scion is different to how it appears in the final version. The Tomb Raider logo then appears shooting from the Scion itself. The action switches to Lara sat on a bed examining the Scion. Lara does not have her hair up in a ponytail here and is wearing a white bathrobe. As she puts the Scion together, a tornado-like effect shoots from the Scion. Then, an Easter Island statue appears flickering. The effect disappears and Lara gets up and leaves. The action switches again to a boat parked at a dock. The boat goes out to sea and the camera zooms in on the diary of Colonel Arther Hamilton Graves. There is a drawing of the Scion on one of the pages and the FMV sequence ends.
 * The Scion appears in Lara's vault in Tomb Raider III, though she did not take the device with her in Tomb Raider. However, Unfinished Business confirms that Lara did return to the pyramid, and may have recovered the Scion during the visit.