Name: Shinnok
Origin: Unknown
Race: Fallen Elder God
Playable Debut: Mortal Kombat 4
Unplayable Debut: N/A
Story: Thousands of years ago, Shinnok existed as an Elder God. The Elder Gods are the true rulers of all realms. They watch as worlds are created and destroyed and govern the realms with untold eons of wisdom. Shinnok, however, gave in to greed and illusions of false power by the new realm of Earth. If he could have that realm to himself, he would have power unmatched. He first would have to face the young god of thunder known as Rayden, who was appointed as Earth's guardian by the Elder Gods themselves. Their battle for the realm of Earth was fierce; causing the planet's near destruction and plunging it into centuries of darkness. But, the thunder god eventually won as Shinnok's overconfidence proved to be his undoing.

Rayden discovered that Shinnok entered the realm through the powers of a mystical amulet. It allowed Shinnok to enter the realm without challenge and keep the other Elder Gods from intervening. The amulet could only be created once, and Rayden stripped it from Shinnok's possession. With the aid of the true Elder Gods, he banished the fallen god into a place known as the Netherealm. Rayden buried the amulet deep within the mountains of Asia, determined to keep it from ever falling into the wrong hands. He then created a massive temple within the mountain to house the amulet. As long as the amulet remained on Earth, Shinnok would be trapped, forced to remain dormant for the rest of eternity.
After defeating Shinnok, Rayden appointed four guardians as the protectors of Shinnok's sacred amulet. Each guardian represents one of the four elements that make up the realm. Wind, Earth, Water and Fire; Known by many different names, these are the elemental gods chosen by Rayden to protect the amulet. Their existence, though necessary in balancing the Earth's forces, can cause great destruction and despair to the inhabitants of the planet.
Since the beginnings of time, the Netherealm has always existed as a place where the unwanted spirits of reality were sent. It has been interpreted in many different ways and has many different names; Hell, Hades, Gehenna, Pluto. Its purpose has always remained the same.
Over the millennia, the Netherealm has had many rulers. Most of them were forged within its fiery pits, eventually ripping their masters mercilessly from their thrones. One however, came not from the bowels of the Netherealm, but from the heavens of reality. He was the fallen Elder God known as Shinnok.
Shinnok was banished to this place of torment by Rayden. Upon entering the realm, he found himself immediately under attack by its then ruler Lucifer, as well as those souls he was personally responsible for banishing when he was an Elder God. Locked and shackled, Shinnok was helpless against his attackers. He would exist, tortured and tormented by the dregs of hell for thousands of years. Until he met Quan Chi.
Quan Chi is a free roaming sorcerer. That means that he can travel the various planes of reality without detection from their gods. It also means that over the years he has obtained great power. Aware of Shinnok's dilemma, Quan Chi traveled to the Netherealm and made the fallen god an offer. He will free him from his confines and assist him in defeating Lucifer and his minions in exchange for power and the ability to rule at his side if and when he escapes the Netherealm entirely. Shinnok agreed and the two waged a war in the Netherealm that lasted for centuries. But, the ex-Elder God eventually won as he viciously slew his former master. Then, after imprisoning his enemy's surviving essence, he took his seat as the new ruler supreme of the dead realm.
Shinnok, however, had nothing to rule. The realm was a desolate wasteland of fire and brimstone inhabited by grotesque demons that smelled of the foulest stench. So, he decided to create a physical world, trying his best to emulate the realm he wanted so badly… Earth. He took the demons of his realm and transformed them into as human a form as possible. But unlike the Outworld, which became a wasteland after Shao Kahn sapped its energies, the Netherealm can never be a living planet. It will always exist as a dead world. It's true form hidden by its ruler.
Centuries would pass, and Quan Chi had exhausted all methods of freeing Shinnok until an upstart sorcerer known as Shang Tsung approached him. Shang Tsung's essence was created on Earth. He obtained his ability as a free roaming sorcerer by assisting Shao Kahn who was at the brink of taking the Earth for his own through Mortal Kombat. Shang devised a way to virtually assure their success. But, it required the assistance of Shinnok.
When Kahn defeated a realm called Edenia and transformed it into the Outworld, he also acquired that realm's Queen, Sindel. But the thought of serving under Shao Kahn drove her to madness, and she took her own life. Enraged by this event, Shao Kahn withheld her soul from moving to a higher existence. Instead, he held it as his own prized possession. A token of his victory over Edenia's former king Jerrod and a constant reminder of his power to Queen Sindel's daughter the Princess Kitana.
These events enabled Shang Tsung to strike a bargain with Quan Chi. If Shinnok would take Sindel's soul, taint it with evil and reincarnate it on Earth… Shao Kahn could step through the dimensional gates separating the two realms and reclaim his queen, thus enabling him to overtake the Earth and bar Rayden and the Elder Gods from intervening. An event that would take over a decade to accomplish- a rather short amount of time considering what Shinnok has been through.