a cup of tea

Xenogears : Stand Tall and Shake The Heavens (2)

2004-11-04T20:44:00.000-08:00

The Past

500 years ago, war for freedom against Solaris by land dwellers led to devastating end. Brimming the fear of losing influence due to the escalation of refugee seeking shelter in Nisan and the Nisan Sects growing popularity, the elders of Shevat and Solaris secretly agreed to stop the war in clandestine deal. At the time, the Gazel Ministry of Solaris was at odds with Miang, the woman who held the real power behind the scene. They schemed to hand over Miang to Shevat and promised a division of rulership over earth's surface. In exchange, the Shevats gave the rebel army that assembled at Nisan and their patron, Sophia the Great Mother of Nisan. It was then decided that Nisan would be the location of the final decisive battle with Solaris.

Outnumbered and surrounded on all side, the rebel forces were prepared to die. But then the rebel's flagship, Excalibur, appeared with Sophia on board, heading straight for the enemy's main ship on a suicide attack. Her sacrifice made way for her people to survive. Yet, her martyrdom forever changed the lives of two men, Krelian and Lacan.

Krelian, who followed closely as the leader of Nisan Sect militia, lost faith after calling out to god who did not respond.

"God didn't answer our prayers... Is that because we didn't have enough faith? Even if we didn't have faith, Sophia did. why did she have to be sacrificed? Is god dead...? Is he just not there...? Maybe god never existed to begin with!"

"... I see... That's it... If god doesn't exist in our world, then... I will create god with my own hands!"

Krelian disappeared and Lacan, who resented himself for not having the power to do anything as Sophia died in front of him, began his search for the ultimate power that had been told in legends: god's resting place 'Mahanon', the source of divine wisdom 'Razael', the 'Anima Relics' that were created by the very wisdom, and the god's infinite energy source 'Zohar'. Losing faith in humanity, his sorrow and hatred changed him into Grahf.

before she died, Sophia spoke for the last time, "Lacan..... live!"

"I will live...!"

"Even if I go to hell, I will live till the end of this world. And if the
world does not come to an end... I will destroy it with my own hands!"

After the war, Solaris constructed spatial distortion barrier, by distorting the space surrounding it and using the distorted space as walls, to conceal the nation from land dwellers. Shevat fled from the top of Babel Tower and had been floating eversince. The rest of the leaders of anti-Solaris alliance then formed separate nations under pact of anti-Solaris alliance. However later, the nations ironically broke out "civil war" that continued to date.

And Lacan, now Grahf who held the ultimate power of destruction, lived. Though his body died out, his spirit continued living by occupying host bodies until he gained the true body that would be Lacan's reincarnation, and to one day eliminate everything and bring the world to total obliteration.

The Very Distant Past

Earth 2001 AD, from an excavation site in Lake Turkana Kenya, a monolithic object was unearthed. The Object, having caused magnetic anomalies and emitting its own magnetic field, was later known as Zohar.

In 2510 AD, a new calendar system was adopted: TC, stands for Transcend Christ with 365 days making up one standard year. The adoption marked an initiative for absolute emigration to the stars within 15 years.

10,000 years ago, in 4752 TC, a large cosmic war broke out and the interstellar war intensified. Deus, an Interplanetary Invasion System which could act upon its will to take control over a planet, was born. Zohar, which eminated infinite amount of energy, then became the power reactor for Deus.

During a connection test between Zohar and Deus, the engine examined an infinite potential phenomena and, requiring the energy, it connected to a higher dimensional space. As a result, the reactor synchronized with the Wave of Existence (WE) of the four dimensional space. (WE) descended and incarnated into this three dimensional space. To stabilize itself, (WE) had to materialize and enter the Zohar engine.

On a test run, Deus went out of control and annihilated a whole planet. Its creators found the immense power threatening and forcefully shut it down. Dismantled for analysis and evaluation of the incident, Deus was brought onto an interplanetary emigrant ship, Eldridge, to be carried to another planet. However, the dismantled Deus showed resistence and hacked Razael, the Eldridge's 7th generation central mainframe computer system. To prevent Deus from taking over the ship, the captain destroyed Eldridge and caused it to crash onto a planet.

Knowing that it couldn't escape the explosion and its imminent impact, Deus detached its core, a biological computer Kadomony, from Zohar power reactor. The core "activated" the life support program, Persona, that was able to generate organic material. The Persona then created the first "humans": Emperor Cain and the twelve Gazel Ministry. Humans propagated with an inbuilt program: to one day not only resurrect the heavily damaged Deus but also become replacement parts of Deus as more than half of it was constructed of biological parts.

The Deus System is a conglomeration of organic weapons designed to invade and attack at an interstellar level. Guiding the system at its core is Deus, a bio-mechanical weapon in charge of carrying out direct attacks and invasions. With its self-restoration and growth functions, the Deus System can virtually prevent itself from being destroyed.

The self-restoration functions work by absorbing organic material found in the surrounding battlefield. The absorbed organic materials (life forms) are then slated to replenish components damaged during combat. These absorbed materials can be equated to "nourishment" for the damaged parts.

Yet, something beyond Deus' control had happened before the crash of Eldridge. Abel, a child who got lost and was in search for his mother accidently "made contact" with (WE), the source of Zohar energy that resided inside the Zohar power reactor. (WE) had always wanted to return to its own dimension but been bound by its "cage of fleshly existence" in the reactor. (WE) came to conclusion that it must reverse the process it had gone through to ever descend to this dimensional space. When Abel made contact with it, Abel projected, or installed, his will to return to his mother. (WE) received the projection and then prepared "the mother's will" program and created Elhaym. To reach its goal (WE) inserted the program into Deus Restoration Program and gave its power to Abel.

When Deus' life support program in the bio computer Kadomony was executed, it created the vital element, the Persona whose physical form was taken after the Abel's projection, and (WE)'s attribute, "the mother's will", also incarnated through the bio-plant into it. As a result to this "conflict of interests", The Persona which manifested into Elhaym, belonged to both (WE) and Deus because, though Abel and (WE) provided the base for Elhaym, it was Deus who supplied the organic elements. So, when the original Elhaym was 'On' it became Deus' Miang and when it's in 'Off' mode, Elhaym was under what (WE) programmed.

Set up by Deus, the Elhaym metamorphed into Miang Hawwa. After creating Cain, founder of humanity, Miang Hawwa split into both Miang, the caretaker of humans, one who would assist humans towards Deus resurrection, and Elhaym who carried (WE)'s "the mother's will" and guided the prospective Contact who would destroy Deus and allow (WE) to return to its dimension. As for Abel, having given the power from (WE), he survived the crash of Eldridge.

Thus, humans inhabited the planet and propagated. The humanity began.

Credits:

[1] Perfect Works (english translation)
[2] Xenogears Universe at Wikipedia
[3] Some of the game cites come from Sheamon's Xenogears Script

Xenogears : Stand Tall and Shake The Heavens (1)

2004-09-21T11:44:00.000-07:00

A Prelude......

"I am Alpha and Omega...
the Begining and the End...
the First and the Last..."

Spoiler alert..... and it's heavy one!

The quite peaceful deep space was disturbed. Danger alert had been raised in block E-5. An experimental object kept in that prohibited area was showing signs of mutiny. Doors automatically locked.

Soon, the bridge got the alarm.

Actions taken to stop it and isolate its reach was to no avail.

but it's too late... the object has intruded the system and is taking over the main computer fast.... contaminating vastly... like a lethal virus...

"Omega One, they are attacking! We can't stop them! 98% of our weapons have been taken over!"

"Auto pilot system Deus has been accessed. And it's phased space logic is being rewritten!"

"Ergo area is increasing. An internal plane is forming. Switch to space displacement mode. Alpha One, confirming transfer of coordinate codes. Cordinates input NX128EZ061, the main planet!"

"Damn, so they are planning on attacking...," the captain spoke in anxiety.

" you shall be as gods"

The sentence was written all over the monitors dan displays.

... that sentence... it means...

The captain was astounded.

...it's alive and gaining authority more than what the captain and crews had calculated... Eldrigde is on raid and falling quickly......

"I am evacuating the ship,..." captain told the crews. This whole ordeal would threaten all civilians the ship was carrying so they should come first.

"all of you..... evacuate!"

Everyone immediately sought refuge. One by one, escape pods were launched. Ship crews made sure the evacuation process run smooth during the chaos.

But the intruder had gone too far. The ship suddenly opened fire aiming the escaping shuttles. The Captain of Eldridge watched in horror. He had to stop the intruder at all cost.

he pulls out a pendant from under his coat... and leaves it open on a desk, after seeing the picture of his wife and daughter for the last time...

Calmly seated in quiet apprehension, Captain of Eldridge reached a panel.

Self destructing... the ship explodes... right over a planet... and down onto the ground of it...

There.... before the sea, a woman with violet eyes and hair raised from the wreckage, looking towards the horizon... to a falling star...

***

Lahan village, in the outskirts of Aveh, near the border of Kislev, was a plain peaceful place. It seemed untouched by the contrasting world war between Aveh and Kislev.

The war that has gone on for so long that the people have forgotten the cause, knowing only the pointless circle of hostility and tragedy.

It had been three years for Wong Fei Fong, a young artist adopted by the village chief, living peacefully without single worries of intrigues, disputes, and the forgotten past. Three years ago, a mysterious man brought him, bleeding, badly bruised and injured, and asked the chief to take care of Fei. Fei survived his injury yet he lost memory of his past.

Everyone had been so overjoyed by the coming wedding of Alice and Timothy, good friends of Fei. Lending a hand, Fei went to doctor Citan Uzuki's house up on the mountain to borrow his camera for the wedding. But that day never came.

The chronic war obsession was soon to encounter a devastating change. This was due to the Ethos, an institution that preserves our world's culture, repairing tools and weapons excavated from the ruins of an ancient civilization. At once both countries excavated these ruins, and had the Ethos repair the discoveries, in order to increase their military power. The various weapons excavated from the ruins greatly changed the form of warfare. The outcome of the battles between two countries was no longer decided by man-to-man combat, but by Gears- giant humanoid fighting machines- that were obtained from deep within the ruins.

That night, an alien gear, Weltall, crash-landed and was deserted on Lahan. The gear apparently was an experimental machine of Kislev and stolen by a Gebler unit, a special force from Solaris which was assisting Aveh.

Not wanting the gear to fall into enemy's hand, Kislev gears gave chase. They opened fire in Lahan and everything began.

Everyone in Lahan abandoned their homes and ran for shelter. Dan, Alice's little brother, was missing. Fei and Citan convinced Timothy, the bride-groom to be, to evacuate with the rest of the villagers, leaving Dan on Fei' and Citan's hands.

Something about Weltall was intriguing Fei, triggered an image of a misterious boy whose face was half hidden by his tresses and who smiled cunningly, and images of a cross pendant. Fei got into Weltall's cockpit and start kicking the bad guys. However, reinforcements kept coming and made an endless battle to Fei's disadvantage.

Citan found Dan going back trying to save his sister's wedding gown. When he ushered Dan and Timothy to run, a Kislev gear spotted Timothy. Fei tried to cover him but two gears blocked his way. Another gear ordered to fire and bullets came piercing Timothy's body.

The horror reopened a mental and physical pain in Fei. His head hurt. Another sequence of images came. A boy whose face was covered with blood all over and the cross pendant that kept swinging back and forth. The boy suddenly changed into another boy, the one with cunning smile.

He laughed and it sounded like an irony. Fei's pain subsided and his face, now half-covered by hair, mimicked the cunning smile.

Weltall roared. A light came out from it and gears nearby turned into dust, along with the people's scream as they dissolved into the light. Alice smiled before she was consumed by the explosion leaving Dan, who watched the scene in horror, attempting to break free from Citan as he held him back.

silence

2004-09-03T02:24:00.000-07:00

I am tired...
so please let me sleep for a while...
just a little while

About Chronomantique

2004-07-14T02:21:00.000-07:00

Somehow I'm so drawn to these former squaresoft (now square-enix)'s crews' works: Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, and Chrono Cross shipped under square's flag, and I am looking forward to their new company's, Monolith Soft, completing the whole saga in colaboration with Namco, of which Xenogears was supposed to be the episode V though some insist that Saga and Gears are non related. Coincidentally, or perhaps it is not, these also have Yasunori Mitsuda (and his english site), one of my favourite composers, as musical illustrator and composer and Chronomantique is one of the tracks listed in Chrono Cross Soundtrack, written by Mitsuda-san.

*spoiler warning, ya be warned!*

Chrono Cross tells a tale of a young man, Serge, who was trapped in another "world" amidst a battle against the goddess Fate trying to find a way back home. Fate turned out to be a mainframe super computer that managed events, timelines, and the two worlds so that they would not mingle nor interfere each other, and more importantly, the past, present, and future stayed in control. Fate resided in Chronopolis research facility and Chronopolis was a forbidden city from the future that kept the faltered future, future that didn't take place because of changes of events of the past.

10 years ago, Serge was supposed to die after getting badly injured yet he managed to escape "fate" because of a small incident. During a storm, Fate lost power supply for only split seconds and cleared the way to the forbidden city. Serge's father took him to Chronopolis and sought treatment where Serge made contact with Frozen Flame, an artifact left by ancient civilization of dragons.

The contact messed up timelines, created dimension distortion and made Fate unable to fully control the Home world where Serge remained existed and also made him the assassin of time, key to resetting and turning off the mainframe. This called those who wanted to defy Fate and change the future, and alarmed those who wanted the future unchanged. Which side would you be with ?

It is a "sequel" to the previous Chrono Trigger from SNES' golden era. The worlds in Chrono Cross were a result of Chrono Trigger events where a group of young time travelers changed the future and saved the world from Lavos' destruction and destroyed Dinopolis, a city of dragons that would have taken the place of Chronopolis, had these time traveling not occured.

Is there a predetermined fate? if such thing exists then why bother works the other way around. Why Fate exists and what good she brought to the world were probably the questions that arise along the journey. It somehow echoes real world's, at least mine, questions of fate, consequences of choices, and the path that might have taken place from the choices not chosen.

like to listen to Chronomantique?

walking away

2004-07-05T20:00:00.000-07:00

I am walking on a thin line....
where virtuality and reality blend....
where sanity and unrest are at risk...
away to find shelter...

to find HIM...

Ingenue

2004-06-15T02:02:00.000-07:00

drowning past regrets... in tea and cigarettes... but I can't seem to forget...