Finishing touches on the story

[Hadriel]

If I do one thing right this entire semester, I'm going to finish the Crimson Echoes story; it deserves to be finished after all the work everyone's put in on it.  And I think I've come up with something approaching a solution for the problem of Lavos' scheme.  First of all, some backstory.

Lavos' race is a key part of the new "main scheme."  They're basically a race of builders that have been around almost since the beginning of the universe, being born by a chance collision of molecules that formed the equivalent of a spaceborne "primal muck."  It was from this sea of chemicals that a collection of protein-like substances and then, short-lived organic molecules which quickly evolved to survive the harsh conditions, formed in the fire and crushing gravity of the first era of existence.  They utilized a process similar to photosynthesis to produce energy for themselves, save that they survived on not just visible light or heat, but nearly any form of stellar radiation.  Since time was compressed near the beginning of the universe, they were afforded something akin to a "peanut gallery" view of various timelines.  This was the key factor in their growth.  Even as a collection of single-celled organisms in the chasm of space, they were able to sense the shifts in the timestream.  This held true when some of them eventually were taken to nearby planets, drawn there by random atomic motion, collisions from macroscopic objects, gravity, and other inextricable forces.  They quickly managed to form complex organisms in so doing, and their temporal senses gave them a sort of hive mind.  It isn't as drastic as the Borg; it's more like one Jedi sensing another one through the Force, both in feeling and in fact due to the postulated nature of Zurvan.  But this did allow for one important thing: the faster development of logic.  From there, the road through math, science, and technology to their godlike understanding came within tens of millions of years.  Their achievements are more than sufficient to earn the status of legend.

They survived under the harshest imaginable conditions to become a civilization.  Their civilization survived to become great, due to their uniqueness.  They found cures for every imaginable form of illness.  They derived the the equations that, even in the primal form of the universe, predicted the current form it would take.  They discovered the grand unified field theory, and applied it to eventually learn what some consider the ultimate secret, the ability to travel faster than light.  They used their temporal senses to manipulate energy directly, with nothing more than their wills and the force of millions of years of evolution; this is the power known as magic, born of Zurvan.  The Sea of Dreams is that of the roiling flux of time; it and its probabilistic nature can sustain any number of occurrences that would seem magical to those without understanding.  And with the power of magic, of Zurvan, at their command, they even learned how to command time itself.  And with that, they became the lords of the universe.

However, Lavos' race was a unique occurrence; no other race has evolved like that, because no other had the opportunity.  Therefore, they took it upon themselves to become as gods to lesser races, to show them the paradise of knowledge they had achieved.  They traveled to the far-flung worlds of the universe and instilled life there, grooming it to one day join them in their paradise of the mind, as they believed that the power of reason was the most divine resource to be had anywhere.  The only problem is that, as sentient beings, they weren't perfect; even Lavos made a mistake, when he sent Gaspar to the End of Time.  But the mistake the Lavoids made is far more fundamental than that; they misinterpreted the very nature of sentience.  Because of their temporal hive mind, they had managed to be far more cooperative with each other than we've ever been.  However, there's still some room for individuality.  That's where Lavos comes in.

He was once a great lord of his race, leading the charge into the unknown reaches of the universe and the search for ever-greater sums of knowledge to add to the stores of his race.

...argh, my stomach's calling.  Must eat dinner.  I'll post the rest tomorrow.

[Hadriel]

Actually, I'll post it tomorrow.  I got blitzed today, and I've gotta do my physics.

[Hadriel]

Back.

So, in the last post, I outlined some of the history of Lavos' race, which needs some sort of name.  When the Lavoid civilization first got the idea to groom life to join them, his was a trusted and revered name, and he was placed in charge of this effort.  He traveled to a lifeless planet and appropriated its resources to create life.  For the first few million years, it went well.  But that world's race had no hive mind and no innate sensitivity to the currents of time.  Thus, the hedonistic nature prevailed within them, and just when it seemed like they were ready to become an Elder race themselves, a cataclysmic war nearly destroyed them and rendered their planet a graveyard.  Lavos was distraught at this, needless to say; the stewardship of that world was his, and he felt like he'd let them down.  Not only that, he began to question his own ideals.  Asking questions of the universe, he found only greed and hatred to answer them.  Eventually, he grew to loathe his fatherly instinct.  It wasn't much of a step from there to universal hatred.

The Lavoids, meanwhile, were pursuing a completely different goal.  A few billion years into the universe's life cycle, they knew that the paradise of the universe's initial time compression, which to them is a paradise of all-encompassing knowledge across all timelines, was fading from them.  Having learned the powers of magic, they could survive in the End of Time.  However, most life doesn't have this power, and will not retain its own will in such an environment, instead being absorbed into the timestream.  There, all that exists is Zurvan; whoever controls the power of magic unopposed will control the universe's outcome if they exist in such an environment.  However, the End of Time is such that only one can control this power.  If two or more are present that wish to control it, a battle will ensue until one soul annihilates the other completely.  The Lavoids had planned to create a paradise in the End of Time using their magic.  It would have worked; their minds are capable of functioning as one.  However, when Lavos' pain and anger began to seep into the hive mind, the Lavoids were no longer as one; the resultant chaos of a battle in the End of Time could end up destroying the universe.  

I think this reworking could solve a lot of plot issues.  The Chrono Trigger operates off of the power of Zurvan; it is humankind's tool for channeling it, allowing one to resurrect a possibility that no longer exists.  They did it to resurrect Crono, and Serge does it to access the Tesseract.  It could also explain why the team loses their power; being exposed to a bunch of angry souls in the chaos of temporal limbo could do that to you.  The Chrono Break would still be developed in the lab at Calasperan; basically, nothing from the existing story would change up until Scenario 11, when we'd have to give a different situation for the Frozen Flame.  The ending battle would be largely the same, save that now we know exactly what happened to Gaspar; cast astray on the winds of time, he ended up at the End of Time, and effectively became a God due to his magic.  However, his wish was not one of paradise or conquest, but simply of preservation for his species and those he loved.  In order to utilize the power of the End of Time, one would have to kill Gaspar.  With his current status, the only way to do that would be through the Chrono Break; thus, the Sorin storyline can stay largely the same.  Part of Sorin's soul could be preserved in the Chrono Break, thus enabling him to lend a hand in the final battle.  

As for the El Nido scenario, it's still one of the keys to Lavos' plan to control the End of Time, because it has the only resource that can ensure Sorin's survival, and thus the complete maturation of the Chrono Break.  It, like the Chrono Trigger, takes the form of an egg, though its markings and general appearance are substantially different.  That resource would most likely be Elements.

The ruined world would also be affected by this new scheme, but we can easily keep it in by saying that the dreamworld is a result of Gaia attempting to keep Earth from vanishing into the timestream; the ruined planet is a result of its compromised state.  This will also allow us to be even more extravagant with the scenario by incorporating the near-complete death of the universe.

There's still a bit that needs to be fleshed out, but IMO it's more than what we had to go on before.  Plus, it solves the problem of the scheme being too much like Advent Children.

[Daniel Krispin]

Back.

So, in the last post, I outlined some of the history of Lavos' race, which needs some sort of name.

Ouranoi

Ie. The plural masculine of 'heavenly' or those that would dwell in heaven. Remember, too, that the Titans were the children of Ouranos, thence the later Olympians are often named the 'Ouranian gods'. Remember, also, that Ouranos and Gaia were amongst the first things to create life, and their children the Titans were they that made the people of the ages of Gold and Silver. Thus, it might be fitting. Or, maybe, Kaosades. That would mean, I think (though I just put it down quickly) 'children of Chaos', thus assuming amongst the first things to have come out of original creation. If you want a dark name, you could use Tartaroi, plural of Tartaros. And so on and so forth.

[Chrono'99]

It sounds very scientific and rational, very close to Xenogears. I always thought that the biggest difference between Chrono and Xeno was that the former was about hope and dreams, while the latter was about rational thinking and sciences.

For the name of the race, I'm thinking about Protogonoi (= the first born gods/natural elements in Greek mythology), but I believe it sounds way too Greek and not "universal" enough (compare with "Lavos"). There are the Aions too, which are the exact Gnostic equivalent of this race, except less pseudo-rational and more religious, but the name is already tainted by FFX.

Anyway, this race would really seem like Nus if the Nus looked more frightening...

EDIT: I'm thinking about Phanes now (the name of the first Protogonoi, which means "light" or something), although I don't know how it would spell in genitive or plural forms.

Or, you know, why not simply make this race the "original" Nu race? It would be a big surprise, would tie up some stuff and would finally give some actual role to the Nus...

[Daniel Krispin]

It sounds very scientific and rational, very close to Xenogears. I always thought that the biggest difference between Chrono and Xeno was that the former was about hope and dreams, while the latter was about rational thinking and sciences.

For the name of the race, I'm thinking about Protogonoi (= the first born gods/natural elements in Greek mythology), but I believe it sounds way too Greek and not "universal" enough (compare with "Lavos"). There are the Aions too, which are the exact Gnostic equivalent of this race, except less pseudo-rational and more religious, but the name is already tainted by FFX.

Well, my suggestions were all Greek. I personally like the sound of the Greek, though this decision is not mine to make, of course. Greek is so prevalent in our language, espeically in matters of theology, that it would not be wholly out of place. And yes, Protogonoi means, literally 'first born ones'.

EDIT: I'm thinking about Phanes now (the name of the first Protogonoi, which means "light" or something), although I don't know how it would spell in genitive or plural forms.

Hey, that's really odd. I know Greek myths pretty well (or, that is, the standard Hesiod account, as well as Homer), but this one is foreign to me. Oh, okay, I see. Those are from different philisophical ideas. Though as far as Phanes... are you sure it means light? I'm kind of confused now. Phospheros is 'light bearer' (Greek equivalent of the Latin Lucifer), so I would have thought that to be light, like in Photon. But I'll give it a look. Ah, here we go. It seems to be a masculine version of the feminine word 'torch' (ie. Phanę, with the s making it the first declension masculine Phanęs, like Diomedęs to the feminine Diomedę). As far as how it genetive and plural... damn, you know, this embarresses me. I should know this. I'll go have a look in my Athanaze textbook. It's a first declension masculine... Okay, plural is Phanai, and singular genetive is Phanou (plural genetive Phanôn). For the rest... Okay, singular dative, Phanę, accusative Phanęn, vocative Phana. Plural dative Phanais, accusative Phanas, and vocative Phanai. (Like I said, I really should have had this memorized by now, rather than having it looked up.)

Anyway, that answer your questions? I honestly think any of these Greek things sound good, whether the Ouranoi or whatever that I suggested, or the Phanai that you said. I'm not very familiar with the philisophical traditions that speak of this god (though, looking through it, and it speaking of his connection perhaps to Zagreus and Dionysus is rather interesting), but considering that he's more unknown is probably or the best in this regard. Like I said, though, from what Liddel and Scott tells me, it means 'torch' rather than 'light.' I guess light would be what... phaos. So I guess plural of the, 'the lights' would be Phaoi. But Phanai sounds better.

[Hadriel]

OK, dudes, I'm going to be back online tonight.  You'll never guess what killed my computer.  It's so unmitigatedly retarded, it could only have happened to me.

...my fan killed my system.  Seriously.  The fan I put in my computer to help cool it and act as a killer blue light was causing massive power fluctuations.  I'm gonna set the damn thing on fire when I get it back tonight.  Or I might chop it up with my butterfly sword.  Or both.  Either way, it's going to be a genuine Office Space moment.

As for the story, I tried to mix the rational and emotional.  I get the feeling that rationality in Chrono is much like that of Star Wars; it's there, but the creators don't necessarily have the scientific or mathematical knowhow to figure it out, so they've tried to craft a story that allows for someone to rationalize it.  Having a story's reason be sound beefs up the quality of the characters, and of the story itself, in my opinion.  By establishing the limits of the knowledge possessed by the factions in a story, one can make a more clearly defined plot that relies on well-written characters to move it forward and does not allow for cheap plot devices.

I wouldn't say that FFX "tainted" the name.  I thought it was actually quite good.  I'd rather not talk about X-2, other than to say I want those twenty minutes back.

As for the Nus, there's still space for one more sidequest, and probably one more uber-item to go with it.  If possible, we could incorporate them into the Calasperan sidequest, but to do that, we need to decide exactly what happens in El Nido under the new scheme.

Question: How many of you have seen Advent Children, and thus know why the plot needs to be changed?