Pre-Story Timeline (Everything up to SS Oceana)

[Celtizaya]

Title says it all, this is everything I could write down from essentially the start of time up until the game itself begins. 

 

I have completed 13.5 Paragon Route and Renegade Route. If you find yourself taking the time to read this and happen find something is wrong, please let me know!

 

Needless to say, BIG BIG HUGE SPOILERS, and also some speculation.

 

1. The Old Earth:

Spoiler

Long ago, the earth held one continent, with seven nations living in harmony, one of which being called Eclysia with the capitol city of Myridian. In this era, humanity lived in a highly futuristic society alongside Pokemon, as well as Arceus itself, who served as a god. The Garufa Inc corporation is the largest company of the region, overseeing many types of research. It is here that the discovery of the soul leads to research into changing and even improving humanity.

 

Unfortunately for this research, Arceus was against tampering with souls and ordered a halt. Humanity, however, did not listen to these demands, and the seven nations banded together to face their creator. In this 70 week war, 7 billion people died, but humanity prevailed (funny thing about this: 7 is biblically God’s number). All that remained was the gold arch that circled around Arceus' body. As a result of Arceus' death, life lost its ability to continue on. Water halted flowing, and the earth stopped turning. The land became desolate and baren.

 

In this time, a group of people worshiping the three Jinn (Landorus, Thundorus, and Tornatus) in the Tyluric Temple beg for their lords to help them recover the land and save themselves. Unfortunately, the sin of killing Arceus was too great for the Jinn to forgive humanity and attempt to save the world. The people of this civilization die out, but the temple itself is preserved by power from the legendary pokemon. Landorus creates a cursed root as one final form of revenge against humanity, and hides it deep in the ruins.

 

Humans and pokemon ceased to reproduce, with no entity to create souls for new beings. Eventually, Pokemon themselves began to dissolve into the air as Arceus did in its death, and this continued until pokemon went completely extinct. 

 

Following this, humans also began to dissolve. In the panic, Garufa Inc developed the Gjetral project to revive Arceus from its remaining pieces. From the Arch, the Archetype was created to allow a human to harness this power. In effect, Garufa Inc attempted to create a new human god. Many human volunteers were used to test for compatibility with the Archetype. If this failed, the rejection would either straight up kill the person, or slowly kill them in the form of Genesis syndrome. Unfortunately, those who witnessed the power possible from the Archetype also saw the potential for evil. The director of the company began to research how to turn their "God" into a weapon. 

 

Reasonably, the remaining four nations (presumably two were lost completely in the war) wanted a piece of such a powerful weapon, and began to attack Eclysia.

 

In the midst of the political turmoil, a meteor with an immense amount of power strikes the nation of Torvenbyuen. I suspect that this meteor is made from the dissolved parts of all of the dead Pokémon who’s bodies floated into the sky. Veriya, a former member of Garufa Inc, uses this power to piece together a resistance to overthrow the corporation and take the Archetype. With this, they construct 7 pyramids representing the seven former nations. From Eclysia's, a portal to the center of the earth was constructed, and a series of supercomputers formed there called the Core. The meteor itself is refined into the Jewel of Life and put into the Eclysia pyramid to power a healing everlasting life spring within it. Eclysia pyramid itself is actually a spaceship bulit for people in the future. The purpose of leaving the earth is unknown, but perhaps it is a contingency plan in the case that people want to escape the never-ending time loop which will be created from Veriya's project.

 

The goal of the core was to essentially absorb the souls of deceased humans and create a new person from that soul, effectively forming a cycle to sustain the earth as Arceus was no longer there to create souls. This works by using "ley lines" or invisible paths by which souls can flow through. Corruption of the lay line matter can create dimensional rifts as soul components glitch. To attain the power to start the recycle process, Variya would kill all of the remaining humans of the world to power her creation (the "Reset System"). Not wanting to leave the new humans produced, she also constructed an artificial Arceus as well as some other influencial programs from 18 powerful souls compatible with the Archetype, and called the, the Overseers. 

 

In the meantime, the nation of Tevari lurked underground, also experimenting with longevity and soul editing. The Tevari people lived beneath the surface for so long that they developed a connection to the earth which allowed them to predict natural disasters, called the Earth Sense. They predict that Veriya will reset the world, killing them all in an unstoppable event. To allow the Earth Sense to live on, they create a temple where their king is sacrificed at an alter and the power from it is used to bless a spot on the ground. From this spot, a vessel, called an Envoy, is born once every 100 years as the Voice of the Earth. The king's soul is left in a robot-Pokémon shell called the Admin, and his highest diplomats serve as his councils. They aim to train the Envoy in their power, hoping to stop future Armageddon. When a vessel dies, their best qualities are transferred into the next one. 

 

Before the plan for the Reset could be enacted, the final nation of Lestherio attacked the Eclysia Pyramid where the portal to the Core was held. One of the 18 Overseer components was killed in the attack, and Veriya's son, Adrest, was used instead.
 

*Some speculation*

It is at this point that Adrest’s hair goes from green to blonde, as he is given the archetype. From this point on, Adrest is actually also no longer Adrest, but what is called a star. It’s my theory that the real Adrest declined to be part of Veriya’s plan, and therefore she replaced his soul with one which would be willing, similar to what she later does with the protagonist, Spacia, and Tiempa. These new souls are called “Stars”, and are from the real world (Aka the player’s world). Adrest doesn’t refer to Veriya as mother because he is, in fact, no longer her child. Eventually he is persuaded to because of the body’s history, as we see in the flashback in the Eclysia Pyramid with a blonde Adrest. As for why Veriya’s hair goes from green to orange, I don’t know. Maybe it’s from contact with the meteor.

*End speculation*
 

When the Core began function, the surface of the earth turned and all of the world sank underground to make way for the recycled one. A key to activate the core once again is left in the Amethyst grotto, requiring a certain set of soul sacrifices. This is why the grotto held the soul stone, with the ability to absorb all souls for the purpose of finding the five needed for the reset.

 

2. The Aftermath of the "Garufa":

Spoiler

There were some remaining aspects of civilization that persisted through the reset.
 

The Ruins and Crevasses:

Ruins can be found throughout Aevium, such as pieces of Myridian that are found in the Den of Souls. A giant structure made of black shards called the Obelisk was designed to give access to Zeight, a computer interface to connect with the Core. At least four of the original seven pyramids also continue to exist. All of these structures have faux old exteriors, and they were designed to live alongside much more primitive humans. From now on, I will call these things "Garufan", though these terms refer to multiple civilizations.

 

Alongside this, geographically there seem to be giant caverns under the ground that were formed from the forced churning of the earth's crust. Many times in the future (though before storm-9), large patches of land are described as being pulled under the earth, presumably into one of these caverns. 
 

Veriya’s Programs:

There are also computer programs which survive the reset: Nymiera and Vitus, Karma.EXE, Veriya with the Interceptor program, and the overseers.

 

Nymiera, Vitus, and the Third:
First, the two 'humans' sent to live on earth are actually computer programs which host pokemon, named Nymiera and Vitus, responsible for life (Xerneas) and death (Yveltal) respectively. Alongside these two, there is a third balance (Zygarde) entity, who seems to be lost. Zygarde seems to be connected to the Tevari temple under Caratos where the Envoys were produced. It is called the Operator of the system, entrusting Groudon as the protector of the castle in its place as it cannot hold its form for long. Zygarde cells are in every Envoy (including Aelita down the line). My theory regarding why the balance entity was lost is that it sacrificed itself in the name of creating the envoys, and it is, as such, permanently locked into the temple. Perhaps the temple created by the Tevari needed to be "turned on" and the Zygard holder was the one to do that. We know that Nymiera is also connected to the temple, as she is designed to show up every time the Envoy turns agains the Overseers and help them exit.

 

Karma:

Next, Karma is an AI in charge of the core who analyzes all possible paths for the purpose of creating a "good" one. For worlds deemed "wilting", Karma shuts off the core and the world ends for good. For worlds deemed "blooming", Karma releases the world from the core and allows the world to continue on without control. For the time between the blooming or wilting decision, all souls as well as their backstories are decided by Karma, and will always act as Karma programs. The eyeball shape which shows when quests are completed indicates that Karma will push the game into a blooming state. The two paths are also reflected in the Garufan "Light/Dark" prophesies.
 

Every time the world resets, Karma has a chance to change slightly the story. From the player’s perspective, every time a new version of the game comes out, a world reset is done. As such, characters have changed (such as Kanon going from obsessed with Melia to a normal person) with the purpose of guiding the world to a blooming state. It can be assumed that every last version ended in the death of the world :).

 

Veriya and the Interceptor:

Finally Variya herself also survives in the form of the Interceptor program, a secret development during the creation of the Core. This was so secret, she even hid most of its information (notably her soil surviving) from her son, Adrest, and even possibly Nymiera and Indriad. Spacia and Tiempa refer to her as "Her Majesty". It seems as though Veriya knew before hand that the Overseer Arceus would be split back up into its 18 parts in the future. Whenever an Interceptor is brought into the world, Veriya meets them and tells them their purpose. Should they decline, their soul gets replaced with a star (as with Adrest and the protagonist). 

 

Karma is required to have, at any given time, (at least) one person who has the ability to change the fate of the world to blooming or withering. The fact that it is only one person may be so the number of possible outcomes calculated by the AI are exponentially reduced. The interceptor program uses one of the souls, her (kind of) son, Adrest, to connect with the core and give one person the ability to change fate. In Zeight, the Interceptor is supposed to be able to access all previous versions of themself to learn from mistakes, and this fact is purposely hidden to Karma for balancing. (evidently it seems as though Karma may have found this out and is purposely hiding these benefits from the interceptor with the goal of being in complete control)

The Interceptor’s Overseers:

To influence the Interceptor, two of the souls, Spacia and Tiempa (and probably Griselda but she doesn't last too long), are chosen as direct overseers. These turn out to be soul experiments from the Garufa Inc days meant to embody Palkia and Dialga and control space and time (though they do not actually contain the soul of either Pokemon). The two sisters are former Garufans who, before taking on Dialga and Palkia's power, went by the names Trinity and Stella respectively. The two girls rejected being apart of the Garufan plans, and their souls were replaced with those of "Stars" . This makes them interceptors as well by name and origin, but I won't refer to them as such anymore for clarity. They, as Interceptor-specific overseers, are tasked with the goal of preparing the interceptor to be on the "Good" blooming path. Spacia and Tiempa also have a sister, Griselda (Giratina), who most likely comes from the same bunch and also has the purpose of preserving peace to facilitate the good ending. Presumably if they die, they will turn into their pokemon forms (as Griselda does in the future). 

 

*Speculation*

On the topic of Stars, other interceptors (such as Crescent) have existed before the player, but I don't think they're actually anything other than placeholders in the interceptor code. The true interceptor, Spacia, Tiempa, and perhaps all 17 of the overseers (and Adrest) are actually these Stars. What these souls are are people in the player's dimension, playing the game. As said before, they are given an opportunity by Variya to join when a soul on earth isn't strong enough to handle the power and responsibility of the Game.

*End speculation*

Garufan Descendants:

There seem to be some other beings which would interet some of the soul corruption brought on from the Garufa Inc experimentation. Maybe these are the descendants of the 18 overseers. Alternatively, maybe they just were given soils that were modified before the end of the world and persisted in that form. Because of the soul editing, these descendants would be born with a disease/curse not allowing them to see sunlight, but in return for this would have great 'magic' ability to create and change the world around them (IE Maman and her child with Neved). They would continue to build some of the underground Garufan structures we see that are not futuristic but instead heavily influenced by magic and soul influences, including that within Caratos mountain.

 

The influence of Garufan "magic" haunts the world for centuries, with descendants sacrificing pokemon to create crests, fusing pokemon together, and using soul sealing to punish those who enter places they don't belong. 

 

3. The Era of Kings and Queens:

Spoiler

Centuries before the main story, Vitus and Nymiera team up with the new humans of the world to create civilization. They take the place of king and queen of a single great kingdom. Nymiera has powerful psychic powers. Vitus, too, has powers, more related to sacrificial magic. Nymiera and Vitus create Kanon, who is formed from a piece of both of their souls. The two rule over their kingdom(s) as humanity builds its own nations around the land. They live on a patch of land comprising of two castles, one for each of them. This will later be known as the Blacksteeple Castle. In this time of the world, pokemon and humans are equal in intellect and status, and Arceus (the Overseer) serves as their god. 

 

One day, Arceus is split into three parts by a meteor. As such, the 17 souls housed within the artificial being are split up as well. One part is sent far away (maybe to Sinnoh?), one part remains alive, and the third disintegrates and reveals itself as a soul to Nymiera. This single surviving soul's name is Adrest, who requests to be laid into the Amethyst grotto awaiting the Interceptor to set him free. Other souls of the overseers fall across the land and inhabit bodies of children being born. Griselda, Spacia, and Tiempa are born to the King and Queen of the "East Kingdom" (in the future called Ghovora).

 

Sometime in this era, the two original beings Nymiera and Vitus split their kingdom and part ways, presumably for differences in how the world and its civilizations should continue. Nymiera sees peace between nations as the path to a good future, while Vitus sees control and death as the correct path. In the wake of this as well as the destruction of the Overseer, seven primary kingdoms form. They include the kingdoms of Kasura (Kasumi), Xerva (presumed Nymiera), Yvven (Presumed Vitus), Ghovora (Griselda), Zygara (Ieisel), and those of Space (Spacia) and Time (Tiempa). At least five of these kingdoms are run by former "Garufans" (Nymiera, Vitus, Griselda, Spacia, Tiempa) and Ieisel is a descendent proficient in black magic. It seems Ieisel's lineage is one bound to someone important to the creation of the Eclysia pyramid, as his bloodline (including Ryland) can open the temple. I am not sure about Kasumi. There is a brief moment of peace between the seven nations which will not last.

 

There are, of course, other kingdoms scattered around the world as well. Confirmed ones include AZ's kingdom in Kalos, the kingdom of the Queen who was blessed with dual crystal swords Benevolence and Malevolence, and that of the King/God of the Sea. On the king of the Sea, it seems he lost his brother "to the depths of the Earth", where the brother turned into Groudon. Enraged, the King became a tyrant of his kingdom ad sunk it into the ocean, where he became imprisoned. In death, he became Kyogre. The prison itself is found in Terajuma.

 

Later, Vitus and Nymiera finally lose peace over their differences, starting a small war which will devolve into a worldwide one. Griselda teams up with Ieisel to sacrifice pokemon and create crests using Garufan magic, which she uses to attempt to take over the land and create peace (as is her purpose). She attacks the Kasura kingdom, a pacifist nation, killing Kasumi and breaking the alliance of the seven kingdoms. Kasumi does not seem to turn into a pokemon (or at least there is no lore about it from what I can find), so she is most likely not a Garufan plant. Following this, King Ieisel was cursed for interupting a ritual creating a crest, and died, turning into a Cofagrigus. This confirms that Ieisel was also not a Garufan plant. The seven kingdoms became five. Griselda is then betrayed by her daughter and two sisters, Spacia and Tiempa, who poison her. Presumably Spacia and Tiempa do this because they do not agree that this is the path towards a blooming world. In her death, she is transformed into a Giratina, drags her kingdom underground, and seals her daughter's soul in the treasury. Spacia and Tiempa then seal her in the distortion world. 

 

This leads to an all out war, which is the Great Pokemon War. To end this, Nymiera calls upon the Archetype (or at least a piece of the original) created by the last remaining piece of Arceus, which chooses to find peace by granting humanity superior intellect while bringing down pokemon. This leads to a loss for Nymiera, and peace by defeat as Vitus storms her castle and threatens her life. Before the final blow, however, King AZ activates his great weapon in neighboring Kalos, and brings the destruction and fall of all of the kingdoms. 

 

In the aftermath of the battle, Vitus takes the entirety of the Blacksteeple Castle for himself.

 

4. The Miera Era:

Spoiler

We follow up presumably hundreds of years later in the Miera region, near northern Aevium. This is most likely Nymiera's old territory which was taken from her in the war, given the name. This part of the story takes place about 75 years before the main story. No longer a king, Vitus takes to creating a cultist group called Team Xen, serving as the leader Lord Xenadin with the goal of wreaking havoc on Nymiera's old land. He decorates Nymiera's half of the Blacksteeple Castle in red Xen flags. It is here in Miera where Vitus saves a Ralts and imbues her with power. He has (probably) had possession of the Archtype since the Great Pokemon War, and intends to create a vessel for it to sacrifice to create a great weapon, similar to how the Garufa Inc director did centuries before.

 

*An important piece on Melia's creation*

Vitus then acquires a child who is named Melia. The Garufan detector claims she is 75 years old, which places her in this time, but other than that her presence is confusing. Zeight refers to her has having the last name Theolia, indicating that she is, in fact, in some way related to Vitus. Melia seems to be a clone of some sort of Maria. A theory I personally like A LOT is that Melia is a servant of Maria created by Vitus, but does not necessarily serve him.
 

As for why and how: we see with Cella and Cera that servants look a lot like the person who has a connection to the master, so Melia looking very similar to Maria makes sense. When Emma reveals herself as Melia on Blacksteeple castle, Madame X (who is most likely an iteration of Maria) says that she knew their "bond did not dissipate". This servant master connection is explored later with Kanon, which makes the theory even more likely. This would also explain why in previous versions Kanon was so weirdly in love with Melia. They were both servants, and he was grasping onto the only entity he could relate with (even if she didn’t feel this way). As for how she got to this time, perhaps while Future Vitus is later traveling in his space-time warp at the Marble Mansion, he takes a pit-stop to himself in the past to create and drop her off. Either way, Past Vitus then locks Melia in the Tower in time stasis, where she will wait until near the present to be freed. 

*Continuing*

 

Nymiera lives in Aevium as a native and is no longer a queen with a castle, and at some point stumbles across the Garufan powers held in springs which grant possession over the Regis. She gifts Regice, Regirock, and Registeel to her good friends Anju, Vivian, and Hazuki respectively. For herself, she takes a Regigigas.

 

Vivian spent her childhood in the Tevari temple under Caratos mountain, and was seen by the Admin as the most formidable Envoy ever created. She escaped the temple at the age of 8 by “killing” her Overseers, and was met by Nymiera who gave her the Regirock and promised her protection from assailants (possibly the group involving Clear and Kieran). Hazuki Shigeru, on the other hand, was the heiress of the wealthy Midori family that owns a mining company in Unova. At 18 years old, she is at the top of her class, a brilliant engineer, and a vigilante in Spotlight City. She received a tip that there was a technical marvel and gems under the abandoned Celgearn Castle/Factory north of the Gregorian Lake, where she meets Nymiera who offers her the Ultimate Defensive Technique. Finally Anju Carnelian is a descendent of the Queen with crystal swords. She was born with powers to manifest aura, which for her comes as an ability to control preservation ice. At the age of 10, Anju froze her parents accidentally out of fear of them separating, where she was found by Nymiera. Her family line is almost certainly related to the Garufans in some way, as Anju owns a boat which is very similar to those we see in the Den of Souls. 

 

Also in Aevium is a group of radical cultists who stemmed from followers of a woman named Cyrela who practiced Garufan rituals. It's implied that in death, she turned into Meloetta as other Garufans turned into pokemon. I feel she may have been one of the 17 overseers, but this isn't confirmed. The subordinates, radicalizing, converted her estate into a house of worship for their now goddess Meloetta, and created an alter under it used for sacrificial rituals. Angered by the former followers, Cyrela called for a massive earthquake which destroyed the cult. Descendents of her line took ownership of the mansion, called the Marble Mansion, to protect it.

 

A little more than 50 years before the main events, Crescent is born in a secluded village in the Miera region which had ties to Darkrai, which is known as a demon there. Cresselia emerged from the heavens to ward off Darkrai from the village, and would be worshiped by the people there long after. Crescent was born between a mother from the tribe and a foreign man on the month of the crescent moon. Both of these were religious rules that were broken. The family was ostracized and Crescent named after the month as a reminder. A starving, neglected Crescent would eventually resort to stealing bread and being sentenced to death, and Crescelia would reject a plea for forgiveness by her brother Mun. The mother was executed, and Mun sent Crescent off on a river away from the village.

 

Vitus creates a catastrophe at a nuclear reactor owned by the Blackories ~50 years (give or take a few years) before the main story which causes the citizens to flee the area to Aevium. A person also involved at the reactor is an undercover detective named Rune (alias Freya), who was investigating Xenadin. She falls into the voidal chasm upon the catastrophe happening, a place where time stops. Huey, a boy who looks similar to her, also falls with her during the event. Rune decides to have him follow her as her brother. It is implied that whatever bloodline they come from (that with red hair) is the same as the Sashilan people. Incidentally, Tesla is also from this line. Crescent is put on an evacuation boat and sent to Aevium.

 

5. Pre-Calamity Aevium:

Spoiler

Post-reactor meltdown, the citizens of Miera, including Vitus, Thomas Blackory, and Katsu, flee to the south in the *sparcely* populated land of Aevium.

 

Cella, Souta, Crescent, and Anju:
Cella marries Souta after being proposed to in the Violet Garden, and the two of them hold staffs with incredible power. Crescent and the protagonist friends are put into a school/home in Spotlight City for orphans from the incident. Anju meets an intelligent man and has a son, Kreiss.

 

Anathea and Vitus:

Anathea is a descendent of Cyrela, and at this point is a young woman with black hair. Lonely, she convinces her friend Shayda the Night Witch to make it so a man will save and fall in love with her. It is because of this wish that Vitus (newly back to Aevium from Miera) meets Anathea, and they marry. Little does Anathea know that much of the beginings of her relationship were a rouse by Vitus, and his goals were to actually eventually take from her the Marble Mansion and Meloetta. Shayda’s power simply brought them together at that particular point in time. It is with Meloetta that Vitus can harness the power of the Archtype which happens to be in his posession. The connection between Meloetta and the archetype adds more motive to believe that Cyrela was an Overseer.

 

While waiting for financial deals to go through the two move into the Blacksteeple castle, and at some point Vitus comes back into contact with his old Gardevoir, to tries to convince him to go back to his cult ways. Unfortunately, the marriage begins to get rocky as Gardevoir brings Vitus back to the dark side, and Anathea contemplates leaving but does not. Under Anathea's nose,  It is sometime after this that Vitus convinces Anathea to move into her family's Marble Mansion estate with the purposes of catching Meloetta, who can draw out the power of the Archtype. Hiyoshi city ends construction next to the Mansion 45 years before the main story, following a land deal between Blackory Sr. and Vitus.

 

At the mansion, Anathea is in massive debt to Vitus, and is in fear of him and his temper. Anathea cannot take the abuse anymore and returns to her friend Shayda, having her cast a spell to once again make Vitus fall in love with her. Unfortunately for the *newly* in in love couple, Vitus cannot reproduce. Because he is now all lovey dovey, however, he is convinced to open the Archtype's power and use it to wish for children. Four children materialize: Ereina, Alan, Alice, and Maria, who each hold a piece of the Archtype within them. Techncially speaking, Arceus, who is known to have a female voice, is their mother. Anathea still has black hair when she had the four, but soon dyes it blonde to avoid suspicious looks. Once Gardevoir hears of the true story of the children, it enrages her, as the children Vitus had were supposed to be sacrificed for the purpose of releasing the Archtype as a powerful weapon of distruction, not born holding the Archtype within them and allowed to live.

 

Anathea grows increasingly suspicious of Vitus, and both parents use Eriena to spy on each other. As a result of the stress, Eriena is the first to start being able to use her powers, and awakens, remembering that she is, in fact, a piece of Arceus ("Vitus theolia, I remember who I am"), and gives a speech to an unconscious Maria to not lose hope. With fear that Arceus will awaken and merge its pieces back together, Vitus goes to the hidden library and seals away Alice, Alan, and Erin in the Unknown Dimension (Atebit Land), giving control to Alice. Much later, Erin escapes and finds Irvin, then Souta. 

 

This leaves the couple with just Maria, who Vitus forces to forget her power. Anathea, washed of memories of her other three children, convinces Vitus to leave the cult life entirely once again and live a happy life with just the two of them and Maria. Unfortunately, 40 years before the main story, this gets ruined when Gardevoir kills Anathea, an event which has something to do with Clear as well. Perhaps Clear is the one who convinced Anathea to leave the marble mansion just as the tangroth was swinging at the door. As a result of Anathea's death and the ending of the love magic, Vitus returns to the cult and traps Maria in a crystal (maybe a preservation crystal related to Anju?). It is at this point when Vitus decides to change his name to Indriad.

Back to the General Cast:

In the meantime, Souta finds himself near death when takes a deal with Spacia and Tiempa to join the Storm Chasers but must leave Cella in return. He gains a mission to wait to meet Aelita, who he will help release chains from her heart. This leads Cella to join Vivian in supporting Sheridan. Vivian sacrifices herself to lessen the impending storm which will result from Indriad's wrath. Anju leaves Kreiss with her parents in a preservation crystal, but Spacia and Tiempa take him to another point in the past after she leaves. Anju, Hazuki, and Nymiera enter the labrynth beneath Hiyoshi city to try to defeat Indriad.

 

Maria's archetype and sacrifice (but most likely not total death) provides Indriad with the key to start Storm-9. The actual method which creates the storm is a sacrifice of a vessel: Nymiera. Her death brings a manifestation (probably) via Vivian Garufan method which creates Nim. Fortunately for Nim, Nymeria, Anju, Hazuki, and the protagonist (who I suspect is already there from a later point in the game when ren gets turned away by Nymeria in the labrynth) save her and send her via dimensional rift to the present. It seems that the storm has two components: extreme weather phenomena and Garufan technological weapons. The weather phenomena seems to be centered around the sacrifice of Nim and Nymiera, and the other weapons including the ultra beasts and literal bombs were maybe in a Garufan storehouse within the labyrinth. 

 

After this, saving the world is a lost cause. Anju gets imprisoned by Indriad, as we see in the marble mansion. When we see her later locked in the Marble Mansion, an interesting not is she does not mention Hazuki at all when she asks what happened to her friend, just Vivian and Nymiera. Maybe her and Nymiera made Hazuki leave to save at least one of them. Regardless, Hazuki somehow makes it out, and is convinced by Thomas Blackory to get on a boat and not go back for her friends. Anju's dual crystal blades and Hazuki's sword and shield are stolen and kept in the Marble Mansion.

 

Right before the storm, Thomas Blackory traps the Mayor of Hiyoshi City in jail and steals his plans for Grand Dream City. This detail is later presented to Rhodea, the Mayors daughter and time traveler, by the Puppet Master. Isaiah Howard, a doctor with 100% success rate, begins his project to put his mind into the body of his son, Isha. The process is interrupted during the storm itself and the two brains merge instead of one being taken over. A 17 year old Crescent is pushed into the ravine by the protagonist's body's character (who succumbs to an ultra beast) and is saved by Spacia and Tiempa, joining the Storm Chasers after being told they would revive Crescent's friends. In the ravine, she also encounters Variya who presents Crescent with the power of the Interceptor.

 

Vivian sacrificed herself for a partially broken Garufan spell which protects the world from the brunt of the storm. The Admin (who didn't actually die when she escaped), was pleased that Vivian would entangle herself with the cycle of life and death. With every iteration, she would become stronger and stronger. 

 

5. Marble Mansion Time-Warp

Spoiler

Indriad saves himself from Storm-9 by sending the Marble Mansion into a time-warp. Somehow, he still has Maria, indicating that she didn't die in the sacrifice of Nymiera (though I have a hard time believing the archetype was not used in any way). We do know that the warp-marble mansion is post-invasion by Nymiera, Hazuki, and Anju because Indriad has their weapons locked in his house and Anju trapped in the Chrysalis Courtyard (though she claims she is there to protect someone). 

 

Maria is awoken from her crystal prison, trapped in the Marble Mansion, and forced to go by Marianette. My theory regarding this is that the mansion is actively traveling through random points of time, and at some point Indriad creates Melia, a maid version of Maria, and gives her to Vitus in the past in the Miera region Blacksteeple castle. It just so happens to enter the present timeline of the game, where the player enters the mansion and attempts to save Marianette (the normal badge scene). As a result of this, Maria remembers who she (a piece of Arceus) is and how to use her power, and she challenges Indriad. She also returns the player and the gang to the present, closing this particular portal.

 

Unfortunately for Maria, she loses, and is sacrificed in the alter that we see in the prologue in a last-ditch attempt to stop Arceus from awakening. Indriad escapes the Marble Mansion and the time-warp after finally killing Maria. In this sacrifice, he maintains ownership of the Archetype but Maria is no more (for now). His daughter didn't go without a fight, however, and Indriad is terminally injured (or, at the very least, realizes his mortality). He returns to Blacksteeple castle where he places the Archetype into Melia who he trapped there so long ago. At some point in this period, he also makes a trip to the Voidal Chasm where he finds his soon-to-be adopted son Gregory, the child of a couple who got stuck in the Voidal Chasm which named him after the Gregorian Lake hear Hiyoshi City. Perhaps when he escaped the Marble Mansion, he was actually dropped off in the Voidal Chasm.

 

6. Post-Calamity

Spoiler

Storm-9 breaks apart the region into the islands that we know in the game today. Most likely, it utilized some of the core's power to mess with earth's crust. Many Garufan structures are surfaced as a result of this, as well as much of the caverns I described earlier. An example of this is the area under Zone-Zero as well as castle Zygara. Actually, it is kind of concerning how much of the world seems to be suspended above void...

 

Hazuki makes it out alive, and with no one left marries Thomas Blackory who had been courting her before the storm. Little does she know that the only reason he married her was for her inheritance. Crescent's father makes it out alive as well and moves to Darchlight Town.

 

Maybe 20 years before the present, Indriad takes a presumably very young Geara to Goldenleaf Villiage and marries Narcissa under the name Sirius. He creates the Wispy Tower (a radio access point) and the villiage becomes a town. Behind closed doors, Sirius uses the Wispy Tower to investigate the former Ghovoran kingdom, finding Giratina and locking it away under the tower. It seems that Sirius' original goal was to amplify the power of his voice in order to achieve a kind of mind control for listeners of the channel. Key words would be carefully crafted to achieve a kind of subversive influence. Unfortunately, they would not be able to create such a power, and Sirius settles on simply destroying the world to make room for one which is smaller and easier to control. In the other timeline, I have a feeling Indriad also comes to this conclusion and uses the remaining power of the archetype to create a system which would spew toxic sludge into the waters to ruin what was remaining (hence why there is no Archetype in that timeline). 

 

This warped into a quest for immortality once he found the Den of Souls, a place where souls are most likely held to await further circulation from the Core. To pursue this research, Sirius and his team investigated Hoopa and Dusknoir to find an adequate pokemon which could return souls to bodies, but they ultimately settled on Giratina. Unfortunately for him, a little more than a decade ago, an unknown assailant (most likely someone from the revived team Xen), sets the tower on fire "killing" Sirius/Indriad. He, of course, escapes and returns to Blacksteeple castle and retrieves Melia who he had locked away so long ago, and puts the Archetype within her.

 

Now, for Madame X. I am relatively certain that (with the information we have as of now) Madame X is Maria. The evidence comes from the master-servant relationship with Melia described earlier, Nastasia's involvement with Team Xen (and how she remains a high-ranking member despite doing her own thing), her describing Yveltal (Vitus) as her father (meaning she at the very least is one of the children), and her words of advise to Maria in the prologue. 

 

~Now this part is speculation~ In the meantime, Kastsu, Nastasia, and possibly Venam's father: Matthew Vasile, and Eizen hear of Maria's death and work to bring back together the fragmented pieces of her soul. I am pretty sure Katsu and Nastasia must have been saved as Storm Chasers, as their age doesn't align with everything. The pieces are put into a suit created in the Amethyst caves. I have the feeling that what they bring back, however, is not the Maria from their world but someone from another. Whoever this presence is, they would now go as Madame X, and she revives team Xen. At some point, Katsu dies after this. My theory is that Madame X does not necessarily want to just see the destruction of the world (as Vitus did), but instead wants to destroy Karma and the world cycles, effectively ending humanity forever. This involves her fulfilling the Garufan dark prophesy (where four individuals plunge the world into evil/the Wilting ending), but I don't think this is all she wants to do. If she was happy with just the wilting ending, she would be allied with Vitus and would have kept the world in the alternate timeline. Instead, I think she's trying to leverage the wilting ending to fight against Karma.

~Back to confirmed/semi-confirmed events~

 

Regardless of Madame X's origin, Nastasia works for her in order to bring back a friend (presumably the Maria she knows). One of Madame X's first actions is to send a woman with black hair (Cassandra's first mission?) to set the Wispy Tower on fire and reclaim the Archetype from Indriad. Unfortunately, he escapes to the Blacksteeple tower. Presumably, Madame X pursues and kills Indriad, taking over his castle and watching him turn into an Yveltal as he dies. Unfortunately, before death, some piece of Indriad escapes and uses his server creation Garufan magic thing to merge with Anju, who is still his captive. This creates Angie, a kind of pseudo-servant it seems (considering her get-up and name). Madame X then blocks off half of the Blacksteeple Castle (Vitus' half) for some thing as of yet unknown. Nymiera's half is where she allows her people to occupy.

 

As new leader of team Xen, Madame X forms her team of admins and executives. This group consists of Vitus' his adopted son Gregory (now called Geara), Madelis who joins to protect her little sister Lizzie, Cassandra who joins also to protect someone, Neved the Route 9-Neverwinter sailor who joins for the ability to cure his light-sensitive Garufan daughter, Nastasia who helped revive her, and Jenner, a Storm Chaser. In defeating Indriad, she also gains control of Melia who she retrieves from the Blacksteeple castle, and gives her to Jenner to take care of. Team Xen clones Melia using a Solosis to make Zetta, the final executive, who has the ability to create dimensional rifts by accessing ley lines from the Core. My theory is that they wanted to create an older Melia who would be able to awaken the archetype immediately, but this was a bust.

 

Clear, Kieran, and a third member Eden are three robots created by someone from a parallel universe where the world is destroyed. This person retreated to the player's dimension just before the world ended, and created robots to aid them in their ultimate goal (as of yet unknown). As they seemed to know the characters Xara and Jean, the robots were designed after them. This person forms a group that creates a base on the moon which converts crimson quartz into black shards that have tremendous power. Eizen is also among them. To further the misison to destroy the world, Clear and Kieran join team Xen, and are highly influential in the destruction of Aelita's family (including Keta, Taelia, and Deagan). 

 

Souta, living in Aevium alone as a storm chaser waiting for Aelita, is given Erin by Spacia. She was originally found by Irvin in the past upon freeing herself from the AteBit world. However, Spacia took her from him as we was "not fit to raise her" and in many timelines she would die in his care. In his care, Erin was a fashionista, and Irvin claims she went to a design school. Souta uses a third, violet staff along with his will to create the Rose Tower over a recreation of the Violet Garden, as well as the Kimono Girls (all of these, including the tower, are servants of the violet staff). The staff itself is locked in a pedestal in the tower, awaiting someone who is capable of releasing it and recreating the structure. Souta raises Erin in the violet tower.

 

Around 13 years before the main plot, Grand Dream City is finally finished by Thomas Blackory. A couple years later, Cassandra is instilled as mayor of the GDC and gains the favor of Thomas Blackory by offering to create a dome over the Grand Dream City, for the proposed purpose of keeping absolute control over the city by the Blackorys. At the same time, Isha, who is in charge of the Hospital of Hope, is offered a deal to run a human/pokemon testing facility in exchange for research into fixing his condition. The use of a dome will be helpful for the Xenpurgis. Essentially, the plan created by Cassandra and Madelis was so unleash a dimensional rift under the locked down dome of GDC to kill many and capture the power from it. 

 

A little less than 7 years before the main storyline, Madame X creates the new headquarters for the team at the former Rejuvenation building in Zone Zero, and wins control of Mt. Ruin and the dark stone (Zekrom) after a duel ending in a draw with Celine. After this, Celine hides the light stone (Reshiram) in Kasumi's castle, creating Goomidra. This also leads to her creating the Aevium league. Celine takes place as champion, with Tesla, Dylan, Karen, Jolene, as the original elite 4. Alexandra and three others form the second half, making the elite 8. She also has Jan, Zumi, and Amanda as scouts for the 18 gym leaders.

 

Madame X then attacks Alamissa in an attempt to finally kill Celine.

 

7. Leading up to the Present:

Spoiler

Xara and Jean are Axis High University students who aim to compete with Saki Blackory in the annual engineering competition using their Ligosomnia Engine (a dream-connecting super computer similar to that owned by Fennel in Unova). Unfortunately, due to blatant Blackory nepotism Saki wins, and the engine loses research funding. Risa Burnette (and alter-ego pop-star Risa Raider) is their good friend and has an incurable disease. Unfortunately, she dies, but it is at this moment that Xara decides that she and Jean will bring her back in the dreamworld using the Ligosomnia Engine.

 

To get funding for this, the two blackmail the Blackorys, as they know about the family's connections with Team Xen. In exchange for the funding, the two create SEC, a security device, for Cassandra. To further development, the two begin using students for experiments into the engine, turning them into stone on accident when the machine required too much power and shut off. To get help, they also turn Xara's old Dittos into humans, named Comet and Cosmia. The goal of the engine becomes transferring consciousness (the soul) from a body into a computerized system (the black boxes).

 

Rune, now a professor at Axis High, suspects Xara and Jean to be up to something nefarious, and uses her former detective skills to investigate. To protect Huey and the people of GDC, she purposely corrupts her data to turn into an entity who can make tough decisions for the greater good: the Puppet Master.

 

Clear, Kieran, and Eden are, at this point, Xen workers. Clear, instead of acting as Xara, actually disguises herself as Risa due to her having more social power. As such, Clear is a Risa/Xara clone, Kieran a Jean Clone, and Eden is Eden. The three are working on gathering information from the past when Eden encounters Crescent at the school before storm-9. Most likely, they know of something of Crescent and the Protagonist with respect to the interceptor, and Eden decides to meddle. Unfortunately for them, Crescent is able to destroy them. The two surviving robots realize their own mortality, and develop a project which allows them to transfer souls into (or between) machine cores (the black boxes -- matter cubes). To actually do something like this, they need the power of the Ligosomnia Engine, so the two go to GDC to kill their counterparts and gain control of the project. 

 

Finally there is the matter of Crescent. Right before the incident at the SS Oceana, Crescent begins what will be her final mission for the storm chasers. She goes to the underground base at Axis High and steals three black boxes (essentially artificial brains) from Clear and Kieran. Crescent returns to the chasm where the Protagonist's body character and their six friends died, and gathers pieces of their souls. Alongside this, she uses the third box as a body for, Nancy, a caretaker modeled after their former teacher/social worker, and the fourth for Augustus, a ship captain. 

 

Crescent at this time is still the Interceptor, but she does not end up performing the duties of the interceptor to awaken Adrest. As such, when the seven friends retreat into the black box, they too meet Veriya and the interceptor program. Here, they were told that they are the interceptor, with the power to change the future. None of those people desire to be the interceptor, so instead the souls strike a deal with Adrest to bring in a third party (the player) to play as the interceptor for them. WE, as the player character, awaken on that boat, forgetting Crescent, Adrest, and the school childrens' souls all together.

 

As a result of the player being summoned as interceptor, Crescent's power is cut in half and given to the protagonist.

 

We end this summary with the SS Oceana. The events leading up to its sinking (including the involvement from Team Xen) are a stunt and planned from the start by Spacia and Tiempa. This is to introduce a new interceptor into the world, as Crescent did not complete her duties as one. Nastasia is called by the duo in an unofficial task, something that she will be punished for by Madame X later. On the ship (which is captained by Augustus), Crescent awakens the Interceptor, the player, who is a stand-in for the friend-souls who did not want to be revived. She doesn't realize that the player is, in fact, not her friend. Nastasia and Neved arrive onto the SS Oceana, and the rest is history.

 

As completing one's final mission means death, Crescent decided to rebel and go rogue (after an even fight with Spacia and Tiempa, that is). 

 

...............................................................................................................................................

 

What about the house???

 

The only thing I really can't piece together is the setting that everything actually happens in. It makes sense for the majority of the Indriad-Maria story to happen in the Marble Mansion, which is what I was rolling with for this post. It is this mansion that we physically see Anathea with Indriad and the four children, as well as Anathea and Indriad with only Maria, and Indriad and Marianette. The problem is: what is the house we see in the prologue? Where does this fit? In the prologue, we see Indriad actually sacrifice Anathea, a diverging story from her being killed by the cops and Gardevoir.  We also know the house exists and is not simply some kind of dream because we can find the house in the desert. The house can't be strictly a replacement for the marble mansion, because the mansion itself still exists when Nymiera and gang try to beat Indriad. 

 

This is speculative, but in the prologue at the house, Indriad calls Maria "Marian--", implying that this whole scenario is a rouse. I think that this house was used to break down Maria's psyche over and over again before Indriad sacrifices her for the calamity. In this case, the person who seems to be Anathea would probably just be a dressed up maid. This would explain why Madame X asks someone "how many times are you going to make this girl suffer?" assuming that someone is Indriad.

 

There is also the issue of Crescent bringing us to the house when she saves the interceptor. Later in the story, Crescent reveals that the house was in Seafore Edge and that she and the former friend would often go there to look at the coast.

 

Thanks for reading!

[Zohnical]

This makes too much sense, mainly the Madam X/Nastasia, Melia and Crescents final mission.

 

Hats off to ya, you made things make way more sense to me than before

[jimkas]

On 12/25/2023 at 3:56 AM, Celtizaya said:

Crescent returns to the chasm where the Protagonist's body character and their six friends died, and gathers pieces of their souls. Alongside this, she also steals three black boxes from Clear and Kieran, which she uses as a body for herself, her friend, and Nancy, a caretaker modeled after their former teacher/social worker. Unfortunately for Crescent, the soul brought back didn't want to be revived, and retreated into its own mind.

Small mistake I noticed. The third black box is confirmed to be Augusts.

[Celtizaya]

9 hours ago, jimkas said:

Small mistake I noticed. The third black box is confirmed to be Augusts.

Thanks! Fixed this.

[Celtizaya]

Just wanted to attach separately the thread discussing Madame X's identity. Looking back on this, I tried to mark clearly where speculation was happening, and obv no one knows yet who she is so I wanted to link to other people's ideas!