#or is this the only source and thus sketchy as canon

[irrationalgame]

[e-adlirez]

In the Shattered Pacifist AU, what happened that made Violet leave the academy?

Oh she didn't leave the academy-- she got kicked out :)

Context below the cut :D

(also for the record this version of SP!Vi is uh, not exactly canon to the main SP universe? It's kind of an angst AU thing for myself-maybe, an edgelord McGee AU where the angst is shoved to the max, y'know? Not necessarily canon, but it is something)

TW: blackmail, manipulation, defamation

So as we all know SP!Thea is... SP!Thea, being very sketchy and all that, and we know that she has five very intelligent, very curious, and very nosy children she's adopted and mentored for a while <3

Sooo in this scenario, through some sketchiness and extra work and research, SP!Vi found out about the Stilton fam's sketchiness, particularly Thea's, and went to confront her about it.

It does not go well, and Thea ends up blackmailing her into silence, basically threatening to ruin her reputation to hell and back if she dares say a word to anyone about what happened.

Now, Vi for me is the type of person who would think of a million possible situations for something and a million possible actions, and uh she just had her hero ruined for her forever, more or less. So what do?

She could stay silent, bite back, or tell the girls anyway, trusting them enough to be able to keep a secret, which if their history is anything to go off of, they a hundred percent can be trusted.

So she tells the girls and asks them to keep this a secret, and the girls... they dunno what to do :D they just got told by one of their closest friends that their mentor and idol is a bad person-- like-- what do you say to that :D

Now the girls are torn between keeping their promise to keep it a secret, or to ask Thea what the hell is going on. Now the girls at this point have been seeing little tensions bubbling up between the two. They dunno what the hell happened, but something clearly happened for things to get this way, and they're being caught in the crossfire, and now they... kinda have to choose a side. In this scenario, the girls turn to ask Thea about what the hell is going on between her and Vi, and if they can maybe hear both sides of the argument because holy crap Vi made some insane allegations like "being a negligent parent", among a loooootttt of others.

SP!Thea being SP!Thea and knowing what Vi did (because who else would've snitched right) then fulfills the promise she made where she ruins the living crap out of Violet's reputation, and that brings us to the present.

She's now expelled from the academy, deported to and stuck in NMC, and she doesn't have anything besides what she was able to carry with her.

Oh and uh, now everyone and their mother in Mouse Island hates her, due to that one article published by the Rodent's Gazette about a star student of Mouseford potentially soliciting Cat Head to attempt taking Thea's life that one time. There's no real evidence to dispel or prove this rumor (and thus no real reason for the NMC police department to get involved), but eh, it's from the Rodent's Gazette and we all know how legit the Rodent's Gazette is, so it's good as fact. You can say just enough and twist the timeline of events just enough for the people to believe what you want them to believe, especially if you are able to call up the name of a reputed source. Who cares if it's from the gossip column that was only added in the Gazette very recently and was its debut article, right? The Gazette's the ol' reliable! You can always trust the Rodent's Gazette to spit cold, hard facts!

So you may be wondering, "where are the Thea Sisters and Vi's family in all this?"

And to that I say they're mostly fine. Ever since Vi's expulsion and the publish of the article, they've been trying their damndest to contact her, but strangely enough she's not responding. She's never online on any of her social medias, she doesn't respond to texts, messages or emails, and when you try to call her, your phone just says immediately that the number cannot be reached. Strange...

[the-mspfa-200-favourites-project]

The Egbert Parable

Okay, we’ve had so many responses to the Homestuck Epilogues/HS^2/Post Canon get popular, so why not one more. This one, however, has the most freakiest looking logo I’ve ever seen, because of the animation tweening that’s happening in it. Is that the word? Tweening? Whatever, it’s weird and offputting and also makes me think that THIS WORK is going to be weird and offputting, which is certainly not a vibe I would ascribe currently to ANY of the continuations looked at thus far in 2020. Also I think the title *might* be a reference to The Stanley Parable, which is certainly a work that you don’t reference lightly. You only reference it when the specific mood you want to create is confusing, meta-laden and funny as all get out. That’s the kind of vibe I’m always searching for, so, let’s see if it pays off this time. And apparently this was an ask blog at one point? Interesting…

OOOO page 9 is an absolute BEAST. It’s like, combing the typical Homestuck^2 lineless artstyle with like, this shading pattern that makes it all sketchy and stuff…like the colors and bleeding into each other in such dynamic ways…I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s effective enough to make me write down what I thought about it, and I think that speaks for itself…

I think what’s different about this continuation is that it’s. like. not taking place in a pocket dimension where the Epilogues haven’t happened? It’s like. Hey. Yeah. Homestuck^2 happened, here’s another way things could have gone. It’s ENGAGING with the source text instead of spitting on it, or pretending it doesn’t exist. Which is cool to see. Like yeah, the Homestuck Epilogues are canon to this, what’s the big deal here? Yeah, the authors know what the heck is up with HS^2’s usage of prose, it’s chill. We use it so that we don’t have to draw that stuff. That’s great.

Okay yeah this is weird as all get out and COMPELLING as all get out as well. It’s doing strange things with the presentation, with how it actually CARES AND HAS READ THAT ONE PART ABOUT DELTRITUS AND HOW THE LANDSCAPE MOVES? That part was awesome. NOBODY talks about how much Deltritus shifts and changes it’s landscape from day to day, but here it is. This is probably the most engaging response to Homestuck^2 I’ve ever read. This is catharsis, yes, but it’s cantharis of a different kind…more akin to noise music, perhaps. Okay yeah, if you’re interested in this kind of stuff, go read the Egbert Parable. It’s really good.

[theannoyingurge]

Continued: Raphael, Bhaal, Withers (yes, even Bone Man is deceiving you) and the Strange Ox (he's lying to everyone, but especially You) Raphael - Knows you stole the crown with Gortash (thanks for the source!). Knows you probably did gross sex stuff with his former prisoner/foster son, whom he is now sending you off to kill. He knows all this and it eats at him, because telling you would make it harder to manipulate you into giving it back. That's His Crown that he wrote 100 chapters of fanfiction about obtaining, and His Stupid Bootlicker to get revenge on, and here he is reciting poetry to You and offering you deals that don't even include selling your soul (at first) and probably listening to you make fun of him at every opportunity. You can tease him about failing to steal it himself, and he pointedly leaves out the key detail that you were one of the annoying mortals who stole it. And then you can fuck his personal incubus and roast him again! Gotta love this game. Bhaal - Was dead for over a century before supposedly crafting Durge from his own gore. Or via 'divine parthenogenesis' depending on the dialog. Sometimes you're called his purest spawn. Other times you are 'spillage'. Whatever the fuck is going on with Durge's conception story, Bhaal is a lying bastard about it. (This one has little to do with amnesia, just carrying the theme of gaslighting my favorite murder woobie.)

Withers - Totally knew who you were from the beginning. Was/Is Jergal, the Lord of the End of Everything and OG god of Death. May or may not still be the BBEG, depending on how far you're willing to look into the future (to get to his ultimate goal of resetting time itself to a backup save of the universe that his super intelligent alien race created just before blowing themselves up and producing a baby God of Death named Jergal.) Jergal was responsible for the construction of ancient Netheril, the growth of the art of Necromancy among humans, the subsequent fall of Netheril (having manipulated Karsus from birth), and the ascension of the Dead Three. He can thus be held personally responsible in several ways for the Absolute crisis - not only for promoting the Dead Three in the first place, but via the crown that his divine grandchild eventually stole from Hell itself and did evil shenanigans with. Fun fact, he used to date Shar and may have incited horrors beyond all comprehension that we can't even list here. He canonically enjoys fucking with Shar and the Dead Three for funsies. He also exploits the Cult of the Dragon to blow up dracoliches in the faces of tyrants who get on his nerves. He might be using his twisted sense of humor for the power of the Greater Good nowadays. (Depends on how closely Kelemvor watches his butler, I guess.) TL;DR: When Withers brings Resist!Durge back from the dead, and claims he is now your advocate in both life and the City of Judgement, he may or may not just be covering his own ass. Whatever he showed Arabella is also sketchy. Don't assume granddad (aka 'The Pitiless One') has gone soft just yet. You are a pawn in a whole new scheme now. But at least this one has family reunions! And they don't even feature incest! You'll catch more flies with honey, Bhaal. The Strange Ox - Okay hear me out. It worships Cyric. End. (Just kidding! This one is itching to break free.) The Strange Ox seems to recognize that you're also a monster trying to be a person, and it uses this weird cameraderie to convince you to smuggle it into the city. The city where Bhaal currently reigns as Lord of Murder, after usurping Cyric ~10 years ago (who usurped him first). It was The Dark Urge who revived the the cult of Bhaal, a feat which presumably entails killing or reforming any existing murder cultists who worshipped Cyric. And now you're bringing his worshippers back, after wiping out Bhaal's temple for him. I cannot believe I'm saying this, but I think Cyric may have won this one. Like, I told my dad to get fucked, but I love that stupid ox. I will never stop gnawing on the letter Withers penned to the Dark Sun at the epilogue party. Please let my puny mortal mind understand it. Please.

Playing with the idea that none of the bg3 villains are fully honest with Durge. Everyone is hiding some piece of the puzzle and happy to abuse the amnesia situation to their advantage. 'Cept Kressa. She's psycho, but she's an honest psycho. In another life, we might have been friends.

Ketheric is the first, most obvious example of this. He doesn't even bother to inform the other Chosen you've reappeared. (Myrkul is the god of exhaustion, so this tracks.)

Balthazar also 100% recognizes you and also doesn't even bother. To him, your amnesia means no tedious reunions with annoying Bhaalspawn who are big mad that he stole their brother's name and rib bones.

The Emperor is sometimes overlooked when piecing together Durge's history, but he admits to knowing your past if you reject him in Act 3 (stating "I know everything about you" while threatening to turn you into a puppet like Duke Stelmane). Whether or not he's posturing, he should at least be aware of your past with Gortash, considering you helped kidnap him in the first place. For evidence, see Gortash's interrogation notes, which open with "When we captured you". (Sure, this could refer to Orin, but I simply do not see these two working as a highly functional team. More on this and the timeline below the cut.) Naturally, despite traveling together for months, The Emperor wouldn't want to fill any gaps in your memory that might cast doubt on his trustworthiness or help align you with his enemy.

The Absolute might be lying about respecting you/your plan and preferring you over your replacement. I am of two minds about this. If you were attacked immediately after crowning the brain, there should be no basis for a preferential relationship. In that case, the brain is just stroking your ego and need for approval. However, I have doubts about Durge being taken down during the initial raid.** I think some time must have passed after crowning the Absolute, giving it the chance to develop a working relationship with you that it lacked with the other Chosen, which caused everything to fall apart after you were tadpoled. This also buys us time to kidnap the Emperor and bring it under the Absolute's thrall as described in Gortash's interrogation notes.

**Some of Gortash's other notes claim Durge was lost during the first raid, but his journals are full of contradictions. He leaves the House of Hope out of his memoirs entirely. He seemingly retcons history to present himself in a more favorable light, which probably includes intentionally diminishing the work of his allies (or erasing the painful memory of his nearest and dearest). In any interpretation, the brain definitely hates Gortash the most, and that's good enough for me.

Orin and Gortash paint somewhat conflicting pictures of you pre-tadpole. The difference here might be genuine (the honest perspectives of a little sister vs a business partner or lover) or it could be a manipulative game of tug of war over your budding and impressionable self image.

Now, I like Durgetash - but I like every possible interpretation of these assholes, not just the mutually reciprocated and/or sexy ones. It's conceivable to me that Gortash may have discovered Durge's crush on him via the Prayer for Forgiveness and played up their history in Act 3 as a defensive measure. Maybe Gortash always knew of Durge's feelings and used them to his advantage (Orin outright tells you this, but again, nobody listens to Orin. Sorry sis).

It's also conceivable that he knew Durge was the first to be tadpoled, considering how close their pod was to his workbench. The brain was given orders to transform the party (that were resisted several times), so Gortash's surprise that Durge still lives makes sense, assuming he even knew Durge was with them (he doesn't seem to be checking the scrying eyes at all. What kind of loser tyrant ignores his own surveillance system? I digress). His general relief and preference for them over Orin is also still valid. (I imagine he feels something along the lines of Durge being the one who got away, you don't know what you've got until it's gone, etc etc. Cue hysterical bonding as the long lost love of his life waltzes into his coronation covered in blood to save him from their psychotic sister and the poorly housetrained Netherbrain they left him full custody of. Yes he wanted full custody, but still.)

Puppy eyes aside, Gortash is a blackhearted pragmatist (he will turn on Durge if they give him the stones) and progress is progress. The first True Soul was an incredible breakthrough, and the show must go on. So just imagine the bricks he's shitting in Act 3 if Durge comes back and remembers the Wrong Things from before the nautiloid. What if they want revenge on him? Nope, not good at all. Best to position himself as Durge's only friend and most trustworthy partner. Regardless of how well he treated them before, Durge was willing to piss off Bhaal to spare his life. That's an extremely useful vulnerability right now, because he's about to ask them to do it again!

Lastly, I have no proof, but I strongly suspect that Sceleritas is fibbing about Durge's past as well. Partly because the Slayer form is severely disappointing in-game and canonically excrutiatingly painful, despite Fel claiming you've always wanted it. It honestly sounds like a way to sell an unwanted used car back to it's amnesiac owner who failed to appreciate it before. Bhaal isn't a full deity any longer, so take what you're given (and you'd better damned well like it!) I also call bullshit on tossing a coin to a beggar being the "worst" crime Durge ever committed against Bhaal (*ahem* looking at you, Gortash). Some dialogue with the Oathbreaker Paladin suggests we've tried somewhat consistently to be good in the past, and Sceleritas has a vested interest in making Durge worse, not planting noble ideas in their freshly lobotomized murder-happy brain.

[fictionadventurer]

There is an elaborate somewhat-more-politically-realistic Princess Diaries 2 AU that forever lives in my head, and is an important part of my soul even if I’m never going to write it.

It starts with Mia and Michael’s breakup. Michael wants to focus on his music and doesn’t want to be overshadowed by being “the boyfriend of the princess” walking half a step behind her at all times. Thus leaving Mia in exactly the same situation that her father was in with her mother. The parallel is heartbreaking and the story digs into the emotional fallout from it.

The media and politics are huge concerns. There’s a ton of controversy around the fact that Clarisse has brought in a random American teenager as heir. Now that Mia’s been here a few years, the fairy tale glow around her story has faded, making her just another politician in the eyes of Genovia. A very controversial one, since she’s an American outsider in this proud country’s political system. Mia’s getting attacked from all sides at the slightest provocation.

Mia’s uncle, Father Pierre Renaldi, is a significant supporting character. He had been raised as the crown prince and abdicated to join the church (which is canon per the first movie). After Philippe died, Pierre had a moment of doubt that he’d chosen the wrong vocation and doomed Genovia to a succession crisis. He was relieved when Mia took the job, and he’s appointed himself a sort of spiritual advisor/father figure. He knows the expectations of this role--he lived in it--so he can give Mia tons of useful advice. He also guides Mia spiritually, since she and her Mom were mostly agnostic and she now has to take a role as the queen of largely-Catholic Genovia.

Another significant source of support comes from her grandfather’s younger sister, Ann. (Of Roman Holiday fame. Since this is only an imaginary movie, she is played by a gracefully aged Audrey Hepburn). Ann’s more free-spirited ways provide a nice contrast to Clarisse’s graceful propriety and Pierre’s sober wisdom. Ann will, on rare but necessary occasions, kidnap Mia away from a day of royal duties to enjoy a day of freedom in Genovia. This has actually been extremely helpful in getting Mia to understand and connect with the people and the culture of her new nation. (Mia will often wear her curly hair and glasses to avoid detection on these days).

Once the news of Mia’s breakup with Michael becomes public, the tabloids go wild. Everyone is suddenly speculating about her marriage prospects--which brings to mind the crazy succession crisis that brought Mia to the throne, and suddenly everyone is worried about the production of heirs and the stability of the monarchy and Mia is absolutely sick of it.

Mia is good friends with Andrew, who’s a Genovian duke. Her grandmother constantly hints that he would be the perfect consort. The tabloids constantly circulate wild rumors about the two of them. They have absolutely no romantic feelings toward each other, and Mia is just relieved to have one person her age among the Genovian nobility who provides good, solid friendship without expecting any favors from her.

The breakup with Michael has made Mia realize that normal rules of love and romance don’t get to apply to royals, and when all the marriage speculation gets to be too overwhelming, she proposes to Andrew for all the very logical reasons that everyone suggests. Andrew is all for it, also seeing the logic of the choice. Mia convinces herself that she’ll be very happy with him.

The romance plot afterward is still very sketchy. She probably meets Nicholas on one of her Genovian holidays. Neither of them recognizes the other (Mia’s wearing her glasses and natural curls, and Nicholas looks nothing like the wild young lordling the tabloids love to plaster on their covers). They later meet at a royal ball and recognize each other. Nicholas’ family doesn’t much like this American interloper of a princess, so he kind of holds it over her head that he knows about her secret escapes from palace life.

But Mia’s able to banter right back by bringing up some of the (wildly exaggerated, but still concerning) stories of Nicholas’ wild behavior. Before the end of the night, they’re both more interested in the other than they’d like to admit.

She keeps running into Nicholas and keeps finding more to like about him. They’re both finding that the other one isn’t nearly as bad a person as they had initially believed. Nicholas is surprised to find that Mia’s got a sharp mind and good ideas for ruling Genovia. Mia’s surprised that Nicholas even cares about the ruling of Genovia--he had some wild times in college, but he does care about this nation.

Clarisse sees the spark of interest between the two of them and warns Mia away from it--no good can come from letting a Devereaux near the throne, and especially not this one. If Mia thinks the tabloids are too hard on her now, what will they say if she gets seduced by the tabloid bad-boy darling? And especially if she backs out of her already-public engagement? 

But the connection she has with Nicholas is starting to feel a lot more like love than the relationship she has with Andrew. After one particularly stern lecture from Clarisse on the subject, Mia goes to Ann for sympathy. She learns that even Ann once gave up love--sparked during one glorious day of freedom with a journalist in Rome--for duty. Mia’s dismayed.

There are talks with Father Pierre about the self-giving nature of marriage and the requirements for the sacrament.

There is still an archery scene, and I’d really like it to involve the real-life Olympics-type competition that occurs between the micro-nations of Europe. Nicholas is a competitive arche.

There are complications once the tabloids and Andrew find out about all this. Andrew and Mia come to the conclusion that whatever friendship they have isn’t enough to sustain a marriage.

One of the ways Nicholas proves his suitability as a romantic interest is by publicly breaking from his family’s political positions to support a policy of Mia’s. He believes in her as a queen and is willing to support her.

The fact that I can’t get any more specific than this about the actual romance part of it is why this AU will never get written, but I still love it.

[clouds-of-wings]

I think most posts on here that are trying to defend Ben's actions throughout the series are not ambitious enough. They mostly refer to psychology to explain why he did what he did without even considering the possibility that his actions were logical and even right.

(Warning: very long post ahead)

Of course, this line of argument is made more difficult by the canon itself - namely that the writers have him say in season 6 that he was only ever after power, that he did terrible things he had to atone for etc. I think his character arc in season 6 doesn't do him justice and is inconsistent with other parts of the show. A significant part of the problem is probably the big number of different writers and directors throughout the show, each of whom viewed the characters they wrote about differently and had a different understanding of their motives.

Any understanding of the motives of characters is further complicated by the absolutely annoying way in which information is being revealed in Lost - most of the time, the characters are willing to base their action upon information they KNOW is so sketchy and incomplete as to be practically useless, only caring to ask the most obvious follow-up questions to a comment or instruction in-show days or weeks later. For example, to the best of my knowledge, no one ever asks what precisely would happen in Smokey were to leave the island or how and why exactly he is evil. Richard (and Jacob's ghost, if I remember correctly) just tells them that it would be very, very bad - and somehow that's enough information for everybody. Unless someone takes the initiative to explain themselves, we won't know what exactly they want because the others are sure as hell not going to ask for it. And which character holds his cards closest to his chest? Exactly. No wonder we don't get a good view at them.

So, going partially against canon and thinking about how someone in this world, outside the Lost universe, would deal with the situation at hand is probably the only way of judging anyone's actions in the show. And in the case of Ben, here's how the situation presents itself, in my view at least:

He is on a secret island that holds immense power - he does not know precisely what kind of power but has seen enough (and been brought back from near-death by this strange power) to know the place is special - there's a giant smoke monster in the forest, ghosts of dead people appear, and a smart child like him would probably have known at least roughly what the Dharma initiative was researching, that there was a source of unlimited and volatile energy they were unearthing. Later on, he is put in charge of leading the main group of the island's permanent inhabitants.

Now it is up to debate how much Ben knows about the world outside the island, but from the way he navigates it when he arrives in Tunisia through the wheel it appears as though he's pretty worldly.

Going from that, what would realistically be likely to happen if the island was discovered? There are several possibilities:

1. Due to the healing power the island possesses, sick people from all over the world would want to come. As we know, the health effects of simply being on the island are reversible - John Locke is back in his wheelchair when he leaves (but also not when he tries to kill himself? I don’t know) - so permanent residence on the island would become impossibly expensive. We also know the island doesn't heal automatically - Ben got a tumor - and even kills people intentionally. We don't know what the island's criteria and basic "ideology" are. If the island is charitable, it would over time be covered by houses for very rich terminally ill people. With the bamboo forest cleared to make room for houses, people who would sooner or later discover the Source and thus hold the fate of the world in their hands.

1.2 This is, of course, based on the assumption that ownership of the island can be determined. Since it is assumed that there are no undiscovered land masses, there is no law regarding this scenario. Every piece of the Earth (except for Antarctica and some disputed territories such as Palestine) is part of a nation-state. Assuming the island is more than 12 nautical miles away from land, it is in international waters. Best-case scenario, the island declares independence immediately (and its declaration is accepted!), the worst-case scenario would probably be closer to war over which country it belongs to. After all, as I wrote above, an island with the kind of healing powers this one possesses would be invaluable. And that's not even mentioning the...

2. Unlimited electromagnetic power. Oh, the possibilities. The likely outcome here would be to transform the Island into a military station. And then they find the Source. In a touch of realism, by the way, the biggest funder of the Dharma initiative was an arms dealer.

These two outcomes would be the most likely in my view. In any case, the powers of the Island would be commercialised, the Island itself colonialised. Sooner or later whoever has control over it would find the source and effectively control the fate of the world. That someone would likely be a national government that now has the ultimate WMD in its hands.

And that's why the Island has to be kept a secret at all costs. The reason is not that otherwise Charles Widmore will go around murdering people, and it's certainly not, as a writer stupidly has Ben say in the finale, just "how Jacob ran things", something that can be changed by Hurley's cuddliness. It's not exaggerated to say that the freedom and potentially the survival of the entire world depends on the Island staying secret. And that's why imprisoning people on the island who were just unfortunate to come there is justified, it's why murdering in order to keep it secret is justified. It's by far the smaller evil. It's the kind of work no one wants to do but, in the context Lost sets up, someone has to do. Here, Ben has the unenviable task of doing it.

Same goes for The Purge. Seeing the Others/Hostiles as people who just irrationally want to have other people off "their" island is missing the point. Firstly, Dharma is threatening the survival of the island itself, and secondly, they might also find the Source. What alternative to killing them is there if they won't leave on their own? Just letting them in on the secret would probably not be a good idea, as shown by their recklessness in dealing with the energy pocket.

The scientists who discovered how nuclear energy could be weaponised wrote a letter to the US government afterwards begging it not to use their discovery. But it was in vain. These scientists might have wished for the rest of their lives that they had kept their knowledge secret - although in their case the discovery could have been made by someone else (likely the Nazis). The Island, on the other hand, can only be revealed by someone who has been there and knows where it is.

The strange thing is that this line of reasoning would, of all in-show lines, best be summed up by Smokey's famous "They come. They fight. They destroy. They corrupt." - yet keeping the Island secret is by imprisoning everyone who knows about it on it is, as Ben says in the finale, "the way Jacob ran things". Jacob, who ostensibly had a more positive view of humanity than his brother. Or did he learn better after Dharma and the nuclear tests the US government conducted?

[tomatifritu-blog]

Posted 14 Apr 2010 (edited) Baring in mind, it's basically fanon. And also more related to Archie.

Quote I was wondering when someone was going to bring up the other color "emeralds." Let me quote the technical workup piece on Chaos emeralds I did for Ken as he was preparing for this story. Remember, this is written for use in the Sonic comic series, so it's a blend of scientific fact (such as the different colors of beryl) with the way we've seen the Chaos emeralds used in the Sonic universe, trying to meld the two together and give it a more scientific foundation. The Creation of Chaos Emeralds

Emeralds are crystals of the mineral beryl, a silicate of beryllium, aluminum, silicon, and oxygen. On earth conditions have to be just right to form an emerald. Thanks to the Xorda's power source in their Gene Bomb, the earth was subjected to a massive energy wave that acted the same as a seed crystal to start the transformation of earth's beryl deposits into their crystalline form. But this crystal wasn't forming a natural emerald crystal matrix pattern. Instead its matrix formed in such a way that the crystal was able to tap into the zero-point energy that is available at every point in the universe. An unlimited source of power fed by the chaotic energies of the universe. A Chaos Emerald.

The power of a Chaos emerald has been described as being infinite. But the mistake being made by those familiar with the emeralds was that the emeralds themselves contained the power. They did not. They merely acted as a resonating chamber, tapping the virtually limitless power of zero-point energy. When an emerald has power drawn from it, the crystal structure taps this energy, acting as a conductor into the physical world. But, if too much power is drawn from the emerald, the crystal matrix begins to breakdown, and the power available from the crystal drops to nothing. It appears the crystal had been "drained", but more technically correct is that it had become de-crystallized.

While Chaos emeralds are usually green, it's not the only color they can appear as. Other crystals of beryl include aquamarine (blue) , heliodore (yellow to yellow-orange), morganite (pink), goshenite (transparent or white), and bixbite (red). The color of the crystal depends upon the "contamination" element mixed with the beryl. For normal green emeralds, that element is chromium or vanadium. Red beryl (bixbite) comes from a manganese contamination. Blue beryl or aquamarine contaminant is iron, and so forth. Thus it would be possible to have Chaos "emeralds" of colors other than green, as all use beryl as the base material. It also explains why the different color crystals would have differing effects. Each contamination element would "color" the energy transmitted by the crystal.

==========================

So you see, we already had the different color emeralds accounted for. Ken just never got the chance to use this in a story. Ken and I have the same outlook in that what appears as "magic" in the Sonic universe actually has a technological/scientific foundation. We're firm believers in Arthur C. Clarke's statement, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

BTW, if you'd like to read more about beryl, Wikipedia has a pretty good write-up at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryl.

For tl;dr people

Chaos Emerald = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7KbViyfOYg

Even though I'm not a fan of Archie, this, actually makes perfect sense! And explains a lot on how the emeralds have such vast power!

Edited 14 Apr 2010 by DarkOverord

Posted 15 Apr 2010 Can't say much about how it applies to the Archie Sonic universe as I'm not too familiar with it, but it seems to make sense (at least, as much as needed to pass as sense in a comic book).

Not so much for the games, tho', which are more my area of expertise...I've never put together a full comprehensive theory, but I have come up with parts.

Their origin is the sketchiest part; despite showing up in many different civilizations, there's no real indication where they were first found, nor where they were before that. If I had to guess, I'd say they came from the special stages; the laws of nature seem pliable enough there that something of that sort could be created, and it's the one place they show up in fairly consistently (though, it's also one of the few places that's consistently used in the games, since it seems like each game takes place in a completely different location).

As far as showing up in so many different places...the backstories (specifically those of the Genesis games) will say that the emeralds are "on the island", but that's not exactly true; in the main games, they're often found in special stages. It's not that the emeralds are actually on the island, but that the island has a way to access where the emeralds are. It's possible the ancient cultures were somehow able to access the special stages (Sonic 2 says the emeralds were "sealed" on the island; the only thing close that you experience in the game is having to get into the special stages), or that the emeralds "fell out" and actually were found on the island (which would explain why they're around in games without special stages; the setting is an access point, but the emeralds have already passed into Sonic's world).

The special stages, and possibly the emeralds themselves, seem to have some connection to rings. Rings are often used to access (both in collecting 50, or passing through a giant one), used to complete, or are simply found in abundance within, the special stages. Also, at least one translation of the Japanese manual for Sonic 1 states that South Island moves in a circle, which warps space such that the emeralds gather there (or something...it's not exactly clear what it's all supposed to mean). There's also the 50 rings needed to transform, or granted when you transform, though this one may be falling out of use...

In use, the emeralds may have something like a symbiotic relationship with living creatures. The Japanese Sonic 1 manual says that they give energy to living things (supported by the game's good ending, where they cause flowers to grow). Sonic Adventure introduced the idea of the emeralds turning thoughts into power, which has carried over to later games. There's no hint as to what the emeralds could be getting back (though one could propose that they "feed" on emotions and produce energy as a byproduct), though there is some reason to believe they are able to "get something back", that is, they aren't merely inanimate objects. In Sonic Adventure, the Master Emerald shows Knuckles the Egg Carrier when he's wondering where the last shards are, and at the end of Rush Adventure it's proposed that the emeralds are "helping" the heroes. It's possible they may be alive, in some sense of the word...and based on their proposed actions, they're presumably good. Or, maybe only good when they've been "fed" positive emotions? Impossible to say, at this point.

The exact mechanics of the emeralds changing thoughts into power are presumably well into the realm of technobabble or new-agey babble (I assume "resonance" would come up often), but the initial cause and final effect are within reasonable explanation. When a living creature (or at least a creature capable of emotions) pours their thoughts into an emerald, they are able to get back power in proportion to, and of the same type as, what they put in. Positive emotions give positive Chaos energy, associated with light, creation, happiness, optimism, etc. Negative emotions give negative Chaos energy, associated with darkness, destruction, depression, anger, etc. Positive Chaos energy allows Chaos Control, Super forms, and presumably Chip's barrier and the Gaia Colossus. Negative energy allows Chaos Blast, the werehog (and Dark Gaia spawn), Perfect Chaos, and possibly (though very debatably) Darkspine form. There may be some amount of overlap, as Shadow was using Chaos Control throughout SA2, where his intentions were anything but good.

How the emeralds relate to other superpowered artifacts (if at all) is sketchy at best. The time stones are superficially similar, but as they've only been used once and were never given much explanation, it's impossible to say if there's any deeper connection. The Sol emeralds are stated to be their parallel-dimension counterparts, with similar powers and natures, but little has been said about the specifics. The Chaos Rings were said to have been created by Chaos energy filling the space left by a giant ring; presumably they are merely some small-scale (but still potent) side effect of chaos energy, but like the time stones, we have little to go on. They are interesting for the possible connection to the World Rings, tho'.

The Super Emeralds are...interesting. The Japanese manual states that there was a set of emeralds on Angel Island, in such a way that it is extremely unlikely that they were the same emeralds Sonic had. These emeralds were seemingly destroyed when the Death Egg crashed into the island, seemingly restored (physically) when Sonic brought his emeralds into the Hidden Palace, and restored properly after completing 7 more special stages. The existence of another set of emeralds doesn't mesh well with current canon, and the last bit is kind of odd in the mechanics of it (the special stage is exactly the same whether you're retrieving a physical emerald or restoring power to a dead one? Right up to actually finding an emerald?). For this, I have an unorthodox theory: the emeralds we see in the Hidden Palace, and that are mentioned in the manual, are not real Chaos Emeralds. They're something artificial, and somehow connected to the emeralds. The power of the emeralds restores them, but not the connection; they act as teleporters, the same as big rings, and allow Sonic to retrieve the emerald again and restore the connection. What I'm not sure how to explain with this theory, though, is the power boost; why, then and only then, the emeralds are "Super" and allow for Hyper forms. If you're still reading after all this, give yourself a cookie, you've earned it. My previous theory explained this, but required them to be real emeralds; the chaos emeralds took the form of the destroyed Angel Island set, and allowed Sonic to obtain the destroyed set's power and combine it with his set. This allowed for more power than before, but for some reason it was only temporary, and the emeralds reverted to their original size and strength (though keeping the shape) after S3&K. The Master Emerald is less problematic, but no better explained; it's there, it's very powerful, and it can shut down the Chaos Emeralds temporarily, and that's about all we know.

The World Rings are an odd case, as it's just as plausible for them to be completely unrelated to the emeralds as it is for them to be the emeralds. There's no stated connection, unlike the Sol and Master Emeralds. But the similarities are hard to ignore; seven multicolored crystalline objects, possessing immense power, linked to emotions, that give Sonic a powered-up form. It's possible for them to be the storybook-equivalent to the emeralds, in the same way that Sinbad and Gawain are the storybook equivalents to Knuckles. There's also one scene where Sonic proposes that they come from outside of the storybook, like himself, because only he can touch them. This is never expanded on, but nor is it refuted; and given the similarity, if they are something from outside the books, it's quite plausible for them to be the emeralds, in a different form. Or, there's the slim chance that they may be Chaotix's Chaos Rings; certainly having two similar ring-shaped sets of artifacts would be quite a coincidence. On the other hand, nothing hints at this being true, and Chaotix may have been removed from canon as of Heroes.

Hm, do I want to keep babbling on, or...well, I suppose I can talk about characters that are in some way related to the emeralds.

Chaos is, as revealed in his Sonic Channel profile, a mutated/evolved chao. Presumably his mutation is due to the power of the emeralds (chao are at least able to make use of chaos energy, as demonstrated by SA2's Chaos Drives), though why he mutated so much is impossible to say. Considering that chao are rather squishy and the Chaos Chao being entirely natural (if obscure) evolutions, I'd guess that Chaos being a living water creature is an extension of his chao form, rather than a replacement of it; that is, all chao are squishy watery thingies. His mutation also seems to give him a strong connection with the emeralds, able to use them to change his form from man-sized humanoid to skyscraper-sized sea serpent. Presumably he uses exclusively negative energy throughout the game, as he's consumed with rage and hatred after seeing his family and friends (the chao at the shrine) slaughtered by the echidnas...it's an interesting question if he would have the same forms if he had used positive power...

Shadow is both extremely proficient with Chaos energy and also something of a living Chaos Emerald. The research of the team behind Project Shadow, combined with the Black Arms (or perhaps just Black Doom's?) natural inclination towards it, allowed for the creation of a creature with better control over this energy than almost anything before or since. He's also been shown, both in ShtH and Battle, to be able to use Chaos energy without possession of an emerald, presumably producing it in his own body. It's worth bringing up Chaos Drives at this point: though almost nothing has been said of them, my theory is that they're small artificial emeralds. Not powerful enough to rival a real emerald (or Tails' fake), but enough to power an ordinary robot and give chaos-sensitive creatures a small boost. And on the subject of the Black Arms; it's a bit odd for them to even know of the emeralds/chaos control, being from another planet. Did they learn all of this during earlier visits, or is it possible to access special stages even on other planets?

Emerl/the Gizoid almost seems designed for a symbiotic relationship with the emeralds. He has a capability for learning and thinking that matches or possibly exceeds modern robots, presumably being "human" enough for the emeralds to make use of his emotions. The more emeralds he gets, the more intelligent he becomes, the better he's able to express emotion, and thus the more power he gets from the emeralds. Is it reasonable to propose that his "overload" at the end of the game is a result of an infinite feedback loop in this system?

Mephiles...no freakin' clue. He can use them, and he seems to have some specific dominion over time...beyond that, I don't know.

Dark and Light Gaia seem to be living embodiments of negative and positive Chaos energy, respectively. The whole of Unleashed is tied up in connections between light/dark, day/night, positive/negative energy, and positive/negative emotions. Their power grows as they sleep, possibly fueled by the thoughts of the creatures living on the planet, until they awaken and destroy/remake the world. Both were reawakened with Eggman's use of a massive negative Chaos energy beam, with Dark Gaia presumably getting a head start, though not enough to be complete. It's possible that the purpose of restoring the emeralds was so they could create more positive energy and help Light Gaia catch up; with each restored emerald it becomes stronger, shown by the continents rejoining, until it is strong enough to contact its avatar, Chip, and become whole again.

Sonic's the big one, so I've saved him for last. Sonic shows an amazing amount of control over the emeralds, comparable to Shadow, despite being entirely natural (as far as we know). A great part of this likely comes from his personality; as the emeralds are controlled largely with emotion, his unshakable optimism and confidence keep them stable, even in situations when they'd otherwise explode with power. Rush builds up the idea that having the two sets of emeralds together would produce enough power to tear worlds apart, however, the mere fact that Sonic has one set is enough to stop them from going nuclear. Unleashed, as well; despite being exposed to enough negative energy to physically change his form when it's at its height, his mind remains virtually untouched, whereas ordinary humans are thrown on an emotional rollercoaster due to just a few Dark Gaia spawn. The strength of his will is also, presumably, why he can reach such levels of power. His philosophy of always following his heart meshes perfectly with the way the emeralds function, letting him surpass Chaos' centuries-old rage, match Shadow's mental scars and genetic superiority, and even stand up to the physical embodiment of negative energy itself.

...I think that's it for me tonight...