Special Zone (Archie)




 * "The Void" redirects here. For other meanings of the term, see Void (disambiguation).

The Special Zone, formerly known as Zone of Silence and the Void, is a fictional dimension. It was created by the wizard Ixis Naugus.

Effects
Prolonged imprisonment in the Zone of Silence led to side effects, the most obvious being a slow crystallization effect of the body that prevented anyone from escaping the Zone for long. However, victims of this began to resemble sculptures made from Chaos Emeralds. Naugus, while in the Zone, was also omnipotent, making it impossible to defeat him inside. Other side effect on long-term captives of the Zone of Silence included insanity and apparent amnesia, and the only protection from worse effects was Naugus' crystallization of his minions, or being a native of the Zone. In addition, Naugus was later permanently freed from the Zone thanks to the use of the Sword of Acorns. The Zone of Silence changed to resemble 32-bit Special Stages from the Sonic the Hedgehog games following the teleportation of every Chaos Emerald in the universe into it, with the half pipes from Sonic 2 and the Blue Sphere planetoids from Sonic 3 and Knuckles.

History
In the Archie Comics series, there were originally two dimensions: the Void and the Zone of Silence.

The Void was a pocket dimension adjacent to Mobius that Dr. Ivo Robotnik used as the test destination for his Transdimensional Transporter. His attempt to send the Robian Sir Charles Hedgehog there resulted in his own imprisonment and Sir Charles's regaining his free will. Snively Kintobor promptly assumed control of his uncle's empire and sought to imprison the Knothole Freedom Fighters there as well. He succeeded with Sonic the Hedgehog, only for his scheme to be thwarted.

The Zone of Silence was more similar to the version of the Void from the SatAM TV series, the main difference being that Naugus created the Zone of Silence rather than discovering it. Together with King Acorn, he was also locked inside with several other characters, including: Warlord Kodos, Uma Arachnis, and the enigmatic Feist. After several failed attempts to escape, he made his getaway with the help of the Arachne, though Kodos and Uma Arachnis managed to escape for good some time previously.

Dr. Eggman attempted to mine energy from the Zone of Silence, protecting his machinery with a small army of prisoners, which consisted mainly of captured inhabitants of Angel Island, among them members of the Dark Legion. However, all the original prisoners were drawn into the Zone when the Arachne freed Ixis Naugus using the Sword of Acorns.

Later, Ixis Naugus fused the Void together with the Zone of Silence, and the united zone was reshaped into the Special Zone by Feist using the power of the Chaos Emeralds. (StH: #163, #170)

After his computer virus "son" A.D.A.M. was defeated, the Zone became the resting place of every known Chaos Emerald in the universe. The Master Emerald was saved from this, having been held in place by Locke and Dr. Finitevus. All these Chaos Emeralds were then fused together into seven gems by Feist, who following Naugus' escape became the ruler of the Zone of Silence. Reshaping it, he named it the Special Zone to signify its change from the hostile environment of the Zone of Silence to the game-like environment of the games.

Trivia

 * The early appearances of both the Void and the Zone of Silence were based on the version of the Void from Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM).