Babylonians

The Babylonians, also known as the Children of Babylon, were an ancient and technologically advanced alien civilization, who were the ancestors of the present day generation of Babylon Rogues.

The Babylonians were the creators of Babylon Garden, their ancient spaceship, the Arks of the Cosmos, and as well the earliest form of Extreme Gear. The legends surrounding the Babylonians and their legacy form the basic storyline for Sonic Riders and Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity.

In the ancient past, the Babylonians were stranded on Earth during one of their interstellar travels and became a legendary civilization renowned for their amazing treasures, which (unknowingly) were in the form of advanced technologies.

Anatomy
The Babylonians' exact anatomy is unknown. Supposedly, they had the characteristics of genies and presumably either resembled terrestrial, anthropomorphic birds or their descendants attained avian characteristics after breeding with anthropomorphic birds on Earth.

Characteristics and Culture
The Babylonians were a highly advanced people in terms of technology, being thousands of years ahead of the Earth's time, much like the Nocturnus Clan. Even in ancient times, their technology was more advanced than the technology in the present day and appeared to possess vast potential, ranging from possibly dominating the world to destroying it.

During their time on Earth, the Babylonians proved to be treasure hunters and robbers by nature and would fly across the world collecting (taking or stealing) various treasure. This might suggest that the Babylonians were a somewhat amoral and unethical people. They were also know to be Extreme Gear specialists.

Arrival
Much of the Babylonians' history is shrouded in mystery and legends, and their original home world is unknown. In the ancient past, the Babylonians traveled through the vastness of space in an ancient spaceship known as Astral Babylon, which warp engines were powered by their own inventions, the Arks of the Cosmos. When they passed by Earth, however, a malfunction made the Babylonians realize that they could not control the Arks of the Cosmos' energies which made their engine core create a black hole.

To stop this event from happening, the Babylonians disconnected the Arks of the Cosmos from their ship, sending them into Earth's orbit, while they and Astral Babylon crash-landed on Earth. Now stranded on Earth without any means of leaving, the Babylonians could only wait for the Arks of the Cosmos to fall down to the surface so they could use them to power Astral Babylon once more and get back to their home planet.

Settling Down on Earth
Over time, the Babylonians settled down on the still-floating Astral Babylon, making it their new home. Over time, the Babylonians constructed an outer shell around their spaceship, forming Babylon Garden. Whenever they saw a shooting star, the Babylonians would hope that it was one of the Arks of the Cosmos falling down to Earth.

While on Earth, the Babylonians became a society of great thieves and robbers, eventually becoming known as a legendary band of thieves called the Babylon Rogues, who would search the world for treasure and loot alike. Sometime in the far ancient past, the Babylonians gave a boy an "Angel Wing", made from the their advanced technology, as a gift, which according to stories allowed the boy to "rule the world". At the time of the thirteenth leader of the Babylon Rogues, Stolen, the Babylonians completed their ultimate invention, the Magic Carpet, the prototype for the first Extreme Gear, to allow them to travel all over the world to gather treasure without having to work so hard to keep themselves flying. To safeguard their creation, the Babylon Guardian was placed to protect it. After creating the Exteme Gear, the Babylonians eventually became specialists in the art of Extreme Gear.

Loses and Reclaims
Some time after the creation of the Magic Carpet, legends tell the Babylonians incurred the wrath of the Gods because of their crimes. As such, Babylon Garden was buried in the sands near Sand Ruins and the Babylonians were scattered for all time.

At some point, either prior to or after the fall of Babylon Garden, two Arks of the Cosmos fell down from orbit during the Babylonians' time. The Babylonians located them, and placed one of them at the Gigan Rocks and the other in the Crimson Crater to keep them safe until all five Arks of the Cosmos back together and re-energize Astral Babylon.

Over time, the original Babylonians died out, but their descendants lived on by breeding with the inhabitants of Earth.

Near Extinction
As time passed and no more Arks of the Cosmos showed up, the Babylonians and their descendants slowly faded away into history; over time, the descendants of the Babylonians forgot the knowledge and remains of their ancestors' advanced technology and even records of their own civilization's history and origin, eventually leaving nothing behind in their memory, but misunderstood legends about Babylon Garden's treasures and the Key to Babylon Garden, on of their last remaining relics. With their past nearly forgotten, the descendants of the Babylonians became an integrated part of Earth's population where they began to fade away. Eventually, the only remaining Babylonians were a clan of thieves, who continued their ways of robbery as a group called the Babylon Rogues. The children of these Babylon Rogues would then come together as a new generation of Babylon Rogues, continuing the cycle for generations to come.

In the present day, the only known descendants of the Babylonians are Jet the Hawk, Wave the Swallow and Storm the Albatross.

Archie Comics
The Babylonians appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series and its spin-off comics published by Archie Comics. In this media, they closely resemble Mobian birds.

About a millennium ago, the Babylonians crash-landed on Mobius in Babylon Garden, where their ship's malfunctioning wormhole generator threatened to destroy Mobius with a black hole if it was re-launched. To keep the ship from launching automatically, the Babylonians removed the ship's ignition matrix and split it into the Gravity Ring and the Key to Babylon Garden, with the latter being hid away. After then hiding and abandoning Babylon Garden, the Babylonians colonized Mobius, with half of them embracing travel and independence while the other half adopted a strict militaristic lifestyle under the family of the Battle Kukkus. The stories of the Babylonians and Babylon Garden persisted time, though their exact knowledge and history were lost in time, including to the descendants of the Babylonians.

Trivia

 * In the universe of Sonic, Amy speculates that the tradition of "wishing upon a star" may have originated from the grounded Babylonians' yearning to return to space and get back to their home world.
 * In Sonic Rush Adventure, where Sonic, Tails, Blaze and Marine are exploring the sea of the Sol Dimension, an reality parallel to Sonic's dimension, several hints to an ancient civilization much like the Babylonians can be found. The foremost proof of this is a lost floating city, named Sky Babylon, which was hidden underground due to it falling from the heavens.
 * In the real world, Babylonians were an ancient empire centered around the city of Babylon, located within present day Iraq. It lasted from around 1800 BC until it was subsumed into the Persian Empire in 539 BC.