(Adding categories) Tag: categoryselect |
Tags: rollback rte-wysiwyg |
||
| Line 28: | Line 28: | ||
===Characteristics and culture=== |
===Characteristics and culture=== |
||
| − | + | The Babylonians were initially implied to be genies,<ref>[[Sonic Team]] (21 February 2006) [[Sonic Riders]]. [[Gamecube]]. [[Sega]]. "'''Jet''': I never imagined we Babylonians could be descendants of real genies."</ref> although their alien ancestry might imply something else entirely. They were highly advanced in terms of technology, being ages ahead of the [[earth]]'s time. Even in ancient times, their technology was more advanced than those in the present day. As a testament to their prowess, their creations have the potential to possibly dominate or even destroy the world. |
|
<gallery type="slideshow" widths="200px"> |
<gallery type="slideshow" widths="200px"> |
||
Revision as of 03:27, 2 April 2017
The Babylonians, also known as the children of Babylon, are a species that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. They were an ancient alien civilization and the ancestors of the Babylon Rogues who stranded on earth in the far past, where they became legendary for their treasures. Extremely technologically advanced, the Babylonians are responsible for the creation of Babylon Garden, the Arks of the Cosmos and the earliest form of Extreme Gear.
The legends surrounding the Babylonians and their legacy form the basics of the storylines for Sonic Riders and Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity.
Description
Anatomy
The Babylonians' exact anatomy is largely unknown, though legends depict them as humanoid beings with pointy faces, feather-like fingers and quills on the back on their heads. 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. Chances are, both of these two assumptions have some element of truth.
Characteristics and culture
The Babylonians were initially implied to be genies,[1] although their alien ancestry might imply something else entirely. They were highly advanced in terms of technology, being ages ahead of the earth's time. Even in ancient times, their technology was more advanced than those in the present day. As a testament to their prowess, their creations have the potential to possibly dominate or even destroy the world.
The ancient Babylonians used a unique writing system, utilizing symbols resembling foreign letters or syllables. While this type of writing has seemingly been abandoned over time, the descendants of the Babylonians and treasure hunters like Knuckles still know how to read them.
On Earth, the Babylonians proved to be treasure hunters and robbers by nature and would fly around the world to obtain treasure. Contributing to the fact that their crimes were great enough to incur the wrath of the Gods, it would suggests that the Babylonians were a somewhat amoral and unethical people. They were also known to be Extreme Gear specialists.
History
Arrival and colonization
The Babylonians disconnecting the Arks of the Cosmos.
Much of the Babylonians' history is shrouded in mystery, and their original home world is unknown. In the ancient past, the Babylonians traveled through space in an ancient spaceship known as Babylon Garden, which was powered by the Arks of the Cosmos, devices that harnessed the power of gravity. When they passed by earth however, a malfunction caused by the Babylonians' inability to control the Arks of the Cosmos[2] threatened to make their ship's engine core create a black hole―a "lightless black"―that would consume everything. Reaching a decision, the Babylonians condemned themselves by disconnecting the Arks of the Cosmos from their ship and sending them into earth's orbit while Babylon Garden crash-landed on Earth. There, the Babylonians could only wait for the Arks of the Cosmos to resurface as they had hoped so they could use them to return to their home planet. As such, whenever they saw a shooting star, they would wish to go back home in hopes that it was an Ark of the Cosmos.[3][4]
Babylonians hording treasure in earth's legends.
Starting a new life on earth, the Babylonians settled down on the still-floating Babylon Garden and built an island for themselves around its substructure, Astral Babylon. Over time, the Babylonians became a legendary band of great thieves and robbers known as the Babylon Rogues, who would steal treasure and loot alike.[5] At some point, the Babylonians gave a boy an "Angel Wing" made from the their advanced technology as a gift, which stories said allowed the boy to "rule the world." During the time of Stolen, the thirteen leader of the Babylon Rogues, the Babylonians completed their ultimate invention, the Magic Carpet (the prototype for the first Extreme Gear), to let them travel all over the world to gather treasure without the effort needed to keep themselves flying. This creation was placed under the protection of the Babylon Guardian. After that, the Babylonians became specialists in the art of Extreme Gear.[5]
Reclaims and losses
The Gods passing judgment on the Babylonians as depicted in legend.
Over time, Babylonians recovered two Arks of the Cosmos that fell from orbit. To keep them safe and their dangerous power out of reach, the Babylonians sealed one Ark of the Cosmos on Gigan Rocks and the other in the Crimson Crater until it was safe to re-launch Babylon Garden.[6] According to legend though, the Babylonians eventually incurred the wrath of the Gods because of their crimes, and Babylon Garden was buried in the sands near Sand Ruins, while the Babylonians were supposedly scattered for all time.[5]
While the Babylonian race lived on by breeding with the inhabitants of earth, they and their history slowly faded into legend, while their descendants would forget all about their history and technology, leaving nothing behind but misunderstood legends about Babylon Garden's treasures and their scattered relics. Eventually, all that seemingly remained of the Babylonians were the Babylon clan,[7] who continued their thieving ways as the Babylon Rogues for generations to come, with the Key to Babylon Garden, a relic from the Ancient Babylonians', being passed down along with them.
Present day
In the present day, the only known descendants of the Babylonians are Jet the Hawk, Wave the Swallow and Storm the Albatross. In their search for the treasures and relics of their ancestors, the trio would uncover the true story of the Babylonians and restore Babylon Garden. Instead of returning to their ancestors' home however, they opted to remain on earth.
List of known Babylonians
In other media
Archie Comics
Screens depicting the Babylonians in the Archie Comics.
In the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics, the Babylonians closely resemble Mobian birds. About a millennium ago, they crash-landed on Mobius in Babylon Garden, where their ship's malfunctioning wormhole generator threatened to destroy Mobius with a black hole. To keep the ship from launching automatically, the Babylonians removed the ship's ignition matrix and hid its parts away. The Babylonians colonized Mobius acfterwards, 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, though their exact knowledge and history were lost in time, including to the descendants of the Babylonians.
Trivia
- 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.
- 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 Blaze's world, a 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.
Gallery
References
- ↑ Sonic Team (21 February 2006) Sonic Riders. Gamecube. Sega. "Jet: I never imagined we Babylonians could be descendants of real genies."
- ↑ Sonic Team, CRI Middleware (22 February 2008). Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity. PlayStation 2. Sega. Area/Level: Security Corridor. "Miles "Tails" Prower: Sonic, the Babylonians weren’t able to control the power of those meteorites!"
- ↑ Sonic Team, CRI Middleware (22 February 2008). Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity. PlayStation 2. Sega. "Wave the Swallow: ...We’ve reached our decision. We must sever the engine unit from this vessel. For if we delay, the contraction of the engine core will lead the lightless black to consume everything."
- ↑ Sonic Team, CRI Middleware (22 February 2008). Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity. PlayStation 2. Sega. Area/level: Ending sequence. "Miles "Tails" Prower: They crash landed on this planet in ancient past... They disconnected the units... / Amy: And left it in orbit hoping that some day it would fall back down to the surface. Every time they saw a shooting star... / Sonic: I bet they’d wished they could get back to their home planet."
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Sonic Team, Sonic Team USA (17 March 2006). Sonic Riders. PlayStation 2. Sega. Area/Level: Splash Canyon. "Tails: Yes; the mark of the Babylon Rogues. A long time ago, there was a floating island known as Babylon Garden. Supposedly, robbers lived there. According to rumors... this "legendary" band, the Babylon Rogues, were great thieves. Legend also says that the Babylon Rogues incurred the wrath of the Gods because of their crimes, and that the island was cast into the depths of the Earth. After that, supposedly the Babylonians were then scattered for all time, never to be found. But they say that the Babylon Rogue's treasure still remains on that island, waiting to be discovered. There are also rumors that the Babylon Rogues were Extreme Gear specialists."
- ↑ Sonic Team, CRI Middleware (22 February 2008). Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity. PlayStation 2. Sega. Area/Level: Gigan Rocks. "Knuckles the Echidna: ...We, the children of Babylon, seal one star here, and another within the great scar, formed in heaven’s fall, until the time of the divine's wings rising."
- ↑ Sonic Team, CRI Middleware (22 February 2008). Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity. PlayStation 2. Sega. Area/Level: MeteorTech Premises. "Jet the Hawk: They aren't just some rocks. They're spoken of in Babylon clan legend as..."