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Echidnaopolis is a location that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics. The only city on Angel Island, it was founded centuries ago by travelers from Albion in the country of Downunda.
History[]
Precursor[]
Long before the foundation of Echidnaopolis, its future site in Downunda was visited by a group of Albion Echidna scientists during the Forgotten War. The group were sent to develop means of helping the Albion Knights of Aurora defeat the Order of Ixis. However, they turned their efforts to crimes against the integrity of other species, and their colony was destroyed following their imprisonment by the authorities of Albion. (CSE)
Second Colonization-Wave from Albion[]
Many years later, another group of Echidnas departed from Albion in search of new adventures and opportunities in other lands. Initially, the pioneers arrived in Soumerca where they began a colonization. However, shortly afterwards they discovered they had attempted to settle in the Mysterious Cat Country. Soon, the Felidae and the Echidna settlers became engaged in a war. The warrior and advanced sciences castes, the Knuckles Clan and the Nocturnus Clan respectively, both wanted to remain and fight for their new land, while the scientific elite and intellectuals wanted no part of the conflict. Thus, the latter left on their ships to find a new land, while the Knuckles and Nocturnus Clans remained behind to continue their war with the Cat People. (StH: #82)
The scientists traveled to the continent of Downunda where they constructed Echidnaopolis, modeling the city after Albion. For many generations the Echidnas of the city lived in peace, only having to contend with occasional threats of Dingoes and Tasmanian Devil Dogs. The Devil Dogs were the product of the experiments of the first Downunda colony, which turned the proud Mobian race into savage Mobini. (KtE: #12; CSE)
The White Comet Incident and the Acension of Angel Island[]
After years of development, Echidnaopolis was one of the most advanced cities on the planet. While two of the city's top scientists, Jordann and Kayla-La, were observing and charting the stars, they discovered a massive comet, viz the White Comet, on a collision course with Echidnaopolis. To avoid destruction, the two scientists proposed a plan to lift their city into the air using the power of numerous Chaos Emeralds. In coherence with the plan the Echidnas launched a massive excavation of the planet in search of the Chaos Emeralds. Once enough had been obtained, the emeralds were placed within the deep caverns below the city, letting their energy resonate through the city's infrastructure, providing a lifting force to the surrounding area. Meanwhile, the Fire Ants dug the surrounding landmass free from the planet's surface separating Angel Island from Mobius. With every force contradicting the lifting force from the emeralds, save for gravity, removed, Echidnaopolis was lifted into the sky, just before the comet struck the planet. (StH: #34)
However, not all inhabitants of the city liked the idea of living airborne. Thus, future mitre, Arakkis proposed the idea that those who wished would be given the opportunity to leave the city and return to Albion. While the High Council disagreed with Arakkis, they provided the defectors with supplies for their voyage and made sure that all inhabitants would be given the individual freedom of choice in the matter. The descendants of the defectors led by Arakkis would eventually become known as the Lost Tribe of Echidnas. (KtE: #10)
Edmund and Dimitri's Plan to Restore the City to Downunda[]
The society of Echidnaopolis would suffer another, larger schism about 400 years ago, The conflict stemmed from the decision of the High Council, particularly Menthor, the High Councilor at the time, to deny Dimitri and Edmund's plan to restore Angel Island to its original site on Mobius' surface. Furious, Dimitri took matters into his own hand using the Chaos Syphon to drain the power of the Chaos Emeralds so that the Island supposedly would slowly descend onto Mobius. The plan backfired sapping the harnessed energy into Dimitri, turning him into the god Enerjak. Enerjak then proceeded to conquer Echidnapolis and enslave its inhabitants, planning to use the city and island as a vessel for his planetary conquest. Despite the immense power he obtained, he was believed to be defeated when his tower was demolished over him by Fire Ants. Arguing that the use of technology nearly had resulted in the destruction of their civilization, the High Council deemed technology banned. Thus, all technological devices were confiscated and stored in the Grand Conservatory. (StH: #35, #36)
Pre-Hyper-Zone Projector Conflicts[]
However, Dimitri's son, Menniker decided to follow in his father's footsteps. He gathered together rebels and dissenters and created the Dark Legion, a technocratic group of cybernetic-using Echidnas loyal to Dimitri's cause of restoring the Island to Mobius, as well as maintaining technology in their society. The Dark Legion succeeded in murdering Guardian Edmund and nearly conquering the entire city, but Edmund's own son, Steppenwolf, stepped forward and confronted the Legion, using his Chaos powers to banish them to the Twilight Cage. From that time on, however, the Legion posed a threat to Echidnaopolis. (KtE: #2, #3)
In addition to the Dark Legion, the Guardians had to contend with another native species on the Floating Island, the Dingoes. A militaristic and brutal race, the Dingoes nearly wiped out Echidnaopolis via nuclear strike, but were stopped by the current Guardian at the time, Hawking. To prevent all life on the island from dying to the radiation, he transported Echidnaopolis to its own pocket Zone, and the Dingoes to another, using the Hyper-zone Projector. He then began the tedious task of restoring the island to its former state, a process which took several generations. (KtE: #4, #5)
Sometime after the city being transported to its own pocket zone, the Dark Legion instated an attack against the city led by the Grandmaster Moritori Rex, which managed to find a way to break free from the Twilight Cage. The city was defended by guardian Tobor who led the cities defense. The attack resulted in the legion retreating after their leader disappeared to Mobius Prime. (KtE: #16)
Return to Mobius Prime[]
Eventually, the Ultimate Annihilator created by Dr. Ivo Robotnik accelerated the breakdown of the barriers between zones. As a result, Echidnaopolis began to return to Angel Island, but its transition was initially turbulent as it kept moving between the two zones. Making matters more complex, the Dingo city of Cavem Canus was trying to return as well, to the exact same spot. Eventually, the aged Hawking was forced to use the projector again, restoring Echidnaopolis to its proper place and destroying the Dingo city, but leaving the inhabitants of both alive in a shared home. Caught up in these events was the Guardian at the time, Knuckles the Echidna, who proved a voice of reason to the conflicting parties. Tensions continued to mount as the unlikely neighbors tried to get along, but more trouble came in the form of the returning Dark Legion, with Enerjak at its head. Echidnaopolis would subsequently become the site of a battle between the villainous Mammoth Mogul and Knuckles, the latter backed by Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles "Tails" Prower, all four employing Super transformations. The Dingoes, Echidnas, Chaotix, Knothole Freedom Fighters, Ancient Walkers, and even the Brotherhood of Guardians became involved in the battle, which eventually led to Mogul's imprisonment in the newly created Master Emerald. (StH: #56, KtE: #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9)
During the time directly after the fight against Mogul, the city saw a large boom in construction, both due to the cities need of repair after the battle and because of the Dingo need of houses. The city was also subject to a breakout of the lethal drug Lemon Sundrop Dandelion due to the industry Axis putting it in its hot dogs. Echidnaopolis was affected by the most recent Day of Fury with extreme weather such as blizzards and heavy rainfall. (KtE: #5, #15, #16)
Echidnaopolis hosted an election in the year of 3235 for the office of High Councilor, unexpectedly the High Councilor of that time stepped down to endorse a new candidate, the pro-Dark Legion candidate Benedict. Benedict was in fact a robot used by the Dark Legion to try to gain political power in Echidnaopolis. Benedict was ultimately destroyed after his campaigns headquarter was blown up by Knuckles being subjected to experiments. The election was rigged by Benedict and when he won, it enabled the Dark Legion to walk freely in the city. An important political topic for the election was the topic of Dingo housing construction, with some candidates believing that the Echidna construction teams worked to slow. (KtE: #22, #23, #24)
When the Dark Legion fired their quantum beam from their Cruiser, the inhabitants of Echidnaopolis was transported to another zone. This left the city uninhabited and unguarded from the legion, which moved in to secure several places in the city. However, the city was transported back to the island after Chaos Knuckles reversed the effect of the quantum beam. (StH: #100, #107, SSS: #14) Directly after the quantum beam incident, the Dark Legion, led by Dimitri, wanted to become integrated into the city and to live peacefully with the inhabitants of Echidnaopolis, the proposal, which was supported by guardian Knuckles, met with protest, both in Echidnaopolis by the Mitre and in the legion by Lien-Da. A committee was instated by the High Council to lessen the gap between the legion and the other residents of Echidnaopolis. The unification was not yet completed when the Xorda attack on Mobius made all factions in the city work together to fight against a common enemy. (StH: #107, #108, #109)
Destruction[]
Echidnaopolis was destroyed when the Dingoes joined forces with Dr. Eggman and took over, overwhelming the Echidnas and forcing them into concentration camps as well as killing off 90% percent of them. The few survivors were later liberated by the Chaotix and relocated to a village, which they named after their fallen city, but with most of the Brotherhood gone they were ill-equipped to defend themselves. Locke the Echidna, Guardian and father of Knuckles, defended them briefly before turning the position over to Dr. Finitevus, which allowed him to go off in search of his predecessors. Finitevus and his Destructix minions defended the former residents of Echidnaopolis briefly, until the new Enerjak came to power. The demigod then transported them to Albion with the rest of the Echidnas in hopes of rebuilding their ravaged species, leaving any hopes of restoring Echidnaopolis extremely unlikely. (StH: #138, #139, #171, #181, CSE)
Mobius: 25 Years Later[]
Echidnaopolis is the capital city of Republic of Angel Island and the home of Knuckles, Julie-Su, Lara-Su, Lien-Da, Dimitri, Rutan, Cobar, Mace, Espio, Salma, Juanita, Riki-Le, and Abby in the unaltered timeline of Light Mobius.
Geography[]
Location[]
Echidnaopolis was situated on Angel Island, above the surface of Mobius, although it was formally located in the continent of Downunda, prior to the island's ascension. The city was the sole large city on the floating island since the destruction of the Dingo city of Cavem Canus.
Echidnaopolis was located on the shores of the Eternal River in the center of the island surrounded by a variety of unique biomes. Dragon Spine Mountain Range rose to the north of the city and Rainbow Valley, home to the chameleons of the island, was located to the northeast. Sandopolis desert was located south of the city, on the opposite side of the Eternal River, while Fire-Ant Hill, home of the Fire Ants, was situated to the east. (StH: #101)
The city had a postmodern style of architecture expressed through the vast amount of colorful skyscrapers, modern parks and roads as well as generally odd shapes scattered throughout the city. Extended through the city was numerous large boulevards lined with fountains or trees. The city had a developed skyline which hosted numerous skyscrapers.
Various districts was spread through the city. Downtown Echidnaopolis was characterized by large skyscrapers while a lower commercial centre with small shops, cafes and shopping malls existed nearby. Both richer residential areas purposed for wealthy echidnas and poorer, slum-like, residential areas with torn and cheaply built houses, mainly purposed for dingoes, were found in the city. The city also had an industrial area where industries such as Axis Industries were situated. (KtE: #4)
The issue of Dingo housing appeared after the transport of Echidnaopolis from their own pocket zone to Mobius Prime. Due to Cavem Canus being destroyed, the dingo population was left homeless and had to live in tents and poorly constructed barracks in the outskirts of Echidnaopolis. The issue of good quality housing for dingoes was raised several times during this period, especially by dingo leader general Helmuth von Stryker, who accused the echidna construction teams of building to slow. The question became one of the mayor political issues in the 3236 election were dingoes rallied behind political candidates supporting dingo rights. Later this issue became a mayor reason for the Dingoes turning on the echidnas and joining the Eggman Empire. (KtE: #7, #23)
Climate[]
Angel Island, and thus Echidnaopolis, circled the planet travelling through many latitudes, therefore the city had a dynamical climate. Following from Angel Island's extreme diversity in biomes, Echidnaopolis is surrounded by both warm regions, such as the Sandopolis Desert, and cold, such as the Ice Cap Zone. During the most recent Day of Fury, the city experienced both extreme colds and heavy rainfalls. (KtE: #19)
Because of the city being located on Angel Island, which orbits the planet, sunrise may occur at a different rate than on the surface. However, it is unclear how this plays out.
External links[]
- Echidnaopolis at Mobius Encyclopaedia, the Archie Sonic wiki.