Chrono Compendium 2nd Birthday Retrospective
Today is the second birthday of the Chrono Compendium; I've decided to do a retrospective here, rather than wait for a more common milestone such as five years, because the site is truly about to take off. Though it started out as a small site for in-depth analysis, the Compendium soom blossomed to take up the mantle of being the absolute solution for all Chrono series needs, interests, and creative expressions. Join me as I go on a tour of the Compendium's past incarnations; we will view its very beginnings, as well as different phases of the site. Hopefully this can impart the sense of accomplishment and growth I've experienced by being there from the beginning, and you can share in the joy of a centralized and organized Chrono series headquarters. Here we go!
Pre Compendium - CT/RD/CC/CB Thread
The Compendium, at least in spirit, began on May 7, 2003, on the forums of OCReMix. There, I posted a topic showing off a map of Zeal I had created; Ybrik Metaknight and some others commented on it, and brought up the issue of Janus being Schala's step-brother (a translation mishap, we recently learned). We began discussing the situation, and moved on to analysis of the Gurus throughout time. This led further to a conceptual framework of timelines, and it was on from there! I began a FAQ to illustrate and retain our learnings, since I felt our in-depth analysis was worthy of preservation; this eventually became the Chronology, and I realized after submitting it to Gamefaqs that a short appendix was not enough space to contain our findings. No solution was readily available; we thus forged ahead with discussion, reaching the split dimensions of Chrono Cross. Ramsus allowed me to borrow his copy of the game at the time; after struggling with the issue, we decided to formally archive our findings on a site somewhere. While the CT/RD/CC/CB thread would eventually die out, we had safely relocated to the Chrono Compendium. The name was chosen from the movie "The Time Machine," in which photonic Compendiums of all human knowledge existed in libraries.
Chrono Compendium I
The Chrono Compendium's first true incarnation began on July 23rd, 2003. It was an entirely default PHPNuke setup (as Ramsus was busy with other matters such that he had little time for the site), but we began immediately filling it and writing articles. The founding members of the site -- myself, Ybrik Metaknight, Radical_Dreamer, JustinS1985, Ramsus, and Ingonyama -- erected forums and held discussions across the community, while we also planned and made a few initial entries in our encyclopedia. I thought surely the forums would never see any activity, but Compendium oldbies, such as Oswego del Fuego, Aitrus, GrayLensman, Lord J Esq, and others soon joined and began assisting with analysis. Meanwhile, weekly polls became the norm, and through a monumental effort, we collected nearly all information regarding the Entity, summarily concluding that it was the planet. Though we were eager to build affiliates and share findings such as this one, we required a new site, and Ramsus had been busy behind the scenes making one. We eventually abandoned the PHPNuke and Compendium I to move to a nicer layout and setup, adopting the forums we use today.
Chrono Compendium II
Chrono Compendium II was a sort of silver age, as polished articles were in good supply and excellent fanfiction began finding its way into our archives. The Encyclopedia was largely unrealized, even in concept, during this site's tenure. After a loss in January 2004, the servers were officially moved off the old guiltyparties server, and our domain name was secured. The forums took to the sky, as groundwork for some of today's most interesting articles and topics was layed in full. Especially of note, however, was the completion of my aforementioned Chronology FAQ, and the hammering out of two charts -- one for timelines, the other for dimensions. This was the first time something highly detailed as this had been made in Chrono community history, and it was here that my ambitions to make the site the alpha and omega began. Ramsus began considering the use of MediaWiki for our encyclopedia; this occurred, but the main site was stripped down after the server moved to one consisting solely of the MediaWiki encyclopedia. It was restored after a long downtime in Spring 2004, and was tirelessly worked on and completed throughout the next year. The Compendium, during this time, steadily grew a base of regulars, and also embraced and incorporated fan projects. Come March 2005, however, the time was right to be reborn into proper form.
Chrono Compendium III
Chrono Compendium III is what you see here today; in terms of forum activity, it ranks as the most popular on-topic Chrono forum remaining aside from the ones at Gamefaqs, and also finally sports the structures and people needed to uphold and explore every aspect of the Chrono series -- from in-depth study to comedic rom hacks. With the coming release of the Crimson Echoes demo, and the Compendium's seeking affiliation, the site will soon soar and hopefully unite and reestablish with force the splintered Chrono community. A source for all things...this is the dream, and you can help build it however you please! Thank you for reading and coming here; I encourage you to enjoy the progress.