Kingdom of Guardia
History
The Kingdom of Guardia was founded in the year 1 A.D. on the Roman calendar, or barring that, Chrono Trigger's equivalent of it. It carries quite a bit of longevity with it at the time of Crono's adventure -- Rome only lasted a couple hundred years longer, and its founding, like that of Guardia, is steeped in myth and legend. Some fans theorize that it is indeed an offshoot of Rome, but this has not been directly confirmed or denied.
In the year 600 A.D., Guardia became embroiled in its first war that we know of, the Mystic War against Magus. The Zealian mage destroyed many of Guardia's troops, and nearly defeated the powerful kingdom. However, he was defeated in one of two ways depending on the timeline:
Lavos Timeline: As part of Magus' vengeance against Lavos, he attempted to summon the beast out of his Pocket Dimension to do battle. However, the child of Zeal apparently was not strong enough to fight Lavos, and he was defeated. Without their leader, the Mystic Army fell into disorder and ruin and were defeated by Guardia.
Keystone T-1, Keystone T-2, Ideal Timeline: Crono and his party battled their way into Magus' castle, attempting to use Frog's Masamune to strike down the sorcerer. Their attempt succeeded, but Lavos activated a massive gate which sent Crono's party to 65000000 B.C. and Magus back to his home kingdom of Zeal. Without their leader, the Mystics were defeated just like in the original timeline.
Guardia then continued peaceably until 1000 A.D., during which, thanks to Crono's party, they experienced much tribulation -- mainly because of Marle's attachment to Crono, and the Guardian bureaucracy's apparent distaste for those of lower social station. Crono was even scheduled to be executed, but fortunately he was pardoned by the King on account of his deeds to save the world.
In approximately 1005 A.D., or so it is told by Radius of the Acacia Dragoons, Guardia fell to some form of invasion, most likely perpetrated by the militant Porre government. There is some uncertainty as to the fate of the original three party members of Chrono Trigger, but it is presumed that Lucca was either killed by Lynx or killed herself in order to keep the Prometheus circuit lock on the Frozen Flame intact.
Technology
Guardia is something of a study in anachronisms -- there is no evidence of any complex machinery or industrialization in the kingdom, yet Lucca has the capability to design and build a machine capable of artificially bending spacetime to create portals to other eras, something that has been pinned by modern astrophysics as either washed-up science fiction or, at best, strictly theoretical at this point. Not a single gun is seen in Guardia in the original game, either, leading one to believe that they have not developed the technology yet -- which makes a certain amount of sense, as Guardia is a peaceful kingdom. This particular lack of technology may be the reason for their fall -- early guns are consistently seen in the Porre military's arsenal. For the most part, Guardia's arsenal, like its culture, appears to be fairly medieval in style, drawing on classical tales such as the Arthurian legend.
Culture & Economy
There has been extensive debate on the precise nature of the Guardian culture, especially where its religion is concerned. For the most part, it appears similar to that of the high Middle Ages with a modern Western twist. This is witnessed in the Guardian courtroom when Crono is being tried for the kidnapping of Marle. The judicial system is almost exactly the same, but there does not appear to be any kind of constitutional document or parliamentary body, unless Crono is actually being tried before the Guardian Senate rather than in a public trial as it appears to be.
As far as Guardia's religion goes, there are multiple theories. Some hold that Guardia is a formally Christian nation, which, when one accounts for dating errors made by the Church regarding the birth of Jesus, works well if Guardia is a Roman offshoot. This is supported to an extent by the structure of Guardian society and its architecture, as well as several Biblical references throughout the series and the mentions of a monotheistic God by several characters in Chrono Cross. However, the most concrete piece of evidence possessed by this school of thought is the distinctive pair of crosses present on the Cathedral in the PSX version's ending. Others discount this theory, believing that Guardian society practices some form of nature worship. Supporting evidence for this includes the general tone of the series and its leanings toward nature and the will of the planet as more concretely evidenced in the Dragons' ideology from Chrono Cross, the presence of Fiona's Shrine and the restoration of the forest over the Sunken Desert, and Masato Kato's statement that despite the plethora of references to real-world religions that can be found within the series, he did not draw Chrono from any particular religion or combination of religions. Still others prefer to look at it from the perspective of the real world, believing that there is no possibility of Guardia's version of Earth being a simple variant of ours, and thus any similarities seen to real-life religion or culture is merely for the sake of making the player comfortable.
Guardia's economy appears to be far more standardized than any known real-world economy -- only by accomplishing certain quest events which require time travel can players affect any prices in Guardia or anywhere else. It is a distinct possibility that this is more gameplay mechanics than anything else.
--Hadriel 23:36, 3 Apr 2005 (MST)
