It's commonly accepted that during the Time Crash, Chronopolis was pulled back from 2,400 AD to 7,600 BC (10,000 years into the past). I think that Chronopolis was brought to another era though.
1.
[Ghost]
Originally, El Nido was
nothing but ocean.
The El Nido Archipelago
is purely artificial,
created by FATE.
It was a remodeling plan that
took place 10,000 years ago.
A plan to include islands, blessed
with nature, in the sea of El Nido.
The main island of El Nido,
Earth Dragon Isle, Water Dragon Isle,
Black Dragon Isle...
(...)
And for over 10,000 years,
FATE has been watching over and
guiding the descendants of the
staff who left this research center.
Everything was in pefect harmony.
That is, until 14 years ago,
when a boy came into contact with
the Flame on the night of the storm.
According to this ghost, the El Nido archipelago was created "10,000 years ago". The ghosts in Chronopolis seem to be from different eras (some are from before the Time Crash and the others are from the present). This one seems to be from 1,020 AD since the night of the storm is "14 years ago" for him.
So I'm inclined to believe that "10,000 years ago" from the present is either -8,980 BC (if counting from 1,020 AD) or 10,000 BC (if counting from 1 AD). The Ultimania Guide says it's 10,000 BC but as it's a flawed guide I'll try to consider other arguments.
Anyway, it can't really be -7,600 BC as the ghost says FATE has been watching for over 10,000 years (the ghost's mind is in 1,020 AD not 2,400 AD).
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2.
Princess Schala traveled ten
thousand years in time to try
and make contact with this
dimension!
This caused a raging magnetic
storm that resulted in FATE's
system malfunction, which led
Serge to the Frozen Flame.
According to Lucca, Schala traveled 10,000 years in time (whatever that means). Schala was in 12,000 BC and the storm is in 1,006 AD, so we can take the "10,000 years" for an approximation of "13,006 years". Or simply speaking, it should mean that the characters actually refers to 12,000 BC when they say things like "10,000 years ago".
Kid does say Schala had waited for "10,000 years":
Kid:
C'mon Serge, me mate!
You don't wanna keep the
girl waiting any longer...
She's been waitin' for you,
and only you!
And for over ten thousand
years, I might add!
And if you speak to the Frozen Flame atop Terra Tower with Kid as the leader, Lavos (or just the Flame?) claims that the fall of Zeal
happened 10,000 years ago:
Kid:
An ancient magical kingdom...?
That you destroyed
ten thousand years ago...?
What are ya talkin' about?
Because of those quotes, I tend to believe that "10,000 years ago" means 12,000 BC (instead of 8,980 BC or 10,000 BC).
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3. Finally, I think there are also some details to consider in the Polis War picture (thanks to Zaperking for the screenshot!):
There are
icebergs. Some pretty big icebergs. It's surprising because El Nido is supposed to be a tropical paradize. It's less surprising if the Time Crash did indeed bring Chronopolis to 12,000 BC, because we saw in Chrono Trigger that the whole planet was cold and filled with icebergs in that era, even at the equator and the tropics.
After the fall of Zeal in CT, the survivors claimed that the weather was beginning to get less cold. So if the ice began to melt as early as in 12,000 BC, it would be hard to think that there would still be those huge icebergs in the tropics in 7,600 BC.
Now with all those stuff, I believe that the Time Crash brought Chronopolis and Dinopolis to 12,000 BC (or maybe 10,000 BC) and not in 7,600 BC.
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4. Finally:
Chronopolis was hurled ten
thousand years back in time.
Perhaps it was the awakenin'
Lavos who pulled the Frozen
Flame back through time to it.
Maybe so that Lavos, who saw
the possibility that some young
adventurers might destroy it,
could create a backup plan.
I don't know what is Lavos's backup plan (considering he's supposed to be already dead...), but if it has "pulled the Frozen Flame to it", it would make more sense for it to have
actually brought the Flame to it (Lavos came out of its pocket dimension in 12,000 BC) and not to 7,600 BC when it was probably sleeping deep inside the earth core with nothing really interesting happening.
So... your thoughts?
