Anscestors of Zeal?

[Azala]

I couldn't help but notice that some members of the Labura Tribe (The tribe that lives in the forest) in 6500000 B.C. had a certain distinctive trait- blue hair. As we all know, members of the Zeal royal family also had blue hair. Could the labura tribe have been the distant anscestors of Zeal?

[ZeaLitY]

Yep:

http://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Larubans.html

It is possible, however, that judging from the resemblance of hair color between Enlightened Ones and Larubans and their similar rejection of physical labor and warfare, the Laruban people remained culturally different from the Iokans, found the Sun Stone, and eventually set up Zeal.

[Chrono'99]

Actually, Larubans have pink hair and most people in Zeal had brown or blond hair (only females and Janus had blue hair), but the point is still valid.

[Faust]

Perhaps over millenia, the elite amongst the Larubans stressed the importants of conquest specifically in terms of legacy

Characteristically, the Larubans were said to be 'non-warring' folk (perhaps as a sign of militaristic inferiority to the Reptites)


So...


This clergy of Larubans may have desired to maintain their dark blue hair (as a symbol of superiority brought on by physical insecurity)


In order to do so, they would have had to mass formulate inbreeding within their tribe to maintain such a recessive trait




Similarly to the Egyptians, after centuries of inbred activity, the sanity of this select group becomes greatly deteriorated

Thus, you get the odd behavior of such characters as Queen Zeal.



oh my

[maggiekarp]

I usually use the blueish/purplish hair to say Lucca's probably more related to Magus than Marle is, but now I'm distracted by the fact Janus was seemingly the only male with blue hair and went around in clothes similar to his sister's.

Laruba also had a Nu, so I'm thinking they got magic first.

[mav]

Hah, that's a brilliant point, Faust. But, like Chrono'99 said, not all the people of Zeal had the characteristic blue hair. Then again, I thought the Larubans had purple hair and darker skin, but my memory is a bit shoddy. Either way, I do think the notion that the people of Zeal colored their hair may have been a distinctive nod to the Larubans.

[V_Translanka]

I always figured that everyone in 65,000,000BC would have been their ancestors...I mean, that's quite a long time...Laruba & Ioka join during the Ice Age that came from Lavos' fall, so I figure they would interpopulate and the blue hair would just be a possible trait any of them could get and it just happened that the Zeal royal family happened to have it in full force...

[mav]

Alternatively it's possible that the "elite" tried to keep their bloodline pure, so perhaps some Larubans continued to mate strictly with Larubans, and the Zeal Royal Family are their descendants.

Also, was it said in game that the Zeal Royal Family (and/or the Zeal females) dyed their hair? I don't recall there being any indication that it was genetic.

[Dark Serge]

Not that I know of, but maybe there was in the japanese version. They didn't really have a motive to dye their hair though, it would be meaningless unless every Zealian was forced to do it.

With this theory we could also speculate that Wazuki / Serge are actually some far off Zealian ancestors...

[V_Translanka]

I think that it's possible that the Zeal family kept their bloodline, but that it just happened that whenever they came into power that they had that genetic trait...idk if the remnants of the Laruba would have had much option, really...

Also, the hair dye thing was just a stupid rumor made by unimaginative people upset about the whole Kid/Schala hair color "debacle" in Chrono Cross.

[mav]

Both Laruba and Ioka seemed so heavily underpopulated, so I do agree that they were pretty limited to populating with each other, in that regard.

With this theory we could also speculate that Wazuki / Serge are actually some far off Zealian ancestors...

Hmm...quite possible, I suppose...as long as we're not going to spout that terrible theory that Serge was King Zeal. Genetics is genetics, so if one race had a hair color, somewhere down the line their ancestors have that gene as well.

[Faust]

Ah! Perhaps blue hair is a great sign of ignominy?

The Humans who rose too high and fell the same?





But that claim might be a bit too general :].







However Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross seem to delve into similar discussion as to Daniel Quinn's Ishmael

in which the psycho-kinetic ape, Ishmael, details the origin and progression of the "human epic" and furthermore



the human's overzealous behavior to fulfill a brief life of glory.

[mav]

I suppose you could say blue hair is a sign of dishonor, per se, and I haven't read Ishmael, but I did some quick (and crappy) reading and you could obviously look at some of the Enlightened Ones and the people of Zeal as the takers of society and the Earthbound Ones as the leavers. And I do recall someone mentioning this novel to me recently, more in relation to Ishmael's thoughts on the Nazis and Germany--and you can obviously see some parallels of Nazi Germany to Zeal.

But I digress, the point of this topic was to see if their was conclusive evidence that the ancestors of Zeal were Larubans--I do think the theories are pretty legit and a fair connection could be made, but the lack of in-game evidence is kind of a problem here. If we knew for sure whether some members of Zeal dyed their hair or how extensively the Larubans and Iokans interacted/mated post-Lavos, then we could make a better argument.

[Faust]

Good research! I am interested to hear how you believe that Zeal lies much closer in relation to Ishmael's thoughts on Nazi Germany rather than the rise of the taker society and its implications on nature.


Ah, yeah I just got caught up in discussion :]

('spose there really is little conclusive evidence)



I do find it interesting however that the CTDS US site specifically states:

"...The Ioka clan...wage war with their enemies, and the Laruban clan...run and hide in the woods."


Has this distinction always been blatant? Assuming they are not the ancestors of Zeal, do these distinctions contribute to the story line?

[Xenterex]

yes.  In CT's  first visit to the BC era, you can only visit the ioka because the laruban clan is hidden in the woods, and has been for some time.  On the second visit, the reptites follow ayla as she visits the hidden village and burn it since they are unable to fight back, thus the elder is angry with Ayla, but still aids her in getting a dactyl.

Ayla's responce to the laruban policy of avoid war is her line about "rule of life"  fight and live, lose and die.