12000 B.C.

General Information[edit]

Game Information[edit]

Chrono Trigger[edit]

Age Name: Dark Ages
Music: Corridors of Time, Strong Wind
Locations: Algetty, Black Omen, Cave, Mt. Woe, Ocean Palace, Sun Keep, Terra Cave
Zeal Locations: Blackbird, Enhasa, Kajar, Land Bridge, Skyway, Zeal Palace

The Dark Ages of Chrono Trigger are beset by an Ice Age created by Lavos's fall millions of years earlier. The planet is covered in ice, snow, and tundra, and only in the high reaches of the atmosphere does grass grow on the floating continent of Zeal. Humans exist in both places; those on the planet's surface live in a complex cave network. Named the Earthbound, they cannot use magic and must depend on backbreaking manual labor for subsistence. Those with the gift of magic are known as the Enlightened Ones and reside on land masses magically levitating in the sky. Called the Kingdom of Zeal, these domains support verdant plant life, golden cities, and advanced power and knowledge. The people of Zeal are very prejudiced against the Earthbound, whom they tap for slave labor. Those who have committed grievous crimes or treason against Zeal are sent to a floating mountain called Mt. Woe chained to the world below. The Mystics populate this era, though they are seemingly confined to Mt. Woe in what may be a guard function for the mountain prison.

In natural history, Zeal ambitiously tried to achieve immortality by siphoning the power of Lavos. They used the Mammon Machine at the Ocean Palace on the ocean floor to get at the power, but it accidentally awoke Lavos, who destroyed Zeal. The fall of Zeal caused massive tsunamis that left only one continent above the ocean's surface. The event stopped the planet's deep freeze, sparking the reestablishment of topside civilization. A few Enlightened Ones survived (though left without innate magic), while the Mystics too somehow avoided death. In the Keystone Timelines, Dalton survived the fall with the Blackbird and terrorized the survivors before Crono's party stopped him and destroyed the Blackbird with the Epoch. The Keystone timelines also observed the rise of the Black Omen, appearing most likely thanks to Schala's choice to save Crono rather than presumably to kill or teleport away her mother. Crono's party defeated Queen Zeal atop the Black Omen and the structure was destroyed.

The entire world of 12000 B.C. and its events solely originate from the genius of Masato Kato.

Chrono Cross[edit]

During the Time Crash, the awakening Lavos pulled Chronopolis to this era through the Frozen Flame. Lavos hoped to introduce something foreign to the past that would disrupt time. The planet counteracted by pulling Dinopolis into the sea of El Nido, and the two institutes warred. Chronopolis sank Dinopolis and captured the Dragon God, eventually sculpting the El Nido archipelago. This era is also referenced in Chrono Cross several times. Two computer entries and a pair of scientists doubt that the Kingdom of Zeal ever existed, while Belthasar remarks that he hails from this era. Lastly, Lucca speaks of it being the start of the quest of Chrono Cross in that Schala was bound to Lavos to create the Time Devourer thanks to this era's events.

Radical Dreamers[edit]

In Radical Dreamers, ruins of Zeal lie below Viper Manor.

Name Origin[edit]

The date of 12000 B.C. places Zeal roughly around the various legends and accounts of Atlantis, an advanced civilization that also met a cataclysmic end and sunk into the sea.

Japanese Equivalent[edit]

Romaji: Kodai Bunmei
Translation: Ancient Era

Media[edit]

Images[edit]

• 

  12000 B.C.

• 

  12000 B.C. (Select Screen)

• 

  12000 B.C. (After Zeal falls)

• 

  12000 B.C. (After Zeal falls Select Screen)

• 

  Zeal

• 

  Zeal (transparent background)

• 

  Zeal (Select Screen)

Music[edit]

• Corridors of Time
• Strong Wind

Chronology[edit]

Lavos Timeline[edit]

*Melchior forges the Masamune from Dreamstone and his dreams.
*Melchior creates a special magic seed and gives it to a woman.
*The Gurus learn of the Mammon Machine's possibility for evil.
*Schala presumably gives Janus her amulet.
*The Mammon Machine is moved to the Ocean Palace.
-Queen Zeal activates the Mammon Machine at the Ocean Palace, which awakens
Lavos.
-Lavos (or more likely, the Entity) creates gates that send Belthasar to
2300 A.D., Melchior to 1000 A.D., Gaspar to the End of Time, and Janus to
600 A.D.
-Queen Zeal and Schala are presumably killed, since Lavos does not become a
Time Devourer in the original timeline. However, Schala may have also used
her power to warp to safety with her mother. Also, a prototype Epoch may
have followed Belthasar to 2300 A.D., since Dalton reveals that Belthasar
was working on such a vehicle in Zeal.
-Lavos, awakened by the Ocean Palace, obliterates Zeal.
-The Sun Palace sinks in the sea with the Sun Stone inside.
-The storm causing the Ice Age abates.
*The magic seed is presumably planted.

Keystone T-1[edit]

*Melchior forges the Masamune from Dreamstone and his dreams.
*Melchior creates a special magic seed and gives it to a woman.
*Magus warps in from 600 A.D. and becomes a false prophet, hoping to gain
revenge on Lavos. He advises Queen Zeal that Crono's party may possibly
show up, and also tells her to get rid of the three Gurus. However,
despite them not being warped in the Ocean Palace disaster as originally
happened, they are still preserved within their timelines (Belthasar in
2300, Melchior in 1000, Gaspar in End of Time, Janus in 600 AD) due to
Time Traveler's Immunity.***
-Melchior is locked up on the Mountain of Woe.
-Magus replaces Dalton as presider over the completion of the Ocean Palace.
-Crono's party comes in from 65000000 B.C. through a Gate.
-Crono's party instructs the lady in Zeal to not burn the magic seed.
-Schala gives Janus her amulet.
-Crono's party defeats Dalton's Golem, and are imprisoned. Freed by Schala,
they are sent back to 65000000 B.C. The Gate is sealed.
-Crono's party warps in on the Epoch from 2300 A.D. and visits Algetty.
-The Mammon Machine is moved to the Ocean Palace.
-Crono's party surmounts the Mountain of Woe and frees Melchior.
-Schala visits Melchior in an attempt to flee the Ocean Palace, for it will not
work without her.
-Dalton abducts Schala and takes her to the Ocean Palace.
-To assist with their challenging the queen, Melchior gives Crono's party the
Ruby Knife, the prototype of the Masamune.
-Crono's party ventures to the Ocean Palace and plunges the Ruby Knife
into the machine, awakening Lavos in the process.
-The Prophet reveals his identity as Magus and fails to defeat Lavos.
-Crono sacrifices himself in a futile attempt to kill Lavos.
-At a frozen point in time, Crono's party from the future replaces him with a
doll and extracts him to the safety of 2300 A.D.
-Crono's party at the Ocean Palace witness his apparent death.
-Schala sends the remaining party members to safety against Magus's will.
-Schala is sucked into a vortex along with the Mammon Machine by Lavos.
-At the Darkness Beyond Time, the defeated Lavos fuses with Schala to begin
the initial stages of transformation into the Time Devourer.
-Half of Schala's mind becomes set on destroying the world, while the other
half wishes to save the universe and herself.
-The Mammon Machine is returned to the Ocean Palace.
-Lavos obliterates Zeal.
-Zeal sinks into the sea, creating a tidal wave that covers most of the low-
lying land with water.
-The Sun Palace sinks into the sea with the Sun Stone inside.
-Melchior and Janus disappear, perphaps illustrating Time Bastard.***
-The storm causing the Ice Age abates.
-Dalton, who survived the fall, musters his remaining troops on the saved
Blackbird and forcefully takes over the Earthbound village.
-Crono's party is taken prisoner on the ship.
-Dalton and his crew give the Epoch wings and lasers.
-In an effort to summon his Golem Boss, Dalton is sucked into a Gate.
-The Blackbird is accidentally destroyed by the Epoch's lases.
-Magus is found on the North Cape. He joins Crono's party after nearly dueling
with Frog.
-The Ocean Palace rises as the Black Omen, commanded by a Lavos-appeasing
Queen Zeal.
-Crono's party travels to the End of Time to consult Gaspar about reviving
Crono.
-Crono's party comes in from 1000 A.D. to enter the Black Omen.
-Crono's party defeats Queen Zeal, who warps the party into the Mammon Machine.
-Crono's party defeats the Mammon Machine.
-Crono's party defeats Queen Zeal a second time.
-Queen Zeal uses the Black Omen as a Gate to send the party to battle Lavos in
1999 A.D.***
-Magus arrives to search for Schala.

***Time Traveler's Immunity and Time Bastard were proposed and illustrated at
the Chrono Compendium's article, "Principles of Time and Dimensional Travel".
Find it at
http://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Principles_of_Time_and_Dimensional_Travel

***If the player loses to Lavos after fighting him through the Black Omen, the
1999 A.D. eruption bad ending plays. Lavos also always has a defeated shell
in every appearance after the party removes his shell. An easy explanation for
these phenomena is that in the cut scene that plays after Queen Zeal's defeat,
she's using the Black Omen as a blue Gate (which flashes as the Black Omen
de-materializes) and sending the party to 1999 A.D. to fight Lavos, at which
time he'd be at his strongest power.

Keystone T-2[edit]

*Melchior forges the Masamune from Dreamstone and his dreams.
*Melchior creates a special magic seed and gives it to a woman.
*Magus warps in from 600 A.D. and becomes a false prophet, hoping to gain
revenge on Lavos. He advises Queen Zeal that Crono's party may possibly
show up, and also tells her to get rid of the three Gurus. However,
despite them not being warped in the Ocean Palace disaster as originally
happened, they are still preserved within their timelines (Belthasar in
2300, Melchior in 1000, Gaspar in End of Time, Janus in 600 AD) due to
Time Traveler's Immunity.***
-Melchior is locked up on the Mountain of Woe.
-Magus replaces Dalton as presider over the completion of the Ocean Palace.
-Crono's party comes in from 65000000 B.C. through a Gate.
-Crono's party instructs the lady in Zeal to not burn the magic seed.
-Schala gives Janus her amulet.
-Crono's party defeats Dalton's Golem, and are imprisoned. Freed by Schala,
they are sent back to 65000000 B.C. The Gate is sealed.
-Crono's party warps in on the Epoch from 2300 A.D. and visits Algetty.
-The Mammon Machine is moved to the Ocean Palace.
-Crono's party surmounts the Mountain of Woe and frees Melchior.
-Schala visits Melchior in an attempt to flee the Ocean Palace, for it will not
work without her.
-Dalton abducts Schala and takes her to the Ocean Palace.
-To assist with their challenging the queen, Melchior gives Crono's party the
Ruby Knife, the prototype of the Masamune.
-Crono's party ventures to the Ocean Palace and plunges the Ruby Knife
into the machine, awakening Lavos in the process.
-The Prophet reveals his identity as Magus and fails to defeat Lavos.
-Crono tries to sacrifice himself in a futile attempt to kill Lavos.
-At a frozen point in time, Crono's party from the future replaces him with a
doll and extracts him to the safety of 2300 A.D.
-Crono's party at the Ocean Palace witness his apparent death.
-Schala sends the remaining party members to safety against Magus's will.
-Schala is sucked into a vortex along with the Mammon Machine by Lavos.
-At the Darkness Beyond Time, the defeated Lavos fuses with Schala to begin
the initial stages of transformation into the Time Devourer.
-Half of Schala's mind becomes set on destroying the world, while the other
half wishes to save the universe and herself.
-The Mammon Machine is returned to the Ocean Palace.
-Lavos obliterates Zeal.
-Zeal sinks into the sea, creating a tidal wave that covers most of the low-
lying land with water.
-The Sun Palace sinks into the sea with the Sun Stone inside.
-Melchior and Janus disappeared, perphaps illustrating Time Bastard.***
*Chronopolis arrives in the barren, iceberged sea of El Nido due to the Time
Crash, called back in time from 2400 A.D. by the awakening Lavos as a
possible backup plan to muck with time.
*Dinopolis arrives, pulled from a separate dimension by the planet to
counter Chronopolis's influence in the past.
*The moon from the Dragonian dimension's planet arrives as well.
*Chronopolis and Dinopolis battle; Chronopolis emerges as the victor and
defeats and captures the Dragon God.
*The defeated Dragon God is consumed by the Time Devourer, though the Dragon
God can still remain on the planet in the form of avatars.
*Chronopolis analyzes the Dragon God and pioneers Elements, devices capable
of unleashing forces of nature. They are divided into six colors; the Dragon
God is similarly divided to represent each color.
-The storm causing the Ice Age abates.
-Dalton, who survived the fall, musters his remaining troops on the saved
Blackbird and forcefully takes over the Earthbound village.
-Crono's party is taken prisoner on the ship.
-Dalton and his crew give the Epoch wings and lasers.
-In an effort to summon his Golem Boss, Dalton is sucked into a Gate.
-The Blackbird is accidentally destroyed by the Epoch's lases.
-Magus is found on the North Cape. He joins Crono's party after nearly dueling
with Frog.
-The Ocean Palace rises as the Black Omen, commanded by a Lavos-appeasing
Queen Zeal.
-Crono's party travels to the End of Time to consult Gaspar about reviving
Crono.
-Crono's party comes in from 1000 A.D. to enter the Black Omen.
-Crono's party defeats Queen Zeal, who warps the party into the Mammon Machine.
-Crono's party defeats the Mammon Machine.
-Crono's party defeats Queen Zeal a second time.
-Queen Zeal uses the Black Omen as a Gate to send the party to battle Lavos in
1999 A.D.***
-Magus arrives to search for Schala.

***Time Traveler's Immunity and Time Bastard were proposed and illustrated at
the Chrono Compendium's article, "Principles of Time and Dimensional Travel".
Find it at
http://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Principles_of_Time_and_Dimensional_Travel

***If the player loses to Lavos after fighting him through the Black Omen, the
1999 A.D. eruption bad ending plays. Lavos also always has a defeated shell
in every appearance after the party removes his shell. An easy explanation for
these phenomena is that in the cut scene that plays after Queen Zeal's defeat,
she's using the Black Omen as a blue Gate (which flashes as the Black Omen
de-materializes) and sending the party to 1999 A.D. to fight Lavos, at which
time he'd be at his strongest power.

From: Locations (Chrono Trigger)
From: Chronology