Timeline of CRON

[Corlagon]

Well, you may say that there is no contradiction, but I invite you to explain how that can possibly be the case, if he said that the Ancients intended all of the VARNs to go and populate Terra in one game when a later game says that in fact not all of them were intended to do so.

By default I would assume that MM5 is correct.

[XEL II]

Well, you may say that there is no contradiction, but I invite you to explain how that can possibly be the case, if he said that the Ancients intended all of the VARNs to go and populate Terra in one game when a later game says that in fact not all of them were intended to do so.

That could be Sheltem's copy's reasoning. It perceived the whole CRON as a threat. Or maybe just confusing wording: CRON as a whole was supposed to travel (along with all the VARNs aboard) to Terra to populate (but with only four VARN).

[Corlagon]

Yes, but the whole point I was making is that the games don't tell us that.
I didn't say there is no explanation as to why Sheltem said one thing and later said another, I just said that we aren't given one.

[XEL II]

That's a minor detail anyway. The definitive answer as to how exactly Terra was to be seeded is given in the logs in MM5, so it's safe to believe it.

[MMXAlamar]

About the timeline thing...if at this point in the game we're only dealing with VARNs 1 through 6, it's probably way before the Silence and among the first of the Ancients world-seeding operations (as far as we know).

Because VARN-1904 landed on Enroth, how are we to interpret the difference in time between the launch of VARNs 1-6 and the launch of VARN-1904?

On the seeding of Terra, I'll definitely need to reread the MM3 through MM5 info.

[GreatEmerald]

CRON carries its VARNs, they don't orbit it. Corak's log mentiones VARNs being released on Terra.

I don't see how this is relevant. A central point that coordinates the travelling trajectory could very easily be called a carrier, and the word 'release' is a synonym for 'launch'. After all, Space is an Ocean. And even if it wasn't a metaphor, you could say that VARNs are being carried using a tractor beam. Same difference.

[XEL II]

Commonly released means "taking something from the inside". The meaning is pretty clear, and there's really no need for rather convoluted stuff about tractor beams, etc. After all, there's nothing definite in the lore which would support the latter (and VARNs being released is mentioned in Corak's log), and VARNs don't really have to be carried on CRON's orbit for the method of transportation to be logical, now do they?

Gate to Another World transports people to other VARNs' landmasses and from one VARN ship to another, they don't really need to be separated by outer space for that.

[XEL II]

Space is an Ocean

Interesting trope, btw. The tradition of paralleling space flight terms to naval actually predates science fiction itself AFAIK.

[GreatEmerald]

CRON's land is not big enough to have VARNs inside it.

[XEL II]

Yes, they are inside the spaceship part (and CRON is directly referred to as a ship), VARNs are its cargo.

[GreatEmerald]

As Cepheus pointed out, it would be nice to see a diagram of one. Right now I have a hard time imagining a ship that has land and non-land. The only nacelle that we actually saw on screen is XEEN, and it was very flat. And perhaps the isles of Terra, which were quite flat as well.

[Avonu]

About the timeline thing...if at this point in the game we're only dealing with VARNs 1 through 6, it's probably way before the Silence and among the first of the Ancients world-seeding operations (as far as we know).

Because VARN-1904 landed on Enroth, how are we to interpret the difference in time between the launch of VARNs 1-6 and the launch of VARN-1904?

It's not VARN4, it full name was: 120-VARN-161 POD #41.

As Cepheus pointed out, it would be nice to see a diagram of one. Right now I have a hard time imagining a ship that has land and non-land. The only nacelle that we actually saw on screen is XEEN, and it was very flat. And perhaps the isles of Terra, which were quite flat as well.

Picture of Argo City should help you a little.

[GreatEmerald]

Nope, it's still all land.

[MMXAlamar]

It's not VARN4, it full name was: 120-VARN-161 POD #41.

What do these numbers stand for? 120, 161, and #41?

And why does everyone call MM1's VARN "VARN-4?"

[Corlagon]

Nobody knows what they stand for.
VARN-4 is the name used for it in MM5, probably because it's the fourth VARN of that vehicle. We don't have enough information, but I very seriously doubt that MM1-5 occurred countless thousands and thousands of years before the latter games.

[XEL II]

It's not VARN4, it full name was: 120-VARN-161 POD #41.

It's rather the name of part of VARN 4. Notice the "pod" part.

As Cepheus pointed out, it would be nice to see a diagram of one. Right now I have a hard time imagining a ship that has land and non-land. The only nacelle that we actually saw on screen is XEEN, and it was very flat. And perhaps the isles of Terra, which were quite flat as well.

As I said earlier, "nacelle" don't have to be all of the same type. XEEN is not a spaceship and was never referred to as such (instead it was called "XEEN structure), and VARNs and CRONs are referred to as ships. As for "ship with land and non-land", don't see anyhting hard here. The "land" part is a kind of ship's cargo, it's internal ecosystem with landmass and Ancient-created races living on it. CRON has its own ecosystem similar to that of VARNs, albeit created by Elementals and not (but probably with their influence) Ancients.

The Isles of Terra are four Terran VARNs as they are referred to in Terran legends. These VARNs were to seed the entirely oceanic Terra and form land and continents ("the Isles") on it, which eventually they did at the beginning of MM2. Sheltem's personality copy then changed CRON's trajectory to pilot it into the Mynos system's sun (apparently seeing the whole CRON as a threat to Terra, as we see from its message), but this was thwarted by the Chosen Ones of CRON (MM1+MM2 party of adventurers).

About the diagram, it would be indeed very interesting to see it. Maybe we can track down Ron Bolinger and/or (that would be harder) JVC and ask them.

[GreatEmerald]

Nope, I'm still having problems with that. If the land is its cargo, then it must be in a kind of a cargo hold, which means that there would be no sun anywhere and that the ship itself is much larger than the land.

[XEL II]

Nope, I'm still having problems with that. If the land is its cargo, then it must be in a kind of a cargo hold, which means that there would be no sun anywhere and that the ship itself is much larger than the land.

The sun might as well be an artificial simulation of it. And if the land is internal, it's only logical that the whole ship is larger And MM2 and 6 (in the latter we even see the "ship" part of a VARN) refer to CRON and VARNs as ships. There isn't really problem with that, and AFAIK there are other sci-fi which have ships carrying ecosystems similary.

[Corlagon]

Nope, I'm still having problems with that. If the land is its cargo, then it must be in a kind of a cargo hold, which means that there would be no sun anywhere and that the ship itself is much larger than the land.

It's quite frustrating that there isn't really any artwork of the worldships. The seedship stuff is one of the series' more original concepts - I wish they had fleshed it out. The abstract nature of it doesn't help.

But if you look at the images of the Shikbath Zera at the end of MM3, there are some clues as to how they carry their VARNs. You'll note those enormous tendril-like cables extending upward - all I can assume is that they're the connector between the ship and the isles/pyramids on the isles, with an isle being as large as a standard continent like Antagarich or something.



Generally the worldship is just supposed to release its VARNs instead of crashing into the planet and ending up submerged, which is probably where all the legends of a great storm destroying Terra's oceanic civilisations and leaving the isles behind came from. I suppose the release occurs when the tendrils are rescinded, as soon as the VARN is close enough to the surface. What I envision is slabs of earth like one-sided XEENs, all connected by those tendrils to the main ship and driven along, hence the idea of cargo:



It can't be confirmed whether the Shikbath Zera and the CRON Vehicle look similar, although I think they were originally intended to be the same thing when MM3 was developed (they mentioned deciding to crash the worldship *from MM2* on Terra). It's conclusive from MM5 that they *aren't* actually the same vessel, but this art is the closest thing you will get to a depiction of the CRON. You can also get an idea of the scale of the Lincoln compared to one of these vessels - it's pathetically small in comparison.



The concept might be a bit easier for you to visualise with this.

As far as the suns go, the terraform vehicles are said to have travelled to their destinations "on a wind warmed by the stars" - so for whatever reason, solar power or who knows what, there is probably no need for one.

[XEL II]

The great storm that destroyed Water Mane's kingdom was actually caused by those four VARN (they formed the Isles, and it is said that after the storm the Isles came into being). This was surely not the way it was intended, but the implantation of VARNs was conducted by Sheltem's personality within CRON's comupter, so no wonder that the seeding of Terra was more violent.

VARNs wouldn't be "one-sided XEEN", there are also spaceships part as we can see from MM6. Shikhbath Zera is also seedship, probably it's similar to CRON. It was the original vessel that seeded Terra.