Christi Junior on Nostr: 4/8 But WHO are the people populating Aionios? Last I checked, the prevailing theory ...
4/8
But WHO are the people populating Aionios? Last I checked, the prevailing theory is that it’s only people who were around Noah’s age when the intersection happened, just based on the complete lack of familiar faces from past Xenoblade games, while all of Noah’s friends from the opening also show up as soldiers. In reality this is probably due to Monolith Soft’s irrational fear of making more meaningful and pervasive references to previous games, but lorewise it might have to do with relatively young souls being well suited for life in Aionios (though presumably, Z *could* let the soul of anyone in Origin be born into Aionios, hell, Moebius even have the technology to rapidly age people). Maybe young souls are more malleable, less likely than rebel, certainly easier to control than the souls of people who were the heroes in the old worlds – I assume Z only brought Shulk and Rex into Aionios (fully aging them up and with their memories intact) during Future Redeemed in order to counter the existential threat of Alpha.
As a side note, Z’s ability to pick and choose who get born into Aionios would actually justify a schizo theory about why the population of this world is so much swarthier than in past Xenoblade games: simply put, Z recognizes that blacks make for good slaves, and that they have a real talent for killing people, and so he disproportionately went with blacks when picking the soldiers that would forever fight and die to generate the life energy necessary to sustain Moebius and preserve Aionios.
- Something odd that the game acknowledges, but never fully explains, is the fact that the Nopon that populate Aionios do NOT have their lifespans limited, and presumably are also able to have kids and families, as long as it they do it away from the colonies and soldiers. A deal with Moebius is once alluded to, and at several points I expected at least certain sidequests (major Nopon lore has been dropped at the end of sidequests in past Xenoblade games) to finally provide some answers regard the unique role of the Nopon, but they never did. I dunno if it’s intended to remain a mystery, or if this was just an oversight by Monolith Soft.
Speaking of inexplicable Nopon weirdness – even prior to Future Redeemed, which showed Riku being around and playing an important role *1000 years ago*, base Xenoblade 3 was all but confirming that the Nopon mechanic knew Melia from before she was sealed – which of course happened thousands of years ago, when Aionios first came into existence. Neither this, nor his role in Future Redeemed is ever explained, and for all we know he might just be immortal, given how he seemingly kept Lucky Seven safe for all these years.
- Speaking of Lucky Seven, it’s stated to be made out of metal from Origin itself, which not only explains how it’s able to cut through anything in Aionios (that world effectively being Origin’s own creation), but also means the blade contains within it “the souls of important people”, assumed to be the Xenoblade 1 party members given its connection to Melia and Riku. Furthermore, the red metal “sheath” of the sword (which turns into a gauntlet whenever Noah draws the true blade) houses the Pneuma core crystal, aka that of Pyra and Mythra. Oh, and N’s Sword of the End appears to be powered by the core crystal of Logos, aka Malos. I can’t say I’m too sure how all of this works lore-wise, but for Monolith Soft at least, I guess it’s their way of representing legacy characters without actually having them ever actually appear or be openly acknowledged, which is emblematic of how Xenoblade 3 handles legacy content.
…but wait, Malos resides in N’s sword? Didn’t he die at the end of Xenoblade 2? Moreover, XB2 Vandham has clearly been reincarnated into Aionios, not as a soldier, but born in the City, outside of Z’s control. If Vandham’s soul is in Origin, how can it possibly “escape” into Aionios like this – but if it’s NOT in Origin, how does it even still exist, when the worlds colliding would permanently destroy everything not preserved inside the Ark? And it’s not just people who should have been long gone returning – the Dannagh Desert has been gone for more than 500 years, ever since the death of Torna’s titan, but it’s one of the earlier areas you can reach in Aionios. So what’s the deal here, does a world like Alrest also somehow have a “memory” of its own, that enables Origin to bring back areas that are long gone? Or is Origin something more than even its own creators intended, meaning we have another “There’s something about this planet” mystery on our hands?
- Finally, it should be noted that Aionios literally seems to be a World of Light, which makes sense, seeing how the two worlds were supposed to disappear and leave only light once they merged. Z’s control over Origin ensures that Aionios itself retains a physical form, and even dead soldiers leave behind these terrifying “husks” – but Free people not bound by a Flame Clock, as well as the Moebius themselves, just turn into light and disappear when they die, a reality bemoaned by a major City character in Future Redeemed. But really, it’s just another sign of this Moment of Eternity being so fragile that without Z/Origin’s control or a consciousness and sense of self, everything will just turn into light and vanish.
That said, I still don’t know what to make of the motes of light that rise and float up in the sky whenever Off-seers play their flutes to supposedly give the dead peace. It’s NOT the souls of the dead, which should instantly return to Origin, and then return back to a pod to again be reborn as a 1st-term soldier. Moreover, when Noah in Chapter 3 sees off Consul J’s soulless mud puppet clones, motes of light still rise, something Noah finds very significant, but without ever explaining why. The motes of light are actually a core motif of Xenoblade 3, to the point of defining its very logo, so leaving a question like this unanswered is another significant way in which XB3’s story fails to deliver the necessary closure – but obviously, I’ll get to that by the end of this chapter.
But WHO are the people populating Aionios? Last I checked, the prevailing theory is that it’s only people who were around Noah’s age when the intersection happened, just based on the complete lack of familiar faces from past Xenoblade games, while all of Noah’s friends from the opening also show up as soldiers. In reality this is probably due to Monolith Soft’s irrational fear of making more meaningful and pervasive references to previous games, but lorewise it might have to do with relatively young souls being well suited for life in Aionios (though presumably, Z *could* let the soul of anyone in Origin be born into Aionios, hell, Moebius even have the technology to rapidly age people). Maybe young souls are more malleable, less likely than rebel, certainly easier to control than the souls of people who were the heroes in the old worlds – I assume Z only brought Shulk and Rex into Aionios (fully aging them up and with their memories intact) during Future Redeemed in order to counter the existential threat of Alpha.
As a side note, Z’s ability to pick and choose who get born into Aionios would actually justify a schizo theory about why the population of this world is so much swarthier than in past Xenoblade games: simply put, Z recognizes that blacks make for good slaves, and that they have a real talent for killing people, and so he disproportionately went with blacks when picking the soldiers that would forever fight and die to generate the life energy necessary to sustain Moebius and preserve Aionios.
- Something odd that the game acknowledges, but never fully explains, is the fact that the Nopon that populate Aionios do NOT have their lifespans limited, and presumably are also able to have kids and families, as long as it they do it away from the colonies and soldiers. A deal with Moebius is once alluded to, and at several points I expected at least certain sidequests (major Nopon lore has been dropped at the end of sidequests in past Xenoblade games) to finally provide some answers regard the unique role of the Nopon, but they never did. I dunno if it’s intended to remain a mystery, or if this was just an oversight by Monolith Soft.
Speaking of inexplicable Nopon weirdness – even prior to Future Redeemed, which showed Riku being around and playing an important role *1000 years ago*, base Xenoblade 3 was all but confirming that the Nopon mechanic knew Melia from before she was sealed – which of course happened thousands of years ago, when Aionios first came into existence. Neither this, nor his role in Future Redeemed is ever explained, and for all we know he might just be immortal, given how he seemingly kept Lucky Seven safe for all these years.
- Speaking of Lucky Seven, it’s stated to be made out of metal from Origin itself, which not only explains how it’s able to cut through anything in Aionios (that world effectively being Origin’s own creation), but also means the blade contains within it “the souls of important people”, assumed to be the Xenoblade 1 party members given its connection to Melia and Riku. Furthermore, the red metal “sheath” of the sword (which turns into a gauntlet whenever Noah draws the true blade) houses the Pneuma core crystal, aka that of Pyra and Mythra. Oh, and N’s Sword of the End appears to be powered by the core crystal of Logos, aka Malos. I can’t say I’m too sure how all of this works lore-wise, but for Monolith Soft at least, I guess it’s their way of representing legacy characters without actually having them ever actually appear or be openly acknowledged, which is emblematic of how Xenoblade 3 handles legacy content.
…but wait, Malos resides in N’s sword? Didn’t he die at the end of Xenoblade 2? Moreover, XB2 Vandham has clearly been reincarnated into Aionios, not as a soldier, but born in the City, outside of Z’s control. If Vandham’s soul is in Origin, how can it possibly “escape” into Aionios like this – but if it’s NOT in Origin, how does it even still exist, when the worlds colliding would permanently destroy everything not preserved inside the Ark? And it’s not just people who should have been long gone returning – the Dannagh Desert has been gone for more than 500 years, ever since the death of Torna’s titan, but it’s one of the earlier areas you can reach in Aionios. So what’s the deal here, does a world like Alrest also somehow have a “memory” of its own, that enables Origin to bring back areas that are long gone? Or is Origin something more than even its own creators intended, meaning we have another “There’s something about this planet” mystery on our hands?
- Finally, it should be noted that Aionios literally seems to be a World of Light, which makes sense, seeing how the two worlds were supposed to disappear and leave only light once they merged. Z’s control over Origin ensures that Aionios itself retains a physical form, and even dead soldiers leave behind these terrifying “husks” – but Free people not bound by a Flame Clock, as well as the Moebius themselves, just turn into light and disappear when they die, a reality bemoaned by a major City character in Future Redeemed. But really, it’s just another sign of this Moment of Eternity being so fragile that without Z/Origin’s control or a consciousness and sense of self, everything will just turn into light and vanish.
That said, I still don’t know what to make of the motes of light that rise and float up in the sky whenever Off-seers play their flutes to supposedly give the dead peace. It’s NOT the souls of the dead, which should instantly return to Origin, and then return back to a pod to again be reborn as a 1st-term soldier. Moreover, when Noah in Chapter 3 sees off Consul J’s soulless mud puppet clones, motes of light still rise, something Noah finds very significant, but without ever explaining why. The motes of light are actually a core motif of Xenoblade 3, to the point of defining its very logo, so leaving a question like this unanswered is another significant way in which XB3’s story fails to deliver the necessary closure – but obviously, I’ll get to that by the end of this chapter.