A primitive, war-mongering tribe like the Echidnas destroys not for logical reasons such as "what and who do we attack", but more like, "this destruction is what you deserve for defying us"- it's more about pride and conquest. I agree with this quote:
Standard technique: burn the surrounding landscape to draw out anyone who could come in from behind and attack with a flank. They can't hide in the foliage if there is no foliage. There's a barrier, so there must be someone defending the area. They just weren't expecting an ancient water monster dragon.
Nice. Wonder if those guidebooks have any lore about them? Probably not, but it's nice to get their official name and confirmation of the connection. I really wonder what these pedestals mean for the lore. They imply that the Knuckles Clan were more into mystical stuff at a point. They also seem to suggest that either the tribe used to be larger and more spread out, or they were nomads before they settled down in Mystic Ruins. Or maybe they built these pedestals in lands they had conquered as a way of "marking" them? And what about the lost Chao? What's their connection to the pedestals and the tribe?
I wanted to share some ideas I've been connecting. First, things I've considered: 1) S3K seems to have reinvented stuff thought out for S2 after that game ended up being very different from the original concept and lost most of its correlation. 2) S2 was meant to happen in South Island, but it was relocated to West Side Island when the original plot was claerly not happening. The new lore told us gods wiped out the civilization ofthis island, just the same that happened to the Knuckles clan. 3) S2 concept map for the past features "Olympus" in a place that looks like it would be Aquatic Ruin, but the Hidden Palace they planned to teleport Sonic to to become Super wouldn't be hidden there, so, most likely, Hidden Palace zone would be what is labeled as "Rock World" on that map, somehow going from one to the other (both are flooded, after all). 4) We do have a Hidden Palace in S3K, and this emerald altar with a fountain and watery creatures. And now, questions that came to my mind: A) What if this outdoors shrine of Tikal was always meant to exist before SA1, the sacred place ("Olympus") were emeralds were worshipped before hiding them in Lava Reef Zone? B) Were these three islands some sort of triplets? Maybe an archipelago, or maybe some sort of reality breakdown that spawned three islands out of a single one? Either way, South Island started swirling out of place, Angel Island rose up in the sky to wander around, and West Side Island was left flickering as a mirage in its original place. All of these being "chaos effects" makes sense to me.
Hmmm. Come to think of it, the S3 manual says: Two things: 1.It states that the altar was half-destroyed. But the altar in Hidden Palace is intact, unlike the outdoor altar from SA1. 2.It claims that shortly after Knuckles walked out of the altar, he noticed the Death Egg at the lake. It sure sounds like the altar was somewhere outdoor, rather than hidden deep underground. Could the manual actually be talking about the outdoor altar there?
Point of order: It also says he was thrown out of the altar. Last I checked, Hidden Palace is well within a volcanic area and looks like it's contained, so unlikely to have had him thrown out on impact. Though it doesn't specify it was a shortly after, only that he was stunned, walked out and saw the Death Egg.
The gods didn't wipe anyone out. Sonic 2: Sonic 3: Angel Island was part of a continent. It's not talking about the Sonic Adventure altar because Sonic Team hadn't created it yet. Sonic Team probably hadn't finalised their ideas for the Hidden Palace Zone altar yet. The Super Emeralds were only created because the games got split into two and they had 14 Special Stages. The Sonic 3 manual mentions a pillar (which is underground) instead of a Master Emerald, as well as a legend about a dragon egg: This isn't depicted in the tapestry we see in Sonic & Knuckles. The real explanation is that Sonic 3 & Knuckles was a work in progress and Sonic Team had changed their minds by the time they got finished with the Sonic & Knuckles portion.
I mean, the manual refers to the the underground "pillar" and the (seemingly outdoor) altar as being two separate things. S&K seemingly combined them into one, but SA1 seems to have resurrected the concept of the outdoor altar. Just like it resurrected the concept of a legendary dragon-like beast tied to Angel Island lore (with various tweaks, of course). Worth noting that the "pillar" is also referenced in the Chaotix manual.
I'm just going to headcanon Hidden Palace as being a large pillar structure within the Lava Reef Zone, seems the simplest option.
Come to think of it, the S3 manual calls the underground pillar the crystal "pillar". Sonic Adventure concept art depicted the emerald altar still underground, and you can see what seems to be a crystal pillar on top of it: Spoiler This seems to imply that Sonic Team views the underground pillar as a crystal pillar within Hidden Palace.
Alright, new headcanon: the Hidden Palace and the Altar both have 'Relay Emeralds', large emerald pillars that transport the Master Emerald's power between them. There are several, with Hidden Palaces built on them to allow the Master Emerald to be hidden withni them and not have Angel Island crash. Most are found around Angel Island, but some can be found on the surface, such as on Carnival Island or West Side Island's Hidden Palace, that allow anyone on these islands to connect to the Master Emerald. This also explains how the Echidna and other societies can access the power despite the barrier. They just wanted the power directly. This good, are we good? (Should probably note: I'm joking)
I kind of have trouble imagining how the emeralds would fit into anything after Sonic's group of friends and Eggman die - I mean, if were're looking at a future 200 years removed from the last power struggle for the emeralds, would anybody be around to even care about what they are? Like... MAYBE you could say GUN would know about and continue to look into them after Sonic's death but it seems like whatever they've already done with the Chaos Drives is sufficient enough for their purposes, and the world already has technology way beyond what the apparent last civilization to utilize/abuse their power had. Because this is a handy comparison, it's the same kind of issue in my mind as if you're looking at Dragon Ball and how it handles the Dragon Balls as things that only our heroes and villains seem to know about. Beyond that, it seems like nobody has a need for them.
Well, whatever, you know that wasn't the important part of my point. So could have been the others. Again, you're being nitpicky on tangential things. Ok, no fun allowed, we get it. Speculating is fun, even if it isn't what the devs thought at all.
I personally like it ultimately. I see it as a win-win. It allows for characters like Mighty and Fang to see use and more Classic games isn't a bad thing to me as a fan of em. I don't agree. When you do that, you have to make everything that happens in that time inconsequential to validate it not factoring into anything in the "future" titles.
I'm failing to see why they can't see more use in Classic games on the main timeline. Or even be brought in to modern games with a modern redesign. Oh, wait, they're 'classic world' characters. The split is just an excuse to not use characters from the classic games, because SEGA are overly paranoid everyone hates the overabundance of Sonic characters. Even if I accepted it, the canon is still "Classic Sonic eventually 'ages' into Modern Sonic", only with a caveat of "at one point the timeline splits, so now there's two Sonics": they were the same world to a point, so same rules and general logic apply. I say keep it all as one timeline, save the hassle and headache as we now have to consider which timeline a game is set on, which might not be an issue now, but it will grow.
Because those elements weren't used in the main timeline for a reason. They are either redundant or don't have a function/purpose or would crowd out an existing dense cast. I see no need for characters like mighty or Ray to be in Modern beyond the novelty of being able to say they are in Modern. Classic Timeline gives them space to spread their wings. The split timeline is an "excuse" to use Classic concepts and aesthetic that were abandoned and, based on statements made by officials, weren't ever gonna be dug up again to begin with otherwise. Mighty and Ray were considered "sealed characters". They were benched forever and wouldn't be used if not for Mania (and rightly so because Mighty and Ray quite frankly had no draw beyond their obscurity) I have my animosity to the "too many characters" complaint but lets not get carried away here and go the opposite direction and thoughtlessly malign a perfectly fine concept like the Classic world out of animosity towards it.
Or just set it in the classic era? There is literally nothing stopping it. I'm not saying not to set something in the classic time period, but I'm just pointing out there's no real reason for the timeline split. Honestly, I'm not even sure it'll be relevant beyond Sonic Forces and expect it to be folded back into the timeline at some point. I'm just wary they'll try and force it further like what occurred with the Two Worlds. Once bitten, twice shy, essentially.
