Onward to Venus!

[Kizyr]

Ok slight warning: this will be a bit of a spoiler for a really weird difference in the fourth SSS Novel summary. But I doubt anyone will really mind it... Anyway, I'm about 85 pages from the end of re-reading and re-summarizing/translating the fourth volume of the SSS Lunar novelization. And, I just came across something that I must've overlooked the first time that I thought some people might get a kick out of...

So, to recap. Here are Ghaleon's ultimate intentions in each version of the Silver Star story.

TSS: Althena left, and Dyne died as a result of her orders. The world needs an absolute ruler to control it, one that's better than Althena, and Ghaleon will become that ruler.

SSS: Althena became human. The world needs a goddess, and so Ghaleon will return Luna to Althena and place her back as goddess.

SSS Novel: Althena became human. The world needs an absolute ruler. So, Ghaleon will pull all the magic from Lunar in order to power Althena's Star Ship on a journey to Venus, taking only a fraction of Lunar's inhabitants with him.

No really. I can't make this stuff up. Here's the bit that I translated:

Ghaleon: This is Vane's true form: the ship which navigates the heavens, Althena's Star Ship. Our ancestors once came from the Blue Star to this world, aboard this ship. And after much effort, we inherited this world, suitable for life. But, this world is once again in crisis. There is no longer any time. We must once again use this ship to embark on a journey to a new world. Our destination: the morning star, Hesperos.
Nash: Oh, I see! But even then, that doesn't make what he's trying to do right...
Kyle: Shut up so we can listen to the rest!
Laike: Ghaleon... you couldn't possibly fit every single person on that ship...

[Editor's Note: the morning star is "yoake no myoujou", which refers to the planet Venus; moreover, Hesperos was the Greek name for Venus as it appeared in the evening.]

Ghaleon: Through the cooperation of the Goddess Althena and the Four Dragons, I have resurrected Vane's true form. But it cannot journey to the stars as it is right now. It would require immense magic power. Henceforth, I will gather all the magic in this world, to launch the Star Ship. In that time, I shall choose who among you shall be able to continue your existence.

Even though many who were gathered did not understand what he was saying, they knew that it was a bad omen. Alex, however, knew the full extent of what Ghaleon meant to do: he would draw all magic from Lunar, turning the entire world into the same condition as the Frontier, while he and others he chose to survive with him would be able to escape on the ship he had pulled from Vane.

Ghaleon: The world will return to how it originally was. But, for humans--no, for all races--to survive, some sacrifices are inevitable. That is his, and Althena's, conclusion... The countdown until the launch of the Star Ship has already begun. Anyone who dares oppose me should act now.

Onward to Venus! The launch of the Star Ship Althena is now at hand! KF

[Temzin]

Heheh, that's an absolute riot! I feel a little less bad now about never having picked up these novels...

By the way, SSS Ghaleon was still going to be the absolute ruler, as I recall...I'm a bit hazy, but I thought Althena/Luna was to drain magic from the world and then invest it in Ghaleon, who was to rule as new god. But anyway!

[Alunissage]

Interesting. Seems like something that someone who had only seen the cutscenes from SSS might come up with. Floating Vane, floating Fortress, what's the diff?

I'll have to ponder whether there are other parallels in the games and stories. Obviously the original travel from the Blue Star to Lunar, but I suppose those that weren't "worthy", if there were such (the humans turned into monsters?) would have been destroyed when Althena destroyed the Blue Star. Though actually, that makes me wonder if the race of beastmen could have originated with those monsters, or other fallout from the rise and fall of Zophar.

[ilovemyguitar]

Althena's Star Ship? Flying to Venus? That's just... wow. So incredibly wonky.

And Alun, I'd always assumed that the story about men transformed into "hideous beasts" by Zophar was a subtle way of explaining the origin of the Vile Tribe. One of the specific changes SSSC did was to "humanize" the Vile Tribe, and give them more of a sympathetic role, so seeing that line about the hideous beasts added to EBC seemed be an extention of that explaining that the Vile Tribe originated from a bunch of humans magically corrupted against their will. Given Althena's supposedly kind and benevolent nature, I could imagine her not wanting to abandon these corrupted men on a planet she was about to ruin, so I'd always assumed that she decided to go ahead and bring them to Lunar, but keep them separated from the uncorrupted people by confining them to the Frontier. This would even explain why she wanted to keep the Vile Tribe confined to the Frontier, even though they seemed be living terrible suppressed lives out there in SSSC; she was afraid of Zophar's influence spreading.

[liquidpolicenaut]

Wow...just..wow! The novels seem to add some "interesting" touches to the overall stoyline, including this one. Anyhow, thanks again for translating them!

Off hand, when anyone reads the novels, do you guys consider it canon as part of the Lunar universe or just kinda shrug it off as a side story told by some odd, random drunk guy in a bar?

[Werefrog]

Off hand, when anyone reads the novels, do you guys consider it canon as part of the Lunar universe or just kinda shrug it off as a side story told by some odd, random drunk guy in a bar?

Hmm... I don't know about other people here, but I try not to think too much about the whole canon thing. I think my head would explode from all the differences between the versions if I did.

Besides... this isn't a Zelda board .

[Kizyr]

Heheh, that's an absolute riot! I feel a little less bad now about never having picked up these novels...

The novels are still worth it. Aside from the little quirky parts, they're pretty good. I do like the EB novels a bit more, largely because I like the EB storyline much more, but SSS Vols. 3 and 4 are both pretty entertaining.

Interesting. Seems like something that someone who had only seen the cutscenes from SSS might come up with. Floating Vane, floating Fortress, what's the diff?

Heh, yeah. But then again, this all comes from Kei Shigema. So it's coming from the one person who knows the most about the Lunar universe. Shigema also doesn't particularly mind creating alternate versions of events, as should be apparent by now.

And Alun, I'd always assumed that the story about men transformed into "hideous beasts" by Zophar was a subtle way of explaining the origin of the Vile Tribe. One of the specific changes SSSC did was to "humanize" the Vile Tribe, and give them more of a sympathetic role, so seeing that line about the hideous beasts added to EBC seemed be an extention of that explaining that the Vile Tribe originated from a bunch of humans magically corrupted against their will.

I think it relates to the Vile Tribe, but only indirectly.

The Vile Tribe themselves are beings of magic. And, when you let yourself get so completely corrupted by dark magic and lose control, you can turn into a monster. That's what happened with Ghaleon in TSS, and what I think is the origin of the more demonic-looking Vile Tribe (and unfortunately, perhaps their descendants), and the people who were turned to monsters by Zophar. Lunar Dragon Song sort of follows this, too.

So, what we saw in EB/EBC's version of history, it wasn't the origin of the Vile Tribe itself, but it definitely was similar to how the Vile Tribe later arose.

Off hand, when anyone reads the novels, do you guys consider it canon as part of the Lunar universe or just kinda shrug it off as a side story told by some odd, random drunk guy in a bar?

One thing about Lunar is that there is no one, single set of canon. The novels themselves are written by Kei Shigema, same as the storyboards behind all the Lunar games.

As far as versions of events go, you usually have to go with one version or the other. There's a lot of overlap, so it's usually straightforward, but where they diverge, you have to pick one.

For me, I'm mostly concerned with background/historical stuff. Those are usually not contradicted by one source or another. So where things are mentioned in the SSS novels that aren't mentioned anywhere else, I take them as canon. Same thing with things mentioned in just one version of the games: as long as they aren't directly contradicted by another version, I think it's fine to run with it as canon. But when it comes to events which are different between versions, I'll just pick one or the other, depending on what I'm doing or what I'm concerned with. Since it all usually leads to the same end (hero saves the world, saves the girl, etc.) it doesn't typically cause confusion for me. KF

[Sonic#]

I completely support this turn of events. May the reign of the Golden Star begin, where the frontier is either a seascape or an 800+ degree molten desert!

... to be more serious, I think that the recolonization idea is okay (dramatic, but it fits Ghaleon's wish to start over), but it's just the cheesiness of choosing Venus, over thirty years after we learned that it would be exceedingly difficult to terraform, even by magical means. Why not Mars? Why not go interstellar and find, say, the Algol system?

That is his, and Althena's, conclusion...

A translation question on this point, when Ghaleon is speaking at the end of the excerpt. Is he referring to himself in the third person? Or is he referring to someone else? Or is it supposed to be "I" but is a special case that doesn't translate well either way? I find it odd because he refers to himself as the first-person earlier, and I'm wondering whether speculating on the "his" is fruitful.

[Kizyr]

That is his, and Althena's, conclusion...

A translation question on this point, when Ghaleon is speaking at the end of the excerpt. Is he referring to himself in the third person? Or is he referring to someone else? Or is it supposed to be "I" but is a special case that doesn't translate well either way? I find it odd because he refers to himself as the first-person earlier, and I'm wondering whether speculating on the "his" is fruitful.

It's supposed to be "I". I forgot that I was translating his dialogue directly instead of rephrasing it in the third person. I fixed that when I noticed the error. KF