[Translation Tuesday] Ys Timeline – The Ancient Civilization and Related Events Part 2 – Errata

This week’s Translation Tuesday is a continuation of the timeline that was posted on 7/21/2016. This includes various side bits of information from the same book, as well as an additional timeline from the Ys Global Guidebook, another interesting material book, that was published in 1989, and focused entirely on the settings for Ys I and II.

The Ys Global Guidebook will likely be used in a future Translation Tuesday, as well.

As before, I am the primary translator behind this post, but I’ve had assistance in translation from Yotaka, as well as proofreading help from both Yotaka and S_Tiger.

Summarized History of the ‘Eldeen Civilization’

In ancient times, the winged ones descended upon the land suspended in the Atlas Ocean.

They reclaimed the green earth,
and created the shining ’emelas.’

Sent off with all seven colors of ’emelas,’ they shined upon all corners of the land.

And the winged ones cast off our tainted wings,
to reclaim bodies of brilliant, shining white.

With the new white, they created the ‘Spiritual Mother.’

As the children of the winged ones were born of a pure mother,
they, too, were born with pure bodies as well.

At this time, the sea overflowed and flooded the shores.

Humans, and demi-humans with their beast-like forms,
drifted ashore to join the winged ones.
Two groups came about on this land.
One group of the winged ones became caretakers,
and soon many came to the land,
as the humans enthusiastically began to travel to and from their homeland.
Another group of the winged ones
made a safeguard from the water with the ark of ’emelas.’

The wise humans
began to study the use of emelas from the winged ones.
Mimicking the winged ones, the humans used their techniques,
and soon after began to wish to obtain their wings.

However, once again, the sea overflowed.

As the ark relentlessly drew in water,
the sea began to advance inward.
The land seemed to disappear,
and many of the winged ones cast away their shining bodies and returned to heaven.

A handful of the winged ones remained.

Some took the demi-humans to the west,
while others lead the humans to the east, and joined them.

With them, they carried the black light of ’emelas’ in hand.

Aspects of the Eldeen Civilization

The Affairs of the Civilization

The Population of the Winged Beings
After they took on white emelas bodies and their reproduction began through magical means, there were several hundred of them. (Prior to this, many more.)

Once eternal life was obtained, the population numbers didn’t increase.

The Political Structure of the Civilization
At first, they possessed a parliamentary system for the decision making process, that was eventually put aside as a ‘dead system’ once they obtained their white emelas bodies.

The Affairs of the Winged Beings

Culture
They had a gentle civilization that showed respect to the matters of the land and sea. (Details unknown.)

Fine Arts
They had a wealth of poetry and music.
Though some works had a profound meaning to them, many others had simple concepts to them.
After they switched to their white emelas bodies, they continued with their artistic activities, which would soon be handed down through the demi-humans.

Religion
The winged beings had no religion.
The held concepts of mutual respect without fear,
and thus had no object of idolization.
While the concept of ‘sublimation’ existed, there was no ideal of traveling to heaven or the next world beyond it. They understood the technical aspect of it, and viewed it as no more than a pragmatic ideal.

Ideologies
Instead of religious beliefs, the winged beings possessed a unique view of ‘nirvana.’
However, this so-called concept of ‘nirvana’ (the renouncement of attachment to physical existences) stood in opposition of the winged beings’ views of sublimation and their ‘eternal existence.’

Analysis of Different Stories

Analysis of One Particular History as Presented in [Ys IV (PCE)]

The Lord of Massacre, Arem, leading the Darklings and the Great Sorcerer Sieg Fact

With Ys IV PCE not following the basic chronological timeline, many unique ‘legends’ came about. One great example is the existance of Arem as the leader of the Darklings. The belligerent, battle-hungry clan brought war to the Celceta region, and they were destroyed by Lefance and his five retainers. Lefance founded the Celcetan dynasty and the Eldeen gave the Mask of the Sun and its controlling unit the Mask of the Moon into his care.

Several hundred years later, the Romun Empire invaded the Celceta Dynasty, and the name of the sorcerer Sieg Fact had been uncovered. It turns out that he is the same person as Dark Fact, and as he had stolen the Mask of the Moon, the Mask of the Sun went out of control, inflicting plague and abnormal weather patterns on the Celceta region.

Additionally, other established information from Ys IV PCE includes Raba’s family name being Solomon, just like with Solomon Shrine, as well as the presence of El Doran and the Celceta Magic.

Arem, the Lord of Massacre, and his Deception to throw Celceta into Chaos

Ys VI Rare Materials – Scenario-Use Glossary

Vortex of Canaan

The Vortex of Canaan is a gigantic whirlpool in the ocean that is found about 1200 krimelye southwest of Europe. Rumors stated that both hell or paradise can be found within it, but any ship that came too close would be swallowed whole within the maelstrom, until one year, the vortex inexplicably weakened; it drew pirates and adventurers alike to try and challenge it with dreams of finding a fortune within.

Rehdan Village

The village had simple structures for homes, shops, and warehouses for storing food and other goods, and was built around a shrine that is home to the Holy Zemee Mirror. Gold is now in circulation here, but they originally used a bartering system.

Port Rimorge

A town that was originally built from salvaged scrap wood. Its leader, Baslam washed ashore ten years ago, and since then he has started to scavange stone from the ruins and chop down lumber from the forests changing the face of the village entirely for the Eresians who live there. As Eresian money began to circulate in the village, it became possible to make purchases in the village using gold.

Eldeen Civilization

The highly-advanced ancient civilization that thrived on the now-sunken Atlas Continent thousands of years ago. Led by heavenly visitors known as the winged beings, they brought both humans and demi-humans to live on the outskirts of the continent. However, an unknown catastrophe caused the continent to collapse, and sink into the ocean. While many of the human and demi-human inhabitants escaped and fled to the Eresian Continent, the winged beings themselves that were the center of this civilization completely disappeared.

Galba

A massive biological weapon created during the final days of the Eldeen civilization. “As the civilization collapsed, most of them fell asleep at the bottom of the ocean, yet some awakened with self-awareness brought about from the catastrophe. (Ys III’s/Felghana’s Galbalan is one.) A final one sleeps, suppressed by the Ark of Napishtim, in the waters of the Canaan Islands. The Romn fleet is destroyed upon its awakening.

Emelas

An Eldeen magical science based on refining glass. Emelas is extremely hard, and can transform thought into spiritual power. Early crafting was used to create weapons, armor, and architecture, but it found a variety of uses, though the glory of the technology was the talking stone– more commonly known as the Black Pearl. The raw materials themselves no longer exist, but fragments can be used to strengthen weapons and armor using techniques handed down to the demi-humans.

Magical Glass (Emelas)

Created by the Eldeen civilization using glass as a raw material. Special equipment and technology was required for refining and manufacturing it, as a very strong structure was created by weaving thin crystalized fibers into lattice-shaped patterns and fusing them in extremely cold temperatures. While the foundation itself is colorless, the refining process will cause it to change colors to red, blue, green, gold, silver, and black. As black emelas is extremely difficult to refine, the Black Pearl (talking stone) was used on raw materials. Emelas is capable of accumulating power to resonate and amplify it internally.

The interior of the Black Pearl flickers like a flame, and has a high density of spiritual power (ie. magical power). Thus when materials are exposed to it, it begins a conversion of them, such as changing silver to cleria. The Canaan Islands are littered with emelas fragments left over from when the ancient civilization collapsed. These fragments are of high value, often used as gems and ornaments or even to strengthen armor. Fragments can also be fused through equipment and techniques handed down to the continent’s former inhabitants (the demi-humans).

Emelas Swords

Three swords created to be keys for the seal on the Ark of Napishtim. They were not one item, rather three, so that they couldn’t easily be used during the struggle for the Ark. Due to the extreme power used during the sealing process, the swords have dulled. Emelas processing is required to bring the weapons back to their original strength. As a descendant from the ancient time, Ernst uses a black emelas sword. This sword is a master key and it matches the abilities of the other three emelas swords. Like the Black Pearl, a spiritual power flickers within its blade like a flame.

 

Livart	A blue, single-edged sword.	(Wide attack radius.)
Brillante	A red double-edged sword.	(Large range and high attack power.)
Ericcil	A gold rapier.	(Possesses a homing type ability.)
Alamarion	A black greatsword.	(Only seen during events.)

The Ark of Napishtim

In its final stage, it is a massive structure that protrudes from the ocean. It appears like skyscrapers made of jet-black emelas. Its surface has a black luster to it, and it is engraved with patterns with the purpose of amplifying its spiritual power. As it was a prototype to the Black Pearl, much like when Ys was destroyed and the storm barrier was raised, the Ark of Napishtim was also the cause of the Great Vortex of Canaan for thousands of years. Upon its awakening, the Ark blindly follows the ancient programming left behind to ensure the revival of the Eldeen Civilization, and threatens to submerge the Eresia continent into the ocean.

* The true nature of the Ark of Napishtim – A tall, building-like structure made up of pieces of jet black emelas joined together. The Ark was originally intended to be a weather control device, used to control the climate and currents of the Atlas ocean. It is a prototype of the Black Pearl, built with a massive frame, and with limited functionality. It could freely control massive amounts of energy, and it had a semipermanent operation. It did not possess the efficiency of the Black Pearl and an evil will did not awaken within it, it was programmed with orders that it would execute based on its current situation. (Its incomplete, yet high intelligence made it prone to running out of control.) As the amount of power it controlled was larger than that of the Black Pearl, it created the great vortex that lasted for over a thousand years. It also has the capability to create a massive tsunami that would completely destroy the Eresian continent.

One way to look at it: the Black Pearl is much like a laptop computer (efficient and multipurpose) whereas the Ark of Napishtim is like a large scale computer system several decades older (inefficient with limited functionality).