Skies of Arcadia things and events
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Objects and events from the Sega Dreamcast video game Skies of Arcadia.
See also Skies of Arcadia characters.
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Events
Battle of Soltis
The Battle of Soltis is the final battle in the game between Vyse's Blue Rogues and Galcian's fleet (formerly the Valuan Armada). Galcian, possessing the six Moon Crystals, had raised the lost continent of Soltis from Deep Sky and used it to cast the Rains of Destruction down on Valua, killing most of the country's people and destroying its ruling class. He believed that after such a display of might, the entire world would submit to his rule without the need for further bloodshed.
An armada of air pirates, backed by the strength of the Royal Yafutoman Navy, rode out to meet him, led by Vyse in command of the Delphinus. After blasting their way through the lines of Galcian's fleet, the Delphinus directly attacked Galcian's sky fortress, the Hydra. After the Hydra was too battered to continue fighting, Galcian attempted to withdraw, while Vyse, Fina, Aika and Gilder invaded the fortress, assisted by Enrique. After fighting through the fortress, the four directly confronted and defeated Galcian, after which he escaped from the fortress in his escape pod.
Belleza, infuriated by Galcian's destruction of Valua, rammed the Lynx into Galcian's escape pod, destroying both.
Enraged and driven insane, Ramirez attempted to call the Rains of Destruction on the entire world, but was defeated by the appearance of the Great Silver Shrine, whereafter the heroes infiltrated Soltis itself and confronted him. Although defeated, he activated the Gigas Zelos and did battle with the Delphinus, then made one final attempt to kill the heroes on the ship's deck. With the final defeat and death of Ramirez, the Battle of Soltis ended with the Blue Rogues' armada victorious.
Rains of Destruction
The Rains of Destruction was a bombardment of Moon Stones that destroyed the old world. The Silver Gigas Zelos, who was created by the Silvite elders, had the power to call down the rains. The Elders used the rains to destroy the old world because they didn't like it, while Valuan Admirals Galcian and Ramirez uses the Rains to try to take over the world.
The Valua-Nasr War
Not much is known about this event, other than it occurred around twenty years ago. When Vyse and Co. are trying to rescue his father and his crew, Drachma tells of a battle between the Nasrean Fleet and the Vauluan Empire's Grand Fortress. Apparently the Nasreans bombarded the Fortress for days, only for the fleet to be almost wiped out by the Fortresses immense guns. The only other event that is known about the war was that Belleza'a father was killed during it and her mother died of a broken heart some time after.
Objects
Gigas
The Gigas were six super-powerful mecha devised by the ancient pre-cataclysmic civilizations of the world of Arcadia. Each was fully automated and carried a suite of incredibly powerful weapons with them. The Gigas were Recumen, the Red Gigas; Grendel, the Green Gigas; Plergoth, also called Rhaknam, the Purple Gigas; Bluheim, the Blue Gigas; Yeligar, the Yellow Gigas, and Zelos, the Silver Gigas.
Moon Crystals
The Moon Crystals are gems of intense magical power which can control the Gigas. The Crystals are in the same colors as the six moons and distinctively shaped: Red (pyramidal), Green (octahedral), Blue (tear-shaped), Purple (obelisk-shaped), Yellow (cubic) and Silver (spherical). The shape of the Silver Moon Crystal is similar to that of Sailor Moon's "Maboroshi no Ginzuishou" (Silver Illusion Crystal, sometimes called the Silver Moon Crystal), a major plot device.
Places
Deep Sky
Deep Sky refers to the lower levels of the sky directly above what some call the Earth. Vyse and his crew journey to Deep Sky in search of Fina's vessel when it is shot down at the beginning of the game.
Great Silver Shrine
The Great Silver Shrine is a space station at the LaGrange Point directly between Arcadia and the Silver Moon. It is the last holdout of the Silvite race in the world.
The Elders of the Great Silver Shrine all appeared as decrepit men in their late 80s or older (they were in fact more than a thousand years old), supported in crystals of some sort several yards above the floor of the Chamber of Elders, in the center of the Shrine.
Ten centuries ago, the Elders triggered the Rains of Destruction using the Silver Gigas, Zelos, detaching the Great Silver Shrine and taking it into orbit beforehand. The Rains nearly wiped out all living things on Arcadia, but did not kill the human race, so the Elders kept themselves alive in watch, in case they should ever need to trigger the Rains again. Believing that the Valuan Empire could pose a threat, they chose to activate the Rains and sent first Ramirez, then Fina to recover the Moon Crystals.
All of the Elders were killed when they crashed the Great Silver Shrine into the continent of Soltis during the Battle of Soltis, except for Elder Prime. He was killed by Ramirez scant days earlier to get his shard of the Silver Moon Crystal.
Ships
Most of these ships are airships. Airships of Valuan origin tend to be named after constellations.
Albatross
The Albatross is the Blue Rouge pirate vessel captained by Vyse's father Dyne. It resembles a traditional sailing vessel, and is armed with 5 broadside cannons on each side of the ship.
Albatross II
The Albatross II is identical in design to the original Albatross, aside from a blue color scheme. It is captained by Vyse after the war ends and he returns control of the Delphinus to Enrique.
Auriga
The Auriga is Admiral Gregorio's flagship, a modified Valuan heavy battleship, and heavy is the best word to describe it.
The Auriga is an extremely strong warship, built for its owners specialty: defense. It can take quite a lot of damage, although it sacrifices maneuverability. It is defeated by Vyse and friends at Esperanza, along with two cruisers from Gregorio's fleet.
This battleship's main armament is the ship itself. The front has several spikes embedded in the very thick hull, and the ship itself is designed for ramming. It is also armed with three deck-mounted heavy cannons, one of which may be a Valuan Magic Cannon, and ten subcannons mounted on the sides of the ship. There are also four torpedo launchers mounted behind the heavy cannons.
The ship itself is rather plain, decorated only by the spikes and the symbol of the Valuan Empire.
Blackbeard
The Blackbeard is the Black Pirate ship of Captain Baltor, a would-be rival of Vyse. It is similar in concept to the Albatross, but somewhat larger and blockier. The Blackbeard is armed with 8 cannons on each side. While the Blackbeard presents a credible threat to the Little Jack, the Delphinus is able to make short work of it.
Bloodlust
The Bloodlust is the ship of the obese Black Pirate Gordo. Its bizarre fully enclosed hull is shaped like a fish, and it is armed with 5 cannons on each side.
Chameleon
The Chameleon is the flagship of Admiral DeLoco. It is medium-sized, vivid green and features a large dome resembling DeLoco's bubble. The ship has two torpedo launchers, 4 sub-cannons and a large, mechanical arm protuding from the bottom of the hull. The arm has the ability to utilize many weapons, ones that have been seen are a flamethrower, a gatling gun and a harpoon cannon fashioned after the Little Jack. There is also a large, hidden prototype MoonStone Cannon at the frontmost point of the ship.
Claudia
The Claudia is the Blue Rouge pirate ship captained by Gilder. It is a long, narrow vessel with large sails, indicating an empahsis on speed over armor. It is well armed for its size, 4 forward-firing cannons and 6 broadside cannons on each side.
Cygnus
Cygnus is a gilded lily of a ship, the flagship of Admiral Alfonso. A modified Valuan heavy battleship, Cygnus's primary notable feature is its bright white and gold paint scheme, suitable for an admiral more concerned with personal image than with success.
Delphinus_(Skies_of_Arcadia).jpg
Delphinus
The Delphinus is the most advanced airship in the world of Arcadia, in much the way that HMS Dreadnought was a watershed ship design in the real world. It was built to be the flagship of Valuan Crown Prince Enrique, but the Prince turned control of the ship over Blue Rogue pirate Vyse, who served as captain of the Delphinus until the defeat of rogue Valuan Lord Admiral Galcian and Admiral Ramirez, at which point he returned the Delphinus to now Emperor Enrique.
Delphinus is equipped with two upgradable main cannon turrets, two upgradable secondary gun mounts, six torpedo launchers and a super-powerful energy beam cannon called the Moon Stone Cannon, somewhat analogous in use to the Reflex Cannon seen in Robotech: a one-shot heavy weapon used to destroy weaker opponents in a single blast and severely damage or cripple heavier ones.
Draco
The Draco is Admiral Vigoro's flagship, a modified Valuan heavy battleship. Its distinguishing feature is that its gun turrets are replaced by a single huge forward-firing cannon, which is larger than the Delphinus's Moon Stone Cannon, but proves to be less powerful. This weapon is in keeping with Vigoro's emphasis on size over practicality and his preference for phallic weaponry.
Hydra
The Hyrda is a gigantic air fortress that Lord Admiral Galcian uses as his headquarters after breaking away from the Valuan Empire. It is very heavily armed with 6 heavy cannons, 12 secondary cannons, 14 teriary cannons, and a large "Hydra Cannon", similar to the Delphinus's Moon Stone Cannon.
Little Jack
Little Jack is a fishing sloop captained and crewed by Drachma. It is quite well armed for its size, especially after being upgraded with a large Harpoon Cannon, and with skilled handling is capable of defeating a Valuan battleship. Vyse and Aika fall onto her when their boat is destroyed by Rakhnam, and offer to help crew the ship in exchange for passage into Valua.
Drachma remains unconvinced of the importance of the young heroes' mission and ditches Vyse, Aika and Fina at the first opportunity in Maramba; but after finding Belleza's command cruiser, the Lynx, hiding in the stone reef near Maramba, he relents and returns to rescue the trio in the nick of time from being killed by Recumen, the Red Gigas.
After the rescue and a battle with Lynx, Vyse and crew steal Belleza's moonstone engine and use it to pass through the turbulent South Ocean to the land of Ixa'taka, where they do battle with Admirals De Loco and Alphonso.
Little Jack is severely damaged in a battle with Rakhnam when Admiral Ramirez's flagship Monoceros fires on her. Captain Drachma shoves off Vyse, Aika and Fina in lifeboats and rides his ship down, determined not to let Rakhnam go.
Lynx
The Lynx is a modified heavy cruiser of the Valuan Armada, and the flagship of Admiral Belleza.
Unlike her fellow Admirals, Belleza uses a cruiser rather than a heavy battleship as her flagship because of its smaller target profile and greater maneuverability. However, unfortunately, her vessel is more vulnerable to the weapons of the Little Jack and she is defeated in battle by Vyse and crew in the game's early goings. From then on, she schemes but does not directly confront the heroes.
Lynx is armed with one dual and two single heavy gun turrets, a line of five secondaries along each side and two torpedo launchers. She is also equipped with a Magic Cannon, which allows Belleza to fire magic spells against the Little Jack.
Monoceros
The Monoceros is the flagship of Ramirez. She is a Delphinus-class battleship, being clearly larger than the similar Spectre-class spellship, although whether or not she possesses a Moon Stone Cannon is a subject for debate. Monoceros is first used by Ramirez in the assault on Nasrad; before that, Ramirez used a modified Serpent-class battleship of the same name as his flagship.
Serpent
The Serpent is a powerful modified battleship of the Valuan Armada. Serpent is the flagship of Lord Admiral Galcian until she's replaced late in the game with the Sky Fortress Hydra.
Serpent has a forward battery of three heavy two-gun turrets and a single lighter one-gun turret, a broadside of eight light guns and a medium mount, and two torpedo tubes in the after citadel. Her expanded superstructure includes extra berthing space for Galcian's flag personnel.
Spectre-class
The Spectre-class battleship is very similar in layout and armament to the Delphinus, though it lacks a Moon Stone Cannon. Given that its structure resembles that of a World War I-era battleship, while Delphinus more closely resembles World War II vessels, and a scale model of a Spectre-class ship is found in the captain's cabin of the Delphinus, it is most likely the immediate forerunner of Delphinus.