Here is a wacky, semi ordered theory about the World of Zemuria. At the time of writing, I’m at Chapter 3 of Kai no Kiseki (Trails beyond the Horizon). Kai seems to reveal a looot about the world, so this theory might quickly get outdated.

Needless to say, this blogpost contains SPOILERS for every mainline Kiseki from Sora FC till Kai Chapter 3. I strongly advise you don’t read any of this if you havn’t played all of it. Seriously, go play, the games are S-Tier

Timeloop⌗

It’s getting more and more obvious that Zemuria is trapped in a timeloop. We got the temporal changes in Ao by Kea, leading to the SSS suviving Zero by making it so that Estelle, Joshua join the party. That also made Crow and Millium join Class VII, and make the railway cannon fire a blank before being ready to destroy Crossbell. Then in Zero II we got a whole game about the existance of time loops, caused by C. Epsteins Genesis.

Epstein⌗

Lets look at some Dates first:

  • C. Epsteins passed away in S.1154.
  • McBurn came into Zemuria ~50 years before Sen IV, so roughly in S.1156. (Related? Maybe)
  • The Orbal Revolution was in S.1150
  • The Great Convergence happens every ~1200 Years and is a Major event for the 3rd desciple. Adding rounding errors, last time it it happened was S.0, next time 1210, right after 120X from Epsteins Prophecy (Collect oct genesis before 120X)

My theory is that Epstein is either from outside Zemuria, like McBurn or from previous iterations of the loop. He made the Oct Genesis as a “Pathfinder” for orbal tech, but the genesis are exponentially more powerful than any orbal device 50 Years after. More akin to an Artifact than an Orbment. How? Knowledge from outside, time travel or the ancient zemurians.

Remnants and Alter Dawn⌗

At this point, I can’t say whether the Remnants remain from ancient Zemuria or from a different timeloop iteration. Alter Dawn hints at changing the Dawn of the time loop, though it doesn’t seem like a positive change.

Remake⌗

The remake games have a slightly modified story, to incorporate more modern gameplay, graphics and storytelling. Some needs to be explained via redcons and retroactive additions, like Yuna and Towa in Zero no Kiseki. But what if those had a in Universe Explanation? One we’ve already seen in Ao/Sen1 and later in Kuro2: Time Shenanigans. More specifically, time shenanigans at the end of the large time loop? Whoever causes the time to loop does so by changing minor details, leading to changes via the butterfly effect (You all know it, travel back in time, step on a butterfly, travel back and suddenly there is no Oil in America). So changes in the remakes and remasters could be neatly explained away like that.

Grandmaster⌗

This is based on a theory I read on Reddit once. Give it a read! Did that? Good.

Now here’re my additions: Estelles mom is one possible cause for the time loop at a Cataclysmic event in 1210. Though I’m not sure how far back the startpoint of the timeloop goes. At least as far back as the creation of the oct genesis, the first major “Anomaly” in recent history. Maybe even to the Middle Ages where she (accidentally?) became the goddess Aidios (just because you found a religion does not mean you can control them, just take a look at “Life of Brian”) Maybe she got outside, becoming an “Observer”. So the opposite direction of McBurn

Aidios⌗

Another prime candidate for the restart of the loop, though motivations aren’t really clear yet.

Some miscellaneuos thoughts⌗

  • Why are they the “Oct” (8) Genesis? Everything else is based on “Sept” (7): 7 Elements of Septium, Septian Church, etc
    • What is the Element of the eight? Just a Booster? A Connection piece? Same as “Sepith Mass”?
  • What’s up with ancient Zemuria? Liberl had a Floating city. Most likely some kind of outside intervention by the