NetRaptor's Fanfiction Background
_______________________________________________________________________
Here is the history of various objects in the NetRaptor Sonic universe. 
There is also quite a lot about the ancient echidnas, and you will 
probably find this information extremely boring unless you like history.
_______________________________________________________________________
Contents:

The Interweb
Chaos Emeralds
The Eighth Chaos Emerald
Green Emeralds: Chaos, Super, Master
The Emerald Sword
A Brief History of the Echidna Golden Age and the Seven Island Warriors

_______________________________________________________________________

The Interweb
___________________________________________________

The Interweb is an off-fling of the Void, existing between the 
fifth and sixth dimensions. It was created by the red chaos emerald, 
which became separated from the other six and ran amuck inside the Void. 

Highly unstable, the Interweb is a constantly changing spiderweb of 
passageways, portals, fragmented information and color. If a living 
person is sucked into it it is doubtful that they would ever escape, 
as there are only three outward-leading portals in the entire maze. If 
they DO escape, they will have had portions of their memory erased, 
and, as the Interweb is untouched by the dimension called Time, may 
return anywhere from an hour to 100 years after they left.

Sonic, Tails and Knuckles were unfortunate enough to enter this 
dreadful place. They eventually escaped with no more damage than 
extreme terror and the loss of their long-term memories (which they 
regained with Slasher's help). Their entry and exit of the Interweb 
took place between the stories "Sonic 3 and Knuckles" and "Daylight 
Savings". There are no fanfics chronicling it present.

Chaos Emeralds 
___________________________________________________

The great Chaos Emeralds were once the Order Emeralds, in Mobius's 
forgotten Golden Age. They were put in place to protect the planet, 
but they were corrupted by a servant of evil. Their goodness was 
destroyed, ushering in war, pestilence, and the general mayhem we 
have today.

Each emerald has two or three main powers, but also contains each of 
the powers native to the other emeralds, if the user is experienced 
enough in emerald uses.

Green: The most powerful of the Chaos Emeralds, its innate power is 
control. See Green Emeralds: Chaos, Super, Master for more details. 
It contains the powers of shapeshifting and healing, the only one of 
the Chaos to retain a Order power. The green would be the easiest to 
Chaos Control with.

White: The emerald of Knowledge and Deceit. No longer the emerald of 
Purity, its white has become a cloudy grey color, and its powers are 
now of deception. It favors wit and intelligence, but the powers it 
bestows upon the user could be either good or evil.

Red: Its power is chaos, anger and fire. Those whose minds are calm or 
pure can concentrate it into a fine beam, good for sniping or welding 
circuits ... those who are angry or tainted make it spew huge jets of 
plasma. It encourages violence in the user, and is perhaps the easiest 
of all the emeralds to use for evil purposes. 

Orange: The gem of perception. Its powers involve seeing other places 
and things, perhaps even other times. It's one of the only powers that 
can cut through the gray emerald's deceptions. It, as well as the 
white emerald, could bestow invisibility upon the user.

Light Blue: The gem of tranquility. Its elemental power is related to 
ice, and it increases the wisdom of anyone who seeks to use it properly. 
It also bestows some measure of protection upon the user, for it is 
not designed for warfare, but protection.

Indigo: Its power is mobility and teleportation. It also has the 
elemental power of water. More than any other emerald, it favors a 
male user.

Purple: The gem of flight. Its powers are atmospherically-related; 
flying, shooting lightning, perhaps telekinesis or manipulating winds. 
Females are better at using it, while males are better at using the 
dark blue emerald.


The Eighth Chaos Emerald
___________________________________________________

The Eighth Chaos Emerald contains all the evil ever caused by 
the other seven. It was once twice as large as the others, but was 
crushed sometime in the distant past. It was recut, and is now 1/2 
its original size. 

The fragments, ranging from pebble-sized to microscopic, were scattered 
about the world, each taking on a color of its own. The one Spark 
Hedgehog carries, for instance, is black. But each fragment lost some 
of its power in the separation, hence the reason for the color change. 
None are as powerful as the ruling green, and there are no green 
fragments.
 
The emerald is more powerful than all the rest put together. When 
brought into contact with the other seven, it controls them perfectly, 
and the person wielding them becomes more powerful than anything the 
Super emeralds can produce. On its own, however, the eighth chaos 
emerald may do anything to an individual carrying it; ranging from 
power-lust to madness to invincibility. Its powers are related to 
destruction and perversion, and with practice, one can see the 
locations of all other power stones.

When brought into contact with the Interweb, it sets about deepening 
and adding on to it, making everything more chaotic than before. At 
present, the emerald is somewhere in Mobius's history, due to the 
interference of the Time Rippers, and no one knows for certain where 
it is.


Green Emeralds: Chaos, Super, Master
___________________________________________________

Green is the Mobian symbol of authority. This extends to everything 
from police uniforms to the colors of the ruling power emeralds. 

The Master emerald is green because it controls, focuses and channels 
the power of the Super and Chaos emeralds. It acts as a switchbox 
between the emeralds, turning their power on or off when necessary, 
and has great innate power of its own. However, it is unusual for 
anyone other than an echidna to be able to activate the power of the 
Master Emerald.

The green Chaos Emerald is the controller of the Seven, when the 
Master Emerald is inaccessible. This is the reason the Red Chaos 
Emerald tends to unbalance when the green is not present.

The green Super Emerald is the controller of the seven Super Emeralds, 
but its power of control is weaker than that of the green Chaos 
Emerald. It must be used with the Master Emerald for full power, the 
reason being that the Super Emeralds were carved by the echidnas for 
the chao who lived on their islands.

The Eighth Chaos emerald is green for this same reason: its power is 
Control. However, it is older and stronger than the Master Emerald, 
and its powers were twisted when the Order Emeralds were corrupted. 
Thus it not only controls the other Emeralds, it also controls the 
user.

The Emerald Sword
___________________________________________________

The Emerald Sword was created by the Third Guardian, Martin Echidna, 
for the defense of the Floating Island. The blade is from the same 
vein of crystal as the Master Emerald, for the two were created within 
ten years of each other. But the echidnas, in their wisdom and folly, 
thought to make their sword even stronger by adding the other half of 
the Eighth Chaos Emerald to the hilt. This fragment was blue, and was 
indistinguishable from the sapphires set around it. The powers of 
Master Emerald and the Eighth Chaos Emerald were a deadly combination.

The result was a weapon with the ability to win any battle, but it 
would take over the user's mind at the same time. An echidna could 
wield the sword for a short time without being overcome. But if an 
echidna, or any other creature, was being powered by the Chaos or 
Super Emeralds when they grasped the hilt, the Sword would be 
activated at once. There was little hope for the warrior's sanity 
while they remained charged.

The echidnas kept the sword hidden for this reason, and only the 
current Guardian was allowed to know where it was concealed. Only the 
Guardian had the authority to use the Emerald Sword, and only in time 
of gravest need.


A Brief History of the Echidna Golden Age and The Seven Island 
Warriors
___________________________________________________

The golden age of the Floating Island and the echidna clan took place 
between 1780 and 1967, lasting nearly two hundred years. During this 
period, the echidnas made great strides in understanding the 
mysteries of power crystals and chaos. The crystal artisans sought 
to apply this power to the battlefield, and to defense of the Island.

Echidnas had a time of peace during their golden age, but being a 
warrior people, they used this time to build better weapons, better 
fortresses, and look for more lands to conquer. During this time, they 
built their mainland cities, as the island was not large enough to 
hold their entire civilization. 

It was around this period that a group of small creatures appeared 
out of the ocean. They were attracted to the Master emerald and the 
Chaos emeralds. They were dubbed 'chao'. The echidnas feared them, 
yet were fascinated by them. The 'chao' were guarded by a kind of 
chao of great size, who lived in the water and was not seen except 
when it revealed itself. The echidnas called it simply "chaos".

The echidna craftsmen succeeded in creating a suit of armor from a 
specially-grown green crystal, with a sword and shield. The sword was 
patterned after the Emerald Sword of the Guardians, but, as it lacked 
the Eighth Chaos Emerald, it was not so powerful. The shield was set 
with stones of light blue, for protection. Together with the rest of 
the armor, the warrior who wore it would be well-nigh invincible in 
battle.

Six other suits, shields and swords were made, each with its own 
innate powers. Their colors were red, light blue, purple, orange, 
dark blue, and white. Green was the armor of their captain. Seven 
echidnas were trained in the emerald arts, and were brought up to be 
honorable, loyal, and courageous. These traits had to exist in the 
heart of the warrior before chaos could be controlled, and their armor 
would function. The full deeds of these warriors, however, is too 
long a tale to relate here.

The Seven were invincible in battle, and were hailed as great 
chieftains, whether in armor or out of it. But the echidnas wearing 
White and Light Blue, in their wisdom, thought to increase their might 
by taking yet another weapon--a chao.

Chao were known, by this time, to react strangely when brought into 
contact with a Chaos Emerald, sometimes even changing shapes. Yet, 
fearing the water-based guardian of the chao, the echidnas hesitated 
to remove any of the chao from its protection. At last, seven eggs 
were stolen in the dead of night, and the warriors set about raising 
and training the hatchling chao.

Much was learned and recorded about the creatures. The seven chao, 
when powered by a chaos emerald, became small animals with great 
strength, and were fiercely loyal to their masters. Few could withstand 
them in battle. But they were not powerful enough to suit the Seven 
Warriors. The warriors approached the craftsmen about making another 
set of power stones that could rival the Master Emerald, but for the 
chao.

Thus the Super Emeralds were created. Once powered by the Chaos 
Emeralds, their power was immense, and the echidnas found many uses 
for them. But the chao, for whom they were designed, could use the 
Super Emeralds to attain great size and strength, and all Mobius 
feared the echidna clan.

The title of Seven was passed on to younger generations years later. 
The Seven passed through three generations before their line and rank 
was cut short by the End of the Golden Age, and the first War Purge. 

A retired warrior who had held the color Red envied his replacement, 
and thus the entire population of the Floating Island. He stirred up 
contention between the tribes living on the mainland, and those living 
on the Floating Island. He wished for war, but most of all, he craved 
the power of all fifteen power stones, the Master Emerald included.

In one of the most shameful moments of Echidnaen history, he led an 
attack on the Island, slaughtered his own people, and destroyed the 
chao, who lived around the shrine of the Master Emerald. But he had 
forgotten the guardian of the chao, who was stirred to insane wrath 
at the sight of its dead charges. The water guardian attacked and 
destroyed the warrior, his warband, and three fourths of the echidnas 
both on the island and on the mainland before it was stopped. This 
was the first War Purge.

This terrible disaster left the echidna race with numbers greatly 
depleted, and in a quandary about what to do about the Seven and their 
remaining chao, who lived with their masters, and not at the Emerald 
Shrine. The Elders decreed to disband the Seven, and destroyed all 
but one entrance to the great Crystal Palace, deep underground.

Thus the Golden Age was ended.
_______________________________________________________________________