Epoch (Chrono Trigger)
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Epoch (Silvard in Japan) is the name of the flying time machine the characters of Chrono Trigger use at some point into the game to cross time and space, making their travels easier. Epoch is for Chrono Trigger what the airship is for the Final Fantasy game series: a fast and efficient method of transport introduced late into the game to make the few remaining quests easier. In Japan the Epoch's name seems to be a mix of both silver and bird: (シルバード) Sylbird seems to be a more accurate translation.
[edit] Story
Epoch is the best and last invention of Belthasar, the Guru of Reason from the Kingdom of Zeal in the time 12,000 B.C. Belthasar was banished to the year 2300 A.D. by the monstrous alien parasite Lavos. He was forced to experience the bleak future of the world after the apocalyptic Day of Lavos in 1999 A.D. Even then, Belthasar continued to conduct research on Lavos and concluded that if anyone was to stand a chance against it, one should first master time itself.
To that end Belthasar, his sanity ever diminishing, managed to construct a working time machine, which he called the Wings of Time. He soon after died, but not before inserting his consciousness into a Nu. When the main characters of the game reached his home, happening to need a time machine to continue their quest, Belthasar's last recorded messages and his Nu self delivered them the time machine and taught them how to use it. The player can then name the time machine with a word up to five letters long, as if it were a recruited character. The default name is Epoch.
At this point the Epoch could not yet fly, but it could cross time while remaining in the same place. The heroes used it to return to Zeal in 12,000 B.C. After Lavos briefly awoke and destroyed Zeal, the Epoch was seized by Dalton, counselor to Queen Zeal. Since Queen Zeal and her heirs Schala and Janus had disappeared during Zeal's destruction, Dalton proclaimed himself king and had the Epoch modified to become his air-throne (or Air Dalton Imperial). After the heroes escaped their captivity and defeated Dalton, they reclaimed Epoch, which was now capable of flight.
The player has the option to take Epoch to the Day of Lavos, by selecting 1999 A.D. on the Time Gauge. If so, the Epoch will crash itself into Lavos' shell, shattering the shell completely and saving the player from actually having to fight that first part of the final battle himself. If this is done however, a separate ending is unlocked than if the Epoch was kept intact.
In Chrono Cross, Belthasar had appeared in Another World's Viper Manor. In a secret room, the player can find that he possess the "Neo-Epoch", but it is not functional.
| Characters | Crono | Marle | Lucca | Frog | Robo | Ayla | Magus |
| NPCs | Belthasar | Cyrus | Dalton | Gaspar | Janus | Lavos | Masa and Mune | Melchior | Nu | Ozzie, Slash, and Flea | Queen Zeal | Schala |
| Misc. | List of Chrono Trigger characters | Time periods | Chrono Trigger Original Sound Version | Epoch | Kingdom of Zeal | Mammon Machine | Masamune | Nuumamonja: Time and Space Adventures |
