From Yb Timeline

Current revision as of 19:21, 20 December 2012

"A meteor came, casting a dark shadow of debris over the land with the violence of its impact. Though we perceived this from beyond space and time, it was but a curiosity: a brief flare in the universe. But the meteor brought with it corruption. A Great Poison burst forth into the land, clawing at life with such violence that we were ripped from our peaceful state and find ourselves wandering as shadows of the mortal forms we left behind, searching for why we are here."
-Chozo Lore "Meteor Strike" (Metroid Prime)

Phazon
Facts
Homeworld	Phaaze
Elemental Composition	Unknown
Atomic Weight	99.75
Functions	Power Source, Mutagen, Weapon, Alloy
Variant Strains
Blue Phazon Red Phazon Black Phazon Liquid Phazon White Phazon (Stagnant Phazon) Phazon Strain Vertigo Phazon Strain Hades

Phazon is a semi-organic radioactive ore with high mutagenic properties from the planet of Phaaze. Phazon is self-replicating, and is able to break down organic and inorganic matter into a form that best suits the spread of Phazon. In most species, the substances high radioactive output causes immediate fatality and those that can withstand it are subject to mutations and a breakdown of conscious function (known as Phazon Madness). It is debated on whether or not Phazon is sentient, though there exists a Prime Unit that controls the growth and spread of Phazon, and the collective consciousness of the planet Phaaze was considered to have reacted the state of sentience. As such, Phazon is considered to be a semi-sentient organism.

Phazon is best known for the crisis it caused in the early to mid 2000s, where its rate of reproduction threatened to overtake the Salnos, Cremia and Starlight Galaxies. Phazon as a threat was destroyed after its first Prime Unit was killed and Phaaze was destroyed, and the substance being destroyed completely when the last Leviathan Seed was destroyed on Chronis.

History

Origins

Phazon evolved in the planet today known as Phaaze. Phaaze was bombarded with radiation from a nearby Wolf–Rayet star millions of years ago and wracked with constant ion storms, which prevented the development of very little in the way of sentient life. However, a basic organic substance eventually did begin to evolve on the planet, not only surviving the high energy output of the planet, but feeding off of it.

At an unknown point several million years later the planet of Phaaze consisted 70% of Phazon. The entire crust and most of the mantle had dissolved in order to facilitate the spread of the substance. A Phazon based ecosystem began to evolve on the planet, with creatures consisting of the substance roaming the surface. Eventually one creature had evolved enough to allow for space travel, a primitive supermassive beast known as the Protoleviathan. These were ejected from Phaaze and wandered the orbit of the planet, sometimes wandering out of orbit but usually dying years later.

Whether by evolutionary luck or the design of a sentient consciousness, the Protoleviathan had tapped into the latent energy properties of Phazon and evolved the ability to open wormholes that to small "dark world" pocket dimensions. At this point, the Protolevithian had evolved into a rocky creature with a large core of solid Phazon that was wrapped in a sort of womb, giving it the tools it needed to reform Phaaze on other planets. These creatures were known as the modern Leviathans, or Phazon Seeds, and would facilitate the spread of Phazon over the Salanos Galaxy.

It is unknown how many Leviathans managed to reach their targets over the next several thousand years. The Galactic Order of Diaban reported several supermassive husks that match the description of Leviathans, though with the Phazon cores long dead. Many state that possibility that Phazon had infected other planets, but after the biosphere and geologic structure of the planet were broken down the Phazon died off, unable to recreate another Phaaze without a high energy output.

Somewhere near this time, the Phazon cores began to develop a defense mechanism known as the Guardian Unit, which would involve taking a native creature and mutating it into a being that would defend the core. Later, this defense mechanism would give rise to the Prime Unit, who would act as a central sentience directing the growth of Phazon.

It is estimated around 1100, Phaaze's natural defense mechanisms had become so complex that it was determined to be a sentient planet, with Phazon having a semi-sentient consciousness behind it.

Spread and Contact

In 1950, two confirmed Phazon impacts occurred, one on the planet of Tallon IV and one on the planet of Aether. It is unknown which impact occurred first.

The Tallon IV impact was met with resistance by the Chozo, who had returned after their exodus to defend a planet they deemed as holy ground. They began to construct a temple to imprison the Leviathan and prevent it from corrupting the ecosystem, but the proximity began to drive the Chozo workers insane. The temple was constructed and sealed with several key artifacts, which stalled the spread of Phazon. However, the infected Chozo's bodies decayed, and their psychic essences were driven to mad hostility, creating what was known as Chozo Ghosts.

On Aether, the impact was far more severe. When the seed opened a "dark world" wormhole too close to the atmosphere of the planet, Aether was split into two separate worlds, one in the standard reality and one in a Phazon corrupted world. The presence of this dark world caused the world to be hit with immense psychic storms and destroyed much of the ecosystem. The Luminoth civilization attempted to research ways to combat the effects, but was met with a race of creatures that were created in the dark world, known as the Ing. What followed was a five decade long war, resulting in the Luminoth putting themselves in suspended animation in hopes of preserving their race.

Contact was then made by the Space Pirates, who were looking for an edge in their fight against the Galactic Federation after their Metroid operations on Zebes had fallen apart. They located a strange energy signature on Tallon IV, and investigated, discovering Phazon. They first attempted to set up a base in the Chozo ruins, but were pushed back by the Chozo Ghosts and wildlife, then settling closer to the impact site. They tunneled through the ruins, creating a Phazon mine where they could harvest the material.

They then began running tests on various species, seeing if the mutations could produce any viable results. Initial tests on Space Pirates were failures, resulting in fatalities. Aboard the nearby Frigate Orpheon successful tests were made on the Tallon Parasites that inhabited the planet, creating a strain of creatures known as the Parasite Queens. The Space Pirates then shipped in their stock of Metroids to begin testing.

Testing on Space Pirates began to show promise, with their Project Helix creating beings known as Elite Pirates. Metroids were experimented on, giving rise to the Hunter strain of the parasite. Later escaped experiments would evolve into Fission Metroids.

Meanwhile, the Phazon Core had mutated a Metroid bioform as its guardian. However, after years in containment the creature continued to evolve, eventually absorbing the core and becoming a sentient harbinger of Phazon. This became the first Prime Unit, known as Metroid Prime. The Prime unit would be a sentient guide for the expansion of Phazon, however, it was sealed behind the temple the Chozo had erected.

After the Space Pirates were destroyed on Zebes, Samus Aran was sent to destroy their operations on Tallon IV, first discovering the experiments on the Frigate Orpheon. Upon exploring the planet, she discovered Phazon and the Space Pirate's use of it, killing all of their Metroid test subjects and Elite Pirates. When she killed the final Omega Pirate, her suit became corrupted with Phazon, allowing her to move through the common Blue Phazon unharmed. She then unlocked the temple housing Metroid Prime, and after a long battle destroyed the beast, ending the spread of Phazon on Tallon IV.

However, before it was destroyed Metroid Prime took the genetic material of Samus and the Phazon corrupted parts of her suit. Using a final batch of Phazon, it rebirthed itself in a new form, known as Dark Samus. Dark Samus left Tallon IV, with the directive of spreading Phazon further.

Several years later Dark Samus would go to Aether and attempt to gain more power from the Phazon in its second dimension. Meanwhile a Federation Marine squadron landed on the planet in pursuit of the Space Pirates, who had set up a base there to investigate any Luminoth technology left behind. The Federation forces were killed by the Ing, and Dark Samus would raid the Space Pirate base in search of Phazon and Metroids to consume. The disappearance sparked Samus Aran to once again investigate, when she came across a Luminoth who informed her of the long war against the Ing. Samus fought a campaign across both dimensions, beating Dark Samus four times and killing the central Emperor Ing. She used Luminoth technology to destroy the dark world, destroying the seed and ending the Phazon threat to the planet.

In the wake of this, the Federation began to realize the threat Phazon held to the universe, as well as its value. They sent research teams to gather what Phazon the Space Pirates had mined. The last surviving Pirates took a frigate known as the Colossus that held a great quantity of the substance, as well as the remains of Dark Samus. At this time, Dark Samus reformed itself and gained control of the crew of the ship and started a mutany among the crew. After the remaining loyalists were killed, Dark Samus guided the Colossus toward Phaaze. The creature then obtained a Levithian Seed, and sent it at the Space Pirate world of Urtraghus.

What followed was a brief period of civil war between the loyalist Space Pirates and those corrupted by Dark Samus's influence. However, infused with the power of Phazon, Dark Samus's followers quickly overpowered the planet and gained control of Urtraghus's defensive fleet.

Threats in the Starlight

With Dark Samus now the supreme Prime Unit, all control of Phazon was granted to it. It began to prepare for a full campaign of several galaxies, targeting Salnos, Cremia and Starlight, launching Leviathan Seeds as key worlds to help its spread. The trade networks of the Space Pirates were also facilitated in spreading the substance to fringe groups.

One group was the anthromorphic species known as the Gray Wolves native to Star World, who used the substance to enhance their raw strength. They used this to attack a small arctic tribe known as the Ice Kingdom, killing the mother of Anubis in the process. Later, the Phazon would wipe out the Gray Wolves, but would create a wolf-like Phazon mutant that would go on to impersonate Anubis of the Yoshi Bodyguards.

Seeing this world as key to the spread of Phazon into galaxy, the corrupted Space Pirates set up a base in close proximity to the planet, using it as a gateway for Leviathan Seeds and as a trading post for groups that wanted to utilize Phazon. Eventually a Leviathan Seed would impact Star World in the deadlands near where the Titans of the Dark Ages fell, though with the threat only recently being discovered by the Federation the impact would go unnoticed.

The Phazon-Anubis creature would evolve to mimic Anubis's growing power, and would use its powers to harass the Yoshi Bodyguards. It evolved with greater powers of Phazon control, infecting core members of the group. Seeing a vision of Phazon peril, the Luminoth V-Mos came to Star World to aid the Yoshi Bodyguards. The spread of Phazon from the core began to impact the atmosphere, increasing the toxicity of the rain. Parts of the forest nearest to the impact site had begun to mutate.

The Yoshi Bodyguards under Anubis and V-Mos raided the impact crater, only to find that the Titan of Thunder, Sango, had been merged with the Phazon Core in order to create a Guardian Unit. During the battle the Guardian Unit was forced to absorb all Phazon from the surrounding area, causing it to overload itself. The remaining Liquid Phazon was absorbed by Anubis, who had gained enough power to resist the corruption of Dark Samus.

There would be several minor incidents in the Starlight Galaxy after that point, and some traces of Phazon still remained on the planet of Star World. These were cleaned up in the year following. The Space Pirate base would remain operational until it was discovered in mid 2007.

Extermination Campaign

Following these events the Federation began to take seriously the threat of Phazon while experimenting with its uses. The weaponization of the substance lead to the Phazon Enhancement Device, which delivered small qualities of liquid Phazon to the weapon systems of a mechanism. In addition, the Phazon Bomb was created at this time, which had the ability to strip an entire planet's atmosphere. This bomb was tested twice before all future testing was barred.

Five months after the Aether incident, Dark Samus ordered an attack on the Galactic Federation's battleship G.F.S. Valhalla, which was out on training exercises. Taken from this ship was Aurora Unit 313, which served as a mechanical brain for planning battlefield operations. Dark Samus installed the unit into Phaaze in order to better absorb the tactics of the Federation as well as increase control its control over the planet.

A month later, the corrupted Space Pirates began an offensive against the Federation, hitting several key systems. These were followed by impacts of Leviathan Seeds, which slowly corrupted the planets from within. Meanwhile, all Aurora Units were hit with a destabilizing virus that impeded their ability to direct battlefield movements. The Federation Navy, under Fleet Admiral Dane, was deployed with detachments from the Federation Police Force and Federation Marine Corps with the orders of stopping the Space Pirate offensive at Norion. Hired by the Police Force were four bounty hunters, including Samus Aran. The force was repelled, even and the planet's ion cannon was able to destroy an incoming Leviathan Seed before it could take root in the planet.

From here Samus Aran would go on to destroy the Phazon cores at Bryyo and Elysia, two other planets in the system, and killed the other three bounty hunters who had concocted Phazon Madness. She would also lead the assault on Urtraghus, destroying the planet's shields and killing its Leviathan Seed. The remaining Space Pirate fleet was called back to Phaaze in order to defend the planet, but the Federation engaged them, allowing Samus to latch onto a Leviathan Seed and get to the surface. From there Samus battled Dark Samus, even after it had merged with Aurora Unit 313. This ended in the destruction of both Dark Samus and 313, and with the planet so linked to its Prime Unit, Phazze collapsed in on itself.

Dying Echoes

A period of purging began after the destruction of Phaaze. The remaining Leviathan Seeds were hunted down, and many died off, unable to adapt to their planet's climates without the guiding intelligence of a Prime Unit of the planet Phaaze. The last Phazon bombs were decomissioned, though one was used in the The Liberation of Ryshi when the Federation detonated it on the COUE Flagship.

The last Leviathan Seed emerged in 2008, two years later. It had been adrift in deep space in the Starlight Galaxy, and had gone into a sort of hibernation. The sentient particles that once made up Dark Danny latched onto the Seed, merging with part of the core to become the new Prime Unit for what Phazon was left. However, all Phazon was either locked in Federation laboratories or on that seed. Dark Danny used its power to evolve the seed into a new strain, hardier and more lethal then the previous Blue Phazon. This became known as Hades Strain.

Dark Danny directed the seed to crash into the planet Chronis, which was under siege by nine separate armies. Dark Danny hoped the amount of fighting would give him ample bodies to mutate into his own army, and start a new Phazon spread. The impact site was the city of Or'Es'Kha, which was the capitol for the native Freaten people. Dark Danny sent mutated legions across the planet, only to discover that the technology of the Necron was able to destroy the strain. The Star World Defensive Forces used this fact to their advantage, looting Necron technology to create a gauss cannon capable of destroying the Seed.

A group of heroes under the SWDF raided the seed, guiding the cannon to the core. Dark Danny attempted to stop them, but was unsuccessful. He merged with the corpse of a Freox Monster, the giant reptilian beasts of burden of the planet, and tried to destroy the cannon, but was beaten back. The Seed was destroyed, killing off the Hades Strain and the last Leviathan Seed. Dark Danny managed to escape, but was soon captured by Metal Danny, who used some of his biological structure to sustain himself.

Phazon was considered all but eradicated in 2009, the last samples in laboratories had died, Dark Danny was eventually killed, and no more seeds were ever found. There were several attempts made to create substances that replicated Phazon, most notably a strain made by Slike and sold to King Rexor when he attempted to take over Star World, but all failed. The Federation raided a laboratory from Darkcorp in the Hiddukel Sector that had supposedly created a Phazon substitute. Metal Danny raided this lab with a group under Chibi, as he could not sustain himself without Phazon, but it was discovered that the substitute was insufficient.

Biology

Phazon is a substance made from a variety of organic and inorganic elements. Phazon has two distinctive features, its ability to retain a high volume of energy and the ability to break down surrounding elements in order to better suit its environment. Phazon structures itself in a way very similar to a nervous system allowing higher intelligences, most notably from a Prime Unit, Guardian Unit, or from the combined intelligence of Phaaze, to send electrical signals that serve to move and manipulate the structure of Phazon. Phazon-based or heavily infected creatures also use raw Phazon as a fuel source, absorbing the latent energy potential of the substance to sustain themselves. Phazon is highly radioactive, and emits a high energy output dangerous to most forms of sentient life. When discharged, this energy has been shown to cause a massive displacement of force, some able to tear holes in the dimensional fabric.

Sentient beings of all types have a variety of methods of which they are affected by Phazon; indirect contact leads to a condition known as "Phazon Madness," resulting in severe paranoid, vomiting, and increased aggression. Direct contact usually leads to immediate death, followed by a breakdown of tissue to create more Phazon and the absorption of all energy content into the Phazon structure. When applied in specific situations, Phazon can also mutate creatures, increasing tissue mass and rewiring the nervous system of a creature to that of the structure of a Phazon network. At this stage of infection creatures rarely live over a week before a collapse of major organs. Phazon also has the ability to animate objects and mechanisms when under the influence of a higher intelligence. Such infections include the animation of corpses, rock structures, and mechanized vehicles.

Strains of Phazon

• Blue Phazon (Tiberius Pleib): Blue Phazon is the most common strain, and the one most identified with the substance. It has the lowest energy capacity of the strains, but spreads the quickest. As such it is always the first strain to be seen after the impact of a Leviathan. Blue Phazon is also the most stable form of Phazon, and as such is the only form used in genetic experimentation and weapon enhancements.

• Red Phazon (Tiberius Tallon): Red Phazon is a strain of Phazon with a much higher energy capacity and radioactive output. Red Phazon is usually seen as the core of impacted Leviathan seeds, and can form a hard red alloy when inert, which gives a thick mantle layer to the seeds. Red Phazon also has the ability to break down Blue Phazon, and as such it is theorized that Red Phazon is supposed to overtake areas infected by Blue Phazon as a second stage of infection. Red Phazon does not appear to have the same mutagen properties of Blue Phazon.

• Black Phazon (Tiberius Phaaze): Not much is known about Black Phazon, other then it made up the inner layer of Phaaze. It appeared to be more durable then Red Phazon structures, and were mined for a short time by the corrupted Space Pirates. It is theorized that Black Phazon was to be the final evolution of a Phazon infestation.

• Liquid Phazon: While not considered a direct strain, liquid Phazon is a discharge made of the raw, inorganic elements that comprise Phazon. This form is not connected to the Phazon network, and is not considered semi-sentient as the other strains, however due to its form it is able to be used as the most efficient form in regards to the weaponization of Phazon.

• White Phazon: Much like Liquid Phazon, White Phazon is not a semi-organic strain, rather the husk left over from a dead Phazon structure. When all Phazon energy is exhausted, the inorganic materials begin to eat away at the organic elements of the Phazon, creating a hard, white crystal structure. This state does not emit any radiation or have any mutagenic properties, but is extremely durable. The lack of malleability has prevented the substance from being used in any alloys.

• Vertigo Strain Phazon (Tiberius Vertigo): Created by the Space Pirates, this strain of Phazon combined liquid Phazon with elements from Dark Aether, creating an airborne strain of the substance. However, without a neural network strain the airborne Phazon had a low energy output, and would usually dissipate within thirty minutes to an hour upon leaving a controlled environment.

• Hades Strain Phazon (Tiberius Hades): Created when Dark Danny landed on the last Leviathan seed, Hades Strain had a green coloring to it and contained energy signatures similar to that of those of dark mana. It was highly mutanagic, though much less radioactive then even Blue Phazon, as it was designed with the intent to animate rather then kill and consume. This strain was active on Chronis, where it animated the fallen soldiers and remaining technology. However, all major infections of the substance died when the score was destroyed, and the last elements of it were destroyed upon Dark Danny's death.

Important Phazon Infections

Phazon-based beings

• Metroid Prime/Dark Samus
• Phazon Anubis
• Ing
• Thardus

Major Infections

• Anubis
• Phazon Whaccka
• Dark Danny
• Ridley
• Elite Pirate Strain
• Hunter Metroid Strain
• Fission Metroid Strain

Minor Infections

• Samus Aran
• Rundas
• Ghor
• Gandrayda
• Koop
• Metal Danny

Trivia

• Phazon was the pivotal substance that served as the antagonist to the Metroid Prime series.
• In the early days of the Yoshi Bodyguards, Metroid Prime 3 had not been released, so the nature of Phazon had not been fully understood. As such there are references to multiple Metroid Primes, and the Leviathan Seeds were seen as inorganic meteors.