Guardia

Guardia is a kingdom in the Chrono Trigger series, being a major location of the original Chrono Trigger and finding mention as a historical location in both Radical Dreamers and Chrono Cross. In the Interference series, it is also the name of the world of Chrono Trigger, and is the homeworld of Crono, Lucca, Marle, Magus, Frog, Ayla and Robo.

Description
Guardia comprises a group of small continental plates that have combined or split various times along the course of human history in the era. In the present day, a millennium after the creation of the Kingdom of Guardia, the land vaguely resembles the arrangement of continents in the real world. The accessible land is largely green, with areas of dry land on the road between Medina Village and the hut of the guru Melchior. Forests take up large areas while mountains are dotted around the world.

History
Guardia's history can be traced back to the prehistoric era, where humans and dinosaurs were known to have been living together. Human tribes fought against tribes of sentient lizards called Reptites for control of the surrounding land. During this time, an alien monster landed on the planet, and burrowed into the planet. The impact caused an ice age to set in, killing off the Reptites while humans survived by hiding underground.

After over sixty million years, humans discovered and developed magic, and branched off into three groups of people: those for whom magic was innate, those who could use magic while assisted, and those whom were incapable entirely. Those with magical ability formed the magical Kingdom of Zeal, while the unable became the Earthbound. During the reign of Queen Zeal many thousand years after, the Mammon Machine was constructed by three Gurus in order to draw energy from Lavos. When the machine activated, Lavos was awoken, and created gates that transported the Gurus, and Queen Zeal's magic-incapable son Janus, to different time periods. Lavos then destroyed Zeal.

The ice age ceased, and the land began to warm up. The people who survived the destruction of Zeal and the Earthbound reunited and mixed with one another. The Kingdom of Guardia was eventually formed in the year 1AD.

Locations
Rather than being structured into all locations, Guardia is categorised into moments of time, due to the time travel element of the original game. The eras below are titled by both the rough date and the name of the era in the original SNES version of the game.

65,000,000BC - Prehistoric
All of the land is connected except for the Sun Shrine. Humans have settlements to the west of the supercontinent, whereas the Reptites live in the centre, surrounded by lava and four large volcanoes. There are plenty of forests, but the grass is relatively sparce, and the world is dominated by multiple brown stone peaks, and the occasional plateau. This time is the home of Ayla, who leads the Ioka tribe.

12,000BC - Dark Ages
The world is split into the floating Kingdom of Zeal and the main world underground. The Kingdom, suspended on a main island with four outliers, floats in the atmosphere above the clouds, but is largely green and pleasant, presumably due to the magic ability of the Mystics who live there. Below, the rest of the land is freezing cold from a state of eternal storm. There are few human settlements. This time is the home of Magus, as well as Gaspar, Belthasar and Melchior before they are swept to different areas.

After the crashing of the Ocean Palace, the Kingdom of Zeal is destroyed, and some of the land down below is destroyed as well, sinking into the ground, or being turned into further rocky shallows.

600AD - Middle Ages
The land has recovered and resurfaced. Human settlements have florished in the west, and various forests of different types pepper the land. In the most central continent is a large forest surrounding Magus' lair, and a desert is present near Dorino Village. The Kingdom of Guardia has existed for six-hundred years and is currently in the reign of King Guardia XXI and his wife Queen Leene. This time is the home of Frog.

1000AD - Present
As six-hundred years before before, the area is green, with plenty of forests and the occasional mountain. Over the last several years much of the land has fused together again. The Kingdom of Guardia resides resides in the north-western continent, and is celebrating one thousand years since the original founding. Dorino Village is gone, but other villages have spread out further east. This time is the home of Crono, Lucca and Marle.

In the initial timeline, much of the south-western continent is barren desert. In the altered timeline, this space is taken up by a massive forest, and the villa that was there in 600AD has been converted into a religious shrine.

1999AD - Day of Lavos
The unaffected state of the land is only visible in a video recording several years into the future. Cities have developed into structures protected by glass domes, and Medina has developed into a facility. Lavos, however, bursts out of the ground and bombs the entire world with spines from its back, wiping out nearly all life. After the attack, all that becomes accessible of the area is the battle with Lavos itself.

2300AD - Future
Damaged from Lavos' attack, the world is dry and barren, the domes holding the only sources of life. Mutants roam the outside and the human race is in instant danger of dying out from a lack of food and resources. This time is the home of Robo, and it is erased from existence when Lavos is defeated.

End of Time
The End of Time consists only a few square constructed areas in the middle of a dark void, and is the home to multiple time gates leading to each important era of the world's timeline. The only residents of the End of Time are Gaspar, who guards over the gates, and Spekkio, a war god who offers travellers magical power.