Why "Age of War"?
As a child I was fascinated by the monster machines known as Zoids for combining all of my strongest interests; dinosaurs, science fiction and a military setting (having grown up under a US Navy base, I always found military hardware and organization fascinating). Growing older I collected a few Zoids but few reached the USA. As I attended the Art Institute's Industrial Design Technology course I would occasionally locate a Zoid and buy it for both nostalgia and for appreciation of its design. At that point Zoids were little more than a casual interest.
With the re-launching of the Zoids series and the advent of eBay, my income quickly found an outgo. I found most of the new designs creative and quite collectable, and soon I was running out of room. I did not have access to the shows that accompanied the new models and, as I learned some of the plot lines I longed for the original setting... two forces struggling against each other for control of an ancient and wondrous world. I began to acquire designs that appealed to me but the colors, now toy-like as opposed to coordinated military or cultural motifs. This led me to repainting the new models to fit better within the old lines, and painting gave way to customizing, which in turn has led to the addiction of kit-bashing.
"Age of War" is a result of an appreciation of a striking series of model kit designs and the desire to design and build my own, all within a story line that I can guide to nurture and enhance my skills. This site is a glance into the workings of my mind and my hands. It is a showcase of my hand built, customized models as well as digital work designed to draw together the official story of the past with the direction of my designs in the future. Creativity should be encouraged, and I hope you find encouragement here.
Planet Zi
The distant world of the Zoids story is still the location for Age of War. Planet Zi is virtually a parallel Earth, yet it is a world where both biological and mechanical organisms have evolved side by side. The Zoids, mechanoid animal life forms, were far more enduring than their organic counterparts, and still exist in numbers. The face of the world has changed due to the collision of a comet in the distant past. The blast altered the climate of the world and now deserts spread from the equator; organic life is pushed steadily toward the poles where more bearable temperatures exist. Further, the destabilization has sent a tremendous amount of water from the sea and atmosphere into space where it now exists as a cloud-ring of ice.
History of the Age of War
It is unknown how much time has passed since the prior age. It is known that the terrible comet disaster led to massive damage to civilizations across the world. Beyond this it is known that the great war between the factions of the Republic of Helic and the Empire of Zenebas had managed to thrive, resulting in the loss of ever more life. Zenebas had retaken the Empire after the total defeat of their previously traitorous allies, the Guylos Dynasty, and a handful of those loyal to Guylos had escaped into the wilderness of the north.
Factions within the last of the Dynasty had come to see the futility of their struggle and moved to enact an ancient secret that had been discovered beneath the caverns of the continent of Nyx... the Bluefire Contingency. A series of ancient satellites circled Zi, dormant in the dark of space. They awaited a fateful command to rain down a terrible fate on all Zoids within their range. Every Zoid Core active beneath the space-borne weapons was incinerated from within, collapsing in a haze of blue flames. Within hours of its activation almost every Zoid on Planet Zi was terminated. Without the Zoids, all war came to a halt. An uneasy peace was forced upon the populous of the planet for the first time in centuries.
The governments of Helic and Zenebas drew up a treaty, dividing up the lands they once held but could no longer work nor defend along the most logical lines. The representatives from Guylos were at first scorned for the devastation they caused, but they, too, were finally brought into the peace that they helped to create. Many peoples drifted back to their tribal roots, finding themselves separated from their former governments by hundreds of kilometers of empty land and without Zoids to rebuild a powerful society. From the ashes of terrible catastrophe came a brighter age... yet it was not to last.
None could have seen it coming. Even now there are none aware of how it really began again. The history books record that more than 300 years of peace reigned; sometimes uneasy, sometimes broken by tribal conflicts, but no all-out war was seen. The event that shattered that peace was an unprovoked attack upon a growing Helic city. Thousands were slain as a battleherd of Red Horns razed the city to the ground. Before cooler heads could prevail, a Helic defense force found itself responding in kind. It all seemed so senseless to the people of both outraged nations, but both demanded vengeance. What neither could know was who had ordered the attacks.
The Zoids.
300 years of peace had shown the surviving Zoids one thing; without conflict, they would no longer evolve. On the contrary, they would degrade into machines of labor, or feral units rusting in the wilds. No; they would evolve. They would evolve if every organic creature on Zi was to suffer for it.
Yet the new, more intelligent Zoids had covered their steps well. Through deceit and planning, they have re-ignited an old flame within the hearts of the Zoidians. A prejudice has been rekindled, and now not only have the nations turned upon each other, but the humans have become the targets of the ire of the indigenous peoples. With so much history and bad blood to focus on, the subtle manipulation of the Zoids has gone unnoticed.
The Setting
Seven years of escalation has transpired since the dreaded First Act, and much has changed. New species of Zoids that had been discovered since the comet devastated the landscape have been converted for war. The face of Planet Zi is no longer the battlefield on which two super powers wage their wars... there are more factions to contest the world. Helic now stands against Zenevas, while Guylos has grown to maintain a hold on Nyx to the north. Dozens of tribal states have taken root across all landmasses, and in many places no single power maintains any dominance. The humans seek what alliances they can find, the Zoidians position to resist their expansion or to destroy them outright. Receded ocean waters have given rise to greater masses land, and have uncovered many secrets lost for thousands of years.
Zoid Species
In the world of A0W there are three basic forms of Zoids, and all three were reduced to near extinction by the combination of the comet and the Bluefire Contingency. "Natural" Zoids are found in the wilds and are, for the most part, mechanical animals... zoic androids. Many are dangerous in their natural forms, yet animals nonetheless. They are indigenous to Zi and can be found in sizes great and small, and spread throughout all environments. These function by advanced forms of artificial instinct and intelligence.
Then there are the engineered Zoids, once based upon natural machine-creatures, they have been modified by both humans and Zoidians to excel at specific tasks from construction and agriculture to mass transit and war. These are the machines most commonly known on the world of Zi, and in our world as well. They function more as the tools of the intelligent races, but have had their intellects enhanced as well as their physical bodies. For the most part, they staunchly protect that which they identify as their own side and attack that which has been labeled an enemy, and they are known as "Aligned" Zoids.
But something unexpected has occurred since the Bluefire. Creatures now known as "Feral" Zoids have appeared. These are natural machine beasts but they seem to be crossed with those that are aligned, possessing weapons and behavioral attributes not previously found in nature. Some are more powerful than those engineered by the mighty nations, but all are unpredictable. Could the natural Zoids be evolving into war machines as well?
The nations are rising.
The Zoids are evolving.
This is the world of Zoids: Age of War.
