The Light, the Darkness, and God

Have you ever noticed how the churches in Phantasy Star are all very similar to Christian churches in appearance, regardless of what species inhabit the towns where the churches are located? The odds of multiple cultures in another galaxy developing a religion nearly identical to one here on Earth are immeasurably remote, so the similarities cannot be explained away as coincidence. Might not the most reasonable answer be that the same God was responsible for the creation of both religions?

Even if the theory could not be true for Earth and the worlds of Algo, it would still have to be true for at least Palma and Dezoris. The Palmans and Dezorians were openly hostile towards one another until after the Great Collapse. There was almost no contact between the two cultures. Therefore, how could the extreme similarity in their two religions be explained except to say that the same God created both?

It has always been my belief that, despite the differences between all of the religions of Earth, all people are nonetheless worshipping and praying to the same God. And if this is true for everyone on Earth, it must also be true of the people of Algo, right?

The following is Beyond Algo's theory of the creation of Algo and its three sister religions. It is sure to be controversial, but should not offend anyone. If you do not care for this theory, then please just ignore it. It serves only as additional background and is not necessary to understand or enjoy the stories of Beyond Algo.

In the beginning, there was only the God, a being who would come to be called many things, including the God of Algo, or Le-Dei-De-Algol. He created a universe filled with life. He also created a spiritual plane and a host of beings to inhabit it with him.

One of the beings the God had created was nearer perfection than any of the others. He was the God's favorite. However, the nearly perfect one, or Na-Mai-Paere, became incresaingly aware of his glorious state, and began to think himself better than the God.

A conflict erupted amongst the beings the God had created. Although most of the beings stood by their creator, some of the beings favored Na-Mai-Paere. Those who had betrayed their creator were banished into a dark and empty dimension.

When he saw the God's wrath, one and only one of the beings became truly repentent. He reached out to the God, and the God reached back for him with open arms. The God began to pull the wayward spirit home. However, Na-Mai-Paere held on to the darker side of the being's heart. A titanic tug-of-war began, with the result being that the spirit was torn in two. His reighteous half escaped the battle, while his darker half gladly joined Na-Mai-Paere in the black depths which lay even below the universe.

When the reighteous half saw what his dark twin had become, he was filled with sorrow. This sorrow intensified when he saw his twin go out into the universe at Na-Mai-Paere's order to destroy worlds and corrupt more souls.

The spirit was outraged. He lacked the power to destroy his twin outright, as they were equal in every way. He could, however, force his twin back into the depths from which it had come. After a long, long battle, the reighteous half of the spirit managed to seal its counterpart back in the depths. Then the God, at the hero spirit's request, created a new star for the universe and four planets which would orbit it. This star system, which was named the Algol, was placed over the seam between the universe and nether regions, thus sealing it.

However, Na-Mai-Pere was not so easily disuaded. He saw that once every thousand years, the seal would weaken. He gave the evil twin power to send a part of his dark soul through the seal and into the universe whenever this happened. These emanations came to be known as the Elm-Falzi, or Dark Forces.

In response to this, the God created life on the first three worlds. These three holy tribes would rise every time the seal weakened and would fight the Elm-Falzi back. Although the price would sometimes be high, the heroes who fought, which came to be known as Protectors, were divinely destined to always succeed. And on the fourth planet, the God placed four spirits who serve as guides to the Protectors in the hour of greatest need.

With its job complete, the reighteous spirit returned to the spiritual plane where its God and friends lived. That spirit was known by the earliest people of the Algol as Le-Gy-Legeon, or the Great Light, while its feared twin was to be dubbed Le-Gy-Thoul, the Profound Darkness.

This story was known in detail by only the earliest generations of sentient Algoians. Over the following thousands of years, it became legend and an article of faith. This faith survived independently on Palma, Motavia, and Dezoris, although it evolved somewhat differently on each planet.

The hedonism encouraged by Mother Brain saw the death of religion on Palma and Motavia. It was sustained by a small minority of Dezorians until after the Great Collapse, when it again thrived on the cold third planet.

The revival of the Espers was a great boon to the growing faith. The Espers had never forgotten their ancient Palman religion. Over the centuries following the Collapse, it and the Dezorian religion survived and thrived side by side.

The reintroduction of space travel meant that religion was once again spread to Motavia, which had long been without it. The different faiths more or less merged into one over the centuries of peaceful coexistence, as they had been based on the same ideas and principles to begin with. By the time of Beyond Algo, the Algoian faith was stronger than it ever had been. Religion had finally come to be a unifying factor, not a dividing one.