Long ago, during the Silver Millennium, the Zodiac Court occupied its own kingdom on the very edges of space. Every Zodiac constellation was sworn to the Princess of the Seasons, Chronos, who held a Great Crystal. Her power protected their kingdoms, and all was well in the Court.
However, because of their place at the edges of the galaxy and the scattered location of their peoples, it was nearly impossible to protect themselves from the ravages of Chaos--not from any lack of power, but because of the sheer scattered nature of their domain. With an impending wedding between Queen Serenity and the Zodiac Prince, Aeon, a caveat was added to the Zodiac and White Moon treaty: In return for Sol System planets and asteroids taking in the disenfranchised Zodiac peoples, the Zodiac would use their Great Crystal to create a hard boundary around the Sol System that no seed of Chaos could penetrate.
Chaos monsters were not easily rebuffed by any means--but they were rebuffed, and the Surrounding was a great contribution to peace inside Sol System. It became something of a pilgrimage for overly religious ex-Zodiac System inhabitants--for on the same asteroid as Chronos Castle was the Zodiac Temple, where relics from the old system were kept.
For two generations, the Surrounding held strong and protected the galaxy at large as a first line of defense. Then, a particularly strong Chaos force wiped out the third generation of Zodiac Guardsmen through a combination of numbers and attacks spread so wide that the Zodiac literally could not defend itself.
Flash forward to the present day. The Zodiacs were among the first senshi to awaken, beginning in May of 2008. Among the last to awaken was the Princess Chronos; prior to this, Zue had been operating with the mind to never have to awaken Chronos to the battle raging in Destiny City. However, with the awakening of her Cavalier and Prince, Eon, it could be put off no longer. Chronos was awakened, and then the entire Zodiac was together but for Pisces--who, for some reason, could not be found. A scant six months later, Chronos was captured by the General-King Charonite. He set a trap for the Zodiacs in an abandoned warehouse: it was a bid to destroy them all, using the Zodiac Princess as bait. It worked, destroying every Zodiac present but Scorpio--who fled the building through an open window.
This should have been the end. Prince Eon, however, was not willing to let his people die. When the Zodiac starseeds reached the Space Cauldron he negotiated with it: His starseed for the lives of his true love's Court. He gave up any chance he had ever had to be reborn in exchange for the immediate rebirth of the Zodiac.
The deal was accepted. Eon was dispersed into the cosmos, becoming nothing more than stardust; and the Zodiac were reborn in a horrific event known to the public as the Barren Pines Organ Ring.
It pretended to be a school for gifted children, but this was a lie. Nearly all of the students had been murdered in the past year by the Negaverse and were now animated by their dark powers. The goal of Barren Pines was to create more intelligent and powerful youma; it was successful, but alongside this the Zodiac senshi were reawakened, all but the Prince. Several of the children who were not Zodiac, but imprisoned, were purified from their youma state into humanity by the powers of the reawakened Opal Crystal.
From there, the Zodiac almost seemed to fragment. Perhaps it was the memories of their horrible deaths--twice, or in some cases, three times. Perhaps they remembered betrayals from Barren Pines, when none of them could recognize each other. The slow-to-converge souls of Zue and Sue deprived them of their guiding influence, the one meant to counsel them, which only added to rising tensions. The team that had once been so closely knit was now branching out and ignoring itself--to the point where Wiseman was able to get to Chronos and steal her Opal Crystal.
From there, the deaths began. First Sagittarius was murdered brutally by a Negaverse agent, with his starseed mysteriously disappearing. Then Leo and Virgo, within weeks of each other--Zue disappeared--then Aries herself died in a battle against a youma. It seemed as if the Zodiac was fated to fail.
All was not lost: In the aftermath of Tartaros, Virgo and Leo returned--victims not of a car crash, but of a mistake in the chaos of the mass coma. And within a month after their return, Taurus stepped down to the Zodiac Vice-Captaincy once more and was replaced by the now-Soldier Virgo.
From there, there was the battle against Snow Princess Kaguya and the fight for Elysion, where the Zodiac fought bravely or else got drunk on Gemini Alpha's magical space beer. At the final battle, the return of Earth's Prince acted as a trigger--this man was no ally. They would not fight to put him back on the Throne of Earth--not when he seemed to be on the side of the Negaverse. Their duty instead would be towards their fellow senshi, and the civilians who needed them--as protectors, as they always should have been. Now, too, there is the ability for them to return to the Surrounding, where their purpose began so many years ago.
The Zodiac is still fragmented, but with the seeds of a goal in mind, it may be that they will rise to greatness once again.
However, because of their place at the edges of the galaxy and the scattered location of their peoples, it was nearly impossible to protect themselves from the ravages of Chaos--not from any lack of power, but because of the sheer scattered nature of their domain. With an impending wedding between Queen Serenity and the Zodiac Prince, Aeon, a caveat was added to the Zodiac and White Moon treaty: In return for Sol System planets and asteroids taking in the disenfranchised Zodiac peoples, the Zodiac would use their Great Crystal to create a hard boundary around the Sol System that no seed of Chaos could penetrate.
Chaos monsters were not easily rebuffed by any means--but they were rebuffed, and the Surrounding was a great contribution to peace inside Sol System. It became something of a pilgrimage for overly religious ex-Zodiac System inhabitants--for on the same asteroid as Chronos Castle was the Zodiac Temple, where relics from the old system were kept.
For two generations, the Surrounding held strong and protected the galaxy at large as a first line of defense. Then, a particularly strong Chaos force wiped out the third generation of Zodiac Guardsmen through a combination of numbers and attacks spread so wide that the Zodiac literally could not defend itself.
Flash forward to the present day. The Zodiacs were among the first senshi to awaken, beginning in May of 2008. Among the last to awaken was the Princess Chronos; prior to this, Zue had been operating with the mind to never have to awaken Chronos to the battle raging in Destiny City. However, with the awakening of her Cavalier and Prince, Eon, it could be put off no longer. Chronos was awakened, and then the entire Zodiac was together but for Pisces--who, for some reason, could not be found. A scant six months later, Chronos was captured by the General-King Charonite. He set a trap for the Zodiacs in an abandoned warehouse: it was a bid to destroy them all, using the Zodiac Princess as bait. It worked, destroying every Zodiac present but Scorpio--who fled the building through an open window.
This should have been the end. Prince Eon, however, was not willing to let his people die. When the Zodiac starseeds reached the Space Cauldron he negotiated with it: His starseed for the lives of his true love's Court. He gave up any chance he had ever had to be reborn in exchange for the immediate rebirth of the Zodiac.
The deal was accepted. Eon was dispersed into the cosmos, becoming nothing more than stardust; and the Zodiac were reborn in a horrific event known to the public as the Barren Pines Organ Ring.
It pretended to be a school for gifted children, but this was a lie. Nearly all of the students had been murdered in the past year by the Negaverse and were now animated by their dark powers. The goal of Barren Pines was to create more intelligent and powerful youma; it was successful, but alongside this the Zodiac senshi were reawakened, all but the Prince. Several of the children who were not Zodiac, but imprisoned, were purified from their youma state into humanity by the powers of the reawakened Opal Crystal.
From there, the Zodiac almost seemed to fragment. Perhaps it was the memories of their horrible deaths--twice, or in some cases, three times. Perhaps they remembered betrayals from Barren Pines, when none of them could recognize each other. The slow-to-converge souls of Zue and Sue deprived them of their guiding influence, the one meant to counsel them, which only added to rising tensions. The team that had once been so closely knit was now branching out and ignoring itself--to the point where Wiseman was able to get to Chronos and steal her Opal Crystal.
From there, the deaths began. First Sagittarius was murdered brutally by a Negaverse agent, with his starseed mysteriously disappearing. Then Leo and Virgo, within weeks of each other--Zue disappeared--then Aries herself died in a battle against a youma. It seemed as if the Zodiac was fated to fail.
All was not lost: In the aftermath of Tartaros, Virgo and Leo returned--victims not of a car crash, but of a mistake in the chaos of the mass coma. And within a month after their return, Taurus stepped down to the Zodiac Vice-Captaincy once more and was replaced by the now-Soldier Virgo.
From there, there was the battle against Snow Princess Kaguya and the fight for Elysion, where the Zodiac fought bravely or else got drunk on Gemini Alpha's magical space beer. At the final battle, the return of Earth's Prince acted as a trigger--this man was no ally. They would not fight to put him back on the Throne of Earth--not when he seemed to be on the side of the Negaverse. Their duty instead would be towards their fellow senshi, and the civilians who needed them--as protectors, as they always should have been. Now, too, there is the ability for them to return to the Surrounding, where their purpose began so many years ago.
The Zodiac is still fragmented, but with the seeds of a goal in mind, it may be that they will rise to greatness once again.
