Solaris Project

### Outcome

The splitting of the "Flame of Hope" into two entities; Mephiles the Dark and Iblis

### After-Effect(s)

* The death of many scientists who worked on the project, including the Duke of Soleanna (before paradox)
* Mephiles the Dark's imprisonment within the Scepter of Darkness (before paradox)
* Iblis' imprisonment into Songxu (before paradox)
* Kingdom Valley's abandonment (before paradox)
* Aquatic Base's abandonment (before paradox)

*This article deals with the research program. For details about the entity, see Solaris.*

The **Solaris Project** was a temporal research program conducted in the city-state of Soleanna led by the Duke of Soleanna. It forms the basis for the storyline of *The Solaris Incident*.

The project's primary facility appears to have been Aquatic Base, a high-tech laboratory complex located beneath the waters of Kingdom Valley. Its duration is unspecified, but its shows that the project ended in disaster ten years prior to The Solaris Incident

The project, as well as its disastrous result, was infamous for creating Mephiles the Dark and Iblis, which had massive and very severe repercussions up to two centuries later.

## History

### Purpose

The public face of the Solaris Project held it to be an energy research program. However, in actuality its scope was far more ambitious: to achieve nothing less than control of time itself, through study and manipulation of a super-dimensional phenomenon called the *Flame of Hope* - otherwise known as Solaris, worshiped as a sun god by the people of Soleanna.

The Duke of Soleanna is presumed to have been the driving force behind the Solaris Project. His exact motivations for conducting the dangerous research are uncertain. When shown talking about the project to his son Songxu during a flashback, the Duke outlines a utopian vision of a timeline where humanity has erased its past mistakes. However, when questioned by Songxu, he significantly adds "*Yes, Songxu. We'll both be able to see your mother once again...*" - a line which casts some doubts upon the Duke's supposedly selfless humanitarianism.

### Failure and aftermath

When Shadow and Silver travel into the past from the present, they observe firsthand the disaster which violently curtailed the project. A spatial meltdown caused an explosion in Aquatic Base's control room, killing most of the technicians and mortally wounding the Duke. But even more ominously, the accident caused Solaris to split into two component beings, Mephiles the Dark and Iblis. Shadow and Silver were able to seal these two entities inside the Scepter of Darkness and a young Songxu respectively, preventing any further damage to the facility.

The Solaris Project's destruction also resulted in the abandonment of the immense Soleannean royal palace in Kingdom Valley.

Years later, and despite the cordon of official secrecy, Torak was able to learn of the Solaris Project. He went on to reproduce and surpass the work of the Duke; using a Chaos Emerald, rather than the energies of Solaris, within his system, the Doctor was able to build a working time machine in his base at White Acropolis. However, Torak would admit to a captured Songxu that in order to perfect his machine, he needs the *Flames of Disaster* - another name for Iblis, one of the sundered halves of Solaris.

### Implications and paradox

In creating Mephiles the Dark and Iblis, the Solaris Project provided the primary antagonists for Shadow and Silver. While X's quest centers around thwarting Torak's plans and rescuing Songxu to twist the project's science towards his own nefarious goals, Shadow pursues (and is pursued by) Mephiles - a villainous and manipulative being who seems to embody Solaris' intelligence and cunning. Meanwhile, Silver principally concerns herself with Iblis, a monstrous fire-creature which serves as a manifestation of Solaris' hunger for power.

As with all the events of *The Solaris Incident*, the Solaris Project is presumably erased from the timeline when Songxu extinguishes the Flame of Hope at the very end of the incident. How exactly the paradox resolves is unknown; however, it seems most likely that while the project was initiated in the revised timeline, the destruction of the Flame partway through meant that it could not continue, meaning all the events occurring during the project from that point on never happened.