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Supreme Commander Profile Preview - The History of the Aeon Illuminate

By Staff, GameSpotPosted Aug 2, 2006 4:56 pm PT

We have some of the first details regarding the history and background of the mysterious Aeon Illuminate, the third playable faction in this anticipated real-time strategy game.

THQ and Gas Powered Games' Supreme Commander remains one of the most anticipated games of 2007 thanks to its huge scale and pedigree. Considered to be the spiritual heir to 1997's acclaimed Total Annihilation (both games were designed by Chris Taylor), Supreme Commander will feature gigantic battlefields with the idea of putting the "strategy" back into real-time strategy. It will also feature intense combat, futuristic units, and plenty of nuclear explosions. What's not to like?

Meet the Aeon Illuminate, a human faction armed with alien technology and an alien philosophy.

Of the three factions in Supreme Commander, the one we know the least about is the Aeon Illuminate. The Aeon forces are barely glimpsed in the videos and screenshots of the game released thus far, as much of the focus has been on the United Earth Federation and the Cybran Nation. But now we have some of the first details regarding the history and background of this mysterious faction.

Aeon History

Like the Cybran Nation and the UEF, the Aeon Illuminate is a human faction, though it's one that's heavily influenced by alien technology and philosophy. The roots of the Aeon Illuminate go back to the second great human expansion into the galaxy, when the Earth Empire settled a large number of newly discovered worlds. On the planet Seraphim II, however, humanity encountered the first intelligent alien life.

Unfortunately, as happens to be the case in these situations, tragedy unfolded. Trent Smith, the human commander, ordered a violent crackdown on the aliens. This was completely unwarranted, as the aliens followed a philosophy of peace and love. However, it was believed that Smith had a psychological flaw in his character that led him to such belligerent behavior.

Not all the colonists obeyed Smith, though, and a small group made friends with the aliens and learned their ways. This included advanced research into quantum and temporal mechanics. These humans also were exposed to the aliens' peace and love philosophy and became enamored with it.

You can really pull the camera back to get a big picture of the battlefield.

Fearing that the aliens were brainwashing humans, the Empire attempted to eradicate the aliens. To the Empire's surprise, the aliens responded with highly advanced war machines based on their technology. A stalemate followed, only to be broken by a devastating viral weapon unleashed on the aliens. With the end at hand, the dying aliens taught their "way" to their human allies. This included a vision of the future with the galaxy torn apart by war and life on hundreds of worlds wiped out. The human sympathizers realized that following the alien "way" was the only way to avoid such a future, and so they adopted the philosophy wholeheartedly.

Thus, the Aeon Illuminate was founded. It is a faction with the ultimate goal of peace, but also one that believes that this message of peace must be spread by any means necessary. It may sound hypocritical, but the Aeon believe that if they fail then humanity will destroy itself. Thus, the only way to instill universal peace is to eliminate disparate beliefs and replace it with the "way."

Timeline

Aeon Containment
2679 - The newly enlightened humans from Seraphim II inform the Earth Empire that it must adopt their "way" in order to prevent galactic catastrophe. The Empire responds by establishing a quarantine around Seraphim II and dispatching military forces to put down the revolt and recover the alien technology.

2679.3 - EarthCom military forces on Archon VIII, a border world near the quarantine zone, report civilian resistance. Soon, other border worlds are in revolt, and contact with those worlds is lost.

2679.8 - Contact with all EarthCom forces in or near the quarantine zone is lost. To prevent the revolt from spreading, the Empire destroys all quantum gates near the quarantine zone.

The Aeon believe in peace, and are willing to wage war to get it.

2812 - The Earth Empire has more than doubled in size with the establishment of new colonies. However, EarthCom is stretched to the breaking point. Already busy with the Cybran revolt, EarthCom is forced to pull forces away from the Aeon quarantine. The Aeon take advantage and break out of the quarantine zone.

2817 - The Aeon launch a coordinated strike on nine worlds. EarthCom rallies and contains the offensive, but cannot make any headway against it. Both sides settle into a war of constant skirmishing along this front line.

85 Comments

  • rockerode

    Posted Feb 17, 2007 12:31 pm PT

    i so want to be the aeon, they are in my opinion the best!

  • LegionofClouds

    Posted Dec 26, 2006 10:32 am PT

    dammit i want to be in the beta test T_T it looks so awesome
    i probably would be just able to run this game at its lowest specs
    well maybe with a few extra things thrown in and a bit of tweaking...
    but anyway this is an awesome game and the Aeon look espacially cool
    they have awesome looking units ^^

  • jakeboudville

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 8:54 pm PT

    quite impressive

  • De_ath

    Posted Sep 3, 2006 1:52 am PT

    Stop comparing games...
    I've seen this on SC and that on Tiberium Sun...Oh big deal.
    Here's my question. Have you ever seen terran like units and NOD like units fight? Would you like to? With new story, with new tech and in a HUGE map? I thought so.

  • alchemist889

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 10:05 pm PT

    This game is looking great! Though my playstyle best matches that of the UEF, I sympathize the most with the Cybrans... But I'll love blowing up these traitorous alien-loving heretics no matter who I play as.... FOR THE EMPEROR!!!

  • thebigabd

    Posted Aug 17, 2006 1:32 pm PT

    Sounds great... after reading all of the updates, it seems I will be mainly a Cybran player... of course I will try all of them, but Cybran appears to be my faction...

  • saliutamario

    Posted Aug 7, 2006 9:29 pm PT

    Know minimum specs for playing this game yet? I'm not sure my computer can handle this game.

  • FireJade

    Posted Aug 7, 2006 4:46 pm PT

    As I read through the description, I at first thought this race would be my favorite... but they sound like they're going to indoctrinate as many people as they can in "the way." I wouldn't be surprised if a heavy-handed dictator popped up sometime to enforce "the will of the Aeon Illuminate"...

  • DarkLord

    Posted Aug 7, 2006 8:37 am PT

    The Aeon: So Peaceful that they'll kick your butt so you are too! They certainly look the most alien of the 3. I wonder what they'll have to keep them interesting...

  • Xiux

    Posted Aug 6, 2006 1:16 pm PT

    The Aeon: Hippie aliens that have been royally pissed off.

  • Necrobob121

    Posted Aug 6, 2006 1:15 pm PT

    I watched the trailer for this game. and i want to get a whole new computer just to play this game.

  • KingShivan

    Posted Aug 6, 2006 9:01 am PT

    Well, pathetic back-story aside, I'd have to say that the similarities to other great RTS franchises only encourages me more for this game.

    I mean, Starcraft- 3 factions, great game. Became a korean national sport.

    hmm... apart from starcraft, I don't have any other first-hand experience of similar games, but judging from other comments, I can only find it encouraging that it's similar to other great games of the past.

    And remember that what got ALL of our attentions to this game was not the units, was not the different races or their qualities... it was 2 things and 2 things only-

    Rediculously huge arena for more Strategic gameplay;

    Total Annihilation.

    And personally, that's all I need.

    (and the Aeon are more similar to the Brotherhood of nod than just their philosophy of "peace through power". According to most C&C fan sites who chronicle known c&c story and make educated guesses about probable story, both nod and the aeon were influenced by aliens, make use of time technology, and have the similar fanatical philosophies. Although, the major differance here is that from the aeon backstory, we can only assume that their aliens were the kindest, coolest kind of aliens, whereas the whole tiberium war in C&C is possibly due to a terraforming attempt by aliens who sent tiberium to earth and may be using Nod to further the terraforming efforts. So the main thing to get from this is that the Aeon Illuminate are almost the good guys along with the cybrans, while Nod and their aliens really ARE the bad guys...)

  • dudecus420

    Posted Aug 5, 2006 8:46 pm PT

    Uhh ..... peace through war ??????

  • rhcpvisigoth

    Posted Aug 5, 2006 3:35 pm PT

    I seriously hope that GPG doesn't disappoint me. I've been looking forward to more games from these guys ever since Dungeon Siege 2 (if I'm not mistaken...). Gamespot DOES have a lot to say on SC, but we'll all have to play the stinkin' demo before the game. I don't think I'm gonna take any chances with SC, considering all the hype around it...

  • theone86

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 9:01 pm PT

    Will all you people with no lives quit comparing the SC factions with any and every comprable faction in RTS history? Yes, there're a lot of similarities because there're only so many ways to balance the strenths and weaknesses of different factions in a RTS game. Furthermore, there're only so many different types of units. A cheap, inexpensive ground troop is just that whether hes holding a sword and shield or an uber-futuristic machine gun. The trick is making a game that doesn't recycle storylines or gameplay mechanics. So far, it seems like SC is doing a pretty good job on both counts

  • animeart

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 6:08 pm PT

    Oh wow! From now it can be my FAVORIT FACTION! Sounds like very positive. Thank for the news.

  • darfvader

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 2:57 pm PT

    They come in peace , like every alien scum who tries to invade our planet.

  • ezra1

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 2:10 pm PT

    This game will be the God of RTS, and be what Empire At War Should of been.

  • JesseEK

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 9:14 am PT

    I feel its kinda like the 3 planetside races.....

    UEF - New Conglomerate
    Cybran - Terran Republic
    Aeon - Vanu Soverntry

    I loved planetside when it came out . Still do a little.
    (Red and Blue colors even match up for both games)

  • SolInvictus-HGG

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 8:46 am PT

    Cybrans are a cybernetically enhanced, evolved form of human. They are to humans as humans are to monkeys, hence their big spider robot is called a Monkeylord, or lord over the monkeys. Terrans? No way.

    The UEF are a bunch of pro-human fascists who want to reclaim the galaxy for humanity, and they are bent on destroying the Cybrans who want their independence and are afraid of their evolutionary superiority and the Aeon whom they do not understand.

    The Aeons are religious zealots who seek to "illuminate" (hence Aeon Illuminate) the infidel humans with their knowledge of the stars, through the 'technology of peace'. When they're through destroying absorbing humanity into their fold, the galaxy will finally be at peace. The peaceful aliens whom they gained their knowledge are dead, long since destroyed by the UEF, but their knowledge rests with the Aeon.

    Of all the factions, I like the Cybrans the most - but I'll have to admit that the Aeon units look freaking cool.

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