The Meccania Empire is covered in the next section I’m translating, so hopefully there’s some iinteresting info in there! ^^~
Wow, this is tremendous Kimimi. I almost feel guilty reading it though, sorry to hear about your troubles. Take your time, Panzer Dragoon fans can’t be an impatient lot after all. 
About 10 I would not be able to suggest any better sorting not knowing the source. The meaning seemed crystal clear to me anyway, and it did not come across at all clumsy IMO.
I would request one clarification about the last paragraph. In this section “…and, to maintain dominance it hurried the investigation of a large scale Ancient Age facility within its territory.” the continuity of the full sentence as it’s represented comes across like it was Meccania that was researching the Tower in PD1 not ‘The Empire’ as I think is indicated by most other sources.
[quote]? Presently neighbouring country Meccania is at the height of its weapons excavation concentrating its efforts on a concluding strike to the war, and, to maintain dominance it hurried the investigation of a large scale Ancient Age facility within its territory. That previous work was Panzer Dragoons ?Tower?.
This time, OP13 the Empires Emperor indicates that the ?Boat? and the ?Tower? crystallize the Ancient Age technology in the same way. Simply, only the Imperial scientist knows a portion of this (guessing they?re talking about the knowledge hidden within them) [/quote]
Can I safely assume that replacing ‘it’ with ‘the Empire’ would better preserve the perspective? And here “Boat” seems to clearly be Shellcoof, the emperor understanding it to be a flying Tower. Cool cool!
The first translation contains something that fits in well with one of my long time assumptions:
The village code that Lundi broke may not be as “superstitious” as it has been portrayed. The mutant coolias are a bad omen because other villages that have left them alive have also paid the price. This brings up a question of exactly how long the Heresy Dragon has been trying to manifest in the world? I wanted to seed the idea here because it’s a perspective I have not seen echoed in the articles.
Thank you again Kimimi! 
I thought they were taling about the Meccania hurrying research, but as that wasn’t what was stated in the original document, I’m reluctant to put words in other peoples mouths, so to speak. If Solo Wing is kind enough to eventually put this up (of course, I’ll need to actually finish the damn thing first!) then I may go back and rewrite it in better English, and also try to improve my translations - I’m far from perfect at Japanese, but I promise I’m trying my best!
I’m not sure if the “boat” is Shelcoof, as the sentence doesn’t specifically mention it, but at this moment in time that’s the best sentence structure I could come up with. I’ll have another crack at it after I’ve done my hack job on the rest of the passages
Oops, I didn’t actually mean it as a suggestion that you replace “boat” with Shellcoof, it did come across like that though, my bad. It was only commentary.
About the Tower bit, I’ll just ask if it is possible that the original document implies enough of an imperial perspective that if it were in an english narative form ‘it’ could be replaced as ‘we’. Maybe Japanese conventions for perspective are more flexible or subtle I don’t know. And I realise I’m not explaining this very well, I have a poor grasp of clinical language terms. It’s still hard to make sense of Meccania excavating the Tower even within this document, unless I have missed how they are now ‘dominant’ relative to the Empire… “to maintain dominance it hurried the investigation”.
I don’t want to seem like I’m pressing you Kimimi, you’re clearly diong a great job. This is only to try to hash out a question that could become a matter of contention in the future. I’m sure you’re right and the next section will help clear it up anyway.
Looks like you’re (still) doing a good job on this whole thing, Kimimi. 
I haven’t commented on this in a little while, but here’s my thoughts on the newer stuff:
Heretic Agnostic brought this up above, but it looks to me as if whichever way it’s read, it’s likely going to reveal a continuity error of some kind. As Herectic said, all other sources state that the PD1 Tower was in the Empire’s territory (well, in the ocean off the Imperial capital), but there’s a further issue: this seems to imply that the Empire stepped up their research of the Tower before their war with the Meccania ended, but according to Team Andromeda’s official timeline (from their old website), the Tower was only discovered in Imperial Year 85, long after the Meccania Federation was defeated (the war took place in Imperial Years 70 to 73):
Imperial Year 73: Meccanear subjugation. Investigation of the dragon which is witnessed simultaneously with dispute ahead starts. Not only that, originally 6th generation emperor who for responsible post of the academy is made effort with the excavation research of the ruins.
Imperial Year 85: “The tower” it is discovered.The investigation with empire is started. The result of investigation, that ruins is ascertained "the dragon " and relationship being deep. Investigation continuation. It succeeds in the elucidation of the torpedo attack weapon and the geyser Shin bullet.
That was another BabelFish adventure I’m afraid, but there’s an archived version of the original page here. On top of that, the English PDS script says that the Tower wasn’t discovered until even later (in Imperial Year 89): however, 89 was meant to be the year when the Tower went active, and the English script describes these two happenings (the Tower’s discovery and the Tower’s activation) as a single event, so it looks like they were accidentally “condensed” in translation.
I’m not so sure about that, as one of the previous passages seemed to use the term in a different context:
Though from looking at those two uses I still couldn’t say exactly what it means. Sorry I can’t help more on that. 
I think in a past forum topic someone suggested that each of the mutant Coolias born in Lundi’s village might have been “possessed” (for want of a better word) by the dragon-entity, and that the entity kept getting flung back into the aether every time the Coolia it possessed was put to death, so that it was only able to succeed when Lundi saved Lagi’s life by hiding him away. That would explain why other mutant Coolias had the blue-white light in their throats (the sign of the dragon’s unique laser-firing power), but it wouldn’t obviously explain why Lagi was different to the previous ones (as he had wings too, instead of just normal forearms). However, I suspect that the bit of text in question:
…might be talking about the pure-type monsters released by Shelcoof as it passed over the lands; the “violent nature of living things” term seemed like it could be used for either kind of monster.
I’m not sure that it’s a continuity error - I interpret that statement as Meccania investigating a Tower. “presently neighbouring country Meccania is at the height of its weapons excavation concentrating its efforts on a concluding strike to the war” has no relation to the Empire.
This is consistent with the observer’s logic too - Meccania was equipped with Ancient weapons (cf. Blitz Cannons) and is also the smaller neighbour of the larger Empire. There are two Towers on the border with the Meccanian mountain range:
http://www.panzerdragoon.net/theories/images/war_without_end_theory_16.jpg
Perhaps the small Meccania Federation was seeking a superweapon in the Towers with which it could knock out the stronger Empire quickly. Perhaps it was actually Meccania’s actions which inspired the Empire to pay more attention to the Towers themselves, which they previously saw as inactive relics (this “discovery” lark is a little hard to swallow - mile-high monoliths are difficult to miss. I think that “discovery” should stand for the date when they were first penetrated) and finally came to see what potential they had after clearing up the mess the Meccanians left behind?
Another problem with that analysis, though, is that why would the Heresy Program be flogging a dead horse? If the entities it possessed were continually put down, it’d probably drift off to another less exacting settlement - Coolias are a domesticated beast of burden, they aren’t uncommon.
Another factor is that Lagi was alive at the same time that other oscillator-endowed coolias existed in that village, too. In Zwei’s opening cinematic, we see Lundi watch a mutant Coolia being killed, then he ascends onto the roof of the building where he reveals a happy and contented Lagi in one of his sheds. So either Lundi’s village was a popular tourist destination for bored Sestren programs to have some fun bodyswapping, or else that the emergence of oscillators was a natural mutation in the coolia breeds reared at that settlement and the Heresy Program consequently saw it as a convenient place to immerse itself in.
About the Empire / Meccania / Tower thing, Robert: Kimimi’s translation says “to maintain dominance it hurried the investigation of a large scale Ancient Age facility within its territory. That previous work was Panzer Dragoons ?Tower?”, which seems to rule out the possibility of the Meccania Federation investigating other Towers; everything else we know about the PD world’s layout shows that PD1’s Tower was in Imperial territory.
As for the dragon-entity-possessing-multuiple-Coolias idea, I haven’t given it much thought myself to be honest, I just remembered reading it in the past and thought it was interesting enough to bring up. However…
This bit might be more flexible than it seems at first, from what I can remember. If you check Lundi’s first diary in Panzer Dragoon Saga, the words he narrates while he watches the first Coolia get executed (in Zwei) are given in a diary entry several months before the dragon’s birth:
‘Destroy the mutants’, it is the
village’s code. The mutant
Coolias cannot be tamed, and no
one will buy them. Besides, they
are believed to be a bad omen.
…which could possibly suggest that that event was meant to be older, too; also, there’s a long, slow cinematic fade between that Coolia’s death and the scene where we see Lundi walking up the stairs, which could maybe imply the passage of time. To be honest though, I think the whole storyline area of the dragon-entity bonding with the Coolia is very vaguely definied, and it’s hard to draw many good conclusions from it…
A note about ‘OP’, is it a just a term for that emperor by name or individual title?
And there is nothing at all conclusive to indicate whether Lagi is a singular occurence or not. The idea that the Dragon was trying to emerge for a long time is merely the gut understanding that my own mind devised the moment I first saw the ‘impurity detected’ Sestren bubble from Azel.
In a climate as austere in details as the Panzer Dragoon series, ones mind tends to place greater importance on every scrap. Seeing the blasted village I couldn’t help thinking… bad omen indeed.
This “it”… curses grammar in all it’s forms looking back at my notes, and the context of the sentence, I would say that it’s referring to the Empire. It makes sense that for one, the entire passage is about the Empire, and two, if the Meccania are sending weapons to the front line, then I guess it would be natural to step up research. So if everyone agrees, I’ll change that sentence to
"“to maintain dominance the Empire hurried the investigation of a large scale Ancient Age facility within its territory”
When I finish this next passage on the Meccania, I’ll go back to this and hopefully be able to finalise this section.
It does throw up the question of continuity regardless, which is strange considering you can’t really get more official than a document tucked away on the game disc! Human error somewhere?
No idea about that OP thing either, currently accepting random guesses! :anjou_embarassed:
Well, no objection from me… lol.
About the other continuity issue, I’ll suggest a middle ground of sorts between what Lance and Robert have already presented.
The paragraph does not say the Empire was reviving a Tower, or even researching a Tower as such. It can even be inferred that this investigation was far from a straight-forward endeavor, and possibly on the imperial agenda for years already. We know most Ancient Age facilities worth investigating will have active defenses, and this one is “large scale”.
The only other Tower we even have any details about was adjacent to a sprawling underground research facility, and hid itself inside a massive weather phenomenon. Plus you had to get through Mel-Kava to even get near it.
We know that the Imperial capitol is very close by, it was virtually decimated by the destruction of the Tower. Who knows, the Ancient facility that the capitol was built on could even be similar to Uru… either way The Empire was virtually living ‘in the shadow’ of the Tower all along. That doesn’t mean they could do anything about it.
*About Meccania]
? The united nation in the Southern part of the continent with power. The senate which consists of representatives of each tribe has grasped power. So that they oppose the Empire, Ancient Age research is advancing. However, the matter of their engine adjustment is far from complete; they have not reached the level of the first class aerial battleship of the Emperor. (The Empires large-scale engine adjustment has already been completed.) This Empire has an overwhelming difference in power to another part of the Empire, the minor country to the South, Meccania.
? Then, they situation changed suddenly. Within Meccania territory perfectly functioning attack equipment was excavated from the ruins. A torpedo attack14 (optics) weapon was successfully restored. Because of that, the balance of power became evenly matched and at the present time Meccania is at its prime.
? Episode 2 is set on the border, reports of ?Living Weapons? exterminating passers by leading them into a trap have been told. Lundi is caught in a trap by (with?) the Meccania troops and is chased by the border defense guards mounted soldiers. 15
? The mounted soldier Pao (Episode 2s neighbouring border tent leader) lived??, ?Living Weapons? (Here called Kabuto Crab) without being attacked because of the unpleasant smell of the fragrance stone.
? Meccanias border defense guard company placement of mounted soldiers, successfully defend against the neighbouring Empire. Lundis Coolia training village is also here.
14 Lit. ?Raigeki? ? ?Thunder attack?
15 DON?T quote me on this section ? I?m tired and it?s not working very well. I think it?s the other way around too ? humans trapping monsters not the way I?ve currently written it.
Turned out to be more interesting than I expected that passage to be! Again, apologies for the lack of regular updates - I can only really get some good time on these on my days off (next day off is Wednesday).
Please keep offering suggestions and corrections - it’s not going to get better of nobody points out my mistakes! The paragraph noted by 15 needs completely reworking, I just find it easier to sort if I manage to get something written down, even if it isn’t 100% right.
I’m posting just for encouragement’s sake. It’s hard to comment on just yet if it’s particularly unfinished but there’s some interesting stuff for sure.
That fragrance stone thing rings a bell, I’m not sure if it’s just reminding me of Zoah’s monster-proofing shrine or if there’s actually another more direct reference somewhere? And it’d be insightful to know for sure if monsters were trapping people or people trapping other people or what…
Anyway, keep it up and I hope you’re having fun Kimimi!
I’m sure the fragrance stones are the little blue ones in a ring around your camp in Saga.
Thank you for the encouragement, I intend to do a bit more tomorrow!
Ahh yeah, that does sound more like it Kimimi. Edge or Gash or someone talks about the fragrance stones early in Saga? Or is checking them in camp the only description? shrug
Anyway it’s a particularly amusing reference to find in this Zwei file, you can almost feel the exuberance of the creators in the middle of forming all these discrete details of their world!
[quote=“Heretic Agnostic”]
Anyway it’s a particularly amusing reference to find in this Zwei file, you can almost feel the exuberance of the creators in the middle of forming all these discrete details of their world! [/quote]
Just shows how dedicated they were! I’m pretty sure the only description of the fragrance stones comes from checking them, I don’t recall any conversation between Gash and Edge in which they were included.
*[About the Hero]
At the present time, this world has a few countries and many frontier villages. both the nations and mankind are scattered around the region wherever they can live.
The Hero is [Randi Jyan Jyakku16] (Lundi Jean-Jaques). Aged 14. The Southern Continent. Within the Meccania Federations sphere of influence. Here “Living Weapons” are bred, training them the job of the tribal villages. A particular village runs errands to a part of the nearby Ancient Age ruins, in this world there’s much travelling and it’s vital to rear riding and war beasts. In the Heros village, there’s one breeding person (Breeder), it’s especially important to excel at rearing Collias.
[The above mentioned child, is still not a grown man] At 14, the Hero is still a juvenile. His weakness is that he finds it difficult to talk to other people, that has changed with a glimpse of the adult Coolia breeders.
His parents longed for a little girl, and gave him a girls name, small changes can dry up17. That may be the reason why he has trouble talking to other people. Only people who are extremely close to him may call him[Lundi]. Normally he is called [Jean].
Coolias and other bipedal beasts of burden are extremely difficult to raise. In this particular village Coolia are raised to become mounts for the Meccania cavalry. Compared to common beasts of burden, the ones used by the mounted cavalry are far superior.
One day, deformities began to be born on those breeding grounds. The origin of the war beasts is in “Living Weapons”, and soon ones started to be born that differed from their parents. Training became much more difficult, and, it was seen as a bad omen to have them in the grounds so the villages code was to kill them.
But the Hero was greatly drawn by his interest in these deformities. One with [wings] had been born. Just like the “Living Weapons” that the common people talked about in the legends concerning the Ancient Age, the deformed one he was rearing looked like a [Dragon].
14 years old. This period is a defiant phase, it’s adolescense and the bridge between childhood and becoming an adult that is sweeping the Hero away.
And, so the tale begins…
16 Kept for posterity, and so non-Japanese readers know how his name is literally spelt.
17 Appears to be a Japanese saying, as I’ve seen it in totally separate articles, but I can find the translation :S*
17 umm, our little Randi has… issues. That’s awesome. lol
So these aren’t just any coolia, these are War Stallions!?
Yeah pretty funny isn’t it? I always thought Coolia were kinda cute
As for Lundis “issues”… well, looks like we could have a whole series of Trisha set aside for the poor guy!
This is just a whole new world opening up for me…
This is great, Kimimi. With this amount of information already translated we could perhaps start thinking about creating a “Translations” section for the site, containing the translated text as well as references to the source material.
And I never knew Lundi was supposed to be a girl’s name, either! Going by Pandora’s Box in PDO, I always thought that Lundi was his last name.