The Heresy Program was responsible for Lagi’s growth / evolutionary morphing, by the same manipulation of his genetics that resulted in him growing wings and a Bioluminary Oscillator in the first place. The fact that it can morph into the Dark Dragon in Saga clearly shows that two beings can be genetically manipulated into the same physical form without originally being the same creature. As I’ve said before, the unknown events leading up to PD1 enable any number of explanations regarding how the Heresy Program got a new body and brought it up to the Solo Wing level again.
I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how innaccurate and badly translated that timeline is, Geoff. Much information in the games flatly contradicts it: in this case, Tower Report 1 from Saga. It confirms that the Tower was discovered on the 18th day of the 2nd month, Imperial Age 89; and several other places in the games (like the Dragon Report) confirm year 89 as the time that PD1 took place. The text of the Tower Report does not suggest any massive period of time between the Tower’s discovery and the appearance of the dragons, either.
I have more than “doubts” regarding the accuracy of the narrative and dialogue in PD1 and Zwei However, I expect we can both agree on what the two big innacuracies in that passage are meant to mean:
"With a desolate future, the people look to their past for a glint of hope. Excavations at an ancient Tower have provided the people with a deadly arsenal, now turned upon their foes.
The PD1 Instruction Manual expands on this somewhat. These sources seem to cite those excavations of the Tower as the only (or first) source of the Empire’s technology, though we know that this is not the case. It should obviously be referring to the Empire’s past excavations, which are what actually gave it its power over monsters and people.
“This power created strife amongst surrounding nations, all struggling against each other and the evil forces of the Dark Dragon.”
This obviously just means “living weapons”, “bio-weapons”, “monsters” or something similar, becasue it is clear that the mysterious Dark Dragon was not in control of any “forces”, and had only recently appeared in the world. “Evil creatures like the Dark Dragon” would also make sense.
Whether these were simple mistranslations, or story elements rewritten at a later date, is unclear; but thankfully their (currently intended) meaning is.
I strongly feel that you’re mistaken about this Geoffrey, and I’ll explain why. First off, consider the information given in Sestren’s memory orbs:
“Impurity located… Activate Shelcoof…”
Shellcoof - presumably the nearest Tower to the dragon’s birth at Elpis - was activated, and immediately went and annihilated the whole village, clearly in an attempt to destroy the being containing the Impurity.
“Impurity reacquired… Eliminate it once more… …Activation of D Type 01… confirmed…”
The Dark Dragon was next to be activated, again in a clear attempt to take down the dragon containing the Impurity. Its first mission was to get to the PD1 Tower - which it managed to do - and thus recieve all that extra grafted-on armour and weaponry which would - presumably - have then guarenteed it victory over the Blue Dragon. It is clear that the Tower was merely activated as a part of this plan to eliminate the Impurity, and also to produce all those extra monsters with which to defend itself a bit better against the oncoming dragon.
When you look in detail, Sestren couldn’t seem to care less about the Empire. The elimination of the Impurity (that is, what we call the Heresy Program) was always its goal. As the Empire said themselves that they could get no response out of the Tower whatsoever, they clearly weren’t posing a threat to it or anyone else anyway. They also observed that the Tower’s activation coincided with the dragons’ approach into the region, which supports the above.
Yes, that would explain the low levels of energy, and I am honestly unsure what to believe. My reasoning was that the Empire’s capital had clearly been on that coast for many years - probably decades - and so it would be very strange if they had only noticed those energy readings at that point, if they had indeed been there all along. (Their lack of noticing the Tower itself would make sense, as it was clearly far over the horizon, and they would have little motivation to fly ships out over empty sea.) My reasoning was that the faint traces of energy were just the Tower “warming up” prior to its full activation.