Summary
The story of Gundam is the story of military conflicts. After all, as the most advanced mobile suit in the universe, the Gundams have always been the one that can tilt the conflict to its favor, for better or worse. More often than not, the Gundams are part of the military power of the “good guys”, which is the case in various stories that areset in the Universal Century Timeline.
However, there are also times when both sides have the power of Gundams, which is the case in iconic series likeGundam Seed/Seed Destiny, andGundam Iron-Blooded Orphan. But there are also times when the Gundams belong to a third party that wants to interfere with the ongoing conflicts, such as the Gundams inGundam WingandGundam 00. The most interesting one of them all being the independent paramilitary group known as the Celestial Beings fromGundam 00.
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The Purpose of Celestial Beings
As briefly mentioned above, Celestial Beings is the name of a paramilitary group that has no affiliation at all with any known big powers,be it on Earth or on Space. As a matter of fact, nobody knew anything about it prior to its founder and leader, Aeolia Schenberg, announcing the existence of this organization to the world, along with its purpose and visions. The main purpose of Celestial Beings is to eradicate war and any kind of armed conflicts in the world through indiscriminate armed interventions.
While the overwhelming majority of people would agree thatarmed conflicts caused deaths and misery to countless people, the Celestial Being’s mission statement would still seem like nothing but an idealistic and unrealistic statement spewed by a delusional old man. After all, an absolute eradication of war and armed conflict is something that everybody wants but nobody can pull off.
Because there are countless causes and reasons behind every armed conflict. Some are financially motivated, some are culturally related, some happen due to dire socio-economic situations, andthere are also wars and armed conflictsthat happen simply because the people in charge are a bunch of warmongering lunatics.
That being said, Aeolia Schenberg is not a simple idealistic and delusional old man. On the contrary, he has a plan and most importantly, the tools needed to realize his dream world, which is the most advanced mobile suit ever made, the Gundams. More on this in the subsequent sections.
The Origin of Celestial Beings
Before we talk about the Gundams, let’s look back into the origin story of the Celestial Beings itself. The foundation of Celestial Beings is the story of a man named Aeolia Schenberg. He was an incredibly prominent and influential scientist. As a matter of fact, he was heavily involved in the design and creation of the Orbital Elevator.
Aeolia realized early on that no matter how advanced the technology has become,humanity will always engage in armed conflict, killing tons of people and destroying the world in the process. So he left the Orbital Elevator project and decided to lead a reclusive life with his trusted friends and fellow scientist.
During that time, he managed to create two crucial inventions,a revolutionary, cutting-edge, and clean energysource called the GN Drives, and the Artificial Superintelligence called Veda. GN Drives would later on be used to power an equally cutting-edge mobile suit called the Gundam. With the Veda as the brain and the Gundams as the limbs, Aeolia created the private paramilitary organization called the Celestial Beings.
Aeolia dedicated his whole life to creating these technologies, but unfortunately, he wasn’t there to see it in action. When the Celestial beings and its four Gundams finally show themselves to the world, it’s already approximately 200 years after his passing. At the time, the Celestial Beings played a video recording of Aeolia, talking about his concerns regarding the state of the world, as well as the existence and the mission statement ofhis secret organization, the Celestial Beings. So in a way, they manage to convey Aeolia’s philosophy to the modern time.
The Gundams of Celestial Beings
Veda is not onlythe most advanced Artificial Intelligencein the world, but it also contains the philosophy of its creator, Aeolia Schenberg. So in a way, Aeolia entrusted his dreams and visions to Veda. That is why anything from choosing the best candidates for the Gundam pilots, also known as Gundam Meister, to designating the target for armed interventions, and even being the operating system of the Gundams, Veda does it all.
The Celestial Beings possess four Gundams, each with distinct roles and capabilities. The first one is Gundam Exia, a close-quarter combat specialist,piloted by Setsuna F. Seiei. The second one is Gundam Dynames, a long-range specialist, piloted by Lockon Stratos. The third one is Gundam Kyrios, a high-mobility fighter, piloted by Allelujah Haptism. And the last one is Gundam Virtue, a heavy artillery Gundam, piloted by Tieria Erde.
By using these highly specialized Gundams, the Celestial Beings managed to successfully intervene in lots of military conflicts all over the world, increasing their fame and notoriety in the process. But do they manage to fulfill Aeolia’s ambition of eradicating war and armed conflicts? Well, that is a discussion for an entirely different article.
