Michtam, as seen in Episode III.
Michtam, previously known as Abraxas until T.C. 4667, is a planetary member of the Galaxy Federation.
Michtam is the setting of Xenosaga: Pied Piper, which stars Federation counterterrorist Jan Sauer (Ziggy), in the city of Archon. During the game the planet is officially renamed Michtam.
History
Kevin's Memory
Kevin's memory of the Gnosis on Michtam.
It is the birthplace of Ormus and first planet settled by the people of the Immigrant Fleet after they left Lost Jerusalem. It is where "God's relics" were kept, primarily the Zarathustra device. Margulis and Pellegri are from here.
The planet was obliterated by the Gnosis in T.C. 4747. Kevin Winnicot was a survivor from Michtam.
Xenosaga
In Episode I Dr. Juli Mizrahi mentions to Ziggy just before he leaves to rescue MOMO Mizrahi from the U-TIC Organization that the S.O.C.E.. was performing an experiment between Second Miltia and Michtam that was "vital to the future of the human race," and tied to the Zohar Project.
In Episode III Michtam also serves as the location for the last quarter of the game where the stories most of the series' cast (over 15 different characters) are resolved.
Trivia
- Michtam is an allusion to Miktam04β, a planet mentioned in the Xenogears Perfect Works encyclopedia. In that continuum, Miktam04β is said to have been destroyed by Deus when it absorbed too much energy from the Zohar, and the Eldridge was sent to rescue survivors. This event was pivotal in setting the events of the next 10,000 years into motion.
Locations
- Archon Cathedral - A cathedral built by the Immigrant Fleet during the Old Abraxas era to worship the Zohar. It is said to have its beginnings with the ancestors of the Immigrant Fleet who first drifted to this planet. Within a giant crack in the earth, they discovered underground ruins believed to be related to the Zohar; there, they built a facility to research both the ruins and the Zohar. The above-ground building is a place for the religious faith of the Immigrant Fleet populace, but underground lies a Zohar research facility staffed by Ormus researchers. In the heart of the underground ruins, there exists a room mode of a crystalline material that only Ormus cardinals are allowed to visit. Ziggy is closely connected to this place; it was here he was targeted by Voyager in a terrorist attack and his wife and child were killed. It is also the place where Ziggy took his own life.
- Isolated Research Facility - A facility built beneath Archon Cathedral where research was conducted by the Immigrant Fleet on the Original Zohar and underground ruins. Research was conducted at this facility not only by Ormus researchers, but by Joachim Mizrahi as well. After admission to the Galaxy Federation, the facility was taken over by the Federation government. Research began to be conducted under their lead, which ultimately led to the Zohar going out of control. Much of the research staff that escaped from Michtm went on to work at the Mizrahi Cerebral Sciences Research Center on Miltia.
Etymology
Abraxas was a word of mystic meaning in the system of the Gnostic Basilides, being there applied to the "Great Archon" (Gk., megas archōn), the princeps of the 365 spheres. The seven letters spelling its name may represent each of the seven classic planets—Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.