A nice philosophical Question...

[Wuggly Blight]

Do you think Zeal was doomed right from the start regardless of the queen, just becuase of the peoples very nature? I think that even if Chrono did things diffrently or Magnus stoped the Queen it was doomed anyway. Bleh.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

I don't think they were doomed just because they were stuck up. The Queen was the only one (besides, you know, Dalton) in pursuit of more power than she already had; the scientists in Kajar were mellow enough, and the people in Enhasa were content to sleep their lives away.

[Doomgaze]

Perhaps you missed the crowd(or at least the SNES approximation of such) outside of the Mammon Machine's chamber, wanting to bask in its power. Someone would have tried to tap Lavos eventually.

[Outsider]

I know that Magus wouldn't stop them, because he didn't knew that Zeal would fall... He even tells you something like "no history book could have prepared me for what happened here" when you find him in North Cape.

And Crono did what he could to stop the Queen and Dalton, but he was a little too late to do anything.

I'd say that was their fate. Everyone in Zeal (besides Schala and the gurus) thought that Lavos' power was a good thing, and that power would improve their society...

[Wuggly Blight]

And that power ultimatly lead to their distruction. The very way they made there socity around Lavos it was inevitable in one form or another.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

Their society was based on their natural abilities, though. It was only the Queen who wanted the Mammon Machine built to sap the power directly out of Lavos, causing it to wake up and rain fire from the heavens and all.

Perhaps you missed the crowd(or at least the SNES approximation of such) outside of the Mammon Machine's chamber, wanting to bask in its power. Someone would have tried to tap Lavos eventually.

I'd say that lot was influenced by, again, the Queen. They were just following something she began.

[Wuggly Blight]

Yeah I guess they was just lulled by the queen that there power was forever and nothing bad could ever hapepend to them, and they belived it and was quiet content with it. Dalton was just a freak...

[Super Christ]

And before Zeal began tapping Lavos, they were getting their power from the sun-stone. So it's pretty much Queen Zeal's doing that Zeal fell.

I know that Magus wouldn't stop them, because he didn't knew that Zeal would fall... He even tells you something like "no history book could have prepared me for what happened here" when you find him in North Cape.

I'm quite sure he did know it was going to happen, and that what he said meant that no history book described the horror of what happened very well. Much like, we know from history books that Rome once burned. But there's nothing that we could read about it that would actually prepare us for being there, if we ever fell through a time hole to that era.

There's also the fact that there's no Zeal in the middle ages; I think that would tip him off that something happened during the ocean palace disaster, which he was present for as a kid. I'm pretty sure that once he was in the middle ages, he figured out his location in history according to what history books said, *particularly* about the legendary civilization of Zeal.

[Doomgaze]

I think it was partly that, partly his young self unable to comprehend his mother's evil, and the fact he didn't know what happened after he was flung into the future.

[Del Murder]

Any group that tries to put itself above others (quite literally in this case) is eventually doomed to distruction. Zeal was fated to fall.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

Why? It didn't seem to me that they needed the Earthbound Ones for anything.

[Wuggly Blight]

There world was built by the earthbound, even the ocean palace. they was to unwilling to actually build there world themselves, and in the end they needed the earthbound to help the survivers. The way they used there power, belived themselves to be better pretty much sealed there fate right off the bat.
The people became blind to reality and followed the Queen without question.
In there view nothing bad could happen because they was so powerful, and so they was happy to sit back and let the Queen do these things.

[Del Murder]

Why is a tough question to answer. Especially since we are dealing with a game. But I still believe that even if the enlightened ones didn't follow the queen there would be another impliment leading to their destruction. Things have a way of balancing out like that. Not much more I can say. Power corrupts absolutely or something like that.

[Wuggly Blight]

The people was also punished by the queen. If they didnt do as she said or fast enough she would punish them, tike the Guru's.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

See, the Queen was the root of all of their problems. Without her, they'd have been fine.