Conduit

The future doesn't belong to you! For those who have not completed games in the Xenoblade Chronicles series, this page contains spoilers regarding the plot. Discretion is advised.

The Conduit

"It is a gateway... A gateway that will lead us to an entirely new world."

— Klaus

The Conduit (Gate in the Japanese version) is an energy source introduced in Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

Overview

The Conduit is located behind the Architect's Room in the First Low Orbit Station.

It is defined as a "magnetic abnormal matter", a perpetual motion machine that serves as a connection and gate between dimensions. It is also the ultimate power source used by the Trinity Processor and the Artifices. It resembles a Latin cross, but with shortened side arms.

The activation of the Conduit was the catalyst that set the events of the Xenoblade Chronicles series into motion.

Story

The Experiment

The world is split in two

"Our original worlds...used to be one and the same. It boasted almost unthinkable prosperity, and was home to *so* many people. That is, until Klaus's foolishness screwed it all up, splitting it into two separate places. One was the world of the Bionis, and the other, Alrest."

— Shulk and Rex

The Conduit was found in Africa near the beginning of the 21st century. After its discovery, an institution was formed in order to research it. As the research took place, it was discovered that it possessed the ability to connect different dimensions and warp reality itself. Due to the danger this supposed, several orbital stations were built to continue the research, Rhadamanthus being the one used to store the Conduit.

In order to maintain the Conduit, the Trinity Processor, a collective of artificial intelligences, was created. Under the Conduit's influence, the processor was able to create its own defense mechanisms, as several organizations wanted the Conduit for themselves.

During the Saviorite attack in 20XX, the scientist Klaus, who viewed the Conduit as a divine gift he could use to create a new universe, activated it. The Conduit's activation split the world in two, resulting in the creation of the world of Alrest and the world of the Bionis. Additionally, numerous portals to other dimensions appeared all around the planet, which caused most of the world's population to disappear, with only the Land of Morytha and half of Klaus' body remaining.

Millennia later, the bond established between Rex and Pneuma managed to make the Conduit stir for the first time since its activation, leading the Architect to predict its imminent disappearance. As Shulk kills Zanza, causing the death of the Architect, the Conduit vanishes into an unknown dimension. Due to its disappearance, the Artifices deactivate, and Rhadamanthus begins to fall.

The Two Worlds Draw Near

The two worlds begin to merge back together

Years later, the two worlds that Klaus's experiment created by splitting apart the original one with the Conduit began to merge back into the same universe in a process that would destroy them both as they combined, due to the worlds being composed of opposing forms of matter. Having made contact with each other as their worlds drew nearer, Melia and Nia formed a plan that would allow their people and cultures to survive and rebuild. They would each construct one half of an ark known as Origin that contained all of their societies' knowledge and their citizens' literal souls, which would allow them to be reborn after their worlds were reconstructed and then separated back into their original states. The Trinity Processor core Ontos was used as the foundation of Origin.

However, Z, a being born from humanity's fears of an uncertain future and their desire for stability, stopped both worlds in their tracks, froze them in time, preventing Origin from activating. Aionios was born, and Z delivered to the world what they sought. A world frozen in time, where the future annihilation that was soon to arrive would only be a distant memory, and a world where "the future" wouldn't exist.

The Two Worlds Become One

After Z∞ is defeated and Origin is reactivated, the two worlds are returned to their original states from before the creation of Aionios. The two worlds, no longer made up of opposing types of matter, then merge in earnest, restoring the world to what it was before it was divided by Klaus but still preserving the inhabitants of the old worlds.

Trivia

The room Klaus activated the experiment from being accessed by going out of bounds

• The Conduit is inspired by the Zohar, a plot-significant object of great power in both Xenogears and the Xenosaga series, and which also inspired the name and logo of Monolith Soft itself.
  • The Conduit's assets are additionally labeled "Zohar" within the game files, a nod to this fact.
  • The Conduit has the same shape as the Lifeholds in Xenoblade Chronicles X, whose appearance was also inspired by the Zohar of the earlier games.
  • In the 10th Anniversary art drawn by CHOCO, the Conduit is drawn to resemble Xenosaga's incarnation of the Zohar more than it does in-game in Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
• Despite being usually inaccessible, it is possible to enter the Conduit's room and the room Klaus activated the Conduit experiment from by exploiting a walk through walls glitch on the First Low Orbit Station.