Babylonians

The Babylonians, also called the Children of Babylon, are an ancient and technologically advanced culture civilization of extraterrestrial alien/genie hybrids, who were the ancestors of the present day generation of Babylon Rogues. They were also the creators of Babylon Garden, the Arks of the Cosmos and as well the earliest form of Extreme Gear. This culture eventually settled down to a distant planet, integrating with the planet's population while giving rise to various legends surrounding the Babylonians and their legacy form the basic storyline.

In the ancient past, the Babylonians were stranded on Sonic's World over a millennium ago during one of their interstellar travels in Babylon Garden and became a legendary civilization renowned for their amazing treasures, which (unknowingly) were in the form of advanced technologies.

"Be careful what you ask for, ultimately you will only get three true wishes!"
 * —One of the teachings of the Babylonians, from a Book called, The Chronicles of Babylon.

Anatomy
The Babylonians' exact anatomy is unknown. In spite of being extraterrestrial genies and presumably either had the characteristics or resembled terrestrial, the Babylonians or their descendants are show to closely resemble anthropomorphic birds, though attained avian characteristics after breeding with anthropomorphic birds on Sonic's World. Chances are, both of these two assumptions have some element of truth.

Characteristics and Culture
The Babylonians were a highly advanced people in terms of technological culture, being thousands of years ahead of the planet's time, much like the Nocturnus Clan. Even in ancient times, their technology was more advanced than the technology in the present day and appeared to possess vast potential, ranging from possibly dominating the world to destroying it, having invented force field enhanced holography which allows spirit lifeforms to physically interact with the surroundings, the Ark of the Cosmos which could form compressed gravity fields, and wormhole generators that could create shortcuts throughout space-time (though the latter malfunctioned and could create black holes).

During their time on Sonic's World, the Babylonians proved to be treasure hunters and robbers by nature and would fly across the world collecting (taking or stealing) various treasure. This might suggest that the Babylonians were a somewhat amoral and unethical people. They were also known to be Extreme Gear specialists.

Arrival
Much of the Babylonians' history is shrouded in mystery and legends, and their original home world is unknown. In the ancient past, the Babylonians traveled through the vastness of space in an ancient spaceship known as Astral Babylon, which warp engines were powered by their own inventions, the Arks of the Cosmos. When they passed by Sonic's World, however, Astral Babylon's automated systems, detected an irreplaceable malfunction made the Babylonians realize that they could not control the Arks of the Cosmos' energies which were about to make their ship's engine core create a black hole, and any attempt to use it in such a state would create a black hole that would destroy the planet in its wake. The Astral Babylon's systems, however, would attempt to follow its navigational routine and travel back to its homeworld for repairs.

To stop this from happening and fearing the responsibility for the destruction they would do, the Babylonians disconnected the Arks of the Cosmos from their ship's ignition matrix, and sending them into the planet's orbit to keep their spaceship's system from reactivating, while their ship crash-landed. Now stranded on a planet unfamiliar to them, the Babylonians could only wait for the Arks of the Cosmos to fall down to the surface so they could use them to power Astral Babylon once more and get back to their home planet.

Settling Down on Earth
Over time, the Babylonians settled down on the still-floating Astral Babylon and constructed an outer shell around it, forming Babylon Garden. Whenever they saw a shooting star, the Babylonians would hope that it was one of the Arks of the Cosmos falling down to Earth.

While on Earth, the Babylonians became a society of great thieves and robbers, becoming known as a legendary band of thieves called the Babylon Rogues, who would search the world for treasure and loot alike. Sometime in the far ancient past, the Babylonians gave a boy an "Angel Wing" made from the their advanced technology as a gift, which according to stories allowed the boy to "gain supremacy of the world". At the time of the thirteenth leader of the Babylon Rogues, Stolen, the Babylonians completed their ultimate invention, the Magic Carpet, the prototype for the first Extreme Gear, to allow them to travel all over the world to gather treasure without having to work so hard to keep themselves flying. To safeguard their creation, the Babylon Guardian was placed to protect it. After creating the Extreme Gear, the Babylonians became specialists in the art of Extreme Gear.

Losses and Reclaims
Some time after the creation of the Magic Carpet, legends tell the Babylonians incurred the wrath of the Gods because of their crimes. As such, Babylon Garden was buried deep beneath in the sands near Sand Ruins and the Babylonians were scattered for all time.

At some point, either prior to or after the fall of Babylon Garden, two Arks of the Cosmos fell down from orbit during the Babylonians' time. The Babylonians located them, and placed one of them at the Gigan Rocks and the other in the Crimson Crater to keep them safe until all five Arks of the Cosmos back together and re-energize Astral Babylon.

While half of the Babylonians embraced travel and independence as they set out on their own, the other half adopted a strict militaristic lifestyle under the family of the Battle Kukkus. The stories of the Babylonians and Babylon Garden persisted regardless, though few knew anything for certain about them. As the Battle Bird Armada rose to power, they became fixated on locating Babylon Garden, as the Battle Kukkus believed their destiny was to conquer the world and everyone living under it's skies, and that Babylon Garden could help them achieve that goal.

Near Extinction
Over time passed, having secured that Babylon Garden would not be a treat, and no more Arks of the Cosmos showed up, the original Babylonians, slowly faded away into history, and died out, but their descendants abandoned the Garden, colonized and lived on by breeding with the inhabitants of the planet they crash landed at, eventually becoming a part of its population; over time, their history and knowledge were lost to time and remains of their ancestors' advanced technology and even records of their own civilization's history and origin, eventually leaving nothing behind in their memory, but misunderstood legends about Babylon Garden's treasures and the Key to Babylon Garden, one of their last remaining relics, was hidden away to be protected by Angelus for safekeeping. Eventually, the only remaining Babylonians were a clan of thieves, who continued their ways of robbery as a group called the Babylon Rogues. The children of these Babylon Rogues would then come together as a new generation of Babylon Rogues, continuing the cycle for generations to come.

Synopsis
In the present day, the only known descendants of the Babylonians are Jet the Hawk, Wave the Swallow and Storm the Albatross.

Notes & Trivia

 * In the real world, Babylonians were an ancient empire centered around the city of Babylon, located within present day Iraq. It lasted from around 1800 BC until it was subsumed into the Persian Empire in 539 BC.