Earth2.io has been an ever-changing project in how we, the players, believed things would evolve; There was a raw creative dynamic to how we felt our projects could develop.

Cradle Earth was born out of frustration and chaos; Original tiles were purchased based on price and random locations, thinking I could build interest out of nothing; The evolution of Earth2 made it clear that popular and busy places would be hot spots, and the land tiles I had purchased would see little to no interest.

I decided to focus on an area I had already purchased to make a title for it and make a statement as a project; Aniwa in the Vanuatu islands became the chosen land. The island has a unique shape and a flat landmass which would hopefully be beneficial to building in the future.

I was listening to 'Procession' by Nightwish; it starts with singing the lyrics 'a Cradle Earth'; Adopting the term Cradle Earth as a first step to identifying my new project felt right, especially when part of the song is the following -

"The Cradle Earth, welcoming its newborn
Aeons since that very first acorn."
                                                       - Nightwish

Earth2 is likely to be a project that will be developed over an indefinite length of time and is quite fitting.

I wanted to design a logo that brought an element of being a Cradle Earth, so I encompassed a depiction of a fetus with a sun and the moons in its 8 phases or gates; Eight moons depict stages of life and growth, and the sun is the inner fire of our being.

A name and a logo weren't enough; the area needed more. The logo became a thing that was representative of something more, something tangible. The 'Arthkay' arose from the depths of Vanuatu using the logo as inspiration.

The idea is that Cradle Earth is the only place on Earth2 where the earth's crust is deformed and thin; Earth is like a giant magnet, with invisible lines of flux diverging from the north magnetic pole and converging at the south; Higher concentrations of magnetic field flow through this point in the earth due to its shorter path (this leakage flux is causing the shift in the earth's axis due to a leakage of magnetic energy.) The reason for the thin crust is due to an underwater volcano that was going to erupt but was hit by a meteor before it was able to release its energy; The impact had such a great force that it pushed the molten lava and the unique resources within that volcano through cracks in the earth and created eight main channels in which the energy from the Arthkay could flow.