Post by Kai on Feb 20, 2010 12:37:29 GMT -5
The original source of ‘current’ technology. Crypt-like ‘storehouses’ of history. ‘The world of the dead’, full of mysteries, for good or bad, waiting on the living to venture within and renew the purpose of an environment forgotten. Alternatively, ‘the physical remains of the failure of man.’ A testament to fragility, and a visual lesson on the evils of arrogance. The multi-layered trash dump of the past. A breeding ground of death that should be purged, not maintained.
The above statements are commonly held opinions on the numerous ruins left on Earth from the thousands of years of past civilizations that have drifted away with the falling of the sands of time. As can be seen, the nature of these opinions runs the gamut from exceedingly positive to astonishingly negative, and with the recent focus on exploring ‘up and out’ (into space), the nature of these opinions has largely shifted to the negative. There is some logic to this opinion swing. Stating the obvious, the closer to the surface a ‘layer’ of ruins is, the more recent/the younger that layer is. From the assumption that technology before ‘the fall’ represents the pinnacle of mankind’s achievements, the majority feeling that has developed is one that believes that all of the useful information that could be beneficial to the current civilization has long been collected. While going deeper into the Earth may shed light on the history of man, there ‘should be’ little of real value (in reference to the space objective) that could be obtained from excavation. Generally speaking, the argument against Earth-bound exploration in this day and age is wasted resources and high risk for little, if any, reward. Humanity should look to the future, not get stuck staring in to the past. (It should be noted that the counter-argument to this is that the history of the distant past remains unknown. Have there been ‘falls of civilization’ before? If so, what level of advancement had those civilizations achieved? If the ingenuity from ‘current’ civilization is any indication of the past, then should it automatically be expected that only the most recent matters? Should it really be assumed that nothing of value could be found by digging deeper into the past?)
That is not to say that everything ‘recent’ has been fully explored. True enough, the original spark for the advancement of current civilization came from exploring and stripping the upper layer ruins (especially those beneath tower cities, such as Asherah) of old technology and information, but there remains quite a large percentage of Earthly ruins (including those from the catastrophe of 1000 years ago) that, to this day, remain pristine. Reasons these areas remain unexplored also revolve around the resource-risk-reward argument, with a major focus on location and the ‘R.D.I. rating’ – or Relative Danger Index rating, as listed in the IVO databases. R.D.I.s are generated primarily from aerial observation and physical inspection of the ‘flora and fauna’ of dangerous creatures in the area around ruin locations – that is, these places have rarely been ventured in to (or if they have been ventured in to, data on the observations have been lost/not collected) and the R.D.I. is actually a speculative rating that may or may not be a proper judge of the dangers of a particular location. Still, high R.D.I.s are the number one reason why many known locations of ruins have been left alone. The direct danger associated with high R.D.I.s comes from the common knowledge that ‘tainted areas’ saturate the majority of ruined areas (including those beneath the tower cities), and so any set of ruins is expected to be a ‘nest of monsters.’ Whether or not this is the case can only be determined through actual investigation, and thus the Catch-22 of ‘having to be risky to determine the risk’ strengthens the argument against further ruin exploration. From excavations that have occurred, such as those beneath tower cities like Asherah, it has also been determined that ‘tainted areas’ increase in prevalence the deeper one goes; this observation has helped nullify the urges of some to explore deeper into ruins that have previously been excavated to some degree.
Despite the waning popularity, there are still those that investigate Earth-bound ruins. These are primarily non-tower city settlements (Omicron being the key settlement of note), but excavations in the current day are small in scope and slow in practice, due to the restrictions of resources and equipment non-tower city settlements endure. IVO, too, is involved in these excavation processes, functioning as advisors and, to a lesser extent, ‘free’ manpower for those directing the excavations. It is because of IVO’s involvement that many ruin locations are known, and anyone with a network connection can pull up maps and short descriptions of sites from IVO databases. Areas of high concentration of ruin locations include: The Sidewinder Desert (north of Sumeral, on Earth’s southern continent), the Halcion Mountains (west of Asherah), the ice continent of Xeros (north of Asherah), False Paradise island (west of Sumeral, south of Telemnos), the volcanic Howling Fangs mountain chain (around Champagne), the Tiger’s Stripe Rain Forest (southeast of Sumeral) and along the bottom of Mirror Lake. There are also extensive ruins beneath the tower city of Asherah, and it is believed (though largely unconfirmed) that extensive ruins also exist beneath the tower city of Vespar.
The above statements are commonly held opinions on the numerous ruins left on Earth from the thousands of years of past civilizations that have drifted away with the falling of the sands of time. As can be seen, the nature of these opinions runs the gamut from exceedingly positive to astonishingly negative, and with the recent focus on exploring ‘up and out’ (into space), the nature of these opinions has largely shifted to the negative. There is some logic to this opinion swing. Stating the obvious, the closer to the surface a ‘layer’ of ruins is, the more recent/the younger that layer is. From the assumption that technology before ‘the fall’ represents the pinnacle of mankind’s achievements, the majority feeling that has developed is one that believes that all of the useful information that could be beneficial to the current civilization has long been collected. While going deeper into the Earth may shed light on the history of man, there ‘should be’ little of real value (in reference to the space objective) that could be obtained from excavation. Generally speaking, the argument against Earth-bound exploration in this day and age is wasted resources and high risk for little, if any, reward. Humanity should look to the future, not get stuck staring in to the past. (It should be noted that the counter-argument to this is that the history of the distant past remains unknown. Have there been ‘falls of civilization’ before? If so, what level of advancement had those civilizations achieved? If the ingenuity from ‘current’ civilization is any indication of the past, then should it automatically be expected that only the most recent matters? Should it really be assumed that nothing of value could be found by digging deeper into the past?)
That is not to say that everything ‘recent’ has been fully explored. True enough, the original spark for the advancement of current civilization came from exploring and stripping the upper layer ruins (especially those beneath tower cities, such as Asherah) of old technology and information, but there remains quite a large percentage of Earthly ruins (including those from the catastrophe of 1000 years ago) that, to this day, remain pristine. Reasons these areas remain unexplored also revolve around the resource-risk-reward argument, with a major focus on location and the ‘R.D.I. rating’ – or Relative Danger Index rating, as listed in the IVO databases. R.D.I.s are generated primarily from aerial observation and physical inspection of the ‘flora and fauna’ of dangerous creatures in the area around ruin locations – that is, these places have rarely been ventured in to (or if they have been ventured in to, data on the observations have been lost/not collected) and the R.D.I. is actually a speculative rating that may or may not be a proper judge of the dangers of a particular location. Still, high R.D.I.s are the number one reason why many known locations of ruins have been left alone. The direct danger associated with high R.D.I.s comes from the common knowledge that ‘tainted areas’ saturate the majority of ruined areas (including those beneath the tower cities), and so any set of ruins is expected to be a ‘nest of monsters.’ Whether or not this is the case can only be determined through actual investigation, and thus the Catch-22 of ‘having to be risky to determine the risk’ strengthens the argument against further ruin exploration. From excavations that have occurred, such as those beneath tower cities like Asherah, it has also been determined that ‘tainted areas’ increase in prevalence the deeper one goes; this observation has helped nullify the urges of some to explore deeper into ruins that have previously been excavated to some degree.
Despite the waning popularity, there are still those that investigate Earth-bound ruins. These are primarily non-tower city settlements (Omicron being the key settlement of note), but excavations in the current day are small in scope and slow in practice, due to the restrictions of resources and equipment non-tower city settlements endure. IVO, too, is involved in these excavation processes, functioning as advisors and, to a lesser extent, ‘free’ manpower for those directing the excavations. It is because of IVO’s involvement that many ruin locations are known, and anyone with a network connection can pull up maps and short descriptions of sites from IVO databases. Areas of high concentration of ruin locations include: The Sidewinder Desert (north of Sumeral, on Earth’s southern continent), the Halcion Mountains (west of Asherah), the ice continent of Xeros (north of Asherah), False Paradise island (west of Sumeral, south of Telemnos), the volcanic Howling Fangs mountain chain (around Champagne), the Tiger’s Stripe Rain Forest (southeast of Sumeral) and along the bottom of Mirror Lake. There are also extensive ruins beneath the tower city of Asherah, and it is believed (though largely unconfirmed) that extensive ruins also exist beneath the tower city of Vespar.