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OOC Note: Welcome to the Lost Empire thread! The Lost Empire is an ancient civilization in Iteria whose origins are lost to time- think "dawn of civilization" stuff. Its remains are scattered across Iteria, and yet it remains an enigma.
This thread will serve as an anthology of Lost Empire posts.
This thread and concept are the brainchildren of @Loz
If you'd like to take part please discuss the matter in the Iteria channel on TNP RP's Discord server to discuss things with Eras' Iteria RPers!
discord.gg
Red ochre. It was red ochre that had originally caught Arit Nissim’s attention as an archeology undergrad student ten years ago. The naturally occurring red clay pigment had been found in ancient archaeological sites across Iteria.
“Ancient” was actually the wrong word. 15,000-10,000 BCE. 5,000 years before the emergence of Shaddaism from Mita, Bashime. THAT was ancient...this seemed older.
The red ochre was important though. It was a hint at a common religious burial practice. And it caught Arit’s imagination. Something prior to the emergence of the Tribe of Yihud, something before even the origins of Bashime. She had delved deeper and discovered the academic writings on something Iterian archeologists only ever referred to as the “Lost Empire.” It was something Arit had never been taught about in school, and her mind flooded with questions. She wanted to know everything she could find about this obscure corner of Iterian archeology.
Obscurity was the problem though. Lost Empire research was limited during the first half of her undergraduate career. Of course the remnants of it had long been known to Iterians. Shaddaists in Iraelia, Astragon, and Bashime were long familiar with the vast ruins, and had traditionally ascribed them to the Nephilim- angels who had rebelled against Shaddai at the beginning of creation.
This view had dwindled as more secular attitudes became prominent in the word of academia, but the rejection of divine origins wasn’t replaced with anything for a good century or two. Scholars in the 18th and 19th centuries proposed a number of explanations. Some mundane, others outlandish, some downright crazy. These tended to vary from locale to locale, however.
The early 20th century saw the first proposals put forth that these burial grounds, catacombs, and vast stone structures- most of whom were barely distinguishable from natural mountains and rock formations due to thousands upon thousands upon thousands of years of erosion- were part of a single Iterian civilization that predated all other Iterian civilizations. It was met with hesitancy at first, but it was generally accepted by the mid 1960s, as more and more sites were excavated.
And that was it. That’s what Arit was left with after two years of research as a young university student. The 1960s were the peak of scholarship. The consensus had emerged that this civilization existed. Burial sites, monuments, catacombs, and the like were identified, genetic testing on the remains found indicated an Iterian genome found in most present-day Iterian populations. And that was it. No writing. No idea as to their language. What they even believed.
Part of the problem was identifying enough sites. The vast majority of them were, as stated, indistinguishable from natural rock formations at first glance. It was only after observation and study that their man-made nature was confirmed. Yet natural rock formations that appear to bear a resemblance to people did exist. It was a byproduct of humanity’s innate drive towards recognizing patterns. That meant that sussing out which sites were natural formations and which sites were the eroded remnants of this society was a costly and time consuming process.
None of this deterred Arit. She imagined these sites in their former glory. She imagined this civilization emerging from the wilderness...how? Why? Who? What was their story? She spent her undergraduate career writing on the Lost Empire and studying it where she could. And then there was a shift. It was not sudden. In fact it had been slowly trending since before Arit had begun university. It was in the latter half of her undergraduate career that the shift began to become apparent though. New, more sophisticated techniques of dating artifacts, new, more sensitive ways of analyzing the structures of proposed archeological sites, all led to the first wave of new scholarship on the Lost Empire in over five decades. And Arit was part of that wave.
Her earlier writings and research on the matter had caught the attention of Professor Gad Davida. He was one of the few archaeological scholars in Iraelia who had specialized in Lost Empire research at the turn of the 21st century. He’d seen Arit’s passion for the topic and had recruited her to apply to study the subject at a graduate level. Gad was always on the lookout for promising students with an interest in the field- they were few and far between. So Arit was being sponsored on Lost Empire digs as a third year undergrad just as the field began to explode.
And here she was. About to graduate with her doctorate. It had been a trying journey, but it was almost over. She had been part of a doctorate candidate team that had lobbied the Temple in Adonai-Jireh to excavate sites on Mt. Carmel. The Temple had refused. Mt. Carmel was said to be where Shaddai had given His commandments to the Yihudi people. It was- in many ways- Shaddaism’s most holy site.
It had taken nearly two years of negotiations, but Arit’s team had managed to secure a compromise. Excavating sites around the mountain that were technically still under the Temple’s authority. It wasn’t everything- Arit was desperately curious to know if the oldest altars and temples built to Shaddai on the mountain were built atop remnants of Lost Empire site, but there was no way the Temple would let them dig there.
The sites they were allowed to dig at had been more than enough to justify the dig though. Remnants of 17000 year old art, sculptures, shrines….all within spitting distance of the site held to be the birthplace of Shaddaism. What connections that implied- if any- still had to be uncovered. Actually interpreting this civilization’s beliefs and language was still a distant dream. Still, it was another vital site to the map. Mapping the Lost Empire across Iteria, a once thriving society condemned by who knows what- and giving birth to the various cultures that had sprung up in its wake.
This thread will serve as an anthology of Lost Empire posts.
This thread and concept are the brainchildren of @Loz
If you'd like to take part please discuss the matter in the Iteria channel on TNP RP's Discord server to discuss things with Eras' Iteria RPers!
Join the TNP Roleplay Discord Server!
Check out the TNP Roleplay community on Discord - hang out with 307 other members and enjoy free voice and text chat.
Red ochre. It was red ochre that had originally caught Arit Nissim’s attention as an archeology undergrad student ten years ago. The naturally occurring red clay pigment had been found in ancient archaeological sites across Iteria.
“Ancient” was actually the wrong word. 15,000-10,000 BCE. 5,000 years before the emergence of Shaddaism from Mita, Bashime. THAT was ancient...this seemed older.
The red ochre was important though. It was a hint at a common religious burial practice. And it caught Arit’s imagination. Something prior to the emergence of the Tribe of Yihud, something before even the origins of Bashime. She had delved deeper and discovered the academic writings on something Iterian archeologists only ever referred to as the “Lost Empire.” It was something Arit had never been taught about in school, and her mind flooded with questions. She wanted to know everything she could find about this obscure corner of Iterian archeology.
Obscurity was the problem though. Lost Empire research was limited during the first half of her undergraduate career. Of course the remnants of it had long been known to Iterians. Shaddaists in Iraelia, Astragon, and Bashime were long familiar with the vast ruins, and had traditionally ascribed them to the Nephilim- angels who had rebelled against Shaddai at the beginning of creation.
This view had dwindled as more secular attitudes became prominent in the word of academia, but the rejection of divine origins wasn’t replaced with anything for a good century or two. Scholars in the 18th and 19th centuries proposed a number of explanations. Some mundane, others outlandish, some downright crazy. These tended to vary from locale to locale, however.
The early 20th century saw the first proposals put forth that these burial grounds, catacombs, and vast stone structures- most of whom were barely distinguishable from natural mountains and rock formations due to thousands upon thousands upon thousands of years of erosion- were part of a single Iterian civilization that predated all other Iterian civilizations. It was met with hesitancy at first, but it was generally accepted by the mid 1960s, as more and more sites were excavated.
And that was it. That’s what Arit was left with after two years of research as a young university student. The 1960s were the peak of scholarship. The consensus had emerged that this civilization existed. Burial sites, monuments, catacombs, and the like were identified, genetic testing on the remains found indicated an Iterian genome found in most present-day Iterian populations. And that was it. No writing. No idea as to their language. What they even believed.
Part of the problem was identifying enough sites. The vast majority of them were, as stated, indistinguishable from natural rock formations at first glance. It was only after observation and study that their man-made nature was confirmed. Yet natural rock formations that appear to bear a resemblance to people did exist. It was a byproduct of humanity’s innate drive towards recognizing patterns. That meant that sussing out which sites were natural formations and which sites were the eroded remnants of this society was a costly and time consuming process.
None of this deterred Arit. She imagined these sites in their former glory. She imagined this civilization emerging from the wilderness...how? Why? Who? What was their story? She spent her undergraduate career writing on the Lost Empire and studying it where she could. And then there was a shift. It was not sudden. In fact it had been slowly trending since before Arit had begun university. It was in the latter half of her undergraduate career that the shift began to become apparent though. New, more sophisticated techniques of dating artifacts, new, more sensitive ways of analyzing the structures of proposed archeological sites, all led to the first wave of new scholarship on the Lost Empire in over five decades. And Arit was part of that wave.
Her earlier writings and research on the matter had caught the attention of Professor Gad Davida. He was one of the few archaeological scholars in Iraelia who had specialized in Lost Empire research at the turn of the 21st century. He’d seen Arit’s passion for the topic and had recruited her to apply to study the subject at a graduate level. Gad was always on the lookout for promising students with an interest in the field- they were few and far between. So Arit was being sponsored on Lost Empire digs as a third year undergrad just as the field began to explode.
And here she was. About to graduate with her doctorate. It had been a trying journey, but it was almost over. She had been part of a doctorate candidate team that had lobbied the Temple in Adonai-Jireh to excavate sites on Mt. Carmel. The Temple had refused. Mt. Carmel was said to be where Shaddai had given His commandments to the Yihudi people. It was- in many ways- Shaddaism’s most holy site.
It had taken nearly two years of negotiations, but Arit’s team had managed to secure a compromise. Excavating sites around the mountain that were technically still under the Temple’s authority. It wasn’t everything- Arit was desperately curious to know if the oldest altars and temples built to Shaddai on the mountain were built atop remnants of Lost Empire site, but there was no way the Temple would let them dig there.
The sites they were allowed to dig at had been more than enough to justify the dig though. Remnants of 17000 year old art, sculptures, shrines….all within spitting distance of the site held to be the birthplace of Shaddaism. What connections that implied- if any- still had to be uncovered. Actually interpreting this civilization’s beliefs and language was still a distant dream. Still, it was another vital site to the map. Mapping the Lost Empire across Iteria, a once thriving society condemned by who knows what- and giving birth to the various cultures that had sprung up in its wake.
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