The Old Ones is the New World name for humans from the world that existed before its destruction by the Faro Plague.
Description
Humanity by the mid-21st century was a technologically advanced civilization, having designed and built incredible scientific feats. Foremost among these was advanced robotics, from artificial intelligence and self-replicating robots to enormous war machines that would eventually supplant entire armies.[1]
However, the world was not one of peace and prosperity—nations found their power eroded by sovereign corporations, climate change led to massive environmental damage and displacement, unemployment was at record highs due to automation, and the accessibility of robots designed for warfare made conflict frequent and widespread.
History
For several millennia, human civilization emerged and developed, eventually reaching:
The Great Die-Off and the Claw-Back (2030s-2040s)
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By the 2030s, decades of climate change caused by industrialization reached a critical point. This caused a multitude of natural disasters that uprooted the lives of millions.[2] terrorists flooded the city of Rotterdam in 2033,[3] New Zealand was completely submerged in 2036,[4] the Mojave desert became a warzone,[5] and Las Vegas was running out of water, becoming too hot to remain a tourist destination.[6] To combat much of the climate disasters, Ted Faro worked together with Elisabet Sobeck and heads Faro Automated Solutions to develop robots and servitors to reclaim as much of the planet as possible.[7][8] Stanley Chen also worked in water purification and acquisition to attempt to save Las Vegas, the city who gave him a second chance, investing billions to build the Vegas Dome.[6] Ted's work in this era earns him the moniker of "the man who saved the planet."[2]
At some point, a climate-regulation AI known as VAST SILVER "escaped", prompting the creation of the Turing Act, a legislation enacted in the United States to establish limits on the sentience of machine intelligence and begin regulating the development and sale of AI.[9] Sometime around 2044, VAST SILVER was nullified by the MIE, much to the doubt of some.[10] Despite these legal limits, at least some AIs were created exceeding these limits in order to perform their tasks, such as CYAN with her task to stabilize the Yellowstone Caldera.[2]
In 2048, Ted Faro decided to diversify towards military technology.[8] This earned him the ire of Elisabet Sobeck, who had a deep desire to use technology to preserve life, rather than make a simple profit as Faro preferred. Sobeck left FAS to start her own company, Miriam Technologies.[7] A furious and egotistical Faro retaliated by sending 18 lawsuits towards Sobeck.[11]
2050s
Walter Londra pioneered a way to make asteroid mining more profitable. This allowed for the acquisition of many rare minerals and turns Londra's company Heaven¢ into the foremost conglomerate for aerospace mining and acquisition.
2060s
The Faro Plague
By this point, Faro Automated Solutions was one of the largest corporations in the world and the primary manufacturer of military robots, finding great success in their Chariot line of "peacekeeper" robots that were sold to nations worldwide. The Chariot line ran the game with the FAS-ACA3 Scarab, FAS-FSP5 Kopesh and the Titan-class FAS-BOR7 Horus. These robots were entirely self-sufficient, able to self-replicate at will, refuel themselves in emergencies by consuming biomass,[12][13][14][15] and with a system of polyphasic entangled waveforms making them virtually unhackable.[16][17]
In 2064, a Chariot swarm owned by the Hartz-Timor Energy Combine stopped responding and went rogue, leading to several lawsuits from affected companies as the swarm began attacking everyone and consuming huge amounts of biomass.[18] Faro tasked his code experts with patching the issue, but they were unable due to the robots' polyphasic entangled waveforms making them unhackable.[16] The crisis became known as the Faro Plague; by the time Faro revealed the crisis to Sobeck in November 2064, the robots were replicating and consuming biomass at a rate that all life on Earth would be extinguished in 15 months.[15] Faced with the inevitable destruction of not just humanity, but all life, Project Zero Dawn was implemented by Sobeck with the support of the United States Robot Command, with funding provided reluctantly by FAS' founder Ted Faro.[19]
Project Zero Dawn quickly began development, intended to brute force the Faro Plague's deactivation codes, terraform the world to be habitable again and restore life to the planet. To accomplish this unprecedented task, people were kidnapped from across the world and construction of facilities began.[20] To buy the necessary time needed to complete Project Zero Dawn, General Aaron Herres implemented Operation: Enduring Victory—a civilian-enlistee global war campaign intended to delay the swarm and allow the project to complete preparations.[21] Billions of people, mostly civilians, fought against the swarm with all of the weapons at their disposal. The entire operation was doomed from the start; victory was impossible, something its commanding officer General Herres knew, but the war bought the Zero Dawn team valuable time to complete the project. By mid-January 2066, Zero Dawn was functionally complete as Operation: Enduring Victory was wiped out.[22]
Faro, within his survival bunker Thebes, felt extreme guilt from his role as the cause of the eradication of all life. He felt that the knowledge and education they would receive from Zero Dawn's education from the subordinate function APOLLO would doom them to repeat their mistakes. Using his high-level access[23] that he had secretly had implemented within the Zero Dawn system,[24] Ted Faro purged the APOLLO database, ensuring all of humanity's culture, history, and technological knowledge—the collective sum of human history and progress—would be lost forever.[23]
In the New World
Humanity's once-great cities lay in ruins, reclaimed by nature and/or partially built over by humans of the New World. Even though centuries have passed, much of the technology left behind still remains in a functional state, with data scattered around the world.
Despite most of the Old Ones being wiped out during the Faro Plague, a few individuals were able to escape annihilation and have achieved immortality in order to survive into the New World. Namely, Ted Faro underwent gene therapy[25] to achieve immortality[26] and survived within Thebes, although became hideously mutated in the process, until he was discovered and incinerated by the Quen who ventured into the bunker.[27] Additionally, members of Far Zenith were able to escape Earth aboard the Odyssey and build a colony on Sirius, achieving immortality as well. However, all known members were either wiped out by their own creation, Nemesis, on Sirius, or by other means back on Earth during their return,[28][29][30] leaving the Old Ones believed to be fully extinct by the end of Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores.
Culture
The world of the Old Ones was primarily dominated by corporations. In some countries, corporations even held seats in government showing how much power they held. As a result, none of these corporations could be held accountable for their actions. Their rampant industrialization caused a multitude of natural disasters. Severe climate change led to the destruction of several nations, including New Zealand, Panama and the Azores. This spurred an increase in green technologies and environmental cleanup efforts, in turn leading to even greater dependence on robotics and automation.[2]
The Old Ones were heavily influenced by robotics and automation. Many jobs could be taken over by robots, leading to a global unemployment crisis. During the 2050s, many young Americans migrated to China seeking employment in the form of manual labor.[31] Just before their downfall, both nations and corporations of the Old Ones waged war with each other due to the proliferation of military robotics. These robots were also used to oppress the lower class citizens when they protested against their unfortunate circumstances.
Holographic technologies dominated social and cultural networks, as evidenced by the many holograms left behind in ruins.
Tribal Perceptions on the Old Ones
All of the tribes inhabiting present day Earth have a different interpretation about what happened to the Old Ones.
The Banuk
The Banuk believe that the Old Ones became complacent, thinking there was no challenge they could not overcome, and their pride led to their own undoing. Many Banuk hunters point to the absence of ruins in Ban-Ur as a sign that the Old Ones were never strong enough to endure its challenges, and that they have nothing to learn from the ancients.[32]
The Carja
The Carja believe in a cosmic cycle that involves a twilight time that comes with the rise of the "Buried Shadow" to eclipse the Sun's light and usher in great and terrible change, and that this is what ended the world of the Old Ones and will eventually end their own world.[33]
The Nora
The Nora believe that the Old Ones, born alongside the Nora from the All-Mother, were tricked by the machines into turning away from her, leaving the Sacred Lands and promised a life of luxury and ease. At first, the machines kept their promise, building great cities for these dissenters, referred to as the "Metal World". However, they soon overtook the Old Ones, making them their servants. Eventually, the machines, led by their father, the Metal Devil, became jealous and tried to murder All-Mother. However, All-Mother defeated the Metal Devil, and punished the machines and Old Ones: the machines were turned into mindless beasts, and the cities of the Old Ones were leveled. As a result, the Nora believe that the ruins of the Metal World, as well as the land beyond the Sacred Land, is corrupted and tainted, and that all the other tribes are descendants from the Old Ones.[34][35]
The Oseram
The Oseram believe that the world functions as a large and intricately crafted mechanism, the "world-machine", and all the forces of nature are accounted for by this mechanism. They believe that the Old Ones were once the caretakers of the world-machine, and their civilization fell due to their failure to maintain it.[32]
The Quen
The Quen are shaped by their reverence for the Old Ones. Using the Focus to salvage data from the Old Ones, they are the most knowledgeable about them. However, due to much data being out of reach for various reasons, there is much they have misinterpreted or simply never discovered about the Old Ones.
Known Nations
- Australia[36]
- China[37] [38] [39]
- Colombia[40] [41]
- France[42]
- Greece[43]
- India[39]
- Indonesia[44]
- Japan
- Mexico[45]
- Mozambique[46]
- Netherlands[47] [48]
- New Zealand[49]
- Papua New Guinea[50]
- Philippines[51]
- Russia[52]
- Singapore[53]
- Spain[54]
- United Kingdom[1] [55]
- United States of America
Known Organizations
Corporate Entities
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Other Groups
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Known Old Ones
Gallery
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 UK vets struggle
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 As mentioned by CYAN during/after completing The Forge of Winter.
- ↑ Retrospective: Rotterdam 2033
- ↑ "Haere Mai"
- ↑ Causes of the Conflict
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Las Vegas Timeline
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Bio: Elisabet Sobeck
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Bio: Ted Faro
- ↑ Turing Act criticized
- ↑ Past Silver
- ↑ Record: 31 Oct 2064
- ↑ FAS-ACA3 Scarab (Datapoint)
- ↑ FAS-FSP5 Khopesh (Datapoint)
- ↑ FAS-BOR7 Horus (Datapoint)
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Record: 1 Nov 2064
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Entangled Waveforms
- ↑ The Bad News
- ↑ All Hands on Deck
- ↑ Record: 3 Nov 2064
- ↑ The Good News
- ↑ As mentioned by General Aaron Herres in the hologram seen during The Grave-Hoard.
- ↑ Sobeck Journal, 1-15-66 R
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 Emergency Recording
- ↑ Intel Update
- ↑ Longevity
- ↑ Ted's Getting Impatient
- ↑ Faro's Tomb
- ↑ Cradle of Echoes
- ↑ Singularity
- ↑ His Final Act
- ↑ Jeff Andreatis Show
- ↑ 32.0 32.1 The Old Ones (Datapoint)
- ↑ The Sun Faith
- ↑ As mentioned by a Matriarch during Mother's Heart.
- ↑ As mentioned by Teersa during The Womb of the Mountain.
- ↑ 36.0 36.1 36.2 All Hands on Deck
- ↑ China-Sick
- ↑ 38.0 38.1 ConveyAway
- ↑ 39.0 39.1 39.2 39.3 39.4 Odyssey Injustice?
- ↑ 40.0 40.1 40.2 Hartz wins Bahamas
- ↑ 41.0 41.1 Cappuccino Clash Event!
- ↑ Montgolfier Flight
- ↑ 43.0 43.1 Greece is Calling
- ↑ 44.0 44.1 We Were Indonesia
- ↑ Mexico
- ↑ SPECIAL ORDERS
- ↑ 47.0 47.1 Retrospective: Rotterdam 2033
- ↑ 48.0 48.1 Delta Engineer Crijns Declines Key to City
- ↑ 49.0 49.1 49.2 "Haere Mai"
- ↑ APOLLO Update
- ↑ Feast of the Sea
- ↑ Idiot Army Trial
- ↑ Return to Singapore
- ↑ Las Vegas Timeline
- ↑ 55.0 55.1 55.2 55.3 Refugee museum opens
- ↑ Dalgaard on FZ
- ↑ 57.0 57.1 EZVenue Staffing
- ↑ It's PizzaVeet!
- ↑ 59.0 59.1 59.2 Destin folds
- ↑ 60.0 60.1 60.2 EZVenue Staffing
- ↑ 61.0 61.1 History: FAS
- ↑ 62.0 62.1 62.2 62.3 Reception Log
- ↑ Holoskins Daily 6/6/61
- ↑ Statement from Holoskinz Inc
- ↑ For His Amusement
- ↑ $$$ With MechBooker!
- ↑ Harriet Choi Dies
- ↑ Drone Carrier Grounded
- ↑ Robar is coming!
- ↑ Rama5: 30 Years On
- ↑ VeetEats!
- ↑ Donation Offer
- ↑ Leaks spark fears
- ↑ Summer Sale! YumNow!
- ↑ Since You've Been Gone
- ↑ Turing Act criticized
- ↑ Revisiting the Mind Upload
- ↑ 78.0 78.1 Jeff Andreatis Show
- ↑ Lost Treasures of the Indian Ocean
- ↑ Ridotto Riots
- ↑ 81.0 81.1 Beverly Hills Terror Attack
- ↑ 82.0 82.1 Schott v. Frost
- ↑ 83.0 83.1 I Believe In You
- ↑ 84.0 84.1 Banda Sea Incident
- ↑ Ban him!!!
- ↑ 86.0 86.1 Holo Show Month!
- ↑ Park Status
- ↑ Not Bad I Guess
- ↑ All Good Things...
- ↑ 90.0 90.1 Course Listing, 2063
- ↑ Grey Swarms Diary
- ↑ Re: Complaint
- ↑ Metal vs. Meat!
- ↑ Mia Hellraise - Psychic Inferno
- ↑ Lafayettes' Last Supper
- ↑ Mourn mosquitoes?
- ↑ Return to Singapore
- ↑ 98.0 98.1 What scares me...
- ↑ The Man Behind the 'Kini
- ↑ 100.0 100.1 Bryce Orbital
- ↑ Senator Medina's Visit
- ↑ 1st Amendment Virtual?
- ↑ Blast from the Past
- ↑ 104.0 104.1 Your "Gift"
- ↑ Another Incident
- ↑ 106.0 106.1 I Must Thank You
- ↑ Odyssey Drives Ready
- ↑ No subject
- ↑ Log: Mia Sayied
- ↑ To All Jessifans
- ↑ Naysay Doom
- ↑ Tower of London Relocation
- ↑ Spiritual Summit
- ↑ Odyssey to Nowhere
- ↑ Lure of the Real