BY LETTER
Restorers
Hypothetical entities which remove evidence of former civilisations | |
 Image from Steve Bowers | |
| Restored World Nviro-IV, Auriga sector, was once covered in a world-wide city environment; almost all trace of this civilisation has apparently been removed. | |
Like the Dawn Hunters, the Restorers are part of the folklore of the Terragen Bubble. No original Restorer nanites have ever been found (or even any microfossil traces), and no-one knows if Restorers exist, if they are the same as, or employed or created by the Dawn Hunters (if they exist), or if they are just one more galactic myth.
The Restorer Hypothesis was first suggested in a seminal but controversial virchpaper by Academician Ralen Vuyrygi of the Eden Institute of Xenology, in 3285. Returning from an exploratory mission to Serentis-3, Academician Vuyrygi described in detail the remains he had detected on that world. Almost all traces of a colony of the unnamed extinct species HIE072CZE had been efficiently erased, leaving only a few deep structures that were only visible from orbit, and even then only by careful gravitational measurements of the planet's crust.
A similar phenomenon had previously been found in the southern continent of the world Nemo, more than two hundred light years from Serentis-3. Most xenoarchaeologists dismissed these faint traces as inconclusive until Acad. Vuyrygi presented eir thesis. In his paper Acad. Vuyrygi speculated that degradable nanites of an unknown origin and design had been purposely seeded by an unknown xenosophont species, and removed traces of civilization from Serentis-3, and that these same nanites had been employed but had failed (possibly due to local climatic, chemical or biological factors) on Nemo. In the virchpapers oft-quoted and copied concluding module he suggested that further worlds should be re-examined for traces of civilization, and confidently predicted that these would in fact be found.
In the millennia since, many such deep structures, geological anomalies (evidence of mining and manufacturing), inconsistent isotope ratios, and (on garden worlds and others inhabited by lifeforms) palaeontological evidence of local ecosystem disruption, all indicative of extraterrestrial colonization, have been found on a large number of worlds throughout known space. Worlds formerly colonised by HIE072CZE are the most commonly erased, but others include a number of HIE121CZE and HIE636MZE colonies, a few worlds formerly belonging to the empire known as the Tkzeph, the world Estis III that may have once been colonised by the Iahi Daon, and several Auld Limner worlds. Yet at the same time, other worlds have been found - sometimes - as in Landios (YTS 2104-5613-5) in the very same solar system, in which there has been no alteration or attempt at cover up. And there are whole swathes, as in regions such as the Inner Perseus Arm (Metasoft Territories) and along the Serpens Volume - where alien ruins are to be found in their complete state. The Vuyrygi Thesis fails to explain how these supposed "Restorers" could be so random or inconsistent in their efforts.
References
Academician Ralen Vuyrygi, 3285, "On the artificial origin and nature of deep structures in the upper lithosphere of Serentis-3, and a possible resolution of the Fermi Paradox." Xenology VirchPapers, no. 271098, Eden Institute of XenologyMilon Chandigo, 6921, "The Vuyrygi Thesis, and the problem of non-erased paleoxenoc ruins." Journal of Xenology, vol,5,231 part.3 , Eden Institute of Xenology
Yun Riol-3128 , 10142 "Dawn Hunters, Restorers, and other things that go bump in deep space", in Myths to live by: Galactic Folklore among sophonts of sub-hyperturing grade, Corona Galaxy Books, Corona
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Development Notes
Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Initially published on 12 January 2003.
Initially published on 12 January 2003.
