The Super-Ancient Beings are a race of humanoids who existed long before Homo Sapiens some eons ago.
History[]
Early History[]
Evidently hailing from a different universe, a race of sentient beings possessing highly advanced technology created the universe containing Earth around 14 billion years ago. This universe required life to advance to a sufficient level of intellect in order to prove its worthiness of existing to the super-ancients, which could be done by preventing the end of the universe and its rebirth (a cycle known as the Omega Event) using technology they were provided.
Using the Lifestone to seed seven planets with life, the super-ancients began preparing a series of trials to test the intelligent races that would eventually evolve, which included tasks that would prevent catastrophic celestial phenomena and two trials that would take place before the Omega Event. For the trials on Earth, these included the Tartarus sunspot's rotational event, the Dark Star's enclosing orbit to Earth, and the approach of the Hydra galaxy to the Milky Way; thus creating the tasks that involved the restoration of the Golden Capstone, the rebuilding of the Machine, and the diverting of the Hydra galaxy. These "preliminary tasks" would be a prelude to the final trials humanity would need to overcome and prove their worthiness of existing and delaying Omega; the two trials would become the Trial of the Cities and the Trial of the Mountains, while the final task to prevent Omega involved navigating the Supreme Labyrinth to release a quantum pulse.
To make the completion of these tasks all the more appealing, the Super-Ancients decided to offer rewards for those who completed them, notably knowledge and power-based rewards, and for the one who reached the Throne of Life or Throne of Death at the Supreme Labyrinth and activated the quantum pulse to prevent the Omega Event, they would be rewarded with the ability to command others with absolute authority.
After their trials were set, the Super-Ancients waited millions of years before constructing the various tools and areas (such as the Pillars, Immortal Weapons, vertices and iron mountains) that would be utilised for each of the seven sentient worlds, and likely created the gold, silver and bronze automatons in their image. During the construction of the Supreme Labyrinth's Chamber of Judgement, the consciousness of one of the super-ancients' was transferred into a colossol gold statue, which would judge those based on their purity whether or not they were worthy to proceed to the Throne of Death.
Before The Six Sacred Stones[]
Though the circumstances are largely unknown, it appears that a few of the Super-Ancients appeared shortly the rise of Homo Sapiens, visiting a few different cultures of humanity, coming to be revered by some of them, such as the ancient Egyptians, Incas and Sumerians, as benevolent gods. The Super-Ancients gave the bulk of the tools and knowledge needed for the trials to a group of these early humans, so that their descendants could be prepared for when the trials began. These humans - later coming to call themselves the Four Legendary Kingdoms - also received hints at technological and medical innovations from the ancients in order to help them and the rest of their species advance.
As humankind continued to advance over the next few thousand years, the other six worlds bequeathed with life by the Super-Ancients had also developed sentient races that would undertake their trials up until the modern day.
Though the Four Kingdoms had vowed to maintain the Super-Ancients' knowledge and tools for completing the trials, much would end up being lost or forgotten over the millennia, either by accident or design or simply human negligence, such as with the crucial tools like the Golden Capstone, Guidestones and the Trident of the Immortal Weapons. The Kingdom of Underworld, however, kept its word to maintain the necessary knowledge in the Underworld for the Hydra galaxy trial.
By the 20th century, some paleontologists began to theorise the possibility that a species of humanoids could have evolved long before humans in the distant past, but found no evidence to prove it.
During his research into the Machine, archaeologist Max Epper came to believe that it had been constructed by a race of ancient people rather than the Egyptians, as did the MiT researcher Felix Bonaventura.
While investigating a possible alien spaceship in Antarctica, the ICG agent and paleontologist Sarah Hensleigh believed that it might have been built by a race of ancient beings, and that the ship provided an opportunity to prove the ancient civilisation theory. However, it was eventually discovered that the plane was in fact a prototype stealth fighter built in secret by modern humans and lost.
The Six Sacred Stones[]
When Jack West Jr, Zoe Kissane and Epper arrived at the first Vertex beneath Abu Simbel, Zoe marveled at the site but questioned how ancient man could have possibly built it. Epper clarified that ancient men hadn't, but rather a race of Super-Ancient Beings, having long-deduced that an intelligent species had involved in Earth's and built the Machine.
The Five Greatest Warriors[]
As Jack, Zoe and Lily were traversing the fire maze of the third Vertex, Lily wondered why the stone bridges did not melt into the lava, so Jack told her that the stone and the Machine components being created by the highly advanced Super-Ancients. Lily noted that despite their advanced technology, their civilisation was still wiped out, to which Jack noted that all civilisations eventually fell to the march of time. Even so, Lily wondered what had wiped out the Super-Ancients in the end.
The Four Legendary Kingdoms[]
When Jack, Lily, Alby Calvin and Sky Monster were brought to the Underworld so that Jack could be forced to take part in the Great Games of the Hydra, Iolanthe Compton-Jones explained that the Super-Ancients constructed the Underworld and its antenna-mountain as part of the diverting of the Hydra galaxy. In addition, setting the Golden Spheres in place would not only re-direct the Hydra galaxy, but also inform the Super-Ancients that intelligent life that deserved to live still existed on Earth.
Later, Ricardo Mendoza explained to Jack and Lily that the Catholic Church was in fact devoted to the Super-Ancients for their gifts of knowledge millennia earlier, and that the Omega Group maintained the knowledge the Super-Ancient Beings had had regarding the Omega Event. Furthermore, Mendoza told them that upon humanity's completion of the Super-Ancients' trials, the Ancients would share with them the knowledge of how to prevent the next Omega Event.
The Three Secret Cities[]
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The Two Lost Mountains[]
During Alby's research into the Supreme Labyrinth, he uncovered an old hieroglyph of Khufu's, stating that he had built the Great Pyramid near Aker as the Super-Ancients had decreed, the Pharaoh having referred to them as "wise and great Overlords".
The One Impossible Labyrinth[]
General Garthon Rastor and Sphinx both passed through the chamber of the Gold Colossus and were judged by the consciousness of the Super-Ancients to be pure despite their intentions. When Jack followed with the unconscious Mendoza, the Colossus deemed the latter unworthy and killed him. The consciousness within the gold statue then addressed Jack, confirming that he was worthy before briefly answering Jack's questions about what it was and what the trials of the ancients were about, ending the discussion by noting that it was all a test of worth before sending Jack on his way.
After Jack prevented the Omega Event, the world evidently learned about the existence of the super-ancients since they discovered the events of the trials and the related ancient sites.
Description[]
The physical appearance of the Super-Ancient Beings is entirely unknown, but if carvings made by ancient people are to be believed, they had hair and beards which have been noted to be white in colour. Wizard suggested that they would have likely stood around the same height of modern humans.
Based on the appearance of the bronze and silver guardians, with their gigantic beaks in place of a face, and assuming that they're directly based on the Super-Ancients, it's possible that they descended from a bird-like species from their own universe.
Inventions[]
Trials[]
There are several tasks and trials designed by the Super-Ancients to be accomplished by a successive race of humans in order to prove to the Super-Ancients that they are worthy of existing.
At present, the Super-Ancients' trials have all been successfully completed, with the expectation that they will need to be undertaken again some time in humanity's future.
- The Restoration of the Golden Capstone
- The Rebuilding of the Machine
- The Diverting of the Hydra Galaxy
- The Trial of the Cities
- The Trial of the Mountains
- The Navigation of the Supreme Labyrinth
Technology[]
The Super-Ancients are known to have highly advanced technology, and were able to accomplish technological feats that modern humans are not yet capable of. Among their achievements is the Super-Ancients' use of the greystone powder-derived liquid stone, which they used to construct their buildings and other similar structures.
Most of the technology known to have been developed by the Super-Ancients have been components needed to achieve the five trials they left for modern humans. Though some appear as simple carved stones or forged weapons, they possess special properties that modern human technology cannot analyse to understand how they work.
- Golden Capstone
- The Machine
- The Six Sacred Stones
- The Philosopher's Stone
- The Altar Stone
- The Killing Stone
- The Seeing Stone
- The Twin Tablets (no real technological properties)
- The Cleansing Basin
- Underworld Antennae
- The Three Secret Cities
- The Altar of the Cosmos
- The Three Immortal Weapons
- Greystone Powder
- Automaton Guardians
- Rings of Command
- The Five Iron Mountains
- Halls of the Falling Temples
- Moon Pedestal
- Supreme Labyrinth
- Siren Bells
- Crimson Orbs
Trivia[]
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