What even are the ancients?

[therealyam]

The first game, Far: Lone Sails seems to take place almost somewhere in the 1900s, 1950s, etc. based off the technology, clothing, etc. But a lot of the copper buildings seem almost temple like, pretty much Atlantis as I can tell from the lore scattered around. Were they the people that fled from the side of the ocean that was losing water, or were they flooded long ago, and now only their remains are found? If so, how can our ship, which is probably a lot younger, match up to it's technology? (Upgrades, writing, etc.)
On a side note, the "ancient energy" seems very similar to the energy in the first game, which is strange that it isn't used until the very end for the lighthouse.

[Nyota Mwuaji]

I think the ancients were just the people who came before the flooding happened. they were inventors, scientists and the like, who saw a cataclysm coming and tried to prevent it, however they don't seem to have really succeeded. I think the "ancient energy" might be what that watery like fuel substance was in the first one. Somehow they harnessed the ability to turn their waste into fuel, but it was too late, the world was already doomed. So they tried to save what was left of humanity. hence the many ships in this one, the sunken city, and the various landships in Lone Sails.

[Falaris]

In one of the pictures, where we see the hooded figures holding tablets, there's a jagged line between them which I interpret as symbolizing conflict or disagreement. This, presumably, led to their failure in averting the apocalypse.

[Son Of Mowgef]

I was streaming both these games last night and we got into a discussion about what happened in the world these characters find themselves with the chat.
The way I see it is that the civilisation collapsed under the weight of it's own success. You notice how crazily inefficient the machinery in this world is? The world is littered with the remains of various machines that take a vast amount of fuel for even basic moment. It seems fitting that the majority of the population was unable or unwilling to change their ways which resulted in the destruction of the worlds ability to sustain them. Much like the industrial revolution of our own history would have if we hadn't changed. In both these games the world itself is hazardous to life. Earth quakes, volcanos, droughts in some places, floods in others. Hail strong enough to destroy machinery, thunder and lightning that creates fires and thats ignoring the apparently polluted water in the first game.
The ancient people either lived before the revolution and predicted it would come, or they lived during it and failed to prevent the damage it did. It's likely that the people currently alive in the world don't know who these ancient people are or when they lived.

[Falaris]

Originally posted by Son Of Mowgef:

The way I see it is that the civilisation collapsed under the weight of it's own success. You notice how crazily inefficient the machinery in this world is? The world is littered with the remains of various machines that take a vast amount of fuel for even basic moment. It seems fitting that the majority of the population was unable or unwilling to change their ways which resulted in the destruction of the worlds ability to sustain them. Much like the industrial revolution of our own history would have if we hadn't changed. In both these games the world itself is hazardous to life. ived.

It's plausible, but playing through it again, I'm noticing something someone else mentioned - the barrier you cross after that city you raise from the deep. This is a huge fortification with gigantic weaponry.

As you get to the ice, something looking like carriers in the distance. Signs of war abound, if you look for them. Everything broken, destroyed. There's hints of a cataclysmic war. It may well have been caused by rempant industrialism and the exhaustion of resources you observe, but still, there's a lot pointing towards conflict as at least A key factor. There is a huge wall at some point... it COULD be that it had been used not to keep enemies out, but water, - damming up the water to have more dry land, and when it broke, that caused the flooding we see.

It's fun to speculate about. :)

[Son Of Mowgef]

Well it's not unreasonable to assume that a population that relies on fairly large machinery in a world with quickly diminishing resources would have a fair amount of conflict between factions. Although you can think of it this way, imagine if our planet ran out oil today, all of it, gone. The overwhelmingly vast majority of vehicles would be immediately abandoned to rust and rot. We can see evidence of the same all over the world of FAR. With or without some kind of conflict it's clear that something went catastrophically wrong.
Either way I gotta agree it's very fun to speculate about.