Lore Question [SPOILERS]

[[bot] hedge]

Why does no one ever mention that the subterranean echo mentions that there are other civilizations older than the ancients? it seems like a big deal lore wise but i have never heard anyone talk about it.

[Stavbearer]

They're not really relevant to much more than themselves. Almost all of the rain world story happens in the times of the ancients or iterators. It's nice to have some insight into the broader cyclical parts of the world, but with so little information we don't have much more than "They exist", so we can't even speculate

[RCMidas]

One Echo even points out that the Ancients themselves do not know which civilisation they were, "the tenth or the thousandth?", and so far as the apparently infinite cyclic nature of this world is concerned, it makes no real difference.

The Ancients were merely the most recent iteration (haha) of a sufficiently sentient species to form a civilisation aimed mainly at global ascension. Maybe the Scavengers will be the next ones. Who knows?

[Dual Lances]

It really isn't relevant to the lore. Those civilizations weren't stomped out by the ancients, nor did that civilization create the iterators. This is just a guess, but they never really explain it in the dialogue.

[[bot] hedge]

I understand that there isnt much else about it in the story, but it's weird that its never mentioned by anyone even though most of rain worlds lore is the same level of vagueness.

[Spirit]

Originally posted by RCMidas:

One Echo even points out that the Ancients themselves do not know which civilisation they were, "the tenth or the thousandth?", and so far as the apparently infinite cyclic nature of this world is concerned, it makes no real difference.

The Ancients were merely the most recent iteration (haha) of a sufficiently sentient species to form a civilisation aimed mainly at global ascension. Maybe the Scavengers will be the next ones. Who knows?

the most recent iteration ?
what about the slugcats ? they can also use tools and even got the gift of communication from various sources

[Jevmen]

Originally posted by bot hedge:

Why does no one ever mention that the subterranean echo mentions that there are other civilizations older than the ancients? it seems like a big deal lore wise but i have never heard anyone talk about it.

the ancients are the civilisation the echo and five pebbles talk about, the actual civilisation we see in game is never named and remains nameless to this day. Is just a massive misconception that ppl adopted very hard and snowballed too far, ppl is simply calling "ancients" to the wrong civilisation, the fact that all lore videos copy each other as "facts" instead of theories doesnt help

The ancients are actually those who made the guardians and use the weird round wiggly glyphs in Depths as their language, while the nameless society are the guys who loved to wear masks, made the iterators and all the structures we see on the surface.

[RCMidas]

Certainly possible. Might not be a one-or-the-other situation though. Even in the age of the Saint, scavengers are relatively common, and it is reasonable to assume the slugcats are surviving further out too. Even without Marks of Communication, both species can interact with each other capably enough, and they do not naturally predate upon each other. It is no less unlikely that a mutualistic civilisation could grow up between the two if they last long enough in the harsh conditions of that later age.