Mysteries that Need Stories

[Nymdok]

There are increasingly few Mysteries left in this world, and fewer still that I havent already heard of but I found this list and I think its worth posting for plot Ideas.

Voynich Manuscript
The Antikythera Mechanism
The Baigong Pipes
Giant Stone Balls of Costa Rica
The 1997 Oceanic Bloop

I dont care what genre. I just think they're neat ideas that merit discussion.

Nymdok
p.s. For the record , Imna go with

Voyinch Manuscript - The True Cthulu Bible, a REAL alchemy textbook or maybe 'To Serve Man'
Antikythera Mechanisim - The reamins of a steampunk time machine ala HG Wells.
Baigong Pipes - The unusual history of ancient Chinas Missle Program using bottle rocket technology
Giant stone Balls of Costa Rica - God help me I have NO idea.
1997 Oceanic Bloop - Spaceship Splashes Down.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by Nymdok

Voyinch Manuscript - The True Cthulu Bible, a REAL alchemy textbook or maybe 'To Serve Man'

Just remember, To Serve Man is a cookbook. ;)

[TheNinjaD]

I have for you something that isn't exactly what you asked for but you may still enjoy. It is an archive from the 4chan.org paranormal (/x/) board. Here it is.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Nymdok

The Antikythera Mechanism

No mystery there. It's very well established that it's the remains of an orrery, basically a fancy toy for showing the relationship between the positions of the known planets.

[AOTA]

Lots of interesting things you can do with these.

[Nymdok]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

No mystery there. It's very well established that it's the remains of an orrery, basically a fancy toy for showing the relationship between the positions of the known planets.

True, but id say its at the very least clever and a TL anomaly for its time. More accurate than Id expect for a society that has no concept of Newtonian Gravitaion, Coppernican theory or Keplers laws of motion.

In addition is the question of what it was for (As opposed to what it does).


Nymdok

[benz72]

Originally Posted by Nymdok

Giant stone Balls of Costa Rica - God help me I have NO idea.

They are the leftover ball bearings from the 'great stone machine' obviously.

[Jovus]

Originally Posted by Nymdok

Antikythera Mechanisim - The reamins of a steampunk time machine ala HG Wells.

Bah. The remains of a Greek Steampunk Age, most else of which was either left scrapped on the seafloor or systematically looted by the Turks - giving them, among other things, some of their advances in algebra and mechanics. The Delosian League and the Spartan confederacy clashed at Mt. Cythera with phalanxes of bronze and iron. History has re-interpreted the hoplites to be more in line with modern expectation, but the Greek words imply nothing of the sort.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Nymdok

True, but id say its at the very least clever and a TL anomaly for its time.

Clever, definitely. Rare, absolutely. Anomaly, no. There's documentary evidence of a number of other such devices.

Originally Posted by Nymdok

More accurate than Id expect for a society that has no concept of Newtonian Gravitaion, Coppernican theory or Keplers laws of motion.

You should expect more from our ancestors, then. The Romans (and the Greeks and the Egyptians) were all wrong about theory, but they could observe the motions of the planets perfectly well and describe and predict them with a high degree of accuracy. The Antikythera device would have done a good job of depicting the movement of planets as predicted by the prevailing Ptolemaic model (which, though it got the organization of the solar system completely wrong, did accurately reflect how planetary motion appeared from the point of view of the Earth).

Originally Posted by Nymdok

In addition is the question of what it was for (As opposed to what it does).

Some astrological function, probably.

[Nymdok]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

Some astrological function, probably.

Yes, of course, but I think its an awful lot more interesting for plot mechanics if its a component for something a little more fantastic.

I also like the Idea of it being a Doomsday clock. Set to finish counting down...next week.

Think of it as Cthulu's Alarm Clock and all of a sudden its a lot more interesting.

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

Anomaly, no. There's documentary evidence of a number of other such devices.

It still amazes me what was done in the past, using the tools of the past. One could make an argument that this is one of if not THE worlds first mechanical computer(Generally speaking, a TL5 device). Bleeding edge, rare, tech like this is by definition anomalous. Much in the same way Everyone has a cell phone now, but for the lucky fortunate few, mobile phones were available much earlier (1946!)


Although there is some written evidence of other devices similar to this, this is the one we found. It actually 'hold in your hands' exists, making it far more compelling than written records saying, 'yeah we got one too'.


Its tangibility (and ease of replicating bits for Game Props...gut a grandfather clock, let corrode, present to players.) I think makes for some interesting possibilities....


Nymdok