Derelict Palace (king/prophet/alien) Fortified Palace (king) Overgrown Bathes (queen/prophet/alien) Royal Mausoleum (queen/king) Harem (queen/king)

The Engine (alien) Planetarium (prophet) Black Obelisk (prophet) Unearthly Statues (alien/king) Automated Garden (alien/queen)

Abandon Homes (queen/alien) Emptied Oasises (king) Profaned Temple (prophet) Sprawling Tomb (king/prophet) Odd Library (alien) Apothecary (queen)

Generic Tile:

Make-shift Barracks Warning Posts/Message Posts Buried Prison/Sunken Building Glimmering Pit/Gilding Pit Slaughterhouse Breached Tunnel Worn Statues Sculptor's Studio

Current events are a real-life day long condition. They establish starting researches, rank 3 custodian set bonuses, and other game-changing benefits.

Current events might require a certain number of locks to be solved to gain all their abilities.

possible current event abilities: switching one type of research for another swapping in disproven locations making a certain class of employee universally available, free of influence keeping extra artifacts, or starting the game with specific artifacts allowing one class to be treated as if another (ie, meddling reporters as custodians).

When are they being written? Is it after the fact? Would someone mention they cried?

Plot hook: all the obelisks cause emotions, but the pearlescent obelisk's crying goes unnoticed because the explorer didn't write about it.

Finish all the Character rule sets (full run requires all rules, but this is enough to test) Finish all the minor locations (total 40) Be able to track money, influence, and employees Create a few basic research topics. Create a few basic artifacts.

SEPTEMBER -> Finish the parity rules for all the characters. -> Finalize all the rules for the characters, making tweaks where necessary. -> Begin developing the rules for the Events. -> Create the first 20 minor locations, and physically create them for game play.

-> Finish the rules for all events/endings. -> Finish the first draft of all the minor locations. -> Begin play-testing.

(Black Obelisk) Among the bones and waste, the Obelisk stood silent. Glaring at it filled me with a deep anger, although I couldn't understand why.

(Automated Garden) There was a primal fear screaming at me to stay away from the garden. The rusted grinding of still-living machinery could be heard far away, and the increasing loudness did nothing for my unease. My resolve gave way to my instincts, and I fled before I reached it. I began to cough violently.

(Unearthly Statues) What sort of degenerate had worked on that marble mound, where those horrible statues found home? There was a frightening amount of detail to be found in things so... inhuman. After time, my disgust became jealousy for such appalling talent.

(The Engine) Bewilderment. Horror. Excitement. Every emotion surged at full force as I stood before a cave that was not a cave, but rather the entrance to some sort of mechanical megastructure. Dear God, who, or what, could have possibly constructed such a terrifying monument?

(The Planetarium) Staring at the ceiling, I felt helpless. The cosmos chiseled above had been mapped far beyond our own solar system. My mind lagged behind as I walked across the room, leaving the facade of our galaxy and wandering into space unknown.

(Fortified Palace) Carefully, we navigated the labyrinth of worn traps and barbed walls that barricaded the perimeter of the palace. Whoever dwelled within had created a brutal defense. What were they so afraid of?

(Derelict Palace) Decay had flourished in this place, seen as we passed filth-encrusted tiles and rotten doors. It was only after exploring that we found the grotesque, golden statues. Their cleanliness was an unsettling contrast to the agony they depicted.

(The Bathes) It amused me to think of what this place had been with running water, and all its clever little tricks coming to life. Someone had made art of engineering, and each room felt like a riddle, trying to picture all the contraptions firing at once.

(The Sprawling Tomb) Courage pushed us through those fetid tunnels; the smell alone let us know we were wandering into a graveyard. Our tenacity found its reward in a putrid ooze that had flooded the lower caverns, and fluidlogged corpses that had bubbled to the surface.

(The Library) No effort was made to hide my elation when we first entered the Library. The truth of what happened so long ago, contained in these ancient texts. We combed the building and took everything we could find, and headed home to begin our work.

The smell of rot was so ingrained that it clung centuries after the people here vanished.

Perversion had befallen this once sacred ground. Simple chairs infested with cruel, pertruding nails. Human remains contorted upon spent firewood. Depictions of piety, lost to rage.

I'd hesitate to call it hellish, since that would imply some pretense of divinity.

Any sense of godliness here had long since been extinguished.

But again, we noticed the haunting red symbols, though fewer.

Inside felt even more haunted; .

It looked as though human, cloven in half, yet standing.

-- OBSOLETE

No beauty in the desert could match the perfection of the white Obelisk. I didn't care what it was worth. I wanted it for myself. My eyes welled up, and I began to cry.

There was a primal fear screaming at me to stay away from the Obelisk. My resolve gave way to my instincts, and I fled before I reached it. I began to cough violently.

A soft glow emanated from the somehow living flowers of the garden. Still, there was a primal fear screaming at me to stay away. My resolve gave way to my instincts, and I fled. I began to cough violently.

two palaces --> revolution mausoleum/bathes --> plague

What should I think about?

Black Obelisk is definitely a prophet location. Planetarium is neutral, but would lean prophet. Engine is overwhelmingly Aliens Aliens intervening is with the other two obelisks besides Black Obelisk, with specific royal tiles.

Black Obelisk/Planetarium

No Royal locations exist. Of the Black Obelisk and Planetarium, none exist.

Of the Black Obelisk and Planetarium, both exist, and of the Derelict Palace and Fortified Palace, at least one exists. Of the Black Obelisk, the Profaned Temple, and the Derelict Palace, all exist. Of the Planetarium, the Profaned Temple, and the Fortified Palace, all exist. Of the Engine and Bathes, both exist, but the Automated Garden does not exist.

Bizarre Majority equal to 1, where the Engine doesn't exist, and of the Black Obelisk and Planetarium, none exist. Bizarre Majority equal to 1, where the Engine doesn't exist, and of the Derelict Palace and Fortified Palace, none exist.

Bizarre Majority equal to 2, where the Engine exists, and of the Automated Garden and Unearthly Statues, both exist, and at least 2 Common locations exist. Bizarre Majority equal to 2, where the Engine exists, and of the Automated Garden and Unearthly Statues, at least one exists, and at least 3 Common locations exist. Bizarre Majority equal to 2, where the Engine doesn't exist, the Automated Garden exists, and the Bathes exist, but the Planetarium doesn't exist. Bizarre Majority equal to 2, where the Engine doesn't exist, the Unearthly Statues exist, and the Derelict Palace exists, but the Black Obelisk doesn't exist. Bizarre Majority equal to or greater than 3.

garden -> no bath statues -> no palace no gardens, but bath no statues, but palace

engine

Bizarre Majority equal to 1, where the Engine doesn't exist, where of the Black Obelisk and Planetarium, at least one exists, and at least one Palace exists.

Bizarre Majority equal to 2, where the Engine exists, and at least 3 Royal locations exist. Bizarre Majority equal to 2, where the Engine exists, of the Automated Garden and Unearthly Statues, not all exist, and at least 2 Royal locations exist. Bizarre Majority equal to 2, where the Engine exists, of the Automated Garden and Unearthly Statues, none exist, and at least 1 Royal location exists. Bizarre Majority equal to 2, where the Engine doesn't exist, the Black Obelisk exists, of the Automated Garden and Bathes, not all exist, and at least 1 Royal location exists. Bizarre Majority equal to 2, where the Engine doesn't exist, the Planetarium exists, of the Unearthly Statues and Derelict Palace, not all exist, and at least 1 Royal location exists.

Absolute Royal Majority equal to 1, where both Palaces exist. Absolute Royal Majority equal to 1, where only one Palace exists, and the Royal Mausoleum exists, and of the Luminous Garden, Unearthly Statues, and Black Obelisk, none exist. Absolute Royal Majority equal to 1, where only one Palace exists, either the Black Obelisk exists or Unearthly Statues exist, but the Luminous Garden does not exist. Absolute Royal Majority equal to 2, where Derelict Palace exists, but the Bathes don't exist. Absolute Royal Majority equal to 2, where the Fortified Palace and Royal Mausoleum exist, but the Harem doesn't exist. Absolute Royal Majority equal to 2, where the Fortified Palace, Derelict Palace, and Royal Mausoleum all exist. Absolute Royal Majority equal to 3, where both Palaces exist and the Luminous Garden doesn't exist.

Any Royal Majority where no Palaces exist. Absolute Royal Majority equal to 1, where only one Palace exists, and of the Luminous Garden, Unearthly Statues, Black Obelisk, and Royal Mausoleum, none exist. Absolute Royal Majority equal to 1, where only one Palace exists, and the Luminous Garden exists. Absolute Royal Majority equal to 2, where the Harem exists, but the Derelict Palace does not exist. Absolute Royal Majority equal to 2, where Derelict Palace and Bathes both exist, but the Fortified Palace and Royal Mausoleum don't both exist. Absolute Royal Majority equal to 3, where only one Palace exists. Absolute Royal Majority equal to 3, where the Luminous Garden exists. Absolute Royal Majority equal to or greater than 4.

Any Bizarre Majority where at least four common tiles exist, but fewer than three Obelisks exist. Absolute Bizarre Majority equal to 1, where the Moss Obelisk is the only Obelisk that exists. Absolute Bizarre Majority equal to 2, where the Engine and Planetarium exist, but fewer than three Obelisks exist. Absolute Bizarre Majority equal to or greater than 3.

Absolute Bizarre Majority equal to 1, where at least two Royal tiles exist, and exactly two Obelisks exist. Absolute Bizarre Majority equal to 1, where the Engine and Planetarium exist, and at least one Obelisk exists, but the Moss Obelisk does not exist. Absolute Bizarre Majority less than 3, where three Obelisks exist.

FP - RM - En - C - C - C - C - C

h - dp - rm - fp - B - B - C - C

bathes - fp - dp

Absolute Royal Majority equal to 1 where the Bathes exist and exactly one Palace exists. Absolute Royal Majority equal to 2 where neither Palace exists. Absolute Royal Majority equal to or greater than 2, where the Bathes and Harem both exist, and at most one Obelisk exists.

Bathes - Mausoleum - C - C - C - C - C - C

Harem - Palace - Palace - Engine - Sprawling Tomb - Library - Black Obelisk - Apothecary king/plague/withered

Absolute Royal Majority equal to 1 where the Harem exists, and no Obelisks exist. Absolute Royal Majority equal to 1 the Bathes exist, and at most one Palace exists. Any Royal Majority where the Bathes or Harem exist, and the Royal Mausoleum exists, and the Moss-covered Obelisk is the only Obelisk that exists. Absolute Royal Majority equal to or greater than 2, where the Bathes and Harem both exist, and at most one Obelisk exists.

Any Bizarre Majority where at least four common tiles exist, but fewer than three Obelisks exist. Absolute Bizarre Majority equal to 2, where the Planetarium and Engine both exist. Absolute Bizarre Majority equal to or greater than 3. Parity with six common tiles, where the Engine exists OR neither the Bathes or Harem exist.

Alien (more Queen royal or no Engine) --> Exodus else Engine

Absolute Bizarre Majority equal to 1, where at least two Royal tiles exist, and exactly two Obelisks exist. Absolute Bizarre Majority less than 3, where three Obelisks exist. Parity with no common tiles, where the Bathes and Harem don't both exist. Parity with two common tiles, where three Obelisks exist, but the Bathes and Harem don't

Absolute Royal Majority equal to 1, where both Palaces exist, and the Black Obelisk exists or the Pearlescent Obelisk exists. Absolute Royal Majority less than 2, where at most one Palace exists, and the Bathes and Harem don't both exist. Any Royal Majority where at least one Palace exists, and the Royal Mausoleum, Black Obelisk and Pearlescent Obelisk all exist.

Parity with two common tiles, where the Bathes and Harem don't both exist, and less than three Obelisks exist. Parity with four common tiles, where both the Derelict Palace and Fortified Palace both exist.

Any Royal Majority where the Harem exists, but no Palace exists. Any Royal Majority where the Bathes or Harem exist, and the Royal Mausoleum exists, and the Moss-covered Obelisk is the only Obelisk that exists. Absolute Royal Majority equal to or greater than 2, where the Bathes and Harem both exist, and at most one Obelisk exists.

Parity with no common tiles, where the Bathes and Harem exist. Parity with two common tiles, where the Bathes and Harem exist. Parity with four common tiles, where the Derelict Palace and Fortified Palace don't both exist. Parity with six common tiles, where either the Bathes or Harem exist, and the Engine doesn't exist.

(Can be a mix of bizarre and royal conditions)

Any Royal Majority where the Apothecary exists.

The Engine and two other bizarre tiles exist, and of the Library, Apothecary, Temple, and Tomb, three exist. Any Absolute Bizarre Majority over 2 where the Library and Temple exist, and the Engine exists. Any Absolute Bizarre Majority over 3 where the Engine exists. Parity with 2 common tiles, and the Library and Engine exist. Parity with 6 common tiles, where the Barracks doesn't exist, and the Bathes and Harem don't both exist.

Abandon Homes Tomb Barracks Library Apothecary - was used to make numbness drug Temple

Withered (king) Devoured (queen) Escalation (prophet) Fruition (alien)

Plundered (plague) Extinction (revolution) Splintered (exodus) Abduction (intervention)

king/plague/withered -> Without water, the king's followers begin to die of dehydration. king/plague/plundered -> Centuries after the story, thieves plunder the Royal sites, stripping them of anything valuable, except "cursed" items they believe lead to death. king/revolution/withered -> The king drains the oasis into the sprawling tomb, to stop insurgents from hiding bodies. king/revolution/extinction -> The king begins arresting and killing the prophet's followers, leading to a full on war.

queen/exodus/devoured -> Members of the Harem begin eating stragglers trying to escape queen/exodus/splintered -> The queen's influence causes a band of escaping refugees to divide and break apart. queen/plague/devoured -> The queen and her followers eat the corpses in the Royal Mausoleum, and die from illness. queen/plague/plundered -> Drunkenness leads to the queen suffering a terrible fate that imprints on the Moss Obelisk.

alien/exodus/fruition -> aliens successfully establish a colony on earth, and begin interacting with humans. alien/exodus/splintered -> aliens retreat from the surface and all their activity ceases. alien/intervention/fruition -> humans visit the obelisks created by the aliens alien/intervention/abduction -> aliens take the sick people into the engine to attempt to cure them

prophet/intervention/abduction -> prophet is taken into the engine, and cured of his disease prophet/intervention/escalation -> prophet begins to worship the obelisk and kill aristocrats prophet/revolution/escalation -> prophet leads his followers to attack the Derelict Palace prophet/revolution/extinction -> the prophet and his followers are killed in the sprawling tomb

True Believer -> conspiracy custodian

Harem believed to be cursed.

Cursed symbol on Harem, Warning Posts, and Butchery.

Weapons meant for knocking unconscious, not killing.

warren

The Feast

None -> Roll two dice. Historian -> Roll three dice. Conspiracy -> If all three dice are odd, instant success (3d6). University -> Can add/subtract on rolls (3d6). Collector -> Spend money equal to total roll value to succeed (3d6). Medical -> Roll two die, plus one for each completed research. Government -> Contractor -> Copies one other digger owned by any player.

None -> Historian -> Conspiracy -> Subtract one from any even rolled die. University -> Collector -> Medical -> Government ->

Graduate -> Professor Conspiracy Theorist -> Investigator

Explore a location for artifacts. Solving ciphers.

Should custodians be able to take artifacts from other players? Probably not.

Researchers should put research tokens on artifacts they research. Whenever an artifact with a research token is used in an exhibit, a token gets removed instead of the artifact be exhausted. An artifact with a research token cannot be researched until none are left.

Right now, research is just rolling one die. It should be expanded. Could research use the various colored dice?

Influence may be spent on a researcher to "specialize" him. When researching, roll four dice. museum employee's default to specializing in their own type?

Research values: 0-4 Specialists: General Roll -> roll 4 dice and only keep the lowest. Roll one less for each researcher specialized in the matching research. Specialist Roll -> roll 1 die for every specialist of the matching research you have, up to 4. Keep any die rolled.

4+ Specialists:

too complicated/confusing

problem: why would people ever multi-specialize? research events could give bonuses for multiple specialization types.

each location/artifact has a # of dice you roll to research (easy: 3, medium: 4, hard: 5) each specialized researcher reduces the dice rolled by 1 take the lowest die so it's a waste to have every single researcher specialized in the same thing, unless you expect to exclusively be researching one catagory.

How do I make digging not boring?

Moreover, how do I make it balanced?

What does it mean for digging to be balanced?

1. Small investment to get early results (major tiles 1-4), but more focus to get latter results (major tiles 5-8)
2. Digging should be straight-forward (tons of little tokens == bad)
3. "Buried" tokens on all eight major locations (1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4)
4. To remove a Buried token, your dig score must be at least as high as the number of buried tokens on the tile.
5. This requires a total of 20 successful digs (roughly the same number of rounds in a game).

"Buried" tokens are two sided?

Maybe the bonuses apply to the dug location?

Bonuses should be immediate, otherwise it gets confusing. Or, they should be added to the pool. But if that's the case, how can bonuses stack? That is, why is conquering a location with 4 bonuses better than four locations with 1?

There are five abilities with four copies each. Each ability has three tiers.

Swap - swap X uncovered Buried tokens between locations. Max: you may swap this location with a disproved one. Cache - look at the top X cards of the artifact deck, and keep any that match the location's type. Experience - promote X employees, ignoring any costs.

In each case, four of a kind triggers an event? Or maybe a research project?

Might have to think about these abilities.

Locations can be "scored" (flipped over and abilities executed) at ANY TIME after they've been completely dug. When the game ends, all tiles that have been completely dug flip over.

Dig roll aside, what are the benefits to bringing multiple diggers? That might be enough.

NEW IDEA

Each of the 8 locations has a number of "buried" tokens on it.

11223344

Each player has a dig marker, that starts on the far right (the second 4). When a dig roll starts, the player must roll equal to the number of buried tokens on their marker's tile. If they fail, they move their marker one space to the left, and may try again. If there are no tiles to the left, the dig roll is over. If they succeed, a Buried token may be removed from any tile to the left, or the tile the marker is on. If a tile is out of Buried markers, it is immediately revealed. Any markers on it are moved to the next rightmost unrevealed location.

So what is the benefit of multiple diggers?

After a dig succeeds, move your marker right a number of times equal to the # of participating diggers. For every point of spill-over (ie, moves remaining while on rightmost tile), draw that many cards from the artifact deck, keeping one and putting the rest on the bottom.

Novice diggers may only remove buried tokens from the leftmost tile, even if their marker is furthur along the line.

At the end of the game, ending score determines Ending.

Final Ending Score: Base Ending Score + Strength of Majority + # of completed researches

Base Ending Score = Varies depending on ending, higher if more key locations to ending exist. Strength of Majority = Value of Absolute Majority, 0 for parity (maybe?).

Highest tier ending may be blocked by a lock, forcing 2nd highest ending.

rank goes high to low (ie, rank 4 worst, rank 1 best) (I don't like this. It feels unintuitive)

before game: each player picks a museum, and sets aside all employees related to their "alignment" (bizarre, royal, common). each museum has a list of starting research. the players pick 2 (in total) to begin with.

before a round: unflip artifacts each player may move one artifact to the pool hire employees

during the game: if an employee would be promoted from rank 3 to rank 2, the museum decides if they want to specialize. from the specialist employees set aside, the museum may pick one of the promoting employee's class. their employees of this class may now promote to that, as can employees of other players, so long as influence can be paid. no other specialization can be chosen, so if another class would promote from 3 to 2, it can't (unless using another museum's specialization) if a museum runs out of it's available specialization, it may choose another.

A round continues until no player has unused employees, or each player passes. A player's turn consists of using one type of employee for one type of action (eg, X number of explorers dig) For the most part, stacking employees should increase odds of success or improve reward. Full-grown employees should provide some sort of passive bonus, to reward diversity. If an action is taken, employees of the same class/rank MUST participate. When taking an action, employees of the lowest rank must be used first (ie, 4 before 3, 3 before 2, 2 before 1). Rank 4 can only participate with rank 4? Promoting after a free action is optional? Shouldn't be.

After a successful action, one participating employee promotes. The chosen employee must be of the lowest rank participating.

Whoever has the most influence in the pool gets to decide how money is spent (ie, becomes first player). Otherwise, if there is a tie, rotate control clockwise until it reaches someone tied for most influence. At the end of a round, 2 generic tiles are added to the board (max 20 rounds).

spend 1 influence -> transfer an artifact to a museum matching spent influence, or 1 artifact matching the spent influence to any museum.

money -> exhibits -> researching when all research of that type is exhausted -> selling artifacts

employee cost = 1 + # of that employee type the player controls

dig starting dig number = # of participating explorers novice -> roll 2 dice veteran -> if all diggers participating are veteran or higher, roll 3 dice.

Exploration -> For each participating digger, draw one card from the artifact deck. Keep one and put the rest on the bottom. This is a zero-cost action. (discard disproven artifacts?)

research research artifacts or locations to get research pieces. can also trigger research events. artifacts have a difficulty level for research. roll 1d6 + # of participating researchers to beat difficulty level. research has three tiers: corners (rank 3), sides (rank 2), center (rank 1). if you already have all the research of a tier, you instead get money equal to the tier. Having certain revelations discovered can give bonuses to research rolls.

Independent research -> difficultly 4, 10, 16, one research of rank 3, 2, or 1 (respectively). This is a zero-cost action. Flip over any artifact that has been researched this round.

exhibit (this is a zero-cost action) artifacts can be displayed at a 1:1 ratio with the number of participating custodians. each artifact out of a set gives +1 money each artifact in a set gives whatever the set value is each participating custodian gives +1 money once an exhibit is finished, roll 2d6 (different depending on the museum?). If both are strictly less than the number of participating custodians, add one influence to the pool. OR, each custodian has a value that you get if you succeed the museum roll (ie, influence, +1 money for each item in a set, etc). Choose one custodian of the lowest participating rank and take the bonus. Set aside the chosen custodian (no longer participating), and repeat until a roll fails. Artifacts can only be displayed once a round. Flip over any used artifact.

curiators able to send artifacts to other museums?

when doing a site exploration (ie, going into the engine), any number of employees of any type can be brought along.

How the king's side of royalty kept statues and art, and regularly rotated new statues in. How the aliens created the Luminous Garden and Unearthly Statues to lure to the humans to them. King gilding people. Body theft. Prophet trying to communicate back to aliens. Desecrated holy sites and new alien monuments. Plants being harvested for numbness drug. (luminous garden plot?) Network of human slaughterhouses. Slave mines for salt. Aliens trying to teach commoners about where they came from. Unfinished alien architecture. (does this make sense?) Queen's followers cannibalizing the bodies in the Mausoleum. What was the drug the Queen used? It was alcohol, and the first "plague" was actually just drunkenness. Torture chambers for the Prophet's inquisition (tortured aristocrats). The Harem being a prison before the Queen got to it. What happened to the Queen at the Bathes that caused her fear to be imprinted on the Obelisk.

Use shapes/colors to denote mini-plots?

Pain --> Hunger Plague --> Sickness

Sickness, because there were multiple plagues. Medical plot could be finding cures to all the plagues.

Pain describes all three conditions: Greed, Plague, and Hunger

Who was the Prophet? After being healed, he became more level-headed, focusing on saving who he could from the collapse.

Friends of Cratheman plot: Origins of Greed University plot: Thinking out Seekers of Truth --> Spotting the Thread (figuring out the Obelisks causes emotional distress and protecting against it)

Teams: Seekers of Truth (Conspiracy Theorist/Investigator) --> Mechanics include swapping non-Bizarre major locations with Bizarre ones. --> Researcher bonus related to # of existing bizarre major locations

Museum of Oddities --> Mechanics include swapping existing tiles on the board.

Jardin Academy

Friends of Cratheman --> Mechanics involve influence.

Deep in space, aliens observe life on Earth. For them, it is the first sign of life ever discovered off-planet.

The new species they've discovered intrigues them, due to the similarities in both size and shape (both species have two legs, two arms). The major differences are the torso, which folds inward and has pertruding bones for the aliens, and the aliens' lack of heads, instead having their torsos rise up into a long nub, with tough outer-bone holding it steady.

---

The aliens land on Earth, away from human civilization. They burrow into the ground to avoid unwanted attention, and create the Engine as a base on-planet.

Digging robots are used to drill a small network of tunnels to provide easy movement to human civilization with minimal time spent on the surface.

After establishing themselves, the aliens start observing humanity closer and begin to realize humans are a species capable of intelligence and critical thinking.

The aliens' goal becomes to communicate with humanity, hoping to unite the two species.

Covering themselves in human cloth (emulating clothes, to appear more "human"), the aliens roam peacefully among smaller human villages.

Despite being covered completely in cloth, the aliens' bodies are still at least partially visible, and humans that see them realize they are not human.

One such human becomes publicly vocal about it, gathering humans to follow the aliens around, believing them to be divine.

Unbeknownst to the aliens, a small cult of worshippers begins to form around them.

The Black Obelisk is constructed by the aliens, to overcome the language barrier. It is actually a communication device that transfers meaning/intent mentally, allowing communication without language. The aliens assume meaning/intent is enough because they underestimate how intelligent humans actually are.

At first, the Black Obelisk seems to work, and humans react to what the aliens are trying to communicate.

---

The aliens feel the anger from the Black Obelisk feeding back into their minds. They are too afraid to shut it down, since they're not sure what it would do to the humans.

For awhile, the aliens retreat back into the Engine.

---- meanwhile

The Prophet and his followers desecrate a temple, smashing depictions of their former gods.

The Prophet tortures aristocrats and members of the religious caste he considers to be heretics. Their pain empowers the Black Obelisk.

A number of tortured aristocrats are consumed by the influence of the Obelisk, and become the Prophet's slaves.

Brainwashed aristocrats throw their wealth behind the inquisition.

The King begins curtailing the violence, throwing the more violent of the Prophet's congregation into a large prison (which would later become the Harem).

The aliens are horrified at the violence they've caused. They seek a means to undo it, but know very little about human psychology.

The aliens see how humans congregate at the statues gardens in the Derelict Palace. They assume statues provide some sense of comfort, and note how old statues are always being replaced with new ones.

A plan is devised to create a new Communication Obelisk, and use the feelings of comfort to override the malice within the Black Obelisk.

The Uneartly Statues are created by the aliens, with the Pearlescent Obelisk at the center. These statues were made to resemble the aliens.

The King and his followers are drawn to the new statues, but feel disgust at them.

The Unearthly Statues become the talk of the town, because of both their horrific mysteriousness and their masterful design.

Not wanting his own collection to be overshadowed, the King begins feeling great jealousy, which is amplified by the Pearlescent Obelisk.

Without an artist as talented as the aliens, the King decides to use prisoners from the Prophet's congregation to make his own set of grotesque statues.

Cutting prisoners open from the neck to the plevis, sewing them such that it would seem they were ripping themselves open, and finally gilding the mutilated corpse in gold, the King began his own collection of horrifying statues.

This method was chosen to emulate what the Unearthly Statues looked like; the aliens resemble humans though cloven in half, and the king made statues of people cut down the center.

The aliens make one last attempt to calm the humans, this time trying to emulate the Bathes (which, at the time, had an exterior covered in overgrown plants).

Not fully grasping the concept of human bathing (or ever seeing inside the Bathes), the aliens assume the building is meant for vegetation.

The Automated Garden is created, with the Moss Obelisk at the center. Machinery is set up so the garden will be able to maintain itself.

---

Alien worshippers began congregating at the Planetarium as their new temple.

Reacting to the new problem of disease, the aliens take the Prophet into the Engine, in an attempt to cure him. They use another healthy human to compare, since they have very little knowledge of human biology.

Despite their best attempts, the aliens find no actual disease or any significant differences between the Prophet and the healthy subject. Both are released.

The Prophet has such a strong conviction in the aliens that after they treat him, he is cured of the psychological plague.

The Exodus begins; survivors begin organizing and gathering supplies to abandon the region.

Aliens create even more tunnels from the Engine to avoid the carnage on the surface.

The humans misunderstand the purpose of the tunnels, and begin using them as a tomb.

The Prophet leads his band of healthy survivors into the Sprawling Tomb, to hide from the crisis on the surface.

The aliens, believing that the sick can be cured like the Prophet was, bring unhealthy survivors into the Engine to cure them.

The King's followers begin to fear the Sprawling Tomb, thinking it will take away their source of bodies to gild. In retaliation, they drain several oasises into the tunnels, flooding them.

The Prophet and his followers are killed in the flooding.

Following the flooding, the Engine is damaged, and the aliens scramble to protect it. This ends their activity on the surface.

The King begins hoarding bodies inside the Royal Mausoleum, most brought back from his followers breaching the Sprawling Tomb.

The Harem begins hunting survivors for sustenance.

It's discovered the Prophet has died.

The Exodus breaks apart, and splits into tribes. Some want to defend themselves from the Harem, the others want to recover the stolen bodies in the Mausoleum.

Running low on food and water, the King's followers and those that oppose them engage in a battle of attrition with no survivors.

Wandering tribes begin putting up warning signs when they encounter Harem activity.

All agriculture in the region ceases, and for intents and purposes, it becomes unlivable.

The Bathes dry up after being raided multiple times for water. All vegetation within dries up and dies. This ends the production of the numbness drug.

Quickly running out of a means to paralyze their victims, the Harem starts using blunt weapons to knock people unconscious.

The remaining tribes in the region are picked off one-by-one by the Harem.

The members of the Harem discover the Royal Mausoleum is full of bodies. They devour these, but the rot causes another outbreak of the plague, wiping them out entirely.

The King, thinking the missing bodies in the Mausoleum were stolen, wanders deep into the Sprawling Tomb to reclaim his corpses, and finds the aliens. He is added to the collection of the sick.

The aliens, locked away in the Engine, are unable to find a cure (not knowing there's no actual disease to cure), and eventually die off.

Centuries later, the King emerges from his pod (his pod was the only one damaged since he was the only one put in post-flooding). Although still inflicted from the Pain, his treatment surgically adjusts his brain, allowing him to communicate mentally.

With knowledge of ancient treasure caches, and the ability to communicate with literally every living creature, the re-emerged King wanders from the desert and becomes famous for his "discoveries". His mental communication puts memories of him speaking in the brains of those around him, so the fact he never verbally talks goes unnoticed.

After two decades l