ARCHEOLOGICAL LOG
Date: July 09
Project Site: Phaedran
Archaeologist: Shai Khalifa
I've made the most amazing discovery.
After finding that most of the site seems to be underwater, I've spent many many hours happily exploring and as yet haven't had to go much further than just offshore from my camp.
I decided to start by concentrating on the circular structure which appears to have been either a meeting area or some sort of worship place as there appears to be an altar of sorts in the centre and stone benches arrayed in a broken circle around it. I've decided to refer to it as the "forum" for no other reason that I need to give it a reference name. It has occurred to me also, that it is not a dissimilar structure to the one over on Zanith Island. I wonder if they're linked. I'll follow that line of thought at a later date though when I extend my research over there. I have plenty to occupy me here on the Phaedran Islands for now though.
Anyway, as to the amazing discovery - it seems that there's a common device that the Phaedrani used to store and protect their records. I was poking around the altar area and noticed a similar device to the one in which I found the Chronicle document in the bridge support. It was thick with marine growth but I managed to pry enough of it loose that when I pushed it hard it slid open. Inside was another document.
Now I know what you might think. I know, because I did too. "How can a document survive underwater?" and "OK now I've opened the seal and the whole things wet and ruined". But remarkably, these documents aren't on any paper I'm familiar with and water doesn't seem to effect them. In fact I'm confounded by the technology itself - that it's still operating. What a remarkable civilisation they must have been.
All this did was make me more curious than ever and more determined to find out what all this is about. Who were these people, why were they here and where did they go???
The document seems to pre-date the Chronicle that I found - by a number of years. Well lots of them really.
I've sent it off for transcription and won't go into detail on its contents here, but I can tell you that the story is most remarkable and urge everyone to read it once we publish it. Oh yes. The transcription of the Chronicle has been complete and is now back within the device in the bridge support. We decided that once copied, the documents are to be put back in their repositories. This is because we have no idea how the various pieces of technology interact with each other. The documents are written by different people though. The one I've just found was written by someone named Zanth Aren and is dated Day 93 AFT (after the fall). These poor people were stranded here by some sort of cosmic event. I'll leave it for you to read yourself though.
I've also found what seems to be the remains of a road system, but I won't explore that for a while yet, I'll stick with this corner for now, and the areas closer to land before I venture further offshore.
The arched structure that can also be seen from the forum I'm going to refer to as the "Portico" because it seems to be the front area of what must have been a much bigger structure. Unfortunately all that remains is the wide stairs and most of the arches - although some have fallen down. There are also some very very strange "pods" that appear to be embedded in the rock face. I have no idea what they are and will have to get some expert advice in to help I think. The weirdest thing though, is that there seems to be something moving in them, and they seem to be lit from within.
My exploration is now painstaking as I test everything to see if there are any more document repository devices. They could be anywhere, and the story is too important to miss any part of it. These people obviously thought it of consequence to lock away their story in sections. My theory is that by doing this, at least some of it will survive. I'm certain the whole story will change the way we think about our existence.
This project really needs more than just me here, although I enjoy my solitary ramblings. There is far more than I can truly uncover properly on my own and it seems there is a much bigger story that needs to be uncovered and deserves to be.
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