Alien archeology and other mysteries: Thread 10 - The Canonn

[Becks]

Seconding @Xenia_K here.

And it's triggered a train of thought in me, too, regarding Mycoid (or something similar) and its relationship to Meta Alloys or Barnacles.

Work with me here - but TL;DR - go down to 'Idea #2'

The previous source of Meta Alloys - known to be a defence against the damaging effects from the Unknown toxic corrosion were barnacles - and barnacles have a logo on them which must indicate an artificial source at the very least - most probably human since we love our logos.

When you go to these wreckage sites (or possibly scrapyard?) you also find similar spires to those of the barnacles - producing meta alloys, but - crucially - no barnacles.

But we do know, thanks to the messages you get at the site, that some kind of infection or other invasive nastiness was involved, presumably in the destruction of the stuff at the wreck itself. We are assuming this is the Mycoid virus because of history.

So, to recap:

1) We have a human, or at least artificial, link to the source of Meta Alloys via the logo on the barnacles
2) We know meta alloys effectively neutralise the damaging elements of unknown objects
3) We also find *only* meta-alloy producing spikes (no barnacles) at these wreck sites - along with evidence that something 'neutralised' whatever's at the wreck site.

Idea #1

Barnacles are the original (or current) source of whatever caused the destruction of the material at the wrecks - and meta alloys are potentially a product of the development of that in the barnacle - or even the seed/carrier of it.

And the reason we find meta-alloy spires at these wrecks (but no barnacles) is because that's what they were infected with, and when the wreckage arrived on-site (notice I'm not committing to 'crash-landed' because: no direct evidence), the agent responsible for the destruction started its reproduction process in the ground around it, hence new meta-alloy producing spires.

Slight issue here is that there is a general consensus that the cause of the damage to the wrecks is the Mycoid virus - and 'Mycoid' is a generic term for 'fungus-like'. Neither Barnacles nor Meta Alloys are fungus-like.

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This got me to thinking about the weird fungus farms out in the California Nebula (thanks DNA-Decay, PanPiper and others)

That's obviously suspicious as hell!!!

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Idea #2

What if actually the Meta-Alloy effect on the unknown artefacts/probes/links etc - i.e. protecting us against the corrosion - is an accidental by-product of the intended effect: To protect/inoculate Unknown objects and anything of a similar tech/origin from the infection which appears to have blighted the wrecks?

Palin described the toxic effect as a side effect of the UAs 'self-repair mechanism', and that meta alloys appear to interfere with that, thus giving us CrCrs.

We never asked: why is the UA constantly repairing itself? Well it would if it was infected with something, right?

Obviously, flowerships don't appear to harvest MAs - but they do appear to suck *something* out of those barnacles. It's not a stretch to think it must something similar to, but perhaps more fundamental than, meta alloys.

So why the logo on the barnacles? Well, again: artificial (or engineered) source - still possibly human (hidden 'allies' or at least 'friends' of Thargoids - there is a precedent), or perhaps the Thargs are also partial to a bit of labelling

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Obviously there are probably loads of logic holes and many other explanations here - this is just me taking an idea and running with it

Maybe the Meta-Alloys are the "waste product" of the Mycoid?

 

[Rubbernuke]

In nature, ant nests have a refuse area where dead ants, rubbish and other stuff is kept so that the main nest remains clean. What if the Merope area is that dumping ground, defined by the probes? Perhaps the barnacles are like first aid stations for those sunflowers who need cleansing while in this zone, and the scavengers are simply decontaminating these hulks.

 

[Kaltern]

Said WAY too much stuff for .. well ok, it's gone midday. But it FEELS like morning!!

Anyone tried feeding brain fungus to the unknown device yet? Perhaps it's hungry

 

[Aldaris]

Everything is just made up of atoms, have some form of life form / virus / fungi that consumes said atoms. After all, even plant life requires non organic elements to live eg iron, copper, etc.

That's not quite the same though.

Organic life requires an entire range of elements to function. Even bacterial life does. Ship hulls don't have a wide range of elements in them.

There's also the fact that space is hostile to life. Even our most resilient organisms either completely shut down or don't live relatively long.

Something like a barnacle is required and is an extremophile.

 

[manwithagun]

Did someone notice - every time live flower comes to your ship - it`s freezing like used heatsink. So may be this can be part of their weaponary - freeze non bio tech to cryotemperatures to make it wery fraglie.

 

[Nagual]

Neither virus nor fungi are human technology though

We took something already existent and changed some of its characteristics to a way suitable for us. The idea was that the Thargoids changed the Mycoid virus so it'd work against us. That is simply not possible for a virus, as a virus requires a living cell as host. In short, the mycoid may be dangerous for humans in some reengineered form, but not for our ships.

Understand the point you are making, but allow me to reiterate mine, which is simply that Alien technology by it's very definition is alien to our understanding of it. We cannot say what it can or cannot do, even if they started with human tech, anything they do to it may well beyond our ken. I mentioned earlier that plant life requires non organic elements, is it so far fetched (for a Sci Fi game) that a fungal virus hybrid could be altered to affect non organic elements ? I don't think it is. Note I'm not saying this is the case of course, but merely mentioning it as to rule anything out without facts is certainly not very scientific. In addition we know nothing about the original mycoid virus. So anything is possible at this point.

Did someone notice - every time live flower comes to your ship - it`s freezing like used heatsink. So may be this can be part of their weaponary - freeze non bio tech to cryotemperatures to make it wery fraglie.

This is an effect of your ship / SRV losing power to the life support systems. You can do this to yourself by switching them off..

 

[Becks]

Understand the point you are making, but allow me to reiterate mine, which is simply that Alien technology by it's very definition is alien to our understanding of it. We cannot say what it can or cannot do, even if they started with human tech, anything they do to it may well beyond our ken. I mentioned earlier that plant life requires non organic elements, is it so far fetched (for a Sci Fi game) that a fungal virus hybrid could be altered to affect non organic elements ? I don't think it is. Note I'm not saying this is the case of course, but merely mentioning it as to rule anything out without facts is certainly not very scientific. In addition we know nothing about the original mycoid virus. So anything is possible at this point.

Aldaris answered that better than I ever could.

That's not quite the same though.

Organic life requires an entire range of elements to function. Even bacterial life does. Ship hulls don't have a wide range of elements in them.

There's also the fact that space is hostile to life. Even our most resilient organisms either completely shut down or don't live relatively long.

Something like a barnacle is required and is an extremophile.

 

[Codger]

Have you noticed that those scavengers seem to have some Kind of.... noclip cheat on? They can sink into the ground and reappear.

Skimmers do that also. Just a glitch I'm sure.

 

[Kaltern]

In nature, ant nests have a refuse area where dead ants, rubbish and other stuff is kept so that the main nest remains clean. What if the Merope area is that dumping ground, defined by the probes? Perhaps the barnacles are like first aid stations for those sunflowers who need cleansing while in this zone, and the scavengers are simply decontaminating these hulks.

On a side note.. what ARE scavengers? I mean, where did they come from - are they part of the ship's own repair systems, or are they another unrelated species - they don't exactly look like the ships do they? And While we're on it - what ARE these eggs? I mean, are they Scavenger eggs, which is odd considering they look machine-like? We know Thargoids are insect-based, and insects do come from external eggs... usually going through a larvae stage first. Perhaps Scavengers are Thargoid-Maggots

This is an effect of your ship / SRV losing power to the life support systems. You can do this to yourself by switching them off..

Just remember to turn it back on tho

 

[Genar-Hofoen]

That's not quite the same though.

Organic life requires an entire range of elements to function. Even bacterial life does. Ship hulls don't have a wide range of elements in them.

There's also the fact that space is hostile to life. Even our most resilient organisms either completely shut down or don't live relatively long.

Something like a barnacle is required and is an extremophile.

Indeed. But, what about the additional possibility of AI? We could be dealing with nano-machines. They could pretty much act like a virus, in that they could be programmed to attack hulls of any type - human ships or Thargoids. They could attack at the molecular level, being nano-machines. And lastly, nano machines controlled by an AI would need two things to replicate : 1) Energy source, and 2) Material source.

So what if there's a 3rd party involved here? One which is attacking both human ships and Thargoid ships? AI of some sort? Using nano-machines? Possibly from these Guardian chaps? Who knows?

 

[slartybartfast]

Speaking of Meta alloy has anybody tried it in the map room machine?
Its another of those "not made by us" things that might have a different reaction.

 

[Aldaris]

Indeed. But, what about the additional possibility of AI? We could be dealing with nano-machines. They could pretty much act like a virus, in that they could be programmed to attack hulls of any type - human ships or Thargoids. They could attack at the molecular level, being nano-machines. And lastly, nano machines controlled by an AI would need two things to replicate : 1) Energy source, and 2) Material source.

So what if there's a 3rd party involved here? One which is attacking both human ships and Thargoid ships? AI of some sort? Using nano-machines? Possibly from these Guardian chaps? Who knows?

This makes more sense, but seems against the whole organic aesthetic they have going on.

 

[Rubbernuke]

On a side note.. what ARE scavengers?

That is something that I'm wondering about too. Releated, if you look on the Thargoid embedded transmission, UAs, UPs, ULs all have that V in a circle, but then so do the Sunflowers as well, they have Vs in circles. Does that mean that all these are drones of some sort controlled from elsewhere? Or, and more distubing, are they actual Thargoids? Just as with ants you get specialised versions (honeypot, soldier etc) would Thargoids be the same with different versions for different roles?

 

[Becks]

Indeed. But, what about the additional possibility of AI? We could be dealing with nano-machines. They could pretty much act like a virus, in that they could be programmed to attack hulls of any type - human ships or Thargoids. They could attack at the molecular level, being nano-machines. And lastly, nano machines controlled by an AI would need two things to replicate : 1) Energy source, and 2) Material source.

So what if there's a 3rd party involved here? One which is attacking both human ships and Thargoid ships? AI of some sort? Using nano-machines? Possibly from these Guardian chaps? Who knows?

That concept would probably as strange to the Thargoids as the concept of shiphull-eating funghi is to me.

Their organic approach seems contradictory to this.

Edit: Ninja'd by Aldaris again. Damn.

 

[Nagual]

Aldaris answered that better than I ever could.

And yet many people are hypothesising that the Alien ships are perhaps Organic in nature, that they are being grown. If it's okay for these organic ships to exist in the deep dark of space it is within the realms of possibility that something else might too. Plus I'm having a hard time understanding the fact that all our so far ideas as to what can be and can't be is based on Human Tech. Seriously let that sink in for a moment. Braben has gone out of his way to mention that Aliens should be totally Alien in everything. Their culture, their desires, their tech, everything.

 

[Becks]

And yet many people are hypothesising that the Alien ships are perhaps Organic in nature, that they are being grown. If it's okay for these organic ships to exist in the deep dark of space it is within the realms of possibility that something else might too. Plus I'm having a hard time understanding the fact that all our so far ideas as to what can be and can't be is based on Human Tech. Seriously let that sink in for a moment. Braben has gone out of his way to mention that Aliens should be totally Alien in everything. Their culture, their desires, their tech, everything.

Their organic spaceships are considerably more complicated and sophisticated than a virus or fungus.

They're not comparable.

 

[Thatchinho]

Neither virus nor fungi are human technology though

We took something already existent and changed some of its characteristics to a way suitable for us. The idea was that the Thargoids changed the Mycoid virus so it'd work against us. That is simply not possible for a virus, as a virus requires a living cell as host. In short, the mycoid may be dangerous for humans in some reengineered form, but not for our ships.

Can't rep you again at the moment, so have some virtual +rep!

 

[Nagual]

Their organic spaceships are considerably more complicated and sophisticated than a virus or fungus.

They're not comparable.

Yet there are so many different types of bacteria here on Earth that can survive extreme temperatures and destroy various metals never mind what sort of bacteria could be found on alien worlds or even created by Aliens. Combine that with advanced bio engineering such as the Guardians had and who can say what is and isn't possible ?

 

[Genar-Hofoen]

Although the overall impression I'm getting from looking at Barnacles, Flowerships, Scavengers and the like, is a beautiful combination of biological life with electro-mechanical technology.

And how does the Mycoid virus work?

Is it purely a biological virus? Or is it a combination of biological and electro-mechanical technology? In which case I could see such a thing exhibit both biological behaviour and mechanical behaviour.

Perhaps the weaponry being used here and what we'll be using in the future, is such a thing. A chimera of biological and electro-mechanical tech.

It all hurts my poor brain. No doubt time will tell as the storyline unfolds

 

[IiliI PEL IiliI]

Is it normal to find unknown artifacts just floating in space ?