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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: Perplex City » PXC: General/Updates
[SPEC] Perplex City history
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Zzedar
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Joined: 10 Apr 2004
Posts: 107

 		[SPEC] Perplex City history
The society of Perplex City reminds me a lot of certain places in Dark Ages Europe (I'm going somewhere with this, just bear with me a bit). After the fall of the Roman Empire and the loss of scientific knowledge, various colleges became centers of power, by (a) exploiting their superior technology, and (b) killing anybody who messed with them. In the case of Perplex City, the college seems to have been founded after the fall of the society, but the principle's the same. People sort of accreted around the colleges the same way they did around castles, and the teachers became the aristocracy of these new towns. A lot of the time, the scientific knowledge got all mixed up with superstition and ritual, forming what you might call a "cult of science."

Everybody's noticed the emphasis the Perplexians put on puzzles and suchlike. That seems like the result of this kind of worldview. You've also seen how convinced they are that they're smart, even when they're not. Look at the letters in the Sentinel - they aren't actually raising issues, they're just scoring intellectual points by finger-wagging at stuff everybody agrees is stupid, like holiday commercialism and preoccupation with fashion and suchlike. Likewise, there's the whole drug scandal - these champion thinkers are behaving incredibly stupidly to get smarter. Another characteristic of this sort of setup is insularity - a complete disregard of foreign nations, because they're all barbarians. That seems to describe Perplex City's viewpoint fairly well.

If I'm right, and they're living in the ruins of a greater civilization, that would explain a lot. The Academy, the very embodiment of advanced technology, can't get to Earth directly, but a bunch of crooks can? Crooks with the ability to rip through the Academy's security systems? It makes sense if the thieves have stumbled onto some technology left over from the Glory Days of the Whatever Empire (or Republic, or Confederacy, or League, or Kingdom...). The Cube is presumably also an artifact of the Golden Age. (Another possibility is that it's the Cube itself that allows the crooks to travel to Earth, but I like my idea better.) The scientists don't really understand the tech of the olden days, they just ape it, instead of coming up with their own ideas.

PostPosted: Fri Mar 25, 2005 6:21 pm
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Alison_1
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Joined: 22 Jan 2005
Posts: 42
Location: San Francisco, CA

 		The parallels you draw are interesting. Taking a cue from your post, if Plexians have enjoyed tremendous growth through acquisition of the Cube (and this is undisputed), then they've also enjoyed it under the watchful eye and dogmatic rule of the Academy (or "Church," to borrow your metaphor), which keeps the artifact under heavy guard.

Therefore, in order for a true 'Renaissance period' to emerge in their own history the people would need rise up against the Church/Academy to take back the knoweldge and power for themselves. In this instance, mightn't your 'crooks' seem a bit more like revolutionists -- a.k.a the 'good guys?'

Another parallel might be that the Academy is like our government, holding its Plexians (by simple virtue of possession of The Cube) under a watchful police state, distracting citizens with daily platitudes about drug reform, nature conservation, and health concerns from realizing that they're just being kept like sheep. In this scenario (which contains elements of your own spec) our intrepid crooks might once again seem more like concerned civil rights activists than criminals.

Both scenarios above cast a suspicious light on the Academy I realize, but we're encouraged not to be fooled by everything we read...
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 25, 2005 8:14 pm
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Rolerbe
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Joined: 01 Mar 2005
Posts: 330
Location: North America

 		Re: [SPEC] Perplex City history
Zzedar wrote:
The scientists don't really understand the tech of the olden days, they just ape it, instead of coming up with their own ideas.


Cargo-cult Perplexian Science -- I like it Cool
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 25, 2005 9:05 pm
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Langonica
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Joined: 07 Nov 2003
Posts: 5

 		pure speculation
I know this is purely coincidence... but interesting none the less. The Masthead of the Sentinal lists Gunter Howe as Managing Editor, a simple search turns up a couple of Theology articles from the 50s and 70s dealing with the divide between Science and Religion where a scientist named Gunter Howe is referenced.

Tillich, Barth, and the Criteria of Theology, April 1958:
http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/apr1958/v15-1-article4.htm

Technological Utopia and the Theology of Hope, July 1970:
http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/jul1970/v27-2-article5.htm

meaningless? probably.

PostPosted: Fri Mar 25, 2005 9:44 pm
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Langonica
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Joined: 07 Nov 2003
Posts: 5

 		if PC follows a parallel of our history...
With today being Easter, and thus the start of AD in our Gregorian Calendar... Then theoretically the emergence of the cube and the start of PC's AC should fall on today too. Just a thought.

PostPosted: Sun Mar 27, 2005 10:42 am
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tanner
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Joined: 21 May 2003
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 		hmmmm -- i thought AD began after the birth of christ but i could well be wrong Smile
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 27, 2005 11:30 am
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fimacmo
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Joined: 05 Jan 2005
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 		I have to concur with Tanner. Look here. Happy Easter.

PostPosted: Sun Mar 27, 2005 11:49 am
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Langonica
Greenhorn


Joined: 07 Nov 2003
Posts: 5

 		I stand humbly corrected. I guess I really wanted an update. Seeing as thus far PC is glacially slow. Probably not for long though. Embarassed

PostPosted: Sun Mar 27, 2005 11:59 am
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fimacmo
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Joined: 05 Jan 2005
Posts: 136

 		Not trying to embarrass anyone - God knows I get trouted often enough. In my experience you can guarantee just as something happens on here you'll have several major life events all at the same time.
Rolling Eyes

Keeping up is hard enough - being ahead of the game nigh-on impossible. Point is their time, according to all the info we've had to date, is not (imo) paralell to ours. The fact that the date on the Sentinel seems to concur with our Earth dates is confusing.

PostPosted: Sun Mar 27, 2005 12:12 pm
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Alison_1
Kl00


Joined: 22 Jan 2005
Posts: 42
Location: San Francisco, CA
fimacmo wrote:
Point is their time, according to all the info we've had to date, is not (imo) paralell to ours.


They do quote Latin on the PPCA logo which suggests that they had Greco/Roman Empirical period in history similar to ours. They also have last names (like "Sorkezjy" and "Rousseau") which represent similar, distinct European ethnicities, and therefore suggests parallel geography and culture. And of course we can't ignore the references to Avogadro and Newton, historically significant scientific figures.

We might not be able to pinpoint where in relation to our own time they are now, in terms of science and technology, but I think it safe to assume they shared a complementary past.

[META]Besides...how could we figure out puzzles without some common ground?[/META]
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 27, 2005 3:31 pm
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POTUS
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Joined: 08 Mar 2005
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Location: The shores of the great lake Erie

 		If Fran Mendling was late for her shift - where was she? It seems to me she never arrived at her station - so where was she found? Did she clock in and not report to the Gatehouse or did she never arrive at the Academy?
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 27, 2005 4:53 pm
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