Marquisdecar
06-29-2010, 04:24 AM
Adamans is unlike the other cult-towns, it is unique. Those who kept accurate records will tell you that it was the first cult-town to spring up, and, from a certain perspective, they are correct. Of all the modern cities Adamans was certainly the first, but it wasn’t formed like the cult-towns were, and shouldn’t be considered one of them. It may seem like an insignificant distinction to make now, when all towns are cult-towns, but it isn’t just semantics; the difference is important.
The very first cult-towns (excluding Adamans, of course) began to appear only months after the first wave of DeepSun probes began transmitting their findings back to Earth. More specifically, back to Adamans (or Houston, as it was called then). At first, the cult-towns were just small communes of outcasts and oddballs preaching apocalypse and doom. They were ignored by the majority, as was the original data that came back from the probes. But as the second and third waves of probes confirmed and expanded upon the discoveries of the first, people were unable to deny the implications; and the cult-towns grew bigger.
Then Noah Crane wrote his programs and made his Projection, all from right here in Adamans. The Council of Nations made a half-hearted attempt to keep the Projection secret for a time, but something like that can’t be lost in the paper trail. By the second day after the networks broadcast the Council’s official announcement, the weakest nations had already succumbed to anarchy. The great nations held out for months, but things like taxes, laws, and politics suddenly seemed vastly unimportant in comparison to the Projection. The Projection began the birth of the modern cult-towns, although in truth they are not towns by any means, they’re metropolises.
People from all across Earth joined in mass pilgrimages and migrations to spiritual centers. Eden, Jerusalem, and Core grew exponentially, from tent cities to cult-towns. Nearly everyone became devoutly religious, or at the very least spiritual, and flocked to the cult that seemed right to them. Those that rejected religion turned to drugs for distraction, and gave birth to decrepit junkie havens like Casino. And of course, there were plenty of suicides.
The cult-towns are simply coping mechanisms for a scared and hysterical species. People were forced to face their impending ending, and they responded by isolating themselves with compatriots that shared the same delusions they did. Noah Crane told all of humanity that we would be the last generation before the sun died, and they screamed, and they raved, and they wept; but eventually, they accepted it. Well, except for Adamans, of course.
Truth be told, if you picked a person at random from the streets of any cult-town, from Jerusalem to Casino, and asked them about Adamans they’d give you a pained look and tell you it doesn’t exist. We live in the modern day Shangri-la, humanity’s last great hope. When Noah Crane ran his Projection he was already surrounded by the finest scientific and mathematical minds of the day. While panic and disorder ruled the rest of Earth, the experts at Houston were already delving into previously unexplored areas of physics and rocketry. The answer seemed obvious, after all, humanity needed to leave this solar system to survive, so Houston, the cult-town of physicists and mathematicians, devoted itself entirely to the project.
The universe cares little for heroism, however, and quantum physics lacks a dramatic flair. We couldn’t build a shuttle capable of ferrying the human race between the stars prior to the Projection, and ten years after we were forced to admit that we never would. It just isn’t possible to build a manned spacecraft capable of reaching another solar system. On the day we gave up the Ark project, Noah Crane renamed Houston. Calmly, he announced our failure; humankind would not be embarking on an exodus for distant stars. According to Noah the rest of Earth had already accepted the end. We few in Houston were the only ones left seeking a solution, striving for salvation. He promised us that as long as there was one molecule of hydrogen burning at the center of the sun, Houston would still be searching, and damn the odds. To Noah, Houston was the last stronghold of the human spirit, so he renamed it Adamans. In English, it translates to Stubborn.
My name is Sying Xiwang, and I used to be a biology expert in Adamans. Now, I am Eve. I am Earth’s insurance policy, in case Adamans was unable to prevent the inevitable. I sit aboard the most advanced spaceship ever created by man or woman, although God knows (if there is a God) that it won’t be advanced enough to get anywhere worthwhile during my lifetime. The ship is so packed with supplies and fuel that we couldn’t even make room for an Adam, just some frozen samples of Noah’s seed. I am recording this message for you, my children and grandchildren, so that you may carry some record of Earth and humankind wherever you take this ship, the Spirit of Adamans.
The very first cult-towns (excluding Adamans, of course) began to appear only months after the first wave of DeepSun probes began transmitting their findings back to Earth. More specifically, back to Adamans (or Houston, as it was called then). At first, the cult-towns were just small communes of outcasts and oddballs preaching apocalypse and doom. They were ignored by the majority, as was the original data that came back from the probes. But as the second and third waves of probes confirmed and expanded upon the discoveries of the first, people were unable to deny the implications; and the cult-towns grew bigger.
Then Noah Crane wrote his programs and made his Projection, all from right here in Adamans. The Council of Nations made a half-hearted attempt to keep the Projection secret for a time, but something like that can’t be lost in the paper trail. By the second day after the networks broadcast the Council’s official announcement, the weakest nations had already succumbed to anarchy. The great nations held out for months, but things like taxes, laws, and politics suddenly seemed vastly unimportant in comparison to the Projection. The Projection began the birth of the modern cult-towns, although in truth they are not towns by any means, they’re metropolises.
People from all across Earth joined in mass pilgrimages and migrations to spiritual centers. Eden, Jerusalem, and Core grew exponentially, from tent cities to cult-towns. Nearly everyone became devoutly religious, or at the very least spiritual, and flocked to the cult that seemed right to them. Those that rejected religion turned to drugs for distraction, and gave birth to decrepit junkie havens like Casino. And of course, there were plenty of suicides.
The cult-towns are simply coping mechanisms for a scared and hysterical species. People were forced to face their impending ending, and they responded by isolating themselves with compatriots that shared the same delusions they did. Noah Crane told all of humanity that we would be the last generation before the sun died, and they screamed, and they raved, and they wept; but eventually, they accepted it. Well, except for Adamans, of course.
Truth be told, if you picked a person at random from the streets of any cult-town, from Jerusalem to Casino, and asked them about Adamans they’d give you a pained look and tell you it doesn’t exist. We live in the modern day Shangri-la, humanity’s last great hope. When Noah Crane ran his Projection he was already surrounded by the finest scientific and mathematical minds of the day. While panic and disorder ruled the rest of Earth, the experts at Houston were already delving into previously unexplored areas of physics and rocketry. The answer seemed obvious, after all, humanity needed to leave this solar system to survive, so Houston, the cult-town of physicists and mathematicians, devoted itself entirely to the project.
The universe cares little for heroism, however, and quantum physics lacks a dramatic flair. We couldn’t build a shuttle capable of ferrying the human race between the stars prior to the Projection, and ten years after we were forced to admit that we never would. It just isn’t possible to build a manned spacecraft capable of reaching another solar system. On the day we gave up the Ark project, Noah Crane renamed Houston. Calmly, he announced our failure; humankind would not be embarking on an exodus for distant stars. According to Noah the rest of Earth had already accepted the end. We few in Houston were the only ones left seeking a solution, striving for salvation. He promised us that as long as there was one molecule of hydrogen burning at the center of the sun, Houston would still be searching, and damn the odds. To Noah, Houston was the last stronghold of the human spirit, so he renamed it Adamans. In English, it translates to Stubborn.
My name is Sying Xiwang, and I used to be a biology expert in Adamans. Now, I am Eve. I am Earth’s insurance policy, in case Adamans was unable to prevent the inevitable. I sit aboard the most advanced spaceship ever created by man or woman, although God knows (if there is a God) that it won’t be advanced enough to get anywhere worthwhile during my lifetime. The ship is so packed with supplies and fuel that we couldn’t even make room for an Adam, just some frozen samples of Noah’s seed. I am recording this message for you, my children and grandchildren, so that you may carry some record of Earth and humankind wherever you take this ship, the Spirit of Adamans.