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[archeologue]

Grave sites are splendid repository of priceless artifacts. The golden mask of Agamemnon from Schliemann's excavation of the royal shaft graves at Mycenae. King Tutankhamun's glorious, some say cursed, tomb. Beautiful Etruscan jewelry from the tomb of Tarquinia.

[His eyes gleam with excitement as he talks about the treasures.]

I wonder why there are no graves on this planet. It is a universal truth of archaeology that where there are settlements, there are graves. It may be internments, ashes and bone fragments of cremation, wall burials, sky burials, but all peoples must deal with their dead. And yet for all the ruins here...nothing.

[He's convinced that there must be burials somewhere. But it would suit his purposes just fine if he discovered a burial site (and the grave goods within) with no one else in a position to know or suspect.]

My apologies, where are my manners. I am Dr. Belloq, archeologist from Earth, year of our Lord 1936. These communicators, remarkable devices. It's very strange to think that to some here, I am a part of ancient history.

Comments

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[lindir]

[It takes Lindir a moment to sort out what the man on the device was saying regarding grave sites and tombs, so he hesitates before speaking.]

...Do you mean to say you wish to find these artifacts within the graves of others? Why would you disturb them?

[It's obvious he finds this distasteful. Then after a moment he also remembers his manners.]

Well met, Doctor Belloq. I am Lindir of Imladris.

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[archeologue]

Bonjour, Lindir of Imladris.

[He notices Lindir's dislike of graverobbing excavation of burial sites, so he gives only one of the two honest answers he has to that question.]

The artifacts are tangible pieces of history. When you touch an object that a man who is now only ashes and dust once cherished three thousands years ago, it's like for a brief moment you can hear him whispering to you. [Metaphorically. But Belloq has a penchant for the dramatic.] To see and touch and examine the things ancient peoples left behind is the closest we can come to communicating with the dead.

[Also, they're worth a great deal of money to the right buyers, but since smuggling artifacts is illegal here, Belloq doesn't advertise that.]

[lindir]

[He seems a bit confused, both at the greeting and the explanation.]

Can you not simply ask your elders? There is no need to...

[Wait.]

Forgive me, for a moment I had forgotten that mortals are not so long lived.

[archeologue]

Mortals? Are you saying that you aren't mortal?

[That gets Belloq's intense attention. If this man has the secret to immortality like perhaps the Holy Grail in his keeping, Belloq would very much like to acquire it if he can.]

[lindir]

Of course I am not. I am one of the Eldar, or Elf-kind as your people might say.

[Wasn't it obvious?]

[tawarwaith]

If their graves are not easily found, then perhaps it is because they do not wish for them to be dug up. Besides, how do you know either way if there are graves or not?

[archeologue]

It's possible that the graves are simply difficult to find. The tombs of wealthy kings are often hidden deep underground and guarded by many traps. And much of this planet is yet unexplored. Still, a population produces a great many dead over the course of its history. Excavations have been going on for a few years now, and to find not even a simple pauper's grave or a mass burial of war dead in that time is strange.

[tawarwaith]

Perhaps they were a long lived race and therefore did not die often until calamity struck. Thus far remains have been found where there is no sign of a grave.

[archeologue]

You have found remains? Can you show me where?

[tawarwaith]

I did not personally, but a skeleton was discovered while we were out investigating the area because of some interesting tracks that were found, and for the explosions that caused some problems not so very long ago.

As for showing you the location, I can, but I will tell you now it was no place special as far as I could see.

[most_feared]

I'm more bothered that there are no bodies. Even if they destroyed their dead, there should have been some remains towards the end, especially the way these caves work.

That's supposedly the biggest mystery, where they all went to. But that is pretty strange, there being no graves for there even to be bodies taken out of.

[archeologue]

Indeed, and a worthy point. Something ended this civilization. If they were destroyed by war or disease, there would be bodies heaped in the streets. If they fled their great cities, where did they go and why?

[most_feared]

Yeah, I was wonderin' about that. They seemed to have left a lotta stuff, though, and there was no evidence of space travel. The spawners were pretty advanced, had some good medical knowledge apparently, but their weapons were pretty primitive and they relied on animals for transport.

[Hence the weird looking horses.]

[archeologue]

I confess, I myself don't understand the spawners yet. [He's read the pamphlet, but he still doesn't get how they can possibly do what they are said to do.]

But the depictions of bows and arrows, those weapons have been on Earth for at least ten thousand years. It makes me wonder if it was even all developed by one culture, or if a native primitive culture adopted some of this truly remarkably advanced technology from another culture with whom they had contact.

[most_feared]

I don't figure a lotta people do here, even from the time period. All they know is that it makes shit.

Depends on whether they had cause to be violent towards each other except for hunting, I think. There's not a lot of traces of war damage, either. Maybe they had population control other than killing each other off, which would be a miracle as far as sentient species go.

[vengeance_driven]

Some of us have a little bit of a different history.

[archeologue]

You are...Balkan, yes? Bulgarian? Yugoslav? [He has an ear for languages and accents, although he can't place the precise region.]

What is your history?

[vengeance_driven]

Balkan, yes. In my history, Yugoslavia is a thing of the past and I was there for her death. As were many men.

There is an America, but some people here have things called "Vegas" and "New York", and I have Liberty City.

[archeologue]

I've been to New York many times, and heard of Las Vegas. But I don't know of a place called Liberty City.

[vengeance_driven]

Let us hope these cities are not as shitty as the one I know. [His opinion will remain unrestrained there.] Are you with the researchers? In the museum or in the field?

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[endsorrow]

Welcome, Dr. Belloq. I am Braska of Spira.

I am aware that there has yet to be evidence supporting this, but... It is possible that this world shares a feature in common with my own. On Spira, graves are very rare, and only ever symbolic. [Like those on Mt. Gagazet.] Ideally, bodies fade away into pyreflies -- lights that represent life energy -- as it means that the spirit has passed on.

[His mouth quirks, and his neutral-friendly smile widens into something a little more -- earnest.] But, as I said. It seems that, generally, my world a heavier emphasis on magic than people even here are accustomed to. As unlikely as it is for there to be a connection there, there's always a chance, I suppose.

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[archeologue]

[The whole concept is strange to Belloq, but he's getting used to strange concepts being presented to him. So he asks the first logical question that comes to his mind.]

Where do the pyreflies go?

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[endsorrow]

The resting place of all life when they've passed on, the Farplane, located in the town of Guadosalam.

[Location. The afterlife has a physical location.]

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[archeologue]

[The Romans thought that a gate to the Underworld was located at the very real Lake Avernus in Italy, so Belloq assumes that this is something like that. A place, a normal place, but one which is culturally associated with the netherworld--a massive necropolis.]

So there is a grave site of a sort, but only the one, at this town you speak of, which holds all the remains. One where there are no bodies, only these...pyreflies as remnants of the dead.

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[endsorrow]

[A little thoughtfully,] I suppose the Farplane could be considered a grave as well as the afterlife proper, yes. We do visit it to speak with the spirits of our loved ones. There, in the Farplane, the pyreflies even create images of them. [And here, Braska animates a little more, because the differing theory is still exciting to him.] Depending on who you ask, though, it's uncertain as to whether or not those are truly the spirits we're seeing, or if the pyreflies are just reacting to our memories and showing us what we'd like to see. But the pyreflies on the Farplane have never once shown the image of someone who is still alive, so it remains a mystery.

[He returns to thoughtful.] I don't think I could truly call pyreflies... the remains, though. After all, they're as much a part of nature as anything else. Magic, spheres, and other phenomenon that we Spirans take for granted wouldn't be possible otherwise.