Ancestor Lands

The Ancestor Lands are a harsh region on the already-harsh lost world of Eisenhower. The former center of the planet's civilization, this area was devastated by bombardment at the outbreak of the Interstellar Dark Ages and its population completely killed off. The only survivors, or at least the only survivors numerous enough to rebuild, were centered on another habitable region thousands of kilometers away, leaving the Ancestor Lands as largely-untouched ruins into the modern day.

History

The first settlements on Eisenhower were presumably located in this area, taking advantage of its flat terrain and proximity to Eisenhower's largest sea. In the Second Interstellar Period these grew into large metropolises housing billions of people. Architecture was partially subterranean, with underground spaces for protection from frequent solar flares. These structures could also double as bomb shelters, engendering some degree of confidence among the Eisenhower inhabitants that they could beat back and survive even an all-out attack on their world. (Planetary bombardment of military and civilian targets was a common threat at the time as a means of forcing an enemy to capitulate rather than expend the effort to defeat an entire space fleet and ground force, and to prevent wars via mutually assured destruction.) This perhaps drove them to militarism with a gamble that they could threaten attack while remaining safe themselves. This ultimately proved an apocalyptic miscalculation when the Celestial Union struck the planet with enough weapons to level most surface structures and induce an impact winter which killed most of the survivors, as retaliation for Eisenhower's military inflicting similar strikes on Union worlds.

Conditions

Post-bombardment, the Ancestor Lands are a wasteland of cratered earth and former cities demolished into heaps of twisted rubble. Even so, it remains a focus of expeditions from the Archive and other organizations, who seek to recover anything of the Ancestors' advanced technology that they can. Some of the underground infrastructure, such as flare bunkers and subway tunnels, is still intact and usually the best place to look for such finds, though much of it is horribly burned and melted.

Location under

Eisenhower