From The Ashes

While the ruins on … first appeared to be built of stone, excavation and analysis suggests that many of the structures in this lost city are made of a petrified organic material comparable to wood. No source for such materials exists on the planet today. Smaller artifacts are built of crude metals, glass, and similar petrified organics, and … have also found fossils of native creatures that no longer exist.

It appears the civilization in question inhabited the planet at a time when its climate was much more temperate. Did they disappear long before the planet turned to its current state, or did they witness the violent transition in their final years?

Excavation of the ruined city on … has revealed places of cultural importance, decorated with intricate patterns that may be a written language. Most excitingly, the dig teams have found an underground chamber full of shelves, each containing thin sheets of bronze etched with densely-packed script. Despite the inefficiency of bronze as a storage medium, this appears to be a communal archive of texts.

Translation attempts have begun as the archaeological teams continue to spread out through the city. The question of the final fate of these people remains open.

The team on … has encountered a somber catacomb. It consists of a network of dugout trenches, with mummified alien remains resting in cavities in the walls, stacked three or four individuals high. Burial goods give us a glimpse of their technological development, such as primitive firearms, simple glass telescopes, and complex textile embroidery.

Many junctions within the catacomb are guarded by statues of extinct local fauna. These creatures have a round, domed shell, four squat legs, and a small blunt head. In better-preserved specimens, they are depicted hunching down, using their shell to protect them from flame-like carvings in the material above them.

The true meaning of this artwork may be lost to time, but it may depict this society's awareness of its impending, fiery doom. Further excavation of the ruins may clarify what they were experiencing.

Extensive exploration of the ruined city on … proves that this civilization lived through the collapse of its ecosystem, and knew its final, fiery days were approaching. Paper-based records existed before hot volcanic ashfall forced them to switch to bronze tablets, and artistic depictions of animals hiding from flame record their attempts to reckon with their own end.

The excavation also uncovered a nearly perfect specimen of the catacomb guardian statues. The flames carved above it have an internal glow, making this a striking piece worthy of preservation.

We also found evidence of attempts to stop the volcanism. Roadways and broken carts demonstrate that the inhabitants transported rubble to the nearest volcanic caldera and dumped it in to try to plug the volcano. Unfortunately, they were unable to stop their fate. The planet is devoid of multicellular life today.

This history reminds us of the precarity of any civilization, should it encounter a problem more powerful than the tools it has at its disposal.