City of the Ancients
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Click to view Map
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...Ah, Forename. Have you learned aught of note?
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Fascinating...and precisely the sort of information I was hoping to hear.
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In fact, if you have a moment, I'd like to borrow your eyes to confirm a theory I've been working on. Come.
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Now, there are two tasks I would have you perform.
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The first requires you to inspect the buildings which surround the Ondo settlement, and note their most distinctive characteristics.
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For the second, I wish you to use this knife to take scrapings from one of the remnant walls.
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Pray be as thorough as you can. I shall be waiting here for the results of your investigations.
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'Tis strange to be here, under the ocean. It seems a lifetime ago that we stood amidst the trees of Rak'tika...
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And what have you discovered?
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Yes, I would agree that the windows are most distinctive. 'Twould seem the structures appear the same to both your sight and mine...
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And you say you could not so much as scratch the wall? Even with all your might behind the blade?
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Forename, everywhere I turn in this place, my gaze is drawn by peculiar materials for which I do not have a name.
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The buildings I had you investigate are prime examples. They may appear to be constructed of ordinary stone, but I assure you it is nothing of the sort...
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If pressed, I would describe the substance as a composite of several mineral properties, blended to create a material of unparalleled durability.
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Even the Ronkan Empire, once the greatest power in Norvrandt, produced nothing which compares to this level of perfection.
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But if not the Ronka, then who? Who were these ancients the Ondo claim as the architects of their sanctuary?
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I suspect our answer lies with the reason Emet-Selch withdrew here to the Tempest.
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He may simply have wished to retreat somewhere mere mortals would struggle to reach...but there are many such remote locations. Why here, specifically?
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Emet-Selch is devoted to his role, and thus we might assume his choice of stronghold somehow serves the Ascian agenda.
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Or mayhap...'tis a place more dear to him than any other.
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!Are you saying this was built by ancient Ascians...? !Could this place provide power to Emet-Selch? !I couldn't say either way...
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That is my theory, that these structures are remnants of a time before history─of a star that was yet whole and unbroken.
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That was my first thought as well. Yet no matter how superior the materials, a ruin is just a ruin. 'Tis naught that would decide a battle's outcome.
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Which brings us to my second theory: that he has some other, more personal connection to this site. What if these structures are remnants of a time before history─of a star that was yet whole and unbroken?
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It is my theory that these structures are remnants of a time before history─of a star that was yet whole and unbroken.
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Such traces in the Source would have been obliterated by the succession of Umbral Calamities, but here in the First they might have remained untouched for millennia...
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...A copy of the mural in the Qitana Ravel. Almet presented it to me during my visit to Fanow, after our victory in Kholusia.
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Here, in the first scene...
By Emet-Selch's own words, it depicts a city of eons past and the disaster which befell it.
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The design is much simplified, of course, but do you see the similarities between its towers and those you have just inspected?
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We are close to the truth, I feel. Let us search the surrounds for another tower─one which matches the picture near enough to remove all doubt.
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From what I have seen, naught more than sand and more sand lies to the east, and the south held no such structures. I suggest we try our luck further to the northwest.
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Aye... This is the mural writ large...
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Though I cannot guess at its purpose, it must have been an imposing sight. How much of the tower's height lies hidden beneath the ground, I wonder...
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Centuries of our history have settled upon such ruins. Countless layers of dust and sediment...
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...An entire civilization, its existence forgotten by all except a handful of Ascians.
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And yet it did exist. They lived here, in this city...
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But let us focus on what we've learned thus far. The Ondo chieftain spoke of mysteries stirring─of a land illuminated.
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Judging by his words, he believes this phenomenon related to the ancients' return.
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Thus can we surmise that what the Ondo saw shining in the abyss was, in all likelihood, yet another remnant of this age-old civilization.
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And who else would “light the lanterns” as Ryne put it, than Emet-Selch himself? 'Tis almost certain he is there!
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But if we are to find this stronghold in a timely manner, it seems gaining the Ondo's trust remains our swiftest path forward.
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I only hope our deeds are enough to win them over...
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Survey Point Location
When instructed to "Find a structure ... inspect it from the survey point" the Survey Point is located at X: 21.9 Y: 11.0 Z: -1.7 in Walls of the Forgotten near a green streetlamp-like structure. 
