Rustshards and Ancientshards: A Study
By: Gillius Tandon
Over the past few decades, it has come to the attention of many that, on a select few mining trips, odd, rust-encroached weapons have surfaced. These weapons, when polished with ridiculous amounts of Earth Crystals and monster fluids, reveal their true forms: Dragon element-imbued weapons of strange design and mysterious origins. Tests on the metallurgy of said weapons have done little to shed light on their origins, as the tests have determined that the metal is of an ancient, yet unknown, alloy. This has raised many questions and theories from scholars, monster hunters, and the Guild alike. "What are they made of?" "Who made them?" "What were they made for?" In this painstakingly-researched paper, I'll answer these questions and more, as well as give insight into their design, their classification, and their utilization.
The first, and indeed, largest question brought on by these "Shards" is at the same time the hardest question to answer. To find out who was behind the creation of these weapons, there are a select few factors that act as important clues that will solve the origin puzzle. The location where these relics were found is key.
Each of the weapons were found in one of two locations. Either in the Volcano region, riddled with explosions, magma, and rare ore, or within the bone-chilling clutches of the Tundra region.
The Volcano region is renowned for the various charms that can be found on occasion while mining. Said charms have been discovered the deeper one delves into the volcanic areas, possessing mysterious powers. These regions, as it stands, have also been excavated in select areas (I myself leading some of these expeditions), revealing bits of rubble, stone not native to the area, and even ancient bits of what appears to be architecture and buildings.
These ruins, which also yielded scalded, burnt bones when dug deeply enough down in, have a unifying aspect of design that acts as a key that unlocks the mystery.
In the ancient history section of the Guild's legendary archives, there are a handful of passing mentions to a remarkably advanced civilization that was said to dwell in the area where the volcano region now lays. However, these snippets are just that: Snippets, and contain little information other than that it was an extremely old civilization and set in that region. In order to find out more on this vague yet intriguing race, I delved deeper into both the archives and the ruins, until a breakthrough presented itself on both fronts.
While the new modern-day books and textbooks, written by learned archaeologists and scientists, present little to learn from on this topic, the pre-modern texts recovered and translated from other ancient peoples present a wealth of knowledge. The recently-found libraries of the civilization responsible for Moga village's famous undersea ruins, the Aokori people, mention an empire in their oldest records that occasionally sent ships over for trade purposes. The maps provided to the Aokori by said empire-traders are likely deteriorated by now, but the Aokori – clever people they were – copied the maps onto stone tablets, one of which I studied in person. The area displayed on the map corresponds with the volcano's exact position on current charts, found through places and islands marked on the map.
As for the traders themselves, the Aokori described them as being unusually tall, as well as of a red skin-tone. They apparently dressed in black-hued armor with an angular motif. The goods that these people brought were mostly comprised of gems, ores, and lesser charms. What intrigued the Aokori the most, however, was the aura that they seemed to have. The air seemed to brighten when they were nearby, and an unexplainable feeling of calmness and awe followed them about.
However, just as they'd begun more regular trade, their visits suddenly stopped, and no word came again from the mysteriously-vanished empire. It is there that all mention of the civilization ceases.
As previously mentioned, there was another breakthrough in the volcanic ruins. After excavating deeper near one of the uncovered pieces of rubble, the top and sides of what appeared to be a building were uncovered. The design was flat-topped, with a main path to a slightly raised section, a row of pillars running along either side. After determining that there may be more building underneath, a hole was cut in the top, and a large darkened space was revealed. After being lowered in via rope, I began an in-depth inspection of the building's interior. The most interesting feature of the vast room was the walls. Apparently left untouched for many centuries, the walls were carved with mural after mural. These murals, it seemed, were some sort of records system. The figures were carved in a flowing fashion, and seemed to display a thriving society, along with its religious mythology and origins.
This civilization, it appears, was very religious. They seemed to have a monolithic belief in a sun deity, and as such revered the sun, incorporating the worship into many aspects of their life. The murals show a thriving culture in the prime of its life, presenting vast and sweeping cities with buildings that had the same design and architectural style as the one we had uncovered, many flat-topped rectangular buildings with many pillars in each. Many of these buildings had stairs and multiple levels, each culminating with what appeared to be a shrine or sky-terrace. Many people were shown on these buildings, all red-skinned and bowing to a carved sun that took center in its corresponding mural. More scenes showed the people mining, building ships, and crafting weapons.
With the weapon-oriented murals, the army classes and general military structure of the empire was revealed. The weapons depicted on the walls greatly resemble the weapons that have been uncovered as Rust/Ancientshards thus far, including many different kinds of weapons. Now, it is important to note that the excavated weapons have appeared in two varieties, named, as said before, Rustshards and Ancientshards. Weapons found from Rustshards generally have a simpler design, less ornate decoration, and a significantly smaller range of weapon types. These 'Rust' weapons, as I call them, also have a generally smaller amount of raw damage presented, as well weaker percentages of dragon element used. Because of this, these weapons could be thought of as lower-ranked versions of the weapons that come from Ancientshards. This doesn't make Rustshard weapons weak in general, however. Few modern weapons surpass the craftsmanship of Rustshard weapons, and the use of Dragon energy is an extremely rare trait in weapons. The Ancientshard weapons, in comparison to their Rust counterparts, are of elaborate and beautiful design. They generally have higher attack values, possess sharper edges, and contain a much greater concentration of Dragon element.
This is attached to the drawback that, while the fully-cleaned versions of Ancientshards are more powerful than the Rustshards, they also take a greater amount of polishing and a generally larger amount of materials.
All of these differences seem to create a difference in rank. Indeed, from the pictographs that were discovered, one showed the difference between the two weapon varieties in detail. The graphics show that, in similar fashion to the Guild of today, this empire also used monster hunters in order to hunt down wyverns such as Rathalos and Uragaan, shown in-picture with artistic renditions that display multiple men in dark armors, wielding weapons close in appearance to Rustshard weapons, such as greatswords, hammers, and swords and shields, all displayed with dark-red energy coming from them. Farther on in the murals, these hunters are shown in military-style marches and holding posts within and at the gates of cities. This implies that these weren't just hired hunters, but a full-time military. That may explain why the Rustshards are found more frequently than Ancientshards, as they were mass-produced military-grade weapons, rather than individual weapons of individuals.
In the following pictures, representations of the Ancientshard weapons appear. These, however, are shown in a different role than the common Rustshard weapons. They are shown, in fact, to have served a pseudo-religious purpose, gunlances in particular taking prominence in ceremonies dedicated to their sun deity.
(It should be noted that, when restored from their rusty state, Ancientshard gunlances – nicknamed "Obelisks" due to their odd covering of ancient writing – exhibit strange properties surpassing their fellow Ancientshard weapons, including a huge percentage of Dragon power, odd 'Shimmering' noises whenever attacked with, exceptionally powerful Wyvernfire blasts, and elaborate steel and gemwork.)
Aside from their religious significance, the Ancientshard weapons are shown making use of their advanced properties in two situations. The first situation, as shown by the carvings, was the use of these weapons (with the exception of the gunlances, of course) as tools of a royal guard. Men and women in an elegant robed/plated mix of clothing were shown following and guarding what can only be assumed as the Emperor and supreme ruler of the civilization. They were displayed in all panels with the crowned Emperor, constantly keeping him under their protection, as part of what can be assumed as their sworn duty. The weapons aren't shown being put to use in this situation, however, and the Emperor's rule seems to have been generally peaceful.
The second use, though, is the greatest display of their enviable power. In spite of being seemingly for show to any bystander, the Ancientshard weapons acted as the greatest hope of the civilization in their darkest times. The Elder Dragons, a loose grouping of the most ancient and most powerful monster species, have been shown attacking the region that the civilization made its home. The Elder Dragons that are reproduced in the carvings largely resemble the species of mountain dragon, the Lao-Shan Lung, the storming Kushala Daora, and even a Fatalis of legend. In each of these events, the royal guard is shown leaving their Emperor to serve an even greater cause. It is in these panels that the true combat prowess of the warriors is shown. All of these beasts are shown being slain with great skill and stripped of their scales and claws, and the guard is shown returning to their ruler each time.
The carvings end here, and despite searching around the room profusely, the only other carvings were creation legends and stories of day-to-day life within the cities. This, despite being an unbelievably important look into the lost race's history, still leaves questions. The reason for the appearance of Rustshards in the tundra region, for example, is left unanswered. This makes no sense, as the tundra is quite a fair distance from the volcano region. The other question left is of the civilization's end; what was the cause of their mysterious and abrupt disappearance?
To find that which I sought, I turned to the tundra, the only other trace left of the race's touch.
For the next two years, I searched and investigated the tundra, regularly sponsoring digs and excavations around the land. Finally, in a frozen cave where one hunter claimed to have found a set of Rust Dual Blades, the last piece of the puzzle was found. With said hunter at the party's lead, we marched to the exact spot where he'd mined to gain the weapons. Over the following days, the cave was cleared and salvaged, until, at last, a familiar, though noticeably smaller, bit of architecture was uncovered. Our energy renewed, the excavation was finished soon after, and a set of remarkably-preserved dwellings were revealed. Inside were multiple sets of human skeletons, all kept intact from the ice's cold, eons-long embrace. The houses, we noticed, had a more subdued design, and seemed to focus less on the volcano-region's flat-topped motif, and more on practicality and heat preservation. Inside one home, we found what we'd been looking for in specific.
Though the art was more juvenile than the educated and pseudo-intellectual style of the other carvings, the pictographs we discovered were unmistakably reminiscent of the same people, and showed traces of the latter's influence. The story was laid out as having occurred sometime after the end of the volcano hieroglyphs, with the civilization coming under a greater threat than ever before. Appearing from the sky after a fierce storm, a great dragon appeared, unlike any other creature encountered by the people thus far. Possessing control over the sky, fire, and ice, this monster proceeded to lay waste unto the capital city, blasts of thunder tearing the stonework apart like parchment, chunks of razor-sharp ice hailing down and killing much of the citizenry, and physical attacks imbued with Dragon energy shattering all in its path. The Emperor was shown being devoured by the creature, and the guard is shown pursuing the beast to the summit of the rather mountainous region, once thought of as the place closest to the sun god. With a display of frightening power, it slew the noble hunters with ease, and, as if to dissuade all other challengers and cement itself within its new home, the dragon caused a colossal eruption from deep within the mountain. The lava quickly destroyed all remnants of the city left untouched by its earlier rampage, forcing the evacuated citizenry to flee even farther from their former lands. The newly-unleashed volcano is shown to have continued erupting, terraforming the surrounding mountainside, till the mountain was the place of fire we know today.
The people are then shown to have left, and wandered across the land for ages, many dead, and their numbers shrinking year by year. Eventually, the remaining people end up in the tundra, and make refuge within a fairly large cave, shown as much larger than the one in the present, and absent of all ice. It was here that the race made their final home. I believe that, with the onset of an ice-age (of sorts), the people slowly began to die in the inhospitable conditions, a mixture of less available food sources and harsher temperatures killing them off one by one. They likely perished somewhere around 6,800 years ago, the glaciers creeping forward and claiming their remains as its own.
It is there that the story of the lost civilization ends. From a proud and mighty empire to a frozen tribe, it truly is a tragic end to such magnificent a tale.
Of the dragon that caused their extinction, one clear Elder Dragon stands as the unmistakable culprit: The Alatreon, a monster renowned for its mastery over the primal forces of nature, and matched only in power by its own unrelenting ferocity. The beast is known to be extraordinarily long-lived, as a recently-discovered Alatreon fossil (tests show it to be at least three millennia old) proves. It also seems more than a coincidence that the Alatreon is only found on the nigh-inaccessible summit of the volcano region.
So, it is here that I leave you. At long last, an answer is laid bare to the enigma that, for decades, puzzled the world. On the lost civilization, I imagine that there is still much to be leaned, and because of this, I plan on beginning a massive-scale excavation in the region where the city is said to lay. Maybe someday in the near future, the city of sun-worshippers will be freed and look to the sky once more.