Old Ones' city of Colorado Springs seen in a Vantage Point
The Old Ones is the name for humans of the old world in Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West, specifically humanity up to 2066 A.D.
Humanity by the mid-21st century was a technologically advanced civilization, having designed and built incredible scientific feats. Foremost among these was advanced robotics, from artificial intelligence and self-replicating robots to enormous war machines that would eventually supplant entire armies.[1]
However, the world was not one of peace and prosperity—nations found their power eroded by sovereign corporations, climate change led to massive environmental damage and displacement, unemployment was at record highs due to automation, and the accessibility of robots designed for warfare made conflict frequent and widespread.
History[]
For several millennia, human civilization emerged and developed, eventually reaching
The Great Die-Off and the Claw-Back[]
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By the 2030s, decades of climate change caused by industrialization reached a critical point. This caused a multitude of natural disasters that uprooted the lives of millions. New Zealand was completely submerged, eco-terrorists flooded the city of Rotterdam, the Mojave desert soon became a warzone, and Las Vegas was running out of water, becoming too hot to remain a tourist destination. To combat much of the climate disasters, Ted Faro works together with Elisabet Sobeck and directs Faro Automated Solutions to develop robots and servitors to reclaim as much of the planet as possible. Stanley Chen also works in water purification and acquisition to attempt to save Las Vegas, the city who gave him a second chance, investing billions to build the Vegas Dome. Ted's work in this era, ironically earns him the moniker of "the man who saved the world."
In 2048, Ted Faro decides to diversify towards military technology. This earns him the ire of Elisabet Sobeck, who has a deep desire to help use technology to preserve life, rather than make a simple profit as Faro prefers. Sobeck leaves Faro Automated Solutions to start her own company, called Miriam Technologies. A furious and egotistical Ted Faro tries to run this company into the ground through lawsuits.
By 2050, Walter Londra pioneers a way to make asteroid mining possible around earth's orbit. This allows for the aquisition of many rare minerals thought to be out of reach and turn's Walter's company Heaven¢ into the foremost conglomerate for aerospace mining and aquisition. Londra soon ends up with multiple companies from battery makers to robotics firms seeking contracts and rights for the minerals he finds.
The Faro Plague[]
Faro Automated Solutions (FAS) was one of the largest corporations in the world and the primary manufacturer of military robots, finding great success in their Chariot line of "peacekeeper" robots that were sold to nations worldwide. The Chariot line ran the gamut from man-sized FAS-ACA3 "Scarab" walker robots to gigantic FAS-BOR7 "Horus" tunneling machines. These robots were entirely self-sufficient, able to self-replicate at will and fuel themselves by consuming biomass.
In 2064 a swarm from the Chariot line had their command and control protocols severed through an unknown glitch. FAS lost all command over the killer robots which then proceeded to replicate/repair themselves and consume any biomass available. The crisis became known as the Faro Plague; at the rate the robots were replicating and consuming biomass, all life on Earth would be extinguished in 15 months, with the planet eventually becoming an uninhabitable husk. Faced with the inevitable destruction of not just humanity, but all life, Project Zero Dawn was implemented by Dr. Elisabet Sobeck through the United States Robot Command, with funding provided reluctantly by FAS' founder Ted Faro.
Operation: Enduring Victory[]
There was no way to stop the Faro Plague before it destroyed everything—the encryption protocols to deactivate the swarm were highly advanced and cracking even one of the codes required a minimum of 60 years; humanity had a little over one year. Thus, the center of Project Zero Dawn was GAIA, a highly advanced artificial intelligence designed by Dr. Elisabet Sobeck. GAIA's task was to deactivate the Faro swarm and rebuild the barren Earth that would be left behind. Humanity and all life could not be saved, but Zero Dawn's goal was to make it so something might be able to come after.
To accomplish this unprecedented task, a network of underground facilities and bunkers was constructed to facilitate the rebuilding of Earth. To buy the necessary time and quickly begin large worldwide construction projects, the U.S. military implemented Operation: Enduring Victory—a civilian-enlistee global war campaign intended to delay the swarm and allow the project to complete preparations. Billions of people, mostly civilians, fought against the swarm with all of the weapons at their disposal. The entire operation was doomed from the start; victory was impossible, something its commanding officer General Herres knew, but the war bought the Zero Dawn team two valuable years to complete the project. By 2066, Zero Dawn was ready, but the last human military forces were destroyed later that year.
Ted Faro felt extreme guilt from his inadvertent role as the architect of the eradication of all life. He felt that the humans who would come after would not learn from humanity's mistakes and would simply repeat them, eventually leading to a similar crisis. One of Project Zero Dawn's subroutines, APOLLO was an archive of all of humanity's knowledge and cultures, intended to teach the next generation all of its achievements and failures. Using his high-level access, Ted Faro deleted APOLLO's archives, ensuring all of humanity's culture, history, and technological knowledge—the collective sum of over 150,000 years of human history and progress—would be lost forever. He believed that if humanity was doomed, what came after should be free of its mistakes, a "clean slate."
Present[]
Over the course of centuries, Earth was restored by GAIA and her subroutines. Once-ravaged continents and poisoned seas were returned to a habitable state. The atmosphere became breathable again, and animals soon roamed the lands once more. By the 31st century, the humans that came about as a result of Project Zero Dawn were unable to progress beyond a tribal level of technology because of the APOLLO purge centuries ago.
Humanity's once-great cities lay in ruins, reclaimed by nature—evidence of a civilization long forgotten, now called "The Old Ones." Even though centuries have passed, much of the technology left behind still remains in a functional state, including many of the Project Zero Dawn holographic files, the last known record of what led to the Old Ones' destruction. Their ruins are avoided by some tribes while others see them as a valuable source of salvage. Further, each tribe holds different beliefs about what brought on the demise of the Old Ones.[2]
Culture[]
The world of the Old Ones was primarily dominated by corporations. In some countries, corporations even held seats in government showing how much power they held. As a result, none of these corporations could be held accountable for their actions. Their rampant industrialization caused a multitude of natural disasters. Severe climate change led to the destruction of several nations, including New Zealand, Panama and the Azores. This spurred an increase in green technologies and environmental cleanup efforts, in turn leading to even greater dependence on robotics and automation.
Their culture was also heavily influenced by robotics and automation. Many jobs could be taken over by robots, leading to a global unemployment crisis. During the 2050s, many young Americans migrated to China seeking employment in the form of manual labor.
Just before their downfall, both nations and corporations of the Old Ones waged war with each other due to the proliferation of military robotics. These robots were also used to oppress the lower class citizens when they protested against their unfortunate circumstances.
Holographic technologies dominated social and cultural networks, as evidenced by the many holograms left behind in ruins.
Tribal perceptions on the Old Ones[]
All of the tribes inhabiting present day Earth have a different interpretation about what happened to the Old Ones.
Banuk[]
The Banuk believe that only the fittest survive and constantly seek out new challenges to become fitter. They believe the Old Ones became extinct because they grew too lazy and avoided taking on challenges. This belief is strengthened by the absence of Old One ruins in their homeland of Ban-Ur; The Banuk think the Old Ones weren't strong enough to handle the harsh climate of Ban-Ur.
Carja[]
The Carja worship the sun as a deity, whose light is the source of all life. The Carja view sun and shadow as two halves of nature: to deny one is to deny the other. They believe that the world of the Old Ones was destroyed by a demonic entity called the "Buried Shadow," which will one day bring an end to their society. However, like the rise of dawn, society will rise again after the end of the Carja, part of a cycle of death and rebirth.
Nora[]
The Nora believe that the Old Ones were tricked by the machines into turning away from the care of the All-Mother. In return, the machines promised them a life of luxury and ease. At first, the machines kept their promise, building great cities for these dissenters, referred to as the "Metal World". However, they soon overtook the Old Ones, making them their servants. Eventually, the machines, led by their father, the Metal Devil, became jealous and tried to attack All-Mother. However, All-Mother defeated the Metal Devil, and punished the machines and Old Ones: the machines were turned into mindless beasts, and the cities of the Old Ones were leveled. As a result, the Nora believe that the ruins of the Metal World, as well as the land beyond the Sacred Land, is corrupted and tainted.
Oseram[]
The Oseram believe that the world functions as a large and intricately crafted mechanism, and all the forces of nature are accounted for by this mechanism. They believe that the Old Ones were once the caretakers of this "world-machine", and their civilization fell due to their failure to maintain it.
Quen[]
The Quen are shaped by their reverence for the Old Ones. While the Quen's knowledge of the Old Ones is more extensive than most, their reliance on outdated Focuses has left knowledge of the Old Ones' fall out of their reach, in a period of time they refer to as the "Time of Ashes".
