Chicxulub crater
The themes of religion and rogue states outside Earth's control were decided upon to ground the science fiction narrative. Unitology emerged five months into development, as Schofield felt that something was missing. After reading up on the Chicxulub crater, Scholfield wrote the original Marker as the object which caused the crater, and built Unitology around it. In response to a later comparison of Unitology with scientology, it was described as representing irrational thought and action prompted by the unknown.