Nomai Statue

The **Nomai Statues** are statue heads that were made by the Nomai, crucial to the working of the Ash Twin Project. They were used to record memories and data that would then be sent back into the past.

## Details

### Purpose

After the success or failure of the Ash Twin Project, the Nomai Statues automatically pair with the person that is closest to it. The Statues record this person's memories, no matter where they are in the solar system. These memories are then sent to the Ash Twin Project, where each statue is linked to a storage unit that stores the memories. The storage units are equipped with masks, which can send memories back to the person paired with the Statue. The Nomai Statues were created by Phlox. The storage units and masks were created by Daz. The statues only pair once the Ash Twin Project succeeds or fails. This was to prevent the paired subject from having to remember all of their deaths at the end of each loop, and for the Nomai to realize whether the Ash Twin Project might be inherently broken due to any practical or design flaws.

One of the masks in the Ash Twin Project receives data from a statue that is linked to the Probe Tracking Module instead of being linked to a living being. The probe data contain the launch trajectory coordinates of each probe that the Orbital Probe Cannon launches at the beginning of each cycle. The mask also records the coordinates of the Eye of the Universe once a probe finds it.

### Features

The Statues look similar to the appearance of the Nomai themselves. They have three eyes, horns that curve along the head, woolly fur, and a necklace. Once open, the eyes appear golden or glowing with violet light. There are eight Nomai masks that are paired to statues. These masks are inside of the Ash Twin Project core. Three of the masks are currently storing memories, (the Protagonist, Gabbro, and the Probe Tracking Module). One mask is removed, and four are inactive.

## Statue locations

* (Active) Observatory on Timber Hearth (Paired with the Protagonist)
* (Active) Outside Statue Workshop door on Giant's Deep (Paired with Gabbro)
* (Active) In Probe Tracking Module
* 3 statues inside Statue Workshop, 2 in progress, 1 finished (Originally paired with Daz)
* 2 statues inside Sun Station
* 1 statue within the Ash Twin Project core
* 1 statue inside the Black Hole Forge

## Gallery

* The statue in the Observatory on Timber Hearth before being activated
* Active statue in the Observatory paired with the Protagonist
* Active statue outside the Statue Workshop paired with Gabbro
* Active statue in the Probe Tracking Module
* Inactive statue in the Statue Workshop originally paired with Daz
* Unfinished statue in the Statue Workshop
* Unfinished statue in the Statue Workshop with Phlox's remains
* Inactive statue on Sun Station's upper floor
* Inactive statue on Sun Station's lower floor
* Inactive statue inside the Ash Twin Project
* Inactive statue inside the Black Hole Forge
* The Nomai Masks inside the Ash Twin Project
* Nomai Mask seen when dying

## References

1. ↑ PHLOX: Ideally, they’ll only need to activate once the project succeeds; as a safety measure, however, the statues will also activate in the event of equipment failure.
2. ↑ PHLOX: Yarrow, would you kindly step back so Daz is closest to the statue? When pairing, the statue will choose whoever is in closest proximity.
3. ↑ See how its eyes have opened? That tells us the statue has paired with Daz. Now, no matter where he is in this star system, Daz’s statue will record his memories and send them to the Ash Twin Project.
4. ↑ DAZ: Each statue will send a single Nomai’s memories to his or her own storage unit within Ash Twin.
5. ↑ PHLOX: Each storage unit will be equipped with a mask, the statue’s counterpart, which will be able to send those stored memories back to the corresponding Nomai.
6. ↑ YARROW: This is extraordinary sculpting work, Phlox! DAZ: He has outdone himself again, hasn’t he?
7. ↑ DAZ: He has outdone himself again, hasn’t he? And now that we have our first successful pairing, we can test my memory storage prototype.
8. ↑ RAMIE: It’s comforting to know the statues will not pair until the project succeeds. Otherwise, I imagine the experience would be hard to endure! (...) PHLOX: If anything goes wrong with the Ash Twin Project, the statues (and their masks) will make us aware of the situation and enable us to fix it.
9. ↑ MASKS RECEIVING DATA FROM: Probe Tracking Module, Giant’s Deep memory statue, Timber Hearth memory statue
10. ↑ Retrieving previous launch data from Ash Twin.
11. ↑ Retrieving stored coordinates from Ash Twin.