The Elder Texts and The Interface Units of The Institute

## Overview

The Elder Texts and the Interface Units are artefacts found in The Founding, the event that would culminate in the founding of The Institute. They are as of yet unknown in their origins, whether they be beings from beyond the skies, beings long extinct, beings from the far future, or beings not of this plane of reality. The Institute Texts are responsible for deciphering the Elder Texts, while the Institute Interfaces regularly use the Interface Units to semi-automate the Institute bureaucracy.

## The Elder Texts

The Elder Texts are consisted of 17 rectangular tablets of a size roughly that of a piece of A4 paper, with a ratio of 1:sqrt(2). It is made of a silvery white, highly durable and heat-resistant metal, with various scripts, notations, images, graphics, and much more written on it. The Elder Texts are divided into 4 parts, each 2, 3, 5, and 7 tablets long: The Preamble, The Astral Maps, The Images, and The Symbols. Among these, only parts of the Astral Maps and The Symbols have been partially deciphered.

### The Preamble

The Preamble is filled with various alien scripts, none native to any civilisation the Institute has contacted so far. It is theorised that the Preamble will never be fully deciphered unless any of the various scripts written in the Preamble or any scripts similar to it are discovered.

### The Astral Maps

The Astral Maps is filled with what appears to be a map of the stars. There are 3 pages in this section; what appears to be a map of a planet and a moon, a map of the star system, and another as of yet undeciphered map filled with dots, lines, and binary numbers in between. It is speculated that either this is a map of our own planet and star eons past, or a map of a distant, altogether new star system. Either way, the Astral Maps have so far been used as evidence against the Geocentric model and for the Heliocentric model.

### The Images

The Images are a number of images spanning 5 tablets, with each image having an associated binary number. Each tablet houses various images that look alike, though what it means is still unknown.

### The Symbols

The Symbols are the longest section of the Elder Texts, being 7 tablets long. Here, a binary number system is introduced, and using the binary number system, lists a total of 144 prime numbers. Other numbers and symbols are also found, some of which appear to be units of measurement, time, and other physical units.

### Elderon's Decipherment (The Canon Papers)

*'Elderon's Decipherment'* by Head Decipherer Elderon, also known as the *'Canon Papers'*, was an attempt to canonise the myriad interpretations of the Elder Texts. Written in 56 PC, during which time the Standardisation Council was still in effect, this paper provided the standard foundation on which later decipherments of the Elder Texts would follow. After the publication of this paper, any interpretations outside Elderon's Decipherment was banned, a tradition that would last until the rise of the Young School during the mid-300s. The near fanatical faith in the 'Canon Interpretation' is what gave the Age of the Cult its name.

While the paper was regarded as a backwater piece of old tradition that obstructed progress by the Young School, modern historians argue that a few of its ideas were revolutionary at the time, and still forms a bedrock of modern decipherments. These include the notion that the Texts are mathematical and scientific in nature, that the Texts convey information about the Elders, and that we must strive for further scientific advancements to better understand the Texts.

Notably, this paper outlined the binary number system found in The Symbols, postulated that the Elders were from out planet eons past, and as an extension the Astral Maps would thus be an accurate representation of our solar system.

## The Interface Units

The Interface Units are alien computers found alongside the Elder Texts in The Discovery. It is used extensively by the Institute Interfaces for automating the most tedious tasks in bureaucracy, such as taking census, calculating taxes and government maintenances, and so on. Many experiments are done on these units regularly, to find out what more functions it can offer. So far, it has been able to store data, calculate large numbers, and estimate astronomical and meteorological events at frightening accuracy.