[Theory] What are the Ancient Ruins?

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[Theory] What are the Ancient Ruins?

Postby base4 » Sat Apr 22, 2017 7:18 pm

Warning: this is an incredibly long post. A summary of the timeline, according to the theory, is at the bottom, though you might not understand it if you do not read the explanation as to how it was arrived at. There is a little scientific mumbo-jumbo in the article that you may or may not be familiar with, and I simplify the concepts as much as possible and quickly go over them as the explanation goes on.

This is something that I've been pondering for a while now. At first, the Ancient Ruins were just a novelty, a new, interesting area, that successfully instilled in me a sense of absolute wonder. However, with the 0.5.1 update, something's changed. Hobson writes a note about the Ancient Ruins in the largest chamber that reads:

"Fascinating aren't they? Who do you
think constructed these ancient ruins,
and for what purpose? I'd visit this
place and ponder that question often.
Only one thing is for certain: these
folks liked slimes!

Eventually I came to realize what this
place was for and how to utilize it.

Will you do the same?

-H"

"Eventually I came to realize what this
place was for and how to utilize it."
"Will you do the same?"

These lines hit hard. Hobson has just told us that the Ancient ruins had a purpose, something that they were used for, and that they can still be used.

To figure out what exactly he means by that, we've got to start finding some pieces to put together.
Let's start with the Quantum Slime's description.

"Quantum Slimes appear to have resulted from some sort of event that took place in the Ancient Ruins long ago. At all times, the quantum slime is capable of emitting other possible realities of their being. Called 'ghosts', these other realities can come true, with the quantum slime aligning with the reality of the ghost, effectively teleporting."
"some sort of event"
So there was an event of some sort.
"capable of emitting other possible realities of their being"
"these other realities can come true"
And now they can transcend possibilities of their reality.

Let's put that part together. Clearly, this is a reference to something called The Uncertainty Principle. Very heavily simplified, this means that we don't know exactly where any quantum 'thing' really is, but we know how likely it is to be at any given point. This means that it could really be anywhere.

Clearly, "other possible realities" just means at some other point where it could have ended up, but isn't. Pretty straight-forward reference to the most well-known thing in quantum mechanics.

Okay, now let's look at phase lemons.

There are a few things with phase lemon trees that help give away exactly what's going on.
The biggest thing that gives it away is their appearance and characteristics. Just like the quantum slime's ghost, they are partially visible and don't actually interact with anything around them. They're just a ghost. Using what we now know about quantum slimes, let's collapse our possibilities. (get it?)

Clearly, the phase lemon tree is the equivalent of the ghost of a quantum slime. There's a lemon tree somewhere, but we're not sure where. This tree that we're seeing in the ruins is the representation of it in another reality, where it might've ended up, but that's not where it is.
"A phase lemon comes from a different place and time."
This excerpt from the description of the phase lemon pretty much seals the deal on that.

There's not enough evidence to put it together yet, though. Let's keep digging.

Echoes are another resource unique to the ruins. Its description could give us hints, so let's take a look.
"Within the crumbling walls of the Ancient Ruins, small traces of energy can be found, never staying in one place for very long. Called echoes, they are believed to be a phenomenon resulting from some kind of ancient event. Since they are harmless, echoes are often collected by ranchers as good luck charms or used as decorations.

Echoes appear regularly in the nooks and crannies of the Ancient Ruins, as well as from Extractors."
"small traces of energy"
So echoes are energy.
"believed to be a phenomenon resulting from some kind of ancient event."
And they're also related to the same event that made the quantum slimes what they are.
"appear regularly"
So they just 'appear?'
"Within the crumbling walls of the Ancient Ruins"
And you can only find them in the Ruins, too.

So echoes are just bits of energy that end up in the ruins and only the ruins. They appear out of nowhere and were caused by the same event that created the other phenomena in the area.

I won't explain the echo until the whole thing is pieced together, though.

So, let's go back to the Uncertainty Principle. I omitted a detail about the theory that's important to what we're discussing here. The Uncertainly Principle states the fact that there are certain things that we cannot simultaneously know about a quantum 'thing.' For some things, we can't know where something is and how quickly it's moving at the exact same time. This creates some issues. Over time, as something moves, because we couldn't figure out both of those things, we no longer know how it's going to behave in the future. We can't predict where it'll end up with certainty. If we have its position, we now know where it could go, but we don't know how fast it'll get there, so there is now an endless number of ways that the series of events could go down.

This pulls time into our little quantum talk here. Time makes the system change, and so over time, different stuff will happen based on what happened before. Now, because of the Uncertainty Principle, everything that could have happened just happened all at once. But it didn't all happen at once for us, only one thing actually happened.

In another timeline, the other thing happened. In another another timeline, the other other thing happened, and so on, until all the things that could've happened actually just happened in different timelines.

Now let's pull it all together and wrap it up with a nice little bow.

The quantum slime jumps to another 'possibility' of itself. This is another possibility because of The Uncertainty Principle. It could've ended up there, but it didn't, and over time, it ended up here instead.

The phase lemon tree is an expression of itself in a different time. There aren't any here, though, because none of them are actually able to be touched.

The echoes are energy from another timeline being transferred to us. Energy is something that can be moved and manipulated, and so it can come to our reality from one of the others. We just stole another reality's energy and made it our own.

It gets deeper.

Let's talk about the ancient event that transpired in the ruins. Clearly, the quantum slime, phase lemon, and echoes all point to one thing: manipulating timelines and creating connections between them so that other possibilities can be expressed in our reality. This means that the event that transpired had to have caused all of this. There's one hint that points us in the right direction, from the description of The Ancient Ruins:
"Only one thing is certain in the Ancient Ruins: within its deepest chamber lies its greatest secret."
And that's probably true. And from Hobson, we know that...
"I came to realize what this place was for"
...it had a purpose, and that...
"and how to utilize it."
...its purpose is being fulfilled or was fulfilled.

Well, now we know what it was made for, and that it's still doing it. And, there's only one thing we know that it's doing: connecting timelines. That's the purpose of the ruins! The whole thing! And it's still active, too! The ruins are still fulfilling their purpose and still connecting timelines inside of itself.

Now, the event... If we piece together everything we know; that the ruins were made to connect timelines, that an event resulted in the creation of phenomena that can connect those timelines, and that the ruins themselves connect timelines together, it's easy to make the final connection, that the event was the activation of something. That event was the result of what the ruins were built for, and the event that allowed the ruins to fulfill their purpose.

The ruins threw everything there into chaos, giving the matter there quantum properties at the large scale. Things like superposition, the state of both existing and not existing at the same time due to the uncertainty principle, now exist at a large scale. The Uncertainty Principle is an inherent property of the quantum world, so suddenly, everything that was in the ruins is now forever connected to every other version of itself. The ghosts we see are always, from any distance, made half from visible bars, half from invisible bars. This is a representation of quantum superposition, because these 'ghosts' are both existent and non-existent!

These properties are expressed by the quantum slimes, who can control their quantum states to collapse into different possibilities. The phase lemon displays this differently. Because it is a plant, when rooted, it cannot move. That means you know its velocity, 0, and suddenly, it enters a quantum superposition, because you now shouldn't be able to know its position and velocity at the same time. It suddenly exists everywhere and nowhere. You need fruits, or real, non-quantum matter for the lemons to latch onto so that they can collapse back and become 'real' again.

The echoes are a result of this as well. The ruins still have the power to connect these timelines together, and the connection that is formed results in the echoes. They are nothing but energy, stolen from another timeline, while that timeline steals the exact same amount back from us.

The Quantum Slime is subtitled:
"A slime that really shows it's potential."
...because 'potential' refers to 'every potential outcome that could have occurred.'

The Phase Lemon is subtitled:
"Plucked from a tree rooted in the...past? Future? Or...?"
...because it is connected to itself through the past, and then back to every other future.

The Echo is subtitled:
"A mote of light, or perhaps, a memory?"
...because it is a 'memory' of another timeline.

And the Ancient Ruins' subtitle:
"All that is lost is eventually found, and lost once more."
...this one's up to interpretation.



Alright, let's rewind, and recap.

Here's the story:
A long, long time ago, the structure known now as the Ancient Ruins was constructed with the purpose of connecting all possibilities with one another. And it worked. Everything in the ruins was suddenly transformed, gaining large-scale quantum properties. Over time, the creators left and the ruins were lost to time. The Quantum Slime, trapped in the ruins, learns to control its quantum properties. The Phase Lemon, being a plant, becomes trapped in a superposition where it can no longer properly exist. The echoes, artifacts of other possibilities, are moved between the ruins of other timelines for generations. The ruins crumble with time and begin to break down, and anything that it ever had to say is lost to time. Eventually, Hobson locates the ruins and opens them. Hobson is intrigued by the ruins, spending days exploring them, and eventually stumbles upon their hidden secrets. And soon, he's leaves notes around the Far, Far Range for Beatrix. A note is left in the ruins telling Beatrix that it holds a great secret, one that he himself knows. Ready for a new adventure, he leaves the Far, Far Range.

How does that sound?

It's a theory that tries to interpret the entirety of the Ancient Ruins using a lot of real science to describe what's going on. It takes everything about the ruins and essentially takes it from the realm of fantasy to the realm of science fiction.

Please tell me what you think! I'm interested to hear the ideas on my interpretation.
Last edited by base4 on Sun Apr 23, 2017 6:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Slime Ranch? More like RANCH DRESSING, am I right!?
Check out this slime idea I came up with: The Rewind Slime
And my theory on the Ancient Ruins: What are the Ancient Ruins?
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Re: [Theory] What are the Ancient Ruins?

Postby Bloo » Sat Apr 22, 2017 8:35 pm

Super cool idea! So you think Hobson's basically become like Doctor Who, travelling space and time using ruins technology?
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Re: [Theory] What are the Ancient Ruins?

Postby base4 » Sat Apr 22, 2017 9:16 pm

Essentially, yes. As far as I know at this moment, Hobson essentially 'disappeared,' correct me if I'm wrong, and this could perfectly account for it while also keeping in line with his character.
Slime Ranch? More like RANCH DRESSING, am I right!?
Check out this slime idea I came up with: The Rewind Slime
And my theory on the Ancient Ruins: What are the Ancient Ruins?
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Re: [Theory] What are the Ancient Ruins?

Postby TheGreciansHousehold » Sun Apr 23, 2017 4:45 am

Nice theory!
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Re: [Theory] What are the Ancient Ruins?

Postby Jeaniedw83 » Tue Apr 25, 2017 6:21 pm

This is the best explanation ever I love love it. I love science and it all makes perfect sense.
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Re: [Theory] What are the Ancient Ruins?

Postby andycbruce » Wed Apr 26, 2017 6:44 pm

Its change in momentum time change in position, equals planks constant divided by 4 pi, and change in momentum which is mass and velocity, you don't know the mass but the velocity is 0, and the momentum is 0, so you know the momentum so knowingness of momentum is infinity so then the knowingness of the position is 0, because anything divided by infinity is 0, and the trees are in a position unknown.
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Re: [Theory] What are the Ancient Ruins?

Postby base4 » Thu Apr 27, 2017 12:35 pm

andycbruce wrote:Its change in momentum time change in position, equals planks constant divided by 4 pi, and change in momentum which is mass and velocity, you don't know the mass but the velocity is 0, and the momentum is 0, so you know the momentum so knowingness of momentum is infinity so then the knowingness of the position is 0, because anything divided by infinity is 0, and the trees are in a position unknown.

For those that want to know the derivation of the relationship that I drew between velocity and position, this is how that correlation is drawn.

I might amend an explanation similar to this to my post just so that people are clear on that.

EDIT: Looks like I can't edit the original post anymore. Strange.
Slime Ranch? More like RANCH DRESSING, am I right!?
Check out this slime idea I came up with: The Rewind Slime
And my theory on the Ancient Ruins: What are the Ancient Ruins?
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Re: [Theory] What are the Ancient Ruins?

Postby Jeaniedw83 » Thu Apr 27, 2017 6:56 pm

I do also have a more simple theory the ancient Ruins are a water filtration station if you look around round the "arches" look like giant pipes and the doors in some parts just block off tiny rooms like a multi room water lock or something plus there is pipes obviously pumping water from the slime sea into the ruins that is clean fresh water. I don't know its just a theory. :)
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Re: [Theory] What are the Ancient Ruins?

Postby Twerps3 » Wed May 17, 2017 6:19 pm

Big question!
You never mentioned the descriptions of the slime science decorations for the ruins!
read them, and thank me (or not...)

Jeaniedw83 wrote:I do also have a more simple theory the ancient Ruins are a water filtration station if you look around round the "arches" look like giant pipes and the doors in some parts just block off tiny rooms like a multi room water lock or something plus there is pipes obviously pumping water from the slime sea into the ruins that is clean fresh water. I don't know its just a theory. :)

That is a very plausible theory, I had thought about it too.
If you go and look at the glass desert entrance (i'm guessing) the pipes lead into things and places.
http://68.media.tumblr.com/4c0c192faa5b ... 7_1280.png

however, they may be a place holder so they may also change
my guess is they filter the water, then send it to the glass desert as crazy space time reactor coolant or something crazy like that

Side note: somewhere in the slime ideas section there is a very old post, predating the ruins update that is called plasma slime, or something similar. it basically is the quantum slime, living in a area called the alien crash site or something
It may explain something we don't know if the alien crash site isn't enough
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Re: [Theory] What are the Ancient Ruins?

Postby Java » Sun May 21, 2017 5:16 am

oh my gosh you said "crazy space time reactor coolant" and i had an idea
so the desert is supposed to be super super hot right??
what if
hear me out here
WHAT IF
it's like a gIANT NUCLEAR REACTOR
THAT'S WHAT THE EVENT WAS
THIS GIANT DESERT REACTOR EXPLODED AND THAT'S WHAT THE EVENT WAS
AND SLIMES CAN GO INTO THE SLIME SEA AND POP OUT AGAIN LIKE NORMAL
MAYBE THEY DO TIME TRAVEL AND STUFF WHEN THEY GO INTO THE SEA
MAYBE
MAYBE THE EVENT WAS THAT THE DESERT EXPLODED, AND VAPOURISED ALL THE NEARBY WATER THAT CONTAINED SLIMES
THE SLIMES CAN'T GO BACK TO THEIR OWN TIME BECAUSE THE WATER THEY WERE IN GOT VAPOURISED
SO THEY'RE GHOSTS RELIVING THE TIME BEFORE THEY GOT VAPOURISED
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Re: [Theory] What are the Ancient Ruins?

Postby Jeaniedw83 » Fri Jun 02, 2017 12:05 pm

Twerps3 wrote:Big question!
You never mentioned the descriptions of the slime science decorations for the ruins!
read them, and thank me (or not...)

Jeaniedw83 wrote:I do also have a more simple theory the ancient Ruins are a water filtration station if you look around round the "arches" look like giant pipes and the doors in some parts just block off tiny rooms like a multi room water lock or something plus there is pipes obviously pumping water from the slime sea into the ruins that is clean fresh water. I don't know its just a theory. :)

That is a very plausible theory, I had thought about it too.
If you go and look at the glass desert entrance (i'm guessing) the pipes lead into things and places.
http://68.media.tumblr.com/4c0c192faa5b ... 7_1280.png

however, they may be a place holder so they may also change
my guess is they filter the water, then send it to the glass desert as crazy space time reactor coolant or something crazy like that

Side note: somewhere in the slime ideas section there is a very old post, predating the ruins update that is called plasma slime, or something similar. it basically is the quantum slime, living in a area called the alien crash site or something
It may explain something we don't know if the alien crash site isn't enough


I like your thoughts on this sorry it took me so long to reply. I had no idea about the alien crash explains a lot really. I need to go back and read the descriptions of the decorations for the ancient ruins. Crazy space time reactor coolant is very possible who knows this could of been a testing facility for time travel and something bad happened.
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Re: [Theory] What are the Ancient Ruins?

Postby Jeaniedw83 » Fri Jun 02, 2017 12:09 pm

Java wrote:oh my gosh you said "crazy space time reactor coolant" and i had an idea
so the desert is supposed to be super super hot right??
what if
hear me out here
WHAT IF
it's like a gIANT NUCLEAR REACTOR
THAT'S WHAT THE EVENT WAS
THIS GIANT DESERT REACTOR EXPLODED AND THAT'S WHAT THE EVENT WAS
AND SLIMES CAN GO INTO THE SLIME SEA AND POP OUT AGAIN LIKE NORMAL
MAYBE THEY DO TIME TRAVEL AND STUFF WHEN THEY GO INTO THE SEA
MAYBE
MAYBE THE EVENT WAS THAT THE DESERT EXPLODED, AND VAPOURISED ALL THE NEARBY WATER THAT CONTAINED SLIMES
THE SLIMES CAN'T GO BACK TO THEIR OWN TIME BECAUSE THE WATER THEY WERE IN GOT VAPOURISED
SO THEY'RE GHOSTS RELIVING THE TIME BEFORE THEY GOT VAPOURISED



You could be right gives us a lot to think about. The devs should be proud that they got us talking trying to figure this out. Great story telling and a great game to play.
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Re: [Theory] What are the Ancient Ruins?

Postby Dragonslime » Fri Jun 02, 2017 2:27 pm

yup
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Re: [Theory] What are the Ancient Ruins?

Postby Twerps3 » Fri Jun 02, 2017 4:47 pm

Haven't been on the forum for a couple days, and i made everybody have a new breakthrough on the ruins, so your welcome?
OK, so i am now cackling like a mad man, because i found the repost!
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=994&p=7524&hilit=ash+lemon#p7524
I am very proud of my self :D
Also, Proto-quantum slime's plorts, without proper handling will have "unforeseen consequences"
Maybe there was an excess of quantum plorts that caused the ruins to form and all that other stuff

Think about it for a second
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Re: [Theory] What are the Ancient Ruins?

Postby Twerps3 » Sat Jun 03, 2017 2:52 pm

Hi

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