The LIEF Erikson, A new Troy?
[The following is a paper produced by Nala Danernot Mxa, Professor of Xenoarchaeology, Andor]
The study of 21st Century Earth history has been fraught with many problems, the gravest of which is the lack of first hand, primary source documentation. The period between First Contact in 2063 and the creation of the first World government in 2113 has been a historical "black hole" in that respect, giving rise to fanciful urban myths, tales of treachery, heroism and high ideals against an undercurrent of chaos and anarchy.
One name has shone forth from this time of fantastic tales though, that of the LIEF Erikson, a nigh legendary sanctuary, a haven of peace and tranquility in a world torn by nuclear war, home to the bravest, the brightest, the most enlightened that the world could provide. It has been likened to Camelot and its' knights, The Library of Alexandria, or the Illuminati - "the invisible country". A great favourite of cheap holonovel writers and the focus of the epic Asnograd trilogy, the truth must be faced that most of what we know about the LIEF (as it was known for short) is most probably fiction.
There has been a concerted effort amongst the more conservative elements of certain Xenoarchaeological institutions to assert that the LIEF was a not a real place. I will concede that there is not one shred of hard evidence that we can use to say "The LIEF Erikson stood here!". We don't even know what the name means! At times the legend has vaguely Scandinavian overtones, at others the characters seem to live in some combination of magical lands from all over Earths' history! If it were a real place where are the ruins, the artifacts, the massive social infrastructure that would be needed to support such a place!
The problem stems from the infamous "Soft Bomb" of 2111 that wiped out all electronic records that were connected up to the Ubernet at the time and the anti-technology risings of the same year that destroyed the remaining great libraries. The British library, the Library of Congress - these were all razed to the ground in what was to be the death throes of the Earths' anarchist movement. All that remained were a few university libraries, defended by makeshift militia of students and academics. The sad thing is that by far the majority of the works destroyed were the Earths historical heritage since technical works can be recreated from experience and logic. Once the last copy of Homers' Iliad was destroyed, or Churchills' "History of the English race" or Heinleins' "Time Enough For Love" was burnt, noone then alive could recreate them. All we have now are fragments, isolated reviews and commentaries.
What facts we have seem to conspire against reason for they point to an otherwise insoluble paradox. On the one hand we are told that Cochranes' pivotal meeting with the Vulcans in 2063 galvanised the people of the Earth into banding together into a World government that, within fifty years was able to bring an end to war, disease and famine. Yet on the other hand, there is incontrovertable evidence that shows that the anarchist courts of the Post-Atomic Horror were still in operation as late as 2079.
From 2113 onwards we have no such problems. Not only do we have full electronic records restored - and failsafe procedures set in place to ensure that such an attack could never be a repeated - but we have the evidence of a growing number of interstellar embassies and emmisaries who came to Earth once it proved itself to be more than a barbaric backwater.
Up to 2113, the only real interstellar influence on Earth was the Vulcans from 2063 onwards and the assumption has always been that it was their influence that guided humanity out of barbarism. This too has its' problems, for the records of the Vulcan mission pre-2113 were conveniently lost in the Vulcan civil war. Add to this the fact that by the time of the first voyages of the NX-01, there seem to have been an air of resentment and suspicion over the Vulcan prescence rather than respect. Not the attitude one would expect from the Master / Apprentice relationship ussually accepted in the history books.
If not the Vulcans, who then did influence human society so that it made such radical changes? Could there be an element of truth behind the stories of the LIEF Erikson, a secret human society, like the Knights Templar, that was pledged to the defence of an ideal.
I am working on an assumption that there is some fundamental basis of truth to the stories about the LIEF Erikson.
There is an apocryphal story amongst Xenoarchaeologists that an early archaeologist of primitive, pre-First Contact Earth by the name of Schlieman discovered the ruins of Homers Troy and Priams treasure by literally following clues in the text of the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey".
The treasure we seek here is knowledge. Can it too be found by following the legendary texts?
The study of 21st Century Earth history has been fraught with many problems, the gravest of which is the lack of first hand, primary source documentation. The period between First Contact in 2063 and the creation of the first World government in 2113 has been a historical "black hole" in that respect, giving rise to fanciful urban myths, tales of treachery, heroism and high ideals against an undercurrent of chaos and anarchy.
One name has shone forth from this time of fantastic tales though, that of the LIEF Erikson, a nigh legendary sanctuary, a haven of peace and tranquility in a world torn by nuclear war, home to the bravest, the brightest, the most enlightened that the world could provide. It has been likened to Camelot and its' knights, The Library of Alexandria, or the Illuminati - "the invisible country". A great favourite of cheap holonovel writers and the focus of the epic Asnograd trilogy, the truth must be faced that most of what we know about the LIEF (as it was known for short) is most probably fiction.
There has been a concerted effort amongst the more conservative elements of certain Xenoarchaeological institutions to assert that the LIEF was a not a real place. I will concede that there is not one shred of hard evidence that we can use to say "The LIEF Erikson stood here!". We don't even know what the name means! At times the legend has vaguely Scandinavian overtones, at others the characters seem to live in some combination of magical lands from all over Earths' history! If it were a real place where are the ruins, the artifacts, the massive social infrastructure that would be needed to support such a place!
The problem stems from the infamous "Soft Bomb" of 2111 that wiped out all electronic records that were connected up to the Ubernet at the time and the anti-technology risings of the same year that destroyed the remaining great libraries. The British library, the Library of Congress - these were all razed to the ground in what was to be the death throes of the Earths' anarchist movement. All that remained were a few university libraries, defended by makeshift militia of students and academics. The sad thing is that by far the majority of the works destroyed were the Earths historical heritage since technical works can be recreated from experience and logic. Once the last copy of Homers' Iliad was destroyed, or Churchills' "History of the English race" or Heinleins' "Time Enough For Love" was burnt, noone then alive could recreate them. All we have now are fragments, isolated reviews and commentaries.
What facts we have seem to conspire against reason for they point to an otherwise insoluble paradox. On the one hand we are told that Cochranes' pivotal meeting with the Vulcans in 2063 galvanised the people of the Earth into banding together into a World government that, within fifty years was able to bring an end to war, disease and famine. Yet on the other hand, there is incontrovertable evidence that shows that the anarchist courts of the Post-Atomic Horror were still in operation as late as 2079.
From 2113 onwards we have no such problems. Not only do we have full electronic records restored - and failsafe procedures set in place to ensure that such an attack could never be a repeated - but we have the evidence of a growing number of interstellar embassies and emmisaries who came to Earth once it proved itself to be more than a barbaric backwater.
Up to 2113, the only real interstellar influence on Earth was the Vulcans from 2063 onwards and the assumption has always been that it was their influence that guided humanity out of barbarism. This too has its' problems, for the records of the Vulcan mission pre-2113 were conveniently lost in the Vulcan civil war. Add to this the fact that by the time of the first voyages of the NX-01, there seem to have been an air of resentment and suspicion over the Vulcan prescence rather than respect. Not the attitude one would expect from the Master / Apprentice relationship ussually accepted in the history books.
If not the Vulcans, who then did influence human society so that it made such radical changes? Could there be an element of truth behind the stories of the LIEF Erikson, a secret human society, like the Knights Templar, that was pledged to the defence of an ideal.
I am working on an assumption that there is some fundamental basis of truth to the stories about the LIEF Erikson.
There is an apocryphal story amongst Xenoarchaeologists that an early archaeologist of primitive, pre-First Contact Earth by the name of Schlieman discovered the ruins of Homers Troy and Priams treasure by literally following clues in the text of the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey".
The treasure we seek here is knowledge. Can it too be found by following the legendary texts?
posted by Kirok of LStok at
12:45 pm
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