The Creatures, Objects,

1
The Creatures, Objects, Mysteries of
Xg57H4yfragmented images froma long extinct
planetary culture
2

• Background
• The visual data samples gathered here, along
  with the fragmentary documents encoded in printed
  symbols provided to you as a separate unit, are
  the only surviving remnants of the long dead
  civilization that once flourished on the remote
  planet Xg57H4y, which seems interestingly to have
  been referred to by its inhabitants simply as
  earth." The documents and images were
  miraculously retrieved from a space capsule of
  unknown origin launched during what appears to
  have been a period of intense cultural activity.
• The printed documents were encoded in
  Xg57H4y's most widely used symbolic code for data
  dissemination, apparently known to its users as
  English," which has already been deciphered for
  you in the version available to you. Those
  documents clearly reflect ideas and practices of
  importance to at least some of the creatures
  living on Xg57H4y though it is unclear which if
  any of the life forms glimpsed in the following
  visual data were responsible for creating the
  documents themselves.
• I have made some conjectures based on the
  available materials, regarding the nature of the
  objects in these images but much work remains to
  be done. I invite you to join me in
  reconstructing, to whatever extent possible based
  on these images accompanying documents, the
  features of the culture which produced them. You
  may even wish to speculate, as I sometimes do, on
  how this culture might have evolved, and what led
  to its eventual demise.

3
1. Living Creatures
Xg57H4y was evidently inhabited by two types of
living creatures those primarily covered with
hair, and those with smooth outer surfaces of
various types. The hairy creatures, though
evidently outnumbered by smooth-skinner ones,
were clearly of superior intelligence and
character.Smooth-skinner creatures seem mostly
to keep their bodies covered, at least in part,
with (often brighly colored) textile fabrics.
Though endowed with more supple and variegated
bodies, such creatures were clearly plagued with
deformities and disease, and given to constant
distraction and even mania many of the documents
provided along with these images seem to reflect
their various fascinating pathologies. With
regards to specific parts of the bodies of these
creatures, the most complex and often featured
part features seven orifices, ostensibly allowing
for sensory input, though which type of senses
and how many different ones these beings had
access to is unclear.
4
creatures with bodies mostly covered by hair
5
hairy creatures with more unusual forms
6
contortion intertwining of bodies
7
aggressive (military?) activities
8
oddly shaped (diseased?) creatures
9
machines linked to bodies
10
clear capacity for flight
11
unidentified object commonly placed close to faces
12
smooth-skinnedcreatures close-upfacial
deformities of various types
13
multipurpose limbs clearly used for
symbolic communication action symbols? vs. object
symbols?
14
more complex forms of communication
15
communication involving various instruments
16
alternative theories argue that longer limbs were
also used to communicate, and perhaps even more
important
17
a hidden orifice (for sensory input or removing
waste?) symbolic signs placed on other parts of
the body.
18
2. Landscapes,Structures Machines
Some of the most striking images in
this collection reveal startlingly beautiful
landscapes which seem to have been almost
entirely ignored by the manic smooth-skinned
creatures whose features are so thoroughly
portrayed in the images of the preceding section.
While it is clear that a few (perhaps widely
famous) smooth-skinned explorers did venture into
such realms--hence the images we have of them--it
seems that smooth-skinned creatures as a whole
preferred to remain isolated amongst the
structures and machines of their own
making--though note that hairy creatures are
commonly shown against the backgrounds of such
realms, once again suggesting their superior
intelligence and character. The only image that
directly shows smooth-skinner explorers of
ignored landscapes suggests that even they relied
primarily on machines when venturing into such
realms indeed, a number of other images show
mechanical instruments of unidentified functions
placed in landscapes, perhaps to obtain
information about them from a distance. The
remainder of the images show complex structures
and machines used for various purposes, though it
is difficult to discern for certain what those
purposes were and which which of the planets
creatures constructed them.
19
ignored landscapes
20
apparent attempts to study these ignored
landscapes through mechanical means
21
rare and perhaps famous explorers of ignored
landscapes(note here too reliance on mechanical
appendages)
22
glossy structures, perhaps explicitly designed
for various manic activities
23
slanted structure with rough surface,perhaps
constructed by hairy creature?
24
oddly shaped structure suggesting difference in
status,or perhaps waste disposal
25
most likely towersof various types
26
unidentified instruments, perhaps for
cross-planetary travel
27
3. Mysteries
Apart from the uncertain nature of creatures and
objects noted in the previous sections, quite a
few of the images of Xg57H4y present us with
questions that are nearly impossible to answer
with any sense of certainty. Once again I invite
you to consider these puzzling data samples, and
perhaps suggest theories to account for their
existence.
28
postures of submission?
29
smooth-skinned creature immersed in fluid
30
an odd combination of hairy and smooth-skinned
creatures
31
not exactly hairy, yet strikingly different from
the usual features of a smooth-skinned creature
32
a strangely two dimensional record of oddly
colored smooth-skinned creatures(perhaps traces
of abject poverty /or enslavement?)
33
the posterior section of an unidentified creature
34
landscape or living creature?
35
perhaps a wind turbine of some sort?
36
possibly an orbiting space station?
37
blueprint for primitive circuitry of some type?
38
perhaps a further clue re the unidentified
object so often held