AAR: Discovery in the Trimble System

Subspace Network Reports
1
SUBMITTED:
Stardate 95454.3
FILED BY:
CAPT S. Bishop
SECURITY:
Level 1 - Open

LOCATION: Trimble System

MISSION: Assist in the discovery of a chamber located in temple ruins.

OUTCOME: Chamber mapped and logged, recovery of a hidden scroll.

KEY PERSONNEL:

CAPT S. Bishop
CAPT S. Draz
CAPT A. Derenzis
CAPT I. Lyn
CAPT A. Nimitz
CMDR J. Kermit
CMDR A. Mandra
LCDR E. Kermit
LT S. Valore

SUBLT S. t'Lhoell

Punch

NARRATIVE: After being briefed about the discovery of a Sh'Varan temple on a planet in the Trimble System after a Hur'q attack brought the ruins to the surface, the away team beamed to the surface to look at a chamber that was found alongside the temple. The Sh'Varan religion consists of an amalgamation of many different alien cultures and faiths; this is reflected in the architecture of their places of worship, which range widely. Because of this, there is no known precedent for such a chamber in the religion, which made the discovery all the more interesting.

The chamber itself was large and circular, arranged in vague concentric circles. The walls were covered in various murals of different deities and cultures, notably Ferengi, Andorian, and Human. In the centre was a stone dais. This was later revealed to be hollow, and is where the scroll was located. Around the chamber were also floating rocks of various sizes, held up by magnetic forces. Touching a rock would move other rocks around it and it was quickly surmised that there was a pattern here. On four rocks, were symbols, shown here:

Spoiler: rocksyb_1Show
q1Pe4To.png
Spoiler: rocksyb_2Show
x8oYNkh.png
Spoiler: rocksyb_3Show
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Spoiler: rocksyb_4Show
jL3WFLB.png

After consulting Sh'Veran mythology, it was ascertained the symbols formed the Sign of Oloron, a deity in the Sh'Varan religion, pictured:

Spoiler: syb_OloronShow
SVmBwOm.png

Rotating the stones around to form this symbol unlocked the stone dais and revealed the scroll. The scroll was recorded and documented, along with the rest of the chamber.

RECOMMENDATION: The scroll has been taken by the reporting officer onboard the Endeavour for further study after consulting with the archaeological team on the planet. Further analysis of the temple and its chamber should be done, especially since scans revealed another chamber underneath the one explored. Furthermore, representatives of the Sh'Varan religion should be consulted whilst the excavation is ongoing, as per the Federation Archaeological Ethics Code.


OOC: This is the AAR for the event It All Depends on How You Look at It . If I made any mistakes, let me know and I'll endeavour to correct them! Event logs are available on request.
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2
SUBMITTED:
Stardate 95573.0
FILED BY:
CAPT S. Bishop
SECURITY:
Level 1 - Open

LOCATION: USS Endeavour

MISSION: Analyse the scroll found in the temple.

OUTCOME: Scroll had no visible text. Ages of the scroll and temple estimated.

KEY PERSONNEL:

CAPT S. Bishop

ANALYSIS: Following careful analysis of the scroll, I have compiled the following report. Upon careful unravelling, the scroll showed no signs of any inscriptions during the testing. The scroll itself was not made from parchment or any animal hide as would be expected but instead made of a transparent plastic-polymer type material. Radioactive dating on the scroll shows that the scroll is between nine to twelve million years old.

Data from this officer's own scans has placed the temple to be between one to two million years old, significantly younger than the scroll found within. A large portion of the building was built using locally sourced stone, however, there is evidence of advanced technology in the forms of the antigravity and the power source in the temple (which has still remained undiscovered to my knowledge).

DISCUSSION: From the data, it is clear that the scroll is much older than the temple itself, indicating that it was placed in the temple after the temple's construction. This could mean a number of things, including the possibility that the temple was constructed to house this scroll.

The scroll itself is made with rather advanced materials which are curious for its age. This is made even more curious, given the knowledge we have about the Sh'Varan religion; as aforementioned, the religion is an amalgamation of various other religions, and is relatively young; certainly not millions of years old. There is no evidence that we have currently about the religion's origins. Given this knowledge, the material used for this scroll predates the technology used for any of the civilisations that partake in this religion.

Furthermore, the initial dating of the ruins placed them at around six thousands years old. This temple is older than these ruins even taking into account the potential error in dating. Given that there is no previous knowledge of Sh'Varan temples, it is my opinion that this temple is much older than originally thought, predating the Sh'Varan religion. The nature of the construction of the temple is also curious; the technology used to construct such a building requires a high level of technological development. Given what we know about the planet, there has never been a native civilisation on the planet, and thus, the construction of these buildings, including the ruins, must come from a distant civilisation.

In summary, the evidence that I have gathered from this scroll and the temple indicate that this is not Sh'Varan in origin, but the remains of an unknown civilisation from before. Given the Sh'Varan doctrine of absorbing multiple religions to form one, there is a possibility that the Sh'Varans have repurposed these ruins for their own belief. It is a possibility that the Sh'Varan religion was born from these customs, though there is little evidence either way. In any case, the scroll predates both the temple and the Sh'Varan religion.

RECOMMENDATION: Further analysis must be made on the temples to ascertain the origins. It is interesting to see the design on the temple rocks which opened the dias in the centre relate to Sh'Varan mythology, which gives credit to the idea that the religion took aspects of a previous civilisation in their belief, but it could also have been edited or constructed for the Sh'Varan religion separately. The latter point could explain why the temple had signs of advanced technology separate from the building materials local to the planet. Analysis of the temple construction could shed light on this. Analysis of the symbols and inscriptions could give us a date of their placement in contrast to the temple building.

In addition to this, the scroll will be returned to the archaeological team for further analysis. It is my belief that destructive methods might be needed to understand the scroll further, but as I am not the lead archaeologist in the dig, it would not be ethical for me to undertake such research.


OOC: This is a report on the analysis of the scroll from information given to me by Kat. Blame me for any mistakes.
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