archaeogaming
Past Meets Present in Local Serenity
Introduction Local Serenity is a star system in the Amino Hub near the home of the Pilgrim Star, which I wrote about recently. The system as of June 3, 2018, […]
Introduction
Local Serenity is a star system in the Amino Hub near the home of the Pilgrim Star, which I wrote about recently. The system as of June 3, 2018, contains three planets and one moon, all of which are of historic importance to the lore of No Man’s Sky, some of which contain material evidence of past events, while other human-built structures and memorials are now lost to time, preserved only online, and still other places mix the past with the present where old monuments exist side-by-side with more recent ones as they do today on Earth. This post discusses each of the planets (and moon), what happened in the past (pre-Atlas Rises), and what remains now.
Twin Vision
On or around April 27, 2014, a peace treaty was signed between the Hova Empire and the Bez Harr concern, whose conflict I have continued to stumble upon via structures and communication stations scattered across the Galactic Hub. The two parties chose this neutral location to end hostilities, and the planet’s founder, SpaceArtGek, dropped a comm ball with a message to commemorate the event (see opening image). A writeup on the Atlas Rises version of Twin Vision hints that the comm ball can still be found, but underwater. My exploration of that planet did not find the memorial anywhere among the 20-odd comm stations identified.
No Man’s Sky_20180602081837
No Man’s Sky_20180602081914
No Man’s Sky_20180602082019
No Man’s Sky_20180602082841
No Man’s Sky_20180602082912
No Man’s Sky_20180602082948
No Man’s Sky_20180602083408
What remains now is SpaceArtGek’s current base, Whole Foods, and an Olympic racetrack for the 2017 games. The only evidence of any kind of historic events remains online only, and no longer on the planet.
Land o Lakes
No Man’s Sky_20180603075903
No Man’s Sky_20180603080331
No Man’s Sky_20180603082926
No Man’s Sky_20180603083714
No Man’s Sky_20180603084536
Before August 11, 2017, Land o Lakes used to be a green, watery world. It was home to SpaceArtGek’s Ocopadica Research Center, a kind of zoological and oceanographic base, which was later dismantled as the player relocated to Gek’s Moon. An earlier Gamepedia post notes that an exocraft bay and comm ball had been left behind, but as of June 3, 2018, neither are present. Comms do remain, however, to indicate two lakes used for past Olympic events where players could compete in surviving attacks of the megafaunic Ocoshark. Of the two marked lakes, only one contained a single Ocoshark. Of the comm stations found, one marks the current location of a portal (046A:0082:01B9:00ED), one proclaims the Hova Empire, and one marks the location of a crashed ship, which can no longer be seen/recovered.
No Man’s Sky_20180603075839
No Man’s Sky_20180603080020
No Man’s Sky_20180603080118
No Man’s Sky_20180603082523
No Man’s Sky_20180603082839
No Man’s Sky_20180603083320
No Man’s Sky_20180603083522
No Man’s Sky_20180603083555
No Man’s Sky_20180603084043
No Man’s Sky_20180603084244
Desert Dreams/Frozen Dreams
What used to be a giant, glacial planet is now a hot, uninhabitable desert. The planet has been renamed from Frozen Dreams to Desert Dreams. A Gamepedia post notes that the planet contains a comm station commemorating the visit of the Galactic Hub Ambassador as well as directions to the Hub’s winter embassy. Neither of those bits of information remain. Two current (June 3, 2018) comms bear mentioning, however. The first is a comm ball suspended in mid-air noting the location of a Class B ship, which is no longer visible. Instead, below the comm ball is an unmarked grave. For those needing a glyph, the grave can still be activated.
No Man’s Sky_20180603220835
No Man’s Sky_20180603220952
No Man’s Sky_20180603220924
No Man’s Sky_20180603221158
No Man’s Sky_20180603220852
No Man’s Sky_20180603221021
No Man’s Sky_20180603221041
No Man’s Sky_20180603221050
No Man’s Sky_20180603221109
No Man’s Sky_20180603221123
No Man’s Sky_20180603221059
No Man’s Sky_20180603221132
The second comm ball I found contains a URL (code onMQ) for additional lore about the formation of the system, specifically describing the “Magical Beach,” now an extinct place:
Gek’s Moon
The final celestial body in the Local Serenity system is Gek’s Moon, which used to be home to a research base, now gone, replaced by a generic base unit. Surrounding the unit, however, are 30 communication stations from all periods of No Man’s Sky history. Some pods are suspended in the air, while others are buried, indicated the moon’s past topography. The old merge with the new, past and present talking with each other as pilgrims visit to read messages left behind by NMS‘s first wave of astro-navigators: KingJamesHova, NMSSurvivalGuru, Doglegsxr, and Boid Gaming, plus visits from members of The Spacing Guild (TSG). As with other features in this system, most are reported, but are now missing post-Atlas Rises. This includes the Nomad racetrack.
No Man’s Sky_20180603173644
No Man’s Sky_20180603173757
No Man’s Sky_20180603174314
No Man’s Sky_20180603174451
No Man’s Sky_20180603174612
No Man’s Sky_20180603174655
No Man’s Sky_20180603174744
No Man’s Sky_20180603174828
No Man’s Sky_20180603174922
No Man’s Sky_20180603175611
No Man’s Sky_20180603180036
No Man’s Sky_20180603175748
No Man’s Sky_20180603175836
No Man’s Sky_20180603175947
No Man’s Sky_20180603180127
No Man’s Sky_20180603180236
No Man’s Sky_20180603180330
No Man’s Sky_20180603180425
No Man’s Sky_20180603180502
No Man’s Sky_20180603180614
No Man’s Sky_20180603180710
No Man’s Sky_20180603180804
No Man’s Sky_20180603180856
No Man’s Sky_20180603181000
No Man’s Sky_20180603181155
| No. | Color | Placed By | Text | Note |
| 1 | Orange | LeFouCyril | Was a great experience thanks | Near monument |
| 2 | Blue w orange trim | doglegsxr | Run Away Run Away | |
| 3 | Red w black trim | Unknown | Triangle is THE best shape | In air |
| 4 | Orange | Unknown | Greetings from General Mills 6/24/17 | In air |
| 5 | Orange | NmsSurvivalGuru | Im Back Baby YEAH!!! | Buried |
| 6 | Red w black trim | catsatmegs | WE ARE SR375-DOGLEGSXR-AH- | In air |
| 7 | Orange | mclizard420 | Hello from the Spacing Guild 6.23.17 | |
| 8 | Orange | mr7er123456 | Greetings and thanks for the nip 😉 | |
| 9 | Blue w green trim | OldMcReaper88 | Greetings from The Spacing Guild. 5/14/17 | |
| 10 | Orange | FatherMac | What it do?! TSG-FM 6/8/17 | |
| 11 | Yellow w black trim | Bowzilla666 | Nice moon! | |
| 12 | Orange | Unknown | NMSSurvivalGuru was here 4/2017 | In air |
| 13 | Orange | SneakingMilk | Gek nips are the best nips | Buried |
| 14 | Orange | Boid86 | Boid was ere 18/4/17 | In air |
| 15 | Blue w green trim | CalamityMaim | I travelled worlds to find you (Sguild) | |
| 16 | Yellow w black trim | MCM71083 | Visit BH system, reg crdnts peak mt Hova | |
| 17 | Orange | Satzi77 | I think I was here 🙂 | |
| 18 | White w blue trim | cyberspacemonkey | Hello travellers | |
| 19 | Orange | phlppnc | Amf89 was here May 2nd 2017 | |
| 20 | Orange | DeeMEmuLion | The Captain was here 5/10/17 | |
| 21 | Orange | Fullman_Katz | Beware of the crabs!! | |
| 22 | Blue w yellow trim | soutoyobes | Greetings from The Spacing Guild | |
| 23 | Orange | Matthew71NSW | Open invite to #theAGT region any time! | |
| 24 | Orange | ptd10032 | Howdy, Howdy | |
| 25 | Orange | WarEaglePrime | Fun Race! Great Base! | |
| 26 | Orange | LlamaJuu | Hello friend 🙂 | |
| 27 | Orange | niblet2121 | Thanks for the nips but…… | Buried |
| 28 | Orange | Normi1701 | Richie Rich 😉 | In Emeril cave |
| 29 | Orange | Unknown | Sodacon Rocks | In air (ship only) |
| 30 | White w red trim | Unknown | King HOV has landed | In air (ship only) |
—Andrew Reinhard, Archaeogaming
Archaeogaming
Archaeogaming is a collective of gamers who are interested in applying archaeological methods while exploring game-worlds. We are interested in the evolution of gaming worlds and in the use of archaeology while in-game. Archaeogaming was founded by Andrew Reinhard on June 9, 2013.
Archaeogaming 