Discoveries From the Tower of Light

Discoveries From the Tower of Light (@ATowerOfMadness) is a Twitter bot in which "you" are an exo-archaeologist, and you have come to study a civilization long dead. All you know for sure about this ancient people is that their architecture and digital spaces were all composed of light. Solid, liquid, thrumming, pure Light. You have come to their one known ruin in this star cluster, and you have entered their Tower.

 

This bot is a cannibalized from of my in-progress game "A Tower of Madness and Light" in which you play as this exo-archaeologist and build the narrative of this civ's downfall. The game began with inspiration from exo-archaeology in science fiction films (think Alien and Prometheus), archaeology from our own world, and a hefty dose of moodiness inspired by Solarpunk readings, Jeff Vandermeer's Annihilation, and watching the film Event Horizon, among other nerdy things.

 

The bot presents generated findings from the Tower, each a piece in a generative puzzle housed within the reader's head. The civilization itself is an amalgamation of words pulled from the bot, and influences from the reader's life and media exposure. No reader, no participant, can ever have the same ancient civ, and in the TTRPG version I will rely upon the ambiguity of the Tarot deck to elicit and embed a narrative of decline, or utter destruction.

 

It is currently in progress and I intend to focus on things left behind by one civilization for another, on purpose or inadvertently. I intend to raise questions about technology and legacy, progress and extinction. I want to evoke a feeling with this bot, as you enter an ancient ruin built of solid light, and commune with their dead.

Still working on it all!

Thanks for checking it out,

Ewan Matthews | @ThePringularity