Ark: The Story So Far... (Spoiler Warning)

[CyanicEmber]

Hey everyone, my name is CyanicEmber.

I have playing ARK since shortly after it’s initial EA release in June of 2015. Ever since the first Explorer Notes were released I’ve been fascinated by the story and background of the game. I’ve watched countless videos, listened to commentaries, read comments, theories, etc… And very few people really seem to have a cohesive image of what’s going on and why, or even a general timeline of events.

Frankly, I doubt that we have been given enough information for any one person to be 100% correct about everything, but I’m going to write down what I believe is a pretty solid account and I will be using Explorer Notes and maybe Dossiers (if applicable) as references, just so I can prove what I’m saying.

So yeah, let’s get started:

The Inciting Incident

We awake in a mysterious land without having any memory of how we got there. The ecosystem seems pretty standard, but our attention is immediately arrested by the three enormous free-floating structures that dot the horizon, Obelisks. Unable to understand what we are seeing, we wander until we encounter the first of many strange creatures that should clearly not be our contemporaries, and we also quickly realize that we are on some sort of Island with no feasible means of escape.

As we continue to explore we stumble across Notes written by previous denizens of The Island; these notes describe multiple tribes which seem to be mysteriously absent from The Island, a strange cave in the center of the Island, and artifacts needed to access it. So we follow in the footsteps of these survivors, taming creatures, mastering our environment, learning of their past as we go, until finally we reach the Tek Cave.

Along the way, we learn a few things:

•   The Implant in our arms governs our physical conditioning and acts as a universal translator which transcends language barriers, but it either cannot or does not translate ARK Code. (Sources: Mei Yin Note #5 - The Island and Player Experience)

 

•   The Island is contained within a space station that orbits what appears to be the planet Earth and there are multiple space stations of identical design, which means multiple Islands. (Sources: Helena Note #30 – The Island, Helena Note #7 – Scorched Earth, Player Experience)

 

• The ARK seems to act as some sort of Preservation Facility, most creatures are taken from Earth’s Pangeaic Era, some have significant genetic and behavioral modifications. (Sources: The Island Observation Platform - Alcove #1, Helena Notes #10-12 and #15 - The Island, Helena Notes #4 and #7 – Scorched Earth)

 

•  All humans were taken from various time periods within the Continental Era, and their preservation record indicates that they have gone extinct. (Sources: The Island Observation Platform – Alcove #2)

 

•   What remains of humanity are the Homo Deus, a seemingly incorporeal and digitized version of humankind who have evolved to become “one with the machine.” It is possible that they have learned to seamlessly blend the language of DNA with that of Computer Code as indicated by the Quaternary nature of their language. They are listed as endangered. Although we might presume that the ARKs were created to save them from extinction, it’s not something we can say for certain at this point. (Sources: The Island Observation Platform, Alcove #3)

 

•   The ARKs are curated by Overseers, powerful Artificial Intelligences who, though resistant to survivor incursion, seem to act more as a test of strength than as a preventative barrier. Also, upon defeating an Overseer, the Implant seems to unlock some kind of hidden potential within a human. Finally, the Overseer itself retreats to reconstitute and await the next challenger every time it is defeated… (Sources: Nerva Note #29, Mei Yin Note #31 – The Island, Player Experience) [Nerva and his men fought it and prevailed, then Mei Yin fought it and prevailed, and finally, the Player Character does the same. It is clearly either immortal or new Overseers can be created on demand.]

 

•   A Survivor’s implant records every major victory over what the ARK system calls “Ultimate Lifeforms.” Interestingly, the Overseer is considered one of them, and like the Overseer, these lifeforms seem to be revived each time they are defeated. (Sources: Helena Note #28 - Scorched Earth)

 

•   Survivors who defeat the Overseer of their ARK were at one point allowed to select another ARK to go to from an existing database. (Though now it seems like the whole system has been jury rigged into a specific order? I may be grasping at straws, but on the other hand, Helena and Mei Yin may have intentionally made such changes to the system at some point after arriving on Earth? Perhaps they intend for us to finish what they could not?)

 

The Middle Cycle

 

Scorched Earth –

While standing in frightened awe of our discoveries and our victory, we suddenly find ourselves hurdling through space and able to spy hundreds if not thousands of other ARKs orbiting a now desolate planet Earth. One ARK in particular catches our attention, it’s Observation platform has been destroyed, it’s atmospheric barrier eliminated, and its surface has been charred by solar radiation.

But that is not where we’re going just yet, our next destination is the Desert ARK, Scorched Earth, which, interestingly enough, is precisely where Helena and Rockwell ended up. (Again, I wonder if that’s coincidence?)

We follow in their footsteps, learning a few more interesting facts, mastering a variety of new creatures and technology, and besting yet another of the ARK’s Ultimate Lifeforms, The Manticore. Although the Ascension sequence on Scorched Earth would certainly provide us with more clues, it has not yet been implemented, so we learn a bit less here than on The Island or Aberration. However, we do learn a few more tidbits:

•   It seems that human settlements which meet certain unknown criteria are automatically eliminated from the ARK system by the Obelisks, as with Nosti. (If true, that suggests that the system is looking for individuals who will act a certain way or who have certain traits, and has no need for others.)

 

•   Interestingly, it seems that Scorched Earth only ever had one Ultimate Lifeform, and perhaps no Overseer? I say this because when Helena and Rockwell entered Scorched Earth’s Observation Platform, they passed on to Aberration with no resistance. Perhaps you only need to defeat one Overseer to gain, for lack of a better word, “clearance” to travel the ARK network? Maybe they were allowed to pass freely intentionally?

 

• Having read Mei Yin, Nerva, Helena, and Rockwell’s accounts up to this point, it seems that there was a period when humans killed on the ARK were not resurrected? (A more dubious factoid, but there are tons and tons of Explorer Notes that record human deaths, but none that record their revival...)

 

After leaving Scorched Earth we find ourselves on a severely damaged and yet somehow familiar ARK: the same one we saw when we Ascended from The Island. Interestingly, despite suffering catastrophic levels of damage, the ARK system seems relatively intact and functioning. Yet again, we are able to pick up the threads left by previous Survivors and for the first time, we are left with the account of humans who came from our future, and what we learn about this Aberration is truly fascinating:

 

•   Diana and her people come from an Era in Earth’s history when what we call “TEK” is the standard of technological development and Element is a well-known substance. They are thoroughly familiar with TEK Armor and Diana herself is certified to operate it. (Sources: Diana Notes #1-5)

 

•   We also learn from her records that they essentially rigged up a Tek-Nuke and blew Aberration’s Observation Platform and Overseer to hell; causing the catastrophic system failure that eliminated the atmospheric shield and left the surface of this ARK vulnerable to solar fire. (Sources: Diana Notes #8-11)

 

•   Since the surface of this ARK was Element rich, it is logical to assume that constant exposure to solar fire caused some of that element to become molten and run into the caves below. Why it stays molten is anyone’s guess, but it clearly has mutagenic properties and that is what caused a lot of the mutations in surviving species. (Sources: Rockwell Notes #3 and #7 – Aberration)

 

•   Once again we see an automated attempt by the Obelisks to reset human progress on the ARK, only this time, the system is hacked into and disabled. The trigger in this case seems to be that the humans were close to escaping the ARK Network. They were clearly never meant to reach Earth’s surface, at least not yet, but that is where the Gateway Project was targeting.

 

•   Diana’s 13^th Note refers to a teleportation frequency that is different from the standard ARK Network frequencies. The three main frequencies seem to correspond to the primary colors red, blue, and green, as seen in the Obelisks themselves and in the Gateway Project’s first three rings, while this new frequency seems to correspond to the color yellow, as seen in the fourth ring of the Gateway Project and the yellow Obelisk on Earth’s surface. (Which seems to power down shortly after we reach it, why?)

 

•   Helena Note #26 and Rockwell Notes 28-30 indicate that after injecting himself with Molten Element, Rockwell established a direct line of communication between the ARK system and his mind. He was able to manipulate existing creatures and create his own by using these systems, and he attacked Mei Yin, Helena, Santiago, and the other survivors repeatedly using these creatures. (Likely Nameless and Reapers) What’s most interesting to me however, is that Rockwell begins to speak the same Quaternary language we’ve previously seen in the ARK System after interfacing with it, and it actually indicates to him that there is “a higher plane” than what he has achieved. My belief? That “higher plane” is the one walked by the Homo Deus; a sort of “digitized” life, and it is the goal of all ARKs to get their human specimens to that point by any means necessary.

 

The Climax

 

So what does all this mean? What are the ARKs really? What has become of Earth and why? Who are the Homo Deus?

One of my working theories is this… When humanity ascended to become Homo Deus they continuously experimented with the recombination of computer code and DNA creating endless numbers of creatures from all eras of history and all corners of the human mythos, they resurrected, they hybridized, they built, they theorized, they sought to improve endlessly on what they already had… And in the end, they achieved a terrible success.

They created the ultimate pinnacle of life, a perfect and almost infinitely powerful cybernetic god with all the best traits of the biological and the artificial. They created the one true ultimate lifeform that could adapt to anything; and it turned on it’s creators. It turned on the whole planet.

Whatever it was, and whether in spite of their digitized nature, or because of it, the Homo Deus were powerless against the beast they created.

In a last-ditch effort to destroy it, they detonated the most powerful explosive in the history of mankind and left a scar across over 30% of the planet. (You can see the aftermath of an event on that scale if you look at the Earth in the Ascension Scene in game.) Even this didn’t kill it, so they retreated to the one place it couldn’t reach them, space. There they established the ARK Network and created Overseers, revived ancient man, and began a grand experiment in an attempt to evolve a single individual or group of individuals with the traits necessary to challenge and defeat The Ultimate Lifeform and reclaim earth.

Honestly, the more I think about it, the more little holes I see in my crazy idea… But it’s something.

Anyway I hope you all enjoyed reading this; if I missed something or got anything definitely wrong and you have evidence, please let me know and I’ll correct what I’ve written.

In the mean time, what ideas do you all have? Where do you think the story will go from here? I am super excited to see what’s next and hope the door is left open for expansions even beyond Extinction! (Though they would probably follow a different story, or simply be entirely content based. Either way, no complaints here.  )

 

[Skiidzman]

Very cool.  I have no clue... it's a unique story nonetheless.

[Martellus]

I like the theory, it does have a place on it. I wish I could debate more efficiently, but with so many explorer notes written on other languages it makes it hard to know for sure if the translation is accurate or not, but as far as the english / latim portion goes, it seems to support at the very least part of your theory, if not the whole thing. 

I hope to debate this more in depth once I personally ascend. It might take a while.

Cheers, keep it up!

[Monarch]

I think there are way too many different ways to go with this to really have a story at this point (it could be earth was destroyed just by human mismanagement as is going on now, and they left to the arks where they could have an ecosystem and you're essentially going backwards from the route taken by the humans from earth, it could be so many things there just isnt enough info at this point) But I really appreciate this compilation, the game has great lore =3

[davidcostarica]

This is so good, make a book man!

[DomiDarko]

3 hours ago, Martellus said:

I like the theory, it does have a place on it. I wish I could debate more efficiently, but with so many explorer notes written on other languages it makes it hard to know for sure if the translation is accurate or not, but as far as the english / latim portion goes, it seems to support at the very least part of your theory, if not the whole thing. 

I hope to debate this more in depth once I personally ascend. It might take a while.

Cheers, keep it up!

When you open / look at an explorer note there should be a "translation button" on the upper screen.  

[MetalstormHaze]

Has no one touched on the reality that Rockwell wasn't evil, slightly wrong maybe, but definitely the overall good guy here.

Now... Helena... She's the true villain of the story. She's NOT from 2008. Rockwell was right to be cautious about the teleportation experiment but was rushed into madness to try and stop further damage. He only cares for discovery, Helena only cares for survival of self.

I sense betrayal... I sense a didact (halo reference) with a rifle and a Tek raptor...

Rockwell fight I called back on island so I'm pretty sure I'm not wrong here .. I'm confident that the true overseer if you will, has been observing too closely, not just from the data it received from implants but by being one of the implants. 

[MistaArkGuy]

Seems pretty accurate to me. I like to think that the overseers might actually be the Homo Deus. Has anyone else wondered why they stopped taking people from the past and started genetically creating humans to put on the arks? Maybe they thought the genetically created humans would be easier to manage considering what happened to the aberration ark with Diana.

[d1nk]

1 hour ago, MistaArkGuy said:

Seems pretty accurate to me. I like to think that the overseers might actually be the Homo Deus. Has anyone else wondered why they stopped taking people from the past and started genetically creating humans to put on the arks? Maybe they thought the genetically created humans would be easier to manage considering what happened to the aberration ark with Diana.

All of the people (even main ones) are all genetically made but implanted with memories. 

[MistaArkGuy]

But still why did they stop inserting memories? 

[CyanicEmber]

Welp, I actually wasn't that far off.  Yay me.

[spoodermanultra]

My thought is that the AI they made was not turning on them. Well, not exactly. The Overseer AI was basically a genuinely benevolent god. However, when Homo Deus became endangered, it decided to put them on the Arks. Either this next part is a plot hole on my side or a logical fallacy on The Overseer's side. Why would it put humans on a Ark filled with dinosaurs? Some of the most dangerous animals in Earth's history? Let me know if this sparked any new ideas in your brain.

[EdwardtheReaper9]

According to your theory, is the beast that you say the King Titan?

[EdwardtheReaper9]

The beast you mention in your theory, do you mean the King Titan?

[PFM]

On 12/26/2017 at 10:08 AM, davidcostarica said:

This is so good, make a book man!

Well it's not HIS story. He's just summarizing it. Him writing a book wouldn't really make sense all things considered. 

[puernatura]

Does anyone have a post-Extinction update for this?

[TheDonn]

7 hours ago, puernatura said:

Does anyone have a post-Extinction update for this?

We've basically learned from Extinction how Element came to Earth, the real origins and intent behind the ARKs, what Element can do (and it's not all good), and how the Earth got in the shape it is in.  We also learned what we needed to do to start the process of fixing the Earth, and about the first survivor resurrected (Diana Altaras) after Helena digitizes herself and figures out how to do it.  All from the survivor notes leading up to and within Extinction.

And, that Mei Yin is basically indestructible.

[Fulton]

i will never fully understand ark

[Hdhdhdh]

Anyone make a theory of this after genesis