It has been a long while since I was not around, probably long enough that the whole crew that hangs out here has changed. I remember the wild theories and lore talks we used to have and to be honest, I really miss those days. So I would like to revive that tradition of ours with you folks, both in hopes of getting this place a bit more traction and getting to know you guys, because I have no idea who is who but I think this crew has the Blue Light to figure out the answers to some of our questions, especially considering that the amount of both leads and questions has never been more.

With a new DLC and spin-off on the horizon (XD), I was thinking of writing a little fanfiction set in an alternate universe where Ted Faro never deleted APOLLO and the Zero Dawn humans created an advanced society with the help of GAIA and her subordinate functions. What do you think would be the roles of the subfunctions in this new world? This are my initial ideas:

MINERVA - With her Spires, they would establish a global network that allows long ranged communications between the human communities (like a more advanced version of the internet).

HEPHAESTUS - The access to all the Cauldron facilities would give humanity a 100% automated, efficient and with nigh-unlimited possibilities man-power to play with, thus increasing their technological advancement to unknown levels.

AETHER - Humans could use AETHER's machines to control and regulate the weather as they like, such as preventing some climatic catastrophes (storms, flood, wildfires, droughts...).

POSEIDON - The subfunction would probably give all humanity access to free clean water.

DEMETER - With DEMETER's machines, advanced botanic knowledge and control of global flora, humans would grow enormous quantities of food, capable of feeding the entire world.

ARTEMIS - Aside from continuing its task of fauna reintroduction, ARTEMIS would help teach humanity about animals preservation.

ELEUTHIA - Humans could take advantage of the subfunction's knowledge of the human body to improve its medical capabilities, going even further to genetic engineering (much to PBK dismay).

APOLLO - APOLLO's archive and curriculum could be implemented in schools and academies to increase human collective knowledge, where scientists and researchers could contribute with more knowledge to it and the cycle goes on, growing ever stronger.

HADES - In this new world, where advanced humans would take care of the biosphere, I believe that HADES would be permanently deactivated.

So, what do you think? Any more ideas on the subject?

It starts out after humans die. HEPHAESTUS deploys 4 machines at most: the Scrapper, Glinthawk, Scrounger, and Clamberjaw. Their task was to build the Spire in order for MINERVA to brute force the Faro swarm's deactivation codes. The scavengers get scrap metal. Glinthawks place metal on the higher parts, while Scrappers and Scroungers (which may have used something similar to the Scrappers) weld it together. Clamberjaws climb up, placing metal on some higher areas. MINERVA uses the transmission arrays to send out the deactivation codes for the Faro swarm. This marks the end of the "Triassic" era of GAIA.

The "Jurassic" era starts with the creation of the first Cauldrons: GEMINI, OMEGA, and ALPHA. (the last two were probably the first) and the deployment of the Purifier subclass of the Acquisition class of machines. The Stormbird purified the air. Snapmaws purified water. Lancehorns drilled deep into the ground instilling Chillwater into the ground. The Chillwater Canister Burrower may have been deployed as a purifier. As more Cauldrons needed to be built, the Transport class was created to aid the scavengers. Once the ground was purified, the Terraformer class was deployed. They tilled the earth and planted seeds, preparing the world for the humans to be deployed. The Recon class (including Tallnecks) were deployed to get the lay of the land.

Now we have the current era, the "Cretaceous" where humans and animals are starting to be deployed from the Cradles. Nemesis sends the Extinction Signal and HEPHAESTUS starts making the Combat machines. Then the events of the games.

But what are the Cauldrons for animals then?

You know the ones.

It sure is pretty interesting...

Happy birthday our favourite machine hunter!

In the datapoint HEPHAESTUS Revisited, Beta says that HEPHAESTUS' contact with the Far Zenith network would give it access to more advanced technologies. That got me thinking: what if HEPHAESTUS starts creating Specter-like variants of the preexisting machines, and then it makes new machines. Also, Guerilla PLEASE give us Sawtooth in third game because I miss it and HZD is outdated so I'm not gonna play that again.

My question about ELEUTHIA is: how many people would she have gestated when activated? I know this isn't very relevant to the plot, but, as a student in the field, this question stuck with me. I don't think it could generate many humans at once, probably because of a certain operational and occupational limit of the Cradle facilities (from what we've seen of ELEUTHIA-9, it doesn't look like they could fit, I don't know, 2000 people inside). But, on the other hand, the initial population could not be too small either, because, in a few centuries, this would cause a genetic bottleneck effect in the local population (in which the genetic diversity would decrease more and more until it starts to cause certain diseases and others problems). What do you think about that? (if you ever think about that, of course)

(my english is very crude, so, please, pardon me!)

For all these years, I thought that the childhood home scene from Horizon Zero Dawn was going to be some kind of epilogue scene for the next game, you know, since Elisabet's home was outside Carson City, Nevada (ZD map ends in western Utah for those unfamiliar with the lore), meaning that Aloy had already been to the Forbidden West and is familiar with the region, but she is shown already having Elisabet's pendant at the start of HFW. My disappointment is immeasurable.

I was having a nice day, chillşng but then this came to my mind.

Why?

Why are you trying to make me sad, universe?

I hate you, universe.

Whatever, let me ruin your day too.

(Forbidden west spoiler)

So Elysium apparently shut down before it was supposed to. Given all the other false deaths with Fero and Far Zenith why do I get the feeling that the Elysium‘s also unlocked Immortality and are going to be a possible threat

SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It could be possible since Ted wanted to live on. As Aloy says, they do have a lot in common with the very idiotic attitude and being extremely entitled I think he could be a genetic clone of Ted. Heck, if you wanted to go even deeper you can say he started the Quen as a tribe by discovering a Focus. Even his name seems to be a reference as Ted was the chief executive officer (CEO) of Faro Automated Solutions however this could be an intentional reference by the developers.

Comment your thoughts!!!!!!!!!