Ubar is an ancient city buried beneath the Rub' al Khali desert.
Background[]
Ubar was a mythical city which the archeologist Lorenzo Cabot thought to be proof of a precursor civilization to humanity. His theories, and his efforts to find the city, were ridiculed by the rest of his field, but Lorenzo was convinced of its existence.[1]
In 1894, Lorenzo and his colleague Metternich undertook a secret expedition to the Rub' al Khali, seeking to excavate the lost city.[1] After much work, their team came upon a large subterranean complex which Lorenzo believed was the Great Temple of Ubar. Despite setbacks, such as a sandstorm which mysteriously re-buried the site they had found and a tunnel filled by numerous blocks forcing them to carve their way through for weeks, they came across what appeared to be a burial chamber with numerous artifacts and a coffin, containing non-human remains wearing an artifact similar to a crown. Lorenzo took only the crown, which he soon began wearing, and had his team bury the site, intending to return with his family to discover the rest of its secrets.[2] He dated the site to have existed well over 4,000 years before the first human civilizations.[3] Lorenzo never published his findings, and due to circumstances at home, he never managed to return to Ubar.[4] However, he still brought back a variety of findings to his family, including the crown, tools not made for human hands, descriptions of the site's non-conventional geometries and proportions, and carvings hinting at dimensions beyond human knowledge.[1]
Lorenzo's son Jack Cabot reviewed his research later in life, coming to the conclusion that his father's theories were correct. Due to physical and mental alterations brought about by wearing the crown, Lorenzo was unwilling or unable to reveal Ubar's location. However, Jack believed that there were enough clues in Lorenzo's findings that a large-scale search for Ubar using aircraft would be successful.[5][6]
Precursor civilization[]
Lorenzo Cabot theorized that all of mankind originated from a non-human precursor civilization which left its traces throughout early human history, and that the remnants of this precursor could be found at Ubar.[7] His findings apparently indicated the civilization to be highly advanced, with technology far surpassing human creations.[1] Lorenzo also contends that his crown, which granted him incredible supernatural powers, allows him to communicate with members of the precursor culture, though he does not know how or why this is. Purportedly, they have been sharing their knowledge, culture, and philosophy with Lorenzo.[8] One particular insight that Lorenzo apparently learned from the crown was that the city's real name was not Ubar, and the structure his team explored was not a temple.[2]
Appearances[]
Ubar is mentioned only in Fallout 4.
Behind the scenes[]
Ubar shares its name with a legendary lost city known as the Atlantis of the Sands, also believed to be located in Arabia, as well as the lost city Iram of the Pillars mentioned in the Quran.
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 The Sole Survivor: "You said your father found a lost city?"
Jack Cabot: "Yes. He spent years looking, and was widely ridiculed by the so-called experts. I'm ashamed to say even I doubted him. But in the end he found it: a lost city, buried in the sands of the Rub'al Khali, the Empty Quarter of Arabia. Millennia older than the earliest human civilizations. But with technology that seems to have surpassed our own. And yet, everything about it is... strange. Disturbing geometries, tools not made for human hands, carvings that hint at dimensions beyond our own..."
(Jack Cabot's dialogue) - ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lorenzo Cabot's journal
- ↑ The Sole Survivor: "That's really interesting."
Jack Cabot: "I'm glad to hear you say that. It's become my life's work. My approach is to combine a rigorous scientific method while keeping an absolutely open mind. So much has been closed off to us simply because people assumed they already knew the answers. My father excavated a city in the Rub'al Khali in Arabia which he dated to more than 4,000 years before the rise of any known human civilization. The structures and artifacts were... strange. Disturbing, even. Clearly not constructed for or by humans. I've spent my life trying to decipher what he uncovered."
(Jack Cabot's dialogue) - ↑ The Sole Survivor: "I've never heard of any kind of ancient alien civilization before."
Jack Cabot: "You wouldn't have. My father only made one expedition to the lost city, and his findings were never published. The clues were all there, scattered amongst the earliest civilizations... but he was the only one to understand what they meant. He followed them into the Empty Quarter of Arabia, to the nameless city buried in the sand like the mythical Atlantis beneath the waves..."
Note: This option leads into the "Millenia older than the earliest human civilizations" conversation.
(Jack Cabot's dialogue) - ↑ The Sole Survivor: "You have proof?"
Jack Cabot: "Enough to satisfy me. Because of his illness, my father could not or would not explain exactly where he found the lost city. So I've had to confine my studies to what he brought back from his first expedition. But that's been enough to show beyond a doubt that the city he found wasn't made by or for human beings."
Note: This option leads into the "Millenia older than the earliest human civilizations" conversation.
(Jack Cabot's dialogue) - ↑ Cabot House terminal entries; terminal, 05/07/2115
- ↑ The Sole Survivor: "I was intrigued by your theory about an ancient alien civilization."
Jack Cabot: "Yes, if by "alien" you mean a non-human precursor to the commonly understood founding cultures -- Sumer, Egypt, Assyria. It was originally my father's theory. He believed that all of the earliest human civilizations shared some common parent that was unknown to history. Think of Atlantis - the myth of an advanced civilization destroyed by a cataclysm is shared by many widely separated ancient cultures. Eventually, he found was he was looking for - a lost city, buried beneath the sands of the Empty Quarter of the Arabian desert."
(Jack Cabot's dialogue) - ↑ The Sole Survivor: "I was curious about the ancient artifact you always wear."
Lorenzo Cabot: "Jack spent so many futile years trying to understand this. I could have told him everything he wanted to know. Through it, I commune with the ancient minds that founded our civilization. Whether they live within it, or it communicates with them through time or space, or whether it simply holds their memories... I don't know. What I do know is that it has widened my horizons beyond the tiny scope granted to normal men. I spent my long captivity exploring the memories of the ancients - their arts and sciences, their philosophy and worldview."
(Lorenzo Cabot's dialogue)