The Ancient Ones

It is generally accepted among the denizens of Terra A.D. that there once existed a legendary race of unknown type that ruled and ordered the world with an arcane force known as technology. While nearly every sentient species makes an apocryphal claim to be directly descendant of these protean techno-wizards of millennia past, the evidence for their existence is inarguable. Though long since passed out of all memory, the imperishable artifacts and ruined haunts of the Ancient Ones were manufactured of such incomprehensibly durable substances and with such super scientific know-how as to be virtually immune to the ravages of passing centuries. Many such devices and places may yet be discovered relatively intact by those brave enough to plumb the taboo lands of Terra A.D.

The Ancient Ones observed strange practices and knowledge of the Ancients is worth as much as any artifact. All it would take would be finding an intact cache of information, and it could be possible to find ancient secrets and magics of great power. The Ancients created many wonders, and finding the knowledge that lead them to these wonders could be extremely useful to any tribe that takes to information gathering.