My theory on Pigs, the Plateaus, Mants, and Goats

[S19TealPenguin]

This is my attempt at connecting the world of Hamlet to other branches of the constant, and the main DST continuity. A large portion is just stuff I made up that sounds right, so take this with a grain of salt.

 

In the beginning, the Mants and Pigs lived in harmony on a single plateau teeming with life. The Pigs carved out networks of tunnels that would eventually become the ruins while the Mants carved their own tunnels to live in. They had separate homes, but as a sign of good faith the Pherostone was created, and a special tribe of the pigs was selected to live with the stone and act as ambassadors for both groups. The pigs soon discovered that they could reach the other islands by digging underground tunnels, so the ruins took on a second role of being roads. The Pigs were split among different tribes, each with its own goal.

The Ambassadors lived with the pherostone and acted as intermediaries between the present civilizations.

The Royal tribe was the ruler over all other pig tribes, they lived in the ruins that connected to what would become the home of the royal palace.

Various minor tribes took up residence in the plains and made small ruins to house themselves.

The Magicians discovered the magic present on the Pugalisk island, and managed to condense the magic into the magic water and magic flower as well as construct the fountain of youth.

The Arcanists discovered the nightmare fuel. They took up residence on the Aporkalypse island to try and understand the powerful magic they had uncovered. Because the Aporkalypse island was a smaller version of the main island, they were self-sufficient and rarely ventured to the main island. The Arcanists constructed a second set of ruins on their island to house their experiments. Their goal was to expand the powers present in the Pig's bodies. Most experiments failed, except the End's Well and the Hocus-Porkustator.

One day, a pig from the Royal tribe had an idea: what if they used ropes to climb down the side plateau and reach the bottom? So the pigs began building as many ropes as they could. The first test did not reach even a third of the way down the mountain, but it was not a failure. The pigs had discovered the Goats. The goats were unhappy with having to cling to steep cliffs for the entirety of their lives so they were more than willing to relocate to the surface. The goats, still used to the mountain life, decided to settle in the cave clefts that dotted the main plateau, but the bulk of their population lived on the rocky island.

Years later, the rope was finally completed and an expedition of goats, pigs, and mants went down the side of the plateau. They arrived in the main RoG branch of the constant, but more barren as Maxwell had not yet taken the nightmare throne. The team ventured into the then unplugged sinkholes and found the ancient ruins. The pigs were able to glean the technologies the Ancients had, but did not connect the nightmare fuel to the civilization's collapse. A year after setting out, the team returned.

The goats were happy to have come along, and the Mants were eager to examine the archaeological findings that they had uncovered as the ancients they had discovered were very similar to themselves.

The Arcanists however used their newfound knowledge to start the construction of the Aporkalypse clock. The goal of the clock was to use the alignment of the planets to make all pigs stronger, faster, and perhaps even able to fly. They never got to test it however.

The Mant warriors who had gone on the expedition began behaving oddly. They became more and more irritable and combative until eventually they were consumed. Their eyes began to glow and their skin turned red. Appalled at the power of the fuel, the Queen Womant ordered Malfalfa's Arcanists to stop their experiments. Malfalfa readily disbanded the tribe.

The Mants then split up from the pigs and goats. Malfalfa ordered all pigs to either move to the Royal Tribe's island, or to stay on the main island.

 

Hundreds of years passed, and the pigs and goats advanced to technological levels similar to the 1880s. However, among the pigs was a growing group who wished to return to “the old ways”. Queen Malfafa’s husband, the pig king was one of them. The pig king organized archaeologists to find out about the past. These archaeologists found the Aporkalypse clock and reported it to the pig king.

 

One day, the Queen Womant organised a meeting with Malfalfa. The Queen wanted access to all the new technology the pigs had made, but offered nothing in return. Malfalfa refused, so the Queen Womant ordered her guards to attack Malfalfa. Malfalfa escaped but lost her crown in the process.

 

Furious at what transpired, the pig king ordered his archaeologists to start the Aporkalypse clock. He didn’t what it did, only that it was connected to a power that seemed to only hurt Mants.

 

The result was a disaster. The clock released an energy that started turning the pigs into horrible bat-like creatures. Part of the rainforest began to die, rot, and release toxic fumes. The energy attracted the Pugilisk, who took over the fountain of youth and the magic water. It also attracted the BFB, who arrived on the goat’s rocky island where they had built a city. When it landed, it created a screech so loud that the majority of the island fell away, below the clouds.

 

The pig king was rightfully blamed for the tragedies, so he and his followers took the now centuries old rope down to the RoG world. Malfalfa ordered the rope cut once they had all gone down.

 

Under the leadership of the pig king, the pigs became much less civilised, practically returning to their pre-tribal origins. They established a few early farms, guarded by the tribal guardian pigs. The pig king saw what was happening and ordered his pigs to work on refining what technology they had. Because their numbers were small, they were able to construct basic 1910s esque shacks, though their technology in pretty much all other areas declined.

Eventually, one pig discovered a way to reach the goats, who had been presumed dead. A team of 30 or so went through the Ancient Gateway and arrived in the Gorge. They were delighted to find that among the forests surrounding the goat’s town, there was also a small tribe of pig king loyalists. Before they would bring them back however, the expedition learned of the merm curse being caused by gnaw. Much of the population had been affected and the goats were dying off. Fearful of the curse, the expedition quickly left to keep them quarantined. The expedition rightfully chose to quarantine themselves after they got back, deciding to build houses in the swamp, not the forest like the other pigs. Soon, they were all merms.

 

When a small party of pigs went to check on the expedition after their self imposed quarantine, they were slaughtered. The merms then went on to attack one of the villages, but were beaten back. This is why there are merm heads in the pig villages, and pig heads in the swamp.

 

When maxwell assumed the throne, he took an interest in the pigs. He put up several obelisks near the  pig king (who had grown too fat to move), and chose to scatter some of the guardian pigs into adventure mode.

 

Thanks for reading. Also, holy heck 1250+ characters. I should become a writer

[MrKoopa]

My Hamlet theory:

Mants and Pigs lived together in peace, possible with a third, more advanced group that created the Iron Hulks(calling creators of Iron Hulks Hulkinians here).

Reason why I believe Pigs and Mants lived in peace is because of Pherostone that the player can use.

 

It could be the case that Hulkinians lived in peace with them aswell. I do not think that the Iron Hulks were used to defend Hulkinians from Mants or Pigs.

A war broke out and the Pigs and Mants became enemies and the Hulkinians died out or disappeared any other way, possible escaping to another location.

The war: My guess is that the Hulkinians created the Iron Hulks to defeat either

shadow creatures, Ancient Herald or something else. 

It might be the case that Iron Hulks were used against another species that we do not know of, one that is not related to any that we know of. I do not think it was used against the Pugalisk.  since Iron Hulks were according to Klei from a forgotten war.

On 2019-04-18 at 9:09 PM, Jason said:

But with light comes shadow. An ancient and terrible metal hulk lies waiting to be discovered. A lonely sentinel still stuck in a long forgotten war.

 

What is strange is that we have a ruin that contains the Aporkalypse Calendar, who created it? My guess is the Pigs. We see pig symbols/writing all over the many different ruins. 

The purpose it seems is to look at when Aporkalypse is coming, which spawns Ancient Herald. 

My guess it was used to know when the world was going to "end" which would also bring the Ancient Herald back.

Perhaps the war was an earlier Aporkalypse? 

And because of the first Aporkalypse the Mants became hostile towards the Pigs and didn't become peacful once it ended, creating an everlasting divide between Pigs and Mants.

It could have been the case that Ancient Herald communicated with the Hulkinians in some way and/or just destroyed their society.

I have the feeling Ancient Herald is NOT a Hulkinian and instead is an Ancient or other species. 

I do not think that Ancients and Hulkinians are the same species. 

 

Edit: I can try to explain later how I think Gorge and Constant are connected when it comes to Pigs and Merms.

 

[S19TealPenguin]

Oh yeah, I forgot to include the hulks in my theory. I was gonna say that they were made by the Mants who went insane after returning from the ruins.

[SilverBisexual]

Wagstaff's quote about the Ancient Herald tells us it was one of the ancients.