In a similar vein to the discussion of OOPART from the previous post in this chapter we run into a collection of ancient weapons that still function as designed. The Song Arrows and the Shining Swords are based in part by memories of the Frank Herbert Dune novels, where even though space travel had been mastered and they had incredible technologies, warfare boiled down to blades and shields face to face.
From KAZ chapter 18:
A pair of swords hung on the rack, the leather of their scabbards encrusted in a thin layer of stone. They appeared to be petrified, preserved in the high mineral content of the subterranean air. But when he picked one up it sagged against its weight, the crust crumbling off it in large flakes that shattered on the bedrock floor, making a tinkling sound like fine pottery. The ancient method of treating leather was said to be permanent when these were made, it would appear to have been more than just a bit of marketing spiel. Of course, the continued strong presence of the power source had a huge contribution to their longevity as well.
He tugged at the handle of one of the swords, not surprised when it slid free. The mirror like blade glistened with reflected light from around the room. An alloy of ancient recipe, the metal from which these swords were made could never be replicated with the technology available in this age. If the alloy was discovered by future explorers, it would likely be classified as a newly found element, for men were ever unable to understand that the past could have been so much more advanced than this future he found himself in.
These days we dig deep into the earth to pull up rare earth elements to run our electronic obsessions. Mobile phones to satellites to electric cars and stealth bombers are all greatly enhanced by these powerful, and dangerous, minerals that are so deep or so difficult to extract that nations threaten war over their mining. And yet those minerals are never more than a mile or two deep into a crust that is hundreds of miles thick. We today are only scratching the surface of potentials, those potentials that are and the understanding of those potentials that were and are no more or are significantly diminished. Imagine if the ancient civilisations had the ability to dig deeper, to delve far into the crust to extract elements we have no knowledge of for we cannot go that deep.
In that world, the world of Argan before the flood, they would even have designed breeds of Nephilim that could tunnel farther than any man could, withstand the heat and pressure that would kill a man, or the subterranean darkess that would drive him mad.
The were able to build with those elements structures and objects of great beauty, and weapons of merciless destruction.
