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Until very recently, very little of substance was known about our ancestors Scripture tells us that they e to the South Pacific fro North America, it was said, was a land ofdeath and ruin down upon the world once more Until a thousand years had passed, no man or woman should set foot there This injunction has been a central tenet of our civilization, encoded as law by virtually every civic and religious institution since the foundation of the republic No scientific evidence has heretofore existed to support this claim or, even, its source We have, so to speak, taken the matter on faith But it lies at the core of e are
Much has changed in the last few years With the discovery of the ancient writings we know as "The Book of Twelves," new light has been shed on the past Concealed in a cave on the southernmost of the Holy Isles, this text, of unknown authorship, has for the first time lent historical credence to our coins Dating from the second century AV, "The Book of Twelves" recounts an epic contest on the North American continent between a ss called virals At the center of this struggle is the young girl A unique powers of body and spirit, she leads her fellows--Peter, the Man of Days; Alicia of Blades; Michael the Clever; Sara the Healer; Lucius the Faithful; et al--in the fight to save humanity The tale and its cast of characters are familiar to all, of course No document in our history has been the subject of as ht skepticism as this manuscript Certainly elements of the narrative are far-fetched, ion than science Yet froreed that it is a document of extraordinary importance That it should be found in the Holy Isles, the cradle of our civilization, forges the first tangible link between North Auided us for nearly a millennium
I am a historian I deal in facts, in evidence My professional creed dictates that only through the prisms of doubt and patient scholarship can the truth of the past be revealed But one thing entleend lies an element of truth
May I have the first slide please?
Since our return to North Areat deal has been learned about the state of the continent both before and during the Quarantine Period These two ies represent two very different North Americas The contrast could not be more vivid On the top we see a reconstruction of the continent as it stood in the final years of the American Imperial Period Cities of ricultural practices had decimated virtually all of the continent’s interior plains Heavy industry, powered by fossil fuels, had rendered vast swaths of land virtually uninhabitable, the soil and water fouled by heavy h soions of the Appalachian uplift, the northern Pacific coast, and the Intere represents a continent, and a culture, consu itself
On the bottom we see North America as it now stands Airship reconnaissance, conducted fro platforms situated beyond the two-hundred-mile quarantine line, has revealed a pristine wilderness stunning in its organic diversity Virgin forests now rise where once stood huge cities and poisonous industrial complexes Gone are the tarasslands of inconificantly, aNew York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltiton, DC, Miami, New Orleans, and Houston, have all but disappeared, subsu sea levels Nature, as is its wont, has reclais of the imperialistic power that once radiated froes, indeed--but hardly unexpected It is at ground level that our s have occurred
Next slide?
These mummified remains, one o in an arid basin at the foot of Southern California’s San Jacinto Mountains Their ation of the bones, particularly those of the hands and feet, which have taken on a clawlike aspect; the softening of the facial support structure, creating an almost fetal blandness, devoid of personality; the ly, genetic testing indicates that they are, in fact, hus--a paramutational counterpart of our species, endoith the physiological attributes of nature’s most fearsome predators Excavated at a depth of just under two meters, these re aat or near the end of the first century AV--the sa has attributed the writing of "The Book of Twelves"