Each Cipher is believed to have a personal number, determined by the Nemonik at their birth. It is the closest thing to a religion they have. The emphasis on mathematics in their culture has led to Ciphers to assign an almost mystical significance to specific numbers. Why? Who knows? As long as the numbers are right, who cares?' When it comes to electronic devices and weapons, the Ciphers know more about how it works than why it works: 'The symbols say put this and this together, and then this happens. The Ciphers merely shrugged and accepted the name.Īs the years passed, the Ciphers forgot their disciplined, scientific roots and became more concerned with everyday survival rather than meaningless scientific theories. This occasionally confusing, cryptic way of speaking caused them to be dubbed 'Ciphers' by educated wasteland dwellers who thought they might be speaking in some type of code.

At the same time, they insisted that mathematics be emphasized when educating the village children so that their descendants would understand how to use the schematics.īecause they were steeped in mathematics from a very early age, the villagers tend to use a lot of mathematical terms to express themselves. Fearing that the technology of the Old World would be forever lost, the scientists began painting and carving electronic schematics into the walls of the pit. The rest of the band had a variety of miscellaneous gear which most contributed to group use.Ī decade later, the computer began to fail. The soldiers had pistols and rifles, and the scientists carried one barely working computer, enough parts to build several water makers and a crude wind turbine to power them, several lead-lined boxes containing enriched uranium, and a small supply of medicine. The group carried only a limited amount of technology with them. When they discovered one of the ancient pueblos at Mesa Verde, they decided to set up camp there. They assumed that they were the only 'civilized' people left, since everyone else they encountered attacked them, trying to take their food, water, and clothes. In the weeks following the Great War, a group of scientists and soldiers left the atomic laboratory at Los Alamos, New Mexico, and wandered north with a band of other survivors, looking for a place of relative safety. The following is based on Van Buren design documents and is not canon.

Cipher ufonauts