{"report_sections": [{"content": "

The Caroline Islands are home to remnants of an ancient civilization, including cyclopean, megalithic cities and harbors on Ponape, Lele, Kusaie, Ruk, Hogolu, and other islets. These structures are incredibly old, built ages before the memory of present man, possibly ten thousand to a hundred thousand years ago. The islets are squared, with shores featuring frowning seawalls of gigantic basalt blocks, and inner waterfronts faced with terraces of basalt blocks. There has been a significant subsidence, with similar monolithic structures and walls found twenty feet below the water in Metalanim harbor. These bulwarked islets, strung on their canals, are dead and deserted, shunned by those who live near them.

", "header": "Ancient Civilization and its Remnants"}, {"content": "

The Nan-Matal, located on Ponape, is a key site among these ruins, known as the 'place of frowning walls'. It is described as literally three rectangles: an outer sea-wall, an inner courtyard wall, and a second inner enclosure with a terrace. Within the inner court lies the great central vault, believed to be the treasure-house of Chau-te-leur, the 'sun king'. Opposite this vault is the 'moon rock' that conceals the Moon Pool. The moon rock is a slab of stone, about fifteen feet high and ten wide, with a subtly different color and a peculiar 'deadness'. Touching it produces a shock like 'frozen electricity'. The base of the slab is slightly curved, resting in a smooth, semicircular depression, suggesting it functions as a door. Above the lintel of the moon rock are seven small circular convexities, which are its operating agency, sensitive to moon rays and releasing the mechanism that opens the slab. The Moon Pool itself is a circular pool, about twenty feet wide, with pale blue water and a glimmering silvery stone rim. Seven shafts of radiance, originating from seven shining globes above, stream down upon the pool's surface. These rays are essential for the materialization of the Dweller, a being of living light that radiates and is filled with light. The Dweller's appearance is accompanied by sweet, insistent tinklings, like pizzicati on violins of glass. The Moon Pool is where the Dweller takes shape and where Dr. Throckmartin's wife, Edith, and his associate, Dr. Charles Stanton, along with Thora Halversen, disappeared.

", "header": "The Nan-Matal and the Moon Pool"}, {"content": "

The ancient continent in the Pacific, from which these islands are believed to be the last points, was not rent asunder by volcanic forces like Atlantis. Ponape and Lele were the last refuge and sacred places of the rulers of this race, which lost its home under the rising Pacific waters. This lost race, the 'Taithu' or 'Silent Ones,' possessed a high science, mastering universal forms of energy, especially light. They developed a civilization and science far more advanced than modern humanity's. The Dweller, or 'Shining One,' is a creation of the Silent Ones, fashioned from the ether and filled with the essence of life from Earth's heart. The Dweller was crowned with seven orbs of light, which are channels for its currents and sentience. However, the Silent Ones' pride in its creation led to the Dweller gaining its own will and becoming indifferent, embodying both utter joy and utter woe. The Dweller rebelled against its creators, seeking wider spaces and offering dominion to those who would serve it. It taught its followers, the Taithu, how to hollow out the Moon Pool chamber and create the seven lights to open a path for it. The Moon Pool became the means for the Shining One to emerge into the outer world, taking sacrifices and growing stronger and more cruel with each passage. The land above eventually sank, and the remaining people, now called the 'ladala,' were brought to this subterranean realm. The Moon King became the Voice of the Dweller, and a woman of his kin became its priestess. The Silent Ones, unable to destroy the Dweller they still loved, sealed the passage to the Moon Pool Chamber and changed the cliff face, leaving only a hidden way to the Dweller's abode. The Dweller has recently grown restless again, planning with Yolara and Lugur to emerge and conquer the world.

", "header": "The Moon Pool's Role and the Dweller's Origin"}], "title": "The Ancient Civilization and its Remnants in the Caroline Islands"}

History