Nomai Texts
Ancient bricks whispering the secrets of a lost civilization across time and space.
The Nomai Texts are the primary written language of the ancient Nomai civilization, found etched into clay bricks, stone tablets, and metal plates throughout the solar system. These pictographic hieroglyphs serve as the historical record for a race that vanished eons before humanity arrived to explore this star cluster. For the player character, these texts function as both environmental storytelling and crucial navigation tools, automatically translating complex alien concepts into readable language when observed closely.
Quick Facts
- Creator
- Nomai Civilization
- Location
- Throughout the solar system (planets, moons, stations)
- Status
- Extinct for current inhabitants
Lore & Background
Physically, the texts appear as orange-red bricks with black symbols arranged in horizontal lines. They can be found on walls, floating in zero-gravity environments, or embedded within machinery. The translation mechanic allows the player to bypass language barriers instantly, suggesting a universal connection between the reader and the writer across millennia.
Reader's Guide
The ancient bricks chronicle a civilization that arrived in this solar system eons ago, drawn by mysterious energy signatures from beyond their stars. Early entries describe their initial survey of planets like Giant's Deep and Brittle Hollow, establishing outposts to study local phenomena without understanding the dangers. Over millennia, they discovered the Hourglass Twins, realizing sand flowed between them across time itself rather than mere space.
This breakthrough led to experiments with temporal mechanics, eventually allowing travel to the past and future for deeper exploration. Their curiosity then turned toward the Quantum Moon, where reality shifted based on observation. Texts from this era reveal intense debates about stability and danger, hinting at a deeper cosmic secret hidden within the universe's structure. The final records speak of constructing an eye-like device to observe the cosmos directly, hoping to find answers beyond their physical reach.
Ultimately, these writings document a race that pushed too far into forbidden knowledge. They vanished long before humanity arrived in this system, leaving only silent bricks and tablets behind as monuments to their ambition. The supernova event that now resets time was unknown to them in detail, though some texts hint at cyclical destruction. For the traveler reading today, these words unlock the path forward, transforming ancient warnings into a map for survival against the inevitable stellar collapse waiting above.
Did You Know?
- The Nomai civilization went extinct long before the game begins, killed by a wave of ghost matter from the Interloper comet.
- The Nomai built a probe cannon in orbit around Giant's Deep to fire a probe in a random direction to locate the Eye of the Universe.
- The Nomai constructed a Sun Station in orbit around the star to artificially induce a supernova, but it failed to trigger one.
More in Story & Timeline
Elsewhere in Outer Wilds
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced