Ancient Pyramid

A visual of the Ancient Pyramid

Ancient pyramids (or tombs) are structures of an ancient civilization lost to time and unknown to us. They are long-term nuclear waste isolation sites meant to discourage intrusion and prevent leakage of the waste.

The structure looks like it was meant to last a very long time, to far outlive the civilization that constructed it. It seems to have succeeded that mission, but that's not the only one it had.

Location

This structure only spawns in deserts.

Dangers

The interior is completely enclosed, meaning it is pitch black and thus a perfect place for mobs to spawn.

Structure

The pyramid is primarily built with concrete blocks with dense stone in the corners. It's surrounded by pillars made out of steel deco blocks. Inside, there are 4 pillars made out of rebar reinforced concrete pillar blocks to support the structure.

The interior has a cube made out of concrete bricks, on all 4 sides there are marked concrete bricks, upon right-clicking on the marked concrete bricks, a message will appear in the chat, the message reads:

You should not have come here. This is not a place of honor. No great deed is commemorated here. Nothing of value is here. What is here is dangerous and repulsive. We considered ourselves a powerful culture. We harnessed the hidden fire, and used it for our own purposes. Then we saw the fire could burn within living things, unnoticed until it destroyed them. And we were afraid. We built great tombs to hold the fire for one hundred thousand years, after which it would no longer kill. If this place is opened, the fire will not be isolated from the world, and we will have failed to protect you. Leave this place and never come back.

It would be wise to heed this warning.

There is a stairway leading to the tomb filled with the "fire" the warning describes. The tomb is constructed of obsidian bricks and the "fire" is the potent and extremely dense variant of radon gas, known as tomb gas, emitted by the condensed nuclear waste in the form of ancient scrap metal.

Loot

The only "useful" block here is the ancient scrap metal block, which is used to create the Fau chestplate. Otherwise, the stated message is accurate and the structure should be left be unless you want to recycle the concrete and steel.

These structures are surprisingly easy to loot due to their simple design, however. The majority of the radiation you will receive is through tomb gas and it bypasses armor and gas masks. However, any block, including partial blocks, such as doors or torches will displace this gas. It is suggested you make yourself 2 stacks of doors, a player decontaminator, a geiger counter, and radiation resistant equipment. Mine into the structure then walk downwards until you start receiving rads. Walk backwards a few blocks then place your doors. Move downwards and keep placing doors in any block you are standing inside of. If you move outside of the doors you will be irradiated. Place down your decontaminators if you are accidentally irradiated. Once you get to the bottom, mine the scrap blocks. The scrap item themselves emit a large amount of radiation, so this is where your radiation resistant equipment comes in handy.

Dangers

As stated, a majority of the danger is from the nuclear waste at the base of the staircase, where it is effectively isolated. However, the interior completely lacks illumination, making it an ideal space for hostile mobs to spawn in constantly.

Trivia

• The message on the marked concrete bricks is inspired by a proposal from Sandia National Laboratories used to deter people from nuclear waste isolation plants even after the collapse of civilization. This is a field called nuclear semiotics.
  • The pillars surrounding the main structure are also inspired by the "menacing earthworks" proposal.
  • While the message is indeed inspired by a real message, the message itself is actually sourced from a MLP fanfiction, as is common in this mod.
  • The message states that the waste would no longer be harmful after 100,000 years (although this could just be an arbitrary large number chosen for emphasis to discourage intruders further). Given that the waste is still extraordinarily dangerous, this means either the tomb was, comparatively, not constructed that long ago or that the waste was far more dangerous initially.
• The structure is in surprisingly good condition despite its apparent age. The concrete cube inside, however, is quite weathered despite being completely shielded from the elements.