Ancestral Vessel

"'I'd tell you a big secret about what's in this room, but you probably wouldn't listen. At this point our secrets likely don't need to be secrets. If you leave a lie to fester through generations it becomes unwritten law. It's conveniently exploitable.' - Agent Black, about the Isi Ancestral Vessel" "'We assumed all humans would've come from one of these...Tearing the vessel apart shows they don't care! Your people treat things like it's only theirs!' - Mina, about the One Concern Ark"

Ancestral Vessels, or Arks as the One Concern sometimes call them, are the means by which humanity arrived on the Planet. Notably, because each vessel and its contents are foreign to the planet, neither the vessels nor equipment or people inside each of them are made of Ivory, unlike everything else on the planet. Each society arrived in their own Vessel. The only known societies, the One Concern and the Isi, each have their own vessel. There could potentially be more vessels and therefore more societies on the planet, however this is unlikely as they would have to be very secluded and isolated for neither the Isi or the Concern to be aware of them. The origin of these vessels is unknown, but each was sent from another world inhabited by humans. They may have been sent from the same world, but the differences in traditions and ethnicity of each society suggest that at the very least each vessel came from a different society, if not a different world altogether.

There is evidence that at least the One Concern, if not both societies, did at one point inhabit the real-world Earth, as images of the Statue of Liberty, the Great Wall of China, and the Taj Mahal can be seen in the One Concern HQ and The Tower. However, a computer in One Concern West says the past world broke apart. This implies that the One Concern came from another Ivory planet, not Earth, or that Earth was one of multiple past worlds.

=Isi Vessel= The Isi vessel is the smaller vessel. It can be found in the Isilugar Labs, and is encountered by Robin and Mina immediately after the Inti. The vessel contained scriptures that make up the Isi's religious worship of matrimony and procreation. There are other "machines" on board, but they broke some time ago, presumably during or before it landed on the planet, so the Isi cannot retrieve any information off of them. The machines likely contained a wealth of information about their ancestral history and technology from their original home world. Their information machines destroyed, combined with their smaller number of colonists, is what likely led to the Isi being a much smaller and less technically-advanced society than the One Concern. While they have far fewer 'gifts' from their ancestors to assist them with their civilization on the new planet, they to have some basic knowledge of Ivory technology. Also, the Isi ancestors brought special Seeds along with them that react wildly with Ivory. The Isi have planted and regrown these seeds all over Isilugar.

=One Concern Ark= The One Concern is a far more hostile and secretive society, so less is know about their Ark in One Concern West. However due to its size, and apparently a significant amount of technological tools and knowledge was aboard the Ark and still usable by the Concern people. This likely led to their large and advanced society. Clearly not all knowledge from the past survived the journey from the Concern's original home to the present day civilization, as researchers in One Concern West are trying to salvage more of the Ark. It is also unknown just how much the Concern leadership, such as Mother and the Bastion Suits, have repressed so that the rest of the Concern do not know. A great deal of secrets about Him, the Planet, and other matters have been either never shared with or forgotten by most Concern members over the generations.