Modes of Thought in Anterran Literature is presented as a series of recordings from a second year Literature and Classics class at Harbridge University. Anterra is a civilization discovered only six or seven years prior to the recordings. It dates back to over 60,000 years ago. This makes Anterra significantly older than any previous known civilizations. It was discovered when rescue drones were sent to recover a sunken Chinese submarine. The Chinese government has been rather secretive about archeological finds from the ruins of Anterra. However, some discoveries have made their way to the West. In particular, quite a few discoveries relating to the mythology and literature of Anterra. These finds offer a tantalizing glimpse into a civilization unlike anything that came after it.
We follow the class as they explore the fascinating mythology and archeology of Anterra. However, there’s something sinister lurking in the background. Many strange occurrences happen throughout the course. Could these mysterious happenings have something to do with Anterra?
One day, for no particular reason, I found myself scrolling through the Realm Media website. I came across a show called Modes of Thought in Anterran Literature. It was made in association with Wolf at the Door Studios. They’ve been involved in several audio drama productions, such as season three of the DUST podcast and Batman Unburied.
The title sounded intriguing, and so did the premise. At first, I thought it would be like a fictional college course about xenoarcheology. That is, archeology applied to the past civilizations of alien planets. I assumed that Anterran referred to the Antares star system. But no, that wasn’t quite the case. Oh, it takes the form of a fictional college lecture, but Anterra is a purely terrestrial human civilization. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t slightly disappointed by that initially. However, what I got instead was just as good, if not better.
The sound-design is phenomenal. I loved the use of ambient background noise. Sometimes, whenever I’d hear a car driving by, or an ambulance siren, I’d pause the podcast to see if it was real or not. The audio is done in such a way as to give the impression that it is a recording. We can hear the professor fairly well, but sometimes he’ll move around and get fainter until he comes back. We also don’t always fully hear the students, depending on where they are seated. Thankfully, we can get the gist thanks to the professor’s responses. Though, some students are heard clearly if they’re close to the recording device. That, and if they happen to be an important character to the plot. The episode where a music professor comes and plays some recreations of Anterran music was a nice touch. It's one thing to talk about how unusual Anterran music was, but it is far more effective to actually hear how unusual it sounds.
Modes of Thought in Anterran Literature also has an amazing sense of atmosphere. Things start off normal, but there’s a sense that something is lurking in that background. That’s there something just a little off about everything. At first, it just seems like the usual incidental mishaps that might occur in a college classroom. A bit of water spilled on the floor, the lights going out, the professor having a sudden headache. But it all starts to add up after a while, and can’t just be dismissed as coincidence. There’s something going on, but what could it be? And what connection does it have to Anterra?
I have stated on a few previous occasions that I am a history major. As such, I can attest that the dialogue, and the general presentation of the class, is very true to real life. I was frequently reminded of my own time in college. Granted, nothing mysterious or supernatural ever happened during any of my history courses. The professor reminded me of several professors I had over the years. This is the first time I’ve encountered an audio drama that takes the form of a college lecture course. It certainly makes from a very fun change of pace, and I hope to see more show that use this format.
There’s a debate amongst the students of the class as to whether or not the professor is telling the truth, or if he made Anterra up. It was pretty clear to me that the professor was telling the truth. Still, even if he had been crazy, I’d probably have still signed up for his course if I could. Everything about Anterra and its culture is utterly fascinating. Everyone on the Modes of Thought in Anterran Literature team clearly put a lot of thought and dedication into crafting Anterran culture. In fact, they’ve included a small list of real world inspirations on the series website.
The general culture of Anterra appears to be vaguely Polynesian. The names all have a vaguely Polynesian feel to them. This does make sense, given where the ruins of Anterra are located. Anterran Mythology has a number of unusual features. For example, it was humanity who created the gods, not the other way around, in Anterra. The Anterran creation myth says that the first human was a woman named Teotia. She helped to shape the Earth, but her creation would reset itself if someone wasn’t observing it. She had children, the number nine is very important to Anterran culture, and they slept in shifts. But then Teotia decided they needed a more permeant solution. So, she created the 1000 eyed-god Ikopaa to always watch over the world. Thus, the world was preserved, and humanity could grow and multiply.
The first parallel that comes to mind is Argus Panoptes from Greek Mythology. Argus, much like Ikopaa, was covered in hundreds of eyes. Though, Argus was a fairly minor character, rather than a major world-preserving deity like Ikopaa. Very unusual that it was a human who created the gods. Gods are on a much higher power scale than humans. Some mythologies speak of humans who ascended to godhood, and ever gods who temporarily become human. But I can’t think of a single mythology that has humans creating the gods.
But you can also tell a lot about a civilization based on the monsters it imagines. This is true of Anterra as well. One Anterran myth tells of how a goddess of beauty fell in love with a mortal woman. They had five daughters together, but this angered the other gods. So, they drugged the goddess and ripped apart her children. The goddess decided to defy the other gods and bring her children back to life. She stitched them together into a Frankenstein-style monster, with nine arms and ten legs. Unfortunately, the monster still felt the pain and suffering of the daughters, and killed the goddess.
Apparently, this legend came from a time when Anterrans were placing a lot of emphasis on loyalty to the collective. That is, they expect everyone to be loyal to society as a whole above all else. Even loyalty to one’s family was discouraged in favor of loyalty to the collective. So, you can see that in the myth. The goddess defied the other gods in the name of her daughters, and she paid dearly for her transgression. There have been plenty of societies that prioritize the collective good, but few who do so at the expense of family units, especially in pre-industrial society.
But there’s more to Anterra than just myths and legends. There’s plenty of archeology and history to discover. One cultural institute of note was that of the Idiot King. Anterra culture has a reverence for darkness and the unknown. So, in the early days of Anterra, a child would be selected to be taken to an elaborate underground palace complex. The child would be fed and treated well, but it would never be taught anything. There was a group of diviners whose job it was to interpret the will of the Idiot King. Whenever there was a major problem, especially involving the unknown, the diviners got advice from the Idiot King.
This is very obviously a reference to Ursula K. Le Guin’s famous short story “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas.” It’s a little strange that none of the characters ever brought this up. “Omelas'' is frequently taught in philosophy and ethics courses. If nothing else, the professor should have been familiar with it. You can also see parallels to ancient oracles, such as the famous Oracle of Delphi. The general consensus is that such oracles would deliberately word their prophecies in ways that could have multiple meanings. That way, people saw what they wanted to see. And if the prophecy failed to come true, well, then you just picked the wrong interpretation. Perhaps the diviners of the Idiot King operated under a similar principle.
And yet the Anterrans were also strangely progressive in many ways. For example, everyone got to pick their own gender. Children were referred to with gender-neutral pronouns until their coming of age ceremony, which is when they got to pick their gender. Anterra did have a caste system, but this too was oddly progressive. The caste system was less of a tiered pyramid, and more of a pie chart. No one caste was necessarily better or worse than the other, and there was some degree of relative mobility within castes.
I could keep going, but I’ll leave some of the myths and culture of Anterra for you to discover on your own. Suffice it to say, the worldbuilding of Modes of Thought in Anterran Literature is top-of-the-line.
I liked the way that the professor handles the stranger aspects of Anterran culture. He presents them in a very matter-of-fact sort of way. It isn’t totally non-judgmental, but that’s understandable. We’re all human, and we all have our biases. Still, the way he approaches it is from a perspective of “What does this tell us about Anterran culture?” That is an excellent perspective, and probably the best to strive for. When you study ancient civilizations and/or non-Western cultures, you’ll often encounter things that don’t mesh well with modern sensibilities. However, the question to ask is not “How well does this jive with modern Western sensibilities?” but rather “What does this tell me about this civilization that I’m studying?”
My only real point of criticism would be that the Modes of Thought in Anterran Literature website hasn’t been very good about keeping up to date with the transcripts. Only transcripts for the first three episodes are available. It would have been nice to know how to spell the names of various Anterran gods and people for this review. Realm is usually pretty good about keeping up to date with the transcripts for it’s shows. As I have often reiterated in the past, transcripts are very important for listeners with hearing difficulties.
Now, it is time for some speculations. I’ve got a few theories about the mysterious happenings. One of the characters is Hai Rong, a foreign exchange student from Canada. Though, her parents were originally university professors in China. She makes a couple statements that suggest she’s quite familiar with Anterra. Almost on a personal level. Could it be that Anterra isn’t so dead after all? Could Anterran society have continued, somehow, in the shadows. Alternatively, Anterra is indeed gone, but what if the myths and legends of Anterra are more than just stories? Or here’s a thought, what if, somehow, Anterra discovered the secret to immortality, and Hai Rong is an Anterran? And on an unrelated note, is Harbridge is a fictional university, or did Harvard and Cambridge merge, and the series takes place in the near future?
I guess we’ll have to wait and see. And I certainly can’t wait to find out. I listened to several shows from Realm, but none of them really knocked my socks off. I’m pleased to say that Modes of Thought in Anterran Literature finally broke the streak. It has a great sense of atmosphere, amazing worldbuilding, and I love how it took the form of a college lecture. I strongly recommend giving it a listen as soon as possible.
Well, I think that should do it from me for now. I will see you guys next time.
Modes of Thought in Anterran Literature also has an amazing sense of atmosphere. Things start off normal, but there’s a sense that something is lurking in that background. That’s there something just a little off about everything. At first, it just seems like the usual incidental mishaps that might occur in a college classroom. A bit of water spilled on the floor, the lights going out, the professor having a sudden headache. But it all starts to add up after a while, and can’t just be dismissed as coincidence. There’s something going on, but what could it be? And what connection does it have to Anterra?
I have stated on a few previous occasions that I am a history major. As such, I can attest that the dialogue, and the general presentation of the class, is very true to real life. I was frequently reminded of my own time in college. Granted, nothing mysterious or supernatural ever happened during any of my history courses. The professor reminded me of several professors I had over the years. This is the first time I’ve encountered an audio drama that takes the form of a college lecture course. It certainly makes from a very fun change of pace, and I hope to see more show that use this format.
There’s a debate amongst the students of the class as to whether or not the professor is telling the truth, or if he made Anterra up. It was pretty clear to me that the professor was telling the truth. Still, even if he had been crazy, I’d probably have still signed up for his course if I could. Everything about Anterra and its culture is utterly fascinating. Everyone on the Modes of Thought in Anterran Literature team clearly put a lot of thought and dedication into crafting Anterran culture. In fact, they’ve included a small list of real world inspirations on the series website.
The general culture of Anterra appears to be vaguely Polynesian. The names all have a vaguely Polynesian feel to them. This does make sense, given where the ruins of Anterra are located. Anterran Mythology has a number of unusual features. For example, it was humanity who created the gods, not the other way around, in Anterra. The Anterran creation myth says that the first human was a woman named Teotia. She helped to shape the Earth, but her creation would reset itself if someone wasn’t observing it. She had children, the number nine is very important to Anterran culture, and they slept in shifts. But then Teotia decided they needed a more permeant solution. So, she created the 1000 eyed-god Ikopaa to always watch over the world. Thus, the world was preserved, and humanity could grow and multiply.
The first parallel that comes to mind is Argus Panoptes from Greek Mythology. Argus, much like Ikopaa, was covered in hundreds of eyes. Though, Argus was a fairly minor character, rather than a major world-preserving deity like Ikopaa. Very unusual that it was a human who created the gods. Gods are on a much higher power scale than humans. Some mythologies speak of humans who ascended to godhood, and ever gods who temporarily become human. But I can’t think of a single mythology that has humans creating the gods.
But you can also tell a lot about a civilization based on the monsters it imagines. This is true of Anterra as well. One Anterran myth tells of how a goddess of beauty fell in love with a mortal woman. They had five daughters together, but this angered the other gods. So, they drugged the goddess and ripped apart her children. The goddess decided to defy the other gods and bring her children back to life. She stitched them together into a Frankenstein-style monster, with nine arms and ten legs. Unfortunately, the monster still felt the pain and suffering of the daughters, and killed the goddess.
Apparently, this legend came from a time when Anterrans were placing a lot of emphasis on loyalty to the collective. That is, they expect everyone to be loyal to society as a whole above all else. Even loyalty to one’s family was discouraged in favor of loyalty to the collective. So, you can see that in the myth. The goddess defied the other gods in the name of her daughters, and she paid dearly for her transgression. There have been plenty of societies that prioritize the collective good, but few who do so at the expense of family units, especially in pre-industrial society.
But there’s more to Anterra than just myths and legends. There’s plenty of archeology and history to discover. One cultural institute of note was that of the Idiot King. Anterra culture has a reverence for darkness and the unknown. So, in the early days of Anterra, a child would be selected to be taken to an elaborate underground palace complex. The child would be fed and treated well, but it would never be taught anything. There was a group of diviners whose job it was to interpret the will of the Idiot King. Whenever there was a major problem, especially involving the unknown, the diviners got advice from the Idiot King.
This is very obviously a reference to Ursula K. Le Guin’s famous short story “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas.” It’s a little strange that none of the characters ever brought this up. “Omelas'' is frequently taught in philosophy and ethics courses. If nothing else, the professor should have been familiar with it. You can also see parallels to ancient oracles, such as the famous Oracle of Delphi. The general consensus is that such oracles would deliberately word their prophecies in ways that could have multiple meanings. That way, people saw what they wanted to see. And if the prophecy failed to come true, well, then you just picked the wrong interpretation. Perhaps the diviners of the Idiot King operated under a similar principle.
And yet the Anterrans were also strangely progressive in many ways. For example, everyone got to pick their own gender. Children were referred to with gender-neutral pronouns until their coming of age ceremony, which is when they got to pick their gender. Anterra did have a caste system, but this too was oddly progressive. The caste system was less of a tiered pyramid, and more of a pie chart. No one caste was necessarily better or worse than the other, and there was some degree of relative mobility within castes.
I could keep going, but I’ll leave some of the myths and culture of Anterra for you to discover on your own. Suffice it to say, the worldbuilding of Modes of Thought in Anterran Literature is top-of-the-line.
I liked the way that the professor handles the stranger aspects of Anterran culture. He presents them in a very matter-of-fact sort of way. It isn’t totally non-judgmental, but that’s understandable. We’re all human, and we all have our biases. Still, the way he approaches it is from a perspective of “What does this tell us about Anterran culture?” That is an excellent perspective, and probably the best to strive for. When you study ancient civilizations and/or non-Western cultures, you’ll often encounter things that don’t mesh well with modern sensibilities. However, the question to ask is not “How well does this jive with modern Western sensibilities?” but rather “What does this tell me about this civilization that I’m studying?”
My only real point of criticism would be that the Modes of Thought in Anterran Literature website hasn’t been very good about keeping up to date with the transcripts. Only transcripts for the first three episodes are available. It would have been nice to know how to spell the names of various Anterran gods and people for this review. Realm is usually pretty good about keeping up to date with the transcripts for it’s shows. As I have often reiterated in the past, transcripts are very important for listeners with hearing difficulties.
Now, it is time for some speculations. I’ve got a few theories about the mysterious happenings. One of the characters is Hai Rong, a foreign exchange student from Canada. Though, her parents were originally university professors in China. She makes a couple statements that suggest she’s quite familiar with Anterra. Almost on a personal level. Could it be that Anterra isn’t so dead after all? Could Anterran society have continued, somehow, in the shadows. Alternatively, Anterra is indeed gone, but what if the myths and legends of Anterra are more than just stories? Or here’s a thought, what if, somehow, Anterra discovered the secret to immortality, and Hai Rong is an Anterran? And on an unrelated note, is Harbridge is a fictional university, or did Harvard and Cambridge merge, and the series takes place in the near future?
I guess we’ll have to wait and see. And I certainly can’t wait to find out. I listened to several shows from Realm, but none of them really knocked my socks off. I’m pleased to say that Modes of Thought in Anterran Literature finally broke the streak. It has a great sense of atmosphere, amazing worldbuilding, and I love how it took the form of a college lecture. I strongly recommend giving it a listen as soon as possible.
Well, I think that should do it from me for now. I will see you guys next time.
What Archaeology prof teaches in the summer? That's when they're in the field, either on their own dig or someone else's project.
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