Back

Unitology: The Black Marker

Written By: Annalee Call

Religion
Unitology: The Black Marker



The Black Marker is an alien artifact, discovered on Earth by the government in 2214. It was then hidden to discourage alien belief, yet was brought to public knowledge by Michael Altman, who had been contracted to research the Marker. The Black Marker was found by Michael Altman and a team of researchers in the asteroid impact crater off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. It was thereafter concluded that the Marker landed on Earth along with an asteroid that may have caused the mass extinction of the dinosaurs approximately 65 million years ago. The existence of the Black Marker had been known to the locals that lived near its resting place for generations, but was never spoken about to outsiders and was referred to as "The Tail of the Devil." Altman's discovery spawned a religion, known as Unitology, which grew faster than any other religion ever formed on Earth. According to official sources, Altman was mysteriously assassinated by the government to silence the truth, and thus became a martyr figure to the religion's believers. The Black Marker is revered by Unitologists as an immensely powerful holy object, which God sent to show that death is not the end. Various tests on the Marker led to it being reverse-engineered; the result was a functioning copy known as the Red Marker. The Black Marker was classified government property, and although Unitologists worshiped it, they only appear to have had pictures and possibly the leaked vidlog from Altman to base their beliefs on. As most data was classified, their conjectures and the comments of Altman caused irrational, hysterical ideas about the Marker to gain momentum. The Unitology religion offered a promise of immortality, backed up by apparent scientific credibility, which excited many previously purposeless and depressed people in the dry and impoverished world. The Church of Unitology, of course, always wanted to get their hands on the Marker (which was the reason they were so excited by the Marker found on Aegis VII). Unfortunately the Black Marker sank along with the floating facility it was housed on. Sovereign Colonies showed interest in excavating it from the facility ruins but its status is currently unknown. Two government officials who supervised the project, Markoff and Stevens, made sure that the data of the Marker was copied so that they could make their own Markers for more research. According to Michael Altman's analysis of the core sample taken from the Black Marker, it has several unusual physical properties. Its structure is smooth both outside and within, the edges featuring a strange uniform mineral vein structure. The substance is like granite in appearance but almost as hard as corundum, one of the hardest minerals on Earth. The leader of the Circle, Jacob Danik, speculated that the Black Marker forced evolution on Earth to create an intelligent species capable of creating more Markers, with the ultimate plan of initiating a Convergence. The symbols on both of the Markers apparently represent DNA, and the double-helical structure of the Marker itself alludes to this.


For additional publc information not covered in this book, please read Unitology: The Red Marker.