The Ramparts of Rakkadda

[Pauldelbrot]

The Ramparts of Rakkadda



http://www.fractalforums.com/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;id=12027

This top view of an ancient fort's ruins shows how passageways wend through the walls to conceal troops and how there were several layers of defenses.

The fort never fell to enemy action. The Rakkaddan civilization was doomed by climate change, and, like the Anasazi, their population dispersed when the land could no longer support urban population densities. Abandoned, the fort eventually was reduced to wall stubs in the desert that once was fertile grassland, to be discovered by archaeologists distantly descended from the ancient inhabitants of the area.

(2D Kaliset Julia, with a coloring that suggests shading and creates an impression of an overhead 3D view.)

[LhoghoNurbs]

What a sad story. Sometimes a fractal image and a story complement each other completely. This is one example of such perfect fit!

[Pauldelbrot]

Thanks.

Though ... is surviving attempted murder and eventually dying of natural causes instead really "sad"?

[LhoghoNurbs]

It's the same type of sadness that I feel when I watch the ruins of Machu Picchu, for example. But of course, I cannot rationalize WHY I feel sad.

[Pauldelbrot]

Sad is relative, I suppose. Any dying is sadder than not dying, for instance.

On the other hand, everything exists eternally in the Minkowski block, and information can never truly be destroyed, only encrypted with an unknown key...

[LhoghoNurbs]

Oh, I was talking about the fortress, not about the civilization... I think cities, villages, castles, fortresses even individual buildings are living organisms of their kind. Being abandoned is like being dead.

[Dinkydau]

Buildings are made by people. There are influences of something human in them. I think that's what you recognize.