Civilization: Beyond Earth’s ‘The Canon’ Prefaced

Firaxis has posted a host of in-game lore for their upcoming grand turn-based strategy game Civilization: Beyond Earth, with a focus on one of the game’s newly revealed factions—Franco-Iberia. 

Lead by the enigmatic Élodie, the Franco-Iberian faction’s strengths lie in its rich European culture. Details about the faction and its lead were detailed in an interview with the developers last week. 

As mentioned in the interview, Élodie supervised the creation of something called “The Canon,” the definitive collection of Western art, with works, letters, and music. The newly released bit of in-game lore serves as a preface to The Canon. Here is a snippet of what’s in store:

I do not subscribe to the notion that all ideas are worthy of preservation. Some are reprehensible, and through diligent study you may detect the shadow of these ideas before they reform within the zeitgeist, and choose a different path for yourself before they infect minds again. Some are banal, and have been culled because the ideas within them, although perhaps worthy, were expressed with considerable crudity. Some are preserved as historical curiosities, fashionable nonsense which you may examine and mock for their shortcomings. I have labelled these latter ones as such, lest there be confusion on the point. You will no doubt replicate much of old Earth’s folly in your own time; I will not enshrine this folly lest it be mistaken for wisdom.

While I readily accept the blame and condemnation of possible futures, I will also claim a measure of credit for this work. This is the culmination of years spent in service to the muses, to the liberal education, to the cultural history of civilizations, and to ancient wisdom which has stood the test of time.

You can read it in full here.

As previously mentioned, details of the Franco-Iberian faction and their leader Élodie were revealed in an interview with Spanish gaming website 3d Juegos late last week. You can read about how the faction will operate within the game’s mechanics and discover the advantages and disadvantages to playing as them within the interview, which detailed extensively the faction and its leader.