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The Eridians are an innumerably ancient, highly mysterious, and presumably extinct alien race that serve as an important foundational presence in the Borderlands series.

What befell their civilization is unclear, but what they left behind in the form of wildly-advanced technological artifacts drive much of the conflict in the galactic borderlands, particularly between the massively powerful Corporate Manufacturers that squabble against one another in a ceaseless pursuit of Eridian technology.

The myths surrounding the Eridians' Vaults, which are said to hold treasures beyond one's wildest dreams, have borne a particular breed of mercenary known as Vault Hunters, some of whom have become major players on the planet Pandora and beyond.

Eridian logo

History

E Ruins01

Eridian ruins at Patricia Tannis's dig site

Most of what is known of the Eridians is contained on thirty-one stone slabs written by the ancient siren Nyriad, who lived among them. Once believed to have originated on Nekrotafeyo, it is now known that it was only the first planet they colonized upon arriving in the Six Galaxies from somewhere unknown.[1]

Their unparalleled ability to manipulate the world around them brought about creations that surpass the capabilities of even the most advanced human developments millenia later. Of these include a variety of offensive energy-based weaponry, autonomous Guardians that still maintain their vigil over the places their long-absent creators, and, perhaps most significantly, dimensional containment chambers known as Vaults that are said to contain vast amounts of priceless relics of the ancient civilization.

The true nature of the Vaults put the nature of the Eridians into question; these vaults were not for the hoarding of treasure but instead the imprisonment of immensely powerful and eldritch beings. One such being, the Destroyer, was contained within the Great Vault of the planet Pandora only through the willing sacrifice of the entirety of Nekrotafeyo's Eridian population, who acted as the means to allow an ancient Siren to seal the monstrosity within the Vault. Given the presence of many other Vaults acting as prisons for other entities, it can be speculated that resorting to similar sacrifices may have caused their race's collapse.

Long after their fall, the first ruins of Eridian civilization were uncovered on the world of Eridanus, and since that discovery their presence has been found on countless more celestial bodies. Pandora in particular had a significant presence of Eridian society, the acquisition of which propelled the Atlas Corporation into the most powerful position within the galactic scene as they were the first to exploit and reverse-engineer Eridian technology. A galaxy-spanning gold rush to discover and acquire Eridian tech would bring about technological advances occur practically overnight where it would have once taken centuries. This need to plunder also brought about immense conflicts between competing corporations that have done little but intensify over time, which has only unleashed more of what the Eridians sought to keep contained.

Eridian Presence

Although the Eridian civilization was destroyed, Eridian ruins can be found in several locations on Pandora. These ruins always contain large stones that have visible lines running through them as an identifying feature. Large broken archways can be found as well. In some areas (notably The Vault, Vault of the Warrior, and The Leviathan's Lair), there are huge ancient statues that depict Eridians. Guardians are still active in parts of these ruins and will attack on sight.

Biology

Nothing is known for certain about the physiology of the Eridians, although their statues and the Guardians carry an upright, insect-humanoid appearance, leading to the popular belief that the Eridians themselves were similar in structure. One notable trait on their creations is the presence of wings, in many cases glowing with a phosphorescent light.

Society

According to Patricia Tannis the Eridians maintained a "class-based society which is capable of both leadership and organized warfare". She managed to determine this by translating Eridian writings found in Eridian ruins using her translation program as can be heard in one of her data recorders in Rust Commons West. It does seem that they were well versed in weapons technology and design, capable of not only creating powerful weapons and systems but near invincible bioweapons as well.

Weaponry

Main article: Eridian Weapons

Artifacts

Main article: Artifacts

Notes

  • Patricia Tannis pronounces Eridian as if it were spelled "Eridan": 'air-ih-dan', even though her speech subtitles spell it properly.

References

  1. The Words of Borderlands. pp. 10-12
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