Olm

The Olm are a nearly extinct group hailing from an unknown land. Many hundreds of years ago they were the dominant group in the Wynn region, and had built a great civilization there. They used a theocracy, which was led by their high priestess. The Olm took an interest in Meteors, and built at least one observatory to track their fall in their domain. Additionally, the Olm were had access to both Runic and Time magic, which were likely related in some way.

Known Olm

Olm mage in The Final Moments

Olm in Timeless Ruin

• Anya: Likely the Olmic high priestess, they foresaw the destruction of the Olm's civilization, and made a bracelet which could stop it. The bracelet, which is now known as Anya's Penumbra was ultimately never used as Anya's ancestors could not manage the bracelet well.
• Arna: An Olm who lived in the Olmic City. They had numerous Loot Chest stashes around the city, which can be opened up with Cryptic Keys. The description of these Cryptic Keys is "Opens up to my caches! Don't touch!! -Arna". The Cryptic Keys are dropped by Ancient Constructs, rare mobs that spawn around the city, which may hint that Arna built these constructs.
• Froner: An Olmic astronomer who watched the meteors that fell on the mountains around what is now the Silent Expanse. When the dark beast began their attack on the town, they were the first to spot it.
• Unnamed Olm: Found in a ruin near Time Valley. Thanks to the surrounding time magic, they were revived for a short amount of time, saying one sentence before dying again.

Known Ruins

The Olm built a lot in their time, and much of what they created still stands to this day in the form of large ruins.

• Time Valley: A place where the flow of time is much slower than normal, being built by the Olm around the Temple of Time. The region contains several golem-like guardians in the larger buildings, as well as undead ancient corpses. No one has come to settle in this region, but it is watched over by Old Man Martyn, who allowed a researcher named Asher to live in the place for a time.
  • Temple of Time: This is the most important and well preserved of all locations within Time Valley. It allows for people to look backwards in time by placing an item on its altar from the place and period. It appears to be possible to bring items back from the past, but it isn't possible to change past events.
• Forgotten Town: While it is not known what the real name for this ancient Olmic town is, Forgotten Town is probably the best preserved of all Olmic Ruins. It is near the entrance to the Silent Expanse, and only contains Quiet Observers and the giant Omnispective Wanderers. It was originally home to an observatory and a huge cathedral, which houses the Tol Rune Altar.
• Eldritch Outlook: While this was certainly not the structure's original name, it is known by this name to the small number of people who have managed to reach the place. It is probably the tallest structure in the world, which is beneficial to the Darkness because this allows The Eye to see everything across the Wynn Province. The building's insides have been heavily warped due to the dark influence, but the outside has several depictions of things carved into the walls.
• Ancient City: When the Olm fled Dern thanks to the power of the Crystal Shards, they settled in the Dernel Jungle and built a great city there. However, due to the Crystal Shards' overwhelming power, the Olm slowly went insane and the Ancient City degraded into ruins (although its original inhabitants are still alive today, albeit insane and/or corrupted) until it was discovered again by WynnExcavation while they were searching for the Leaf Crystal.

History

Note: The Olm's history is rather incomplete and has been not put into a timeline!

It is unknown where the Olm originated from. However, it is known that at one point in the distant past, the Olm created a civilization in the Silent Expanse, where they built the Ruined Olmic City, their capital, as well as the Eldritch Outlook, for reasons unknown. For a civilization that flourished numerous millenia ago, they were very advanced, having harnessed powerful and obscure magic such as time magic and rune magic.

Around 1400 BP, meteors started falling onto Wynn and Gavel. The Silent Expanse's mountain range was specifically a hotspot for these meteors, as it was being bombarded almost constantly for years. The Olm noticed this and built observatories to track the fall of the meteors. At one point, due the constant bombardment of the mountain range, the Crystal Shards were formed close to the modern-day tunnel to the Silent Expanse, where the "A Wynnic Excavation" discovery takes place. The Olm discovered these shards and took them.

At some point during the meteor bombardment, a swarm of fireballs rained down onto the Olmic City: an attack. They were invaded by the Dern Beast, the God of Darkness who is counterpart to Orphion. It conquered the Silent Expanse and forced the Olm to its domain, leaving the few remaining Olm to flee.

However, the Olm were able to use the power of the Crystal Shards to escape Dern, returning to our plane of existence. They then fled to the Dernel Jungle (it is uncertain whether they made contact with the ancient jungle tribesmen or not) and founded a city: the Ancient City. As time progressed, the Olm slowly descended into insanity due to the overwhelming power of the Crystal Shards and due to them believing that the Dernic Beast was still observing them from afar, trying to call them back to its realm. Some even fell to Corruption (the Crystals can presumably harness both Light and Darkness). The Olm decided that the power of the Crystal Shards was too strong and that nobody should try tampering with it. Thus, they hid the shards where they found them (the Silent Expanse mountains), leading to the Humans discovering them in 800 BP. The Olm now live as either insane or corrupted, or both, the city itself falling into ruin long ago.

The remaining Olm, those who fled from the Silent Expanse in the initial attack and weren't taken to Dern, fled into the Wynn Plains and built the Time Valley, as well as the Temple of Time, presumably in attempt to revert the events. This, however, failed and they were found by the Dern Beast, time itself being ripped asunder in this valley due to the effects of the Olm's time magic. Even today, time acts far more strangely in the Time Valley than it does in any other place. The timeline and the valley itself are protected by Old Man Martyn, who himself may either be Olmic or at least part-Olmic.

Even after all this, the Olm as as species are presumably not yet extinct, as there have been Olm sightings in the modern day, notably when a "strange man with pale grey skin" (description of an Olm) gifted a pair of strange boots made of Dernic stone to the Sodetas, Ferndor's ancestors.

Signs in the Ancient City

Each place is separated by a blank line, each sign is on its own line.

• We've made it... We managed to escape from the Realm of Dern
• We've settled in this jungle... Bit its clear that we don't belong
• here. That twisted world has our minds beyond past recognition...

• The power of the stars.. The magic we used to keep it away from us... It was not wise to tamper with it.
• Its influence has driven many of us to insanity...

• IT'S STILL WATCHING US WE CAN'T ES****

• 156x "I am not crazy"
• I might be crazy

• I want to diiieee--

• Its will demands that we return... we mustn't obey...

• What the hell? Everyone has been obsessing over it for
• no good reason. They keep saying that it's still watching us?!
• That's impossible! We fled from Dern so long ago! Is this because
• of... the Crystals?

• From its realm, of darkness. it watches us all. Its gaze is far
• more than a mere symbol...

• The shadows are unknownable. We may never understand that
• which watches us from Dern's lightless depths...

• CURSE THEM! Trying to hide the power from me...? FROM **?!?!?!

• We can't lose hope again. We can't let it catch us again.
• Our survival depends on it. If we lose hope it will end us
• all.. We can't be found again.. we can't...

• I CANT S** MY EYES THEY **** ****

• I don't want to go back there. I don't care if I die down here, I won't go back..

• W-why can't I control myself? Why can't I stop thinking about It??

• There has to be some amount of hope for us... ...right...?

• The power of the stars.. I need... more.. more. more, more, MORE!

• Even from here we cannot escape it. Even from the realm of its gaze follow us..

• No... We've all gone mad... The shadows were never following us. It was all just... Lunacy

• We can't handle them anymore. The Crystals are too volatile.
• We should put them... back where we found them... Far away from
• here... Their magic turned has turned us all into raving lunatics...

Gallery

Images of signs in the secret rooms in Ancient City

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Trivia

• In 1.20 Gavel Reborn update the Ancients from WynnExcavation Site D were officially merged with the Olm.
• The Olm are gray in color.
• Their language is now known as Ancient Wynnic.
• It is not known where the Olm are actually from.
• Although Anya's Penumbra is called a weapon of pure light, its description and name suggest that the light was not actually the part that could save the Olm.
• It is theorised that Bob's mother was Olmic.
  • As described in Ragni's Library: "During the fight, a woman who never said her name, nor where she had come from (she certainly wasn't one of Ragni's own), gave birth to a baby boy on the cold floors of the sewer." and "his (Bob's) skin was a shade of grey unnatural to those of Ragni, who have always been fair skinned."
• In A Hero's Origin it is implied that the tomb is Bob's mother's and there are black bones on the ground leading to the exit.