Institute for Fictional Civilizations · Est. MMXXVI
The study of civilizations that never existed.
Games, novels, films and myths are our field sites. Their societies, faiths, ecologies and collapses are our subject.
07Departments
13Excavations
published
published
12Worlds
under study
under study
MMXXVIFounded
Featured ExcavationNº 0013
Excavation Nº 0013 · Extinct Worlds
The City That Refused to Die
City of Heroes closed in 2012. Its players kept the city alive in secret, rebuilt it, and won an official license in 2024. An excavation of a resurrection.
- World
- Paragon City, City of Heroes
- Period
- 2004 to 2012, revived 2019 (real world)
- Status
- Active
The Departments
Seven ways of reading an imagined world.
Every Excavation is filed in one of the Institute's departments. Open a drawer to see what it holds.
The Register
Recent excavations
0013The City That Refused to DieExtinct WorldsCity of Heroes● Active0012The Town That Bargained With the PlagueAnthropologyPathologic◐ Partially documented0011The Civil War Over a Forbidden GodAnthropologySkyrim◐ Contested0010The Lord of Murder Will Not Stay DeadReligionsBaldur's Gate● Active0009The Machine Ecology of Regis IIIEcologiesThe Invincible● Active0008The Citizens of Super EarthHuman ArchiveHelldivers 2● Active
The Institute's thesis
Fiction is not escapism.
Humanity keeps imagining other civilizations. The Institute studies what they reveal about power, belief, survival and ourselves.
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