Tribe of Ancients

The Tribe of Ancients were an advanced civilization appearing in Super Paper Mario. They were highly intelligent and possessed great magical power, and their influence spread across many dimensions for thousands of years. The Ancients' counterpart was the Tribe of Darkness, which splintered off from the rest of the ancients 2,000 years prior to the events of Super Paper Mario. While the Tribe of Darkness kept to themselves and forbade marriage outside their group (for fear of diluting their magical powers), the Ancients had great faith in the power of love, and the passion of some became the stuff of legends. 1,500 years before the events of Super Paper Mario, a particular group of Ancient sages created the Light Prognosticus to counteract the grim prophesies of the Dark Prognosticus (whether this book was written by an Ancient as well is unknown); they also constructed Flipside, and saw to the distribution of the Pure Hearts across the land, believing that the power o love would be the only way to save the universe from the destruction foretold in the Dark Prognosticus.

History
The ancients were an incredibly intelligent race that possessed powerful magic, however they lacked physical strength. 3,000 years before the events of Super Paper Mario, one of the Ancients circumvented their physical limitations by creating the "thinking tools" known as Pixls using knowledge gleaned from the prophetic book, the Dark Prognosticus. The Ancients used the Pixls to build great cities and spread their knowledge across many worlds. However, they grew dependent on their living tools, and after 1,000 years of prosperity, they were devastated by the uprising of their Pixls, who had fallen under the control of an entity called the Pixl Queen. The Pixl Queen had been the first Pixl created, and was horrified at how her fellow Pixls were being used, but her revolution was eventually foiled by the twelve original Pixls (besides herself) and their Ancient partners, all but one of whom perished.

The survivor discovered that the Pixls had been created from the souls of deceased people (with the Pixl Queen in particular being the daughter of the Ancient who made the Pixls), and to prevent the knowledge contained in the Dark Prognosticus from being used in such a way again and causing another tragedy like the Pixl uprising, he took the book and disappeared. He later founded the Tribe of Darkness, a group of Ancients who became known for their great power and secrecy. The Tribe of Ancients accused them of stealing the Dark Prognosticus, and the idea that they wanted to use the book to enhance their shadowy powers joined the true story of their shielding of the book from those who would misuse it.

Five hundred years after the Pixl Uprising, the Ancients became aware that the Dark Prognosticus predicted that all worlds would be consumed by a Void in 1,500 years' time. A group of four sages believed that the power of live could prevent the destruction, and their research led the construction of the Purity Heart, which was meant to destroy the Chaos Heart that would create The Void. They write another book called the Light Prognosticus to provide the hero of the future with instructions and guidance in how to prevent the consumption of all worlds, and broke the Purity Heart into eight smaller Pure Hearts, which they then passed out to other trustworthy individuals for safekeeping. They also created Flipside, a world between dimensions, and with the help of the Tribe of Darkness, they created its dark counterpart as well, Flopside, and hid Heart Pillars around both cities so that only the hero would be able to go to them and deposit the Pure Hearts. They also used the Flipside Pit of 100 Trials to test he power of the Pure Hearts, while the Flopside Pit of 100 Trials was used to study the dark magic of shadows.

However, the Ancients' time was limited. After the Pixl Uprising, the Ancients grew fearful of their "thinking tools". They outlawed their creation and limited the power of the existing Pixls, which slowly dwindled in numbers until only the original eleven Pixls (down from twelve, as one died defeating the Pixl Queen) remained, scattered across the worlds. Without the Pixls, the Ancients' power and influence began to decline, and by the time the events of Super Paper Mario began to play out, their civilization was all but lost. Only a few descendents of the Tribe of Ancients are encountered in the game, as well as the last member of the Tribe of Darkness.

Merlimbis
Merlimbis, who is described by Tippi as "gentle and loving", was one of the four sages among the Tribe of Ancients. She is thought to have created the Pure Hearts, and therefore the Purity Heart. She is never directly met, only viewed in a stained glass window in Mirror Hall.

The strangely-drawn depiction of her seen in this window seems to suggest that, during her life, Merlimbis looked identical to Merluvlee the fortune teller. Indeed, both Tippi and Tiptron state that Merluvlee is a direct descendant of Merlimbis, as is the similar-looking Merlee.

Merlight
Merlight is revealed by Tippi to have been quite knowledgeable in the nature of worlds, and used this knowledge in the design of Flipside.

He is distantly related to Merlon, who looks identical to him and apparently possesses a large amount of the books Merlight left behind. Interestingly, however, the angular positioning of his hood in the stained glass window of Mirror Hall he is seen in actually makes him appear somewhat similar to Merlon's appearance in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, though this may be a coincidence.

Merloo
According to Tippi, Merloo was very wise in his time and is even thought to be the author of the Light Prognosticus. He has the appearance of a mustache-less, green-robed character slightly resembling Merlon.

Interestingly, unlike all other sages among the Ancients, Merloo possesses no current inhabitant of Flipside or Flopside who bears any direct resemblance to him, although some other "Shaman"-like characters of past Paper Mario games do slightly resemble Merloo.

It is interesting to note that Merloo is said to be a powerful, dimension-controlling magician, similar to the villain Dimentio, as well as Bestovius, who gives Mario the ability to flip into the third dimension.

Merlumina
Merlumina was a member of the Tribe of Ancients. 1,500 years before the setting of Super Paper Mario, she was told to protect the Pure Heart in Yold Ruins and await the hero of legend. 1,500 years later, her ghost still waited (albeit slightly impatiently) for the hero to arrive. She is the only member of the sages to be met by Mario and his friends in-game. She is credited with writing the Light Prognosticus by Merlon.

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