An oddly specific question, but does anybody know if there's any cool references to real life relics in the game? My main curiosity is the Rare Disc, in it's description it says "When held, you're overwhelmed with a feeling of dread" Does anybody have any ideas on what this is referencing? Maybe it's just a part of the game. As a history buff, I enjoyed the Uncharted series as well, even if Henry Avery didn't build a pirate-utopia, and El Dorado didn't exist. TL;DR: Are there artifacts that remind you of relics in real life?
There are I few connections that I have. Of all of the relevant ancient disks in the world, the so-called Genetic Disk bears the most resemblance to the Rare Disk. A more famous disk would be the Phaistos Disk (Worth a read on Wikipedia), but it does not appear to look as much like the in-game item as the former. The whole deal about this artifact is that it was "discovered" in the jungle of Colombia, and is supposed to show the stages of life in rather odd drawings. If it is real, it would mean the Pre-Colombian civilizations may have been much more advanced than we think they were. However, many people believe that the disk is a hoax, due to a variety of reasons, including a lack of documentation. This could explain the "feeling of dread." The Golden Mask seems to represent an ancient death mask. I would think it to be a reference to the Mycenaean death mask of Agamemnon, but the 'large purple gem' in the forehead makes me think of Egyptian death masks, which were often more lavish, and adorned with precious minerals, such as lapis lazuli. Death mask of Agamemnon, vs. Egyptian death mask: The Rusty Cog reminds me of the Antikythera mechanism, which was an ancient Greek device used to predict eclipses, and is considered one of the world's first analog calculators. The Chipped Amphora is very obviously Hellenistic, just from the design, and the term 'amphora.' Finally, the Elvish Jewelry has to be a reference to the One Ring from LOTR. I mean come on, the description states that "on the side is a flowing script thought by some to be the ancient language of the elves." Tell me that doesn't sound familiar. These are just my theories, coming from a fellow history buff ;-)
I assumed the Rare Discs are somehow related to the Shadow people and that some kind of dark magic is involved, thus the dread.
The Rusty Cog leads me to think of the so-called Antikythera mechanism, which is a a small machine of interactive cogs dated to roughly 200 BCE, and found at the bottom of the Aegean Sea. It's said to have provided a wide variety of important astronomical functions.
I thought the same thing. It's amazing how scientifically advanced the Ancient Greeks were, despite living thousands of years ago!
Heron of Alexandria perfected a simple steam engine (what modern engineers call a bladeless radial turbine) called an aeolipile in the first century B.C.E. By modern standards, it's nothing but a toy with no practical uses, but the principles behind it could have triggered the Industrial Revolution almost two millennia early had history gone a bit differently. For the record, I don't consider any of the artifacts in Stardew with the exception of the actual fossils (and I'm a big booster for Trilobites, myself, amazing group of animals) to be historically based. I always presumed the Golden Mask and Tablet to be something created by the same culture that dug the Skull Dungeons to mine the gems and iridium. The Disk is probably intended to be a sinister artifact of the Shadow People, hence the feelings of dread it creates. The Dwarf items-- scrolls, helmet, machine, and possibly the cog-- are leftovers from when the Dwarves were more numerous, before the ancient war. Has anyone else ever had the creepy idea that the line, 'No Elvish bones have ever been found' on the entry for the Elvish Jewelry is because those are the skeletons wandering in the lost city levels in the Mines? No bones have been found... because they're still up and about.
I also believe that the Bone Flute is a reference to the "Paleolithic Flutes", apparently prehistoric humans made flutes out of bones for ceremonies. I also think that the dolls could be some sort of voodoo thing? Anyways, awesome reply! This is exactly what I was looking for!
Adding on, I feel like the feeling of dread that the Rare Disc creates is similar to that of Majoras Mask; a deep sadness, frustration, suffering, something sinister.
Not an item per se, but Kent's clothes are highly reminiscent of late 50's/early 60's US army BDUs. His rank insignia seem to be inverted, but would place him in a rank akin to sergeant.
