Nomai Civilization Archive

Lore & Background

The Nomai were a nomadic species that explored the universe in large spaceships called Vessels. One Vessel discovered a signal older than the universe emanating from the Hatchling's star system. Upon warping to the system, the Vessel became embedded in Dark Bramble, with some of the Nomai surviving in escape pods. No longer able to detect the signal, the Nomai built a civilization throughout the system while trying to find the source, dubbed the 'Eye of the Universe'. They eventually discovered that, with enough power, they could send objects or information backwards in time using a linked pair of black and white holes. This inspired them to build a probe cannon in orbit around Giant's Deep to fire a probe in a random direction to locate the Eye, and a station in orbit around the star, the Sun Station, that would artificially induce a supernova, generating enough power to send the probe's data back in time 22 minutes. Together, this would allow the probe to be fired in as many times and directions as necessary to find the Eye, at which point the Nomai would shut down the Sun Station, ending the time loop. However, the Sun Station failed to induce a supernova and before an alternate power source could be found, the Interloper entered the solar system. The Nomai investigating found that the Interloper contained an extremely pressurized source of 'ghost matter', a highly lethal and invisible substance. Before they could inform the others, the source ruptured and a powerful wave of ghost matter spread throughout the system, killing all of the Nomai.

In Their Own Story

A long time after the Nomai perished, the animals of Timber Hearth evolved into the Hearthians. The sun goes supernova as part of the natural end of the universe, triggering the time loop repeatedly until the probe cannon finds the Eye at the beginning of the game and through the statue inducts the Hatchling into the loop. Armed with this knowledge, the Hatchling is able to repower the Vessel and warp to the Eye. Upon entering the Eye, the Hatchling encounters echoes of the other members of Outer Wilds, as well as a Nomai if they had met on the Quantum Moon. As the universe ends the Eye creates a new universe in a Big Bang. The ending shows a similar planetary system with new life forms 14.3 billion years after its creation, with influences of the Hearthians and Nomai.

Reader's Guide

The Nomai writing, found in their ruins and presented as a branching tree of messages, can be read with a translator tool. To understand their civilization, one must follow the path they carved through space itself. Begin by exploring the ruins on Brittle Hollow, a hollow planet that is collapsing into a black hole at its center, and the Hourglass Twins, a pair of planets orbiting each other with sand flowing from one to the other. These locations show how they manipulated planetary mechanics to survive. Their engineering was not merely functional but deeply tied to cosmic observation and survival against entropy. Crucially, the timeline of their decline must be pieced together from scattered warnings left in remote outposts. The Dark Bramble represents a tragic end for many who sought refuge there, while the Eye project marked their final ambition before vanishing. By correlating dates on tablets with astronomical events, players reconstruct the moment the supernova began its cycle. This reconstruction reveals why they vanished before the current loop started, leaving only stone and script behind.

Did You Know?

• The Nomai are a three-eyed, fur-covered, antlered species that wear robes and large masks.
• The Nomai built a probe cannon in orbit around Giant's Deep to fire a probe in a random direction to locate the Eye of the Universe.
• The Sun Station was built to artificially induce a supernova to generate enough power to send the probe's data back in time 22 minutes.
• All Nomai in the system were killed by a powerful wave of ghost matter that spread from the Interloper.
• The Nomai Vessel became embedded in Dark Bramble after warping to the system, with some Nomai surviving in escape pods.