The Rusty civilization existed at least three hundred years before the Prettytime. They get their name from the metal ruins that are all that remains of their world.
History
At least three hundred years before the Prettytime, there were over ten billion Rusties on Earth. More than half of the planet's land mass was taken over by the Rusties for living space and the farms, mines, oil fields, and factories that supported them. At their peak, a hundred species became extinct every day. They consumed enough energy to have their city lights seen from space and each Rusty produced two kilograms of garbage per day. Some scientists even messed with the genes of living things, one of which was the white tiger orchid. It used to be a rare flower, but one day a Rusty scientist wanted to make more money off of the orchids, and so changed it's genetic code in order to allow the plant to grow in more climates. However, the job was done too well and the beautiful white tiger orchid became a beautiful white weed, choking out all other competition and reducing vast areas to biological ground zero. But that wasn't the only deadly entity they created: They might have also engineered the oil bug that ultimately destroyed the Rusty era entirely.
The Rusty Crash
There is no true conclusion to what destroyed the majority of the world in Uglies, but it definitely has something to do with the oil and other natural resources and fossile fuels on the planet. Multiple times in the novel, Tally (our queen) recalls and learns about the destruction that was caused by humans on the planet. It is confirmed that there was a virus that killed a lot of the current population of the Rusties and another time when someone made it flammable when it touched the air. Then, there was the nuclear war over the remains of the natural resources, after an extreme shortage led to the ultimate destruction of most technology on the planet (this happened sometimes in 2050-2070, just a warning). This destroyed a lot of major cities (hence the Rusty Ruins) and the fact that the Ruins and parts of Tally's city is destroyed, especially since it was Seattle.
The War
Tally remembers multiple times about people who started the war. Mentions of countries like Russia, England, the United States and many others seemed to have had some kind of affects to the ultimate destruction and collapse of our planet. Eventually, economies collapsed and many people seemed to have started fighting others for money and eventually, the world plunged into chaos. Luckily, people like Doctor Cable invented the Uglies Regime, and it eventually "saved" the planet, and the world was perfect again. (Hahaha, sarcastic).
Trivia
- Somehow, a few Rusty magazines survived the Crash and made it to the Smoke's library.
- There is a vault filled with weapons from the Nuclear War that destroyed the Rusties before the Uglies Regime existed. This is where the flammable gas and such are found by Tally and Shay in Specials. It also contains things like bombs (nuclear and atomic), guns and some of the weapons that the police force uses.
- Children are taught about the Rusties in school when they are young and some maps show what the world looked like back then.
| Pages |
|---|
| David - Shay - Smoke - Scott Westerfeld - Tally - Uglies slang- Uglies (trilogy) |