So, I’ve always had this funny feeling about those fancy classical stone structures covered with fussy carvings, intricate aerials, colossal columns and enormous entryways — was all that really necessary?
<...>
This gave me the first clue that this recurring architecture wasn’t random or mere imitation — these elements all add up to something that involves POWER!
<...>
She pointed out that drawing electricity from the atmosphere could be relatively simple if your city was planned with buildings designed to properly attract, collect and dispense the accumulated current.

It is being referred to as “Antiqui-Tech.”

The concept of Antiqui-Tech is the crafting of architectural forms to attract and distribute the natural static electrical charge present in the atmosphere or Atmospheric Etheric Energy (AEE), a subtle force of nature that operates whether we believe in it or not.
<...>
So the theory goes that if properly harvested, Antiqui-Tech could harness and channel AEE into buildings and public spaces to generate light, regulate temperature and create an energy field that sterilizes harmful bacteria.
<...>
To help me determine the real Old Empire (Tartarian?) residential architecture from the modern imitations, I look for 4 main features:
*Fiddly Bits on top (metal or stone protuberances to serve as antenna)
*Flat Chimneys (never enough chimneys to heat such a large building by conventional means)
*Dormers and Towers on Roof (to accumulate and distribute AEE)
*Colossal Entryways (not sure if these indicate giants built them, but they are always there!)
<...>
However, since I am not sure the Tartarians built all of these structures, I have decided on the term Old Empire civilizations — plural because I’m pretty sure there were more than one.

Which brings us to the idea that civilizations can be purposely reset by Controllers who then enslave the devastated population and relocate them into abandoned cities.