The Great Old Ones, a technologically advanced civilisation that preceded Roland's time and left behind the remnants of their machines and structures across Mid-World. In their hubris they attempted to unite magic and technology, creating wonders like the Beams and their cyborg Guardians through their company North Central Positronics. Their civilisation ended in a Great Cataclysm or Great Poisoning - a nuclear and chemical devastation whose fallout created the Slow Mutants and left vast regions of Mid-World poisoned and broken.