Ancient human

Ancient humans, referred to in their own time as simply humans, were a sentient species in the distant past of The Talos Principle games. They built an advanced technological civilization at the expense of damaging Earth's natural ecosystem.

At some point, a deadly and contagious virus was released from the permafrost. When it became clear that this would soon cause the extinction of the original human race, a team lead by Alexandra Drennan initiated a process designed to one day allow a new human race to exist. Their efforts were ultimately successful.

Alexandra Drennan

Main article: Alexandra Drennan

Alexandra Drennan was the leader of the in-universe Talos Project, designed to allow the creation of a new human race after her own species went extinct.

Arkady Chernyshevsky

Arkady Chernyshevsky was chiefly responsible for the Archive, part of the Institute for Applied Noematics' plan to preserve humanity. The entire Extended Lifespan project is credited as his brainchild, although the Talos component was spearheaded by Alexandra Drennan while Chernyshevsky, Donovan, and others focused on the Archive.

He was at one point nominated for a Nobel Prize.

B.T. Odhiambo

B.T. Odhiambo was the author of Anthropocene Dilemmas, a fragment can be found in the terminal entry 4.2 kiloyear event.

Nadya Sarabhai

Nadya Sarabhai was a member of the Institute for Applied Noematics. She is the author of the "Sarabhai982.jrnl" text entry in The Talos Principle and is mentioned several times in The Talos Principle 2.

She is the namesake of the new human Sarabhai (6).

Straton

Main article: Straton of Stageira

Straton was the Greek philosopher who first espoused the Talos Principle.

Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes was a philosopher and author. Several pieces of his works can be found in terminal documents.

Trevor Donovan

Trevor Percival Donovan was a scientist at the Institute for Applied Noematics, working under Arkady Chernyshevsky to help create the Archive.

He is first referenced in The Talos Principle in the text files capacity.eml and team leads.eml, the latter of which lists him as being in charge of hardware for the Extended Lifespan project.

Collecting all 12 audio logs recorded by Trevor grants the "Trevor's Biographer" achievement and causes the "In Memory Still Bright" social media entry entry to appear in the Interface.

Valerie Contera-Romero

Valerie Contera-Romero was the author of Are We There Yet? Where We Came From, Where We're Going, And Why You'll Need Snacks, a fragment of which can be found in the terminal document Baby_Steps.