[UNF-A][Eugales Superproject]Return to the Reliquary sub-Project

Fiction Portal Intergalactic Summit
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It is with a mix of of trepidation and excitement that I announce a return to one of UNF’s older projects in the system of Eugales.

Some of you may remember a good while ago that the UNF started a large scale series of excavation and research projects on Planet V - Moon 1 in the system of Eugales. And the attempt to open the research of the ruins extracted from the surface to a wider examination group that was sadly put on extended hold for a variety of reasons, some related to a conflict in YC12o within system, as well as other projects largely taking precedent, but the archaeological work never fully ceased, and the ruins, both extracted from the surface, and still present, have had light staffing maintained for extended research and recovery.

This brings us to the return to the Reliquary project, of which the first, and largest ruin discovered was initially housed aboard a modular enclosure inside a Raitaru engineering complex, before being moved to a deadspace complex as the YC120 Eugales conflict came to a head. I have, as of now, authorized the enclosure to be moved into orbit of Eugales VI as part of the Orbtial Yard, as a centralized location for further, more active research, and more direct funding released toward archaealogical teams(and their attached security forces) on Eugales V - Moon 1[Umai] to continue excavations. This also will coincide with a resumption of moon drill firings, both to extract valuable resource pockets, as well as to retrieve properly stabilized ruins into orbit to be towed to the orbital yard for further study and analysis.

There is of course… a minor snag, in that Lai Dai Protection Service has chosen to attempt hostile asset seizures of artifacts and ruins on the surface… and some limited reports of DERAIL attempting similar(though the veracity of this are… largely difficult to ascertain even with statements in the recent news about ancient technology seizures.)

As a courtesy, I offer a warning particularly to any LDPS asset reclaimation forces to vacate areas on the moon’s surface that are particularly resource rich, or from facilities near ruin complexes or archaealogical excavations, as these will be targets for extraction in the coming weeks… The first firing of the Harvester V3 athanor’s moon drill to extract a minor ruin and notable Titanite resource pocket will occur this coming Sunday, at 2200 New Eden Standard Time. This warning should provide ample time to remove personnel assets from the danger zones that could be effected by the drill firing.

I will once again be seeking out third party researchers and archaeologists for further assistance in these endeavors, and look forward to coordinating in the near future.

Thank you all for your time

Lauralite Delilah Anne Brezia of House Brezia
Colonial Director, Executor of Capsuleer Operations, Diplomat
United Neopian Federation

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No. Do not do this. This is possibly the worst example of archaeological malpractice I have ever heard of in my entire career.

Dr. Shavari
Director RAI-CAEI

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Dr. Sharvari, I appreciate your concern, and I assure you, this is much more controlled than you may thinks. This isn’t simply ‘lets fire a plasmic lance drill at the ruin and hope it survives the pull,’ this is a precise work, using techniques refined during YC119 and YC120 during previous extractions that have proven largely successful.

As outlined in the previous thread from late YC119, the use of advanced inertial stabilizers and anchoring mechanisms will be employed, as well as a longer form wide surface extraction to ensure the stability of the ruin as it is removed from the surface.

If you’re still concerned over this, then I invite you later today, or early tomorrow, ahead of the firing to come and inspect one of the planned extraction sites and the ruins situated in the vicinity to see that I’m as good as my word.

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Is the blatant weaponization of an Athanor’s mining equipment covered under Upwell’s terms of service?

Also, you really should have kept your ‘reasoning’ to just resource extraction. The fact that you expect anyone, let alone actual archaeologists, to think that you are using some of the most destructive resource harvesting equipment ever developed to just relocate ruins (why would you even want to do this?) is honestly very optimistic.

In any case, I look forward to the reprisal for this stupidity, at the hands of Upwell, the LDPS, some offended archaeological association or any combination thereof.

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Considering that is the actual intent, and the warning largely a courtesy as I am not privy to the direct deployment details of LDPS assets on the surface, I just largely am aware of them being clustered near resource pockets of importx that also happen to be near some of the more prominent ruins.

If I was going to be stupid, I’d have fired the damned thing at the closest last reported sighting of LDPS units, but I have not. Giving the warning likely already is a mistake, considering LDPS’s reported track record from Intaki of taking what they think looks valuable and defacing or damaging what they can’t carry, as that is now a potentiality they may pursue, but this is an attempt to preserve life while maintaining some pragmatism in the process.

And my reasoning for doing it is simple, if I don’t, some other capsuleer group will come along, and be much more callous and indiscriminate in the firing of a drill to get as much resources as quickly as possible without giving a damn about the ruins or artifacts.

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And ruins. Ruins you claim you will be pulling alongside mineral deposits in a single pull.

Indeed, that would be more stupid, but it does not affect the weaponization of the equipment, even as a threat.

Which, as long as you own infrastructure remains in place, they wouldn’t be able to do. I am not nearly invested enough in the field to get particularly offended by this malpractice, but moving any ruin, let alone through such means, seems like a horrible idea.

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This particular practice goes back to the advent of modern moon extraction, when there was a massive rush on attempted resource extractions after Upwell had released its new Refinery line. A number of surface anomalies were found during the scanning process and more time was given to figuring out what they were, but still pragmatically had to commit to an extraction due to how aggressively many capsuleer groups were taking moons, as well as the aforementioned concerns about indiscriminate extractions. The internal process was quite hectic at the time. Please, though it may not interest you greatly I encourage you look back at the thread, linked in the original post, about our first extractions.

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My focus is more so on the convenient resumption of excavation attempts as soon as LDPS forces were reported to have landed on the moon. The last time you publicly showed any interest in this was well over three years ago. Surely you understand how this appears to any outside observer.

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I’m painfully aware of the optics. And not quite over three years ago, we’ve had an extraction drill over the moon at various points even after the YC120 Eugales conflict, pulling resources and minor ruins from the surface where it was more pragmatically reasonable to do so. The previous moon drill was destroyed on January the 4th of the current year.

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Even I don’t think you should disturb ruins by any aggressive means nevermind an orbital laser. I don’t know much about your operations but historical preservation should be high up on the list of your priorities not only because you can study things as they are now with as much efficiency if not more, and you bring into peril the heritage of future generations too with the forced removal and potential destruction of said ruins.

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The choices and options available right now are largely limited. Leave them for other capsuleers to callously grind to dust while trying to get at the resources around them. Leave them to be ravaged and vandalised by corporate interests, or, extract the ruins and relics in a controlled fashion with controlled wide pull drill firings, and removal to safe enclosures for extended study.

As spectacularly violent as the firing of a moon drill may be, it can and largely is employed incredibly precisely to even get a portion of moon crust into orbit in mostly one piece.

I want to make this VERY clear here, that the plasmic lance of the drill is not being fired at the ruins themselves, that’s not how the moon drill functions anyway when creating a ‘moon chunk’ as it were. It fires on precise coordinates surrounding a zone to loosen the crust prior to ‘Popping the Cork’ to extract a solid mass of rock.

I’m fully aware this constitutes a violent seismic event and can cause extensive dust storms in the vicinity AND on the surface of the removed chunk, followed by the gravitic distortion and torsion strain from the ensuing tractor pulse. This is counteracted and dealt by extensive stabilizing inertics and shielding deployed at the site of the ruins. We have done this before and have, to this point, a 97% success rate. The 3% failure rate in the past was due solely to erroneous firings by uninformed capsuleer employees who were reprimanded severely after the fact without repeat incident.

A great deal of resources go into a successful safe extraction, and frankly my first choice would be to leave the remaining ruins where they are on the surface, but that’s largely not an option considering the circumstances dealt by existing moon mining availability and lack of regulation in lowsec spaces like Eugales.

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Successful capsuleers must be efficient in their endeavors, and archeological exploits are no exception. If this were in Highsec, in established and populated space, one could make the argument for slow, delicate operations. But the reality is, this is Eugales: within space that the respective Empires have a tenuous grasp of, at best. Warzones, calamity, piracy, and opportunistic individuals - capsuleer and baseliner alike - make any delicate operations in dangerous space difficult during the best of circumstances.

As anyone with a Relic Analyzer will point out, the extraction of artifacts into a secure location is the best route to preserving the remnants of ancient cultures for future study. I would be willing to assume that Mrs. Brezia knows that intact artifacts and structures are significantly more valuable than their raw materials; if it is possible to extract whole areas with minimal damage to the ancient structures, it would be of far more value than the panic and fear provided by those who seem to turn a blind eye to the frigate smash-and-grab tactics that is part and parcel of archeology in more dangerous space.

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Another thing that must be remembered when it comes to situations like this is that the options aren’t as one dimensional as they might be in High-sec. As explained by Rene lightning, credit to you sir, this is a sector of space that is known for its share of bloodshed at a moments notice. In my time living in Eugales, I have seen quite a few warbands move through it, either on their way to another destination or even stopping in Eugales for a brief respite.

Needless to say, I have no doubt that Laura will take all safety precautions during these events to ensure that, should anything go wrong, there will be some sort of backup to minimize the damage. And should that be impossible, than Something is recovered than nothing at all. I will admit that I am quite new to all of this moon mining, having taken a bit of a vacation before. But thus far, I have seen nothing that lets me doubt in Lauralites abilities in this matter. Mind you, If I get the chance I plan on attending this myself to both learn what I can from the event and help ensure things run smoothly.

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The current technology was developed after a fusion reactor went critical, blowing the side out of ORE’s Crown Seven mineworks in C0T-77; providing both inspiration and proof of concept for the most destructive mining technology ever made available on SCC markets.

If Ms Brezia wishes to claim to be performing archeology with tech designed to emulate a fusion detonation, that is her perogative– you though, in light of your admitted unfamiliarity with the current generation of moon drills, ought at least to understand the outlandish nature of the assertion you are supporting.

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Two students near a door to archaelogical ruins:
– Please help, my chisel broke and the Professor prohibited to use crowbar to open it!
– Stand aside, I’ll just implode it from the orbit. Don’t worry, it’s totally safe and will be done in a controlled manner!!

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I can neither say here nor there of this, since I was not present during the previous successful ruin extractions from before. One thing I do know is the accuracy of said moon mining and, having observed a few now from a station, the fact that such a wide swath of land is pulled out of the moon… Well. Let’s simply leave it like this. The advent of Atomic energy came after the use of the Atomic bomb. Sometimes the most destructive advents in science can produce such wonderful and rather safe uses later on.

It’s better to adapt and overcome than look at something and say ‘You’re this and nothing else.’ That’s why I mine rocks. I want them to become something else. Something better and to help others with such rocks. I have confidence in Laura because she has not given me a reason Not to have such a thing in her. Even if others say what she is doing is outlandish, I don’t see a reason not to support her. I’ve seen the data reports from the previous excavations using just this process. As much as you can say it’s outlandish, the data is still solid upon this.

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Anachronistic technology aside, that is a misplaced parallel; this is not a derivative, it is a moondrill conforming to Upwell’s “Standup” framework– as attested to by the structure scan I have displayed in front of me.

I would no more credit Ms Brezia’s data as anything but a work of fiction, than were you to tell me that you heat your home with an atomic bomb.

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I would like to remind Miss Yassavi that every Minmatar ship, structure, drone, and station is powered by nuclear energy, as well as many derivatives of Matari tech that are combined with those of other Empires. While I cannot assume that Eugales structures are powered this way, I can speak to the countless people who heat their homes with nuclear reactors. It is very efficient, as the Matari have to be in order to compare to the other Empires.

Far be it from me to disparage Amarrian power sources, but someone who primarily relies upon antimatter for energy shouldn’t be too critical what someone uses to heat their house with.

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Consider reading what I actually wrote. A bomb is not a reactor.

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Why don’t we work from here, I am using a technology capable of extracting multi-kilometer substrates of rock, and in the instances of the particular moon, that also include stabilized archaeological sites and ruins for later more precise archaeological excavation and cataloguing in controlled environments.

The part of the process you’re referring to and cherry picking out regarding the emulation of a fusion detonation, is the focused pulse firing of the plasma lance that makes up the final stage of a moon extraction. Prior to this, the process is indeed quite violent, but also very precise, with the striking of the surface with smaller rapid fire plasma lancet pulses impacting at precise locations and imparting very specific energy loads to puncture the crust of the moon for the tractor beam to be able to separate it safely and largely in one piece.

The segment of moon chunk surrounding the current archaeological site being extracted alongside the titanite, sylvite, and otavite deposits will have further stabilizing elements added to it over the course of the extraction period, and prior to final detonation, will be separated and towed to a secure complex while the ore deposits are fractured and mined.

If you’re so worried about things, perhaps you may wish to come and inspect the proceedings yourself?

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