1420:Echoes of Science

TripTik032 Expedition Highlights

A voyage to two groundbreaking scientific endeavors that ended in tragedy, with lingering effects to this day.

Introduction

Journey through low security space to the abandoned husks of two of the most ambitious research facilities ever built. The Crielere Project was supposed to represent a historic thawing of Caldari-Gallente relations through joint scientific collaboration, while R55 was meant to propel Lai Dai to the forefront of biochemical research. Both efforts ended in disaster, with their potential never realized.

Locations

Standing decrepit against the emptiness of space, these two abandoned stations are all that remains of the most ambitious research project in history. In YC105, nearly a century after the end of the Caldari-Gallente War, the Gallente firm Duvolle Labs and Caldari corporation Ishukone poured immense resources into this joint effort, which represented a groundbreaking step for relations between the two factions and produced scientific breakthroughs that see widespread use today, such as cloaking devices and the use of Morphite in manufacturing.
Only a few months after the project was founded, the Caldari admitted to perpetrating a massive blueprint theft from the facility, causing the Gallente and later the Caldari themselves to withdraw all funding and support.
The project's fate was sealed when the Guristas took advantage of the withdrawal of security forces to assault the research site. The facility survived the attacks, but numerous scientists were killed or kidnapped.
Today, all that remains of the project is the abandoned Crielere facility, left to rot amid occasional patrols by the local pirates. However, the project's legacy lives on through breakthroughs such as the cloaking devices on our ships, and less material things such as the spirit of cooperation it fostered, however briefly. One can only wonder what might have been had it succeeded.

Full shot of Caldari/Gallente facilities and experiment.

Experiment with Caldari facility.

Caldari facility.

Gallente facility from the other side.

Gallente facility closeup.

Gallente facility closeup.


  • Isie Lonetrek R55 Colonial Ruins
The most ambitious biochemical facility in the Caldari State, R55 was not just a research site, but a sprawling colony and industrial complex, intended to catapult the Lai Dai corporation to the forefront of biochemical and biotechnology research. Unfortunately, a mass storage tank rupture forced Lai Dai to scuttle the project just a few years after starting it. The facility remains remarkably well-preserved, with the toxic cloud surrounding the station providing a strange but beautiful view. That said, local pirates have started using the old station as a minor base.

R55 ruins, Guristas patrol in foreground.

Closeup of support facility.

Full site.

Closeup of station ruins.

Full site, front of station ruins.

For more context and details

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Researcher: Arachnis

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