Mariam Exploration

Discovery, Exploration

Joshua and Svenka explore Mariam.

In an attempt to contact some of the uncontacted settlements on Mariam with the goal of bringing new citizens into the UNW fold, Joshua Collins and Svenka Vilnovha volunteered to lead a scouting team to the cold world. Heading to the planet on Svenka’s personal ship, it marks the first ever spike drill by a Taros owned and operated space craft.   The mission began well, with the scouting team meeting a cautious yet friendly settlement of humans shortly after landing on the world. After a mercifully brief standoff, peaceful relations were achieved, and it wasn’t long before lighters from Mariam’s space station were landing nearby to carry civilians to their new homes under the domes. Their luck did not continue, as the next settlement they approached fired at them with an AA gun, stating that they were infringing on the airspace of the Free City of Rustopia when hailed and rebuffing any attempts at making peace.   After getting the damage caused by the incident at Rustopia repaired, the team returned to the surface and encountered a large city of survivors over a million strong. Known only as the City, its inhabitants had believed they were likely the only people left after the freeze, and were already in the process of constructing their own dome. After some negotiations, a deal was cut whereby the city would join the UNW in return for a small number of concessions. Further exploration revealed a strange ‘technocracy’ of machines, likely run by at least one unbraked AI. After receiving its broadcast threats, the team made a hasty retreat. Once they had made it a safe distance away, they encountered a strange chapel in the tip of a skyscraper that was just poking out of the heavy snowfield. Exploring the building further they met a lone priest, then delved deeper to find rooms filled with old robots and research on the machine technocracy. Making a close escape from some reactivated warbots due to the timely intervention of the priest, the team made it out of the building and continued their journey. Concluding the expedition after a short final jaunt, the mission was deemed a success, with two new hostile polities found and many new people being rescued and joining the UNW.