Crash Site Apollyon

Perhaps the most important location in history

Crash Site Apollyon, also known as the Crash Site and, sometimes, the Arkon's gift, is a previously secret archeological site, in which the only vessel of Arkon origin has ever been found. The site is, in total, around 15 kilometres in diameter in order to incorporate all discovered pieces of wreckage, and is found on Centaurus, the first planet explored by humanity after the Exodus. The importance of Crash Site Apollyon to modern-day humanity cannot be understated.

Purpose / Function

The original purpose of the vessel found at Crash Site Apollyon is unknown; and, due to the deconstruction and reverse engineering efforts occurring on the vessel, it's purpose will never be answered in full. However, many historians have argued several possible reasons as to why the vessel had come to Alpha Centauri, and why it had crashed.
The generally accepted consensus is that the craft, which was found to have the parts of a Gate stowed in its superstructure, had travelled to Alpha Centauri in order to build a new Gate, in order to connect Alpha Centauri to the wider Gate network. This is supported by the lack of weaponry found on the vessel - as such, it is believed that the spacecraft could be considered an analog to a modern-day colony or science vessel.

Alterations

Over the past 150 years, the ditched vessel at Crash Site Apollyon has been slowly and systematically deconstructed in order to harvest the incredibly valuable Arkonite from its superstructure. As the site is the only known source of the incredibly rare alloy, it is likely that this will be its ultimate fate, as it is slowly deconstructed in order to fuel the ever-expanding dominion of humanity across the Gate Network.

Architecture

The superstructure of the vessel is, understandably, very alien to human architects. It is believed that when the vessel was in flight, it was a cone shape, and it would spin on its axis in order to provide centrifugal gravity - the evidence heavily suggests that the Arkons never conquered artificial gravity, or didn't need to in such a vessel. Due to the intense amount of damage suffered during the crash, and the subsequent erosion and decay over the centuries that followed, the actual original shape of the structure cannot be determined.

History

Discovered in 149 AT (2198 CE), the vessel was at first kept secret as a military agreement between the armed forces of all parties aboard the Ark. Joint research teams were sent inside; at first, it was believed that much of the vessel would be unusable. However, the researchers found several crude markings, carved into the walls of the ship, which suggested how some of the technology aboard could be used. Many of these murals were far too simplistic to be usable, but some proved valuable; it was because of these murals that the ship's terraforming technology was found and successfully reverse engineered, that the properties of Arkonite were quickly deduced to be incredibly potent, and, perhaps most importantly, the all-important Gate was uncovered, launched, and connected to the Network. These technological advances proved vital to humanity's survival; the Centaurus that humanity first arrived at was a barren world, not unlike Mercury, albeit with a thicker atmosphere and higher gravity. It was the technology found inside the vessel at Crash Site Apollyon that allowed Centaurus to be transformed into a frigid but habitable world. Without it, humanity likely wouldn't have advanced much more than they already had, and likely would have steadily died out on Centaurus.

RUINED STRUCTURE
Unknown, estimated more than a million years prior

Alternative Names

The Crash Site, Arkon's Gift

Type

Military base / complex

Parent Location

Centaurus