The Spacecraft
- Template
- Artifact
- Status
- Canon
- Kind
- Artifact
1. Summary
The Spacecraft is the partially buried, disc-shaped non-human spacecraft recovered in the Amazon rainforest on June 23, 1977. The fusion researchers' records call it the Artifact. D6 was built to hold it and to reverse-engineer it, and its partially reproduced principles lie behind the fusion reactor, D6's self-regenerating materials and an experimental portal system.
2. Origin
The origin of the spacecraft is unknown. The sources record how it was found and what the researchers believed about it.
2.1 Discovery
The origins of D6 can be traced to a classified Brazilian-American investigation associated with Operation Prato, conducted in the Brazilian Amazon in 1977. Continued investigations eventually led to the discovery of a partially buried, disc-shaped spacecraft on June 23, 1977.
Geological assessments suggested that the object might have crashed or become buried during the Age of Exploration, centuries before its discovery.
2.2 Competing Interpretations
Scientific interpretations remained divided. Some researchers believed the craft originated from another planet; others considered it an interdimensional vehicle; another hypothesis suggested that such objects were unmanned drones controlled by unknown intelligences. More speculative studies proposed the existence of competing nonhuman civilizations operating within or across structures of spacetime. These theories remained unresolved.
3. Nature and Properties
The spacecraft is relatively small. Its internal architecture features unfamiliar interfaces and structures whose functions remain largely unknown.
3.1 Interior
The interior compartment is apparently capable of accommodating approximately five occupants. However, it contains no conventional seats, sleeping facilities, sanitation equipment, or recognizable provisions for sustaining a crew.
The notes that researchers left inside it are described with the document.
See: In-World Documents › Researchers' Notes In The Spacecraft
3.2 Self-Regenerating Material
Researchers identified a remarkable self-regenerating material technology in the craft and partially reproduced its properties.
3.3 Antigravity System
The spacecraft has an antigravity system. Researchers studying the Artifact discovered principles involving the manipulation of local spacetime geometry. By studying the antigravity system, the fusion researchers learned to deform local spacetime like a miniature black hole, which became the reactor's gravitational focusing system.
3.4 Navigational Display
Through archived research and activation procedures, the craft can show an extraordinary navigational display. It reveals a complex spatial map encompassing the Milky Way and regions far beyond it, containing numerous unidentified checkpoints. Researchers were unable to determine whether these locations represented planets, stations, transit points, or something entirely different.
4. History and Custody
The spacecraft was excavated under extreme secrecy and transferred to the underground research complex. Before D6 existed it was kept in another place, which is never said exactly. Construction of D6 began on January 15, 1982, and the level became operational on September 27, 1986.
See: Timeline › Master Timeline
See: Places › D6
4.1 Preservation-First Research
Scientists adopted a preservation-first policy, attempting to examine and reproduce the craft's technological principles without dismantling or damaging the original. In 1983 the initial analysis of unknown materials recovered from the spacecraft took place, and in 1984 experimental equipment was developed based on the properties of the recovered materials.
The spacecraft occupies a dedicated, heavily protected research chamber in D6, designed to preserve its structural integrity while allowing scientific examination.
See: Places › D6
4.2 Technologies Derived from the Artifact
The self-regenerating material was incorporated into the construction and modernization of D6.
After 1983, study of the spacecraft's antigravity system let the fusion researchers deform local spacetime; the resulting field synchronized the convergence of the reactor's lasers, and the reactor sustained its first stable fusion cycle with net power. Components of the Artifact were delivered to the Fusion Energy Division for this work.
Partial reverse engineering of the spacecraft also contributed to the development of an experimental portal system.
See: Artifacts and Technology › Fusion Reactor
4.3 The Varginha Specimen
Following the alleged Varginha incident of January 1996, a biological specimen associated with that event was secretly transferred to D6. Its presence expands the mystery surrounding the spacecraft but does not conclusively establish that the specimen and the recovered vessel share the same origin.
5. Role in the Game
The player learns of the Artifact long before seeing the spacecraft.
5.1 First Indications in D3
In Chapter Six, Edmund begins to uncover the first indications that certain scientific breakthroughs were made possible through reverse engineering of a mysterious Artifact. Its origin and nature remain undisclosed, and D3 never reveals the Artifact's origin to the player. The chapter's major lore revelation is that the fusion reactor became possible through engineering insights derived from an unidentified Artifact capable of manipulating spacetime geometry.
The research diary found near the reactor's primary control panel is the player's first substantial indication that Schwarzwald's technological achievements depend on knowledge obtained through reverse engineering of something extraordinary. Its author never identifies the Artifact as extraterrestrial. What the player may suspect from it, and what the game leaves unconfirmed, is described with the document.
5.2 The Spacecraft in D6
The spacecraft itself is accessible to the protagonist, who can read the researchers' annotations inside it. Through an optional investigative sequence involving archived research and activation procedures, the player can access the navigational display. The discovery is intended to evoke cosmic wonder and emphasize the incomprehensible scale of the technology under investigation.
See: Places › D6
6. Open Questions
- Where the craft came from: another planet, another dimension, unknown controlling intelligences or competing nonhuman civilizations. The researchers' theories remained unresolved.
- What the checkpoints on the navigational map represent.
- Whether the Varginha specimen and the spacecraft share the same origin.