Artifacts
The Citadel Council has called for the immediate donation of Prothean artifacts to bolster the war effort, primarily items of Reaper origin and recordings of their attacks.
The ExoGeni Corporation set an example by donating a store of newly discovered paleotechnology and releasing the data archives of deep-space research colonies destroyed by the Reapers. Several private collectors have since stepped forward to donate the entirety of their collections.
But despite an offer of amnesty for anyone concealing such artifacts, not everyone has responded as the Council hoped. Several artifacts have been found in obscure underground markets on safe-haven worlds, presumably sold by newly arrived refugees who needed funds to survive.
Reports say that smugglers continue to sell stolen artifacts, and armed raids on archeological sites have rendered even legal operations extremely hazardous. After several reports of mercenary groups turning on the archeologists who hired them, Elanus Risk Control Services began to offer security details for archeological sites at considerably reduced rates.
Lady Liberty
The Master Thief: Kasumi's Secrets
The Statue of Liberty was the target of several terrorist attacks over its 210-year lifetime, but in 2096, a motley group called Freedoms First finally brought the statue down. Protesting the induction of Canada and Mexico into the United North American States, the New York chapter of Freedoms First wanted a symbol that they would secede from this new union if necessary.
In the early morning hours of November 1st, they smuggled small arms and 15.5 tons of high explosive onto Liberty Island. Shooting or capturing the guards, they planted the explosives under the pedestal and detonated them at 7:37 a.m.. The statue crashed to the ground in pieces, unexpectedly killing four of the Freedoms First terrorists. The remaining team members were apprehended after long manhunts, but the damage was done. The outrage at the secessionists kindled the fires of the Second American Civil War.
On November 4th, President Kaitlin Cheung signed an executive order to rebuild the statue. Approximately one-tenth of the steel beams and copper plating from the destroyed statue was recovered and used in creating the new one. The original's head was put on display at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.. It remained there for two years until the Battle of Washington. During heavy shelling by secessionist forces, the head disappeared.
A new statue was completed in 2101, and the fate of the original pieces was left for speculation and pulp novels. Interest flared up briefly in 2159 when photos surfaced of the head in the cargo hold of a star freighter, but by that time human media were far more concerned with the future. In the face of humanity spreading out among thousands of new planets, a statue titled "Liberty Enlightening the World" seemed small and quaint by comparison.
Object Rho
Arrival: The Reapers' Secrets
Dr. Amanda Kenson's scientific team has cataloged three major discoveries on the artifact encased in the 157-Golgotha asteroid. First, the large artifact is rooted into the core of the asteroid and has a barrier that is similar to but much more powerful than a biotic stasis field. This gives it an unnatural resilience to alteration or damage and even prevents state-of-the-art laser drilling from extracting the smallest piece for analysis.
Second, the object's interior is energetically active with a quantum stasis field rivaling that of Prothean technology found in mass relays. Like those creations, it activates in response to threat, at which point the artifact consumes a phenomenal amount of power. Dr. Kenson's team believes the object draws this power directly from dark matter, though how is still unknown.
The third discovery is that the object broadcasts signals and information on many different spectra. One such pulse, suspected to be similar to a quantum entanglement communicator, reaches into Reaper territory. Another broadcast is infrasound, consistent with frequencies that trigger feelings of awe and fear in humans, a known factor in Reaper indoctrination. Kenson's laboratory is filled with equipment dedicated to monitoring any signal coming from the artifact in the hopes that some clue will prove the Reapers' undoing before it's too late.