Protheans: Mars Ruins

Mass Effect
After twenty years of manned research outposts and nearly a century of robotic exploration, the European Space Agency's Lowell City became the first permanent settlement on Mars in 2103. Within a decade, the United States and China had founded permanent settlements as well.

The south polar region of Promethei Planum developed a 'Bermuda Triangle' reputation. Satellites detected intermittent mass concentrations and magnetic field shifts. In 2148, prospectors working near Deseado Crater discovered an underground complex: a Prothean observation post. The odd phenomena were generated by the operation and discharge of a mass effect core, struggling to function despite the nearly fifty millennia of neglect.

Earth was electrified by the news. Humanity was unequivocally not alone. while courts battled over who owned the ruins, the international scientific community coordinated a massive effort to access, translate and interpret the databanks recovered from the facility.

The facility proved to be a biosciences observation post built when homo sapiens were first evolving on Earth. While the motives of the Protheans are not certain, translated records indicate that the facility was in regular communication with automated observation platforms in Earth orbit and on the lunar nearside. The half-dozen mass effect spaceships found in the facility were presumably used for first-hand observation.

Mass Effect 2
After 20 years of manned research outposts and nearly a century of robotic exploration, the European Space Agency's Lowell City became the first permanent settlement on Mars in 2103. Within a decade, the United States and China had founded permanent settlements as well.

The south polar region of Promethei Planum developed a 'Bermuda Triangle' reputation. Satellites detected intermittent mass concentrations and magnetic field shifts. In 2148, prospectors working near Deseado Crater discovered an underground complex: a Prothean observation post. The odd phenomena were generated by the operation and discharge of a mass effect core, struggling to function despite the nearly fifty millennia of neglect.

Earth was electrified by the news. Humanity was unequivocally not alone. while courts battled over who owned the ruins, the international scientific community coordinated a massive effort to access, translate and interpret the databanks recovered from the facility.

The facility proved to be a biosciences observation post built when homo sapiens were first evolving on Earth. While the motives of the Protheans are not certain, translated records indicate that the facility was in regular communication with automated observation platforms in Earth orbit and on the lunar nearside. The half-dozen mass effect spaceships found in the facility were presumably used for first-hand observation.