Artifacts (Mass Effect)

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 or 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 and considerably reduced rates.