Scientists Shoot for the Moon in New Research

When Dalamud fell on Eorzea, it couldn't have been further from imagination that Eorzean would set foot on the remaining moon.

That's the reality today. Scientists from around the Star have clamored to get prestigious postings to the Cosmic Exploration expeditionary force that has mustered on the surface of the moon. Working with engineers, artisans, and the indigenous Lopporits, the team of researchers has been able to study all sorts of wonders not seen on the face of the planet. From unusual fungal formations to geomagnetic storms and beyond, these astronauts have been leading the cutting edge of research into what may exist beyond our fragile world.

Living in cramped quarters at a colony called Moongate in the region known as Sinus Ardorum, scientists are making breakthroughs about the surface of alien worlds. According to Ishgardian astrologians, we've known that other points of light in the night had life for generations, accounted to the extraterrestrial nature of dragonkind, but the work being done at Moongate is far more tangible than some notion of the origins of dragons.

Among the Etheiryans cataloguing the discoveries of the moon is eminent aetherophysicist Iris Blanchimont, who takes occasional weeks on the moon to help manage the research operations as an expedition commander.

"It is truly the experience of a lifetime," Blanchimont told the Courier. "We have built a small but functioning city on lunar regolith. We've found fish in pools of water. We've discovered the kinds of radiation that affect places in space quite unlike what we've studied before. We've found relics of Allag."

Those relics put the achievements of the Cosmic Exploration team into perspective. Looking at these accomplishments from a 7th Era lens we see amazing triumphs of Spoken ingenuity, but these teams aren't the first boots from Etheirys on the moon. The space technology of the Allagan Empire remains leaps and bounds ahead of modern capabilities. Dalamud was, after all, an Allagan construction and not what many astrologians would consider an actual moon.

But even in this perspective, the achievements of the Cosmic Exploration team ought to be recognized and celebrated. As we learn more about what lies beyond the sky, Etheirys' scientists lay the foundation for a modern approach to the more exploitive and destructive research of the Allagan Empire.

But there's a certain ineffable element to space as well, Blanchimont explained.

"From up there, the Star feels like an abstraction," she said. "All our petty squabbles, our personal trials, our darkest moments and highest highs are invisible to the cosmos. We're so very, very small. And from up there, Meracydia or Garlemald or Hingashi or Tural or Eorzea all feel the same - the higher points on a child's bumpy ball."

It's uncertain what practical applications the Cosmic Exploration team will being with them back planetside, but everything from new building techniques to new food and drinks are being tested on Moongate's population of researchers, to say nothing of the marvels of the universe they may uncover on any given day.