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The Devil’s Dig Site is a deadspace location in the Otitoh solar system, Okkelen constellation. An informative leaflet pops up when you warp in to the location:

Contents 1 Entrance stage 2 Infested Excavation Site 3 Ancient Temple 4 Arek'Jaalan: Analysis of the Ancient Talocan Structures

Entrance stage

Upon arrival at the entrance stage, you will find yourself approximately 4 km above a Circular Rock Formation. Around are several structures: Artifact Containment Silos, Storage Facilities, Cargo Rigs and Landing Pads, all part of the ongoing excavation operation centered on an Ancient Stalagmite and a Ruin also located at this stage. A worm asteroid outpost has been turned into Pilgrim Quarters for a number of people who has come to the site to look for relics of religious importance. Circling around the site's structures are many Dig Site Security Enforcers who appear to be flying Raven-class Battleships (about 10 of them) and Merlin-class Frigates (12 of them). People looking for work should try and contact one of the four agents residing at the stage, who each might have tasks to offer you on behalf of their employer corporation. These agents can be easily identified by the ship they are patrolling in:

• Varma Fujimo in a Caracal
• Taru Kubona in a Merlin
• Arvo Watanen in a Heron
• Eteri Tazaki in a Buzzard

Further away (approx. from the stage entrance point 90km), there is an ancient warp gate leading further into the complex to an area designated Infested Excavation Site. All ship sizes and types can use the gates in this complex.

Infested Excavation Site

The stage is dominated by a large Relic Rock that, upon closer inspection, appears to have been infested by rogue drones excavators. An untold number of drones are hiding within the rocky cavities. Some of the drones are patrolling the rock and will attack anybody getting within their vicinity. The defending rogue drones are classified as following:

• 2 Rogue Drone Dispenser (cruiser sized)
• 10 Rogue Drone Wrecker (cruiser sized)
• 2 Rogue Drone Coordinator (frigate sized)

Take care with the Coordinators as they may entangle your ship to slow its speed or disrupt you warp core preventing you from warping out. If a drone is destroyed it will not take long before a replacement from the rock will take its place. Despite their appearance are the drones not very hostile; attacking one of them will not make the rest retaliate. Handling these drones should be pretty straight forward for a seasoned pilot.

A number of scattered ancient relics litter the stage. Using an Analyzer module might reveal an ancient artifact from the Talocan civilization within the relic! The relics are classified as following:

• 16 Battered Artifact Crate
• 16 Excavation Notepad
• 7 Relic Excavation Cache
• 7 Relic Digital Installer

Below the Relic Rock another ancient acceleration gate leads to the last stage of the complex; the Ancient Temple. Note that the gate is locked and requires a strange Ancient Ciphering Totem to activate. Luckily, these totems can also be found in the ancient relics nearby, though the chance to find one is low. Activating the gate will invalidate and destroy the totem but once activated more than one starship can use the gate for a brief period of time.

Ancient Temple

Even more rogue drones have infested this part of the complex and unlike the previous group are the drones a lot more aggressive and, as you will soon discover, a lot more powerful too. No drones should be present immediately at the entrance point giving you time to evaluate the situation without being attacked. The drones are divided into two groups for just about an equal number of the different types of drones in each:

• 2x9 Rogue Drone Dispenser (cruiser sized)
• 2x4 Rogue Hive Drone (cruiser sized)
• 2x3 Rogue Drone Coordinator (frigate sized)

Again take care with the Coordinators due to the web and warp scrambling abilities, but also because attacking one drone will draw the attention of all the drones in that group and the larger sized drones pack quite the punch which can quickly overcome all but the strongest shield and armor. Destroyed drones will soon be replaced by reinforcements from the nearby hive structures.

Trying to battle the drones located here is not a task recommendable for a single pilot but for a small fleet.

Different types of ancient relics are scattered around this stage and, like the drones, divided equally in two groups:

• 2x12 Symmetric Relic
• 2x12 Neural Artifact
• 2x4 Octagonal Relic
• 2x4 Neural Pulse Artifact

These too can be accessed using an Analyzer, but the Talocan artifacts will differ some from the ones found at the Infested Excavation Site and there is a slim chance of a relic to contain a Talocan Technology skill book.

Arek'Jaalan: Analysis of the Ancient Talocan Structures

By Myyona (CEO; Ataraxia Pharmacies)

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At the Ancient Temple stage of the complex, both the rogue drones and the Talocan relics are located around two peculiar structures which are quite fascinating. One is an Ancient Temple, presumably Talocan in origin, the drones have infested and are using as a base of operation. This seems to have caused a heavy alteration in the appearance of the temple due to the drones habit of using scrap they find into the construction of their hives. That this ancient relic site has been infested by rogue similarly to the Yan Jung sites in the Algintal constellation might be a coincidence as rogue drones are known to settle anywhere they find a source for materials to construct new drones, making them favor abandoned settlements and mining sites [1]. While the rogue drone hive in Algintal showed strong enhanced cognitive abilities [2] the drones in the Devil's Dig Site showed no such behavior, and it is unknown to what extent they had been integrating Talocan technology into the construction of new generations of drones, if at all. The drones tasked with guarding the Ancient Temple stage are formidably in weaponry and inflicts massive damage compared to drones of equal size encountered at other locations. Further, the drones exhibits a well understanding of threat and will not hesitate to switch target at opportunity. This, and having a backup group to disrupt an enemy attack, clearly demonstrates that these drone types have better combat algorithms than generally seen in other variants to a level comparable to Sleeper drones. These performance enhancements might very well be a result of assimilated Talocan technology.

The other structure of interest at the Ancient Temple stage is a large black monolith with the designation 'Sun Reader'. A closer inspection reveals that "it’s full of stars". Black monoliths are not unfamiliar to capsuleers, with the most known example located in the Dead End system [3], though their appearance is rare. Some have dismissed these structures as a sort of gimmick, but it is our belief that there is more to these monoliths than we currently know. Especially as black monoliths also have been discovered in w-space sites, such as those identified as Forgotten Perimeter Gateway and Unsecured Perimeter Transponder Farm [4], and the implication of 'sun' in many topics related to w-space (the Seyllin disaster [5] and the power source of Sleeper structures as well as being a research topic at The Mirror research site [6]). These connections are simply too coincidental to be dismissed. This brings up two major questions; what is the purpose of the black monoliths and where did they come from? A weak guess could be that their function is related to interplanetary navigation acting as beacons or maybe star maps. Who constructed them could be the Talocan but we must face that the true source of their existence remains unknown. For now.