Ceres Project (Neocron)
The Ceres Project is a project that features in the Neocron universe.
History
The Ceres Project was a scientific initiative that began on Earth in the early part of the 21st Century. The basis for it started in the year 2005 when a holographic mass storage media system was introduced into the world market. This allowed for the creation of holodiscs that scanned with a laser with introductory model stores containing well in excess of a hundred times more data than conventional media mass based systems on magnetic fields. With the creation of this better storage system, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) launched the Ceres Project in 2010 that was headed by Dr. Karmann and was believed to take twenty years to accomplish. Its goal was simple; the storage of the entire knowledge of the Human race into a holodisc for ease of access. Thus, publically available scientific data was reviewed and collected by a core group of 250 professors as well as students from around the world. In 2028, the significance of the program was highlighted by the project leader when he reevealed that the contents of the holodisc would allow a primitive civilization to gain the ability to create nuclear plants within a few decades. However, when he was murdered a year later, the project was withdrawn from MIT and classified as a top-secret state affair.
By 2035, rumors indicated that the Ceres Project was compeleted by the National Security Agency of the United States of America who introduced classified military as well as scientific data. A number of NSA agents were assigned to attend to the program and update it constantly. It was also believed to be relocated to an isolated, hermetically sealed laboratory compound in order to keep it safe from environmental disasters or even war. In the disaster that engulfed the planet in the 26th Century, a tribe of Humans travelled to the frozen north where they stumbled onto the Ceres compound. This group came upon the project chambers and read the name Ceres with the worn out writing indicating wisdom and power. The leader of this tribe believed a great warrior resided in the area and thus took the name Ceres for himself in order to allow him to reign again. However, when meeting the Thor tribes leader, he indicated that the name Ceres had another meaning according to ancient myth and asked to be taken to that valley. Thus, they travelled into the icelands and uncovered the Ceres Project in 2546 and unlocked the data with the sages of the tribe spending months learning the secrets of 22nd Century mankind. However, their knowledge was not kept secret for long as the Ceres Project's existence was learnt in 2550 and the Psi Monk intelligence agents of the Crahn tribe used their skills to learn of the ancient knowledge uncovered.
Background
The basis of the entire program was encoding the entirety of Human science and knowledge onto a holodisc that was capable of withstanding the ravages of time. Whilst initially a civilian project, it was later taken over the U.S. government who placed military data within the device. As demonstrated by history, the holodisc allowed even a devastated primitive humanity to rediscover ancient technology and return to a more modern level of technological sophistication. Inspiration for the name of the project was the Roman deity Ceres who was based on her Greek counterpart; the goddess Demeter. She was worshipped in ancient Greece for being the mother of the earth and the goddess of fertility. Thus, her name was chosen as an appropriate code name as the knowledge of mankind was seen as a seed and fruit of the planet.
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