Conduit project

The Conduit Project, classified as Warrior-Erudite Project Kalypsis, was a prothean imperial military and civilian project sanctioned by the Grec Fal Tama, and overseen by the Grec Ol Zedat, which was performed within the classified Ilos Archives in Trakkar Capital on Ilos with the peripheral approval of the Ethnarch. The aim of the project was to reverse-engineer the technology of the mass relays to create prothean-made mass relays of their own. The project was undertaken for dual purposes, with joint interests: the military wanted a weapon they could use against the Metacons for an inevitable resummation of hostilities with the machine race, while the erudite intelligentsia wanted it for the purpose of studying what they believed was Inusannon technology, while also, by secret Grec Fal Tama mandate, pursuing numerous theories in regards to the origins of the Citadel and the mass relays.

The project took decades of feverish study. Many Erudite scientists were assigned to the project and finally, by 60106 BCE, a working prototype, dubbed the "Conduit" by the development team, was finally constructed and tested, with a companion relay being built on the Citadel and a team being sent through in a successful test run. The project was a success for both sides: the military made a compelling request to the Warrior Congress for the construction of hundreds more. However, the Erudite research team had uncovered only more questions, having reached the conclusion that the technology could not possibly have been inusannon, and had been incorporated from another source. However, the Grec Fal Tama considered this heresy against state cultural mandate, and had the knowledge squashed, and therefore never reached the Ethnarch.

Unbeknownst to those involved in the project, the Conduit project would have far reaching implications for the fate of the galaxy. Only five years later, the Reapers would pour through the Citadel and wage war on the Prothean Empire, bringing it to complete destruction. Ilos survived the war however, and thanks to the efforts of surviving Erudite scientists, the Conduit was used to transport them to the Citadel, where they successfully broke the signal the Reapers used to order the keepers to open the Citadel, which would, fifty thousand years later, help bring an end to the cycles once and for all.