Thargoid Barnacle
 | This article lacks proper formatting. No bolded text for first article mention. Written like a blog post. Contains no links to relevant articles. Speculative. No references. Contains CMDR names. Wrong date (3302 should be used). Written like a blog post. Contains no links to relevant articles. Speculative. No references. Contains CMDR names. Wrong date (3302 should be used). |
The Alien Barnacle is an organic structure, consisting of a central, ribbed peak surrounded by a varying number of spires. The existence of these objects was first hinted at during a trailer for Elite Dangerous: Horizons released on December 15th 2015, which featured a brief view of one and captured the attention of many exploratory Commanders [1].
Appearance
At first sight the central column looks very much like a regular, sea-based barnacle sitting on the ground. However closer up, it looks more like a number of individual 'fingers' make up the structure. At ground level the fingers do not quite meet, leaving gaps through which a more organic looking material can be seen which radiates a green-ish light. It is approx. 1.5 - 2 times the height of an SRV.
The peaks of each 'finger' are coloured a creamy white, with a strange symbol visible on the side. This is currently the cause of much speculation amongst Commanders with many believing it to be a reference to Barnard's Loop, an emission nebula in the Orion constellation[2].
The spires which surround the central column vary in height and appearance. They are spread around in an apparently random distribution, and show on scanners as "Organic Structures". Each is covered in glowing green deposits.
Interaction
The barnacle appears to be fairly benign, and has so far been unresponsive to interaction. The central column seems to be impervious to damage, with Commanders having tried firing on it with a wide range of weapon types. It also cannot be targeted by ship or SRV systems, and doesn't show up on scanners.
The surrounding spires however can be targeted, and are easily destroyed by even the SRV turret weapon. Upon destruction, the glowing deposits are dropped on the ground and can be picked up from an SRV in the same way as materials found on planets. These are generally one of a range of materials, with reports of Iron, Sulphur, Arsenic, Germanium, Manganese, Tungsten and Arsenic being found in this way[3]. In addition to these, there is also a chance of a spire dropping a "Mining Fragment" on destruction, which yields a single item of [5]Meta-alloys.
There have been reports that the spires grow back after time.
Many Commanders have reported anomalies near these objects, with ship scanner glitches being fairly common (normally taking the form of momentary distortions or complete loss of visibility). When nearby, a strange sound can be heard coming from it at times - this does not appear to take the form of morse code like that emanating from the Unknown Artefacts, but rather sounds more like an animal noise. A 15 minute recording taken from an SRV can be heard here.
Many attempts have been made to make an Unknown Artefact interact with the barnacle, but no response has been evoked. The UA appears to decay as normal if dropped on or near it, and scanning the spires with the UA in the ship or SRV cargo hold also appears to have no response.
Locations/Discovery
The first barnacle was discovered by CMDR Octo on the 14th of January, 3302 on the planet Merope 5 C. It can be found at the coordinates -026.3496, -156.4044, and appears to be persistent to all instances. The sight is visible from a distance of up to 4.41 kilometres.
Since then multiple other barnacles have been discovered in nearby systems, though not all are persistent. A second persistent barnacle was discovered around 40KM from the site of a crashed Anaconda, which is believed to have been the source of the signal referenced in a GalNet article from the 14th January 3302. Some Commanders have also reported seeing a barnacle immediately at the crash site. The persistent one can be found at the coordinates 21.9107, 96.9729 on the planet Pleiades Sector JC-U B3-2 1.
The discussion surrounding the discovery of the initial barnacle can be seen on Reddit, following on from the initial report of discovery by CMDR Octo[4]