When the Warzone Extraction event launched, Arataka Research Consortium put out a bounty of sorts. With a slick video campaign, Arataka offered top dollar for the ‘corrupted trinary relics’ that event participants are supposed to hand in to the NPC ‘Quartermaster.’ As interest swelled, however, Arataka found that it had nearly bitten off more than it could chew.
The project started well enough. On September 19th, both the event and Arataka’s trinary relic bounty kicked off. Arataka offered twenty million isk per relic right out of the gate. The bounty increased to twenty-five million overnight, building traction toward a goal of six hundred samples. By the 21st, Arataka exceeded its goal and cut the bounty back to twenty million.
Arataka’s funding capacity stretched as more and more capsuleers piled on. Within the first four days, Arataka amassed over fourteen hundred trinary relics and cut the bounty to fifteen million. That number fell to twelve point five (12.5), ten, and finally six million as of September 29th. Makoto Priano, a spokesperson for Arataka, summarized the project’s scope to date:
Please note that our stockpile already exceeds nine thousand samples of salvaged trinary data, provided by hundreds of pilots. When we began this effort, I was hoping to manage perhaps two, three thousand; I would have considered five nearly unthinkable, and a tremendous success. Now, even with the reduced bounty, ten is not only attainable but likely in the next several days… If my notes are up to date, we’ve received 19.5 billion ISK in donations, and hundreds if not thousands of samples of gratis salvage.
So far, Arataka’s only stated justifications for the project center on role play and story, and clearly the community is responding. As the bounty price drops below standard contract prices, though, we may start to see a different impact as trinary relics become rare. When the dust settles, Arataka may be the De Beers of the trinary relic world, controlling a massive stockpile and watching prices soar.
Jenne Expery is a low-wattage independent who dabbles in shipping, salvage, trade, exploration, and nearly victimless heists. He can usually be found bumming around Derelik and Domain under one name or another. Preferred contact method: EVEmail to Jenne Exupery of Manticore-Horizon Shipping (MANHO).
