The Excavation Team

Snapshot #

The Excavation Team is the official research entity authorized to explore the newly discovered sectors of Pompeii in 2025. While presenting a front of standard academic rigor, the team's successes are secretly driven by a "Shadow Architecture" maintained by Ulysses and Lucia.

Mandate/Charter #

To identify, preserve, and document the architectural and literary remains of pre-eruption Pompeii using advanced ground-penetrating radar and AI-driven analysis.

Structure & Ranks #

• The Director: Parrini (Bureaucratic lead, focused on public credit and funding).
• Research Fellows: Ulysses (Primary modern contact with the past).
• Technical Specialists: Lucia (Radar and data analysis).
• Field Teams: General archaeological labor (Team A, Team B).

History #

The team gained international prominence in late 2025 following a series of "lucky" finds, including intact libraries and tools. This success triggered a forensic audit and internal sabotage when Director Parrini began to suspect that Ulysses and Lucia were withholding their methodology. The team's integrity was further compromised when Ulysses began injecting coordinates from the future into the site's data feeds.

Internal Conflicts #

• The Shadow Partnership: Ulysses and Lucia operate outside the official chain of command to manage the Lydian Stone connection.
• The Parrini Friction: The Director's thin technical depth and desire for acclaim create a constant threat of exposure for the unauthorized research.

See also #

• The Silent Architect Era
• The Lydian Stone Prototype