The Snowfield Expedition Teams is a robot civilian organization in the Evernight Era. Their work includes snowfield mapping, geological, and excavating relic sites from the sunset era.
History
The history of the Snowfield Expedition Teams began about ten years before Alice was discovered by Cloud. At that time, a crucial automated production line in Geocity broke down due to damage to a large component. Lacking industrial capacity for heavy machinery, the city resorted to fragile, hand-made synthetic parts for emergency repairs, putting immense stress on the Geocity Volunteers.
Recognizing this was not sustainable, some survivors from other abandoned underground sanctuaries proposed returning to their former homes to retrieve similar parts. Bored citizens from the Virtual Universe and concerned members of the Engineers Association joined them, forming the first Snowfield Expedition Team. The expedition was a great success; thereafter, robots organized one team each year until eventually, one team became permanent, and it evolved into multiple teams with various outposts scattered across the snowfield.
Operation
The Snowfield Expedition Teams comprise hundreds of members organized in a military-style structure. Members are categorized into Service, Transportation, and Field groups.
The Service Team manages the Snowfield Expedition Teams’ base and outposts, providing maintenance and supplies for vehicles and personnel. The base consists of tents near Geocity’s snowfield entrance, housing about 100 members to ensure operations run smoothly, most of which come from the Geocity Volunteers. Outposts are built along major transportation routes in the snowfield, each staffed by at least one or two members.
The Transport Team is responsible for moving equipment and personnel of the Expedition Teams, setting up temporary camps at excavation sites, and managing electricity and supplies for the Field Team. Every vehicle convoy has a commander who oversees the entire mission. The Expedition Teams currently operate over a hundred vehicles, including some large robots built as vehicles in recent years.
The Field Team executes tasks such as mapping snowfields, conducting geological surveys, excavating relic sites, and other scientific research. Members include volunteer and guest scientists from the Robot Engineers Association, along with ordinary citizens seeking adventure.
The Shadow Vigilantes have deployed personnel to protect the Snowfield Expedition Teams’ bases and outposts, escort convoys, and document missions from their perspective. In response to the threat of Snow Bandits, these Vigilantes are armed with high-power weapons and can use them without prior approval.
Problems
In recent years, the Snowfield Expedition Teams have grown in size and secured more Sunset Era equipment, becoming self-sufficient and able to resist Geocity’s interference. Among all notable organizations in the Evernight Era, they are the most vocal for autonomy. Members of the Engineers Association and Shadow Vigilantes who join the Expedition Teams often remain long-term, gradually adopting its values and distancing themselves from their original organizations, which has created tension with the Engineers Association.
The ownership of assets discovered or produced by the Snowfield Expedition Teams has always been a matter of contention. The Engineers Association argues that these supplies should be treated as public assets of Geocity, while the Expedition Teams contend that Geocity is now private property of the Association and reject its management. They insist on retaining these assets within their teams, which further escalating tensions between the two organizations.
Some members joined the Expedition Team with a tourist mentality, unaware of the dangers of the snowfield and relic sites, often jeopardizing the convoy’s safety.
Some robots chose to live in the snowfield for their so-called personal freedom. Many were survivors from abandoned underground sanctuaries who refused to join Geocity. They posed a threat to Expedition Teams’ safety by attacking convoys to steal supplies, becoming known as the “Snow Bandits.”
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