Farpoint

Records tell of the furthest system reached by humanity during the time of the Great Expansion, tens of thousand of lightyears, at the far side of the galaxy. The journey took several decades, with the crew of the vessel settling down, having children who continued the voyage, and had children of their own who made the journey back to Known Space. Upon reaching this distant system, they tell of a terran-style world, with an alien ecosystem unlike any they had yet encountered. On this world, they built a great monument that would last for millions of years, to show any who came after, human or otherwise, of the acheivement, and as a testament to the spirit of humanity for exploration.
The main problem is that no one now knows where this system is; there are close to 100 thousand million stars in the galaxy, and even if the search is restricted to those far from Sol, and which have the potential to harbour life, the scope of the search is beyond the capabilities of anyone at the moment.

Purpose / Function

Simply enough, the Farpoint monument was intended to show to any future explorers what was achieved by humanity. It was built of a material that was designed to resist weathering, in a location that was tectonically inactive, on a world with a stable orbit and atmosphere. According to the records, barring any unforeseen accidents, the monument should stand for close to 20 million years before the slow progression of geological forces would render it unrecognisable as an artificial structure.
It was etched with symbols that the expedition hoped would be eventually deciphered, showing a human form and the story of their arrival and the purpose of leaving the monument.

Architecture

The Farpoint monument is a tall cubic column, made of compressed nanocarbon strands, a dark grey in colour. It is approximately 5 meters to a side, and thirty meters high, with 40 centimeter high symbols across all four outward facing sides.

Founding Date

Unknown

Type

Monument, Large