Leodiensian wrote:

I think it's a measure of last resort in some way, shape or form. Possibly to do with the Vulcanoid Gate - but then why haven't they deployed other Eggs near the other Gates? I think it's less about the Gate and more about the Sun. I'm working on a one-shot connected to my main campaign where something shoots off from the Egg towards the Sun and the PC's have to try and investigate - mainly because it's the best way I can think of to get some suryas into the game!

If it's a measure of last resort and it's in orbit of Mercury, then chances are you're right - it's something to do with the sun. Maybe a way to turn the sun into a toroidal bomb or something.

It's a test and a trap, and basically a lower-tech gimmick of the "presents" the ETI has seeded throughout the galaxy. They want to trade with us because trade is how they acquire the knowledge and technology to stay under the ETI's radar. And they turn a blind eye to our use of the Gates because they hope we'll stumble across some really juicy tech to trade (and because part of their survival strategy involves letting expendable races like us take all the risk of Gate exploration and then fucking off with as much tech as they can buy before we get curbstomped). But trade with us is risky because we haven't learned how to avoid drawing the ETI's attention, so the Factors need an insurance policy. So they put an artifact in orbit around the sun. An incredibly advanced artifact that we do not have a hope in hell of meaningfully interfering with at the moment. In fact, any civilization that could do anything meaningful to the artifact would be getting very nearly advanced enough to piss off the ETI. So the Factors leave the artifact and wait. And wait. And wait some more. And when we finally do figure out how to crack it open (or power it up or turn it off or whatever we're supposed to do to it), they'll know that it's time to exterminate the human race, get the hell out of dodge, and pretend they've never been here. On the upside it's also a test to help determine whether we should become [i]real[/i] trading partners. If we become advanced enough to do anything meaningful to the artifact and we keep on leaving the damn thing alone, then it's a good sign that we might just be patient and paranoid enough to survive in this crazy ETI-dominated galaxy of ours, and it could well be time for the Factors to help us move on to our new life as interstellar nomads on the run.

Reviving an ancient thread (necro is ok here?), in my own game, The Egg is a bomb. After all, as Sunward points out: "... if some advanced intelligence were able to figure out a method to cause the star’s interior to burn down to a core of iron and nickel, the sun would explode in a supernova, wiping out the entire solar system." Why would the Factors do such a thing? For self-preservation. They've managed to avoid TITAN-like destruction which has stomped other civilizations, and if possible they want to stop it happening again. They tell transhumanity, time and time again, don't build AGIs, don't go through gates, don't use synthmorphs, but we don't listen to them. Well, they can use a little insurance pollcy. That's the egg. When transhumanity makes yet another mistake, they'll nuke the entire solar system. It's the only way to be sure.