Professor Catherine Peabody

Archeologist and forerunner expert

Professor Catherine Peabody is regarded as one of the foremost experts on the pre-human 'Forerunner' civilisation. She is from Earth, and graduated from the University of Old Mars with a doctorate in archaeology in 3175. Her thesis compared finds from the Cydonia site on Old Mars - at the time the only acknowledged Forerunner site in human space - with items found from some colonies in the outer quadrants, and posited that there may be a number of unrecognised Forerunner sites across human space. Although this was regarded as something of a fringe conjecture at the time and controversial academically, her papers were rigorously argued and once she achieved tenure at the University of Old Mars she was able to expand on the field of xenoarchaeology.

Convinced that some sites in Quadrant 7 were Forerunner remains - and less disturbed than well trodden sites in the Sol system or Q0 - she transferred to the Imperial Archaeological Institute at Dolha, Q7 in 3190, and began collating finds and surveying suitable candidate sites for a dig. Her ground breaking dig was occasioned by the discovery of a possibly powered virgin Forerunner site at Woods Asteroid, Tuskan, a site initially discovered by a graduate archaeological student, Jacob Connell, who had been investigating abandoned Belter habitats.

The find was quickly classified as secret by the local Earth authorities and the dig was conducted under conditions of considerable secrecy. However, within octants the team was able to penetrate into a powered underground complex with a working Forerunner artificial intelligence, which called itself Majordomo.

Professor Peabody's conversations with this AI led to a number of breakthroughs in knowledge about the Forerunners. However, given that the Exterminators appeared to be linked with the Forerunners, and the ongoing Exterminator War at the time, the project became mired in military and political concerns and the archaeologists were removed from the site. In spite of a promotion to the Imperial Archaeological Institute on Earth, Professor Peabody advocated strongly for a return to the site to continue work, which she eventually secured in 3201. However, this return visit coincided with a large scale Exterminator attack at Tuskan and the Battle of Tuskan, which culminated in the destruction of the Woods Asteroid site by nuclear weapons.

Professor Peabody had been evacuated from the site prior to its destruction by the heavy cruiser ESS Agamemnon. However, she then faced an extended interrogation by the Imperial Audit Office in its investigation into the incident, and her growing disillusionment with the Earth Empire's treatment of Forerunner research led to her accepting an academic post at the Humanity Institute on Great Spirit, in the Mald Foundation. She remained at Great Spirit for a number of years, before becoming involved in archaeological work on the presumed Forerunner home world, 'Mystery', in 3215, particularly the investigation of the underwater New Atlantis city - the largest Forerunner settlement ever discovered. Some of her work there remains classified.

Following the destruction of the New Atlantis site in 3220, Peabody has been academic director of the Interstellar Forerunner Foundation on Kumarajiva, Q0. She remains a citizen of the Mald Foundation. She is unmarried and has no children.

Academic Roles

Senior Lecturer, Archeology, University of Old Mars, Q0, 3181 - 3189
Professor, Head of Imperial Archaeological Institute, Dolha Q7 3190 - 3199
Academic Lead, Tuskan Expedition, 3198
Emeritus Professor of Archeology, Imperial Archeological Insititute, Earth Q0. 3199-3201
Professor of Antiquities, Humanity Institute, Great Spirit 3201 to 3215
Academic lead IFF Investigation Team, New Atlantis, Mystery Q0, 3215 to 3220
Academic Director, Interstellar Forerunner Foundation, 3220 to present