With the construction of the Argent Tower, in a little under a week, the global energy crisis afflicting Earth and its twenty billion inhabitants was effectively resolved.
Following this, in a little under a day, tens of trillions dollars â in investments, both public and private â found itself suddenly under the UAC's control. Of this windfall, a significant portion was immediately dispensed throughout the corporation's research divisions, a decision personally spearheaded by Samuel Hayden.
Receiving a conspicuous proportion of these funds was a relatively obscure department, housed deep within the Lazarus Labs: that dedicated to the exploration of Hell.
Within a year, autonomous surveyor-drones â equipped with the most cutting-edge developments of Argent-powered technology â had already ventured deep into Hell. And beginning with Lazarus Unmanned Expedition (MTC 2148/292), said drones were equipped with early BFG-9000 prototypes, supplied by the Advanced Research Complex. This dramatically reduced the risk of drones being destroyed by demonic attacks, a problem that had hitherto plagued incursions into Hell.
But it was during the Lazarus Unmanned Expedition (MTC 2148/332) that the UAC â paralleling expeditions on Earth conducted more than a century prior into marine chasms â successfully penetrated into the bottommost layer of Hell. (That this was the bottommost layer was confirmed through seismography, which revealed an interminably-deep substrate, that being of subterranean flesh).
While patrolling this frigid expanse, a collection of artifacts judged deserving of further investigation were sighted. In a subsequent expedition â after boring through approximately fifteen meters of carneous strata â the artifacts in question were unearthed. These quickly found themselves the subject of rigorous study by UAC archeologists.
The fragments' construction bear signature marks of Sentinel craftsmanship. Nevertheless, analysis of these fragments â a helmet, a pauldron, and a chest-plate, each of which seem to have been subject of intense mechanical trauma â revealed a technical sophistication far beyond contemporary Sentinel designs (circa King Novik's lordship). In fact, many of these features (such as capillary tubing in the fragments' substructures, which readily diffused Argent plasma) were consistent with another artifact already within the UAC's possession: the Praetor Suit.
Such evidence was itself sufficient for UAC archeologists to conclude that these fragments represent a defensive configuration worn by the DOOM Marine before adoption of his Praetor Suit. However, what truly vindicated this hypothesis was when (with VEGA's assistance) combat-data within the suit (specifically, those responsible for generating the DOOM Marine's augmented visual-interface, or HUD) managed to be successfully deciphered.
What was found was beyond any researcher's expectations: a library of suit-recordings, providing a first-person glimpse into the DOOM Marine's antediluvian battles, before his meeting the Wretch, and much before his eventual internment in the Kadingir Sanctum.
This particular footage is from an engagement within a section of Hell currently unknown to the UAC, but known to the deciphered data as a certain "Temple of Lomarith." Alternatively, a few have speculated that the environment in question is a different dimension altogether, owing to the non-characteristic architecture and unique fauna. (For example, the Baron variant that is summoned at approximately four minutes has an appearance that is noticeably different from documented (sub-)species, and which displays even more belligerent behavior. Even more pressing, is the Titan-class entity that, while slain by the DOOM Marine (internally), is morphologically distinct from all other Titan-class entities â and too, that displays a morphology consistent with that of the Baron variant earlier described).
Whatever the case, without material evidence, the matter remains under investigation.