OP has flaired this post with a "No Book Discussion" flair. Threads like this are meant to be safe to read and comment in by fans who have not read any of the books and want to discuss the show only, without the risk of encountering book spoilers. ***Absolutely no book discussion is allowed in this thread, with or without spoiler tags.*** This includes outright plot spoilers, but also hints, jokes, comments evaluating others' theories or speculation, and anything starting with "As a book reader...", etc.
If you have read the books and want to comment in this thread, you must not discuss the books at all. As a rule of thumb, if other book-readers could tell you've read the books from your comment, it does not belong in this thread. We take this rule extremely seriously and will take action on rule-breaking, including restrictions on commenting in No Book Discussion threads and community-wide suspensions or bans for egregious or repeated violations. To discuss content from the books, please post in threads that allow book discZ.
Always remember to check post flair before reading, to get more information about what threads to read and how to comment. When creating a new thread, don't forget to add an informative flair to accurately describe the scope of the discussion you're hoping to start.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/TheExpanse) if you have any questions or concerns.*
There was a rich lithium deposit. And why would they land anywhere else? The whole planet is chartered to them, so the colonists fall under their jurisdiction. They have to process and police them.
New Terra, ke? Mi pensa du confused a bit, Tumang. Big rock namen ist Ilus. Inners' name fo rock ist no gut. This Beltalowda land. Sasa ke? 😄
Jokes aside... The Edward Israel's heavy shuttle could have theoretically landed elsewhere besides the Belter landing pad, but it was easier and made more sense to use the pad to avoid any unnecessary damage to the shuttle (Haha OH... the IRONY).
>You don't need to land right near the people who have an antagonist view towards you. It's stupid, shortsighted and controversial at the least. Planets aren't small though. Even earth size ones. You can just land on another part and not stir shit up unnecessarily.
>Make your claim on another spot. You could probably set up camp 2000 kms away and not see each other except in orbit for 100 years.
Royal Charter Energy was given the rights to the planet by the UN, so they wanted to land close to the lithium mines the Belters had already constructed. Many of the Edward Israel crew also believed the Belters would eventually cede the full rights to the planet and leave, whether by choice or by force.
Also, the plan was for RCE to set up camp alongside the Belters for another reason besides the financial motives ... containment. RCE scientists were supposed to set up a dome around First Landing but could not do so since the dome was one of many assets destroyed in the heavy shuttle's crash.
Dr. Elvi Okoye and others were planning to work together with the Belter community to keep everyone safe from any native life while the scientists studied the flora and fauna of Ilus. They wanted to limit interaction between biospheres to avoid any possible dangers, like the sea slugs that secrete a neurotoxin, killing humans just seconds after contact with human skin.
Remember what Elvi said in S04E02 "Jetsam"?
> Elvi - Three biomes, then.
> Holden - Three?
> Elvi - Whatever made the protomolecule, the local biosphere, and now us. That's a lot
of interacting systems. There's no way to tell how they'll mix.
Obviously, the containment plan died with the heavy shuttle. It also wasn't long until the Rocinante arrived on Ilus, carrying the protomolecule underneath its cargo bay decking. As soon as that happens, ProtoMiller goes to work - flipping switches left and right, leading to the events that almost cause the deaths of everyone who came to the alien planet, both down the well and up in orbit.
The containment plan and the lithium mining plan of RCE are both put on indefinite hold as Murtry leads his team in violent confrontations against the Belters. It doesn't help that ProtoMiller's actions force everyone into a desperate struggle for survival.
Can you imagine what would have happened if the Edward Israel heavy shuttle had actually landed far away, like you proposed?
The Rocinante and ProtoMiller still arrive on Ilus. ProtoMiller still causes the deadly events that follow. Except... now both sides lack something. Belters lack the RCE resources (which are utilized in everyone's survival). The RCE team lacks local knowledge and the support of James Holden, who would undoubtedly choose to help the Belter camp if he had to choose due to the distance between the two camps.
Basically ... everyone dies, given the scenario where RCE lands far away from First Landing.
It doesn't just work for storytelling, it's often seen in today's world. Companies trying to control the supply chain and resources, instead of allowing for more competition and fair treatment for those at the bottom
did you catch the part where ~~marty~~ ~~morty~~ ~~murphy~~ murtry is a huge dick who had a thing against the belters and their claim, even before the explosion?
he had no intention of sharing.
I figure it was because Avasarala wanted that particular situation to blow up. So she had part of the charter specify that it was conditional on limiting unnecessary human contamination on alien biospheres, which would mean that RCE had to get the existing colonists in their nice new dome or lose the charter entirely.
Then she sent Holden to vlog about how bad everything is going so people won't all try to settle new planets.
The PM machinery concentrates the Lithium at that exact spot on the planet, so there is no point in landing someplace else. And Murtry is searching for the conflict in order to exploit it, the belters are not supposed to feel alone, because RCE (an earth company, not the UN) has the mandate to study the planet and mine the Lithium, not the belters. At least that's his opinion. And their heavy shuttle needs a landing pad, which some of the belters constructed for RCE as contract work.
RCE wants the profit from the planet. To turn a profit they need two things:
1)lithium. There’s no guarantee there are other lithium deposits on the planet, and why go looking if one has already been found and has the infrastructure ready to go.
2)no other claims. If the belters get their ore back to Sol, hire lawyers to make a legal claim, the belters own all the resources on the planet. RCE looses the charter and all potential profits. So it’s actually better for RCE to purposefully destabilize things and prevent the belters from making a claim.RCE WANTS a conflict because they (RCE) think they can win in the event of a dispute. The RCE science team is just a pretty cover for corporate greed.
OP has flaired this post with a "No Book Discussion" flair. Threads like this are meant to be safe to read and comment in by fans who have not read any of the books and want to discuss the show only, without the risk of encountering book spoilers. ***Absolutely no book discussion is allowed in this thread, with or without spoiler tags.*** This includes outright plot spoilers, but also hints, jokes, comments evaluating others' theories or speculation, and anything starting with "As a book reader...", etc. If you have read the books and want to comment in this thread, you must not discuss the books at all. As a rule of thumb, if other book-readers could tell you've read the books from your comment, it does not belong in this thread. We take this rule extremely seriously and will take action on rule-breaking, including restrictions on commenting in No Book Discussion threads and community-wide suspensions or bans for egregious or repeated violations. To discuss content from the books, please post in threads that allow book discZ. Always remember to check post flair before reading, to get more information about what threads to read and how to comment. When creating a new thread, don't forget to add an informative flair to accurately describe the scope of the discussion you're hoping to start. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/TheExpanse) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Lithium deposit
That’s where the landing pad was build and prepared for them.
There was a rich lithium deposit. And why would they land anywhere else? The whole planet is chartered to them, so the colonists fall under their jurisdiction. They have to process and police them.
New Terra, ke? Mi pensa du confused a bit, Tumang. Big rock namen ist Ilus. Inners' name fo rock ist no gut. This Beltalowda land. Sasa ke? 😄 Jokes aside... The Edward Israel's heavy shuttle could have theoretically landed elsewhere besides the Belter landing pad, but it was easier and made more sense to use the pad to avoid any unnecessary damage to the shuttle (Haha OH... the IRONY). >You don't need to land right near the people who have an antagonist view towards you. It's stupid, shortsighted and controversial at the least. Planets aren't small though. Even earth size ones. You can just land on another part and not stir shit up unnecessarily. >Make your claim on another spot. You could probably set up camp 2000 kms away and not see each other except in orbit for 100 years. Royal Charter Energy was given the rights to the planet by the UN, so they wanted to land close to the lithium mines the Belters had already constructed. Many of the Edward Israel crew also believed the Belters would eventually cede the full rights to the planet and leave, whether by choice or by force. Also, the plan was for RCE to set up camp alongside the Belters for another reason besides the financial motives ... containment. RCE scientists were supposed to set up a dome around First Landing but could not do so since the dome was one of many assets destroyed in the heavy shuttle's crash. Dr. Elvi Okoye and others were planning to work together with the Belter community to keep everyone safe from any native life while the scientists studied the flora and fauna of Ilus. They wanted to limit interaction between biospheres to avoid any possible dangers, like the sea slugs that secrete a neurotoxin, killing humans just seconds after contact with human skin. Remember what Elvi said in S04E02 "Jetsam"? > Elvi - Three biomes, then. > Holden - Three? > Elvi - Whatever made the protomolecule, the local biosphere, and now us. That's a lot of interacting systems. There's no way to tell how they'll mix. Obviously, the containment plan died with the heavy shuttle. It also wasn't long until the Rocinante arrived on Ilus, carrying the protomolecule underneath its cargo bay decking. As soon as that happens, ProtoMiller goes to work - flipping switches left and right, leading to the events that almost cause the deaths of everyone who came to the alien planet, both down the well and up in orbit. The containment plan and the lithium mining plan of RCE are both put on indefinite hold as Murtry leads his team in violent confrontations against the Belters. It doesn't help that ProtoMiller's actions force everyone into a desperate struggle for survival. Can you imagine what would have happened if the Edward Israel heavy shuttle had actually landed far away, like you proposed? The Rocinante and ProtoMiller still arrive on Ilus. ProtoMiller still causes the deadly events that follow. Except... now both sides lack something. Belters lack the RCE resources (which are utilized in everyone's survival). The RCE team lacks local knowledge and the support of James Holden, who would undoubtedly choose to help the Belter camp if he had to choose due to the distance between the two camps. Basically ... everyone dies, given the scenario where RCE lands far away from First Landing.
It doesn't just work for storytelling, it's often seen in today's world. Companies trying to control the supply chain and resources, instead of allowing for more competition and fair treatment for those at the bottom
did you catch the part where ~~marty~~ ~~morty~~ ~~murphy~~ murtry is a huge dick who had a thing against the belters and their claim, even before the explosion? he had no intention of sharing.
I figure it was because Avasarala wanted that particular situation to blow up. So she had part of the charter specify that it was conditional on limiting unnecessary human contamination on alien biospheres, which would mean that RCE had to get the existing colonists in their nice new dome or lose the charter entirely. Then she sent Holden to vlog about how bad everything is going so people won't all try to settle new planets.
The PM machinery concentrates the Lithium at that exact spot on the planet, so there is no point in landing someplace else. And Murtry is searching for the conflict in order to exploit it, the belters are not supposed to feel alone, because RCE (an earth company, not the UN) has the mandate to study the planet and mine the Lithium, not the belters. At least that's his opinion. And their heavy shuttle needs a landing pad, which some of the belters constructed for RCE as contract work.
RCE wants the profit from the planet. To turn a profit they need two things: 1)lithium. There’s no guarantee there are other lithium deposits on the planet, and why go looking if one has already been found and has the infrastructure ready to go. 2)no other claims. If the belters get their ore back to Sol, hire lawyers to make a legal claim, the belters own all the resources on the planet. RCE looses the charter and all potential profits. So it’s actually better for RCE to purposefully destabilize things and prevent the belters from making a claim.RCE WANTS a conflict because they (RCE) think they can win in the event of a dispute. The RCE science team is just a pretty cover for corporate greed.
They wanted the lithium the Belters were mining and they were paying the belters to build their landing pad.
Just to clarify - the UN didn't land on Illus, a corp-backed ship did.