Chelska, the land, the nation, is not a happy place. A hopeful one in some ways, but not really a happy one.

The long, narrow valleys nestled in between steep lines of mountain peaks, the highland lakes surrounded by barren scrub, and the nearly immovably thick coastal jungles all conspire to make that a geographic reality. But even worse than that, they have fought somewhere between four and six battles for their very existence in living memory. First, against the Dwarves, a vicious revolution and war of independence. Second, the sudden revanchist fury of their northern neighbor, at a time when they were still struggling to build a shambling mockery of economy, and there was perhaps one factory in the entire nation that could build something large and complicated. And to add to that, the western Goblins' manic decision to join in on the fun and try to claim some of the mountains, hungry for minerals. After that, the Blood Mire. Necromantic, possibly vampiric, cultists of some sort, unleashing the horrible built-up magical miasma of the world's first glimpse at modern trench warfare, creating a living sore in the world that only bred more monsters, the very terrain warped. And then just as they were recovering from that, a heroic effort that saw new industries, new weapons, new preparations just in case something happened again, the largest superpower in the world started launching bombing raids and threatening invasion. It was another long, drawn-out conflict, with the crude giant hammers of anti-aircraft guns and chemical-engine biplane fighters with only the barest half-functional magical shields unable to do much against the keenly enchanted death machines of the enemy. But eventually, this too became too expensive for Glitterdawn Vale to continue pursuing uselessly.

So at this point, they are rather done with looming threats and existential danger to the ideals of Communism, common ownership for common good.

When the mysterious device is located, the coal mine is shut down immediately, and specialized research teams very slowly, very carefully excavate and examine it. Passive only. They don't know enough to determine how it works, though they do manage to guess that it's a gateway or portal of some kind after extensive study. Innumerable passive scans and experiments revealed it to not be of Dwarven make, as was first guessed, nor any recognizable make at all. And there is no active magic, no energy of any kind, really. Active experiments were officially forbidden at the highest level, unwilling as they were to potentially accidentally unleash a horror to rival the Mystifying Miasma (though Glitterdawn still claims that 'an unknown actor' released it, only for them to heroically contain it...)

As far as Comrade Velkon, the Glorious Leader, was concerned, it was just a lump of metal that might do something horrible one day, and only a few thousand people ended up even knowing the specifics of the mysterious find; The coal mine was shut down for "ground stability" concerns. There is a small garrison assigned to keep people out of the coal mine and keep a watch on the thing. The place used to be rig to explode and collapse Just In Case, but at some point the dynamite was removed- Probably for the Glitterdawn War. All that contains it, now, is a couple dozen incredibly bored conscripts, two spooks in the know enjoying a vacation supervising them, and a lot of concrete and steel barricades, barbed wire, vault doors, and so on.

From the gate, a machine will exit. It doesn't seem to have anything resembling a weapon, unless a mechanical arm counts. What will it observe?

A long coal seam tunnel, dimly lit by a glowing red light above a rusty steel door in the distance, with tank traps and barbed wire laid out to prevent access except by a narrow man-sized path.

Lights! Steel door! A somewhat-advanced civilization!

They will send through the MALP, at max volume settings because there doesn't seem to be anyone in the room.

"Hello? We come in peace, this is our unmanned reconiscence drone, is there someone we can talk to? You can answer by speaking into the drone."

A young man peeks through the door, swears vehemently in something vaguely Greek-like, and slams it shut again.

The robot will move slightly to the side of the device, and will stay in this state until exactly 38 minutes since the activation pass, after which the device will shut down.

If nothing happens in that time, the device will activate again the next day.

They've taken apart the robot a ways down the shaft. And outside the mine, a lot more half panicked support and material is starting to gather. It's only been a day though, so not much yet.

There are guys with guns looking at it this time though. They look something like old bolt actions, but weird.

After they fail to get the telemitry off the MALP, they will send another one!

This time there are people! They will repeat the message.

Some foreign muttering.

"This is Chelska. You speak Elf, so we don't have a lot of trust to extend. We'll talk if you don't try to break the perimiter."

"We would like to arrange a diplomatic meeting, so we don't have to talk through a MALP, and we would only ask for you to guarantee the safe return of anyone who comes, and you can ask for your guarantees."

The probe's camera will look around the room. "Eh, also, there doesn't appear to be a DHD in sight, is there one present at all? It looks like a pedestal with buttons, and a blue sphere in the middle, should be near the gate."

(When Chelska dug up the gate, there wasn't one).

"The excavation records are classified. I will have to wait to hear from my superiors regarding diplomatic guarantees. We do have another... Malp. We were unsure if it was a threat and disassembled it. We are very interested in these devices."

"MALP isn’t a threat, it’s a reconnaissance probe that we use to make sure the gate destination is safe. You can have the one you disassembled, as a token of goodwill. Though if you also take this one we will assume you don’t want to talk, and won’t send any more through”

”We can schedule another dial, to give you time to ask your superiors. Would a day be enough?”

So they can control when it opens. Lovely.

"I will have any relevant guarantees and a diplomat available by then. They will be sent with high priority. What or who do you represent? What is your purpose in coming here? We regarded this object as an unknown and a potential threat, and it appears correctly so."

"We are explorers. We come from a different planet. This device is called a Stargate, and enables travel between planets. It has the potential to be dangerous, but I assure you, we bear no ill intent, and should we reach an agreement, we might help you with security considerations regarding it."

"We thank you for the gift to common knowledge. Is the Stargate liable to explode or create other mass damage? Emit foul poison or necromantic energies? Should we evacuate the whole valley, or just the immediate area?"

"The gate itself mostly isn't dangerous. Do not stand in front of it during activation, do not enter an incoming wormhole or the backside of one. Energy and radiowaves can be transmitted both ways, but matter - only from dialing to receiving gate. Explosions are known, but don't happen unless a gate is a target of a specific attack, and the only such weapon we know about was destroyed. You can monitor the amount of energy in the gate casing to look for abnormal buildup, if you're worried about it."

"Main potential threat from a Stargate is an adversarial party or device coming through. But if your gate was buried for a long time, it is unlikely, until you make yourselves known to the galaxy. We won't reveal your existence to anyone until we have a chance to negotiate."

"We are not interested in another new war front. We just finished the last fucking one..."

"You can bury the gate again, but you will be losing valuable opportunities. We can provide to you security measures against gate-intrusions, and establish trade relations, both between us and with other people of the galaxy, potentially share technology."

"We will have a diplomat tomorrow. Will you be coming through? Shall we prepare a meeting area?"

"Yes, that would be helpful."

"Any specifications?"

"Not particularly."

"Very well. What now?"

"If you have conditions for our diplomatic party, you can state them now. If you won't be able to find a DHD, we would also need to bring through a power source and a control device, to be able to dial the gate out. We can assure you of its safety."

"One moment, I will discuss with my superior."

The guy leaves for a bit, comes back after a couple of minutes.

"Our primary condition is to not attempt to leave the mine or find things about outside of the meeting area until we have more understanding of what is going on. We will also enact a scan for weapons. We will not harm diplomats who do not take aggressive action, we will return them if they act in good faith, though if they take the opportunity to perform espionage or sabotage like other Elves we have met, there are no guarantees. Assume that you will need to bring those things over."