THE ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA
SOCIETY FOR THE PRESERVATION OF ANCIENT ARTIFACTS AND RELICS (SPAAR)
SPAAR is an enigmatic organisation whose origins date back to the early atomic age of Earth. Membership is by invitation only, and the minimum age for membership rises by one year every two years. This has lead a number of wags to suggest that the last word in the name should be Relicts!
Little is known about the internal organisation of the Society, whose headquarters on the asteroid Vesta are closed to outsiders, along with the rest of the asteroid, which is owned by SPAAR. Indeed, such is the desire for privacy that the Society refuse to allow space lanes to be cleared to Vesta, making it virtually impossible to find without detailed instructions from SPAAR.
In addition to protecting ancient relics, SPAAR are active in the exploration field, frequently competing with the Magellan Society and the Imperial Navy's shadowy Department of Alien Technologies for the discovery and control of such artifacts.
Recently, SPAAR's power to protect ancient relics has weakened as a result of determined lobbying by planet owners and real estate developers. Suggestions of large numbers of slithies changing hands have been dismissed by the Galactic Administration, the report of whose 'internal' investigation remains secret.
(Editor's note: The author of this entry was found dead in unusual circumstances in the asteroid belt shortly after publication. As a result we have been unable to confirm the details herein. We have also been unable to obtain anyone else qualified who is prepared to investigate the issue.)