Renegade Rodian
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To flesh out the furtive headquarters of the Helix Syndicate.
- Canon: Nope.
- Links: [Let It Fall] - Stygium Acquisition
- Name: Fort Amaranth
- Classification: Corporate Headquarters / Fort / Secret Base
- Location: South Pole, Dubrillion
- Affiliation: Helix Syndicate
- Population:
[x0001] H01 Artificial Intelligence - [x0050] Helix Syndicate Rangers
- [x0200] Trajan-Class War Droids, Mk I
- [x0035] Trajan-Class War Droids, Mk II
- [x0075] Helix Syndicate Support Staff
- [x0400] Sallust-Class Service Droids
[*]Accessibility: Fort Amaranth’s location is only known to the highest ranking personnel in the Helix Syndicate. It is exceedingly unlikely anyone else would be able to track it down or surmount the security precautions put in place by the Syndicate. Even most of the employees who work here aren’t sure where they are.
DESCRIPTION
In the furthermost, most uninhabitable wastes of Dubrillion’s Southern polar regions, the Helix Syndicate secretly constructed a towering metal monstrosity and designated it their headquarters. It is all but impossible to reach Fort Amaranth without the use of an aircraft.
The Helix Syndicate’s center of operations is staffed by a meagre eighty men. The most trusted, and the ones with the most to lose if something goes awry.
Fort Amaranth is also fortified by a total of five anti-starfighter turret emplacements that form a perimeter around the facility. In addition to the stygium cloaking device, Fort Amaranth also possesses a traditional shield generator. The price of vigilance is steep and while its location and secrecy make it less likely to be attacked, the Helix Syndicate still opted to include more traditional defenses in the event of an unwanted discovery.
The interior of Fort Amaranth is nothing terribly interesting. It is filled mostly with administrative centers as the Helix Syndicate’s various operations around the galaxy are kept track of through here: accounts are managed, debt purchased, assets catalogued, operatives deployed, etc. To this end the amount of support personnel stationed here is quite large, as are the number of security operatives stationed inside. Assisting in these burgeoning administrative tasks is a single H01 Artificial Intelligence Unit.
POINTS OF INTEREST
- The Ear: This section of the fort is dedicated to receiving intelligence dispatches from the various listening posts set up by the Helix Syndicate. Every packet of information is reviewed, sorted, and stored by a dedicated (largely automated) staff of employees.
- The Eye: This section of the fort houses an array of supercomputers and is dedicated to the operation of the Syndicate’s Crimson Codex. A wide range of cyber attacks are controlled and coordinated from this part of the fort, as well as the Syndicate’s electronic spying.
- The Heart: Located in the fortified center, this section is the command and control room for the entire facility. All personnel are monitored closely from this area. The fort’s droid garrison can also be controlled from this room. Armories and storage racks for the droids are found in this area. The central hub for the entire HSNET system is also located here, which the H01 Artificial intelligence Unit gleefully administrates.
- The Mind: A vast array of databanks containing an immeasurable amount of data on various subjects. Generally speaking, if the Syndicate is blackmailing someone, this is where their file (and the materials being used to blackmail them) would be kept. Many other forms of data can be found here, including stolen blueprints, intercepted communications of interest, internal reports and dossiers, and so on.
- Living Section: This area consists of bunk rooms, barracks, and living quarters for Fort Amaranth’s organic personnel. High-profile Syndicate personnel typically get their own rooms. Other employees must share. This section also features a few employee lounges as well as a couple recreation centers.
Without prior knowledge of its location, Fort Amaranth is virtually impossible to find, for its very existence is concealed by use of a stygium cloaking field generator. External components of the Fort include a suite of Electronic Countermeasures, ensuring that even the most dedicated sensor ships will have trouble discovering it by chance.
A wide perimeter of anti-starfighter emplacements surround Fort Amaranth and are hidden in the surrounding snow-covered wasteland. These emplacements sink into the ground when not in use. Fort Amaranth also features a military-grade shield projector in the event its location is discovered and orbital bombardment is expected to take place.
The sole means of entrance into Fort Amaranth is a landing pad that can house approximately three shuttles. This landing pad is also guarded by a duo of anti-starfighter turrets to ward off any potentially unwelcome visitors. Security precautions
Inside, Fort Amaranth’s security defenses are predictably mundane. There are security checkpoints at every major juncture. Keycards are needed for access to most areas. Retinal scans are mandatory for access to more important areas, like the control room. Be advised that the retinal scanners can detect whether or not the retina they are scanning belongs to a live person.
A network of security cameras keeps close watch over the employees at all times and auto-turrets monitor the hallways. These auto-turrets remain deactivated unless a lockdown is initiated. When active, they will open fire on any individual not carrying a clearance keycard or not logged in their facial recognition system.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
Fort Amaranth was one of the first strongholds established by the Helix Syndicate. Public information often leads many to assume the Syndicate’s headquarters are located either at Fort Aurbis or one of the Syndicate’s Dubrillion Collection Center. For once, the truth is far more interesting.
The structure was constructed under the nose of Dubrillion’s planetary government. Since the Mandalorian Crusaders had no centralized government or intelligence agency, concealing the Fort’s existence from them was of little consequence as well. Many different agents of the planetary government were bribed or blackmailed into neglecting their due diligence, leaving the Fort’s construction site unknown. None understood the purpose of these bribes beyond their individual actions. It’s unlikely that they ever will. The Helix Syndicate also arranged to have most of the victimized personnel shuffled deeper into the government’s bureaucracy to numerous different departments. It pays to be thorough about these sorts of things.
Most of the construction was carried out by droids. Upon the Fort’s completion, the droids involved were recycled along with much of the equipment. Not too long after the structure was completed, a Stygium cloaking device was added in to further conceal the existence of the Fort. Under the cloaking field, the area of the South Pole the Syndicate settled upon appears as the same frozen waste it always was - undisturbed and pristine.
