Cybernetic Assassin
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To make a fortress for Darth Filiae on the ruins of Darth Mekhis' fortress.
- Image Credit: Vader Castle concept art from Star Wars ep.7: The Force Awakens by Northcutt on ArtStation
- Canon: Darth Mekhis' Fortress
- Links:
Blood in the Snow: TSE Dominion of Rhen Var
SETTING INFORMATION
- Military Base Name: Fort Mekhis
- Classification: Fortress
- Location: Rhen Var
- Affiliation: The Sith Empire, Darth Filiae
- Population:
Legion Personell: Typically 1500 (3000 at most) - Armada Personell: Typically 300 (1000 at most)
- Intelligence personell: Typically between 1 to 10.
- Civilian Staff: 100 at most.
- Combat Droids: 1000 active (3000 inactive)
[*]Accessibility: Rhen Var is no population centre, and as such those who travel there do so with purpose. Fort Mekhis lays outside the centre of population, but paths to its doors are not difficult to find, and it makes no effort to hide its imposing physical presence. If anything it stands quite proud against the white blanket of snow and ice clinging dearly to Rhen Var's surface.
Despite being easy to find, gaining access is another matter entirely. The doors are locked and guarded, and only those invited, enlisted, or imprisoned are given entry. While the fortress' presence is immediately notable, its purpose is nondescript. Anyone can see that it is there, but why it is there is another question entirely.
[*]Description: Fort Mekhis is set in the sheer side of a mountain ridge of the snowy Rhen Var sierras. The castle's peak is surrounded by jutting with jagged rock formations overlooking a large, flat valley. Recent geothermic activity has lead to several controlled streams of lava near the fortress. The fortress itself is a multi tiered set of walls, growing in thickness and magnitude, beset with turrets to create a kill-box at its gate. Jutting from the top is a scaling congregation of towers, scouting out across the far-flung, frozen landscape.
POINTS OF INTEREST
- Hangars: Embedded in the fortress' wall is a hangar space that can dock a number of fighters and transport shuttles. There is also a larger landing pad closer to the fortress' peak for larger shuttles and cargo transport. The hangars are protected by heavy, turadium blast-doors and ray-shielding.
- Fortress walls: The walls of Fort Mekhis are thick and stacked one upon the other, forming a sort of simple maze of overlapping defensible positions and kill-boxes. The walkways are wide enough to accommodate a speeder, but they are usually traversed on foot. Heat is funnelled through the walkways to prevent ice from building up and making it slippery and snow from blocking the path/
- The towers: There are three towers that make up the composite peak of the fortress:
(First) Communications: The tallest, central tower houses a listening station made to observe movement in the nearby sector so they may be intercepted. It also contains a signal relay for catching and forwarding Sith Imperial transmissions in the system. - (Second) Aegis Tower: In order to protect the fortress from orbital bombardment, it has been fitted with a large shield generator position in the second tallest peak.
- (Third) The Master's Tower: The personal residence of the master of the Fortress.
[*]Workshop: Ever on the forefront of science and its destructive applications, Darth Filiae made certain that the Fortress featured a workshop. It is equipped for most mundane constructions (within reason) and is most used for the creation of prototypes or small units. It also features, in a locked room, the basic equipment necessary for Sith Alchemy. However, only a proven Sith is given access to these materials.
[*]Armoury: A place to get your kit, the armoury is embedded in the bedrock and armoured with turadium walls to withstand outside pressure. Here you can find most types of weapons available to troops of the Sith Empire's Legion and Armada. It also features a considerable storage of droids for a variety of purposes.
[*]Barracks: Located underground, the barracks double as bunkers should the fortress be shelled. Thanks to an advanced recycling system, it is capable of sustaining itself for months on end without resupplying. The bunks are not comfortable, but certainly functional. The greatest comfort is perhaps the access to rooms of "fake sunlight", where denizens can get their exposure to light and feel as though they are outside. This measure helps keep the morale up even during siege.
[*]Vaults: At its deepest point, Fort Mekhis houses its vaults. Here they keep safe whatever the Sith Empire and the Saaraishash wish to keep safe, be it artefacts of the Force, materials of value, or skeletons in closets. The Vaults are buried in bedrock and sealed in a turadium box with state of the art locking systems.
[*]Power generators: Deep inside the mountainside, there are descending tunnels of power generators. These power generators use, among other means, geothermic activity to help power the fortress' defences, research, and inhabitants. The tunnels are heavily reinforced to prevent collapse, but if they are lost, the fortress is vulnerable.
SECURITY
Security Rating: High.
Artillery:
- Anti-Orbital cannons: On top of the fortress, on the plateau from which the towers rise, there is a powerful artillery placement. This powerful piece of artillery draws immense amounts of power, but is able to strike ships in orbit. However, should something happen to the dedicated power generators, then the cannon would explode catastrophically.
- Anti-Aircraft Guns: A set of four anti-aircraft guns surrounds the landing bay area and help cover the Anti-Orbital cannons from attacks by in-atmosphere crafts. They are partially covered by rocky outcroppings and painted to blend with the snow and dark stone.
- Parts of the structure is naturally covered in hard bedrock, ice, and snow, reinforced with armed duracrete to withstand as much impact as possible.
- The outer walls surrounding the main entrance forms a series of "kill boxes" where manpower with embanked STA blaster cannons can dish out extensive damage against unshielded infantry and light crafts. Their power is maximised by giving the blaster cannons 75% overlap in their range of fire. A benefit of the STA cannons is the option of removing them should the forces have to fall back.
- Smaller embankments of STA blaster cannons also protect the Anti Orbital and Anti-Aircraft guns, but do not have the same degree of overlap as the front guns.
- The front gate and hangar bay is protected by heavy turadium reinforced blast-doors.
- Deflector Shield Generator: A deflector shield is located in the second tallest peak, effectively protecting the fortress from orbital bombardment. The shield is linked up with the long-range artillery to allow shots going out while the shield is up. However, it can be passed through by slow moving vehicles, persons and objects and due to the rocky nature of the sierras, it may be circumvented from below.
- Hangar bay: Ray shields protect the hangar bay from the elements and from enemy fire.
- The path to the vaults and the power generators are both equipped with ray shield traps.
- The denizens of Fort Mekhis are trained members of the Sith Imperial Legion and Armada. They are no pushovers.
- SE-K9: Fang Wardroids are always stationed at the fortress.
- Didact M1 Battle Droids: A defence-force worth of battle droids are stored in the fortress, ready to deploy in defence of Rhen Var and Fort Mekhis.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
The foundations of the Fortress are old and venerable, dating back to ancient Sith Empires and the Sith Lord, Darth Mekhis, who used it as her lair and a central command post for the Empire until Darth Mekhis' fall at the hands of Satele Shan. It was a dark day for Rhen Var, since stripping it of much of its importance.
For a thousand years, the construct lay untouched before they were once again snooped in. Every now and then, someone would disappear and be found torn to shreds near the mountain. Efforts were made to restore the Fortress, but none were particularly successful. Another thousand years passed.
The Gulag Plague and the Five Hundred Years of darkness came and went, leaving little mark on the forgotten structure. The first Sith Empire of the new age pillaged it for its ancient secrets but did not move to restore it. The Silver Jedi Order investigated it, but left it be. The third Sith Empire would have left it be too, but the Sith Knight Darth Filiae had gotten wind of who once lived there. Searching the ruins, she found mechanical remnants still kicking about. And, after defeating them, found a space she could make her own in the name of the Sith Empire.
Through her dominant position in Andromeda Inc, Darth Filiae rebuilt the Fortress and equipped it with weapons from the Sith Empire's arsenal, then made it her own seat of power within the Empire: A dead and cold world, what better seat for a Chiss?
