Sic transit gloria mundi
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Expand on Arkas and codify a location established in rp.
Image Credit: Here.
Canon: N/A.
Permission: ARGH gear available per this thread.
Links: Adjudication, The Outbreak, Avast and Belay, Let's Talk, GRU, Freetown, New Solstace.
SETTING INFORMATION
Military Base Name: Outpost Tropicana.
Classification: Outpost.
Location: Arkas.
Affiliation: Siobhan, Firemane, Order of Fire.
Population: Moderate
Demographics: Inhabited by military and non-combat support personnel. The latter consists of technicians, medical staff, mechanics and civil affairs officers. Arkas is a bit of a racial melting pot and Firemane does not discriminate on the basis of species. As a result, one finds both humans as well as aliens. Examples for the latter would be Twi'leks, Cathar and Zabrak. There is also a notable elf contingent, which mainly consists of Eldorai and Qadiri, with the latter being more numerous than the former.
Accessibility: The base is well-known on Arkas. However, it is a military facility and so it is closed to unauthorised personnel. A variety of security measures are in place to prevent infiltration or other forms of unauthorised access and it is guarded by a garrison. However, the Firemane personnel cooperates closely with the local militias and other security forces established by the inhabitants on Arkas. Moreover, the base purchases a lot of its supplies from the natives. Several natives are directly or indirectly employed by Firemane, and the megacorp has a lot of influence on the planet. Likewise, soldiers often visit local communities in their spare time.
Civilian family members are allowed into the base on special occasions such as large funerals, though they will be vetted first. In addition, family members of base personnel may be granted entrance provided they have a family ID issued by Firemane or are being chaperoned by their military family member. Obviously they will not be granted access to anything sensitive and must remain within authorised areas. For the duration of their stay, they will be given a badge that shows their status and delineates where they can go. However, families are not allowed to stay on the base, as it is believed that it would distract base personnel and put civilians in danger if the base comes under attack. The outpost is located on an island. While not that far from the land, this obviously impedes access. Firemane maintains a flotilla that patrols the waters.
Description: Outpost Tropicana is a fairly standard Firemane base. The base is located on a small island not too far from the land, but far enough to make it hard for intruders to easily get there. Tropicana is surrounded by permacrete walls and a razorwire equivalent fence. Watchtowers manned by Firemane soldiers and turrets have been set up. The main entrance is guarded by a checkpoint and turrets. Tropicana features a lot of anti-personnel and rapid firing weapons. This is especially important since the relatively small garrison is expected to defend against an enemy many times its own size. It is also well-stocked with provisions, medical supplies and ammunition, which is pertinent if it is cut off from support.
Arkas has a tropical climate with many beautiful islands, so it is a popular planet to be posted on. However, base command makes sure that the soldiers have plenty of work to do, so that they do not have cause to complain about being left idle. Inside, the base contains the usual facilities, such as an armoury, hospital, administration, bunker, jail, and barracks as well as a training centre for the Order of Fire. GRU, Firemane's military intelligence division, has its own wing in the administration building. There is a vehicle bay that functions as a garage. Here Firemane stores its speeders, walkers and other armoured fighting vehicles.
Firemane's Arkas home defence command is located in the base. There is also a hangar and an air field to allow starships to land, deliver supplies and troops as well gunships and starfighters to take off. Power generators keep the base running. With the permission of base command, Firedawn has set up a facility in the outpost as part of its humanitarian efforts. Moreover, there is a commissary, which provides provisions for the inhabitants of the base.
The primary terrain of Arkas are oceans, islands and scattered landmasses. Thus while airpower is crucial, control over the waterways is important as well. As a result, the outpost has a harbour that is able to accommodate Firemane surface ships. The outpost has a cantina and recreational areas, where base personnel can get some relief from their duties. While the Order of Fire has a special training centre to suit its needs, Force-Users and Non-Force-Users are quartered together in the barracks. This is supposed to prevent the space mages from becoming a cloistered order separate from the rest of the military and civilian personnel stationed in the base. Moreover, it saves space and credits that can thus be used for other purposes. Both Force-Using and Non-Force-Using base personnel answer to the same chain of command.
POINTS OF INTEREST
Garage: Self-explanatory really. Functions as the vehicle depot. The walkers, armoured fighting vehicles and other vehicles of note are stored and maintained here.
Auntie Tegs' Corner: A full service cantina where base personnel can spend time during off-duty hours. Run by a former Firemane Sergeant who settled on Arkas and married a native. The drinks are good. Melody, a Dahomian singer, once performed here for the troops. General Devotion, her mother, is Firemane's army chief of staff. Ironically, she wishes her daughter would carry on the family business instead. Music made by Kseniya, a Vashyada entertainer/singer and poet, is also popular.
Barracks: Military personnel are housed here. The dormitories are separated by enlisted, field officers, senior officers, and high command. The variation in size is minor. However, enlisted and field officer dormitories lack special amenities such as small kitchens, in contrast to those reserved for higher-ranking personnel. But they are equipped with private restrooms, a holonet connection and other basics. Refreshers are communal on every level and segregated by gender. Mess halls are also found here. The barracks are connected to the armoury, infirmary and recreational areas.
Recreation: Basically off-duty zones where soldiers can pursue recreational activities when they are not on duty. Among other things, it includes a library, a boxing ring, a gym, a communal room that can be used to watch holofilms, along with other amenities. Everyone is entitled to use these facilities regardless of rank.
Shrine of All the Spirits: A multi-denominated religious shrine that provides a place of religious worship for the believers among the base personnel. Firemane endorses freedom of religion, though hate speech, sedition and the like will not be tolerated. It is frequented primarily by elves who follow the old deities of their people, though others are welcome as well. Elpsis is a frequent visitor when she happens to be at the base.
Silo: A storage area filled with all the supplies the garrison needs to sustain themselves and stay healthy. Echani graphite containers are used for storage. Some of these large containers have been offered to settlements on Arkas, as their structure makes them remarkably durable. This is handy in the event of pirate raids or natural disasters. Moreover, they can be sold relatively cheap.
Armoury: A space where weapons are stored and maintained. It also acts as a military workshop of sorts. The quartermaster is located here. Echani graphite containers are used to store ammunition, power cells and ordinance.
Parade Grounds: A place for soldiers to assemble, march, listen to speeches and stand at attention, especially when bigwigs have come to visit. Arkas happens to have a hot climate. The parade grounds are as popular as can be imagined.
Nanshe's Harbour: Habour is probably a bit too grand a word, but this is the place where surface ships are docked, maintained and launched. Up to three frigate sized ships can be docked there, but since vessels of this size are rarely used, the corvettes, patrol boats and transports of Firemane’s flotilla can anchor here. The facility is named after the Qadir god of sea, boats, fishing and sailing. Due to being a key access area, it is well-defended by sentries and turrets.
Order of Fire Advanced Training Facility VIII: A training complex for Firemane's corps of Force-Users as well as allied space mages. Aside from the usual combat training facilities, it features meditation areas and rooms to safely practice elemental Force abilities. Training droids modelled on those used by the ancient Jedi are available for sparring. One room has a collection of large stones comparable to the Muntuur stones. These are used for advanced telekinesis practice. No Younglings are trained here, as the Order of Fire has a strict policy against conscripting little children. Thus all trainees will at least be teenagers and often young adults. They are supervised by a cadre of Knights and some Masters. The Order answers to the same chain of command as the regular soldiers. Inferno Platoon is an example for a unit that received training here.
lnfirmary: A military hospital and clinic. It provides care to the wounded and sick. Here one will find most of the medical staff. Aside from standard medical personnel, the hospital also employs Force healers. In addition, there is a counselling staff to deal with cases of combat stress reaction, also known as battle fatigue or shell shock. Retirees and family members can be seen on a space-available basis, but a Firemane health care programme covers active dependants' care. Retirees have their own programme, which operates along similar lines.
Eagle Eye Marksmanship Range: Here soldiers can hone their skills as riflemen. To make things more interesting than just shooting at static objects, the targets are designed to move while under fire. Moreover, if a soldier lingers too long in one place, stun traps are triggered. Auto-turrets can also be triggered to fire stun blasts. After all, the enemy tends to shoot back in battle.
Administration: The hub of the base. Military and civilian administration is housed here. The same applies to command, communication and control facilities, allowing base command to remain in touch with the rest of Arkas and Firemane headquarters. Doors have Graphite Mesh Reinforcement. The building has an underground bunker.
Jail: The prison facility. Used for detention, interrogation and so on. Felons are held in holding cells, protected by ray shields and heavy turadium doors. When it comes to Force-Using prisoners, ysalamiri in oblio tree groves have been positioned around the cells. Force cages and Universal Energy Cages are also available.
Commissary: A grocery store where base personnel can purchase foodstuffs and household goods. Nicknamed the Bazaar. Like most services on the base, it is just for military ID card holders. A prospective customer must have their ID in order to buy any items. Food is sold at a cost, plus a 5% markup to cover building new commissaries.
Hangars: Capable of storing and launching squadrons of dropships, starfighters, gunships and similar craft. The gunships that levelled Serenade took off from here. Hanger doors have Graphite Mesh Reinforcement to protect them. There are also air fields for transports in form of a narrow naved strip. This stretch is used for air traffic control, and as a landing area for transports ferrying personnel, supplies and so on.
SECURITY
High
The base is well-defended and located on an island. But force of numbers and/or a determined assault by heavy armour could breach it. Arkas is a remote world, and so the threats it usually faces tend to be raiders, though security has been stepped up recently due to a zombie crisis. The base has a defence shield to protect it against orbital and aerial bombardment, but it lacks surface to space cannons. The heaviest defences are set up on the four corners, with a special eye to the harbour.
- Keraunos Missile Turrets. Provide aerial cover, especially if the shield is down.
- Ballista Weapon Emplacements Emplacements are fortified to provide protection from enemy assault.
- Javelin Weapon Emplacements. Scattered around the fortifications to provide additional firepower against infantry, light vehicles and ships should it be needed.
- Rotary Shattercannons. Light and Heavy Emplacement Variant. The portable variant is also deployed and mounted on barricades.
- MK3 Bolters. Mounted in bunkers and mobile barricades to bombard attacking infantry or landing ships.
- Trenches and Entangling Cables around the base perimeter. Many Mobile Barricades to provide cover points. These can be moved where needed and provide moveable bulwarks. Many obstacles have been set up to impede the advance of enemy troops and force them into kill zones.
- Many e-web, mortar, missile launchers as well as sonic cannon emplacements.
- Site-wide scanning array of Lifeform Scanners and Security Scanners. The sensors also include hyperwave signal interceptors.
- One Aspis Defence Shield. Installed on the left hand area just below the airstrip.
- Cyber security measures include Rapid Repetition Defense Measures, a Pyrowall and Socketguards
- Garrison of Firemane soldiers, including warriors and trainees of the Order of Fire. Other than a force Firemane motorised infantry and Qadiri Sepoys, it includes some members of specialised formations like Hospitallers, Knights of the Rising Flame and of the Fireguard. A few Truthseekers are present on the base. Their primary role is monitoring and internal policing, but their mental abilities make them good at weeding out infiltrators.
- The garrison has a vehicle depot consisting of Valora and Mag'ladroth walkers, speeders and infantry fighting vehicles.
- Small flotilla stationed at the harbour. Mainly corvettes, transports and patrol boats, but technically a few frigate sized surface ships can dock here. Many turrets, weapons' emplacements and other defences have been set up to protect the harbour area. The aerial contingent stationed in the hangars includes bombers, gunships and starfighters.
- Inside the base, keycards are needed to access sensitive areas. There are retinal scanners for these locations. The scanners can detect whether or not the retina they happen to be scanning belongs to a living person. A network of security cameras monitors the residents in the base. There is an auto-turret network in the hallways. These turrets remain inert unless an intruder is detected.
For many years the planet Arkas was plagued by off-world slavers and pirates who enslaved and persecuted the local population. Major areas on the tropical island planet were controlled by corsair groups that vied for power and influence. The slave population was exploited by being forced to toil in the Najim fields, salt and silver mines. The slaver utopia came to an end when Firemane and Eldorai troops descended on the planet. Operating in cooperation with Valiens Nantaris' Freespace Rangers and the Levantine Sanctum, they overthrow the corsairs. An Eldorai task force led by Seraph Kaida Taldir took Amari Base, while Firemane and the Freespace Rangers seized Tripoli Base and later repulsed a corsair counterattack.
In the process they discovered that the corsairs had enslaved elves who were related to yet distinct from the Eldorai. These elves were Xioquo. This revelation ultimately led Firemane and the Eldorai Matriarchy to the lost elf world of Tygara. It would become a home for Eldorai fleeing the cataclysmic destruction of Kaeshana. Firemane maintained a presence on Arkas, seeking to help the natives rebuild. To this end they founded Freetown, which would house the manumitted slaves. The goal was to free the slaves, but do so responsibly, as simply breaking their chains and then abandoning them to their fate would leave them destitute. Thus Firemane invested in the new settlement, and founded Firedawn, a freedmen bureau.
The process of emancipation was not an easy one, and the new communities faced attacks from off-world pirates and later the savage Kraal. Still, they managed to get on their feet. In the aftermath of the Battle of Kaeshana, a group of Eldorai refugees settled near Amari Base, founding their own town with permission of Firemane. To provide protection for these communities Firemane built Outpost Tropicana. Set up as a prefabricated base, Tropicana was established close to Freetown. The planet is rather remote, but still faces threats in form of corsairs and Kraal raiders. Moreover, the ruling couple of Firemane has a residence on one of its private islands. In addition to providing protection, the base would also be a training and recruitment centre. Arkas is a bit of a melting pot, and this would be reflected in the makeup of the base.
The Order of Fire, Firemane's Force-using branch, received permission to set up a training facility in the base. It would provide training to Force-Users who wanted to join the Order and pursue a career in Firemane, as well as those members of the local communities who wanted to gain control over their powers. The Order is organised along military lines, so training has more in common with that of a military unit whose members happen to have supernatural powers than with a religious organisation. Kraal raids as well as Dark Eldorai intrigues motivated Firemane to tighten security and step up recruitment.
The megacorp faced a major test when it lost contact with a mixed race settlement on the island of Serenade. This town was inhabited by Eldorai refugees, former slaves and others seeking a new life far from strife. Its militia had been equipped and trained by Firemane. Unfortunately, the loss of contact happened while a particularly vicious storm was raging, making it very difficult to acquire reliable data through probes or satellites. Firemane command ordered Major Tempest and her unit, which happened to be at the base conducting a training exercise with Angelii and Alderaanian Rangers, to investigate. Two Alderaanian operatives and a Angelii unit led by High Captain Kaida Taldir joined them.
However, it soon turned out that the situation was far worse than anticipated. A zombie virus had broken out. The undead had taken over the settlement. Guided by a hive-mind that was able to use psychic powers to direct its minions and assault the living, these zombies were unusually intelligent. They were able to use battle tactics and turn the defences of the town against the living. Thus the Firemane and Eldorai troops soon came under fire, forcing them to forego air support provided by their gunships.
Once they had landed, they were relentlessly assaulted by the zombies. Moreover, the hive-mind attacked them mentally, trying to trap select members in an illusory utopia to make them susceptible to its control. In the end, the much depleted task force was able to knock out the AA guns and escape. Unwilling to risk the virus spreading across the planet, Firemane command decided to firebomb the island.
It was assumed that there were still living civilians, but a rescue was impractical, so sacrifices had to be made. Firemane bombers lifted off from Outpost Tropicana, and levelled Serenade. In the aftermath, Firemane troops secured the ruined settlement, eliminating the few remaining zombies. The island was placed under lockdown until it was certain that the danger had passed. High command set up a board of inquiry to investigate the incident. The corporation would eventually have to face the hive-mind again.
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