The Empire Club/Session 0

Mr. Kingsley gives a brief but inspiring speech about once and future profits.
A cloud of dust billows out as we open the doors. Farandole & Magda both walk in. Farandole flicks his tongue out to taste the history.
Floors of Aeldrum basalt: the framework for the placement of the tiles. Paneled the living rock of the Aeldrum spire with carved rock. Dawes taps the tile and proclaims it "good stuff."
Stairs from tropical hardwoods leading to mezzanine and upper levels – offices, back rooms, bars, private meeting areas, and rooms for rent for traveling dignitaries. 
The central feature: a stunning view from 4.5 km above the surface of Aeldrum. Wires keep the grand open galleries out of the Spire from ever healing and sealing off the view. Highest full vantage point in the Aeldrum Spire, except for a similar structure for the House of Parliament and some very wealthy estates. Only semi-public view of its kind. 
*Sheet metal has been bolted in, corroded & bent. Kingsley, frowning, knows you ought not to hear the etheric wind from inside. 
* Glass fitted into frames of exotic metal. Some glass is an unusual crystalline material.
What do we do on the first night?
*Farandole takes a first inventory of the place. Kingsley left paintings protected; many old portraits; gifts to the club — Leopoldian style, from before the beginning of the century
*Kingsley cleans, making a dent in the mess
*Mlle. Gauthier appraises the place for its art, a lot of which will have to go. The furniture is all rubbish. The chandeliers are magnificent, harvested from the crystal that grew on a world ravaged by the Pantheon — they say it contained the death of a world; in a crowded room full of soul energy, they made a melancholy sound. The style is antiquated but the crystal material is exquisite
*A lot of this club was furnished when you could import anything. Noblemen were bringing Baradun automata back, back when you were allowed to import sentient machines. When Kingsley goes in for a drink, Jeremy activates his anti-looter protocols before recognizing him. Jeremy actually seems pleased to see him, as loyal to Kingsley as a soulless-killing-machine-turned-bartender could be.
*Magda is unimpressed – this place is gaudy, too much gold and brass and sharp lines
*Dawes calls in his driver (we have something like cell phones, though not smartphones) to take measurements and photographs to send home to assess materials' quality. Then he orders a vodka, straight up, at the bar. Jeremy is disgusted, and offers him surplus motor oil — only for special occasions, Dawes says — and a personally tailored menu with only the harshest spirits in stock.
*Farandole goes into the Director's office – magnificent, with a view onto the street below, and a series of mechanized mirrors reflecting light through shafts leading to the outside (providing more natural daylight). Desk that probably has all the lore inside is tightly locked, as is the armoire. A bookshelf contains records and archives of the club. There's a dusty computer in the corner that clearly was not used, easily 15 years behind the times.
*Magda walks past Jeremy at the bar and helps herself to a bottle of red wine (Jeremy protests impotently). A servant grinds her nails like knives. Magda sketches a vision of a club with its own unique identity, rather than a melange of patrons' findings.
*Unlike Magda, Amani (though startled and almost horrified at the place's disrepair) appreciates the opulent style and blending of cultures suggested by assorted treasures gathered from former members' expeditions. She assesses the club for the most generally pleasing spaces & a minimum viable product for a phased reopening.
**All of the plumbing will have to go
**Offices could be updated modularly; the higher levels are perhaps the easiest place to start, and would be quickest to turn around
**The grand balcony is in total disrepair: a fire hazard, with dust everywhere and missing panes in the view. It seems like a very large all-or-nothing project, unless partitioned
*Kingsley had right of first refusal on the property; Farandole is in automatically, as his grandfather was one of the owners of the club; Gauthier came highly recommended by a dowager countess. Amani Noor.. well, we're all people who had cash ready and were willing to invest in the property almost sight unseen when Kingsley needed to raise the purchase cost in a hurry. Perhaps, under pressure, Kingsley was less discerning about the group of investors he assembled than he otherwise might have been.
Category:Session Summaries