The Station

**The Station** appears to be a relic of the late Mage Imperium, linked to the legendary Encyclopedia Foundation. It is a repository of knowledge. It is also known as "Etheric Depot 11" and "Station Septimus".

## Physical Description

The station itself is roughly diamond-shaped, tapering into lengthy etheric arrays. All told, the structure is about two kilometers tall, with a radius of 250 meters at its widest deck and a gunnery-ring with a radius of 350 meters circling the central three or four decks.

The habitable portion of the structure is approximately 1800 meters tall, with the remaining 100 meters on either side being made up of sensory systems.

The vertical orientation of the decks mimics the typical horizontal sequence of late Mage Imperium craft:

1. Command Center
2. Primary Sensors and Labs
3. Weapons Systems
4. Crew Quarters
5. Engines
6. Cargo Bay

The station is encased in thick adamantine plating. Records from the Fialta-Shantine War strangely do not make note of the truly prodigious quantity of adamantium on the station, easily equal to the total cosmic output of modern pseudo-adamant in the last quarter century and probably on the same order of magnitude as the total supply of true adamantium. Some speculate that this discrepancy may just be that an ablative layer was shed or lost during the last twenty years.

## Functionality

The station appears to be commanded (at least on the upper decks) by a holographic facsimile of the Foundation, manifesting using a complex system of etheric lenses. It is apparent that these holographic commanders are an amalgam of various souls acting as if one.

Given its apparently late/twilight-Imperial vintage, the station exhibits a stunning variety of technology , including a (now destroyed) mechanical computer. This computer was apparently used as a vault locking system immune to psionic and etheric hacking. While primitive by modern standards, the computer is cutting edge for its era.

Cooling and climate control, while apparently largely defunct, was seemingly accomplished by highly sophisticated etheric transfers between the interior and exterior of the ship, eliminating the need for all but the smallest ventilation ducts.

While all weapon systems outside the command deck appear to be disabled, what remains is a testament to the armament of the station. The remaining etheric battery, supported by a mirror array on the gunnery deck, was able to track and nearly destroy the *Taigun*, one of the better shielded and armored modern ships of its class (and augmented by the unusual addition of Hrymn the magnetite golem at the shielding controls).

## History

### Mage Imperium

*This section is incomplete. You can help The Aeldrum Wiki by expanding it*.

### Modern Discovery

*Main article: The Station Adventure*
First appearing in the modern historical record during the Fialta-Shantine War, it was discovered and occupied by the Aeldrum Trade Company before being seized by Fialta infiltrators. The station had, by mechanisms still mysterious to modern ethericists, warped space around itself and prevented navigation in its vicinity, possibly for decades or centuries before appearing again. With the station accessible, its stranglehold over navigation was eased, opening a strategic route for the Fialta to threaten the Shantine protectorate worlds from a new angle.

While under ATC control, this route remained barred to major Fialta invasion (privateers of course made their way through quite easily), but with the Fialta takeover, a new front was opened against the Shantine. This pressured their defenses and contributed to the eventual fall of Korinth, which opened the route to the Shantine core worlds and forced the Shantine Emperor's capitulation. During these events, however, the station's various defensive and navigation systems, previously thought defunct, came online, and, after decimating a nearby Fialta fleet, the station disappeared once more. This disappearance, while shocking, did not return the route to its previously non-navigable state. Offering further evidence that the station had caused the etheric warping.

### Reappearance

*Main article: The Deep Ether Campaign*
The station reappeared in modern records twenty year later, in the depths of Naga Space, where it was discovered first by the resident Perfect Princes and then revealed to a Knights Mercantile expeditionary fleet.

## Notes

1. ↑ Most late Imperial technology appears to be highly siloed, jealously guarded by various princes.