Ebon Tower

The **Ebon Tower** is an advanced space station owned by Raven Industries, located in geostationary orbit above Raven Tower in London, England. It is primarily an orbiting laboratory for conducting cutting-edge scientific research, with a permanent staff of over three hundred scientists and engineers, as well as a sizable support staff.

Construction of the Ebon Tower was completed in late 2020, making it the single largest man-made satellite in Earth orbit, rivaled only by the Global Defense Initiative's GDSS Philadelphia.

## Overview

The Ebon Tower is separated into several sections, each dedicated to a particular portion of the station's overall function. An Art Deco theme is present throughout the station, particularly in public and residential areas.

## Public Section

The Ebon Tower's Public Section is, as the name suggests, open to the public. All new residents and guests to the station pass through the Public Section, which is designed with large, open floor plans and breathtaking views of the Earth on one side and outer space on the other.

### Ebon Tower Lobby

The Ebon Tower Lobby is the primary hub for all traffic through the station. It features long, sweeping walkways that run along the exterior wall of the station, offering expansive views of the depths of space. The centerpiece of the Lobby is an open-air lounge that takes full advantage of the Lobby's view and also provides access to the station's primary personnel lift. A pair of staircases flank the Lobby, leading upward toward the Tower's Administration Offices and Medical Ward.

### Administration Offices

Looking out over the Ebon Tower Lobby on the second deck of the Tower's Public Section are the station's Administration Offices. These offices are split between different Raven Industries divisions, with Raven AeroSpace, Raven Defense Systems, Raven Securities and, of course, Raven Design Labs having their own office spaces. Additionally, the Tower's Human Resources and Administration divisions claim space within the Administration Offices.

### Medical Ward

Also on the Public Section's second deck is the Ebon Tower's Medical Ward. Possessing the bleeding edge in medical technology, the Tower's Medical Ward can provide care equal to or surpassing that of Earth's best hospitals. In addition to treating illness and injury for station personnel, the Medical Ward also provides psychiatric care and conducts regular fitness evaluations to ensure that life aboard the station is as healthy and comfortable as possible.

The Medical Ward also features a fully-equipped cybernetic surgery suite which provides care and maintenance of cyberware for the station's many cybernetically-augmented residents, as well as offering installation services for new implants.

### Executive Offices

The third deck of the Ebon Tower's Public Section is occupied by the Tower's Executive Offices. The Station Director, Dr. Danielle Wu , has a large office suite in the Executive Offices, as does Raven Industries CEO, Lord Errolyn Ebonmar IV. Each of the station's Section Directors also keep an office here, though their primary offices are located in their respective sections.

### Ebon Tower Security Headquarters

Located between the Lobby and the Spaceport is the Ebon Tower Security Headquarters. Tower Security HQ features the Tower's Security Chief's office, as well as the armory and a modest brig. The armory features a fully-equipped workshop for weapon and armor maintenance as well as a firing range and training dojo, in addition to weapon and armor storage.

### Spaceport

All traffic to and from the Ebon Tower comes through the Spaceport. The Spaceport features a large commercial shuttle bay and temporary storage bays for incoming and outgoing cargo, a large maintenance area for servicing spacecraft, and a modest Pilot's Lounge. In addition, a majority of the Tower's escape pods are located in bays on either side of the shuttle bay.

## Research Section

The vast majority of the Ebon Tower is dedicated to its Research Section, which is further split into several research divisions.

### Defense Labs

The Defense Labs are where most of the Tower's weapons and armor development, as well as its testing, takes place. The bulkheads around the Defense Labs are doubly reinforced, and multiple failsafe measures are in place to prevent an accident in the Defense Labs from compromising the rest of the Tower, even if such an accident was to completely destroy the Defense Labs themselves.

### Energy and Propulsion Labs

The Energy and Propulsion Labs develop advanced power sources and propulsion systems, particularly focused on Raven Industries' famous Zero Point Energy reactors. Like the Defense Labs, the bulkheads of the Energy and Propulsion Labs are reinforced, as severe and rapid gravity fluctuations are an expected part of Zero Point Energy experimentation.

### Robotics Labs

The Ebon Tower Robotics Labs have made some of the most significant advancements in self-aware robotics in the last few years. In addition to conducting new research, the Robotics Labs are also tasked with the manufacture, care, and maintenance of the Tower's complement of robots, from simple maintenance drones to Tower Security's combat models.

### Hardware Labs

The Tower's Hardware Labs are a "catch-all" research environment for mechanical and electrical engineering that does not fall under the purview of one of the other labs.

### Life Sciences Lab

The Life Sciences Lab is dedicated to botanical, biological, genetic, and medical research. The closed environment of the Ebon Tower makes biological research much safer than conducting such research on Earth, since it is impossible for their experiments to break containment and spread into the environment. However, that same closed environment puts the residents of the Ebon Tower at extreme risk of contamination should a containment breach occur, so strict quarantine guidelines are observed.

### Chemical Labs

The Ebon Tower features several separate chemical labs, spread across the Research Section to reduce the risk of catastrophic station failure should something go wrong. Raven chemists use the Chemical Labs to pursue research into a vast array of chemical applications, from developing high-density fuel sources to synthesizing new elements.

## Recreational Section

The Recreational Section is comprised of recreational areas for the station's permanent personnel as well as its guests, and features the Ebon Tower's luxury hotel accommodations.

### Arboretum A

Arboretum A consists of botanical and experimental gardens. Fresh produce is grown here for consumption by station personnel, which supplements shipments brought from Earth.

### Arboretum B

Arboretum B is a secure facility that looks much like Arboretum A. However, the flora found in Arboretum B is exclusively of magical or extraterrestrial origin. No guests are allowed in Arboretum B without the express permission of both Dr. Danielle Wu and the Arboretum Director, Dr. Malcolm Chambers.

### Ebon Tower Hotel

An exclusive luxury hotel reserved for Raven executives, the Ebon Tower Hotel provides everything expected of five-star accommodations. Security is tight but unobtrusive, and though guests of the hotel are restricted from visiting a majority of the station without prior authorization, many never wish to leave the hotel's premises in the first place.

### Restaurant Miopica

The only high-end dining experience in Earth orbit, Restaurant Miopica is the brainchild of head chef Geraldo Vega. It serves a vast array of ethnic cuisine as well as Chef Vega's own creations. While primarily intended for hotel guests, any member of the station's crew may choose to dine in the restaurant at their leisure.

### Gymnasium

By far the most popular of the station's recreational areas, the gymnasium is a relatively large recreation complex with areas set aside for a variety of sports, a swimming pool, multiple exercise rooms stocked with variable weights and gym equipment, and several holosuites for replicating sports environments not otherwise available on the station. Hardware Labs Director George Faulk particularly enjoys using the holosuites to play golf on true-to-life simulations of PGA tour courses.