Habitat Horizon A Farming District

## Overview

The so called “Farming District” of Lodestone’s Horizon A, as with all things Pyxis and Lodestone related, is a lot more complicated than it would appear to the outside viewer. The integrated system of pipes and walkways that contains the Hydroponics system of Lodestone is actually speculated to be a disused Microclimate Research station, though no one has been capable of getting any coherent readings from the machinery as of yet and so the actual function of this area remains unconfirmed.

This theory arose due to the fact that the large “Fields” of the farming district are actually each individual micro climates contained within bubble-like structures. Some of them cover vast swathes of land in excess of 1km2  (roughy 100 of ancient human sporting game pitches) where as the smallest could be compared to the insides of a small one-crew cargo shuttle. The larger of these fields have been cleverly manipulated to grow only plants capable of sustaining livestock and as such play home to the simple livestock of Lodestone. The smaller of the fields have been adapted to grow spices and herbs for seasoning and recreational uses. The largest non livestock field in Horizon A is used exclusively for growing Tea plants for exportation.

Each Microclimate perfectly adjusts to the species of plant introduced to it including humidity, soil PH and lighting, this causes the system to “malfunction” if two plants of different species are introduced to the ecosystem. This somewhat restricts the flexibility of farming on Lodestone. However, this means that any successful attempts at crossbreeding plants manually can be reproduced on a larger scale, though House Pyxis is yet to find any use for this other than making more variations of tea plants.

### The Hive Towers

Central to the Farming District is the collection of towering structures known as The Hive Towers. These hexagonal structures reach from the ground to the top of Bio-dome Horizon A and serve as home to the controlled insect life of the area. Currently the buildings are covered in a mesh of scaffolding as the researchers and engineers of Lodestone have been unable to find any way to enter the internal areas of the structure, though through significant effort they have been able to access the small chambers that seemingly make up the structures via external windows.

The name of “The Hive” relates to the predominant theory on what it’s previous use was. Due to the layout of the chambers when scanned, it was thought that the buildings were used for mass housing of workers. However when the chambers were finally opened, it was discovered that each room was far too small to house any humanoid workers. After some time, it was determined that the rooms may have house sentient worker creatures, referred to as “Drones” such as those found in a bee colony. House Pyxis then deemed it apt to utilise the space for their own insect related needs.

The insects raised in the Hive are used for a variety of purpose from culinary to creating materials for clothing. One of the most important functions of the hive is the pollination of the plants supported in the hydroponics system, as it allows for complex cross breeding in a specialist manner. This cross breeding also extends to the insects themselves leading to the formation of The Lodestone Lepidopterist Society in a local building.

#### The Lodestone Lepidopterist Society

This facility serves the Hive Towers as a secondary breeding, housing, and research facility specifically for different species of butterfly and moth. The society houses information on around 180,000 different varieties of moth and butterfly, with the capability to synthetically breed and crossbreed them. When the Drourri Moth became popular with the culinary world of House Pyxis, it was the LLS who helped create a sustainable population. The LLS is popularly known among Lodestone Longshot’s fans for creating the “Longshot Lepid”, a synthetically crossbred moth-butterfly hybrid in the Lodestone Longshot’s black and blue.

### The Reservoir

To maintain a hydroponics system as complicated as the one thrown together in Horizon A there was a requirement to source massive volumes of water. Thankfully, one of the few things House Pyxis has gotten to be working as intended is the Lodestone’s water supply. Integrated into the body of the asteroid that hosts Lodestone is a complex system of pipes and tanks which come together to form the system known as The Reservoir. The reason House Pyxis engineers were capable to return the regular functions of The Reservoir is that it is for the most part a self servicing automated system created with it’s own natural ecosystem.

Researchers discovered that deep within the core of Lodestone lies a central water tank capable of holding up to 50 trillion liters of water. Contained within the area surrounding this tank House Pyxis theorise that there must be an untouched natural area providing a safe filtration system for the water system. As a part of this system there exist a special breed of Fish known as the Lodestone Koi, which can be found infrequently throughout the water system. These unique creatures appear to have an incredible lifespan, but also a surprisingly fast reproduction rate. Sadly, they fail to survive outside of the Lodestone water system for reasons unknown to House Pyxis. It is theorised that in times of great turmoil, Lodestone could be sustained on just the fish in this system for up to a year.

The open parts of the system are those which the Lodestone uses for plumbing and consumption. All the water is cleaned before reintroduction as it is impossible to know if the water would be being introduced in the correct place. The other opening is located near to one of the entrances to the Labyrinth and after many years of study has been determined to be for introducing emergency liquid in the form of ice if water supplies ever run low.