The Living Star
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A City in The Sky
♫
It is a shining, golden city towering over a great platform that hangs among the stars. It is a glorious beacon of the ingenuity, persistence, indulgence and wisdom of Mankind. A fully self-contained colony, condensed into a starship the size of a city. A world of it’s own - a society of wanderers who drift with the currents of space, never knowing where they will go next, and never caring. A thriving technological utopia where the wildest of dreams may come true.
It is The Stella Viventium.
It is among the largest structures ever constructed by human beings, measuring in at forty five miles long, twenty five wide and twenty high with hundreds of decks, some with ceilings upwards of one or two miles above. It is gilded and majestic with great, clustered towers standing upon a gigantic platform so as to give the appearance of a city perched on a floating island. It is home to a civilian population of over six million citizens, including fully functioning civil structure.
The hallways within are wide and airy, with high, vaulted ceilings. In some places, to look up might induce vertigo given the sheer breadth of the superstructure. Homes and businesses line the corridors - most permanently embedded within the walls, but many built around and atop each other within the free space.
It is constructed of a mysterious, indestructible alloy known only as ’Petrostanium’, which gives the ship it’s gilded appearance. While many attempts have been made to replicate the metal, none have been successful - even on the part of the Stella’s own engineers. The technique of crafting the impossible alloy has been long lost to time. Given that both interior and exterior walls are composed of this miraculous substance, the general structure is unchangeable. Structures within may be repurposed and remodeled, but not fundamentally demolished, reconstructed, or altered. Walls and doors are permanent structures, and access to interior systems is attainable only through predefined locations. While the alloy makes the Stella virtually indestructible, it is not an inert composition, and supplemental defenses are in place to compensate for these potential weaknesses.
At the heart of the Stella Viventium exists a great computer, unlike any other in the known universe. Known simply as The Stella Mainframe or more obscurely Viventium Computatrum, it’s programming structure is utterly alien and it’s defensive systems impenetrable. Very little is known about the Mainframe, even by those few who routinely have direct access to it. Only the smallest fraction of it’s processing power is dedicated to the daily lives of Stella operations and citizens, yet despite this it is an almost omnipresent aspect of the daily lives of everyone aboard.
The outermost tier of the Mainframe’s operating structure is dedicated to PalNet - the local shipboard network which links BrainPal™ units to both each other and the ship itself. Most internal systems and operations are run through PalNet as well, making a large-scale hacking of the vessel virtually impossible.
BrainPal™Staple product of the wide-spanning BrainPal Industries, the BrainPal™Pesonal Communication Matrix is a cybernetic implant that allows for a myriad of useful functions accessable directly from the brain of the user. With applications ranging from instantaneous communication to Aethernet access available literally at the speed of thought, it isconsstently rated among the top three personal communication and computation devices throughout the Galaxy.
It operates by opening data-channels within the user's brain, allowing for information to be sent, recieved and manipulated with via direct neurologial interface.
Aboard the Stella Viventium, the BrainPal™ is a staple among citizens and guests alike due to the close integration of the two. Use of the device allows for helpful advantages, such as the ability to see signs only visible through the BrainPal™'s optical overlay, or "GPS" navigation of the great ship's complex infrastructure.
Cross-platform non-cybernetic hardware is also widely available.
The most unique of the Stella Viventium’s technological achievements however is undoubtedly The Drives. Almost is known about their functionality, or even the science behind them Few aboard are even aware of the existence of the drives - remarkable, given the revolutionary means of transportation they provide. The Stella Viventium is the only manmade starship capable of instantaneous travel over theoretically unlimited distances - enabling it to vastly outmatch the common stardrive. While many attempts have been made by internal Stella staff and external entities alike to harness the revolutionary technology for use on other ships, all have failed, and the Drive remains theStella Viventium’s best kept secret.
Civil Structure - Government and Layout
The Stella Viventium is governed on two levels; the Civil Branch, and the Command Branch. While the former is geared toward internal governing of the population itself, the latter is dedicated to the actual movements and technical operations. While the Civil Branch serves as a democratic system, Command is more reminiscent of typical starship hierarchy.
The body of the Stella Viventium is divided into 15 districts, most of which do not have strict borders, but are instead defined by the general usage of local ship architecture and resources.
Commercial
The largest and most spacious district by far, Commercial spans the body of the Stella’s forward body. It is deeply meshed with the Residential district, which sits primarily above it. It is home to the majority of commercial and retail establishments, with various shopping plazas, entertainment venues, small businesses, corporate headquarters and office buildings, as well as a high residential population.
Commercial is virtually indistinguishable from a planetside city. It is a multi-tiered confusion of narrow, intersecting roads spacing tightly packed buildings, ll beneath a ceiling that is upwards of several miles high. Many of the buildings merge into the ceiling itself, extending into the great towers that are visible from the outside. Many semi-permanent structures exist as well, built up from atop the lower buildings - however these are tightly regulated. The majority of the extra space is left empty, giving a pedestrian the feel of standing beneath a gilded, amber sky. From the lofty ceiling, several platforms are suspended, hanging by sturdy pillars built into the ceiling proper. Many thin lines suspended mid-air by sophisticated anti-gravity devices can also be seen weaving through the sky, as well as around the buildings and through the outermost walls, ceiling and floor - these serve as rails for the public transit system that is the primary means of conveyance within the body of the Stella. Highly advanced, the rails are capable of splitting into temporarily separate lines in order to allow the simultaneous passage of opposing railcars at any point, making for a fluid and dynamic system. Hover-vehicles can also be seen - though rarely at street level - these are strictly restricted to civil services and certain deliveries - never personal conveyance.
A series of bands of light are evenly spaced along the length of Commercial, embedded within the ceiling. A gradual rotation of the light simulates the transition between night and day as conforming to the Galactic Standard day of twenty hours, with fifty minutes per-hour. As with the other time-sensitive locations within the Stella, temperatures fluctuate between 60 and 75f during the day, and 55-70f at night. While many cyclic sections of the ship feature simulated starscapes at night, that of the Commercial District is the most spectacular.
Residential
Situated within the giant, clustered towers that sit atop the high ceiling of the Commercial District, Residential is where the majority of the Stella Viventium’s population lives. It is deeply integrated with the Commercial district. Residential is structured largely as a series of inverted, cylindrical apartment complexes.Running through the center of each tower is a complex, vertical railcar/elevator system that is fully integrated with the shipwide public transit system. As the towers are divided into many floors - with some of the tallest towers boasting triple-digits - the ceilings in Residential are not as lofty as in Commercial. Platforms surround the rails at each level, in many cases featuring a small, railed-off gap allowing a vertigo-inducing glimpse at the Commercial District several miles below.
Housing units are built concentrically around the perimeter of the towers. Given that the diameter of most towers approaches one mile (km), not all units have a direct view of the central rail, and many hallways extend radially out from the center. Housing units come in various sizes and shapes. All are rented or leased, these aspects handled through the Civil Branch Residential SubDivision. Many of the outer units have windows which look out onto the other exterior towers and the starscape itself - these are naturally the most costly to inhabit. Residential also extends into the thick ‘skin’ which separates the Commercial District’s ceiling with the base of the exterior towers.
Industrial
Located beneath the lowest decks of the Commercial District, the Industrial District is literally the Stella’s ‘seedy underbelly’. Not particularly easy on the eyes. The overbearing sounds intrinsically linked with manufacturing are a constant background noise there. Many of the corridors are narrow and protruding piping and assorted machinery. Open areas are multi-tiered factories with complex assembly lines. The places between factories look like chicago alleyways topped by more functional architecture. Given the ever-changing, ever-expanding nature of industry, many of the gold-bronze surfaces that make up the walls and floors have been overlaid with other metals under which to conceal still more inner workings - givin the district a generally bleak visage.
Small food carts, as well as other vendors who occupy miscellaneous notches and hideaways in the complicated, cluttered hallways are common here. There is a higher rate of petty crime within the Industrial District due to the difficulties inherent with policing a place where there are so many different ways of keeping out of sight. Despite this, it is not generally a dangerous place to be.
As with the other districts, Industrial is not completely free of residential and commercial aspects - but it is also home to the largest population of squatters and refugees from off-ship. As their presence has yet to cause any serious disturbance, they are mostly left alone. The shadowy atmosphere of Industrial is similarly present in the Agricultural District.
Agricultural
Among the most coveted aspects of life aboard the Stella Viventium is that of real food. While dietary needs are supplemented with synthetics and yeast-culture imitations available for the financially impaired, much of the food available within the Stella is actual, real fruits, vegetables and meats. This is thanks to the Agricultural District, which sacrifices aesthetics for efficiency.
Located within the domed structures toward the bow of the ship, Agricultural is home to many hydroponic farms and industrial cattle facilities, ranging from exotic fruits to staple vegetables - poultry, red meats, and even a seafood reserve. Due to the high demand and limited space, the Agricultural district is cramped and uncomfortable, with narrow hallways and facilities stack row en row throughout a maze of industrial units. It is the most utilitarian section aboard the Stella, with the smallest residential population and minimal commercial presence.
Engineering
The second most expansive of the Districts, Engineering takes up almost the entire underside portion of the Stella. Maintenance tunnels sprouting from here weave in complex disarray all over the ship, along with a special rail line specifically for ship maintenance.
‘Engineering’ is used in a broad capacity aboard the Stella. The ship’s power plants are located here, as well as municipal services such as water, waste, and life-support. It is where the vast majority of all the Stela’s critical mechanics are. It is home to countless repair bays, both publicly and privately operated. In effect, the Engineering District is the ‘starship’ part of the Stella Viventium.
Despite having the most gross area of all the Districts, Engineering is a far cry from the open, airy environment of Commercial, but with wider corridors and more open spaces than Industrial. There is no official residential or commercial presence, and both are severely discouraged, with security teams avidly removing loiterers. While not ‘top-secret’, access is restricted primarily to those who work in Engineering and have legitimate reasons to be there.
Administration
Almost universally referred to as ’Colombia’ for reasons long lost to its citizens, the Stella’s Governmental District is where the governing body of the ship’s civilian population consolidates. The extensive (But remarkably well-managed) bureaucracy inherent in civilized society is handled here. It is also the political capitol of the Stella. Visually, Colombia is relatively bland. While there are several open courtyards around which impressive, stately structures stand, the majority of this District is a hodgepodge of governmental offices with stuffy hallways and unfortunate carpeting.
Located at the head of the Governmental District is the Bridge, where much of the ship’s command and control is consolidated. It serves as the most vital gathering point for the officials and bureaus that govern daily life for the citizens aboard the Stella, and is only ostensibly involved with the technical aspects of starship operation, which is instead attended to in the Command District.
Research & Development
The R&D District is essentially a collection of laboratories and science facilities expanded into the size of several city blocks. The resources available there are more than sufficient to perform experiments and conduct research to any reasonable extent. As such, research products range from those intended to directly improve Stella systems, to star-class astrophysics and psychohistory.
Due to the overall longevity and extensive facilities of the Stella, the R&D District is often considered the bleeding edge of technology and science within the inhabited Galaxy.
The Armory
A single, isolated fortress located among the Stella's more critical districts, The Armory serves as the headquarters for most matters pertaining to ship security. True to its name, it is also home to a vast store of weapons, armor and munitions,
used primarily by members of Command and the Security Team,
which is similarly headquartered there.
Located on the fringe of the Armory District is an extensive museaum of all mamnners of weaponry, curated by volenteers.
Grand Stella Station
Despite being located far from the most populous Districts, Grand Stella Station is nonetheless the hub of transportation throughout the Stela. All major rail lines converge here, and it is a constant hubub of transit among citizens.
A single, great domed chamber with hundreds of hovering rails twisting and snakng through the open air, the high vaulted ceiling consists of near perfect representation of outer space itself, with a permanent starscape exceeding even the Commercial district's night-period effects. Depections of the legendary worlds of the Sol System can be seen throughout the display, each with a corresponding wall of murals lining the edge of the dome and encircling ground-level. The effect is that of standing within a circular arena beneath a starry night sky.
The Docks
Following Commercial, the Docks District - also referred to as ”The Harbor” - is the second most expansive open space within the Stella. It consists of a single, massive chamber lined on the stern with a gigantic force-field wall that allows entry and exit while retaining atmosphere. Great ships can be seen coming and going at all hours, loading and unloading cargo and passengers. Smaller, personal craft are directed to a separate section, where their ships can be stored within ”The Coat Rack” - a large conveying system which stores ships in secure compartments within the body of the Stella itself.
While there are hundreds of smaller access points throughout the ship, it is the Docks that serve as the main driving force of the Stella’s thriving economy. While it is self-sustainable, a higher quality of life is achieved through the importation of eotic goods, as well as the export of goods and services unique to the Stella.
Due to the sporadic and unpredictable nature of the Stella’s movement through the Galaxy, as well as the utterly unique method by which it travels, special considerations are made to allow more primitive ships to freely enter and return to their original point of entry without appearing on the other side of the Way.
The Galactic coordinates of a ship’s entry point are recorded and saved upon their arrival. When the ship is ready to leave, Stella Control is contacted, and they are returned to their original point of entry via a ‘projectile shot’ from The Drives. Similarly, all Stella authorized craft may be recalled at any time, due to the non-spacial nature of the Drives.
Warehouse
The Warehouse District is, aptly, the place where goods are stored, ranging from trade goods and civil properties to individual stocks and domestic products. Having originally served as a means of storage for the vast quantitis of supplies needed to start a colony on an uninhabited exoplanet, the one-time 'cargo hold' has since been expanded into the sections of the stella that were once dedicated to stardrive operation. Indeed, the chambers housing the now derelect stardrives are incorporateed into the District, following the transition from Stardrive to Notspace Drive several milennia prior.
Due to the drastic shift in usage from the originally intended design, the Warehouse District consists mostly of structures built into the open spaces in order to section them off for public, private, civil or commercial use. The resulting achetecture is that of vast, open chambers lined with utilitarian structures of concrete, corrugated metal and similarly available materials. In the chambers which were once left open for stardrive operation, the inoperative stardrive engines can be seen rising over the docklands-esque rooftops lined with stairways, catwalks, and multi-storied building tiers. Regrettably, the crime rate within the Warehouse District is a recurring problem for Stella security.
The Preserve
The third most open space within Stella, the 'Recreational District' or 'Ark' is home to a number of parks and nature preserves. A fully immersive experience, the several different environments are kept perfectly regulated and separated by high walls. Enclosed glass walkways run under, through and over the most sensitive exhibits, or those which contain dangerous, or excessively delicate inhabitants. The parks are more open, and stocked with heartier, more docile creatures.
The flora and fauna is utterly unique to the Stella Viventium, found nowhere else in the known universe. This District is under the highest security - while there are no fees or admission gates, the surveillance is absolute and to be found guilty of tampering with or harming anything within the District's boundaries is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, most often resulting in a permanent exile from the ship.
Command
While ostensibly, the Governmental District is the top tier aboard the Stella, all the real decisions are made within the Command District. Located between Columbia, the Armory, Systems and R&D as well as the Notspace Drives themselves, Command is the Stella’s true control center. While very little in the way of internal civic affairs are handled there, the President is a regular occupant. Next to the drives themselves, Command is the most heavily restricted area aboard the ship. While its existence is not kept a secret, it is not mentioned when avoidable and attention is often diverted from it when possible. Figuratively, it is where ‘string are pulled’. Decisions regarding the Stella’s movements and defense are also handled there.
Similarly to Columbia, Command’s aesthetic is stuffy and consists mostly of hallways and rooms.
Located within Command is Central Command - downsized, but otherwise nearly identical to the Bridge. This location is kept largely a secret from the general public due to the sensitive nature of the decisions made there. Often referred to by the relative few with access as the Secret Bridge or True Bridge, it is the highest command location on the vessel.
Systems
The Systems District is actually a gigantic, incredibly advanced computer hardware hub in which the Stella Mainframe is housed. DEspite the vast bredth of the District, there is virtually no room for any human presence save for those actively tasked with maintaining and operating the incredibly complex network. Narrow, cramped corridors weave through monolithic dataabanks and sprawling motherboards. PalNet - the BrainPal(tm) network that connects most of the Stella's citizens to a unified platform) i bsed here, an offshoot of the Mainframe's outermost layers. The complexity and alien nature of the Mainframe proper remains a mystery even to the Stella's highest ranking members, but it is believed to be the most powerful computing device in the Galaxy. Due to its enigmatic nature, the Mainframe's potential is largely untapped.
The Drives
Located at the heart of the Stella Viventium are The Notpace Drives - the single most unique asset of the great starship-city. While they are primarily used for achieving faster-than-light travel by exploiting the side-effects of their usage, the true implications of these miraculous machines are enormous.
Designed and built by Paeryc Petrovalyc himself, the Drives are the only machines in the universe capable of accessing and manipulating the paraoxical state of simultaneous existence and non-existence known as The Not - or, more commonly, Notspace. The science behind the Drives - and behind Notspace itself - is utterly lost to the human race, and it has proven an unsolvable mystery despite literal milennia of painstaking research. In reality, the tchnology s a remnant of an ancient alien civilization - but this fact is known only to a very select minority. It is unknown as to how aeryc Petrovalyc was able to acquire the secrets.
The Engines can be used on the Stella itself, but can also be programmed to handle separate entities up to a theoretically unlimited range. While locomotion is not the primary intent of the Dries, they can be used to travel theoretically unlimited distances in literally no time at all. This is achieved by, as explained by Dr. Dorin Harkahn, "'sliding' across the 'surface' of the Not without actually entering the paradoxical state." However the primary function is the transition into and out of the state. Due to the incredible versitility of the Drives, they serve as the primary means of defense for the Stella and its' citizens. It is this nearly impenetrable defense that has kept the priceless technology in the hands of its rightful owners for so long.
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