Post by Daystar on Jan 24, 2022 21:31:45 GMT
Once the headquarters of Earth's premier team of superheroes, the Empyrean space station is now home to Alexandra Russell, AKA Daystar, an up-and-coming young hero with a chip on her shoulder. Having been given the 'keys to the kingdom' by the last surviving founder of the SOS, Gyras, Daystar moved in shortly after dropping out of Millennium City University. Carved out of a massive asteroid, the Empyrean is locked into a stable orbit at a rate of about fifteen thousand miles per hour, making slightly less than fifteen full rotations around the Earth per day, at a height of roughly two hundred and fifty miles above the surface. The station features an artificial gravity generator, set by default to about one-fifth the strength of Earth's gravity. It was originally designed to house about a dozen people full-time, though the Society's membership never reached that level. Now, it has only one permanent resident.
Naturally, the Empyrean's position makes it difficult to reach by conventional means. For Daystar, getting home is as simple as flying up and entering in through an airlock, but others require something more accessible. When she wishes to have guests over, the Solar Sentinel can use the station's teleportal system to open a direct 'doorway' to her home, which requires fixed coordinates on Earth to activate. This feature lacks the complexity of the Society's old translocation system, which could open portals to and from almost anywhere, allowing the team to reach event locations easily. However, Daystar's own abilities mean this isn't much of an issue.
Due to its original nature as the home of a highly public super-team, which at the time of its inception was an illegal venture, the Great Society's satellite was not built without defenses. The primary one was the 'Storm Door' force-shield, which was touted as being capable to shrug off multiple concurrent nuclear detonations if necessary. This shield remains down most days, but can be brought up instantly to protect the facility if necessary. The Empyrean is also equipped with external and internal automated security systems, most of which are nonlethal by nature, but can be used lethally if circumstances require it.
While the station's nature as an extraterrestrial installation makes conventional architectural design norms largely irrelevant, it can still be divided into six main 'floors.' At the very top is the Overwatch, where the station monitors both the Earth below, and the stars above. This is accomplished using a network of cloaked spy satellites, known as the Watchers on the Wall. This surveillance network seeks out and identifies ongoing crises and incoming external threats, originally envisioned as a way of seeing things like Surgath and his fleets coming when conventional authorities failed to do so. Ordinarily, a team member would be stationed at the Overwatch at all times, but this is obviously impossible at present. Instead, the Empyrean's AI systems filter through the vast reams of data, and only inform Daystar of what seems most relevant- major supervillain attacks, natural disasters, and the like. Due to her position as Earth's defender, mere petty crime is largely beneath her notice, though she won't ignore it if she sees it happening near to her.
The fifth and fourth floors are devoted to living quarters for the team. The few of these dormitories that ever saw use have largely been cleared out, as most team members are either dead or retired, with a few still active, but none still living on the Empyrean. For instance, the personal belongings of Tremor, who was rendered comatose during a mission with the team, were returned to her parents' home after the team dissolved. A few of these have been converted into sparsely-furnished guest rooms, as Daystar has vague plans to make the Empyrean available to other heroes whose living circumstances are rendered untenable for various reasons. The only room currently inhabited is also the largest, formerly belonging to Michael Carter, AKA Invictus. It's been wholly redecorated by its new resident, who transported most of the contents of her college dorm to the satellite. These include a vintage Contrail poster, a 'meta-league' soccer jersey from Millennium City University's team, and a collection of rocks from every planet in the Solar System. Daystar also makes use of Carter's wardrobes- one of which contains her ordinary clothes, the other her superhero wear. Since dropping out of college, she's made several backup costumes, as well as a few variants, including one designed for formal events, on the off chance that she ever gets invited to one. Alex also keeps a briefcase full of gold bars under her bed.
Floor three is dedicated to various technical facilities and other communal areas. The most important of these is the workshop, which was the primary domain of Teja Doceznic, better known as Capacitor. Other frequent residents were Manaria 'Mango' Goleme, and Nicolas Pendragon, AKA Terminus. Featuring some of the most highly-advanced technology in the entire solar system, it was stripped down during the transition from the Empyrean to the Beacon facility in Nevada. However, much of the tech still remains in good condition, including a costume fabricator, meaning Daystar no longer has to worry as much about ruining her uniform in a fight, given that she can have a new one made for free. She's also begun to explore the notion of using some technology as a part of her regular 'kit,' though her versatile abilities make most of it unnecessary. Besides the workshop, the third floor is also home to the conference room, which has not been used in several years, and the mess hall, which is fully stocked with both nonperishable 'space-safe' food, and some groceries brought up by Daystar herself. Despite this, Alex mainly continues to eat 'Earthside,' as the prospect of eating alone on a space station is simply 'too depressing.' There's also a communications center, through which the Empyrean was able to reach virtually any world government, as well as a few extraterrestrial authorities that the SOS was able to make contact with. However, most of them no longer accept hails from the Empyrean, as the SOS has been defunct for years. Daystar is most interested in the prospect of making direct contact with the Council of Judgements, which would constitute the most direct contact with others of her species she'd have had in years, since her initial training with the one known as 'Supernova.'
The second and 'main' floor is home to the atrium, from where the Great Society first addressed the people of Earth. Besides that, however, it's not especially interesting- simply a wide-open space where it was once dreamed that perhaps hundreds of superheroes would one day congregate. That dream, however, appears to be dead. Also on this floor is the gymnasium, which Daystar doesn't have much use for, as her strength isn't relative to her body itself, which is slowly transitioning into a pure-energy form. There's also a lounge, where Alex invites any guests she brings up onto the station. Activities in this area include zero-gravity table-tennis and billiards, as well as various tabletop games, most of which appear to have been brought onto the station by Invictus and never touched again. There's also a pool, which seems rather redundant given that one can simply turn off the artificial gravity and get the same effect, but Daystar has enjoyed a late-night swim upon occasion, though 'night' is relative in space.
Beneath the second floor is an area that many members of the Society itself were never aware even existed- the Underwatch. This is where Invictus conducted various clandestine research, including designing his secret prison, the Nadir, as well as studying the Mind Stone to which he was bound in the latter months of his life, and Eldest weaponry, something which also fascinated Terminus and Capacitor. Daystar has not explored the Underwatch in depth so far.
While Daystar may technically be the only living resident of the Empyrean, she's not entirely alone up there. Maintaining the satellite after the team dissolved was 'Doc' Pendragon, a limited AI programmed to emulate the personality of its creator, Nicolas Pendragon, who designed the satellite alongside Michael Carter. The Doc interacts with Daystar primarily through a blue-tinted hologram of Pendragon's form, and can only directly interact with the physical world through mechanical intermediaries, including a pair of gauntlets resembling those of the original Terminus armor.Though he resembles a real person in many ways, Doc is swift to remind others that he lacks any sort of real interiority, programmed to follow the commands of anybody with SOS founder codes, which now includes Daystar herself. His main role is to maintain the Empyrean's systems, but also uses the Overwatch surveillance network to alert Alex to ongoing threats to the world. He's also capable of developing gear for the Solar Sentinel, though he lacks the unique genius of the creator for whom he was named.
'Doc' mainly communicates with Daystar through a specially-designed earpiece, after calling her on her phone whenever they needed to talk proved untenable. He's also furnished her with other pieces of equipment to make her superheroic endeavors more manageable, though he refuses to do anything that would lead even vaguely in the direction of some sort of new super-team being formed.
While the Empyrean has gone largely forgotten with the fall of the Great Society and the supposed end of the Age of Wonders, it seems inevitable that its new resident will soon attract the attention of the superhero community at large, and perhaps other individuals as well. After all, someone as powerful and proactive as Daystar seems likely to make enemies as well as friends, and some will doubtless be capable of invading even her inner sanctum. While making the Empyrean her residence will protect her from the paparazzi and other annoyances, it may end up painting a bigger target on her back as well.
