Hopefully, this will be the final version of the three articles, unless someone has any problems with what is written.
Now I just need to get back to writing "Red Earth Opening Ceremony"...
~
Pavonis Arcology
Pavonis Mons in Tharsis is home to
not one but several interconnected, quasi-subterranean communities that operate
under the banner of the Pavonis Arcology.
All of them were built and are still supported and partly managed by the NERV
Foundation. They are each a part of the multi-phase plan, Project RED EARTH, which
is the main focus of the foundation’s Natural Environment Recreation Venture.
It is worth mentioning that, similar to Canada, Pavonis is bilingual in its
signage and education: English and Japanese, reflecting its founders.
![[Image: MarsFlagArmitageIII.gif]](http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t178/Admiralvine/MarsFlagArmitageIII.gif)
Flag of Armitage III Mars, used by Pavonis
Using Binford’s
super-hardy construction material vulcanocrete – a ceramic material made up of
the lava rock of Pavonis herself mixed with ground-up quartz and something else
(generic plaster mixed with pure handwavium; basic formula open domain as of
2017) – the NERV Foundation successfully carved several Martian settlements
into the extinct volcano.
While originally rather
bare of settlers who didn’t directly work for NERV members, the arcology had a
boom in population once construction on RED EARTH Phase Four started in February
2013 when the Elies, at least for the foreseeable future, threw their lot in
with Pavonis. It also saw a slight increase during the Boskone War of Belters,
but the majority who went to Mars instead of cislunar space went to Port Lowell
and Helium, instead. The arcology’s biggest population boom to date was shortly
after the opening ceremony for New Port City when a surprising number of
Japanese immigrants moved there.
[table]
Contents
[/table]
Red Earth
Phase One – NERV Headquarters (No First Ancestral Race Lifeforms
were Harmed During Construction…): Started in 2010, the western quarter of
the Big Peacock houses the primary production lines, offices, and labs of the
NERV Foundation and SEELE Council. Declared fully operational in January 2012,
though expansion continues.
Phase Two – Hollow Fields Plantation (…or any Mad Scientist
Students…): More multi-sectioned, enormous greenhouses than plantation, these
sources of fresh foodstuffs are run by NERV Section One’s Agro Division and
were constructed at the same time as NERV HQ to provide local perishables and a
source of export revenue. Also like NERV HQ, while operational the moment the
first greenhouse was finished in 2011, improvements and expansion continue –
facilities for livestock, for example, started being added in 2017.
Phase Three – H.G. Wells Spaceport (…and Neither were any Tripod-Driving
Natives): Located in the southern
portion of Pavonis Mons’ cone, it was completed in November 2013; again,
expansions continue. Facilities include both slips for ships of various sizes,
several large joint hangars, as well as cheaply rentable three to five room
apartment flats called The Peacock Arms and simple but comfortable temporary
rooms at Hotel California. It was constructed at the same time as and followed
closely in completion by…
Phase Four – The Town of Sheffield (“For the
last time Kazuo – NO SPACE ELEVATOR!”): Completed in December 2013, just in time for a Christmas
Completion Party, Sheffield is built in an ancient (at least 2.2 billion years
old) secondary, vertical lava tube of Pavonis that was covered by its latter and
more obvious one. It was discovered and excavated during the spaceport’s
construction (the precious stones excavated filling the foundation’s coffer
quite nicely). The resulting settlement proved amusingly funnel-shaped and earned
it the nickname of Mithril Hall amongst D&Ders.
Sheffield Town Hall is located to Sheffield’s Cedar District. Backed
against the outer wall of the city and surrounded by Oak, Ash, and Birch Streets,
it is a modified replica of the RPD building from Resident Evil 2 & 3
and houses the main Sheffield PAPD precinct in its several city blocks size
interior.
Phase Five – The City of New Port (“Yes, I know the city plan is out of NGE, but
using the original name just doesn’t fit.”): After the caldera’s vulcanocrete lining and
Genesis-made, pitch black pressure dome were completed in June 2016,
construction on Phase Five was carried out in as secret an environment as
possible using T-Series non-sapient robots as laborers and with non-disclosure
enforced supervision. After a certain fellow with the initials “K.S.” was
granted reluctant admission to assure the more paranoid that nothing untoward
was happening and agreeing to secrecy so long as this was true (Katz actually
seems to get a kick out of just grinning whenever someone asks him what he
learned), nothing but wild rumors managed to leak out until CorusCon, when the
SEELE Council decided that something positive needed to occur at the Convention
for morale’s sake following the Pan Terrorist Attack.
When first opened following CorusCon the few parts of the city
completed were Gakuen-cho (aka, Academytown; modeled after the Mahora Academy
campus and its environs) and Wilson Heights (four city blocks of cheap but
comfortable apartments and a few small shops). Also complete was Victory Lake with
the accompanying Victory Park along the west bank, offering a spectacular view
to those paying to stay at the ritzy Hanaukyo Grand Hotel.
Shortly after that came other districts. First was Rockfort Island
(working home of the SEELE Council; a hybrid of the mansion from the first Resident
Evil and the island facility from Code: Veronica). Following this, such
places as Coolsville (an entertainment locale; main street Electric Avenue),
Raccoon (with a number of businesses modeled after those in the game city of
same name), Caliban Cove (a lakeside community district), and Umineko (a
suburban-type area adjacent to Victory Lake with a central park; contains the
Hinata-sou) also opened.
![[Image: Tokyo-3.jpg]](http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t178/Admiralvine/Tokyo-3.jpg)
New Port City, main district (2039)
Phase Six – The Geofront (“’How did it get hollow?’ Oh, come on –
where do you think all the raw
material for the vulcanocrete used in Phase Five came from?!”):
An attempt by the NERV
Foundation to create a self-sustaining ecosystem, the information gained during
its development will hopefully provide useful data to the Mars Terraforming
Project. As of 2018, it consists of a lake, some lichens, moss, and simple
grasses, and a promising bloom of plankton. The first simple plants and
slow-breeding insects were introduced in 2022.
Rumors that the Geofront serves as the base of operations for a secret organization
within the NERV Foundation are, of course, complete hogwash.
![[Image: Geo-Front.jpg]](http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t178/Admiralvine/Geo-Front.jpg)
Ecosystem Monitoring
Facility #2 (UNMF Complex)
The Sightings: In the countless manmade tunnels and caverns of
Pavonis, sometimes the mind plays tricks on you – or does it? Rumors of
sightings of a mysterious teenage Japanese boy wearing a bandana and carrying a
backpack and umbrella wandering the tunnels lost are told in bars across the
Red Planet. Similar tales of the spirit of a mid-1800s American prospector –
the Miner 49er – lead people to wonder if ghosts haven’t followed people to
space (or maybe if someone’s working on a local flavor version of “Carmen
Miranda’s Ghost”). And that isn’t all…the street one can only seem to find when
one needs the goods or services of one of the shops along its green flame gas
lamp-laden cobblestones in New Port City… the disappearing shop in Sheffield
with its bathrobe-cloaked attendant who always knows his customer’s name… the
legends seem boundless for a settlement barely more than a decade old in 2022…
Elysium Cooperative
No description of Pavonis can really be given without including a mention
of the basics about the Elysium Cooperative. Slayers Fen, Rune Soldier
Fen, Zero no Tsukaima Fen, GURPS and Palladium Fantasy Fen… a gaggle of the
fantasy-minded decided to band together to claim a homeland for themselves on
the Red Planet.
Or, at least, to prepare for a future claiming of said homeland. The “Elies” have decided that when the time
comes once the Mars Terraforming Project reaches that point, the Continent of
Elysium and her islands in the Sea of Utopia shall be their Promised Land.
Until then, though, the
Elies have hunkered down in Pavonis, some commuting daily to the future sites
of their individual or collective settlements to do what work they already can
– the (temporarily!) pressure-domed, pan-fandom city of Seiluun and her various
white-walled city districts seems to be coming right along – while still others
work for NERV or independent Pavonis employers to meet ends meat and save up
funds for their own special projects.
Education
Until what became known as the Red Earth Opening Ceremony at CorusCon,
the only educational facilities available were those classes available at the
Sheffield Community Center. Once Akamatsu-sensei (who requested the Hinata-sou
built as a private home for himself in return) and other copyright holders
secretly signed off on it, however, Mahora Academy, with classes from
elementary to graduate (and later post-graduate) curriculums was ready to open shortly
following New Port
City’s big reveal. Its divisions are: Airi Ikuhara Elementary School, Crest View Middle School, Smart Brain High
School, and Acme University.
Following the release of
the redacted portions of the Whole Fenspace Catalog, the NERV Foundation provided
part of the funding for the establishment of the Mahora Academy affiliated Center for the Study of the Arcane. Jokingly
called the Marduk Institute, it absorbed the functions of the foundation’s Project
LONGINUS LANCE in deciphering magic’s mysteries. The main CSA facilities are in
the Baker’s Hollow district of New Port City, on the opposite side of the Pavonis
caldera from the main district for safety’s sake.
Religion
Reflecting the American and Japanese roots of its founders, religious
needs can be met at Saint Mary’s of the Stars (a replica of Saint Mary’s of the
Angels in Chicago) and the Traveler’s Chapel in Sheffield and, later, the
Tatsumiya Shrine (Gakuen-cho) and Saint Michael’s Church (Raccoon) in New Port
City. Several alternatives not sponsored by the foundation also exist.
Infrastructure
The four sections of the NERV Foundation and their various
divisions handle most public services throughout the arcology.
The Pavonis Arcology Police Department and Pavonis Arcology Fire Department,
while started by the NERV Foundation, were immediately decentralized form NERV
to private control following completion. In addition to various non-lethal
equipment, the PAPD armory stocks the Beretta Px4 Storm (Sidearm), the Beretta
Cx4 Storm (Carbine), and the Beretta Rx4 Storm (Rifle).
Medical facilities include the NERV Medical Ward (c. 2011), the Sheffield
Medical Center (c 2013), and the New Port General Hospital (c. 2019).
Sheffield and New Port City each possess a mayor and a town and city council,
respectively. H.G. Wells Spaceport and Hollow Fields Plantation each have an
administrator appointed by the SEELE Council. NERV Headquarters and the
Geofront are directly under NERV Foundation control.
At CorusCon it was announced that a new five-member council would be taking
over the Pavonis governance duties previously held by the SEELE Council
starting that January. The GEHIRN Council is composed of the democratically
elected mayors of Sheffield and New Port City, the administrators of H.G. Wells
and Hollow Fields (now to be appointed by GEHIRN majority vote), and the SEELE Chairman
representing the NERV Foundation.
Entertainment
While nowhere near the totality of Pavonis’ entertainment options,
some of them include: various activities at the Sheffield Community Center and the
same community’s four-screen Majestic Theatre. New Port City features various
clubs and the sixteen screen Peacock Megaplex on Electric Avenue. Starting in
2023, the fantastic Kaleido Stage made its grand opening.
For media entertainment, Altimit offers a digital cable package
starting in 2015. The Raccoon Times newspaper
with its Weekly Editorial and Cityside sections started running
in 2019.
Starting in 2014, the Mishima-sponsored Annual M1911 Competition and
Gun Convention attracted firearm enthusiasts from both space and daneside to
Sheffield and the STARS practice ranges every June 25-31.
Food and Business
In addition to several
common American and Japanese chain and franchise stores, Pavonis also features,
as of 2022, in Sheffield: Cheers (American-style bar based on the one in the
television show of the same name), Bar Nonbou (combination Japanese-style bar
and Korean BBQ), Bar Jack (across from the town hall; off-duty police hangout),
and The Ministry of Silly Walks (English pub).
In New Port City they
include: The Italian Job (Wilson Heights; Italian food, obviously), My Big Fat
Greek Restaurant (Wilson Heights; Greek cuisine, again obviously), Café Relish
(Gakuen-cho; Japanese maid café), Café Hina (Umineko; small café/snack bar at
base of Hinata-sou entrance steps), O’Kelly’s (Bybee Street, Raccoon District;
Irish pub), Grill 13 (Raccoon District; diner; waved food), and Emmy’s Diner (Powell
Street, Raccoon District; American diner food).
As of November 2016,
NERV Headquarters features the NERV Cafeteria. It is open six days a week from
6am to 11pm and is about as good as a Golden Corral in quality and selection
choice, but with Japanese as well as American staples. It is located adjacent
to the NERV HQ main internal entrance and is open to the public. NERV
Foundation and SEELE Council employees receive a 25% discount from 6am-8am and
6pm-8pm. Thursday nights are Mexican nights and proudly features “Guaranteed
Non-Waved Guacamole,” though someone inevitably attempts spiking it.
Businesses with
branches/facilities in Pavonis include: the Jupiter Mining Corporation, who
rent-to-own three slips and accompanying offices at H.G. Wells; StellOil, who
rent a slip at H.G. Wells and have an office in Sheffield; and numerous others.
The Kendo Gun Ship opened in Sheffield’s Cedar District in late 2014.
Due to a bit of secretly
purposeful micro-managing by several SEELE Council members, Toyota and Ford
each opened shops on the same day at the same time on 24 May 2019 on Copperhead
Road in New Port City across from the Rubber Duck Trucking Company – they each
claim right of “first car dealership off of Earth.”
The arcology’s main
imports are metals, specialty foodstuffs, specialty medicines, raw organic
material, wood and paper products, plastic products, and petroleum. Its main
exports are the products of the SEELE Council (see SEELE Council article), a
smaller amount of non-council affiliated products, and basic foodstuffs.
Dramatis Personae
Note that all stats are
circa 2022.
R. Robert Flutie (T-800
Sapient Android) – Mahora Academy – Headmaster – Former: Sunnydale High School
Principle
Despite being initially and understandably traumatized
(as the last moments of his ‘previous life’ were of four possessed students
eating him alive), Robert “Call me Bob” Flutie has returned to the job he loves
– guiding young minds. This time around, though, he has decided to keep an open
mind about weirdness. On Friday nights, he, Dr. Gregory, and Mr. and Mrs. Giles
– aka, “The Sunnydale Irregulars” – can occasionally be seen throwing a few
back at The Ministry of Silly Walks.
Dr. R. Michael Gregory
(T-800 Sapient Android) – Mahora Academy, Acme University – Biology Department
Head – Former: Sunnydale High School Biology Instructor
Much like Headmaster Flutie, Mike’s ‘last moments’ are a
memory of being eaten – albeit by a giant praying mantis woman rather than
hyena spirit-possessed students. Also like Bob, he decided to continue with the
career he was best at: teaching.
R. Euphemia li Britannia
(T-900 Sapient Gynoid) – Mahora Academy, Acme University – Education Major –
Former: Third Princess of the Holy Britannian Empire
Doing her best to be a source of familial comfort for her
brother, Euphie also now plans to teach English and Japanese once she
graduates.
R. Shirley Fenette (T-900
Sapient Gynoid) – Mahora Academy, Acme University – Business Major – Former:
Ashford Academy Student
If there is one thing one can say about Shirley, it is
that she keeps her promises. The moment she was informed that Lelouch had been
‘revived’ she stuck herself to his side and hasn’t left since. Her father has
her enrolled in the university’s business department so that she can eventually
succeed him as CEO of WilPharma.
R. Naoto Kouzuki (T-800
Sapient Android) – Mahora Academy, Acme University – Physical Education Major –
Former: Japanese Anti-Occupation Resistance Group Leader
The former leader of an anti-Britannian resistance group
in his ‘previous life,’ Naoto now plans to enlist in the Defense Division of
the STARS once he graduates. On a more personal note, ever since Naoto saw the
Code Geass anime… let’s just say that it’s an unofficial order to keep Lelouch
and himself separate so as to prevent the former a return visit to NERV Medical
Ward.
R. Hanmyo (T-900 Sapient
Gynoid) – Mahora Academy, Smart Brain High School – Student – Former: Ban
Pirate Guild Tao Sorceress/Grappler Ship Pilot
A former pirate who now hopes to teach magic… once she
figures out how it operates differently here from ‘back home’…
R. Robert Kendo (T-800
Sapient Android) – Kendo Gun Shop – Owner and Proprietor – Former: Owner and
Proprietor of Raccoon City’s Kendo Gun Shop
R. Bill Hansen (T-800
Sapient Android) – Grill 13 – Owner – Former: Owner of Raccoon City’s Grill 13
The Lazarus Batch
A curious fact which
many notice about the Pavonis Arcology is that there are not as many AIs as one
would think, what with it being a manufacturing site for robots. This is due
the nature of the handwavium batch found by Alex Xanatos. While being like
every other source of handwavium in other ways, a quirk seemingly isolated to
this batch (and most blame Alex picking his last name as Xanatos being somehow
responsible for it) is that it stubbornly refuses to make any AI whatsoever
that is not based on a fictional character that has officially died in its
canon.
While AIs based on
fictional characters are obviously quite common in Fenspace, there exists a
further problem – each of the AIs produced with what became known as the Lazarus
Batch insist that they are the genuine article. Disturbingly, the sheer level
of detail and clarity with which they can remember their ‘former lives’ –
especially a great deal not even covered in the source material – makes the few
who know of this phenomenon wonder if it might not somehow be true. This was
only given still further credence when several attempts at making duplicates of
those already ‘revived’ failed completely.
The SEELE Council
decided not to take any chances – the ethical questions alone about ‘raising
the dead’ were mindboggling. Replacement handwavium sources were purchased,
several barrels of the Lazarus Batch were sealed up for later study, and all
other samples were destroyed via the sun in March 2013.
All of which changed at
SerenityCon and the events up to the Battle of Boskone Prime...
Following the conclusion
of the Boskone War, the now-diminished SEELE Council came to the conclusion
that fail-safes had to be put into place to prevent such a large force of
aggressors from assembling without notice or opposition. While the post-war
demilitarization was underway elsewhere throughout Fenspace, the council
carried out in late 2013 the reorganization of NERV Section Two and the secret
creation of the U.N. Mars Force.
A key part of these
post-war actions was the Violet-level classified Project THANATOS GAMBIT. Using
the remainder of the Lazarus Batch, fifty-two individuals selected for just
what they could bring to the table and their likelihood of being convinced to
work with the NERV Foundation were chosen for ‘revival.’
The rest is history.
~~~
NERV Foundation
The NERV Foundation is a collection of organizations operating under a
single banner to carry out various joint projects and philanthropic ventures
for the SEELE Council and the Pavonis Arcology.
![[Image: NERV-Emblem2.png]](http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t178/Admiralvine/NERV-Emblem2.png)
Emblem used by the NERV Foundation
The most ambitious of the foundation’s philanthropic ventures and the plan from
which the foundation draws its name is its Natural Environment Re-creation
Venture, the natural environment in question being the natural environment for
humanity, the current focus project of which is Project RED EARTH (see Pavonis
Arcology article).
Prior to CorusCon, the leadership functions of the foundation ran
through the SEELE Council. Following the convention, the positions of Commander
and Sub-Commander were created. By majority vote of the SEELE Council, the
first Commander of the NERV Foundation is Alex Xanatos (the only vote not for
him was his own vote). The first Sub-Commander of the NERV Foundation is R.
Edwin Jarvis.
[table]
Contents
[/table]
NERV Section One
The Pavonis Arcology Support Services (PASS) provide and service electrical utilities, water supply and
treatment, life support, running Hollow Fields (Agro Division), and similar
work for the Pavonis Arcology.
NERV Section Two
The Special Tactics And
Rescue Service (STARS) is a paramilitary organization whose Security
Division, Defense Division, Intelligence Division, and Emergency Division
(Medical Assistance and HAZMAT) serve the NERV Foundation and Pavonis Arcology.
Rumors of a so-called “Covert Division” somehow related to the equally rumored
“Section Five” are laughed at.
![[Image: stars_badge12.jpg]](http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t178/Admiralvine/stars_badge12.jpg)
Badge prototype; ‘Raccoon Police Dep’ and POLICE banner replaced by
‘Pavonis Arcology’ and NERV FOUNDATION banner in final version
While the initial gear of the STARS was rather limited (a Saturday
Night Special or a hunting rifle if you were lucky), things did improve with
time. As of late 2018, the STARS armory consisted of, in varying numbers: M1911
(Standard Sidearm), Accuracy International Arctic Warfare (Standard Sniper
Rifle), H&K MP5 (Security Submachine Gun). Serbu Super-Shorty (Security
Shotgun), Steyr TMP (Defense Machine Pistol), Beretta ARX-160 (Defense Assault
Rifle), Beretta GRX-160 (Defense Under-Rifle Grenade Launcher), NeoSteed 2000
(Defense Shotgun), DPI USAS-12 (Defense Heavy Shotgun), GE M134 Minigun &
Browning M2 (Defense Machine Guns), SBD M136 AT4 (Defense Rocket Launcher), and
the rare M202 FLASH (Defense Heavy Rocket Launcher).
Vehicles include the DMC-38 “Yako” interceptor (flown by Strigon Squadron),
small numbers of modified M8 “Greyhound” Light Armored Vehicles (MHI-T1)
purchased cheap from third world countries, some Paramount Marauders, and a
goodly amount of waved civilian Hummers.
Note: The STARS do not provide regular police and firefighting
services, though are available to be called upon in a crisis situation.
NERV Section Three
Technological Research And Development (T-RAD)…enough said.
NERV Section Four
Biological Research And Development (B-RAD)… ditto.
Joint Projects
Ongoing joint research and development projects between the
members of the SEELE Council through the NERV Foundation include:
Project CRS
(Cybernetic Recreation Series. The largest joint project is a cooperative
venture between Cyberdyne, Mishima, Altimit, and DeLorean to recreate the
T-Series of robots from the Terminator
franchise. While having an internal computer brain, the 100 to 600 Series units
possess only a number of AI-designed specialist systems that are designed to be
easily modifiable and reprogrammable. The T-Series consists of:
T-100 Non-Humanoid Robot Series
T-110 GASAR (Ground Assault and Support Actions
Robot; based on the T-1s from the T3
movie; over time, 70 were made for NERV HQ defense; one prototype unit, the
T-199 “Scowl”, was made in January 2014, replacing the Minigun mounts and head
to test several humanoid arm/hand/manipulator and sensor unit designs and was
later placed in NERV Foundation Archival Storage; 10 units designated T-115,
based on the versions from the T4
movie, were made and sold to Great Justice in 2020, at cost; none are legally
available to the public)
T-120 Drone (T3
movie; available mid 2013)
T-130 Sidewinder (T4 comic; ground recon/security; unarmed; available early 2014)
T-140 Hunter (improved Drone; available April
2016)
T-150 VTOL (Essentially an oversized Drone;
available March 2017)
T-160 Aerostat (T4 movie; air recon/security; unarmed; available mid 2018)
T-200 Maintenance and Repair Robot (made in
various chassis configurations, the earliest T-202 model was available to the
public on 11 January 2014)
T-300 Specialist Combat Robot Series (Project
BLACK MOON programs to replicate a number of combat units from the Terminator
franchise; programs ‘requested’ by Great Justice to be suspended following
Boskone War conclusion; see ‘NERV Section Five’)
T-400 (Prototype designations)
T-400
Humanoid Robot Prototype Mark I (Dawn of
Fate T-400; Made June 2014)
T-450
Humanoid Robot Prototype Mark II (Dawn of
Fate T-500; Made January 2015)
T-500 Cybernetic Vehicle Series
T-510 Harvester (heavy construction giant tobot/customizable
heavy labor robot; available to the public 18 March 2015)
T-520 Aerial (T4 movie [slightly larger than source version]; minivan-sized on
the inside; available late 2015; nickname “Poor Man’s Pelican”; comes standard
with: life support, self-contained water closet with recycler, medium-sized
fridge/freezer, small microwave, and hook-ups and security-clamps for a flat
screen TV up to 25”; seats five comfortably [seven max safe life-support
limits]; powered by four hydrogen plasma fuel cells [Early Production Model
from release date to 2023 requires yearly replacement of cells; Improved
Production Model from 2023 onwards requires replacement every five years])
T-530 Transport (T4 movie; light transport; available mid 2017)
T-600 Multi-Function Humanoid Robot (first
successful fully-humanoid robot approved for mass production; most noted quirk
is that any attempt at disguising a unit as being human fails [often
humorously], much like with its rubber-skinned source of inspiration; while all
versions have been described as “ugly clunkers” they are also all described as
“damn useful”; available to the public 5 June 2015)
T-700 Multi-Function AI Endoskeleton (a much
better version of the T-600, it lacks its predecessor series’ quirk that
prevented use artificial skin; aimed at the AI market, for AIs who want a body
of their own; all units are special orders; available to the public in 12
November 2016 [available ‘in house’ several years earlier]; production
discontinued following rollout of T-800/T-900 Series)
(Note: A number of intelligences inhabiting
T-700 Series bodies “upgraded” (had their minds transferred) to T-800/T-900
Series endoskeletons. Those “trading in” received a slight discount. Old T-700
units were recycled. The T-800/T-900 Series Neural Net Processors (NNPs) were all
developed by Dr. R. Miles Bennett Dyson based on the knowledge retained in his
‘canon’ memories.)
T-800 Advanced-Function Android Endoskeleton
(available to the public starting on 12 August 2021, the T-800 Series initially
comes in the T-850 “Governator” Classic Model, and ten models of varying body
size from the smallest T-801 to the six-foot-even T-810; utilizing WilPharma
pioneered CSM-101 Synthflesh, it is half again as expensive as the
still-available T-600)
T-900 Advanced-Function Gynoid Endoskeleton
(available to the public starting on 12 August 2021, the T-800 Series initially
comes in ten models of varying body size from the smallest T-901 to the
six-foot-even T-910; utilizing WilPharma pioneered CSM-101 Synthflesh, it is
half again as expensive as the still-available T-600)
The Future: All attempts at recreating a T-1000
polymimetic alloy unit have, thus far, failed (rumors about a “Grey Goo Girl
Incident” are met with blank stares whenever personnel are questioned). It has
generally been accepted that nanotechnology will have to advance more before it
can be possible even with handwavium. This conclusion has also been accepted
for the T-1100, better known as the T-X.
Project GEOFRONT
(An attempt by the NERV Foundation to create a self-sustaining ecosystem, the
information gained during its development will hopefully provide useful data to
the Mars Terraforming Project. As of 2018, it consists of a lake, some lichens,
moss, and simple grasses, and a promising bloom of plankton. The first simple
plants and slow-breeding insects were introduced in 2022. It is run by NERV
Section Four.)
Project FRAGMENT
(Altimit/Heartland project that produced a working version of the DotHack
franchise in-series MMORPG, The World [available November 2014])
Project ATF (energy fields and force fields; has
produced and is selling through Mishima an Acutely Tickling Field as a
non-lethal restraint system [moderately bulky])
Project SUPER SOLENOID (energy generation;
produced the NERV-SSH-01 Hydrogen Plasma Fuel Cell for heavy equipment and the NERV-SSI-01
Iridium Power Cell for light equipment)
Project EGO BOUNDRY (man-machine interfaces;
best known product is the PICK, sold through Altimit)
Project HEINFLICK LIMIT (FTL technologies)
Project REFRESHER (following Struve Conspiracy,
data on biomoding the Boskones considered ‘useless’ recovered during investigation
used to offer those getting on in years and otherwise down in health an option
of several ‘controlled biomods’ – Antarctic Press Furries [‘too strong and free
willed’] and Fantasy Short Folk [‘too limited a customer base’] surprisingly
popular, as is the Modern Kitsune Biomod)
Project DIRAC SEA (dimensional studies;
established following the Interdimensional Incursion Incident) {Classification lifted following release of
redacted portions of Whole Fenspace Catalog}
Project LONGINUS LANCE (paranormal studies;
established following the Interdimensional Incursion Incident) {Classification lifted following release of
redacted portions of Whole Fenspace Catalog}
Project BLACK MOON (Boskone War development plan
for defense programs; discontinued after the war; rumors that some continued
under a secret NERV section are, of course, entirely preposterous)
Project KRAKEN (Cyberdyne/Mishima/DeLorean
project; developing an AI-controlled, anti-submarine/wet navy ship drone attack
craft for a Case BURGANDY scenario [dane invasion of Fenspace]; low priority;
designation XT-333)
DECA
The Digital Enclave and Cyberspace Archive is the central computer
core of the foundation. It is connected, but not integral, to the Pavonis
Intranet, and can be isolated at a moment’s notice both manually and
automatically.
As one might imagine, it is controlled by the three MAGI – but
each MAGI is itself composed of three artificial intelligences. Casper is made
up of three based upon several Vagrant AIs from the DotHack franchise: Aura,
Lycoris, and Macha. Balthazar is made up of Meg, Lou, and Nam from Bubblegum Crisis. Whoever Melchior
consists of, however, is classified.
NERV Section Five/STARS Covert Division
***WHITENOISE***
This organization – the U.N.
Mars Force (UNMF) – does not exist.
![[Image: ficbuframmilitia.gif]](http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t178/Admiralvine/ficbuframmilitia.gif)
ZotE Bufram Militia flag. Used by the U.N. Mars
Force
Following the Struve Conspiracy and the end of the Boskone War,
the remaining SEELE Council members decided to create a force that could help
to both prevent against and protect in the eventuality of similar troubles.
Unfortunately, the attitude of toning down on armed forces in Fenspace
prevalent after the war – including a formal request from OGJ to cease and
desist Project BLACK MOON research and development – meant that it had to be
done incognito.
The result is a force led by R. Lelouch Lamperouge (Director of
Covert Operations in STARS hierarchy) out of Ecosystem Monitoring Facility #2
in the Geofront. In transmissions and reports, it is referred to as Eagle Rock
Bunker or just ‘the bunker.’
Gear includes the standard STARS equipment (not recommended for
denial purposes), access to the secret Biwa Arsenal (see Mishima section of
SEELE Council article), the MHI-M9 Gernsback mecha, the IMI Tavor TAR-21
assault rifle, the IMI Desert Eagle pistol, and the MHI-T2 “Dominion” tank
(based on data gained from modifying several M8s into MHI-T1s; modeled after the
JSSDF 6x6 tank in End of Evangelion).
The most notable units available to – albeit never used by;
they’re kept and trained with on a “just in case” basis – the UNMF are the
products of the officially cancelled Project BLACK MOON development programs.
The SEELE Council plans on sarcastically saying, essentially, “Oh, yeah, cause
we’re the ONLY people in Fenspace copying things from fictional sources. Riiiiiiiight~,” should anyone get
suspicious of Terminator-related
products in the UNMF inventory if ever used. As of 2020, the small stock of such
items include the: T-310 Mototerminator, T-320 Snowterminator, T-330 Spider,
T-340 Hydrobot, T-350 Tank, T-360 Bomber, T-370 Infantrybot, T-380 Tetrapod,
and T-390 Centurion.
What really allowed the operations of the UNMF to take off was the
successful recreation of MITHRIL’s Electronic Camouflage System (ECS) –
emitters that, when placed strategically around an object, produces an energy
field that bends and wraps light around it to make the object invisible. This
does not affect radar, thermal optics, or motion sensors, of course, but it is
still quite useful. The SC Tuatha de
Danaan TDD-1 and the MHI-M9 Gernsbacks are equipped.
Several UNMF facilities, primarily intelligence units, operate under
legitimate front companies. These include: Zeira Corporation (Marduk), Automite
Systems (Crystal Paris), Security Trust of Mars Vegas (Mars Vegas), Kaliba
Group (Coruscant), and Dakara Systems (Ganymede).
Operation WHITE MOON
Operation WHITE MOON is a manhunt by STARS Intelligence Division
for Harry Struve independent of Great Justice.
Status: Investigation Suspended 12 October 2016, 21:06 Mars
Standard Time
***WHITENOISE***
-U.N.M.F. AND SEELE COUNCIL EYES ONLY-
Orders: Operation WHITE MOON is hereby transferred to U.N. Mars
Force jurisdiction – See attached folder “Struve Search” for details
…
STARS Intelligence Division File 1028.4
Investigative Report: Jennings & Rall, Incorporated
Subsidiaries: Ravenwood (Private Military Contractor);
CyberConnect Corporation (Network Services; Software; Electronics); Tricell
Pharmaceutical Company (Medical R&D; Medical Supplies; Medical Equipment)
Subject of Interest: Liam Harrison, Vice President in Charge of
Special Projects
…
Director of Covert Operations addendum – In the event of a Type
Six Emergency, the contents of folder “Struve Search” are to be e-mailed to subjects:
Rhodes, Ben; Fnord, Mal; Scott, Noah; Marsden, Chris; and Caldwell, Stephen
Dramatis Personae
Note that stats are circa 2022.
Alex Xanatos (see SEELE Council article)
R. Edwin Jarvis (see EELE Council article)
Dr. R. Robert Trenton Darius (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section
Four – Chief Virologist – Former: Discoverer of Proto T-Virus (intended for
medical regeneration treatments)
While saddened by
the loss of his ‘former life,’ this man of science has decided to throw his lot
in with NERV Section Four in the hopes of making the world a brighter place.
Dr, R. Miles Bennett Dyson (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section
Three – Chief Cyberneticist – Former: Head of another world’s CSC R&D
Having once
‘given up’ his life in the cause of stopping a global holocaust before it could
start, Miles Dyson now uses the skills and knowledge that led to Judgment Day
to better serve humanity.
R. Dr. Daniel Fransisco “Danny” Alvera (T-800 Sapient Android) –
NERV Section Three – Chief Programmer – Former: Best Programmer on the USAF’s
CRS Project Team
A man who gave up
his life several times to spit in the face of Skynet, Danny now applies the
know-how that planted the seeds of individual sentience in the Terminators to
perfect the software side of things for NERV.
R. Robert Brewster (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two,
STARS Defense Division – Director of Defense Operations – Former: Lieutenant General
in charge of U.S. Air Force’s Cyber Research Systems Project
If there is a
person who understands how the road to hell can be paved with good intentions,
it would be Robert Brewster. His ‘dying moments’ were spent facing the
knowledge that his project’s creation was going to destroy his country and
world. It will not happen again…
R. Rupert Giles (T-800 Sapient Android) – Project LONGINUS LANCE
(later Mahora Academy Center for the Study of the Arcane) – Project Director
(later Center Administrator) – Former: Sunnydale High School Librarian; Field
Watcher; Magic Shop Owner; Head of the New Watchers Council; alias “Ripper”
When he woke up
after being ‘killed’ by the elder vampire known as The Master, Rupert Giles had
only one thing to say: “Ah…I probably should have expected something like
this…” Gradually rekindling his relationship with Janna Kalderash – wed in 2017
– he works now with his wife and a close team to determine the laws, effects,
and, inevitably, consequences of magic and the supernatural in this “other
Earth.”
R. Janna Giles (T-900 Sapient Gynoid) – Project LONGINUS LANCE (later
Mahora Academy Center for the Study of the Arcane) – Technomancy Division
Subdirector – Former: Sunnydale High School Computer Teacher; Technopagan Mage;
Romany of Clan Kalderash; alias “Jennifer Calendar”
After ‘dying’ at
the hands of Angelus, Janna can probably be forgiven for kicking Alex in the
family jewels when he came into her ‘waking room’ following her ‘revival’ to
explain what was going on. Eventually rekindling her relationship with Rupert,
she is actually quite excited at the idea of studying and practicing magic in
this new world where she doesn’t have to worry about (much) secrecy.
R. Lelouch Lamperouge (T-800 Sapient Android) – U.N. Mars Force –
Director of Covert Operations – Former: Leader/Strategist of the Order of the
Black Knights & 99th Emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire;
alias “Zero”
If it weren’t for
Euphie and Shirley he wouldn’t bother at all. His ‘sister’ and
friend-who-is-a-girl (and much more if she has her way) are now the rocks by
and for which the former revolutionary steadies himself.
…He does wonder
how the hell, with all the differences in their timelines, Pizza Hut can exist
in this world, too, though…
R. Monica Krushevsky (T-900 Sapient Gynoid) – U.N. Mars Force –
Valkyrie Team Leader; MHI-M9 “Gernsback” Pilot – Former: Knight of Twelve of
the Knights of the Round of the Holy Britannian Empire
This protector of
the Britannian Imperial Family has chosen to put her support behind Euphemia,
hoping that, with the many settlements being founded in Fenspace, she may
eventually convince her princess to establish a ‘New Britannia’ – it’s not
like, as cybernetic organisms, they don’t have time to spare after all. For
now, she protects her chosen charge by serving in the covert UNMF.
R. Marika Soresi (T-900 Sapient Gynoid) – U.N. Mars Face – Valkyrie
Team Member; MHI-M9 “Gernsback” Pilot – Former: Valkyrie Team Member, Imperial
Britannian Army
Arguably one of the
worst of the cases of culture shock, the young woman raised in a ‘Britannians
are superior’ environment suffered a nasty surprise when the closest things her
first Internet search for BRITANNIA led her only to articles on Imperial Roman
history, a modern awards event, several song lyrics, and Code Geass materials.
R. Liliana Vergamon (T-900 Sapient Gynoid) – U.N. Mars Face –
Valkyrie Team Member; MHI-M9 “Gernsback” Pilot – Former: Valkyrie Team Member,
Imperial Britannian Army
Basically the
same as Marika.
R. Enrico Marini (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two, STARS
Defense Division – STARS Bravo Team Leader – Former: Raccoon Police Department
STARS Bravo Team Leader
R. Forest Speyer (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two, STARS
Defense Division – STARS Bravo Team Mechanic – Former: Raccoon Police
Department STARS Bravo Team Mechanic (from Alabama)
R. Richard Aiken (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two, STARS
Defense Division – STARS Bravo Team Comms Expert – Former: Raccoon Police Department
STARS Bravo Team Comms Expert
R. Ken Sullivan (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two, STARS
Defense Division – STARS Bravo Team Scout/Chemist – Former: Raccoon Police Department
STARS Bravo Team Scout/Chemist
He ‘originally’
couldn’t shoot the broad side of a barn. With his now cybernetic status that is
no longer an issue.
R. Kevin Dooley (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two, STARS
Defense Division – STARS Bravo Team Pilot – Former: Raccoon Police Department
STARS Bravo Team Pilot
R. George Scott (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two, STARS
Defense Division – STARS Bravo Team Member – Former: Raccoon Police Department
Officer
R. Marvin Branagh (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two,
STARS Defense Division – STARS Alpha Team Leader – Former: Raccoon Police
Department Officer
R. Joseph Frost (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two, STARS
Defense Division – STARS Alpha Team Driver – Former: Raccoon Police Department
STARS Alpha Team Driver
R. Brad Vickers (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two, STARS
Defense Division – STARS Alpha Team Pilot/Hacker – Former: Raccoon Police
Department STARS Alpha Team Pilot/Hacker; alias “Chickenheart”
R. Karen Driver (T-900 Sapient Gynoid) – NERV Section Two, STARS
Defense Division – STARS Alpha Team –
Former: Exeter Police Department STARS Alpha Team
R. Steve Lopez (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two, STARS
Defense Division – STARS Alpha Team Computer Tech/Marksman – Former: Exeter
Police Department STARS Alpha Team Computer Tech/Marksman
R. Neil Carson (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two, STARS
Defense Division – STARS Alpha Team Member – Former: Raccoon Police Department
Sergeant
R. Mikhail Victor (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two,
STARS Defense Division – STARS Charlie Team Leader – Former: Umbrella Biohazard
Countermeasure Service Delta Platoon Leader
R. Randy Thomas (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two, STARS
Defense Division – STARS Charlie Team Member – Former: Umbrella Biohazard
Countermeasure Service Soldier Delta Platoon Member
R. Henry Cole (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Three –
Expert Electrician – Former: In-the Dark Technician at Umbrella Test Facility
“The Planet”
~~~
SEELE Council
The SEELE Council is essentially a
business conglomerate with a board of directors – the SEELE Council itself –
who, while maintaining complete control over their own enterprises, cooperate
heavily with one another in various joint projects and philanthropic ventures
through the NERV Foundation.
The eight people presently on the council are: Alex Xanatos, CEO Cyberdyne;
Biwa Mishima, CEO Mishima; R. Joseph Fenette, CEO WilPharma; Mary Gamblin, CEO
Altimit; James “Jimmy” Blake, CEO Binford; Kazuo Jenkins, CEO Ajax; Lana
Izavia, CEO Heartland; and The O, CEO DeLorean.
Former council members consist of: the late Airi Ikuhara-Xanatos, CEO Ikuhara;
and Harry Struve, ex CEO WilPharma, on the run and wanted by Great Justice
following the Battle of Serenity Valley.
Council chairpersons: Alex Xanatos (Founding-January 2019) and
Kazuo Jenkins (January 2019-Present)
The SEELE Council actually started as a group of bar buddies in
Port Lowell around 2010. Following a beer-laden 007 marathon at Jimmy Blake’s
place (see below), they decided to expand on the idea and make an actual
settlement within the volcano. This, of course, would require some serious
coin. Having already complained to one another about how certain services that
had been taken for granted were for the most part not available to Fen
following their leaving the Earth (Australia being the obvious exception), they
decided to become those services. Still, that left the requirement of start-up
money. Blake came to the rescue with the “how” he built his bachelor pad and,
as they say, the rest is history.
[table]
Contents
[/table]
Cyberdyne Systems Corporation, Limited
Producing human-use
bionics and non-sapient robots, it originally outsourced a goodly amount of its
electrical components from daneside sources and later fellow councilmember
Ikuhara Electronics. Following the Battle of Serenity Valley, Cyberdyne
absorbed Ikuhara and its product lines in keeping with the prior owner’s
wishes.
Its bionics fall under
the C-Series of products, which are increasingly customizable by the
generation. The PKG have a Preferred Customer status and discount.
All robots fall under
the R-Series of robots. It’s most popular is the R-10 Navi robot, based off of Vandread’s Pyoro.
WilPharma Corporation
Initially acting as a
middle-man for Earth-made supplies, WilPharma began coming into its own in mid-2013
when it began producing its own hospital grade basic materials, and received a
hard won victory when several daneside health organizations certified its
products in 2014.
The corporation received a major shake-up following the Battle of Serenity
Valley, where evidence recovered by the Roughriders revealed that not only had
CEO Harry Struve been supplying the Boskones via daneside intermediaries, but
had concocted a plot with the terrorists to kill the other members of the SEELE
Council – of the nine members, only he did not attend SerenityCon – and allow
him to subsume control of the Pavonis Arcology.
Following these events, with the corporation routed of Boskones and their
supporters, control of WilPharma was seized by the SEELE Council until such a
time as the surviving seven members could appoint a replacement as CEO. It did
so on 1 January 2014 in the form of R. Joseph Fenette (T-700 [later T-808]
Sapient Android).
During the investigation
of WilPharma facilities following the post-SerenityCon seizure, a half-dozen
unregistered laboratory chambers in NERV HQ were discovered. Inside were…
things best left unsaid. The SEELE Council decided to destroy all special equipment they found and not to
report any of what was discovered – as everyone involved with what went on in
said chambers had already been arrested and convicted, any further OGJ
attention would only hurt those in WilPharma innocent of any crimes.
They did, however,
recover data on biomoding that the Boskones considered to be useless, whether
due to the resulting subjects being ‘too independently minded’ or just having
too small of a potential market. The machines responsible for the biomoding
processes were perfected by WilPharma employees eager to prove their mettle and
the NERV Foundation used these in Project REFRESHER in a public, open offer
daneside and in Fenspace to those getting on in years and otherwise down in
health as an option of several ‘controlled biomods.’ The biomoding machines
themselves are clearly based on what someone, likely Struve, thought a Catgirling Machine was like
before ever getting access to a real one.
Options for biomoding recovered
include Antarctic Press-style furries (coming from a machine that looks like
Steve Urkle’s transformation booth and only works if the sound effects played
during said booth’s use on the show is played) and Fantasy Short Folk. An
accident during reverse engineering also created an anime-style Kitsune
biomoding machine that has proven surprisingly popular.
Mishima Heavy Industries
Your friendly,
neighborhood defense concern.
Like many of the
original SEELE Council members, Mishima started out supplying Fenspace with
products it bought daneside as a middleman. Uniquely to Mishima’s case, and a
source of much groaning and headaches once the rest found out about it, a
goodly amount of its start-up capital went to purchasing items off of black
market arms dealers – partly to keep them out of the wrong hands, mostly
because Biwa, being the military otaku she is, just couldn’t help herself.
Fortunately, the council members managed to keep the “Biwa Arsenal” from
leaking out (they hope), though they now have a secret stockpile of weapons to
make any third world dictator envious.
The company’s most
famous products include its refit of a number of M8 “Greyhound” Light Armored
Vehicles. Later, in cooperation with Steyr Mannlicher, it produced a market
version of its Advanced Combat Rifle in 2015. In 2017, MHI finalized the
purchase of the copyrights for the G11 rifle design. The following year it
released the MHI M11S standard rifle and the MHI M11V for use in vacuum.
Mishima has announced that a highly customizable version called the M11C with
non-lethal forms of ammunition is in the testing phase and expected to be
released around 2022.
This being Fenspace, and
Ms. Mishima being a Japanese military otaku, one would think her company’s
products would include mecha – one would be right.
Following the mobile
suit scale MHI-M1 to M3’s failures, a try at arm slave scale produced an
admittedly underpowered and unimpressive MHI-M4 “Mistral II” for sale in July
2013. The much improved MHI-M5 “Type-96” was available by April 2015, with a
slightly better MHI-M6 “Bushnell” arriving in May 2017. The model available in
2022 is the MHI-M6A4.
Rumors of a large, metal
container labeled “MHI-M9X” being spotted in transit through a NERV Personnel
Only tunnel in Pavonis in 2016 is denied outright (see NERV Section Five/STARS
Covert Division).
The Future: Current focus
is on the development of viable plasma weaponry, with a particular focus on
recreating the Westinghouse M-21 Phased Pulse Plasma Rifle.
Altimit Corporation
Computers repair and
customization, Internet and television service, network setup, software development,
specialist programs, computer games – if it needs to speak 010010, Altimit are
the folks to talk to – especially as most of the employees are AI themselves.
Starting by purchasing
the rights to the DotHack series and its related material, a LINUX-based
operating system, ALTIMIT OS, has been in use by the NERV Foundation and SEELE
Council members since 2012 (upgraded to ALTIMIT MINE OS following the ‘Struve
Conspiracy’).
Their current computer
game system is the Altimit PICK (Partial-Immersion Computer Kit), which
connects to a regular computer and allows the wearer to experience a number of
game worlds (both designed for the system and not) in terms of real world sight
and sound, but without such senses as taste, smell, and touch. The PICK is not
available in countries which places a ban on handwaved products and is not
compatible with Sony, Nintendo, or Microsoft game consoles.
Binford Tools Company
Producing first vulcanocrete,
then hand tools and basic parts, and finally power tools and heavy equipment,
an unknown fen working for a building crew at Mos Eisley once famously
commented that Binford could be described as “the backbone of any construction
project on Mars.” Needless to say, they take great pride in this.
Two of Binford’s
earliest successes – so early that the CEO was also sole employee – were also
critical to the development of the Pavonis Arcology: vulcanocrete and the
ultrasonic laser. Vulcanocrete is a ceramic material made up of lava rock mixed
with ground-up quartz and something else (generic plaster mixed with pure
handwavium). The ultrasonic laser is more the former than the latter, it is
made out of old sonogram and sonar equipment and modeled after the device of
the same name from The Core –
unfortunately, it’s not quite as effective as its inspiration.
In a quirk that
alternately annoys and amuses the company’s employees and owner to no end, no
handwaved Binford product will work correctly unless it bears a 6100 Series
label.
Ajax Material Supply Company
Growing out of initial
obscurity in early 2013, whether it’s a product they produce themselves or
import from Earth, Ajax as of 2022 is recognized as the largest chemical, wood,
paper, plastic, and stone supplier outside of cislunar space.
Thus far, all attempts
at making unobtanium have proven futile. One failed product of the attempt in
2014, though, produced a high-tensile strength aluminum-chromium-titanium-steel
alloy that Cyberdyne and several others (SEELE and otherwise) purchase under
the name hyperalloy.
They initially tried to
supply basic metals as well, but there was so much competition there already
that they just gave up on it – the main reason that metals of various sorts are
now one of Pavonis’ largest imports.
Heartland Play Systems
Handwavium and toys…
there exists not the space to encompass the joy and madness conceived.
Still, it is worth
saying that they produced the MMORPG “The World” together with Altimit in 2014.
It won a 4 out of 5 on X-Play, losing its sole pint due to the necessity
of purchasing the Altimit PICK to play it.
Note: Never ask about
the Chucky dolls… just don’t…
Extra Note: Their
Jumanji holographic board game is pretty fun, though.
DeLorean Motor Company
Purchased outright from
Stephen Wynne, The O (never forget the ‘The’) now slaps the DMC logo on both
waved and unwaved niche market products both space- and planet-side.
Products include the
DMC-12 Classic, the DMC-38 Yako (based on the Yak 38 Custom jet interceptor in Evangelion; space-capable), the DMC-40
Blue Angel (shuttle based on the ‘UN 789’ plane in Evangelion), the DMC-48 AD-Police Interceptor (chiefly exported to
Genaros; ‘Car 48, Where are You?’ opening music must be played before
starting), and the DMC-50 Peel (based on the Peel P50; rights purchased 2016).
DMC also has a standing
program to locate, purchase, refit, and resell certain other vehicles. These
include: the VW Van, the VW Thing/Safari/Trekker, the Opel Kadett, and first to
sixth generation Ford F-Series trucks. They also do a more limited number of
WWII/Cold War Era non-tracked military vehicles – The O has a standing order
request from Biwa Mishima to purchase any WWII Jeeps and similar vehicles. VW
Beetle owners have been refused waving since the Noodle Incident of 2015.
Currently, DMC is trying
to purchase any available “junked” diesel submarines on the cheap from former
communist block countries for use in the Mars Terraforming Project. The plan is
to refit them and use them to both haul water-ice asteroids to Mars as well as
to monitor the ecology of the future Martian oceans. Negotiations for the
rusted hulks seen in Top Gear’s Albania episode are now in progress.
The Future: DMC is
working on creating a working versions of the stealth fighter from Red Storm Rising, the F-19 Ghostrider.
Current projections place the DMC-19 in service around 2028 onwards.
Ikuhara Electronics
Selling waved, partly
waved, and non-waved electronics and electrical components, Ikuhara was a
successful business from its start to its end. Following Airi Ikuhara-Xanatos’
death at the Battle of Serenity Valley, the company was absorbed by Cyberdyne, per
its late owner’s wishes.
According to the SEELE
Council Charter, the membership of the council must remain at nine persons.
This means that another business enterprise must be invited to join the council.
This also means revealing a number of secrets to said invitee, some still only
in the planning stages. The council is debating its choices…
Politics and Goals
While encouraging
maintaining ties of various sorts with Earth, the SEELE Council is quite open
with its opinion that each settlement on Mars - and in Fenspace in its entirety
- should be as self-sufficient at least in the essentials as possible. It is
also of the opinion that Mars, at least once the terraforming project is
completed, should be the capital of Fenspace and “the homeworld of Fen, anywhere.”
Their proposal for the Fenspace National Anthem is Oingo Boingo’s “Weird
Science.”
The council fully supported the goals of Operation GREAT JUSTICE and later the
organization Great Justice. The SV Celestial
Court (TDD-2) – an unarmed but heavily armored design registered as a heavy
troop transport and emergency evacuation ship – was sold at cost to Great
Justice in June 2020. It and its NERV Foundation flagship predecessor – the SV Tuatha de Danaan (TDD-1), launched 2018
– are based on the carrier submarine from Full
Metal Panic!.
As of 2022, the SEELE
Council is debating on the gradual production of additional TDD-type vessels,
this time in a cargo carrier configuration, in order to progressively lessen
its reliance on outside shipping companies for export and import transport. If
produced, these vessels would be SC Aesir
(TDD-4), SC Vanir (TDD-5), SC Devas (TDD-6), and SC Kami (TDD-7).
Dramatis Personae
Alexander Xanatos (Original Name: Not tellin’) – Cyberdyne Systems
Corporation, Limited – CEO; NERV Commander (post-CorusCon); SEELE Chairman
(until January 2019)
While not
admitting his former identity to the public, it is pretty much in the open that
he is a former worker for the U.S. Postal Service. A fan of both the Terminator franchise and the works of
Ken Akamatsu and Rumiko Takahashi (minus Inuyasha),
he became the first Chairman of the SEELE Council by virtue of being the
slowest to decline the position. He now knows why Naruto fanfiction is
rife with jokes about the kage’s mortal enemy of paperwork.
After the death
of his wife Airi in the Battle of Serenity Valley, he buried himself in the
reorganization of NERV Section Two, the establishment of the U.N. Mars Force,
and the hunt for his former best friend, Harry Struve. This lasted for just
over a year, when Biwa slipped him something and gave him an “Eight Hour
Workout” to break him out of his funk.
Following the
turnover of the chairmanship in 2019, he took a page from Hand Maid May and, to a degree, became the “Wandering President of
Cyberdyne.” It is only to a degree as, much to his annoyance, the rest of his
friends voted him into the newly created position of Commander of the NERV
Foundation. About half of the time he can be found in places other than
Pavonis, including daneside, performing the role of representative of the NERV Foundation.
Airi Ikuhara-Xanatos (Original Name: N/A) – Ikuhara Electronics –
CEO (Until death in Battle of Serenity Valley)
Originally a
victim of the glass ceiling within Japan’s old boys club of corporate affairs,
the lifelong romantic comedy anime otaku journeyed into the final frontier with
the express purpose of thumbing her nose at the The Man. She did just that. It
is also where she met with her koi, Alex.
It was, sadly,
not to last. In the Battle of Serenity Valley, she was shot while attempting to
escape with her friends. She is survived by her husband of four months and the
elementary school which now bears her name.
James “Jimmy” Blake (Original Name: N/A) – Binford Tools Company –
CEO
A good old boy
and a Southern gentleman is there ever was one – most of the time. A former
employee of Black & Dekker, Jimmy quit the day he left Earth for Fenspace,
leaving behind a scathing letter on the subject of built-in obsolescence,
standards that hadn’t changed in years, the walking jokes that were quality-control
supervisors, and the canine-related parentage of the company president’s
mother.
Kazuo Jenkins (Original Name: N/A) – Ajax Material Supply Company
– CEO and SEELE Chairman (later after January 2019)
Only one-quarter
American, his mixed heritage status met with even more of a glass ceiling that
Airi Ikuhara did. Endlessly practical as well as forward-thinking, he easily
realized that the one thing that would always be in demand as a commodity was
raw materials. Setting out to supply that demand led to his resounding success
and seven digit net worth. His “suck it” letter to his former employers in 2020
nearly made The O wet himself in his laughter.
Mary Gamblin (Original Name: N/A) – Altimit Corporation – CEO
A member of the
Pulpers, Mary came to Fenspace for only a visit just before the American
government’s condemnation of those leaving the planet using handwavium. Stuck
there, she made the best of things. Following the amnesty granted at KandorCon,
she decided to stay in her new niche in life and renounced her U.S. citizenship.
For the past several years she has been part of
the growing online movement called the Confederation Party, which seeks to more
formalize the Articles of Convention into a “United Nations of the Fenspace
Convention” with a U.N. Parliamentary Assembly to present a more unified front
to those daneside – referred to as the “United Nations of Earth” – while still
maintaining individual sovereignty.
The O (Original Name: Not tellin’) – DeLorean Motor Company – CEO
The O once proudly declared that his wardrobe “consists of only
the very best of the Fifties to the Eighties in American and British fashion.” Usually
considered a bit of a goof, The O nevertheless has a good head for business and
keen eye for vehicles. After taking a loan from Kazuo to help purchase
DeLorean, he quickly paid him back following the production of the waved and
unwaved versions of an updated DMC-12 Classic to daneside and Fenspace markets.
Lana Izavia (Original Name: Not tellin’) – Heartland Play Systems
– CEO
Lana took her
name and appearance from a military policewoman in Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross who became Nova Satori in
its Carl Macek adaptation. She didn’t really have too much of a choice in the
appearance part, actually. Attending a cosplay party at Marsbase Sara in early
2010, she went as the first police figure she could think of as her parents
were both police detectives. It is there she made the all too common mistake of
trying out the green food at the buffet table. On the plus side, she would
never have to dye her hair from the drab brown she’d always disliked again as
her blue wig was now her real hair. On the minus side, she now had the Robotech version of her costume choice
yammering away in her head (and, as they later found out, able to take over
when either asleep or unconscious).
Taking the name
of her new headmate’s counterpart, the now Lana decided to improve the children
of Fenspace’s lives by making pre-waved and non-waved toys for their enjoyment.
She also, apart from this, used both her knowledge from growing up with two
officers of the law as well as the more hardcore experience of the Global
Military Police colonel in her head to help establish the Pavonis Arcology
Police Department.
Biwa Mishima (Original Name: Not tellin’) – Mishima Heavy
Industries – CEO
It would surprise
many that this rather chesty Yamato Nadeshiko is, in fact, not originally
Japanese – or even Asian for that matter. It would surprise them even more to
find out she was not always a she. Biwa is one of the lucky few who actually
got exactly what she wanted out of a biomod. Not that anyone ever will find
out, of course. She ain’t tellin’ nobody.
A true
Japanophile, Biwa speaks Nihongo like native of Tokyo. She is also notoriously
promiscuous and a tease – she keeps in regular contact with a number of friends
among the Heinleinians, and flirts constantly. Biwa is also a military otaku,
with a few quirks. She has a complete disdain for the M16, Beretta 92, Glock
pistol, and Kalashnikov and anything related to them, while adoring the M1911 and
Desert Eagle and their variants. Appreciates revolvers, but only for their
history – sees modern ones as their manufacturers playing up on nostalgia over
effectiveness.
Harry Struve (Original Name: N/A) – WilPharma Corporation – CEO
(until post-Battle of Serenity Valley); Boskonian
A man who the
other council members only thought they knew. Harry Struve secretly shared
biomod research with and supplied materials to Boskonian slavers through a
small chain of daneside intermediaries. Towards the end of the Boskone War,
however, he became too greedy. Learning through his contacts of an upcoming
attack on SerenityCon, he convinced the other members of the SEELE Council to
go to the convention and enjoy themselves while he “held down the fort while
carrying out some time-critical research.” In the aftermath of the Battle of
Serenity Valley, however, the Roughriders came across irrefutable evidence of
Struve soliciting a group of the Boskonians to directly target the other SEELE
members so that he could assume control over the Pavonis Arcology.
When Marsden
presented the evidence to the seven SEELE members grieving over the death of
Airi Ikuhara-Xanatos, the furious survivors led a charge of STARS Security
Division guards and an OGJ team to capture the traitor. What they found waiting
for them following a minor firefight with several reprogrammed T-110s, however,
was not Harry Struve. Not anymore, at least. What they found was Struve’s reclining
body in his private lab/study, grinning and giving the finger to the people
entering the room. A smell of burning metal and plastics filled the air as the
machine to which the body’s head was attached Cerebro-style smoldered. After an
investigation, it was determined that Struve had performed a destructive read
on himself and used Pavonis’ Interwave node to transfer his consciousness to
somewhere on Deimos. After that, the trail went cold.
Harry Struve,
regardless of present body/mind container, is now wanted by Great Justice,
Space Patrol, and the Pavonis Arcology Police Department for the crimes of one
count of murder, eight counts of solicitation to commit murder, and multiple
counts of slave trafficking, forced biomoding, and assault with deadly robots –
with more possible to come out at a trial.
R. Joseph Fenette (Original Name: N/A) – WilPharma Corporation –
CEO (As of 1 January 2014)
A businessman
‘victim’ of the Black Rebellion, he managed to push through his culture shock
after ‘revival’ for his daughter’s sake and agreed to take up the reins of
WilPharma and join the SEELE Council.
R. Delwin Jarvis (Original Name: N/A) – SEELE Council – SEELE
Council Treasurer – Former: Butler of Anthony Stark; Assistant to the Avengers
The first ever
‘revival’ of the Lazarus Batch, the gentleman from England woke Alex up the
morning following his laptop’s waving with screams of terror as the AI ‘woke
up’ with his ‘last memories’ of being eaten by his zombified friends. Since
then, he has become an invaluable companion to the members of the SEELE Council
and manages their joint funds with the long earned experience of guiding the
wealthy away from bad decisions.
Now I just need to get back to writing "Red Earth Opening Ceremony"...
~
Pavonis Arcology
Pavonis Mons in Tharsis is home to
not one but several interconnected, quasi-subterranean communities that operate
under the banner of the Pavonis Arcology.
All of them were built and are still supported and partly managed by the NERV
Foundation. They are each a part of the multi-phase plan, Project RED EARTH, which
is the main focus of the foundation’s Natural Environment Recreation Venture.
It is worth mentioning that, similar to Canada, Pavonis is bilingual in its
signage and education: English and Japanese, reflecting its founders.
Flag of Armitage III Mars, used by Pavonis
Using Binford’s
super-hardy construction material vulcanocrete – a ceramic material made up of
the lava rock of Pavonis herself mixed with ground-up quartz and something else
(generic plaster mixed with pure handwavium; basic formula open domain as of
2017) – the NERV Foundation successfully carved several Martian settlements
into the extinct volcano.
While originally rather
bare of settlers who didn’t directly work for NERV members, the arcology had a
boom in population once construction on RED EARTH Phase Four started in February
2013 when the Elies, at least for the foreseeable future, threw their lot in
with Pavonis. It also saw a slight increase during the Boskone War of Belters,
but the majority who went to Mars instead of cislunar space went to Port Lowell
and Helium, instead. The arcology’s biggest population boom to date was shortly
after the opening ceremony for New Port City when a surprising number of
Japanese immigrants moved there.
[table]
- 1 Red Earth
- 2 Elysium
Cooperative
- 3 Education
- 4 Religion
- 5 Infrastructure
- 6 Entertainment
- 7 Food and
Business
- 8 Dramatis
Personae
- 9 The Lazarus
Batch
Red Earth
Phase One – NERV Headquarters (No First Ancestral Race Lifeforms
were Harmed During Construction…): Started in 2010, the western quarter of
the Big Peacock houses the primary production lines, offices, and labs of the
NERV Foundation and SEELE Council. Declared fully operational in January 2012,
though expansion continues.
Phase Two – Hollow Fields Plantation (…or any Mad Scientist
Students…): More multi-sectioned, enormous greenhouses than plantation, these
sources of fresh foodstuffs are run by NERV Section One’s Agro Division and
were constructed at the same time as NERV HQ to provide local perishables and a
source of export revenue. Also like NERV HQ, while operational the moment the
first greenhouse was finished in 2011, improvements and expansion continue –
facilities for livestock, for example, started being added in 2017.
Phase Three – H.G. Wells Spaceport (…and Neither were any Tripod-Driving
Natives): Located in the southern
portion of Pavonis Mons’ cone, it was completed in November 2013; again,
expansions continue. Facilities include both slips for ships of various sizes,
several large joint hangars, as well as cheaply rentable three to five room
apartment flats called The Peacock Arms and simple but comfortable temporary
rooms at Hotel California. It was constructed at the same time as and followed
closely in completion by…
Phase Four – The Town of Sheffield (“For the
last time Kazuo – NO SPACE ELEVATOR!”): Completed in December 2013, just in time for a Christmas
Completion Party, Sheffield is built in an ancient (at least 2.2 billion years
old) secondary, vertical lava tube of Pavonis that was covered by its latter and
more obvious one. It was discovered and excavated during the spaceport’s
construction (the precious stones excavated filling the foundation’s coffer
quite nicely). The resulting settlement proved amusingly funnel-shaped and earned
it the nickname of Mithril Hall amongst D&Ders.
Sheffield Town Hall is located to Sheffield’s Cedar District. Backed
against the outer wall of the city and surrounded by Oak, Ash, and Birch Streets,
it is a modified replica of the RPD building from Resident Evil 2 & 3
and houses the main Sheffield PAPD precinct in its several city blocks size
interior.
Phase Five – The City of New Port (“Yes, I know the city plan is out of NGE, but
using the original name just doesn’t fit.”): After the caldera’s vulcanocrete lining and
Genesis-made, pitch black pressure dome were completed in June 2016,
construction on Phase Five was carried out in as secret an environment as
possible using T-Series non-sapient robots as laborers and with non-disclosure
enforced supervision. After a certain fellow with the initials “K.S.” was
granted reluctant admission to assure the more paranoid that nothing untoward
was happening and agreeing to secrecy so long as this was true (Katz actually
seems to get a kick out of just grinning whenever someone asks him what he
learned), nothing but wild rumors managed to leak out until CorusCon, when the
SEELE Council decided that something positive needed to occur at the Convention
for morale’s sake following the Pan Terrorist Attack.
When first opened following CorusCon the few parts of the city
completed were Gakuen-cho (aka, Academytown; modeled after the Mahora Academy
campus and its environs) and Wilson Heights (four city blocks of cheap but
comfortable apartments and a few small shops). Also complete was Victory Lake with
the accompanying Victory Park along the west bank, offering a spectacular view
to those paying to stay at the ritzy Hanaukyo Grand Hotel.
Shortly after that came other districts. First was Rockfort Island
(working home of the SEELE Council; a hybrid of the mansion from the first Resident
Evil and the island facility from Code: Veronica). Following this, such
places as Coolsville (an entertainment locale; main street Electric Avenue),
Raccoon (with a number of businesses modeled after those in the game city of
same name), Caliban Cove (a lakeside community district), and Umineko (a
suburban-type area adjacent to Victory Lake with a central park; contains the
Hinata-sou) also opened.
New Port City, main district (2039)
Phase Six – The Geofront (“’How did it get hollow?’ Oh, come on –
where do you think all the raw
material for the vulcanocrete used in Phase Five came from?!”):
An attempt by the NERV
Foundation to create a self-sustaining ecosystem, the information gained during
its development will hopefully provide useful data to the Mars Terraforming
Project. As of 2018, it consists of a lake, some lichens, moss, and simple
grasses, and a promising bloom of plankton. The first simple plants and
slow-breeding insects were introduced in 2022.
Rumors that the Geofront serves as the base of operations for a secret organization
within the NERV Foundation are, of course, complete hogwash.
Ecosystem Monitoring
Facility #2 (UNMF Complex)
The Sightings: In the countless manmade tunnels and caverns of
Pavonis, sometimes the mind plays tricks on you – or does it? Rumors of
sightings of a mysterious teenage Japanese boy wearing a bandana and carrying a
backpack and umbrella wandering the tunnels lost are told in bars across the
Red Planet. Similar tales of the spirit of a mid-1800s American prospector –
the Miner 49er – lead people to wonder if ghosts haven’t followed people to
space (or maybe if someone’s working on a local flavor version of “Carmen
Miranda’s Ghost”). And that isn’t all…the street one can only seem to find when
one needs the goods or services of one of the shops along its green flame gas
lamp-laden cobblestones in New Port City… the disappearing shop in Sheffield
with its bathrobe-cloaked attendant who always knows his customer’s name… the
legends seem boundless for a settlement barely more than a decade old in 2022…
Elysium Cooperative
No description of Pavonis can really be given without including a mention
of the basics about the Elysium Cooperative. Slayers Fen, Rune Soldier
Fen, Zero no Tsukaima Fen, GURPS and Palladium Fantasy Fen… a gaggle of the
fantasy-minded decided to band together to claim a homeland for themselves on
the Red Planet.
Or, at least, to prepare for a future claiming of said homeland. The “Elies” have decided that when the time
comes once the Mars Terraforming Project reaches that point, the Continent of
Elysium and her islands in the Sea of Utopia shall be their Promised Land.
Until then, though, the
Elies have hunkered down in Pavonis, some commuting daily to the future sites
of their individual or collective settlements to do what work they already can
– the (temporarily!) pressure-domed, pan-fandom city of Seiluun and her various
white-walled city districts seems to be coming right along – while still others
work for NERV or independent Pavonis employers to meet ends meat and save up
funds for their own special projects.
Education
Until what became known as the Red Earth Opening Ceremony at CorusCon,
the only educational facilities available were those classes available at the
Sheffield Community Center. Once Akamatsu-sensei (who requested the Hinata-sou
built as a private home for himself in return) and other copyright holders
secretly signed off on it, however, Mahora Academy, with classes from
elementary to graduate (and later post-graduate) curriculums was ready to open shortly
following New Port
City’s big reveal. Its divisions are: Airi Ikuhara Elementary School, Crest View Middle School, Smart Brain High
School, and Acme University.
Following the release of
the redacted portions of the Whole Fenspace Catalog, the NERV Foundation provided
part of the funding for the establishment of the Mahora Academy affiliated Center for the Study of the Arcane. Jokingly
called the Marduk Institute, it absorbed the functions of the foundation’s Project
LONGINUS LANCE in deciphering magic’s mysteries. The main CSA facilities are in
the Baker’s Hollow district of New Port City, on the opposite side of the Pavonis
caldera from the main district for safety’s sake.
Religion
Reflecting the American and Japanese roots of its founders, religious
needs can be met at Saint Mary’s of the Stars (a replica of Saint Mary’s of the
Angels in Chicago) and the Traveler’s Chapel in Sheffield and, later, the
Tatsumiya Shrine (Gakuen-cho) and Saint Michael’s Church (Raccoon) in New Port
City. Several alternatives not sponsored by the foundation also exist.
Infrastructure
The four sections of the NERV Foundation and their various
divisions handle most public services throughout the arcology.
The Pavonis Arcology Police Department and Pavonis Arcology Fire Department,
while started by the NERV Foundation, were immediately decentralized form NERV
to private control following completion. In addition to various non-lethal
equipment, the PAPD armory stocks the Beretta Px4 Storm (Sidearm), the Beretta
Cx4 Storm (Carbine), and the Beretta Rx4 Storm (Rifle).
Medical facilities include the NERV Medical Ward (c. 2011), the Sheffield
Medical Center (c 2013), and the New Port General Hospital (c. 2019).
Sheffield and New Port City each possess a mayor and a town and city council,
respectively. H.G. Wells Spaceport and Hollow Fields Plantation each have an
administrator appointed by the SEELE Council. NERV Headquarters and the
Geofront are directly under NERV Foundation control.
At CorusCon it was announced that a new five-member council would be taking
over the Pavonis governance duties previously held by the SEELE Council
starting that January. The GEHIRN Council is composed of the democratically
elected mayors of Sheffield and New Port City, the administrators of H.G. Wells
and Hollow Fields (now to be appointed by GEHIRN majority vote), and the SEELE Chairman
representing the NERV Foundation.
Entertainment
While nowhere near the totality of Pavonis’ entertainment options,
some of them include: various activities at the Sheffield Community Center and the
same community’s four-screen Majestic Theatre. New Port City features various
clubs and the sixteen screen Peacock Megaplex on Electric Avenue. Starting in
2023, the fantastic Kaleido Stage made its grand opening.
For media entertainment, Altimit offers a digital cable package
starting in 2015. The Raccoon Times newspaper
with its Weekly Editorial and Cityside sections started running
in 2019.
Starting in 2014, the Mishima-sponsored Annual M1911 Competition and
Gun Convention attracted firearm enthusiasts from both space and daneside to
Sheffield and the STARS practice ranges every June 25-31.
Food and Business
In addition to several
common American and Japanese chain and franchise stores, Pavonis also features,
as of 2022, in Sheffield: Cheers (American-style bar based on the one in the
television show of the same name), Bar Nonbou (combination Japanese-style bar
and Korean BBQ), Bar Jack (across from the town hall; off-duty police hangout),
and The Ministry of Silly Walks (English pub).
In New Port City they
include: The Italian Job (Wilson Heights; Italian food, obviously), My Big Fat
Greek Restaurant (Wilson Heights; Greek cuisine, again obviously), Café Relish
(Gakuen-cho; Japanese maid café), Café Hina (Umineko; small café/snack bar at
base of Hinata-sou entrance steps), O’Kelly’s (Bybee Street, Raccoon District;
Irish pub), Grill 13 (Raccoon District; diner; waved food), and Emmy’s Diner (Powell
Street, Raccoon District; American diner food).
As of November 2016,
NERV Headquarters features the NERV Cafeteria. It is open six days a week from
6am to 11pm and is about as good as a Golden Corral in quality and selection
choice, but with Japanese as well as American staples. It is located adjacent
to the NERV HQ main internal entrance and is open to the public. NERV
Foundation and SEELE Council employees receive a 25% discount from 6am-8am and
6pm-8pm. Thursday nights are Mexican nights and proudly features “Guaranteed
Non-Waved Guacamole,” though someone inevitably attempts spiking it.
Businesses with
branches/facilities in Pavonis include: the Jupiter Mining Corporation, who
rent-to-own three slips and accompanying offices at H.G. Wells; StellOil, who
rent a slip at H.G. Wells and have an office in Sheffield; and numerous others.
The Kendo Gun Ship opened in Sheffield’s Cedar District in late 2014.
Due to a bit of secretly
purposeful micro-managing by several SEELE Council members, Toyota and Ford
each opened shops on the same day at the same time on 24 May 2019 on Copperhead
Road in New Port City across from the Rubber Duck Trucking Company – they each
claim right of “first car dealership off of Earth.”
The arcology’s main
imports are metals, specialty foodstuffs, specialty medicines, raw organic
material, wood and paper products, plastic products, and petroleum. Its main
exports are the products of the SEELE Council (see SEELE Council article), a
smaller amount of non-council affiliated products, and basic foodstuffs.
Dramatis Personae
Note that all stats are
circa 2022.
R. Robert Flutie (T-800
Sapient Android) – Mahora Academy – Headmaster – Former: Sunnydale High School
Principle
Despite being initially and understandably traumatized
(as the last moments of his ‘previous life’ were of four possessed students
eating him alive), Robert “Call me Bob” Flutie has returned to the job he loves
– guiding young minds. This time around, though, he has decided to keep an open
mind about weirdness. On Friday nights, he, Dr. Gregory, and Mr. and Mrs. Giles
– aka, “The Sunnydale Irregulars” – can occasionally be seen throwing a few
back at The Ministry of Silly Walks.
Dr. R. Michael Gregory
(T-800 Sapient Android) – Mahora Academy, Acme University – Biology Department
Head – Former: Sunnydale High School Biology Instructor
Much like Headmaster Flutie, Mike’s ‘last moments’ are a
memory of being eaten – albeit by a giant praying mantis woman rather than
hyena spirit-possessed students. Also like Bob, he decided to continue with the
career he was best at: teaching.
R. Euphemia li Britannia
(T-900 Sapient Gynoid) – Mahora Academy, Acme University – Education Major –
Former: Third Princess of the Holy Britannian Empire
Doing her best to be a source of familial comfort for her
brother, Euphie also now plans to teach English and Japanese once she
graduates.
R. Shirley Fenette (T-900
Sapient Gynoid) – Mahora Academy, Acme University – Business Major – Former:
Ashford Academy Student
If there is one thing one can say about Shirley, it is
that she keeps her promises. The moment she was informed that Lelouch had been
‘revived’ she stuck herself to his side and hasn’t left since. Her father has
her enrolled in the university’s business department so that she can eventually
succeed him as CEO of WilPharma.
R. Naoto Kouzuki (T-800
Sapient Android) – Mahora Academy, Acme University – Physical Education Major –
Former: Japanese Anti-Occupation Resistance Group Leader
The former leader of an anti-Britannian resistance group
in his ‘previous life,’ Naoto now plans to enlist in the Defense Division of
the STARS once he graduates. On a more personal note, ever since Naoto saw the
Code Geass anime… let’s just say that it’s an unofficial order to keep Lelouch
and himself separate so as to prevent the former a return visit to NERV Medical
Ward.
R. Hanmyo (T-900 Sapient
Gynoid) – Mahora Academy, Smart Brain High School – Student – Former: Ban
Pirate Guild Tao Sorceress/Grappler Ship Pilot
A former pirate who now hopes to teach magic… once she
figures out how it operates differently here from ‘back home’…
R. Robert Kendo (T-800
Sapient Android) – Kendo Gun Shop – Owner and Proprietor – Former: Owner and
Proprietor of Raccoon City’s Kendo Gun Shop
R. Bill Hansen (T-800
Sapient Android) – Grill 13 – Owner – Former: Owner of Raccoon City’s Grill 13
The Lazarus Batch
A curious fact which
many notice about the Pavonis Arcology is that there are not as many AIs as one
would think, what with it being a manufacturing site for robots. This is due
the nature of the handwavium batch found by Alex Xanatos. While being like
every other source of handwavium in other ways, a quirk seemingly isolated to
this batch (and most blame Alex picking his last name as Xanatos being somehow
responsible for it) is that it stubbornly refuses to make any AI whatsoever
that is not based on a fictional character that has officially died in its
canon.
While AIs based on
fictional characters are obviously quite common in Fenspace, there exists a
further problem – each of the AIs produced with what became known as the Lazarus
Batch insist that they are the genuine article. Disturbingly, the sheer level
of detail and clarity with which they can remember their ‘former lives’ –
especially a great deal not even covered in the source material – makes the few
who know of this phenomenon wonder if it might not somehow be true. This was
only given still further credence when several attempts at making duplicates of
those already ‘revived’ failed completely.
The SEELE Council
decided not to take any chances – the ethical questions alone about ‘raising
the dead’ were mindboggling. Replacement handwavium sources were purchased,
several barrels of the Lazarus Batch were sealed up for later study, and all
other samples were destroyed via the sun in March 2013.
All of which changed at
SerenityCon and the events up to the Battle of Boskone Prime...
Following the conclusion
of the Boskone War, the now-diminished SEELE Council came to the conclusion
that fail-safes had to be put into place to prevent such a large force of
aggressors from assembling without notice or opposition. While the post-war
demilitarization was underway elsewhere throughout Fenspace, the council
carried out in late 2013 the reorganization of NERV Section Two and the secret
creation of the U.N. Mars Force.
A key part of these
post-war actions was the Violet-level classified Project THANATOS GAMBIT. Using
the remainder of the Lazarus Batch, fifty-two individuals selected for just
what they could bring to the table and their likelihood of being convinced to
work with the NERV Foundation were chosen for ‘revival.’
The rest is history.
~~~
NERV Foundation
The NERV Foundation is a collection of organizations operating under a
single banner to carry out various joint projects and philanthropic ventures
for the SEELE Council and the Pavonis Arcology.
Emblem used by the NERV Foundation
The most ambitious of the foundation’s philanthropic ventures and the plan from
which the foundation draws its name is its Natural Environment Re-creation
Venture, the natural environment in question being the natural environment for
humanity, the current focus project of which is Project RED EARTH (see Pavonis
Arcology article).
Prior to CorusCon, the leadership functions of the foundation ran
through the SEELE Council. Following the convention, the positions of Commander
and Sub-Commander were created. By majority vote of the SEELE Council, the
first Commander of the NERV Foundation is Alex Xanatos (the only vote not for
him was his own vote). The first Sub-Commander of the NERV Foundation is R.
Edwin Jarvis.
[table]
- 1 NERV Section One
- 2 NERV Section Two
- 3 NERV Section
Three
- 4 NERV Section
Four
- 5 Joint Projects
- 6 DECA
- 7 NERV Section
Five/STARS Covert Division
- 8 Operation WHITE
MOON
- 9 Dramatis
Personae
NERV Section One
The Pavonis Arcology Support Services (PASS) provide and service electrical utilities, water supply and
treatment, life support, running Hollow Fields (Agro Division), and similar
work for the Pavonis Arcology.
NERV Section Two
The Special Tactics And
Rescue Service (STARS) is a paramilitary organization whose Security
Division, Defense Division, Intelligence Division, and Emergency Division
(Medical Assistance and HAZMAT) serve the NERV Foundation and Pavonis Arcology.
Rumors of a so-called “Covert Division” somehow related to the equally rumored
“Section Five” are laughed at.
Badge prototype; ‘Raccoon Police Dep’ and POLICE banner replaced by
‘Pavonis Arcology’ and NERV FOUNDATION banner in final version
While the initial gear of the STARS was rather limited (a Saturday
Night Special or a hunting rifle if you were lucky), things did improve with
time. As of late 2018, the STARS armory consisted of, in varying numbers: M1911
(Standard Sidearm), Accuracy International Arctic Warfare (Standard Sniper
Rifle), H&K MP5 (Security Submachine Gun). Serbu Super-Shorty (Security
Shotgun), Steyr TMP (Defense Machine Pistol), Beretta ARX-160 (Defense Assault
Rifle), Beretta GRX-160 (Defense Under-Rifle Grenade Launcher), NeoSteed 2000
(Defense Shotgun), DPI USAS-12 (Defense Heavy Shotgun), GE M134 Minigun &
Browning M2 (Defense Machine Guns), SBD M136 AT4 (Defense Rocket Launcher), and
the rare M202 FLASH (Defense Heavy Rocket Launcher).
Vehicles include the DMC-38 “Yako” interceptor (flown by Strigon Squadron),
small numbers of modified M8 “Greyhound” Light Armored Vehicles (MHI-T1)
purchased cheap from third world countries, some Paramount Marauders, and a
goodly amount of waved civilian Hummers.
Note: The STARS do not provide regular police and firefighting
services, though are available to be called upon in a crisis situation.
NERV Section Three
Technological Research And Development (T-RAD)…enough said.
NERV Section Four
Biological Research And Development (B-RAD)… ditto.
Joint Projects
Ongoing joint research and development projects between the
members of the SEELE Council through the NERV Foundation include:
Project CRS
(Cybernetic Recreation Series. The largest joint project is a cooperative
venture between Cyberdyne, Mishima, Altimit, and DeLorean to recreate the
T-Series of robots from the Terminator
franchise. While having an internal computer brain, the 100 to 600 Series units
possess only a number of AI-designed specialist systems that are designed to be
easily modifiable and reprogrammable. The T-Series consists of:
T-100 Non-Humanoid Robot Series
T-110 GASAR (Ground Assault and Support Actions
Robot; based on the T-1s from the T3
movie; over time, 70 were made for NERV HQ defense; one prototype unit, the
T-199 “Scowl”, was made in January 2014, replacing the Minigun mounts and head
to test several humanoid arm/hand/manipulator and sensor unit designs and was
later placed in NERV Foundation Archival Storage; 10 units designated T-115,
based on the versions from the T4
movie, were made and sold to Great Justice in 2020, at cost; none are legally
available to the public)
T-120 Drone (T3
movie; available mid 2013)
T-130 Sidewinder (T4 comic; ground recon/security; unarmed; available early 2014)
T-140 Hunter (improved Drone; available April
2016)
T-150 VTOL (Essentially an oversized Drone;
available March 2017)
T-160 Aerostat (T4 movie; air recon/security; unarmed; available mid 2018)
T-200 Maintenance and Repair Robot (made in
various chassis configurations, the earliest T-202 model was available to the
public on 11 January 2014)
T-300 Specialist Combat Robot Series (Project
BLACK MOON programs to replicate a number of combat units from the Terminator
franchise; programs ‘requested’ by Great Justice to be suspended following
Boskone War conclusion; see ‘NERV Section Five’)
T-400 (Prototype designations)
T-400
Humanoid Robot Prototype Mark I (Dawn of
Fate T-400; Made June 2014)
T-450
Humanoid Robot Prototype Mark II (Dawn of
Fate T-500; Made January 2015)
T-500 Cybernetic Vehicle Series
T-510 Harvester (heavy construction giant tobot/customizable
heavy labor robot; available to the public 18 March 2015)
T-520 Aerial (T4 movie [slightly larger than source version]; minivan-sized on
the inside; available late 2015; nickname “Poor Man’s Pelican”; comes standard
with: life support, self-contained water closet with recycler, medium-sized
fridge/freezer, small microwave, and hook-ups and security-clamps for a flat
screen TV up to 25”; seats five comfortably [seven max safe life-support
limits]; powered by four hydrogen plasma fuel cells [Early Production Model
from release date to 2023 requires yearly replacement of cells; Improved
Production Model from 2023 onwards requires replacement every five years])
T-530 Transport (T4 movie; light transport; available mid 2017)
T-600 Multi-Function Humanoid Robot (first
successful fully-humanoid robot approved for mass production; most noted quirk
is that any attempt at disguising a unit as being human fails [often
humorously], much like with its rubber-skinned source of inspiration; while all
versions have been described as “ugly clunkers” they are also all described as
“damn useful”; available to the public 5 June 2015)
T-700 Multi-Function AI Endoskeleton (a much
better version of the T-600, it lacks its predecessor series’ quirk that
prevented use artificial skin; aimed at the AI market, for AIs who want a body
of their own; all units are special orders; available to the public in 12
November 2016 [available ‘in house’ several years earlier]; production
discontinued following rollout of T-800/T-900 Series)
(Note: A number of intelligences inhabiting
T-700 Series bodies “upgraded” (had their minds transferred) to T-800/T-900
Series endoskeletons. Those “trading in” received a slight discount. Old T-700
units were recycled. The T-800/T-900 Series Neural Net Processors (NNPs) were all
developed by Dr. R. Miles Bennett Dyson based on the knowledge retained in his
‘canon’ memories.)
T-800 Advanced-Function Android Endoskeleton
(available to the public starting on 12 August 2021, the T-800 Series initially
comes in the T-850 “Governator” Classic Model, and ten models of varying body
size from the smallest T-801 to the six-foot-even T-810; utilizing WilPharma
pioneered CSM-101 Synthflesh, it is half again as expensive as the
still-available T-600)
T-900 Advanced-Function Gynoid Endoskeleton
(available to the public starting on 12 August 2021, the T-800 Series initially
comes in ten models of varying body size from the smallest T-901 to the
six-foot-even T-910; utilizing WilPharma pioneered CSM-101 Synthflesh, it is
half again as expensive as the still-available T-600)
The Future: All attempts at recreating a T-1000
polymimetic alloy unit have, thus far, failed (rumors about a “Grey Goo Girl
Incident” are met with blank stares whenever personnel are questioned). It has
generally been accepted that nanotechnology will have to advance more before it
can be possible even with handwavium. This conclusion has also been accepted
for the T-1100, better known as the T-X.
Project GEOFRONT
(An attempt by the NERV Foundation to create a self-sustaining ecosystem, the
information gained during its development will hopefully provide useful data to
the Mars Terraforming Project. As of 2018, it consists of a lake, some lichens,
moss, and simple grasses, and a promising bloom of plankton. The first simple
plants and slow-breeding insects were introduced in 2022. It is run by NERV
Section Four.)
Project FRAGMENT
(Altimit/Heartland project that produced a working version of the DotHack
franchise in-series MMORPG, The World [available November 2014])
Project ATF (energy fields and force fields; has
produced and is selling through Mishima an Acutely Tickling Field as a
non-lethal restraint system [moderately bulky])
Project SUPER SOLENOID (energy generation;
produced the NERV-SSH-01 Hydrogen Plasma Fuel Cell for heavy equipment and the NERV-SSI-01
Iridium Power Cell for light equipment)
Project EGO BOUNDRY (man-machine interfaces;
best known product is the PICK, sold through Altimit)
Project HEINFLICK LIMIT (FTL technologies)
Project REFRESHER (following Struve Conspiracy,
data on biomoding the Boskones considered ‘useless’ recovered during investigation
used to offer those getting on in years and otherwise down in health an option
of several ‘controlled biomods’ – Antarctic Press Furries [‘too strong and free
willed’] and Fantasy Short Folk [‘too limited a customer base’] surprisingly
popular, as is the Modern Kitsune Biomod)
Project DIRAC SEA (dimensional studies;
established following the Interdimensional Incursion Incident) {Classification lifted following release of
redacted portions of Whole Fenspace Catalog}
Project LONGINUS LANCE (paranormal studies;
established following the Interdimensional Incursion Incident) {Classification lifted following release of
redacted portions of Whole Fenspace Catalog}
Project BLACK MOON (Boskone War development plan
for defense programs; discontinued after the war; rumors that some continued
under a secret NERV section are, of course, entirely preposterous)
Project KRAKEN (Cyberdyne/Mishima/DeLorean
project; developing an AI-controlled, anti-submarine/wet navy ship drone attack
craft for a Case BURGANDY scenario [dane invasion of Fenspace]; low priority;
designation XT-333)
DECA
The Digital Enclave and Cyberspace Archive is the central computer
core of the foundation. It is connected, but not integral, to the Pavonis
Intranet, and can be isolated at a moment’s notice both manually and
automatically.
As one might imagine, it is controlled by the three MAGI – but
each MAGI is itself composed of three artificial intelligences. Casper is made
up of three based upon several Vagrant AIs from the DotHack franchise: Aura,
Lycoris, and Macha. Balthazar is made up of Meg, Lou, and Nam from Bubblegum Crisis. Whoever Melchior
consists of, however, is classified.
NERV Section Five/STARS Covert Division
***WHITENOISE***
This organization – the U.N.
Mars Force (UNMF) – does not exist.
ZotE Bufram Militia flag. Used by the U.N. Mars
Force
Following the Struve Conspiracy and the end of the Boskone War,
the remaining SEELE Council members decided to create a force that could help
to both prevent against and protect in the eventuality of similar troubles.
Unfortunately, the attitude of toning down on armed forces in Fenspace
prevalent after the war – including a formal request from OGJ to cease and
desist Project BLACK MOON research and development – meant that it had to be
done incognito.
The result is a force led by R. Lelouch Lamperouge (Director of
Covert Operations in STARS hierarchy) out of Ecosystem Monitoring Facility #2
in the Geofront. In transmissions and reports, it is referred to as Eagle Rock
Bunker or just ‘the bunker.’
Gear includes the standard STARS equipment (not recommended for
denial purposes), access to the secret Biwa Arsenal (see Mishima section of
SEELE Council article), the MHI-M9 Gernsback mecha, the IMI Tavor TAR-21
assault rifle, the IMI Desert Eagle pistol, and the MHI-T2 “Dominion” tank
(based on data gained from modifying several M8s into MHI-T1s; modeled after the
JSSDF 6x6 tank in End of Evangelion).
The most notable units available to – albeit never used by;
they’re kept and trained with on a “just in case” basis – the UNMF are the
products of the officially cancelled Project BLACK MOON development programs.
The SEELE Council plans on sarcastically saying, essentially, “Oh, yeah, cause
we’re the ONLY people in Fenspace copying things from fictional sources. Riiiiiiiight~,” should anyone get
suspicious of Terminator-related
products in the UNMF inventory if ever used. As of 2020, the small stock of such
items include the: T-310 Mototerminator, T-320 Snowterminator, T-330 Spider,
T-340 Hydrobot, T-350 Tank, T-360 Bomber, T-370 Infantrybot, T-380 Tetrapod,
and T-390 Centurion.
What really allowed the operations of the UNMF to take off was the
successful recreation of MITHRIL’s Electronic Camouflage System (ECS) –
emitters that, when placed strategically around an object, produces an energy
field that bends and wraps light around it to make the object invisible. This
does not affect radar, thermal optics, or motion sensors, of course, but it is
still quite useful. The SC Tuatha de
Danaan TDD-1 and the MHI-M9 Gernsbacks are equipped.
Several UNMF facilities, primarily intelligence units, operate under
legitimate front companies. These include: Zeira Corporation (Marduk), Automite
Systems (Crystal Paris), Security Trust of Mars Vegas (Mars Vegas), Kaliba
Group (Coruscant), and Dakara Systems (Ganymede).
Operation WHITE MOON
Operation WHITE MOON is a manhunt by STARS Intelligence Division
for Harry Struve independent of Great Justice.
Status: Investigation Suspended 12 October 2016, 21:06 Mars
Standard Time
***WHITENOISE***
-U.N.M.F. AND SEELE COUNCIL EYES ONLY-
Orders: Operation WHITE MOON is hereby transferred to U.N. Mars
Force jurisdiction – See attached folder “Struve Search” for details
…
STARS Intelligence Division File 1028.4
Investigative Report: Jennings & Rall, Incorporated
Subsidiaries: Ravenwood (Private Military Contractor);
CyberConnect Corporation (Network Services; Software; Electronics); Tricell
Pharmaceutical Company (Medical R&D; Medical Supplies; Medical Equipment)
Subject of Interest: Liam Harrison, Vice President in Charge of
Special Projects
…
Director of Covert Operations addendum – In the event of a Type
Six Emergency, the contents of folder “Struve Search” are to be e-mailed to subjects:
Rhodes, Ben; Fnord, Mal; Scott, Noah; Marsden, Chris; and Caldwell, Stephen
Dramatis Personae
Note that stats are circa 2022.
Alex Xanatos (see SEELE Council article)
R. Edwin Jarvis (see EELE Council article)
Dr. R. Robert Trenton Darius (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section
Four – Chief Virologist – Former: Discoverer of Proto T-Virus (intended for
medical regeneration treatments)
While saddened by
the loss of his ‘former life,’ this man of science has decided to throw his lot
in with NERV Section Four in the hopes of making the world a brighter place.
Dr, R. Miles Bennett Dyson (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section
Three – Chief Cyberneticist – Former: Head of another world’s CSC R&D
Having once
‘given up’ his life in the cause of stopping a global holocaust before it could
start, Miles Dyson now uses the skills and knowledge that led to Judgment Day
to better serve humanity.
R. Dr. Daniel Fransisco “Danny” Alvera (T-800 Sapient Android) –
NERV Section Three – Chief Programmer – Former: Best Programmer on the USAF’s
CRS Project Team
A man who gave up
his life several times to spit in the face of Skynet, Danny now applies the
know-how that planted the seeds of individual sentience in the Terminators to
perfect the software side of things for NERV.
R. Robert Brewster (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two,
STARS Defense Division – Director of Defense Operations – Former: Lieutenant General
in charge of U.S. Air Force’s Cyber Research Systems Project
If there is a
person who understands how the road to hell can be paved with good intentions,
it would be Robert Brewster. His ‘dying moments’ were spent facing the
knowledge that his project’s creation was going to destroy his country and
world. It will not happen again…
R. Rupert Giles (T-800 Sapient Android) – Project LONGINUS LANCE
(later Mahora Academy Center for the Study of the Arcane) – Project Director
(later Center Administrator) – Former: Sunnydale High School Librarian; Field
Watcher; Magic Shop Owner; Head of the New Watchers Council; alias “Ripper”
When he woke up
after being ‘killed’ by the elder vampire known as The Master, Rupert Giles had
only one thing to say: “Ah…I probably should have expected something like
this…” Gradually rekindling his relationship with Janna Kalderash – wed in 2017
– he works now with his wife and a close team to determine the laws, effects,
and, inevitably, consequences of magic and the supernatural in this “other
Earth.”
R. Janna Giles (T-900 Sapient Gynoid) – Project LONGINUS LANCE (later
Mahora Academy Center for the Study of the Arcane) – Technomancy Division
Subdirector – Former: Sunnydale High School Computer Teacher; Technopagan Mage;
Romany of Clan Kalderash; alias “Jennifer Calendar”
After ‘dying’ at
the hands of Angelus, Janna can probably be forgiven for kicking Alex in the
family jewels when he came into her ‘waking room’ following her ‘revival’ to
explain what was going on. Eventually rekindling her relationship with Rupert,
she is actually quite excited at the idea of studying and practicing magic in
this new world where she doesn’t have to worry about (much) secrecy.
R. Lelouch Lamperouge (T-800 Sapient Android) – U.N. Mars Force –
Director of Covert Operations – Former: Leader/Strategist of the Order of the
Black Knights & 99th Emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire;
alias “Zero”
If it weren’t for
Euphie and Shirley he wouldn’t bother at all. His ‘sister’ and
friend-who-is-a-girl (and much more if she has her way) are now the rocks by
and for which the former revolutionary steadies himself.
…He does wonder
how the hell, with all the differences in their timelines, Pizza Hut can exist
in this world, too, though…
R. Monica Krushevsky (T-900 Sapient Gynoid) – U.N. Mars Force –
Valkyrie Team Leader; MHI-M9 “Gernsback” Pilot – Former: Knight of Twelve of
the Knights of the Round of the Holy Britannian Empire
This protector of
the Britannian Imperial Family has chosen to put her support behind Euphemia,
hoping that, with the many settlements being founded in Fenspace, she may
eventually convince her princess to establish a ‘New Britannia’ – it’s not
like, as cybernetic organisms, they don’t have time to spare after all. For
now, she protects her chosen charge by serving in the covert UNMF.
R. Marika Soresi (T-900 Sapient Gynoid) – U.N. Mars Face – Valkyrie
Team Member; MHI-M9 “Gernsback” Pilot – Former: Valkyrie Team Member, Imperial
Britannian Army
Arguably one of the
worst of the cases of culture shock, the young woman raised in a ‘Britannians
are superior’ environment suffered a nasty surprise when the closest things her
first Internet search for BRITANNIA led her only to articles on Imperial Roman
history, a modern awards event, several song lyrics, and Code Geass materials.
R. Liliana Vergamon (T-900 Sapient Gynoid) – U.N. Mars Face –
Valkyrie Team Member; MHI-M9 “Gernsback” Pilot – Former: Valkyrie Team Member,
Imperial Britannian Army
Basically the
same as Marika.
R. Enrico Marini (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two, STARS
Defense Division – STARS Bravo Team Leader – Former: Raccoon Police Department
STARS Bravo Team Leader
R. Forest Speyer (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two, STARS
Defense Division – STARS Bravo Team Mechanic – Former: Raccoon Police
Department STARS Bravo Team Mechanic (from Alabama)
R. Richard Aiken (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two, STARS
Defense Division – STARS Bravo Team Comms Expert – Former: Raccoon Police Department
STARS Bravo Team Comms Expert
R. Ken Sullivan (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two, STARS
Defense Division – STARS Bravo Team Scout/Chemist – Former: Raccoon Police Department
STARS Bravo Team Scout/Chemist
He ‘originally’
couldn’t shoot the broad side of a barn. With his now cybernetic status that is
no longer an issue.
R. Kevin Dooley (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two, STARS
Defense Division – STARS Bravo Team Pilot – Former: Raccoon Police Department
STARS Bravo Team Pilot
R. George Scott (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two, STARS
Defense Division – STARS Bravo Team Member – Former: Raccoon Police Department
Officer
R. Marvin Branagh (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two,
STARS Defense Division – STARS Alpha Team Leader – Former: Raccoon Police
Department Officer
R. Joseph Frost (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two, STARS
Defense Division – STARS Alpha Team Driver – Former: Raccoon Police Department
STARS Alpha Team Driver
R. Brad Vickers (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two, STARS
Defense Division – STARS Alpha Team Pilot/Hacker – Former: Raccoon Police
Department STARS Alpha Team Pilot/Hacker; alias “Chickenheart”
R. Karen Driver (T-900 Sapient Gynoid) – NERV Section Two, STARS
Defense Division – STARS Alpha Team –
Former: Exeter Police Department STARS Alpha Team
R. Steve Lopez (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two, STARS
Defense Division – STARS Alpha Team Computer Tech/Marksman – Former: Exeter
Police Department STARS Alpha Team Computer Tech/Marksman
R. Neil Carson (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two, STARS
Defense Division – STARS Alpha Team Member – Former: Raccoon Police Department
Sergeant
R. Mikhail Victor (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two,
STARS Defense Division – STARS Charlie Team Leader – Former: Umbrella Biohazard
Countermeasure Service Delta Platoon Leader
R. Randy Thomas (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Two, STARS
Defense Division – STARS Charlie Team Member – Former: Umbrella Biohazard
Countermeasure Service Soldier Delta Platoon Member
R. Henry Cole (T-800 Sapient Android) – NERV Section Three –
Expert Electrician – Former: In-the Dark Technician at Umbrella Test Facility
“The Planet”
~~~
SEELE Council
The SEELE Council is essentially a
business conglomerate with a board of directors – the SEELE Council itself –
who, while maintaining complete control over their own enterprises, cooperate
heavily with one another in various joint projects and philanthropic ventures
through the NERV Foundation.
The eight people presently on the council are: Alex Xanatos, CEO Cyberdyne;
Biwa Mishima, CEO Mishima; R. Joseph Fenette, CEO WilPharma; Mary Gamblin, CEO
Altimit; James “Jimmy” Blake, CEO Binford; Kazuo Jenkins, CEO Ajax; Lana
Izavia, CEO Heartland; and The O, CEO DeLorean.
Former council members consist of: the late Airi Ikuhara-Xanatos, CEO Ikuhara;
and Harry Struve, ex CEO WilPharma, on the run and wanted by Great Justice
following the Battle of Serenity Valley.
Council chairpersons: Alex Xanatos (Founding-January 2019) and
Kazuo Jenkins (January 2019-Present)
The SEELE Council actually started as a group of bar buddies in
Port Lowell around 2010. Following a beer-laden 007 marathon at Jimmy Blake’s
place (see below), they decided to expand on the idea and make an actual
settlement within the volcano. This, of course, would require some serious
coin. Having already complained to one another about how certain services that
had been taken for granted were for the most part not available to Fen
following their leaving the Earth (Australia being the obvious exception), they
decided to become those services. Still, that left the requirement of start-up
money. Blake came to the rescue with the “how” he built his bachelor pad and,
as they say, the rest is history.
[table]
- 1 Cyberdyne
Systems Corporation, Limited
- 2 WilPharma
Corporation
- 3 Mishima Heavy
Industries
- 4 Altimit
Corporation
- 5 Binford Tools
Company
- 6 Ajax Material
Supply Company
- 7 Heartland Play
Systems
- 8 DeLorean Motor
Company
- 9 Ikuhara
Electronics
- 10 Politics and
Goals
- 11 Dramatis
Personae
Cyberdyne Systems Corporation, Limited
Producing human-use
bionics and non-sapient robots, it originally outsourced a goodly amount of its
electrical components from daneside sources and later fellow councilmember
Ikuhara Electronics. Following the Battle of Serenity Valley, Cyberdyne
absorbed Ikuhara and its product lines in keeping with the prior owner’s
wishes.
Its bionics fall under
the C-Series of products, which are increasingly customizable by the
generation. The PKG have a Preferred Customer status and discount.
All robots fall under
the R-Series of robots. It’s most popular is the R-10 Navi robot, based off of Vandread’s Pyoro.
WilPharma Corporation
Initially acting as a
middle-man for Earth-made supplies, WilPharma began coming into its own in mid-2013
when it began producing its own hospital grade basic materials, and received a
hard won victory when several daneside health organizations certified its
products in 2014.
The corporation received a major shake-up following the Battle of Serenity
Valley, where evidence recovered by the Roughriders revealed that not only had
CEO Harry Struve been supplying the Boskones via daneside intermediaries, but
had concocted a plot with the terrorists to kill the other members of the SEELE
Council – of the nine members, only he did not attend SerenityCon – and allow
him to subsume control of the Pavonis Arcology.
Following these events, with the corporation routed of Boskones and their
supporters, control of WilPharma was seized by the SEELE Council until such a
time as the surviving seven members could appoint a replacement as CEO. It did
so on 1 January 2014 in the form of R. Joseph Fenette (T-700 [later T-808]
Sapient Android).
During the investigation
of WilPharma facilities following the post-SerenityCon seizure, a half-dozen
unregistered laboratory chambers in NERV HQ were discovered. Inside were…
things best left unsaid. The SEELE Council decided to destroy all special equipment they found and not to
report any of what was discovered – as everyone involved with what went on in
said chambers had already been arrested and convicted, any further OGJ
attention would only hurt those in WilPharma innocent of any crimes.
They did, however,
recover data on biomoding that the Boskones considered to be useless, whether
due to the resulting subjects being ‘too independently minded’ or just having
too small of a potential market. The machines responsible for the biomoding
processes were perfected by WilPharma employees eager to prove their mettle and
the NERV Foundation used these in Project REFRESHER in a public, open offer
daneside and in Fenspace to those getting on in years and otherwise down in
health as an option of several ‘controlled biomods.’ The biomoding machines
themselves are clearly based on what someone, likely Struve, thought a Catgirling Machine was like
before ever getting access to a real one.
Options for biomoding recovered
include Antarctic Press-style furries (coming from a machine that looks like
Steve Urkle’s transformation booth and only works if the sound effects played
during said booth’s use on the show is played) and Fantasy Short Folk. An
accident during reverse engineering also created an anime-style Kitsune
biomoding machine that has proven surprisingly popular.
Mishima Heavy Industries
Your friendly,
neighborhood defense concern.
Like many of the
original SEELE Council members, Mishima started out supplying Fenspace with
products it bought daneside as a middleman. Uniquely to Mishima’s case, and a
source of much groaning and headaches once the rest found out about it, a
goodly amount of its start-up capital went to purchasing items off of black
market arms dealers – partly to keep them out of the wrong hands, mostly
because Biwa, being the military otaku she is, just couldn’t help herself.
Fortunately, the council members managed to keep the “Biwa Arsenal” from
leaking out (they hope), though they now have a secret stockpile of weapons to
make any third world dictator envious.
The company’s most
famous products include its refit of a number of M8 “Greyhound” Light Armored
Vehicles. Later, in cooperation with Steyr Mannlicher, it produced a market
version of its Advanced Combat Rifle in 2015. In 2017, MHI finalized the
purchase of the copyrights for the G11 rifle design. The following year it
released the MHI M11S standard rifle and the MHI M11V for use in vacuum.
Mishima has announced that a highly customizable version called the M11C with
non-lethal forms of ammunition is in the testing phase and expected to be
released around 2022.
This being Fenspace, and
Ms. Mishima being a Japanese military otaku, one would think her company’s
products would include mecha – one would be right.
Following the mobile
suit scale MHI-M1 to M3’s failures, a try at arm slave scale produced an
admittedly underpowered and unimpressive MHI-M4 “Mistral II” for sale in July
2013. The much improved MHI-M5 “Type-96” was available by April 2015, with a
slightly better MHI-M6 “Bushnell” arriving in May 2017. The model available in
2022 is the MHI-M6A4.
Rumors of a large, metal
container labeled “MHI-M9X” being spotted in transit through a NERV Personnel
Only tunnel in Pavonis in 2016 is denied outright (see NERV Section Five/STARS
Covert Division).
The Future: Current focus
is on the development of viable plasma weaponry, with a particular focus on
recreating the Westinghouse M-21 Phased Pulse Plasma Rifle.
Altimit Corporation
Computers repair and
customization, Internet and television service, network setup, software development,
specialist programs, computer games – if it needs to speak 010010, Altimit are
the folks to talk to – especially as most of the employees are AI themselves.
Starting by purchasing
the rights to the DotHack series and its related material, a LINUX-based
operating system, ALTIMIT OS, has been in use by the NERV Foundation and SEELE
Council members since 2012 (upgraded to ALTIMIT MINE OS following the ‘Struve
Conspiracy’).
Their current computer
game system is the Altimit PICK (Partial-Immersion Computer Kit), which
connects to a regular computer and allows the wearer to experience a number of
game worlds (both designed for the system and not) in terms of real world sight
and sound, but without such senses as taste, smell, and touch. The PICK is not
available in countries which places a ban on handwaved products and is not
compatible with Sony, Nintendo, or Microsoft game consoles.
Binford Tools Company
Producing first vulcanocrete,
then hand tools and basic parts, and finally power tools and heavy equipment,
an unknown fen working for a building crew at Mos Eisley once famously
commented that Binford could be described as “the backbone of any construction
project on Mars.” Needless to say, they take great pride in this.
Two of Binford’s
earliest successes – so early that the CEO was also sole employee – were also
critical to the development of the Pavonis Arcology: vulcanocrete and the
ultrasonic laser. Vulcanocrete is a ceramic material made up of lava rock mixed
with ground-up quartz and something else (generic plaster mixed with pure
handwavium). The ultrasonic laser is more the former than the latter, it is
made out of old sonogram and sonar equipment and modeled after the device of
the same name from The Core –
unfortunately, it’s not quite as effective as its inspiration.
In a quirk that
alternately annoys and amuses the company’s employees and owner to no end, no
handwaved Binford product will work correctly unless it bears a 6100 Series
label.
Ajax Material Supply Company
Growing out of initial
obscurity in early 2013, whether it’s a product they produce themselves or
import from Earth, Ajax as of 2022 is recognized as the largest chemical, wood,
paper, plastic, and stone supplier outside of cislunar space.
Thus far, all attempts
at making unobtanium have proven futile. One failed product of the attempt in
2014, though, produced a high-tensile strength aluminum-chromium-titanium-steel
alloy that Cyberdyne and several others (SEELE and otherwise) purchase under
the name hyperalloy.
They initially tried to
supply basic metals as well, but there was so much competition there already
that they just gave up on it – the main reason that metals of various sorts are
now one of Pavonis’ largest imports.
Heartland Play Systems
Handwavium and toys…
there exists not the space to encompass the joy and madness conceived.
Still, it is worth
saying that they produced the MMORPG “The World” together with Altimit in 2014.
It won a 4 out of 5 on X-Play, losing its sole pint due to the necessity
of purchasing the Altimit PICK to play it.
Note: Never ask about
the Chucky dolls… just don’t…
Extra Note: Their
Jumanji holographic board game is pretty fun, though.
DeLorean Motor Company
Purchased outright from
Stephen Wynne, The O (never forget the ‘The’) now slaps the DMC logo on both
waved and unwaved niche market products both space- and planet-side.
Products include the
DMC-12 Classic, the DMC-38 Yako (based on the Yak 38 Custom jet interceptor in Evangelion; space-capable), the DMC-40
Blue Angel (shuttle based on the ‘UN 789’ plane in Evangelion), the DMC-48 AD-Police Interceptor (chiefly exported to
Genaros; ‘Car 48, Where are You?’ opening music must be played before
starting), and the DMC-50 Peel (based on the Peel P50; rights purchased 2016).
DMC also has a standing
program to locate, purchase, refit, and resell certain other vehicles. These
include: the VW Van, the VW Thing/Safari/Trekker, the Opel Kadett, and first to
sixth generation Ford F-Series trucks. They also do a more limited number of
WWII/Cold War Era non-tracked military vehicles – The O has a standing order
request from Biwa Mishima to purchase any WWII Jeeps and similar vehicles. VW
Beetle owners have been refused waving since the Noodle Incident of 2015.
Currently, DMC is trying
to purchase any available “junked” diesel submarines on the cheap from former
communist block countries for use in the Mars Terraforming Project. The plan is
to refit them and use them to both haul water-ice asteroids to Mars as well as
to monitor the ecology of the future Martian oceans. Negotiations for the
rusted hulks seen in Top Gear’s Albania episode are now in progress.
The Future: DMC is
working on creating a working versions of the stealth fighter from Red Storm Rising, the F-19 Ghostrider.
Current projections place the DMC-19 in service around 2028 onwards.
Ikuhara Electronics
Selling waved, partly
waved, and non-waved electronics and electrical components, Ikuhara was a
successful business from its start to its end. Following Airi Ikuhara-Xanatos’
death at the Battle of Serenity Valley, the company was absorbed by Cyberdyne, per
its late owner’s wishes.
According to the SEELE
Council Charter, the membership of the council must remain at nine persons.
This means that another business enterprise must be invited to join the council.
This also means revealing a number of secrets to said invitee, some still only
in the planning stages. The council is debating its choices…
Politics and Goals
While encouraging
maintaining ties of various sorts with Earth, the SEELE Council is quite open
with its opinion that each settlement on Mars - and in Fenspace in its entirety
- should be as self-sufficient at least in the essentials as possible. It is
also of the opinion that Mars, at least once the terraforming project is
completed, should be the capital of Fenspace and “the homeworld of Fen, anywhere.”
Their proposal for the Fenspace National Anthem is Oingo Boingo’s “Weird
Science.”
The council fully supported the goals of Operation GREAT JUSTICE and later the
organization Great Justice. The SV Celestial
Court (TDD-2) – an unarmed but heavily armored design registered as a heavy
troop transport and emergency evacuation ship – was sold at cost to Great
Justice in June 2020. It and its NERV Foundation flagship predecessor – the SV Tuatha de Danaan (TDD-1), launched 2018
– are based on the carrier submarine from Full
Metal Panic!.
As of 2022, the SEELE
Council is debating on the gradual production of additional TDD-type vessels,
this time in a cargo carrier configuration, in order to progressively lessen
its reliance on outside shipping companies for export and import transport. If
produced, these vessels would be SC Aesir
(TDD-4), SC Vanir (TDD-5), SC Devas (TDD-6), and SC Kami (TDD-7).
Dramatis Personae
Alexander Xanatos (Original Name: Not tellin’) – Cyberdyne Systems
Corporation, Limited – CEO; NERV Commander (post-CorusCon); SEELE Chairman
(until January 2019)
While not
admitting his former identity to the public, it is pretty much in the open that
he is a former worker for the U.S. Postal Service. A fan of both the Terminator franchise and the works of
Ken Akamatsu and Rumiko Takahashi (minus Inuyasha),
he became the first Chairman of the SEELE Council by virtue of being the
slowest to decline the position. He now knows why Naruto fanfiction is
rife with jokes about the kage’s mortal enemy of paperwork.
After the death
of his wife Airi in the Battle of Serenity Valley, he buried himself in the
reorganization of NERV Section Two, the establishment of the U.N. Mars Force,
and the hunt for his former best friend, Harry Struve. This lasted for just
over a year, when Biwa slipped him something and gave him an “Eight Hour
Workout” to break him out of his funk.
Following the
turnover of the chairmanship in 2019, he took a page from Hand Maid May and, to a degree, became the “Wandering President of
Cyberdyne.” It is only to a degree as, much to his annoyance, the rest of his
friends voted him into the newly created position of Commander of the NERV
Foundation. About half of the time he can be found in places other than
Pavonis, including daneside, performing the role of representative of the NERV Foundation.
Airi Ikuhara-Xanatos (Original Name: N/A) – Ikuhara Electronics –
CEO (Until death in Battle of Serenity Valley)
Originally a
victim of the glass ceiling within Japan’s old boys club of corporate affairs,
the lifelong romantic comedy anime otaku journeyed into the final frontier with
the express purpose of thumbing her nose at the The Man. She did just that. It
is also where she met with her koi, Alex.
It was, sadly,
not to last. In the Battle of Serenity Valley, she was shot while attempting to
escape with her friends. She is survived by her husband of four months and the
elementary school which now bears her name.
James “Jimmy” Blake (Original Name: N/A) – Binford Tools Company –
CEO
A good old boy
and a Southern gentleman is there ever was one – most of the time. A former
employee of Black & Dekker, Jimmy quit the day he left Earth for Fenspace,
leaving behind a scathing letter on the subject of built-in obsolescence,
standards that hadn’t changed in years, the walking jokes that were quality-control
supervisors, and the canine-related parentage of the company president’s
mother.
Kazuo Jenkins (Original Name: N/A) – Ajax Material Supply Company
– CEO and SEELE Chairman (later after January 2019)
Only one-quarter
American, his mixed heritage status met with even more of a glass ceiling that
Airi Ikuhara did. Endlessly practical as well as forward-thinking, he easily
realized that the one thing that would always be in demand as a commodity was
raw materials. Setting out to supply that demand led to his resounding success
and seven digit net worth. His “suck it” letter to his former employers in 2020
nearly made The O wet himself in his laughter.
Mary Gamblin (Original Name: N/A) – Altimit Corporation – CEO
A member of the
Pulpers, Mary came to Fenspace for only a visit just before the American
government’s condemnation of those leaving the planet using handwavium. Stuck
there, she made the best of things. Following the amnesty granted at KandorCon,
she decided to stay in her new niche in life and renounced her U.S. citizenship.
For the past several years she has been part of
the growing online movement called the Confederation Party, which seeks to more
formalize the Articles of Convention into a “United Nations of the Fenspace
Convention” with a U.N. Parliamentary Assembly to present a more unified front
to those daneside – referred to as the “United Nations of Earth” – while still
maintaining individual sovereignty.
The O (Original Name: Not tellin’) – DeLorean Motor Company – CEO
The O once proudly declared that his wardrobe “consists of only
the very best of the Fifties to the Eighties in American and British fashion.” Usually
considered a bit of a goof, The O nevertheless has a good head for business and
keen eye for vehicles. After taking a loan from Kazuo to help purchase
DeLorean, he quickly paid him back following the production of the waved and
unwaved versions of an updated DMC-12 Classic to daneside and Fenspace markets.
Lana Izavia (Original Name: Not tellin’) – Heartland Play Systems
– CEO
Lana took her
name and appearance from a military policewoman in Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross who became Nova Satori in
its Carl Macek adaptation. She didn’t really have too much of a choice in the
appearance part, actually. Attending a cosplay party at Marsbase Sara in early
2010, she went as the first police figure she could think of as her parents
were both police detectives. It is there she made the all too common mistake of
trying out the green food at the buffet table. On the plus side, she would
never have to dye her hair from the drab brown she’d always disliked again as
her blue wig was now her real hair. On the minus side, she now had the Robotech version of her costume choice
yammering away in her head (and, as they later found out, able to take over
when either asleep or unconscious).
Taking the name
of her new headmate’s counterpart, the now Lana decided to improve the children
of Fenspace’s lives by making pre-waved and non-waved toys for their enjoyment.
She also, apart from this, used both her knowledge from growing up with two
officers of the law as well as the more hardcore experience of the Global
Military Police colonel in her head to help establish the Pavonis Arcology
Police Department.
Biwa Mishima (Original Name: Not tellin’) – Mishima Heavy
Industries – CEO
It would surprise
many that this rather chesty Yamato Nadeshiko is, in fact, not originally
Japanese – or even Asian for that matter. It would surprise them even more to
find out she was not always a she. Biwa is one of the lucky few who actually
got exactly what she wanted out of a biomod. Not that anyone ever will find
out, of course. She ain’t tellin’ nobody.
A true
Japanophile, Biwa speaks Nihongo like native of Tokyo. She is also notoriously
promiscuous and a tease – she keeps in regular contact with a number of friends
among the Heinleinians, and flirts constantly. Biwa is also a military otaku,
with a few quirks. She has a complete disdain for the M16, Beretta 92, Glock
pistol, and Kalashnikov and anything related to them, while adoring the M1911 and
Desert Eagle and their variants. Appreciates revolvers, but only for their
history – sees modern ones as their manufacturers playing up on nostalgia over
effectiveness.
Harry Struve (Original Name: N/A) – WilPharma Corporation – CEO
(until post-Battle of Serenity Valley); Boskonian
A man who the
other council members only thought they knew. Harry Struve secretly shared
biomod research with and supplied materials to Boskonian slavers through a
small chain of daneside intermediaries. Towards the end of the Boskone War,
however, he became too greedy. Learning through his contacts of an upcoming
attack on SerenityCon, he convinced the other members of the SEELE Council to
go to the convention and enjoy themselves while he “held down the fort while
carrying out some time-critical research.” In the aftermath of the Battle of
Serenity Valley, however, the Roughriders came across irrefutable evidence of
Struve soliciting a group of the Boskonians to directly target the other SEELE
members so that he could assume control over the Pavonis Arcology.
When Marsden
presented the evidence to the seven SEELE members grieving over the death of
Airi Ikuhara-Xanatos, the furious survivors led a charge of STARS Security
Division guards and an OGJ team to capture the traitor. What they found waiting
for them following a minor firefight with several reprogrammed T-110s, however,
was not Harry Struve. Not anymore, at least. What they found was Struve’s reclining
body in his private lab/study, grinning and giving the finger to the people
entering the room. A smell of burning metal and plastics filled the air as the
machine to which the body’s head was attached Cerebro-style smoldered. After an
investigation, it was determined that Struve had performed a destructive read
on himself and used Pavonis’ Interwave node to transfer his consciousness to
somewhere on Deimos. After that, the trail went cold.
Harry Struve,
regardless of present body/mind container, is now wanted by Great Justice,
Space Patrol, and the Pavonis Arcology Police Department for the crimes of one
count of murder, eight counts of solicitation to commit murder, and multiple
counts of slave trafficking, forced biomoding, and assault with deadly robots –
with more possible to come out at a trial.
R. Joseph Fenette (Original Name: N/A) – WilPharma Corporation –
CEO (As of 1 January 2014)
A businessman
‘victim’ of the Black Rebellion, he managed to push through his culture shock
after ‘revival’ for his daughter’s sake and agreed to take up the reins of
WilPharma and join the SEELE Council.
R. Delwin Jarvis (Original Name: N/A) – SEELE Council – SEELE
Council Treasurer – Former: Butler of Anthony Stark; Assistant to the Avengers
The first ever
‘revival’ of the Lazarus Batch, the gentleman from England woke Alex up the
morning following his laptop’s waving with screams of terror as the AI ‘woke
up’ with his ‘last memories’ of being eaten by his zombified friends. Since
then, he has become an invaluable companion to the members of the SEELE Council
and manages their joint funds with the long earned experience of guiding the
wealthy away from bad decisions.
“In politics, stupidity is not a handicap.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
“They opened up a can’a dumbass!” – Jon Stewart regarding Fox News, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.” – Harvey Fierstein
“They opened up a can’a dumbass!” – Jon Stewart regarding Fox News, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.” – Harvey Fierstein