Starmetal Manse

One of the five Alchemical Manses created by Autochthon, the starmetal manse floats 150 miles above creation, an observatory of both the stars above and Creation below.

Manse: ●●●●●
Maintenance: x
Fragility: x
Habitability: x

Construction

The floating manse is a roughly ellipsoid hunk of metoric iron about 500 yards long, 400 yards wide and 100 yards tall. Various rooms and passageways have been carved into the metal. Some of these rooms jut out over the surface of the asteroid, which is covered with a latticework of geomantically powerful starmetal wires. Though gravity is almost nonexistent on the station, it is split into five levels as if this were not the case, connected by five tubes that run the vertical length of the asteroid:

Level One: The level closest to creation is mostly one large room with an adamant floor, through which Creation can be monitored. Apparatus of various kinds are arranged in an efficient design, allowing five different sections of Creation to viewed at once. The diameter of this level is about half that of the asteroid itself, with the viewports of the control level jutting out further along the perimeter.

Level Two: The main control center sits atop the Creation observatory. A large holographic map dominates the center of the main control room, showing the path the station takes over Creation, it's current location, the current location of the 25 constelations, the sun, the moon, the elemental poles and various other features. A ring of consoles surrounds the map, split into five sections. Each console has its own purpose:

• Navigation: Controls the motion of the manse. Though built to run a fixed circuit across the sky, the manse can drift a bit, and has some ability for course correction. This requires increasing amounts of power the further out of the fixed circuit the manse gets.
• Mapping: Controls the display of the map. From this console, points of light can be added as markers anywhere. This console can also connect to most of the observing instruments on the station and represent their data in various ways on the map.
• Environment: Controls the internal environment of the manse, allowing alteration of temperature, humidity and so on. It also monitors the condition of the air.
• Flow: Monitors the flow of essence through the manse, with a few limited mechanisms for adjusting it.
• Network: While this console actually monitors both the other alchemical manses, the Well of Souls and the Radiant Amphora of Celestial Accumulation, its controls are completely alien, as is the language of its displays.

Level Three: Contains the geomantically significant rooms of the manse. A ring of 25 small rooms dot the equator the of station, adamant observation ports allowing each room direct observation of on of the constellations of the zodiac. These rooms harness the nature of the constellations and channel their energy to the hearthroom in the center.

Level Four: A ring about half the diameter of the level is divided into three narrow rooms. The biggest of these rooms, served by two access tubes, hosts a platform containing a gate through which the manse is accessed from Creation, near Yane. Though originally intended to be an active conduit, only leaving the station functions like this now. The entrance has been altered to only open on one day a year (24th day of Ascending Water). The second room (served by two more access tubes) can teleport anyone to any location withing 500 miles of the station. The third room (one tube) connects the other two, and serves as something of a welcoming room, as well as an airlock. Around this ring of rooms is a second ring containing twelve small bedrooms, each with a small bathroom.

Level Five: The top level, like the bottom, is capped in a bubble of adamant, and offers a gret view of the stars. More observational apparatus covers the floor, arranged more chaotically than that on the first level.

Traits

Mobile (5): The manse follows a set circuit through the sky, a single cycle taking one year. Each section of the path is dominated by a particular astrological house. While in that house, astrology made using a college of that house gains an automatic success. The path looks like this:

Armored (5x3): Being made of starmetal, this manse has an external soak of 42B/32L and internal of 32B/19L.

Divine Observatory (2): Any sidereal astrology conducted using the instruments in the station reduces difficulty by one. Tests for more mundane thaumaturgical astrology add five successes.

Geomantic Subtlety (2): Having been created by Autochthon himself, the design of this manse is advanced and inscrutable. Attempts to investigate or alter it suffer a -3 external penalty.

Comfort Zone (2x1): The manses environment is quite comfortable for humans, and can be controlled from the manse's second level.

Magical Conveniences (1): The manse assists its inhabitants in minor ways:

• Doors open when approached.
• The light level in each room can be controlled by vocal request.
• Most of the instruments and consoles in the manse have a square foot of ivory embedded somewhere on their surface. By touching this panel, a user can speak and his words will appear on the panel in elegant handwriting. Wiping a panel will erase it. Placing a piece of paper on the panel and will copy the contents of the panel to the visible face of the paper.
• Most of the floor is covered with a transparent living carpet, made of almost invisible hairs. These hairs attach lightly to any surface coming in contact with them. This connection is enough to hold items and people in position in the low gravity, but releases easily when the person wants to move.
• All rooms contain the illusion of a clock display, which keeps perfect time.

Network Node (1): This manse is connected to the other Alchemical Manses, as well as the Soulfire Collector. A control panel on the second level can exploit this connection, but only Autochthon knows how it works.

Password Activation (1): The hearthstone to this manse is formed within a starmetal vessel that will not open. Any attempt to breach the vessel causes a proportional amount of damage to the manse itself. Inscribed in Old Realm on this vessel is a grid of all possible Old Ream letters. Above it reads the inscription "Gulak's Loss". This is a reference to a story that can be found in the Tome of the Great Maker. In the sections about the eight heroes, five of them are mentioned as "loosing" something. Gulak lost his sanity, making the Old Realm word for "sanity" the password.

Attunement Recognition (0): The manse recognizes who is attuned to it. At present, no one is.

Basic Senses (0): The manse can sense those inside it.

Cosmetic Displays (0): The manse generates occasional "willo-wisp" type floating orbs of light that wander about briefly, before petering out.

Inefficient Respiration (0): While technically a manse, this structure was created mostly for use as a soul conduit for Autochthon. As such, the manse and its hearthstone restore essence at only a quarter of the normal rate.