USJSS Argentum

The Argentum


Appearance -
The Argentum, a beautiful site to the say the least.  The sight of a
dragon strikes fear in many, the sight of the Argentum strikes fear in
all.  A silver dragon, coiled around a sphere of purest mithril is the
battle station of the high elves of Toril.  With seventeen stories and
as wide as is tall (500' x 500').  Constantly hovering around the base
are motes of bluish white light, illuminating the base on both the
interior and the exterior of the station.  The sound of lutes pervade
the ship giving it a soothing and eternally peaceful aura.  More of an
entire space borne metropolis than a battle station, but still a power
in the realms nonetheless.


Interior -
17	Bridge
16	Battle Deck
15	Armoury / Hangar
14	Security Deck
13	Merchant's Deck
12	Maintenance 1
11	Maintenance 2
10	Maintenance 3
9	Sage's Deck
8	Manufacturing Deck
7	Life Preserving Deck
6	Living Quarters 1
5	Living Quarters 2
4	Living Quarters 3
3	Cargo Hold
2	Cargo Hold
1	Civilian Docks

Bridge - Commanding deck, contains helm, chartrooms, navigation rooms,
etc...  All command go from bridge to battle deck, and down level by
level.

Battle Deck - Doubles as the bridge if it were to be destroyed.
Contains and fires the majority of the weapons located on the station.
Houses smaller fighter craft to allow larger ships to be stored in the
hangar.

Armoury / Hangar - Training deck for soldiers and docking for larger
ships (10 to 50 tons).  Can hold up to 200 tons of ships at one time.
Personal weapons are stored on this deck as are the barracks for trained
soldiers.  Contains up to 200 soldiers at any time in the barracks.

Security Deck - The monitoring of the station is here.  Powered by many
clairvoyance spells and also the clairaudience spells both warriors and
wizards alike watch the station for brawls, fires, oncoming attacks,
etc...  By using specially designed shafts along the interior of the
station the security force can reach any given point within 2-20 rounds
or in case of emergency 2-15 rounds, fires can cause a lot of damage if
they are  not closer to the security deck.

Merchant's Deck - After docking at the civilian docks, being inspected
for space borne parasites, and made to pay a docking fee;  merchants can
come to this deck to sell their wares and stock to the inhabitants of
the station.  The 1% tax does not restrict the merchants too much, most
don't like it but they don't mind it either.  It is possible to find
anything on this deck (85%) and only a small chance (1-5%) of finding
anything magical unless specifically asked for and if the seller is
willing.

Maintenance Decks 1-3 - Through the use of specialized shafts and air
ducts the maintenance crew, known as the Sweepers, goes around
"cleaning" the station.  Their cleaning process is usually through the
use of freshening cantrips and purifying spells.  There is usually
anywhere from 5-15 crew members working during the current shift, which
runs every 8 hours.  The crew is, for the most part, made up of
low-level wizards trying to make a small wage.  Air freshening spells
are vital due to the forges on the manufacturing deck.

Sage's Deck - The "Hall of Reference" as it is sometimes called or just
"the Hall" by many of the stations citizens.  Many sages and wizards
alike gather on this deck to engage in "Mental Melee", a contest of wits
and speed of mind.  One or two psychics have taken this too seriously
and have been barred  for decades due to "headaches" and other mental
throwbacks that happened suddenly at the loss of money to a wizard.
Great libraries are contained within this decks many floors.

Manufacturing Deck - The building, repair, and demolition of ships,
weapons, and buildings alike take place on this vast deck of forges and
scaffolding.  For a price the smiths may make custom weapons, but their
forges work for the station first.

Life Preserving Deck - Livestock, plants, and ponds; they all blanket
this decks three floors.  This is where the citizens make a little money
off of the plants and livestock they raise.  Many different fruits and
vegetables stretch from wall to wall.  Livestock thrive both off of
these plants and the water that is constantly kept in motion and being
purified when it passes trough special nodes.  For many citizens this is
the ideal life to lead; in space, growing plants, great housing.  Each
citizen of the station is guaranteed at least a square yard of space to
garden
and isn't restricted by the type of plants that may be grown, save for
poisonous plants.

Living Quarters - For many of the citizens of the station these are the
most important decks in the entire complex, save for the life
preservation deck and the merchant's deck.  Each occupant has a fair
amount of living space and some houses even have more than one family
living in them, more often than not.  Many different races are
represented in these quarters, from elves to humans to even gnomes.
More war-like races such as scro, orcs, and goblins are not welcome
onboard.  Housing is paid but once a year at the end of harvest season
and is generally cheap, in the range of 100-500gp, which is also payable
with trade goods such as farmed plants and other merchandise.

Cargo Hold - The importing of goods requires a large amount of space, as
does needed materials for repair and construction of the station and its
defences.  The cargo hold is two decks tall and about 100 feet tall.
All imported goods must first be checked in at the Importer's Guild, a
team of merchant's hired by the station to deal with such matters.

Civilian Docks - Visitors are very common among the station's more
elegant guests and dignitaries.  Dock fees don't cost too much but they
can add up if the visitor is not careful and does not keep track of the
time spent docked at the station.

In most cases each deck is about 30 feet tall with two floors within
each deck.  Decks 4-9, are all open, as there is much needed interaction
between these areas.  The floors of these decks are arranged in a
fashion similar to a spiral staircase as to not crowd one floor to the
next and to provide the maximum ease of travelling from floor to floor.
In these locations there are scores of lifting devices bringing citizens
from deck to deck.  These devices are not more than large metal boxes
that are hoisted using metal cables and ropes.  Some of the more
illustrious decks have transportation provided by disks of pure force
that are similar looking to the groundling chariot, less horses and
wheels.  The hangar is 100 feet tall and 500 feet wide as is the
station, this provides ample room for fighters and heavier craft.  The
Battle Deck is about 50 feet tall and houses the smaller craft that are
under 10 tons and other light scouts.

The population is made up of:
Humans		40%
Elves		30%
Dwarves/Gnomes	15%
Halflings	10%
Other(See above) 5%

© Patrick Swenson, 06-07-99

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