Arcus Prima

The Chantryrealm

Atmosphere

Isle of Marmo (Chateau Stang): Spooky (-5)

Isla Sybilla: Peaceful (5)

Everywhere else: Normal

Phenomenon

Intermittent ghost raids from the Dark Isle: Haunted (-5)

Psychic Emanations

Normal (0)

Magickal Manifestations

Ghostly islands, faintly visible through the morning fog: Noticeable (-10)

Guardians

The Taihu Five: 5x Aware (5)

Size

Arcus Prima is a freshwater lake far vaster than Lake Taihu, above which float thousands of levitating islands: Large (10)

The various chantry buildings are spread out, with most of the 'restored' ones on Isle Marmo and Sybillae: Large (10)

Security

Westin has set up a vast array of micro-wards to alert him to intruders: Average (5)

Wards

Arcus Prima is heavily warded against any unauthorised entry: Diff 10 War vs all unauthorised (20)

Fortifications

The newly-constructed ancient ruins and floating isles of Arcus Prima pose an incredible challenge to any would-be attacker: Impregnable (15)

Shallowing

The mists of Lake Taihu overlap eerily with those of Lake Prima: Strong (-5)

Communications

Trans-Umbral (5)

Land Status

Tempus Spatium has control of Arcus Prima by right of conquest and reformat: Private (0)

Special Portal

To Hasseltine House, Vancouver (5)

Surroundings

The land of Arcus Prima is made up of many floating islands of all sizes: Strange (5, 5 quint)

Climate

The seasons turn in Arcus Prima like they do in Shanghai and we will probably wind up complaining about this some of the time: Earthly Climate (0)

Misc

All those authorized can generate wings to fly between islands, in addition several permanent teleport gates link Chateau Stang to Isle Sybillae: Transport net (10, +10 Quint)

Building Conditions

The inhabited buildings on Isles Marmo and Sybillae are of acceptable quality, but many additional overgrowned buildings lurk on other islands: normal (0)

Library

Cathy has collected a huge set of books and needs help to sort them all: Exceptional (5 + 5 free)

Laboratory

Every chantry member has a place to study, practice, and learn ideally suited to their interests, whether a moe cosplay studio or a Victorian seance chamber: Superior (5)

Population

Having been formatted from a blank slate, Arcus Prima has no native sentients: No People (-5)

Servants

We need catgirl maids: No Servants (-10)

Internal Politics

We can't agree on a way to get out of a wet paper bag: Disorganized (-5)

Some members of Tempus Spatium have extremely strong links to other parties: Conflicting Loyalties (-5)

Can't talk, snuggling up to hot technocratic powersuit girls: Rogue Cabals (-5)

Realm Affairs

Quint Requirements 115/Week

Node Sources

Lake Taihu - 50

Hassletine House - 20

Proteuspad - 15

Shrine - 15

15 Shortfall. We have a small grace period with the Dragon.

Locations

Isla Sybilla

Isla Sybilla is the larger of the two chantry halls floating in the realm of Arcus Prima. Rather than a single island (or a natural island at all) it is composed of a number of floating blocks that remain more or less stationary relative to each other and are in turn anchored at the outer edge on the eastern side of the Inner Halo. The blocks composed of clean, white stonework with some elegant, universal geometries worked artfully, if subtly, in. They are more vertically than horizontally separated, so the entire complex is taller than it is wide. Generally speaking, Sybilla has a very pleasant atmosphere, though it is on the quiet side, and is conductive to good mental health when not under attack by its nemesis, Chateau Stang.

Central Block

The Central Block is the largest block of Isla Sybilla, being larger than the others combined. It appears archaeic given its emphasized "slightly overgrown ruins" aesthetic but has most modern (if slightly ornate) amenities. Excluding its buildings, numerous huge extensions, and artistic flourishes in the form of shallow exterior seams, the basic foundation stone of the block is a perfect cube. The main library is located here in a vast hall with countless tomes and scrolls, including a full decade of Paradigma and an array of science texts. There is also a top-of-the-line data server linked to a number of terminals nearby and accessible from any of the chambers used by the chantry technomancers.

The Garden

The Garden is a small, spherical upperwestern block of Isla Sybilla. The upper half is a thin latticework supporting climbing plants above a paved garden and heated pool. All manner of plants can be found here, including some not known on Earth. There is a secret in the garden.

Idlesleigh Manor

Located on a small block close to the Central Library, Idlesleigh Manor is a small Victorian house with a lovely garden, though the flora and ambiance seems to suggest Alexandria as much as Albion. The interior notably includes a customized ritual chamber manufactured to exacting numerological specifications by a very puzzled Eli, along with all of the other features expected of such a house. Spirits tend to frequent this house, and a Mau cat is always present somewhere in the house.

Dojo Block?

• Shu's Dojo?

Lower Academy

Looks suspiciously like a small Japanese high-school campus.

• The Old School Building is a run-down facility located on the a corner at the back of the block's surface. Unlike the rest of Sybilla, it is distinctly spooky.
• The Mahora Library is located in the massive physical block beneath the campus.

Ohno Shrine

Ohno Shrine is the uppermost block of Isla Sybilla – a tall but narrow cylinder rising many stories into the sky, wrapped around several times on the outside by a steeply spiraling set of steps. The base of the block is attached to and accessible from the eastern edge of the Upper Academy; the path to the stairs is marked by an overgrown torii obscured by trees and bushes behind the Student Activities Building.

The shrine itself is a small traditional Shinto shrine with stereotyped components heavily emphasized, though its circular platform is one of the smaller discrete areas on Isla Sybilla. Space-intensive features like the bamboo grove are carefully arranged on stepped upward extensions to appear more spacious than they are with the deception hidden by plants and rocks. The arrangement of its buildings matches up well with common descriptions of various shrines found in popular Japanese visual fiction. The eternally empty Hakurei offertory box is especially noticeable.

Kana and Liz are effectively shrine maidens at the Ohno shrine, although the actual use of the area for more than passing amusement is mostly restricted to Liz.

Aethyrodynamics Laboratory

The Aethyrodynamics Laboratory is a large, mostly horizontal block located on the lower northern side. It is notable in that it is almost entirely enclosed, with an entrance through a large set of clamshell doors, leading to a pentagonal iris door inscribed with the emblem of the Sons of Ether. These open onto a central hallway, which has The buildings were constructed utilizing the mathematical principles of the realm, with much use of the golden ratio and the dodecahedron. There are 9 labs, with the chemistry and molecular biology labs being the largest and best equipped. The remaining labs for Umbralogy, Quantum Physics, Chronal Mechanics, Applied Psionics, Chaotic Thermodynamics, and Aethyic Quintonics are in varying degrees of sophistication and completion. There is also a set of habitats for various engineered biological creations, like Archy. The living spaces are done in polished, science fiction style, with automated pocket doors.

Rei Block

Rei Block is the bottommost section of Isla Sybilla and is shaped like a hexagonal prism. Unlike the other blocks of the chantry hall, the seams in the white stone that seem to be decorative in other areas are evidently active in this section as glowy lines that pulsate a soft bluish light; the effect is most evident at night. Besides the overall shape of the block, the hexagonal shape is a very evident theme throughout.

Rei Block has very few exterior features, though plenty of places that can mechanically extend or retract to reveal external features for whatever reasons the primary occupants deem appropriate.

• Beta-chan's Avatar Room

Isle of Marmo

[1]
The Isle of Marmo is a spooky island (as opposed to Isla Sybilla's purely architectural composition of floating blocks) nominally floating on the western side of the Lower Halo. Unlike Isla Sybilla, Marmo is mobile and follows a complex counter-clockwise track or orbit and periodically passes closely to Isla Sybilla. The point at which this occurs is conjectured to be annual – on Halloween when the realm was first recreated.

Marmo's dominant feature is Chateau Stang, the smaller of Arcus Prima's two chantry halls. Chateau Stang is a flying, completely over-the-top ode to gothic architecture with stone that is white yet somehow shadowy and dark. The chateau sits atop the Dark Hill, a rocky formation at the center of the Isle of Marmo, and its front gates face east in an outrageous profusion of vaulting arches, steeples, and ostentatious statuary. Its internal furnishings are mostly various shades of scarlet where possible with dim lightning to stop it from jarring the eyes too much. The mansion was originally to have been a dedicated Hermitic chantryhouse but failed to appeal to Catherine West as she was ill disposed to the spooky atmosphere.

• Aside from its Orphan architect and interior designer, the Main Hall of Chateau Stang is a more or less desireable Hermetic function hall, with all those guest apartments, studies, banquet facilities, meeting chambers and sitting rooms necessary for social networking, political intrigue and looking all snootily refined and old fashioned. The deviations are the little stylistic ones: decorative armours at the corridor intersections are distinctly female and highly insubstantial whereas the the weapons hanging from the walls look far too substantial. Many other furnishings like paintings, tapestries or stained glass windows are also either tainted by the Kanadigm, or simply totally over the top as if taking up the slack.

• The Ritual Chamber lies in the basement. It is more or less to Hermetic specification insofar as Kana can understand them. It is quite a deep facility. The primary magic circle lies beneath a tall shaft directly beneath the Clock Tower. The floor of the Clock Tower can retract, as can the clock tower's own ceiling via some barely-sensical Matter 4 rearrangement of the machinery and pendulum.

• Arcus Prima's primary link to Earth is located within the Main Hall, where there is a giant painting of roses and yaoi vampires overlooking a certain flight of stairs. A hidden switch causes the entire panel behind this hologram to pull away and connects to Hasseltine House via a twisting secret passage that eventually emerges behind a false bookshelf in the latter.

(Kana-Liz defenses tba!)

• The Voile Library is located in the West Wing. Of course, since Cathy didn't like the chateau, it is primarily an atmospheric library with Kana as acting librarian.

Other Floating Islands

Upper

[2]

Inner Halo

The Inner Halo is a ring of islands floating in a ring around the Eye of Arcus Prima. Unlike the Lower Halo, the landmasses of the Inner Halo are stationary. Isla Sybilla is located at the uppereastern edge of this ring.

• The Onsen Isles with their mysterious vulcanism are conveniently close to Isla Sybilla.

Eye of Arcus Prima

[3] The Eye of Arcus Prima, or the "Core", is a very dense region of drifting islands in the nominal center of the realm. Although the true heart remains the Fountain of Divine Geometry (which disappeared following the recreation of the realm), Kana assumes that the fountain must be in there somewhere. In any event, mobile chantryhouse Chateau Stang also orbits the Eye along the path of the Inner Halo.

The islands in the Eye are covered in apparently ancient ruins. The architecture is beautiful but confounding and seemingly aimless. In some places, separate islands are held together by stone causeways or arches. Besides the usual risk of stepping over a ledge and falling through empty air, the Eye of Arcus Prima is somewhat more dangerous than the other "wild" areas of Arcus Prima. In some places, the islands are so dense that there is a chance of getting trapped and crushed or pushed over the side by their gradual movements relative to each other. Many of the islands regularly collide as well, and may shower lower areas with potentially dangerous debris.

Lake Prima

The surface of Arcus Prima a vast freshwater lake in theory roughly the size of all the Great Lakes combined. In practice, no one knows what actually bounds the shore, as it is never visible, or knows how deep or what the lakebed is like. Hence, its status as a "lake" is derived only from the fact that the realm's primary node is the Taihu near Shanghai. Chantry mages rarely visit the lake as it sits far below the floating isles where the chantry halls are but one supposes that if anyone were to breach the powerful wards in place against the realm's shallowing, there is a strong possibility they would wind up somewhere here.