Mistglare Station
Mistglare Station is a skystation jointly operated by a consortium of export companies from the Rostran Archipelago Confederacy. Situated in the Rostral D/Medial B Inflection Layer over the Rostran settlement of Ereteusutaio, the station provides customs, resupply, and defense for those Confederate citizens wishing to make the transit into The Human Arc, especially to neutral territories like Intercostia.
Demographics
A semi-permanent crew of around one hundred manages the operation of Mistglare Station. The majority of these crew members are Rostran or ovinex, but a few individuals of mixed Rostran-human or verdialized heritage also work there in various positions.
As High and Low Rostran cultures are strongly represented among the crew, the habitable volumes (see Infrastructure) feature many nods to the important Esotericist traditions of those peoples. Each inflatable habitat ring - including both those currently in use and the packed spares - feature ritual sigils inscribed around their circumferences to appease the Ixeunvatio, the Esotericist spirit most associated with life-giving sunlight and the fortitude to bear the harsh environmental conditions attendant thereto. Each habitat ring also features a small ritual space for individual practice.
Defences
Mistglare Station is nominally defended by Rostran Archipelago Confederacy Marine Forces air assets, though it is rare for any crew wishing to transit into The human Arc in this location to do so unarmed. The War of Reunification's Rostral front lies just beyond the inflection layer, and, while RAC citizens are legally non-combatants in that conflict, even a trip to the parts of Medial B that aren't currently part of the front lines entails a certain degree of risk. NavGuard units at Mistglare Station are on active alert for attempts by either side in the War to exploit the 'fog of war' excuse to commit acts of commerce raiding against their assets moving to and from the station, but the NavGuard is nevertheless ill-equipped to take on state-backed forces directly. Rather, the best defense that Mistglare Station has against direct attack is its altitude and the threat of economic sanctions against any faction who decides to attack it.
Infrastructure
Mistglare Station is a full-service airship refuel and resupply platform with limited repair capabilities as well. Compressors aboard the station capture lifting gas lost from the adjacent cubes and condense it down into a liquid form to refill the envelope cells of docked airship. Onboard fuel biosynthesis reactors slowly convert food scraps and human waste dropped off by visiting airships into fuel for other airships. Skysweeping services in nearby airspace is provided by a skymoth stationed at Mistglare, and debris captured during these activities can be broken down in the station's small workshop for use as materials for repair work.
Mistglare station features a closed ecological life support system (CELSS) based on research conducted at Rostran agri-mines, making it more self-sufficent than other skystations and allowing it to support a larger population for longer periods of time than most. The station features two counter-rotating, inflatable habitat rings to provide a sensation of gravity for residents and in the interest of preventing the deleterious effects of prolonged exposure to micro-gravity.
A permanent Navigator's Guild office occupies one part of the habitation ring for the use of navigators passing through. Because of the proximity of an active war zone (see Defenses), reports from the Mistglare Station office are frequently used to inform the most up-to-date Guild Hazard Index.
Climate
Mistglare Station is so named because it occupies an inflection station between two bright, warm cube layers. Haze often rises up from the rolling, grassy hills of the Rostral side, lending the landscape an aetherial, silvery glow when the conditions are right. The opposite cube layer is warm, but not overly so, and its surface has a high albedo that creates significant glare on bright summer afternoon. Mistglare Station tends to stand out sharply against the Medial landscape when viewed from the Rostral side.
Even at its altitude, Mistglare Station tends to occupy a pocket of hot air. For this reason, it is one of the few skystations that actually features dedicated air conditioning beyond the cooling involved with managing the internal air pressure.
In Catalyst: A Manifold Sky Story
A long block of spoilers awaits!On the way back from their disasterous attempt to gather information in Intercostia, Angela Foxglove and the crew of the Parasol Private Holdings airship PPH Canopy are accompanied by Livara Satin to Mistglare Station to consider their next course of action.
While aboard Mistglare Station, Zekiel Kade and Bixby "Bix" Hickory start working with Angela to establish a secure connection to the Ghostleaf Foundation private RadNet endpoint sho that she can let Feumont Atsuhi and Miko Slaus-Braun know that she is still alive and ready to be returned. The group decide to conceal their identities and make it clear that the other members of the Ghostleaf Foundation board should keep what they hear quiet in case the 125 Hands can hear their conversations; The Garbage Man made it clear that he was going to try and recapture Angela later, and it is clear at this point that only a shroud of secrecy can potentially prevent that from happening given The Garbage Man's 'dimensional shift' power. While this is happening, A'adekpf "Iodex" Sagan takes some time to conduct maintenance on the Canopy, leaving Livara and Arxid Sagan alone.
For their part, Livara and Arxid take this moment away from the eyes of their compatriots to drop their facade of mutual antagonism and enjoy one another's company in a more intimate fashion. They are awoken from their post-enjoyment dreams by the sudden drop in air pressure in their cabin: Mistglare Station was struck by ASat ordinance from an unknown assailant. Iodex rushes to his adoptive brother's side and gives him oxygen while the station's crew attempts to prevent the whole habitation ring from flinging itself apart. Arxid insists that Iodex make an attempt to save Livara, who is actively suffocating; thinking quickly, Iodex slashes his way out of the pressure membrane and, leaping across the near-vacuum with the bodies of Livara and Arxid in tow, brings them to a small pedal-operated skymoth docked nearby. With the couple safely ensconced in the skymoth's cabin and the emergency breathing mix turned on, Iodex returns to the station to render aid to more survivors.
Somewhere far below, a certain suit of heavily-modified "Ixulova Tun" Amphibious Assault Auto-Armor closes the hatch of its missile tube and slinks back beneath the cover of a strategically-placed thicket of camouflage netting. Greggor Rudd, the pilot, grins to himself, believing that the troublesome members of Parasol Private Holdings have just met their untimely demise. Patiently, ensconced in comforting darkness, Greggor waits for his adoptive father, The Garbage Man, to conjure him and his vehicle home...
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