Compucombs
A Hegemony building is just the tip of the iceberg.
Thomas Demou, Construction Engineer
T
he compucombs are a series of vast underground networks tunneled and maintained by
Hegemony International. In almost any location where there are two-or-more Hegemony corporate buildings within close proximity, they will feature a compucomb network below them. They were initially built for the purpose of server storage. But in most locations they've far exceeded those original purposes.
Geography
C
ompucombs vary wildly from one location to the next. Some of them feature only a handful of rooms. Others stretch over a myriad of underground levels. There are compucombs that feature nothing but offices. But most now offer fully-equipped living spaces for M&Ms, HERs, and gnomes.
Active Construction
The "style" of each compucomb also varies between campuses. Some are little more than dank caves, while others are elaborately finished and decorated. They can even feature artificial sunlight, projected from digital "windows" that give the impression of being above ground. But even in those compucombs that are more ergonomically designed, it's common to find "barrier locations" where they are roughly hewn and new construction is still taking place.
No Boundaries
Although compucombs exist, ostensibly, below land owned by Hegemony International, most people who are keenly familiar with their construction acknowledge that the tunneling often extends beyond the surface boundaries of corporate real estate. There are even minor scandals that have occurred when Hegemony engineers have delved too deeply, or too widely, into the substrata, breaking water mains or several utility lines.
History
T
he compucombs began as datacenters. Hegemony International generally loathes keeping their proprietary data with outside companies. So from their earliest days, they adopted a policy of building their own server farms. These farms were originally housed in standalone buildings, often physically distant from main corporate offices. But once the company launched an aggressive initiative to buy their own land and construct their own buildings, they took this one step further by designing an expansive network of subterranean spaces, directly under those buildings, to house many aspects of their operations.
Neighborhoods
As the company's "in-house initiatives" grew, so too did the utility of the compucombs. They are no longer restricted to housing data centers. Instead, they typically have a complete set of office suites for the trolls. With the introduction of the HERs and the M&Ms, they were further expanded to include complete living quarters for these unique employees. At some point, the compucombs also became the primary workspace and living quarters for all of the company's gnomes.
Far from simply being a "basement", compucombs often stretch deep under the surface, sometimes going as far as 10 floors. In many locations, the compucombs are not a "finished entity". If one descends far enough into the deepest layers, it's common to encounter active tunneling still taking place.
Type
Underground / Subterranean
Owning Organization
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