Aztechnology Pyramid

Broadway Avenue East & East Harrison Street (main entrance)

Although not the largest corporate buildings in downtown Seattle, the structures of the Aztechnology North America Complex are some of the most distinctive and well known in the metroplex. The massive central pyramid measures 195 meters along each side of its base and stands 300 meters tall, encompassing 72 floors.
The exterior design is inspired by ancient Aztec and Mayan step-pyramids, but with a modern twist. The massive slabs of rock covering the outer walls of the pyramid are made of artificially grown quartz crystal, half a meter thick. Computer-guided industrial lasers were used to carve images out of Aztec and Mayan mythology into the crystal, and the eighty slabs were fitted into a special framework around the outer structure of the building, fixed in place with special adhesives that blend seamlessly with the stone. During the daytime, the wall friezes look like ordinary grey stone but, at night, powerful banks of lights shine from underneath the slabs, illuminating them from within and creating one of the most spectacular sights of the Seattle skyline. Recent AR enhancements make the carved images seem to move and shift color within the depths of the crystal, adding to the overall effect.

> Although the lights of the Aztechnology Pyramid are usually white, they can be tuned to different color frequencies, and on some Aztec holy days, the Pyramid is bathed in red—a little unspoken reminder to Seattleites about just whom they’re dealing with.
> Hard Exit

The street level of the pyramid is open to the public and features a shopping mall, where you can find excellent bargains on Aztechnology-made products, and a number of fine Aztec-Mex restaurants. The upper floors of the building are office space, housing for on-site employees (including employee-only shopping areas), and the executive offices for Aztechnology North America in the uppermost floors.

> The upper levels also have VTOL landing platforms for company aircraft. Everyone else is kept away by concealed anti-aircraft and surface-to-air missile batteries, although they’ll get at least one warning from pyramid air-traffic control before they get shot down.
> Hard Exit

> Like other corporate structures of its type, the Aztechnology Pyramid is like a self-contained world: employees on the upper floors can live, work, and shop in almost complete isolation, without having to see the outside world at all. This is just as management prefers it, since inside they can keep careful control over both security and the environment. Naturally, getting into those employee-only areas requires a special RFID tag showing you’re authorized to be there, and keyed to the areas where you have security clearance. They change the security key once a week or so, fairly often, but not so often that stolen information isn’t useful, if you don’t wait around to use it.
> Danger Sensei

> A full battalion of the Fifth Leopard Guards, around a thousand strong, is stationed at the Aztechnology complex. That’s in addition to the Pyramid’s own internal security staff and personnel (about another 250). The Leopard Guards are permitted on-site by Aztechnology’s extraterritorial status, but they’re only supposed to operate on company-owned property. The corp has a number of tracts in the Barrens it uses for training exercises in urban warfare. They also make convenient places for people to disappear, if necessary.
> Riser

> Aztechnology’s magical security is some of the best in Seattle. The higher levels of the pyramid are warded, which is probably a good thing, because even with the heavy magical shielding some of the spillage off the pyramid is enough to make nearby astral space … unpleasant. Bound guardian spirits patrolling the “aetherspace” around the pyramid provide the main security, warning off intruders first, then attacking anyone who doesn’t get the message.
> Ethernaut

> Although it may not have literally spilled as much blood as the ancient Aztec pyramids, make no mistake, this pyramid has claimed as least as many lives as its forbearers, if not more.
> Axis Mundi

Type

Acropolis / Citadel

Parent Location

Downtown Seattle