Observation Station Okta-Seko
A Lost Bastion of Science given new Life
There are just under a hundred people based at Okta-Seko. While I do desire to oversee a larger team, we don't need many people to watch trees grow. For now I shall take solace in that my tenure here shall be a quiet one. It's not like trees can cause a lot of trouble.An Excerpt from Chief Researcher's Data-Log
And with the simple push of a button, Observation Station Okta-Seko is online. One would think the start of a new research project would be greeted with more fanfare, I suppose after 85 other stations the novelty begins to fade.Our purpose is to oversee the Digital Grove Project and ascertain its viability as a terraforming tool for further exploration. It's a curious quirk of bureaucracy that the task is entrusted to us rather than Okta-Quinto, but the politicians must have their 'community advancement' projects and I'm sure they will do very well as a museum. We are not intended to be a permanent installation; The original project outline stated a ten-year test period. Just long enough to earn a nice Commission from the council and retire to the countryside.
'Not like trees can cause any trouble' my foot. It took us three weeks to clear out the warehouses to make them fit for current use. The beanheads back in Dalreme are going to be delighted with all the raw material and Memoria components, so at least this expedition wasn't entirely useless. The Lead's hopeful that once we get this place into habitable shape we can use it to send expeditions further into the Forest of Metal. The data-logs we found and were able to transcribe were from when the 'Observation Station' was first established. Not that 'station' was a good word for it, it was a minor village in its own right between this location and the one a scant couple miles from here. And that's not even factoring in the Mechanicals, there must be at least a hundred of them in this spot alone. Most of them are broken down beyond repair, but we got a couple up and running and they're interfacing with the ones we brought with us to get up to speed. Maybe with their help we can start tackling the other location, I think they called it Okta-Quinto? As long as we can find something to stop this insane forest from growing, I'll be happy.An Excerpt from Engineer Baravi's Journal, 1982
Demographics
When it was an active research station, Okta-Seko was primarily researchers and rangers dedicated to maintaining and observing the Digital Grove Project. There were a few sparse families for those who did not want to leave their loved ones, But the station was close enough to its tourist counterpart Okta-Quinto to allow socialization and, more importantly, sharing of research data.
Little is known about the ages or personalities of those who lived in the research station; just that they were scientists dedicated to their work. There were a number of Mechanical constructs stationed on the grounds, dedicated to heavy lifting, groundskeeping and a few secretarial professions for those who couldn't be bothered to sign on the dotted line on occasion.
Government
In its prime as a research station Okta-Seko was headed by a Prime Researcher, overseeing several smaller task teams. Okta-Seko was a group of no more than a hundred people, yet it was just as busy as Okta-Quinto despite the latter being almost three times the size.
Now, though the research station is primarily abandoned, it has remained a launching point for expeditions further into the Forest of Metal. A few mechanicals remain stationed in the compound to improve security and conduct repairs, but as of yet there are no organic inhabitants, except for the occasional Ekyls that is brought in to power the boats.
Defences
Okta-Seko does not have any built-in defense system, although in its defense it did not need one when the station was built several thousand years ago. A simple mesh fence was all that was needed to keep pesky youngsters off the compound. Now, though the Forest of Metal itself holds few dangers, Okta-Quinto is now home to a delusional tribe of mechanicals and the expeditioners prefer to sleep soundly at night. Thicker walls around the central compound were constructed and ekyltric lights installed on the gate facing Okta-Quinto.
Assets
As a research station Okta-Seko has a wealth of scientific instruments and data-logs on observations of the Forest of Metal. The main research compound has a wide, flat area perfect for staging camps and launching boats into the river, although few expeditioners live in the buildings themselves; brave or not there are things in there that move, that shouldn't.
Just as valuable are the storage warehouses that line one end of the compound; they are filled with metal logs not dissimilar to the trees of the Forest of Metal, yet they do not grow or show any signs of movement. This alone gives researchers hope that the forest can be stopped.
History
Okta-Seko was a research station dedicated to the development of the Digital Grove Project. It worked in tandem with Okta-Quinto, a tourist museum of sorts that explained the benefits of the project to visitors and children. It ran smoothly for decades, until the sudden death and vanishing of the Memoria left the properties abandoned. The digital grove, left untended, began to grow on its own and soon overtook Okta-Seko and Okta-Quinto. Unlike most ruins, however, the twin compounds were left untouched by the trees, keeping them safe from the elements and from potential raiders.
The abandoned station lay in dormancy for several thousand years until it was discovered by bootleggers in the early 1800s, searching for a shortcut to the coast from further up-river. The station soon became a safe-haven and a bastion for the terrified liquor fanatics, who had until that point been sailing in eerie silence for days. The ocean was but a stone's throw away, as was freedom. Although the bootleggers were caught as soon as they sailed out of the shelter of the forest, their reports of an untouched outpost led to curiosity in the scientific community. Expeditions were launched, and the outpost found and reclaimed.
The Night of Falling Crowns put a stop to all research for almost twenty years, but research has now started up again in earnest. The station is now living up to its original purpose, for a new generation of scientists and explorers.
Tourism
Okta-Seko itself received very few visitors: That honor was reserved for Okta-Quinto, its sister a couple miles away. Okta-Quinto was less of a research station itself than a museum, dedicated to explaining the nature of space exploration and how the Digital Grove Project would help colonize planets otherwise inhospitable to life. It recorded hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, whose donations helped fund the Digital Grove Project and further space exploration.
Explorer's Note: The Nature of Research Stations
The Ancients were masters of the scientific arts, and their research facilities span the globe. With the help of the Mechanicals, the artificial helpers that they left behind, we have determined that there were thousands of facilities ranging from massive complexes to small, singular towers for monitoring the environment. We believe that Okta-Seko means 86. Unfortunately to this day we only have an incomplete list of all research stations. 85 and 86 were dedicated to what was called the 'Digital Grove Project', although now it is only known as the Forest of Metal.
RUINED SETTLEMENT
100 B.C.
Alternative Name(s)
The Outpost
Type
Outpost / Base
Population
5
Related Ethnicities
Location under
There is osmething scary about metal forest growing by itself so fast, that people have issue getting it to stop. I ma kinda surprised that the Okta Seko was not repurposed to smeltery. It has a tons of metal around itself after all.