Entry in the Unique Space Station Contest.
The Argentum Appearance - The Argentum, a beautiful site to the say the least. The sight of a dragon strikes fear in many, the sight of the Argentum strikes fear in all. A silver dragon, coiled around a sphere of purest mithril is the battle station of the high elves of Toril. With seventeen stories and as wide as is tall (500' x 500'). Constantly hovering around the base are motes of bluish white light, illuminating the base on both the interior and the exterior of the station. The sound of lutes pervade the ship giving it a soothing and eternally peaceful aura. More of an entire space borne metropolis than a battle station, but still a power in the realms nonetheless. Interior - 17 Bridge 16 Battle Deck 15 Armoury / Hangar 14 Security Deck 13 Merchant's Deck 12 Maintenance 1 11 Maintenance 2 10 Maintenance 3 9 Sage's Deck 8 Manufacturing Deck 7 Life Preserving Deck 6 Living Quarters 1 5 Living Quarters 2 4 Living Quarters 3 3 Cargo Hold 2 Cargo Hold 1 Civilian Docks Bridge - Commanding deck, contains helm, chartrooms, navigation rooms, etc... All command go from bridge to battle deck, and down level by level. Battle Deck - Doubles as the bridge if it were to be destroyed. Contains and fires the majority of the weapons located on the station. Houses smaller fighter craft to allow larger ships to be stored in the hangar. Armoury / Hangar - Training deck for soldiers and docking for larger ships (10 to 50 tons). Can hold up to 200 tons of ships at one time. Personal weapons are stored on this deck as are the barracks for trained soldiers. Contains up to 200 soldiers at any time in the barracks. Security Deck - The monitoring of the station is here. Powered by many clairvoyance spells and also the clairaudience spells both warriors and wizards alike watch the station for brawls, fires, oncoming attacks, etc... By using specially designed shafts along the interior of the station the security force can reach any given point within 2-20 rounds or in case of emergency 2-15 rounds, fires can cause a lot of damage if they are not closer to the security deck. Merchant's Deck - After docking at the civilian docks, being inspected for space borne parasites, and made to pay a docking fee; merchants can come to this deck to sell their wares and stock to the inhabitants of the station. The 1% tax does not restrict the merchants too much, most don't like it but they don't mind it either. It is possible to find anything on this deck (85%) and only a small chance (1-5%) of finding anything magical unless specifically asked for and if the seller is willing. Maintenance Decks 1-3 - Through the use of specialized shafts and air ducts the maintenance crew, known as the Sweepers, goes around "cleaning" the station. Their cleaning process is usually through the use of freshening cantrips and purifying spells. There is usually anywhere from 5-15 crew members working during the current shift, which runs every 8 hours. The crew is, for the most part, made up of low-level wizards trying to make a small wage. Air freshening spells are vital due to the forges on the manufacturing deck. Sage's Deck - The "Hall of Reference" as it is sometimes called or just "the Hall" by many of the stations citizens. Many sages and wizards alike gather on this deck to engage in "Mental Melee", a contest of wits and speed of mind. One or two psychics have taken this too seriously and have been barred for decades due to "headaches" and other mental throwbacks that happened suddenly at the loss of money to a wizard. Great libraries are contained within this decks many floors. Manufacturing Deck - The building, repair, and demolition of ships, weapons, and buildings alike take place on this vast deck of forges and scaffolding. For a price the smiths may make custom weapons, but their forges work for the station first. Life Preserving Deck - Livestock, plants, and ponds; they all blanket this decks three floors. This is where the citizens make a little money off of the plants and livestock they raise. Many different fruits and vegetables stretch from wall to wall. Livestock thrive both off of these plants and the water that is constantly kept in motion and being purified when it passes trough special nodes. For many citizens this is the ideal life to lead; in space, growing plants, great housing. Each citizen of the station is guaranteed at least a square yard of space to garden and isn't restricted by the type of plants that may be grown, save for poisonous plants. Living Quarters - For many of the citizens of the station these are the most important decks in the entire complex, save for the life preservation deck and the merchant's deck. Each occupant has a fair amount of living space and some houses even have more than one family living in them, more often than not. Many different races are represented in these quarters, from elves to humans to even gnomes. More war-like races such as scro, orcs, and goblins are not welcome onboard. Housing is paid but once a year at the end of harvest season and is generally cheap, in the range of 100-500gp, which is also payable with trade goods such as farmed plants and other merchandise. Cargo Hold - The importing of goods requires a large amount of space, as does needed materials for repair and construction of the station and its defences. The cargo hold is two decks tall and about 100 feet tall. All imported goods must first be checked in at the Importer's Guild, a team of merchant's hired by the station to deal with such matters. Civilian Docks - Visitors are very common among the station's more elegant guests and dignitaries. Dock fees don't cost too much but they can add up if the visitor is not careful and does not keep track of the time spent docked at the station. In most cases each deck is about 30 feet tall with two floors within each deck. Decks 4-9, are all open, as there is much needed interaction between these areas. The floors of these decks are arranged in a fashion similar to a spiral staircase as to not crowd one floor to the next and to provide the maximum ease of travelling from floor to floor. In these locations there are scores of lifting devices bringing citizens from deck to deck. These devices are not more than large metal boxes that are hoisted using metal cables and ropes. Some of the more illustrious decks have transportation provided by disks of pure force that are similar looking to the groundling chariot, less horses and wheels. The hangar is 100 feet tall and 500 feet wide as is the station, this provides ample room for fighters and heavier craft. The Battle Deck is about 50 feet tall and houses the smaller craft that are under 10 tons and other light scouts. The population is made up of: Humans 40% Elves 30% Dwarves/Gnomes 15% Halflings 10% Other(See above) 5%
