The Vatspire
The Vatspire is the orbital bio-reactor Station that supplies Helix Spire's gene-craft work: one-point-two million staff, almost all of them bio-engineers, technicians, or quality- review clerks.
Rules Reference
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Aesthetic | neo-hive |
| Anchor System | helix-spire |
| Controlling Faction | Helix |
| Fold Bleed | low |
| Population | 1200000 |
| Role | satellite |
| Zone | Core |
Notes
Dangers: Vat overflow: a failed batch in the Vatspire's lower vats will vent bio-waste through the station's recyclers within minutes; the lower vats are sealed for a reason, and the seal is also what makes them expensive to maintain., Echo-lot: a Vatspire technique where a gene-line sample is reused past its listed shelf life; the technique works until it doesn't, and when it doesn't it does so quietly, which is the part that worries the station's quality staff most.
Hooks: A Vatspire batch has begun producing Kith gene-therapies with an unplanned Fold signature in the dose; Helix wants the batch quietly destroyed, the distribution centre wants it quietly sold, and the party has been hired to figure out which side is the worse option before the next ship out., A retired Helix gene-crafter living on the Vatspire has been teaching unauthorised splice techniques to Spliced refugees from the Reservation; Helix would like her stopped before the next audit and the refugees would like her kept where she is., A batch of Helix longevity top-ups has been held at the Vatspire waiting for a quality review that never seems to come; the Kith clients are getting impatient and one of them is a Navigator on leave who has decided to wait on the station, in person.
Lore: The Vatspire is the orbital bio-reactor station that supplies Helix Spire's gene-craft work: one-point-two million staff, almost all of them bio-engineers, technicians, or quality- review clerks. The Vats are the station's primary blocks -- twelve kilometre-long bio-reactors sealed against the void, where Helix's commercial gene-lines are grown in industrial batches. The Long Lab is the station's seam: a research corridor where retired Helix gene-crafters are permitted to keep working on their own lines, in the closest thing the verse gets to a gene-art studio. The Cold Lock is where the questionable batches are stored while they wait for a quality review that does not always arrive on schedule, and where the station's quiet Karn vendors are permitted to know the lock's rotation better than the auditors do. The Vatspire is where Helix's products are made; it is also where the verse's quietest gene-black-market operates, and the two economies share more corridors than Helix likes to admit and less paperwork than Helix would like to believe.
Notable: The Vats: the station's twelve primary bio-reactor blocks, each one a kilometre long and sealed against the void; the Vats are where the verse's commercial gene-lines are grown in industrial batches., The Long Lab: a research corridor where retired Helix gene-crafters are permitted to keep working on their own lines; the corridor is the closest the verse gets to a gene-art studio and the work is permitted to be ugly., The Cold Lock: a holding bay where questionable batches are stored until quality review; the bay is a Kadiss-throttled space because the reviews are not always on the books, and the station's quiet Karn vendors know the lock's schedule better than its own auditors do.