Victoria Station

This article discusses Victoria Station as it pertains to Radio Noir.

Victoria Station is the flagship Horizon Realm of the Society of Ether. It lies on a small asteroid orbiting the moon, in the moon’s Horizon. The Old Station and the Ether Star Hotel takes up most of the side of the asteroid that faces Earth. Dug into the rock, the Tunnels is a warren of corridors, caves, and galleries, as well as the Docks. Ether-faring vessels from both the Society of Ether and other Traditions arrive here every day. On the side of the asteroid that faces the moon is the Substrata. This round brick and mortar tower cannot be seen from space, but in the Deep Ether, it reaches almost 300 yards from the surface.

Background
The station itself was drawn by the legendary architect Joseph Paxton in the penumbra of London and was completed in 1871. The project was spearheaded by Stephen Lawrence Robertson of the Electrodyne Engineers. The vision was a globe-spanning rail network through a parallel dimension, capable of moving people between continents in mere hours. This failed catastrophically in 1881.

Funding was cut and the station was abandoned until Horatio Savage’s ill-fated moon landing in 1893. None of his crew returned, but a deal had been made for the Fae to move the station onto a small asteroid orbiting the moon.

When the Electrodyne Engineers left the Technocratic Union in 1904 and joined the Council of Nine, the Void Engineers on Darkside Moon Base began a series of unsuccessful attempts at demolishing the station. These first years of the Society of Ether also saw several Enlightened Scientists moving to Victoria Station. There was plenty of room and Ether-science was becoming increasingly more ridiculed on Earth. This led to the formation of the Victoria Station Institute for Advanced Ether-science (IAE). One of the Institute’s first great projects was to re-examine Robertson’s plans for the rail network.

The terminal was reconnected with the remaining terminals and the remaining locomotive, the Flame of Progress, was adapted for non-linear travel. This allowed Victoria Station to operate a railroad with stops every few days in all European Capitals, as well as in Montreal, New York, and Philadelphia. The Central Line was opened in 1923, and in 1938 it connects every subway system in the world.

Passengers for either train or subway will enter a special platform at their departure station and wait for the next train to arrive. The subway ride rarely takes more a few hours, but the train, making more stops, can take as much as 24 hours to arrive. Tickets can be bought at most Society of Ether chantries.

There is also a cable car that connects Victoria Station to Horizon.

Following the upheaval of the great depression and, more recently, the spread of totalitarianism, more and more people have come to Victoria Station. There are currently about 1.000, Sleepers as well as Awakened, living here, more or less permanently. Given the delicate orbit of the asteroid, expanding its gravitational mass would pose too great a risk. The newly rebuilt Ether Star Hotel houses the most affluent, and its restaurant allows one to dine beneath the stars, with nothing but glass and steel keeping the emptiness of Horizon out.

To facilitate the population growth, the IAE came up with a plan for how to expand the station by building into Deep Ether. This resulted in the Substrata, a steadily expanding construct that now houses most of those who live her.

As the Great Paradigm War is affecting more and more of the Awakened world, Victoria Station is gaining importance as a safe and accessible neutral Horizon Realm, and as a hub between cities and chantries. The Chakravanti and the Cult of Ecstasy have even established official embassies here.

Security on Victoria Station is handled by the Free Corps, a group of Mages and Technicians (un-Awakened personnel) claiming the heritage of Vargo’s own marines. They are based in Barbosa’s Archipelago but they keep a company on the station, where they patrol the Platform Hall and man Anti-Ether guns on the exterior. They also have a recruitment office located near the Station Master’s office.

Victoria Station has one police officer, Constable Absalom Fix. In his old Metropolitan Police uniform, and with his grey handlebar mustache, he has a tendency to show up exactly where he is not wanted. He is often pursuing a matter that has yet to happen, something to have given birth to him actually being some sort of Umbral entity that moves through time differently. Another rumour has it that in ’29, he single-handedly arrested an Irish werewolf who was busy tearing a bar in the Tunnels apart.

Locales
The station consists of three distinct parts, the Old Station, the Rock, and the Substrata.

Old Station
This is the glass and steel train station that was constructed in the penumbra of London, transported into space. The main structure consists of the platform hall, the underground station, the Ether Star Hotel, and a wing housing offices and a dining room. As the station was build to service up to six trains at once, with four through-lines, there are 10 tracks in the main hall. Though there are currently only two operational locomotives, the remaining platforms are often occupied by Ether-ships and other craft capable of Ether-travel.

Outside of the station proper lies the maintenance depot, where the locomotives are housed when not in service, and where much of the machines that run the station are being repaired.

The Rock
The asteroid is two furlongs long, just under one furlong wide, and five chains from "top" to "bottom." The Old Station sits at the top, facing the earth. There are quite a few smaller structures on the surface, as well as the Docks that lie along the "sides" of the asteroid.

The rock itself is honeycombed by tunnels. Some of these even predate the station itself and some mages have been able to connect these tunnels to caves on earth or the Umbra. Here one can find some of the more eclectic neighborhoods anywhere in creation.

Substrata
On the moon-facing, "bottom" side of the asteroid sits one of the greatest achievement in modern magic. As the station grew, and more and more people were looking for somewhere to live, it became clear that something had to be done. The Substrata was dreamed up by the mad geniuses of the Institute for Advanced Ether-science and is essentially a 300 yard tall, round skyscraper, in space. The Substrata is built from the bottom, with the whole structure being lifted up to make room for the next level. There are currently 25 levels, with a 26th under construction.

The majority of the inhabitants on the station live here, and a visiting Master from the Order of Hermes described it as a Tower of Babel, built into empty space, out of hubris and ingenuity. In fact, the Substrata stretches into Sub-Ether Space and is all but undetectable from Ether Space.

Due to the construction method, the levels farthest from the ground were built first, and have the lowest numbers. Each level is 10 yards from the next and the diameter of the structure is 150 yards.
 * Levels 1 - 5: Institute for Advanced Ether-science. These levels are closed to the public, the elevators don't go this deep and their switchboard is notoriously hard to get through.
 * Levels 6 - 9: Ether Suites. Spacious and luxurious, the apartments on these levels are owned by First Investors and the filthy rich.
 * Levels 10 - 17: These levels are densely residential, with hundreds of technicians and Awakened living in small apartments organized in three-story blocks.
 * Levels 18 - 25: Here one can find small rental rooms as well as a number of workshops and small factories.
 * The Rotunda: The middle of the structure is an open space, 20 yards across, allowing air to circulate between the levels.

Organization
Victoria Station is controlled by the Society of Ether and is under the direct purview of the Grand Symposium. Its day-to-day operations is overseen by the Station Master who acts as the chairman of the Central Committee. Armand Kaylock of the Royal Ethernautical Society has held this position since 1921. The Central Committee has five five chairs, one for each of the societies that run the station.

Each of the societies have their own internal politics and procedures, and are free to appoint whomever they choose to serve as their chair to the Central Committee.

Conductors' Lodge
The smallest of the societies, the Conductors trace their founding to 1731. Their members are responsible for keeping the trains on time and on track. The Conductors' Lodge also sits deep inside the Royal Ethernautical Society.

Confederacy of Independent Cabals
Founded in 1931, the Guild is the most recent addition to the committee, representing the the non-Etherite mages on the station. Everything from the Celestial Chorus to Ahl-I-Batin are represented in their caucus. The Confederacy rarely speaks with one voice and is plagued by many of the same problems the Council of Nine are struggling with.

Guild of Independent Tradesmen
The Guild is composed of the independent Etherists of the station, from watchmakers to Ether-ship engineers. They are among the more active societies, and they tend to vote with the Union of Ether-mechanics.

Institute for Advanced Ether-science
Though the Institute is a source of pride for the station, few actually know or understand what it is they are doing. They rarely speak and more often than not, they vote with the Station Master.

Union of Ether-mechanics
Largest and most vocal of the societies, the Union was founded by request from S.L. Robertson in 1869. They have not only built the station, but maintained it ever since. They also speak on behalf of the Society of Technicians.