The main base of operations for the Republican Brigades of the United RPG Regions , Castle Espera is located somewhere in the western Darrow Mountains. A single winding but paved road into a valley with four disused windmills that are now half-obvious sniper towers leads up to the castle located on a short hill that drops off behind the castle to a lowland region in the north... all in all, not exactly an acropolis but it�s well-placed for any possible land invasion. An underground roadway leads from the east up the mountainsides and behind the main wall, but both roadways are under heavy guard. Bright streetlights, always on even in the daytime, line the open-air roadway and halogen lamps blast the tunnel with artificial light... security is tight but not paranoid. About two kilometers from the castle is a high wooden wall, reinforced in most places by heavy crates, lined with turrets and guards. The wall may be made of wood but it�d be almost impossible to knock down, and the wood has been pressure-treated with a flame retardant material- which also keeps out the occasional termite infestation.
At the place where the road meets the wall, there�s a heavily guarded checkpoint with a steel gate. Four tiny holes for two snipers (one for the barrel, one for the scope to look through) are barely visible from a distance. Any vehicles or people approaching the gate are greeted via microphone and two security cameras. The cameras, incidentally, have motion detectors and tiny guns on them which shoot curare (a potent nerve agent that relaxes heart and lung muscles to the point of stopping them) darts at any hostile IFF targets.
One could, I suppose, get the cameras to shoot at a thrown object, but not for long...
The wall is reinforced by 10-ton metal crates for 12 of its 12.5 kilometers. Small gaps exist between crates only large enough for a single person to slip through at a time, and that�s only if you do manage to punch a hole through the thick, heavy, outward-pointing nail covered wood.
The castle, for all it�s worth, looks exactly like a sheet-white IKEA. With sniper holes, gun turrets, a laser fence, security cameras, and the parking lot�s in the basement, it�s less of a �castle than an �installation�. The building is a mere four tall floors and much wider than it is tall, and has no glass windows.
Castle Espera has six floors in total, but two of them are underground- the parking lot on top of the B2 complex. There are multiple elevators in the castle, and, though each floor is a cavernous 9 meters high, the interior is mainly composed of heavy lead-reinforced drywall, not stone as most would expect. There are lights all over the hallways, but no light switches, so one can only assume they�re always on, and each bulb is behind a fine metal cage to prevent someone from shooting out the lights. I mean, of course you could do it, but you�d have to be right next to the light.
The hallways are painted bright white, of course, and there are security cameras at every intersection as well as every 60 meters in straight halls. The cameras are placed about 3 meters high and look downward. The only way to get past them is by suddenly sprouting wings and flying...
Also, hidden drone guns are placed at every intersection, and every 100 meters in the regular halls. These drone guns fire 9mm shells at a rate of 450 rounds per minute, and their lock-on is kept via sonar pulses between rounds.
Floor Map
Floor B2
The second basement of Castle Espera is the secretive military complex- the one that requires a security card to enter. That is, you have to scan your card at the elevator or at the bottom of the stairs to get in. The elevator and doors aren�t soundproof- you could ask someone to let you in if you forgot your card, though most guards are wary of this and will look through the peephole first- there is a second set of doors that goes in front of the elevator on B2 that won�t open without a switch from the other side or keycard verification.
Even if you do have a keycard, most rooms in B2 require either a palmprint, or both a palmprint and retinal scan, and the highest-security rooms require two or even three people to scan and enter simultaneously. Not even the Queen can enter certain rooms alone. Also, there is a security camera in every room and every 12 meters in the hallways on B2.
If it�s top-secret, new, and scary, it�s probably located on B2.
Floor B1
The first basement of Castle Espera is the parking lot. There are no reserved spaces, but there are handicapped spaces, the penalty for parking illegally in which is having your car set on fire. Each elevator or stairwell is monitored by a security camera, and the entry to the parking lot from either side (you can enter from the east or south) has a booth you have to pass which brings down one of those �no entry� arms. Yeah, I suppose you could smash through it if you wanted, but then they�d send troops down after you. The parking lot is the most dimly lit floor, only because of the height of the lights and their bullet shields, which are near-opaque.
If you�re bringing a horse, tie it to a support beam or something. You�re paying for it if it scratches someone�s car, and you�re cleaning it up if it relieves itself. There are no stables at Castle Espera.
Floor 1
The first floor of Castle Espera contains the lobby, as well as the Throne Room and the Multipurpose Room- a large, open, gymnasium-like room that�s usually empty. As is the Throne Room. The Throne Room, in fact, was just for kicks. Celine hardly ever sits there, usually �granting her audiences� by phone or e-mail.
Floor 2
The second floor of Castle Espera is the office complex. Wholly unremarkable, this floor contains such financial necessities as the Dept. of Advertising, tthe Dept. of Propaganda, the Dept. of Research and Development, the Dept. of Fundraising, the Accounting Division, the NOC lists for Ayenee and Eden, the- Wait a second, those aren�t unremarkable or financial at all...
If you wanted to find out who was spying on either nation for the Celinist Revolutionary Brigade, you�d have to get both NOC lists, on separate sides of the building in two separate computers on two separate servers.
But aside from the NOC lists, the floor also contains the Lounge, which provides such entertainment as pool tables, a bar (no, not a tavern, a BAR), two small restaurants (a coffee shop and a burger joint), and a pinball machine. It also has Space Invaders and Asteroids on two arcade machines.
Employees of Castle Espera are encouraged to get lunch from the Lounge while on break for security reasons.
Floor 3
The third floor of Castle Espera is the R&D labs, where scientists are hard at work finding new ways to get paid. Scientists are paid commission at Castle Espera, so they develop and research as much as possible. Some of the research, indeed, is focused on incorporating the Queen�s Heraldry into weapons, most of which have been unsuccessful. One of the two PA system microphones is located on the third floor as well.Floor 4
The fourth floor of Castle Espera is home to Celine�s bedroom, which is nice but not too fancy, with six automated drone turrets hidden in the walls that pop out upon detecting motion of any hostile IFF in the room or within 20 feet of the outside door and rip it to shreds. Also, anyone trying to force their way into the 3-inch lead door to the bedroom will be shot by another curare-dart camera, and if they survive, will be shot by the machine guns that pop out as soon as they enter the room.
As a last resort, Celine�s four-post bed can whip out bulletproof glass around it, followed by thick lead plates that lock into place in a cube around the bed upon Celine�s pressing of a switch behind her pillow, effectively turning her bed into a panic room. Though, of course, unlike the movie, she�s got eight hundred soldiers with AK-47s who will storm upstairs as soon as the alarm is triggered.
The bedrooms of other live-in staff are also located on the fourth floor, most with slightly less security.
Alarms
Alarms are annoyingly easy to trigger in Castle Espera. They are triggered automatically as soon as a drone gun detects hostile IFF motion. Cameras �beep� to the security downstairs as soon as they detect motion, and security can set the alarm off manually. If a visible security laser is crossed, the alarm goes off, if an invisible one is crossed, a klaxon sounds downstairs and the cameras in the room swivel toward the laser�s disruption source.
Cameras have optional thermal vision, by the way, though they don�t need it as Castle Espera is always well-lit. Also, if a camera�s view is disrupted in any way, security is trained to set the alarm off, as well as if the system shorts out, even for a second. The alarm, by the way, takes the form of red flashing lights in all the hallways and a beeping siren that sounds through the entire fortress, and the PA stations get a ticker that describes the location of the security breach.
There are three alarm stages- Combat Alert, Lockdown, and Code Black. The Combat Alert alarm is whenever the alarm is initiated, and drone guns arm themselves and cameras pan twice as fast.
In a Lockdown situation, the hallways become a death trap for friendly and hostile targets alike. All IFF is shut down for the drone guns and curare cameras.
Code Black is bad. Very bad. You don�t want to be in Castle Espera, friend or foe, when Code Black is initiated.
The Roof
The roof of Castle Espera is flat, and has many exposed ventilation shafts and steam vents. However, the ventilation shafts are only some 15 centimeters wide. Not even big enough to stick your arm through. Still, they contain a laser grid behind their grates in case of any intrusion, which sets off the alarm. The steam vents are also impossible to get into, being ended with swirling spiral fans that block any access.
In the unlikely event that snow falls on the Darrow Mountains and sticks to the roof, Celine uses an Eruption spell on the roof to melt it all once every three inches that fall. The melted snow drains out of the gutters.
There are no �maintenance accesses� and no ways to get up onto the roof. Even if you could, you wouldn�t be able to get into the castle.
Point is, don�t go on the roof. No one�s allowed on the roof, anyway.
The IFF system
Independent Friendly Fire recognition system in Castle Espera prevents drone guns and cameras from firing on friendly targets. Each block of the castle- there are about 5 blocks on each floor, 10 on B2- is controlled by its own independent and isolated server. Anyone let into the castle by the main gate is designated a �friendly� target indefinitely. If they prove themselves to be hostile on security cameras, it takes about five to eight seconds for their IFF to be switched. They have that five to eight seconds to get to a safe hiding spot after they are spotted.
