Races | Technology | Buildings & Organizations
NEW KOUROU RELAY STATION
Overview
The New Kourou Relay Station is a vital communication hub within the Shortwave Radio Network and serves as the administrative hub for network management.
During the Beta Age, it was operated by the Weber Communication Company, responsible for establishing and maintaining the ExoHuman Communication Grid. Since 2631, following the formation of the Federal Confederation, it is under the control of the Federal News Agency. The station ensures stable shortwave transmissions for law enforcement, administrative coordination, and public broadcasts (Beta Age only).
Due to the local weather conditions, the station relies on a combination of microbial fuel cells, biofuel generators, and reflective solar panels to sustain operations, ensuring uninterrupted service even in low-light conditions It is one of the key relay points linking New Kourou to the broader ExoHuman Communication Grid, amplifying and stabilizing transmissions from Mount Atrana Communication Outpost.
History
The New Kourou Relay Station was originally constructed in 2626 by the Weber Communication Company as part of its efforts to establish a Shortwave Communication Network that links all exohuman settlements. The station played a pivotal role in extending radio transmissions and enabling inter-settlement communication across VOI 700 D.
Following the founding of the Federal Confederation and the implementation of Communardism in 2631, the Weber Communication Company was nationalized, and the station was placed under the jurisdiction of the Federal News Agency. Since then, it has functioned as a state-controlled relay point, ensuring regulated information flow and real-time communication across settlements.
Architectural Significance
The New Kourou Relay Station reflects the settlement's improvised Look and Feel:
Construction Materials: Built using alloys salvaged from the former spaceship
Last Frontier
Energy Infrastructure: The facility is equipped with a microbial fuel cell station, biofuel generators, and reflective solar panels, seamlessly integrated into the station’s structure to maximize efficiency.
Compact Layout: Designed to withstand high humidity and tropical storms, featuring elevated flooring and reinforced insulation to prevent moisture damage.
Building Structure
The New Kourou Relay Station is a single-story facility, built for functionality and security. It includes:
Transmission Room: Houses the primary shortwave relay systems and backup communication equipment.
Power Supply Hub: Features solar arrays, microbial fuel cells, and biofuel generators, ensuring continuous, off-grid power generation.
Storage Unit: Contains spare parts, signal boosters, and repair kits for maintaining station functionality.
Look and Feel
Perched at the edge of New Kourou’s Industrial Ring, the Relay Station feels both improvised and purposeful. Under the settlement’s perpetual twilight canopy, the salvaged alloy walls take on a muted, metallic sheen, streaked with rivulets of rain from frequent tropical downpours. A low hum of biofuel generators blend with distant clangs from the Schreder Pharmacy Factory next door. Inside, elevated floors creak underfoot, and beads of condensation drip from reinforced ceiling panels. Pale shafts of filtered twilight slice through high-set louvers, illuminating dust motes dancing above rows of signal amplifiers and transmitter racks. A single Technician in lightweight, weather‑proof gear moves briskly between workstations, her headlamps casting tight cones of light onto hand‑scrawled schematics taped to the walls. The tang of humid air mingles with the faint scent of ozone from active solar panels outside. In the storage alcove, musty crates of spare parts give off a faint, earthy aroma. Every static crackle on the shortwave lines and every flicker of the LED status lights underscores the station’s heartbeat—a steady, determined pulse keeping New Kourou connected to the world beyond.
Roles and Responsibilities
Technicians (3) Rotating in a shift-model. Responsible for the maintenance, troubleshooting, and operation of the relay station’s systems. In the Gamma Age, these technicians are under the supervision of the Federal News Agency.
Public Access, Operating Hours and Operational Rhythm
Public Access:
All areas of the Relay Station are strictly off‑limits to the general public. Only the front vestibule (for official deliveries) is accessible, and even that requires prior authorization. All technical and transmission spaces require full security clearance.
Operating Hours:
The Relay Station runs 24/7, staffed by three overlapping technician shifts to guarantee uninterrupted service:
Shift 1: 06:00–14:00
Shift 2: 14:00–22:00
Shift 3: 22:00–06:00
Security Measures
To ensure the safety and integrity of the relay station, several security measures are in place:
Perimeter Fence: A 3-meter-high metal fence encloses the facility, deterring unauthorized access.
Locked Gate: Access is strictly controlled, requiring authorized identification for entry.
Restricted Access: Only authorized personnel are permitted in critical areas, such as manufacturing and storage zones. Identity verification is mandatory before granting access.
Analog Alert System (Gamma Age Only): The station is equipped with an
Analog Alert System, which is triggered in case of unauthorized entry or emergencies. The siren is directly linked to the
Federal Sheriff's Headquarters for immediate response.
Deputy Surveillance: In the Gamma Age, Federal Sheriff Deputies conduct regular patrols, ensuring security compliance and deterring potential intrusions. During the Beta Age,
Guarding Troopers from
New Kourou's GT Headquarters were responsible for patrols and station security.
Tactical Advice for Dungeon Masters
The Relay Station provides a variety of gameplay opportunities, including missions involving sabotage, security breaches, and communication control.
Beta Age Adventure Hook Example:
“Echoes of Rebellion”– At the New Kourou Relay Station, one of the technician grows increasingly erratic. Late one night, she tampers with the control loops — embedding a hidden pulse in the station’s transmission stream. That signal propagates through the Shortwave Network, scrambling Guarding Bots in New Kourou. Suddenly, these automatons lock down municipal buildings, take local officials hostage and broadcast demands to “liberate the exohuman essence.” Meanwhile, Combat Drones converge on the relay to protect their “leader”. With the local authorities unable to override the corrupted codes, PCs are dispatched by the Guarding Troopers to infiltrate the station’s fortified perimeter, reboot its power systems, and wrest back control of the network — before the region plunges into full‑scale bot‑driven revolt.
Gamma Age Adventure Hook Example:
“Blueprints of Control” – Years after
Communardism outlawed Guarding Bots, New Kourou’s Relay Station archives still hold remnants of Weber’s compressor algorithm. An ambitious
Individualist hacker has stolen the key and uploaded the code into the station’s beacon. Rather than reawaken old military bots directly, they’ve programmed the few
Medical Bots at
New Kourou’s Medical Station and the adjacent Federal Hospital to cannibalize the Relay Station’s stockpiled spare parts into new Guarding Bot chassis. As undead‑steel figures clatter to life in the hospital wards, deputies fall prey to bot‑issued quarantine orders. The Federal News Agency urgently commissions the PCs to breach the station under cover of the perpetual twilight, locate and expunge the hidden algorithm from the transmission room’s core console, and disable the auto‑assembly routine — before an army of reconstructed Guarding Bots marching out of the hospital bays …
Related Pages and Further Information
Relay Stations within the exohuman Society