=== Races | Technology | Buildings & Organizations ===

====== PLANT OF THE NEW KOUROU SHELLAC CORPORATION (NKSC) ======

===== Overview =====

  * **Location:** Industrial Ring, [[new_kourou|New Kourou]]
  * **Address:** NE Industrial Ring Road 1
  * **Surroundings:** Adjacent to the [[Headquarters of the Frontier Supply Company|Headquarters of the Frontier Supply Company]]

Founded in 2625 — barely six months after [[day_zero|Day Zero]] — the [[new_kourou_shellac_corporation_nksc|New Kourou Shellac Corporation]] sprang from the ingenuity of Vira Antonis, a former data-archivist from the [[last_frontier|Last Frontier]]. Her mandate was disarmingly simple yet planet-saving: press tone-encoded [[shellac_records|fungus-shellac disks]] and build the hand-cranked lathes and clockwork sequencers that would let [[gaia|GAIA’s]] scattered [[local_gaia_hub|Local Hubs]] trade firmware, security keys, and medical files without draining a single [[quantum_fusion_batteries|Quantum Fusion Battery]].

Very quickly the plant’s clacking presses found a second vocation: culture. Beginning in 2628, Antonis set aside one shift each Friday for [[weber_broadcasting_services|Weber Broadcasting Services]] live-session “Studio Masters.” Those music disks — shipped by courier to taverns from New Kourou to [[Firetown|Firetown]], [[Hope|Hope]], [[Morningstar|Morningstar]] and [[Arla Town|Arla Town]] — turned crank-driven sequencers into makeshift jukeboxes and stitched the [[free_state_of_settlers|Free State of Settlers’]] settlements together with a shared playlist.

After the [[great_war|Great War]], the factory was nationalized and re-badged as the [[federal_shellac_manufactory|Federal Shellac Manufactory (FSM)]] in 2631. 
===== Architectural Significance =====

  * **Construction Material:** Cargo-crate steel skeleton, mycelium-brick infill, salvage poly-glass clerestories.
  * **Floors:** One vast press hall, side-wing machine shop, mezzanine offices, and a secure master-stamp vault two levels below grade.
  * **Signature Feature:** A 14 m “tone mast” short-wave array bolted to the roof — receives Friday Kernel bursts, then flashes an amber beacon when disks pass CRC.

===== Building Structure =====

**Ground Floor – Press Hall **

  * **Resin Mix Vats:** Three jacketed kettles brewing fungal polymer and silicate filler.
  * **Disk Press Line:** Six hydraulic platen presses stamping 25 cm blanks; each feeds directly to a cooling rack.
  * **Lathe-Writer Bay:** Twelve hand-crank lathes for small-batch masters, plus one motorised “Tone-30 Pro” demonstrator.
  * **Sequencer Test Bench:** Optical readers run a CRC scan on every tenth disk.
  * **Quality-Audit Platform:** Catwalk office where auditors sign off the daily lot.
  * **Restrooms (2):** Unisex [[aurorasan_system|AuroraSan]] compost stalls.

**Mezzanine – Offices & Acoustic Gallery**

  * **Founder’s Loft:** Vira Antonis’ desk, original micro-lathe, and framed first-press disk.
  * **Design & Upgrade Studio:** Draft tables, stylus microscopes, and the prototype EchoHorn jig.
  * **WBS Sound Booth (Beta-Age):** Glass-lined room, used to cut live-session masters; 
  * Staff Break Nook + single AuroraSan stall.

**Sub-Basement – Stamp Vault & QFB Bay **

  * **Master-Stamp Vault:** Temperature-controlled bunker holding stamping dies and Kernel firmware masters.
  * **[[quantum_fusion_batteries|Quantum Fusion Battery]]-Loop & Geothermal Exchange:** Keeps presses running during grid brown-outs.

**Exterior Grounds**

  * **Loading Dock:** Twin bays for [[hoos|Hoo]]-drawn wagons and [[guarding_bots|Guarding-Bot]]–scanned pallets.
  * **Waste-Resin Sumps:** Clay-lined pits where spent polymer cures into harmless bricks.
  * **Short-Wave Tone Mast:** Receives Kernel bursts; doubles as semaphore for convoy drivers.

===== Look and Feel =====

Hot resin, metal press-clacks, and the citrus-ozone of sterilised blanks fill the cavernous hall. Every few seconds a platen thumps shut, steam venting in white plumes that curl up past swaying chains. Overhead, amber hazard lights pulse whenever a CRC error is detected, and the floor crew groans—the run must start again.

===== Roles and Responsibilities =====

  * **Vira Antonis (Plant Director):** Approves firmware lots, negotiates resin quotas, signs CRC ledgers.
  * **Maintenance Bots (4):** The [[maintenance_bots|Maintenance Bots]] maintain hydraulic presses, manage die swaps.
  * **Lathe Machinists (6):** Cut masters, refurbish stylus tips, tune Tone-30 Pro kits.
  * **CRC Auditors (3):** Random-sample disks, log checksums, seal GAIA lots.
  * **Logistics Clerk (2):**	Book short-wave bursts, schedule courier pick-ups.
  * **Cleaning Bot (1):** Keeps resin dust off bearings and office glass.
  * **Guarding Bot (1):** Scans crates / credentials at the only vehicle gate.

===== Public Access & Operations =====

  * **Visitor Hours:** Fri 13:00 – 17:00 (factory tour & retail kiosk until 2631; now government-only).
  * **Production Shifts:** 06:00 – 18:00 (press line) / 18:00 – 24:00 (maintenance).
  * **Courier Window:** Kernel lots handed to the [[new_kourou_courier_service|NK Courier Service]] at 05:00 sharp each Saturday.

===== Security Measures =====

  * **Security Fence:** 3 m alloy mesh topped with salvage-blade spikes, one monitored main gate.
  * **Regular Patrols:** A local [[guarding_troopers|Guarding Troopers]] Unit patrols the Industrial Ring regularly
  * **Guarding Bot–Secured Gate:** The [[guarding_bots|Guarding Bot]] is armed with a [[guarding_troopers_stun_gun|Guarding Troopers Stun Gun]].

===== Player Interaction Possibilities =====

**Legal interactions**

  * Apply for Work-Shift – fill out a paper form at the mezzanine office to join the press-line crew or lathe-maintenance team.
  * Product Inquiries – visit the front-desk kiosk to compare EchoHorn specs, check blank-disk availability, or request an FSM price sheet for hub requisitions.
  * Lathe Re-Calibration – book a slot for a travelling machinist to service a village writer; parts are billed in Kourou or barter goods.
  * Courier Pick-Up/Drop-Off – sign GAIA manifest ledgers, load sealed crates onto wagon pallets, and obtain a Guarding-Bot exit stamp.

**Illegal interactions**

  * Bribe a lathe machinist to cut an illicit master.
  * Kidnap a CRC auditor to pass forged disks.

===== Tactical Advice for DMs =====

  * **“The Arla Town Murder Disc” –** A popular tavern in [[arla_town|Arla Town]] has just received its weekly “Live Session” shellac from the New Kourou Shellac Corporation — supposedly a folk-set recorded by Weber Broadcasting Services. The publican mounts the fresh, fungus-resin disk on his crank-driven sequencer, drops the sapphire stylus … and the room falls silent. Instead of music, the groove plays a breathless audio log: a woman whispering coordinates, the scrape of boots, a panicked plea — then a visceral scream and the sickening crack of bone. The cut ends in hiss. Patrons scatter, the local [[guarding_troopers|Guarding Trooper]] detachment seals the tavern, and the bewildered Trooper-Chief hires the PCs to investigate …
===== Related Pages =====

  * [[beta_age|Beta Age]]
  * [[free_state_of_settlers|Free State of Settlers]]
  * [[New Kourou|New Kourou]]
  * [[exohuman_technology_of_the_beta_age|Exohuman Technology of the Beta Age]]
  * [[shellac_records|Shellac Records]]
  * [[gaia|GAIA]]
  * [[gaia_system|Federal GAIA Agency]]
  *[[new_kourou_shellac_corporation_nksc| New Kourou Shellac Corporation]]
  * [[weber_broadcasting_services|Weber Broadcasting Services ]] 
  * [[federal_shellac_manufactory|Federal Shellac Manufactory]] (Successor in the Gamma Age)