MANDALA’S MOUNTS

• Location: Public Services Ring, New Kourou
• Address: SE Public Services Ring Road 3
• Surroundings: Adjacent to the New Kourou Courier Service Station
• Operational Period: April 2627 – 2632
• Owner: Rajid Mandala — shop motto painted over the gate: “Second or Third Hand, But They’ll Run.”

Mandala’s Mounts was a small private yard that rented, trained, and transferred Veyra mounts to couriers, trappers, scouts, and settlers during the late Beta Age.

Unlike ordinary livestock traders, Rajid Mandala specialized in matching experienced riders with Veyras already in Exohuman service. Most animals passing through the yard originated from Nara-Vey entrusted to Human communities through agreements with the Senti Tribe. While settlers often spoke of “buying” or “selling” Veyras, Mandala officially treated such transactions as transfers of stewardship rather than ownership.

The yard closed in 2632 when the Peace Treaty and the creation of the Federal Breeding & Training Station for Veyras shifted Veyra allocation into Federal oversight.

• Construction Materials: Salvaged ship alloys and timber posts on Atrana stone footings; mycelium-brick tack room; corrugated roofing over the stall block.
• Floors: Single-storey office and stall block; a one-room container house on skids.
• Design Aesthetic: Functional yard—gate, hitch rail, straight drive-through to the adjacent courier lane.
• Lighting: Not installed beyond stall lantern hooks — ambient twilight in the Asari Region suffices; no floodlights.
• Ventilation / Acoustic Control (Passive): Slatted stall walls with wind baffles; ridge vent; no powered HVAC.

• Stacked Container Unit:
  • Bottom — Office & Open Counter: Walk-up, doorless counter facing the yard; ledger desk, rental contracts, deposit strongbox; wardrobe pegboard for student hand; Rest Room with wash-basin and AuroraSan System; Service Bot charging station.
  • Top — Owner’s Quarters: One-room bunk & stove; small rest room; accessed by exterior stair; bell pull mounted at stair post.
• Stall Block (10 berths): Tie rings, feed bins, troughs; each box posted with a placard (Name, Age, Status: For Rent/Transfer Available, notes). Age entries were reputedly optimistic.
• Tack & Feed Nook: Saddles, harness, repair bench; pellet sacks and hay bales.
• Hitch Rail & Yard: Mount-up area and quick checks for courier hand-offs.
• Corral Strip: Short exercise lane along the fence line.
• Yard Sign: Hand-painted motto board beside the gate

Oiled leather, pellet dust, and wet stone; clipboards hang from nails beside stall placards. Chalk ticks mark returns before 17:00, and a brass bell at the container house answers after-hours knocks — if Rajid wakes. Everything is patched and workmanlike: second-hand tack, straight grain scoops, and a ledger that’s seen too much rain.

• Owner–Operator (Rajid Mandala): Intake, contracts, pricing, sales, and disputes. Rajid Mandala was widely regarded as one of the most experienced civilian Veyra handlers in the Free State of Settlers. Several courier riders, scouts, and frontier guides received their first mounts through his yard.
• Maintenance Bot (1, refurbished): Maintenance of stalls and infrastructure.
• Student Stall Hand (1, rotating by term): Feed and muck rotations, tack checks, yard sweep; issues/returns at the rail.

• Open Hours: 08:00–18:00 daily.
• Returns: By 17:00 (later counts as an additional day).
• Emergencies: After-hours yard bell at the container house (service not guaranteed).

• Perimeter: Timber fence with single swing gate; hitch rail inside the line.
• Controlled Access: Contracts and deposits recorded in analog ledgers; tack/feed store under key.
• After-Hours Protocol: Yard bell at owner’s quarters; no public night access.
• Armed owner: Rajid is in possession of a Windstrike Rifle (located under the counter) and always carries a Guarding Troopers Combat Knife with him.
• Regular Patrols: A local unit of the Guarding Troopers patrolled the Public Service Ring regularly.

Legal interactions (Beta Age/flashback play):

• Purchase a Veyra
• Rent a Veyra
• Offer a Veyra
• Apply for a student job as stall hand

Illegal interactions:

• Swap or alter stall placards (age/notes) to inflate value.
• Lift deposits or tack from the keyed nook; forge a return time in the ledger.
• Borrow a mount after hours by ringing the bell and misleading the owner.

• Adventure Hook — The Vanished Mount Ledger: On closure week (2632), Rajid’s rental ledger goes missing, along with a prized courier-trained Veyra promised to the station. Deposits, ownership, and fines will be frozen unless the book is found. Was it a spiteful student hand, a courier dodging fees, or a quiet grab by the Jane Mendoza Gang to mask a larger mount theft? Track altered placards, pellet sales, and hoof marks through the Public Services Ring before the ledger resurfaces in a forged sale.

• Beta Age
• New Kourou
• Peace Treaty (individual travel restrictions)
• New Kourou
• Veyra