PLANT OF THE NEW KOUROU SHELLAC CORPORATION (NKSC)

• Location: Industrial Ring, New Kourou
• Address: NE Industrial Ring Road 1
• Surroundings: Adjacent to the Headquarters of the Frontier Supply Company

Founded in 2625 — barely six months after Day Zero — the New Kourou Shellac Corporation sprang from the ingenuity of Vira Antonis, a former data-archivist from the Last Frontier. Her mandate was disarmingly simple yet planet-saving: press tone-encoded fungus-shellac disks and build the hand-cranked lathes and clockwork sequencers that would let GAIA’s scattered Local Hubs trade firmware, security keys, and medical files without draining a single 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 live-session “Studio Masters.” Those music disks — shipped by courier to taverns from New Kourou to Firetown, Hope, Morningstar and Arla Town — turned crank-driven sequencers into makeshift jukeboxes and stitched the Free State of Settlers’ settlements together with a shared playlist.

After the Great War, the factory was nationalized and re-badged as the Federal Shellac Manufactory (FSM) in 2631.

• 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.

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 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 Battery-Loop & Geothermal Exchange: Keeps presses running during grid brown-outs.

Exterior Grounds

• Loading Dock: Twin bays for Hoo-drawn wagons and 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.

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.

• Vira Antonis (Plant Director): Approves firmware lots, negotiates resin quotas, signs CRC ledgers.
• Maintenance Bots (4): The 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.

• 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 NK Courier Service at 05:00 sharp each Saturday.

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

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.

• “The Arla Town Murder Disc” – A popular tavern in 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 Trooper detachment seals the tavern, and the bewildered Trooper-Chief hires the PCs to investigate …

• Beta Age
• Free State of Settlers
• New Kourou
• Exohuman Technology of the Beta Age
• Shellac Records
• GAIA
• Federal GAIA Agency
• New Kourou Shellac Corporation
• Weber Broadcasting Services
• Federal Shellac Manufactory (Successor in the Gamma Age)