The Silent Castle

The Silent Castle is a massive fortress on Kaffeklubben Island, an island off the largely-unoccupied north coast of Area 9 -- or Greenland, depending on who's counting -- which is noteworthy for being the northernmost piece of land on Earth. (While there are places further North where one can stand, they're just ice sheets, with nothing but water below.) It is the home and primary staging ground of the Kafims, and through them, a major shelter for the Dawn of Fold... and The Silent Calling, naturally.

Note that Kaffeklubben Island, while it is extremely North, is not located on the North Pole -- though it is only a quick trip up to the now-green top of the world. It's just up the road, geographically speaking.

Mobile Suit Development

The Silent Castle has made a name for itself not only as the Kafim's fortress, but as weapons developers. After the Da Xukong 0 was adapted from stolen plans and made into its present striking design, the Muse Malu 3 and Muse Malu 4 were developed as totally original mobile weapons. The Silent Castle has also adapted the Ground-Type Alto for their operations, and has produced a series of next-generation kaiju-infused Salamis Kais -- the Salamis Kyo-class Cruiser.

Silent Castle MSes tend to be easy to produce on a budget and with limited infrastructure, due to the limitations of the stables where they're developed. Most of them are also infused with eldritch horrors, either implicitly or explicitly -- with the exception of the Muse Malu 3, which runs on typical mobile weapon solar power.

Occupants

The Silent Castle is capable of hosting an entire community within its walls -- though it currently doesn't shelter many.

The Royal Family

The Mistresses of the Castle

The Strong Mistress, Elisa Kafim, and the Gentle Mistress, Yuliana Kafim, rule the Castle as its resident royalty. They rule through divine right, passed down to them through Yuliana's ancestral connection to the Void and Elisa's frightful magics.

Sashenka Constantinovna Dian

Queen mother through Yuliana, Sashenka Dian wields surprising power in the Castle, serving as adviser to her children and grand-aunt (or "grauntie") to their children. A former diplomat of the Peace Mediation Organisation who was thrown under the bus by the REA, her distrust of her own government led her to adopt Blue Cosmos's ethos instead, and she remains a quietly prejudiced woman in her old age... though her bigotry has softened some following her daughter's lesbian marriage to a half-Meltrandi eldritch horror witch. She serves as a moderating influence to her more stubborn husband, and she cares deeply for her family, which she believes is her first priority in all things.

Tri Darma Dian

Queen father through Yuliana, Tri Darma Dian is a retired Major of the REA Military, though his power is diminished in the matriarchal halls he's retired to. (In truth, while he's always wielded more blatant power, he's never been an absolute tyrant with his wife behind him.) He is more openly and loudly bigoted than his wife, but even he's calmed down a little following his daughter's life path. He's typically more suspicious of the strangeness of the Void, but he always manages to come around in the end. (Though he still doesn't trust that tiger with the children.)

Adharis Kafim

A Meltrandi warrior who was involved in the war against Earth. She is Elisa's earthly mother, and while she's a little surprised at the direction her daughter has chosen, she supports her and her family. Boisterous and deceptively smart, she is a source of strength for the people of the Castle.

Faiz Kafim

An accountant who married a Meltrandi warrior. He helps run the books at the Castle, and as Elisa's earthly father, spends a lot of time with the others of his station. While initially very concerned by what Elisa gets up to, these days he's more concerned with helping her accomplish her goals efficiently than worrying about 'blood sacrifice'. After all, he /was/ attracted to a Meltrandi warrior in the first place.

Maksim Lyubovich Morozov

The Kafim's elder nephew, Maksim Morozov is eight years old, born in February. Full of machismo, and a bit of a bully, he loves fairy tales and fantasy worlds. He's developing an interest in magic on account of that, and so he's been gifted with a familiar of his own: the sleepy green and black Monocled Cobra, Swordtooth.

Makar Lyubovich Morozov

The Kafim's younger nephew, Makar Morozov is five years old, born in August. Gentler than his older brother, but always eager to prove himself, Makar has a love for all heavy machinery -- including mobile suits. He's friendly and outgoing, but he expresses his sadness dramatically, too. He loves to paint.

Sokrovishche

Nicknamed "Sokrova", Elisa's familiar is a green and black Bengal Tiger who roams the halls of the Castle, guarding and comforting her family. Friendly to invited guests, Sokrova is in many ways just like any other housecat -- if that housecat were 240kg. He's the Kafim's beloved family pet!

The Silent Court

Wendy Yuan

A trusted member of the Silent Court, Wendy Yuan serves as Yuliana's Lady-in-Waiting, offering her companionship alongside serving as part of the Castle's Elite Guard.

Parminder Chaudhri

The Silent Court's resident Jester is Parminder Chaudhri, speaking truth to power through the veil of foolishness. Luckily, all he cares about is getting a good laugh. He heads up the Silent Castle's digital security and communications, and occasionally takes to the field as a member of the Elite Guard... though he drives the ship rather than a mech.

Ingvar Hedlund

A cyborg experiment of Dr. Divya Devi, Ingvar escaped with their partner Teodor into the night--and drew Elisa's attention by independently learning to conjure the Void. Now, they serve as her apprentice and primary enforcer.

Teodor Byquist

An experiment and pharmacist, Teodor escaped with his partner Teodor and now is one of the few men to experiment with the powers of the Void--in his strange new alchemies that he wields for the sake of the Queen who allowed him and his partner a chance for hope and vengeance both.

Servants

Jin Guanyu

The Head Maid of the Castle, Guanyu -- like many servants in the Castle -- fled the REA in order to avoid state retribution. Her sister, Guanting, fought with the Hua Lian rebels, and Guanyu feared that she would be targeted to get to her. (Guanting remains concerned about her sister's whereabouts.) Yuliana favours her presence, and secretly, she's kindling a romantic relationship with Wendy. She's a pleasant woman who is happy with her job, because even if Elisa is unnerving, the pay is really good -- and she's safe from her country, too. She has pale skin and light blue hair and eyes, with a moonlit look about her.

S. Durai (Durai Sharma)

The Castle's Steward is a haughty, ill-tempered Tamil man who wished to leave the REA for his own reasons. (White-collar crime. White-collar crime is the the reason.) Durai serves as the Castle's gatekeeper, ensuring that imports are properly delivered and no one goes anywhere they're not permitted to go. He's a blue-eyed man with dark skin and pink hair, and he notably doesn't get along with his Sikh associate, Parminder.

Tran Thi Chau Loan

Chau Loan is the Silent Castle's Head Chef, responsible for handling all of Yuliana's culinary needs. Her kitchen is run as a tight ship, and she's exacting to a fault about proper preservation methods and food safety; before she was driven from Vietnam, she liked to brag that her restaurant never had a single proven case of food poisoning. Unfortunately, her unpopular political opinions -- in particular, her activism around the idea that Vietnam would be better served by independence instead of bowing to the REA -- eventually put her on too many watch lists, and she fled the Republic for her own safety. Elisa offered her safety and an excellent pay check, and she's enjoying the challenge of serving food in such a remote location... even if it's difficult to travel, these days.

Structure

The Silent Castle occupies most of Kaffeklubben Island, and a high, thick curtain wall separates them from the world. These walls have internal walkways to help denizens move around without risking exposure to the cold outside. Evenly spaced along the wall are magical pylons; when activated, they form the true walls of the Castle, protecting it with a green magical barrier which is far less easy to blow up or fly over.

Its living spaces are divided into four Wings, each dominated by a Tower, alongside the Central Keep. Three of these -- the South, East, and West Wings -- are clustered near the south end of the island, kept safe by the inner bailey, alongside the greenhouses. The North Wing stands alone at the northernmost edge of the northernmost island, joined in the outer bailey by the stables and the main gates. Outside the gates are the docks; one ought to bring an icebreaker when looking to park there, which importers regularly do, because the Kafims have to import most of their goods.

(Presently, a large hunk of inert Psychoframe crystal is blending in with the icebergs near the docks.)

Notably, the Silent Castle also has an extensive underground layer largely devoted to the indelicate parts of maintaining a fortress off the grid, as well as to wanzer storage.

The Silent Castle's infrastructure is surprisingly medieval; it uses gas lights instead of electricity, heats water for baths by hand, and takes advantage of passive ventilation systems built throughout the structure to distribute heat from its many fireplaces in order to keep everyone warm. It does have access to power -- but electricity is employed on an 'as-needed' basis instead of by default, because the Silent Castle's electricity is powered by blood magic rather than nuclear power. (Hence the gas lights.) Its sewerage system is designed to be managed internally rather than relying on an outside processing plant, a process which also involves blood magic. Their water treatment systems are similarly enhanced by magic, and clean water is delivered through internal pipes via hand-cranked pumps.

The Outer Bailey

The North Wing

The North Wing is kept separate from the rest of the Castle, because its tower is the site of Elisa's experiments and machinations. The Castle's medical facilities are located here, alongside Elisa's laboratory equipment. Elisa's magical workings are also largely contained here, with sacrificial chambers, permanent summoning-circles, and a room devoted to a crystal ball made from Voidframe which Yuliana regularly sacrifices... something to empower. This part of the Castle tends to only be heated on an as-needed basis; it is also one of the areas of the Castle built to accommodate a Macronised Zentradi.

The Stables

In ancient times, lords kept their warhorses in stables; in the present day, the Mistresses keep their war-machines here, instead. The ground level of the stables is large enough to comfortably fit Medium-sized units. There is also a permanent summoning-circle installed inside for magical unit retrieval. The stables are insulated against the cold, but don't have active heating, which means that one ought to bring a cloak when doing repairs. An elevator system allows one to access the basement level, which extends throughout the bailey, giving it far more underground space than its above-ground structure. Unlike the rest of the basement-level structures in the Castle, the underground storage of the Stables is self-contained -- because it not only stores their Ground-Type Altos and Muse Malu 4s, it also acts as a resting place for surviving Protivisny. The Protivisny are tiger-like dragon kaiju which serve as the Kafims' shock troops, and the ones which survive their battles return home to rest until the next fight. These bloodthirsty kaiju want nothing more than to fight strong enemies until they meet their match, so their needs are met with racks of cat-bedding where they can wait for the next sortie. It's better if the servants don't disturb them.

The Inner Bailey

The Central Keep

The highest tower in the Castle is the Central Keep, designed to be used by both Macronised and miclonised individuals. The main doors lead to its grand entrance hall, with an oil painting of Elisa and Yuliana in full Caller regalia; its Throne Room hosts a Macronised throne, with another, human-sized throne built into it, for the Mistresses to hold formal audience. The Central Keep holds the grandest rooms of the Castle, and if they want to show off, they'll do it here.

The East Wing

The East Wing's tower is where the most important people in the Castle take up residence -- the Mistresses, their family, and their court, in that order. Lower areas of the East Wing, meanwhile, are devoted to guest quarters. These rooms concern themselves with daily living and comfort. Recently, the lower areas of the East Wing have been getting renovated, as if they're expecting more guests soon...

The South Wing

Logistics, planning, and all the nuts-and-bolts of keeping a Castle operational -- it's all located here. From the kitchens to the cannery to the computer lab, if it involves practical operations, it's probably found in the South Wing. The servant's quarters are also located here.

The West Wing

Activities and occupations are held in the West Wing, which hosts a full gymnasium, a cat gymnasium (complete with heated pool for Sokrova's enjoyment!), an entire room for Yuliana's model wanzers, playrooms for the children, home theatres, a dance hall, and various other diversions to distract everyone from how distant they are from society.

The Greenhouses

The inner bailey hosts an outer building, as well -- the Castle Greenhouses. These hydroponic structures are designed to grow large amounts of calorie-dense food in a relatively small area, so that the Castle's denizens won't be starved out if they're unable to receive imports. Small amounts of gourmet crops are also grown to satisfy Yuliana's need for fresh produce.