The Facility

The Facility came wholly into being at the exact moment that Event-X occurred.

Such a sudden a violent discharge of creative energies threatened the tenous mind-fabric of the Host; such that a system was rapidly imagined into existence whereby these energies could be corralled and controlled.

A series of monoliths were arranged upon a dry lake, each standing as tall as three men above the surface of the soil and extending as deep again below it. The monoliths pulse with blue light and it is forbidden to lay bare skin against them.

At the centre of the monoliths stands the Facility, all grey concrete and glass and metal tubes. Watchtowers look out across the circular arrangement of the monoliths. Walkways and exterior stairs link the buildings together, of which there are at least one thousand.

There is a mostly-empty carpark beside the Facility. There are, perhaps, two or three cars parked there.

The staff inside the Facility are responsible for directing the flow of creative energies through the monoliths, such that no single one becomes overloaded or loses stability. Understanding the complex flows of these energies and the ways in which they interact with each other and within the monoliths is impossible

A central nervous system of computers, switch-boards and control panels assist the staff, providing to-the-moment information on the status of the monoliths. A variety of switches, dials and keyboards are used to calibrate the functional equipment that maintains them.

Due to its nature, Event-X is still occurring, is ever-occurring. Shockwaves of imagination ripple out from the monolith (now cracked), designated 11743. The building responsible for maintaining that monolith, which they call Building E, has always been sealed off.

The transient energies that escaped the monolith upon its rupture had to be redirected many times before the Facility was stabilised. It is confirmed that the structural integrity of at least 15 monoliths surrounding 11743 were compromised by Event-X, though in reality this number is much higher.

Upon achieving stability the Facility enters into a mode called Coherence. Gentle music plays from the elevators. There is the hum of electrical equipment and of air-conditioning. One member of staff, named Alonzo, repeatedly clicks his pen as he stares through a double-glazed window at a desert filled with monoliths.

Beyond the monoliths there rises the curved, insubstantial reflection of the Sphere. Activated through Coherence, the Sphere is a shield that contains both the monoliths and the Facility. It is not certain whether the Sphere exists to protect the monoliths from outside corruption, or to protect outside corruption from what is contained within the monoliths.

Nothing is supposed to exist beyond the Sphere, but it does. There is at least one wind-swept ghost town; at least one bar where an old man sits and drinks.