Badass Bookworm
Sanctuary of the Hidden Eye
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: Create a cool lair based on an inspiring place I visited.
- Image Credit: Photo taken by me in Malaysia! Map also made by me!
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: Using species, locations and groups of
Elpsis Kerrigan
with permission. - Links: Dominion of Light, Disciples of the Vader, Republican Guard, Tephrike,
- Military Base Name: Sanctuary of the Hidden Eye
- Classification: Hidden Outpost
- Location: Tephrike
- Affiliation: Republican Guard though the surrounding jungle is theoretically neutral.
- Population: Sparse. The Sanctuary exists because of secrecy and is far from both reinforcements and supply lines. There is a permanent group of around 15 support staff in the base at all times. This includes doctors, communications experts, quartermasters and intelligence officers. Added to this is anywhere between 30-90 soldiers from all branches of service. There is room for up to 150 persons to briefly stay there, but this has only happened once and was deemed too much of an operational and logistic risk.
- Demographics: Any non-human races of the Republican Guard can be found in the Sanctuary. However, due to the waterfall, river and sea access there is always a group of aquatic species on hand. Other forest adapted species like Wookiees and Ewoks make good additions too.
- Accessibility: Almost impossible to access, by design. Tephrike is a remote, near-uncharted planet locked in the dark age of war. Further, the Sanctuary is a hidden outpost amidst hundreds of square miles of impenetrable jungle, hills and swamps. Finally, watchers from the Guard track newcomers and if they come without an invitation or guide, they will usually suffer a deadly fate by ambush or traps.
- Description: Set deep within the Antarxi Rainforest, the Sanctuary is a hidden outpost of the Republican Guard. This wilderness of hills, jungle and swamps is ostensibly in the neutral zone between all the Tephrike empires, but is of interest to all. As an equatorial rainforest, the Antarxi basin receives several metres of rain yearly, leaving it lush and dangerous.
Inside the natural caves the Guard have expanded, hollowed and shored up the internal passages so it can accommodate a full company or more of troops, though it rarely does. The Sanctuary's hope is in secrecy rather than a large garrison, so if a large host of enemies did somehow approach, they would likely rig demolition charges and then abandon the base rather than defend it to the last soldier.
POINTS OF INTEREST
- Command Centre – A very slapdash affair of jury-rigged cables and monitors. This monitors and receives transmissions. The Sanctuary itself never sends messages – communications crews are sent into the jungle for this to prevent the base's location being found.
- False Path – The obvious, wide and straight path from the north is a trap. Anyone going that way will find their way blocked.
- Open Path – The less obvious southern route is still hard to access, but leads to an actual entrance.
- Water Path – Under the waterfall an aquatic or air-assisted creature can access the base. A heavy grate seals this off and opened only when visitors are expected.
- Laboratory – The jungles contain a myriad and strange creatures, plants and locations. A couple of permanent scientists study and occasionally return with findings back to the core lands.
- The Sanctuary Lounge – A large and surprisingly well-stocked cantina. There are no prices on any of the drinks but there is a strict limit per being per day. Food is also served here, with some 'extras' being available for pay.
- Infirmary – Even the most experienced ranger can come to grief in the jungle and need patching up. Thus this area is actually one of the largest rooms in the base. Medical supplies are usually low, but local remedies make up some of the slack.
- Armoury – A locked armoury contains the weapons and tech needed in a dry and safe area.
- Kitchen – The kitchen stores and cooks the many exciting foods of the jungle. Many of these have specific processes so the cooks are quite experienced so their comrades don't die!
- Storeroom – A room for stores. No matter where in the galaxy one is, this is necessary.
- Outlook – Above the waterfall and the base is a high vantage point of the lands around. It's considered a good posting if one can get it…though rather hot when the sun is out, or wet when the monsoon is blowing in.
- Barracks – Bunk beds form orderly rows. Sanitation is quite primitive due to a lack of plumbing. Lockers contain all a soldier's possessions.
- Workshop – Getting parts and equipment from home base is a long and difficult process. Therefore, a large workshop helps ensure everything goes a bit further. Ammunition is an especial concern, so a small bullet making assembly has been established using reused casings and locally made propellant. The results are not as good as proper, but do the job. More 'primitive' weapons like bows, spears, blades and axes are also made here. Explosives, often of the IED variety can be made here too.
- Brig – Four small cells have been cut into the rock and secured with durasteel bars. Any captured persons who need interrogation are brought here. Since they can't risk the base's location being revealed no prisoner leaves the base alive….
- Training Room – Keeping skills honed in the jungle is important, so drills are conducted here.
SECURITY
High. As mentioned in Accessibility, merely reaching the Sanctuary is tricky enough. However, when one does manage to approach it, they will find it well defended with traps, snipers and barriers to prevent access.
As it is set into a mountain, external bombardment and air strikes would do little without bringing down the whole cave structure.
There are seemingly three paths into the Sanctuary, but the most obvious one along the northern cliffs is a trap. This narrow path with sheer cliff on one side and steep drop on the other allows no cover from hidden sniper nests above. If one follows this path through this though it turns a steep turn to a blocked entrance of hewn stone, impassible without explosives. All the time fortified defenders on the far side of the waterfall, including an Rotary Cannon, can rake the attackers. If this was not bad enough the Sanctuary's tame Thrakesion Jungle Devil has its lair by the pathway!
If one were to head in through the second southern entrance, they would find things slightly easier, but not much. For one, the cliff above this path is smaller and provides good cover to fire down at exposed enemies or drop grenades onto them. Passing around a bend they would find the Rotary Cannon and a barricade waiting for them.
The final entrance is under the waterfall and through a deep, confusing lake under the waterfall. This is impossible for a non-aquatic species without breathing gear, and well monitored, with a heavy grate which can cover the outlet into the base. One final inadvertent defence of the water area is often the presence of Blood Pisces which can spawn in the waterfall pond. Without special precautions though they might attack both friend and foe however.
A final safe room is built into the command centre with heavy stone doors. This room is fitted with a self-destruct which can destroy vital intel if needed.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
Tephrike is a world at war, and has been for centuries since the dark ages engulfed the galaxy. In the air, on the water and along the ground the war between Republican Guard, Disciples of Vader and Dominion of Light has raged for generations and shows no sign of abating.
However, not all places are equally beset by war. Planets are large and many regions are sufficiently far from the frontlines that they never see the war directly. There are also regions which are just too difficult for main operations to ever take place. One such region is the Antarxi Rainforest, a vast area of forests, hills and swamps covering thousands of square kilometres. So impenetrable is it, and so difficult to access that the borders for the Dominion and Vaderites are on the outskirts of the jungle. Both Jedi and Sith are content to watch the rainforest, knowing that no army can pierce the rainforest.
This inaccessibility makes it a perfect location for a covert base for the Republican Guard. Around 80 years before the present a scouting force of Guard partisans came upon a waterfall in the jungle. Exploring further they found a large cave, easily able to hold a hundred or more soldiers, well concealed and safe from observation. They reported this find and the Guard were immediately interested. A permanent force of engineers and soldiers was dispatched to occupy the base, improve it and use it to spy on both Jedi and Sith.
Moving troops and supplies through the jungle is barely easier for the Guard than their enemies, and every item had to be carefully maintained on the long and often dangerous trek, including the predations of creatures like the Thrakesion Jungle Devil. Once a permanent presence was established though things got a little easier. Although dangerous, the surrounding jungle provided fish, meat and edible plants, whilst the hard jungle wood and plentiful stone made for useful materials.
In the jungle the war is one of scouting, ambushes and deception. Both Dominion and Vaderite forces scout the jungles, seeking information on their enemies. They know there is a Guard base somewhere in the jungle, but they have been unable to find it. The Guard used this hidden nature to their advantage, launching raids on both their enemies, and even heading down the river to the inner sea to raid along the coasts.
After one particularly destructive raid into the Vaderite territory, which destroyed an outpost and detonated an armoury full of munitions, there was retaliation. The Vaderite commander in the region, Pavlos Vortazes, sought and got reinforcements for a 'flying column' to find and destroy the hidden rebel base. Over 500 Imperial soldiers with 1500 'native porters' set out with much fanfare from the regional base of Daslama into the jungle.
The problems of such an expedition soon dawned on the Imperials. Though Vortazes was famed for his 'bandit suppression' campaigns, these were usually in areas not so dense, inhospitable or dangerous. The porters were essentially non-human slaves who carried heavy equipment, supplies and the wounded. At every turn they were blamed for the oncoming disasters and repaid this by deserting whenever possible, often taking or destroying their carried supplies. The dense jungle and oppressive weather made the progress slow for the columns of troops, and many were incapacitated by falls, contact with native fauna or flora or through drinking bad water.
The Guard knew something was coming because of increased Imperial air patrols, some of which uselessly bombed areas of rainforest far from the real target. Still, the threat was taken seriously, and the Sanctuary's commander, Tevok the Man-Bane, summoned his forces to engage. Tevok was an Ewok, and despite the misleading cuteness of them, he was a seasoned woodsman and brutal fighter. He led a party of thirty veteran rangers to observe and harass the incursion, whilst leaving the same number to defend the Sanctuary if it was needed.
As it turned out though, it was not. Disease, injuries and deaths mounted, and the Imperial soldiers became dispirited in the endless jungle. Taking these frustrations out on the porters only increased trouble as more deserted, some of them reaching the Guard and giving valuable information. These deserters were led to a safe location well away from the Sanctuary and would eventually be returned to the Guard heartlands.
Tevok's troops determined the column of Imperial troops would have to cross the raging Lycus River at a certain location as the river had flooded due to heavy rain. He therefore planned a meticulous ambush and even had his troops construct a hasty dam upstream to lure the Imperials in. Vortazes, believing he was close to bringing the 'rebel scum' to battle, crossed with the vanguard. It was then that the ambush was struck. The dam was blown up, trapping Vortazes' vanguard whilst merciless fire from the jungle picked off the exposed soldiers. For reasons unknown the Imperials had brought a regimental banner and eight men were cut down trying to retrieve it. Chaos further engulfed the battlefield as a trained Thrakesion was unleashed on the Vaderite soldiers. It ate Vortazes whole, knocked his 2IC into the river to be drowned and then escaped back into the jungle to lick its wounds. The rest of the vanguard was cut down, even those who tried to surrender. Tevok took no prisoners of the enemy who had killed most of his tribe.
The remainder of the Imperial forces, unable to assist except by wild shooting across the river were in total disarray. Vengefully they killed the few remaining porters, though all this did was mean they had to carry their dwindling supplies as they retreated. The retreat turned into a panicked rout through the jungle, as Tevok's warriors picked off the survivors one by one or they succumbed to disease, hunger or wounds. Tevok helpfully displayed the bodies of Imperial troops along the line of march to further dispirit and demoralise the broken enemy. Only three Imperial soldiers survived to return to Daslama, and likely only because Tevok let them go to spread word of the horror.
Sanctuary was saved for the loss of two Guardsmen killed and seven injured. The Sanctuary's garrison assisted the porters they rescued back to a new life and then continued their vigil. Neither the Vaderites or Dominion would ever try such an expedition again, though low-level fighting has continued until the present.
