The Monte Cristo Fiasco



253 AU (?)

The Kurtz Corporation, a multinational business goliath known for its increasingly absurd yet inexplicably profitable ventures, is rarely on record for failure of any sort. The fools hollowed out a dormant volcano and turned it into a metal works, for heaven's sake. Yet, for one reason or another, Maximilien Hilbert's pet project, the Monte Cristo Research Station, did not end in profits and back-pats. Anyone hearing the idea "let's build a sub-aquatic biological splicing lab" might guess as much, but at the time it no doubt seemed to be feasible. Let's take a closer look.

As the Durantian government began to apply significant pressure to both the Kurtz Corporation and the Ghalean government to tone down some of their more controversial work, namely the inhumane experiments regarding the nature of magic addiction and mutation, and the alteration of life at the genetic level, it became abundantly clear that all such work would need to go underground. Or, more creatively, underwater. Under the leadership of Kurtz Vice-President and R&D Department Head Maximilien Hilbert, plans would be laid out for a research pavilion constructed in a subaquatic tube of sorts encircling the mountain of Monte Cristo, some distance from the shores of Regius and emerging from the water's surface as little more than a patch of jagged rocks. With the significant financial backing of the Wilmore family, in addition to the limited support of the Kurtz coffers under the presidency of the late William Renfield, father of current company president Quentin Renfield, the expansive facility would be constructed upon great floats upon the water's surface. Meanwhile, utilizing a small army of mages borrowed from Murota Academy and the Galamont House, a foundation was built around the mountain well below the surface, upon which the station was carefully lowered following its completion. It was then fastened to its foundation by a joint effort of the workers within and the mages above water.

This foundation, a series of horizontal steel pillars radiating at regular intervals from the uncommonly smooth, cylindrical mountain, served the double purpose of permitting entry into the mountain itself which, for reasons unknown to modern society, was hollowed out in ages past, presumably by the Murotians. This hollow mountain provided the inspiration for the aforementioned Andromalion Forge in the mountains of Northern Ghalea. Working from within the station inwards, a team of engineers began to bore long-term shafts into the hollowed portion of the mountain, after which a steam lift was completed facilitating travel to and from the surface. It should be noted that the bulk of this work had been completed from within the mountain prior to the sinking of the station, or the project would have been infinitely more complex.

Within two years, the station would become a fully functional community beneath the waves, housing over one hundred scientists working around the clock on projects deemed by Doctor Hilbert to be both worthy and morally questionable. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end; a series of horrendous accidents resulted in the wholesale abandonment of the facility, the bulk of the staff perishing by way of "pressure complications", according to Kurtz records. Hilbert and a handful of lucky researchers, the handful who managed to reach the lift first, escaped unharmed, but have proven reluctant to share any information outside of the company. As this is in keeping with Kurtz policy, it is not considered particularly unusual. The possibility of rapid ascension of buoyant debris as the station breaks down prompted the condemnation of the waters surrounding Monte Cristo, though boats are occasionally seen moving about near the island. Still more troubling are rumors of lights deep beneath the water's surface, sometimes visible from the shores of Regius.