The World Kiln

 Mission Cycle -0.18  Anvillon Tower, 2nd Representative's Residence  The first room was as Rhobern had come to expect - a workshop of sorts with solid, slab-like tables, wall-mounted racks fully stocked with tools and components, and a bank of industrial appliances and control consoles that took up one full side of the room. Yet as he moved further in, he could see that the next chamber beyond appeared to be a surprising reprieve from the harsh, functional style that he had grown accustomed to in the tower. Unlike the space before it, the room was light and comfortable with furnishings made for human use, and a single ultrawide window that gave a grand, aerial perspective of greater Anvillon spreading outwards from the tower's base. However, it was the woman in the room, working at a desk in front of the window, that drew his attention.  She was sat facing him, but was hunched over to better handle whatever she was at work on and had given no sign of acknowledging h...

 Mission Cycle -0.32  Anvillon Tower, Cloud Port 1  The sky galleon thrummed as it decelerated into the docking bay, shaking off the dust of a thousand miles which settled on the surrounding gantries. As the ship reached a halt, the clamps and loading ramp of the bay began to lock into place, but the captain of this vessel was not one for waiting. Dropping down from the prow, his armoured boots hit the floor with a heavy thud that was lost to the few travellers here amidst the din of machines relentlessly ferrying cargo in and out of the docks.  The exit path marked by yellow lines leading to the right would head to an elevator shaft down the tower, away from the clamour and mechanical bustle of the port. However, it was the door ahead - a bulwark of criss-crossing dark iron plates - which directed the route of the impatient visitor. As if the reinforced layers of the entryway were not enough, two bulky, robotic sentinels of the same material flanked the door and sur...