Ark Intel

Significance

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This page is reserved for information on the Institute's Commonwealth Arcology, otherwise known as The Ark. Details of this information were collected by Veronica Sawyer and Brian Fulk over a months-long infiltration of the Institute with the help of internal actors. Access to this information is restricted by Sawyer and Fulk.

The Arcology

The upper-most level of the Ark is located 105 feet below street level in the city of Cambridge. The Ark was once known as the Indigo Plain Government Continuity Facility, and the foundations for what would become a self-sustained underground community were built in the 1950s during Cold War hysteria, initially intended to be a continuity of government facility similar to Cheyenne Mountain and Raven Rock. Abandoned halfway through construction, the facility lay dormant for nearly forty years before being appropriated by the Commonwealth Institute after its purchase by the Department of Defense. The Arcology is a secret even to the US Government and records of its construction have been obfuscated through shell corporations and misleading renovation documentation since its inception by Simon Broome.

Layout

Composed of three descending "rings" of structural inhabitation, the Ark is a living, thriving underground city connected by miles of subterranean tunnels snaking in and out of the subway systems of the greater Boston metropolitan area. Each ring is dedicated to a different purpose. Access to the Ark is only possible by means of the Commonwealth Institute facility located above-ground in Cambridge, which is in turn guarded by a live-in private military security force numbering 150. The freight-elevator access is locked behind four security doors accessible only by a combination of security card and biometric lock, all of which are maintained by an unconnected computer system shielded by an air-gap to protect against technopath interference. Neither Veronica nor Brian believe that this is a suitable means of entrance, the security is simply too high.

The elevator from the base of the Commonwealth Institute descends to the 105 foot depth of the Ark's A-Ring, noted below.

The Ark has an active population of 1,500 people. 377 of which are Evolved "detainees" and the remainder are a mix of administrative, scientific, medal, and security staff.

A-Ring

A-Ring, the uppermost level, is a residential and social quarter with dormitory-style residences capable of housing 1,500 people at maximum capacity. This ring also includes an garden and park with artificial sunlight and public structures such as a gymnasium, pool, and recreation facilities.

Residents: A-Ring is home to the living quarters of the Ark's entire science and research divisions and their families. Nearly everyone who lives within the Ark lives in A-Ring except noteworthy exceptions detailed in their respective levels.

Security: A-Ring is protected by a reasonably light security force of 50 live-in non-Evolved officers, all drafted from ex-military positions. They live in the Ark with their families and constitute some of the most loyal Institute operatives. They are, however, kept largely in the dark about the Ark's true purpose or the goings-on of the lower levels. Veronica and Brian also believe there are automated defenses in A-Ring, possibly robots based off of Hector Steel's designs, but they are not seen during day-to-day observation and may only be activated in emergencies.

Opportunities: A-Ring rests on the same level as the lowest portion of the Metropolitan Boston Subway System. By comparing subway tunnel maps, Veronica and Brian are able to point out an out-of-service subway tunnel that branches off of the Red Line. It was originally designed to be an extension of the Red Line service to Cambridge from Boston, but was scrapped after the Institute put pressure on the city of Boston when the planned tunnel got too close to the Ark's construction site. The distance between the subway tunnel's closest point and the Ark is roughly 80 feet and if a way can be found to get through 80 feet of solid stone, a way could be breached into A-Ring. Conventional could breach the concrete and rock past the subway tunnel, but the Ark is protected behind ten feet of steel-reinforced concrete designed to survive a nuclear explosion. Either higher ordinance or Evolved powers will need to come into play to open that way. Entering from the Subway would let people directly into the Recreation wing of A-Ring, specifically in the middle of the Gym.

White-Level Detainees

A-Ring is home to "White" security access detainees. White-level means that they're restricted to the Ark grounds, but are free to wander (visiting the underground park, using recreation facilities, etc) though with constant supervision, typically a plain-clothes security team officer. Think of it as being confined to the grounds of a hotel. The log Shadows on the Ground is a great example of White-level detention.

The A-Ring currently houses 293 Evolved detainees. 84 children and 209 adults.

Notable, known, White-level detainees are as follows.

Name	Ability
Tamara Brooks	Precognition
William Timm	Kinetic Projection
Else Kjelstrom	Precognition

B-Ring

B-Ring is the middle, administrative level. Here research laboratories, holding facilities and departmental offices are contained. Fifty percent of this ring is unfinished, still under heavy construction round the clock by teams of engineers.

Residents: Few staff permanently resides within this level, as all science and research staff do business within the finished labs and offices. B-Ring is home to Institute "Retrievers", special black-ops security forces who capture Evolved and return them to the Commonwealth Institute Arcology. Any Retrievers found on B-Wing would be largely off-duty, but are culled from ex-military backgrounds and should be considered armed and dangerous. There are roughly 90 Retrievers on Institute retainer, with an unknown number in B-Ring at any given time. Director Broome, Doctor Luis and Doctor Stevens have personal residences on this level. B-Ring includes private "residences" which are comfortable and bright "detention blocks" for Red-level detainees. A Red-level detention area was shown in Paint Me Hope.

Security: B-Ring is secured by automated defenses of unknown number. Veronica and Brian were able to determine that an unknown number of robots are contained in security wings, awaiting activation during an attack. No armed human security staff are present in B-Ring.

Opportunities: With minimal active security and unfinished infrastructure, B-Ring presents a different opportunity to intruders. The unfinished infrastructure is a weak point in the armored plating of the Institute, but this level lies 200 feet below the streets of Cambridge. Access to this level could be achieved by traversing the Cambridge sewer system (accessible from runoff drains in the adjacent Charles river) and using conventional demolition explosives to blow through the concrete and stone dividing the sewer lines from the B-Ring area.

Red-Level Detainees

B-Ring is home to Red-level detainees. Red-level security is reserved for Evolved detainees who have had a couple of outbursts or are otherwise ok but need more supervision. They get scheduled "free" time on A-Ring and are assigned a dedicated handler as well as a security detail, but otherwise reside within their B-Ring residential containment room.

The B-Ring currently houses 87 Red-level detainees, all of which are adults.

Notable Red-level detainees include:

Name	Ability
Jacob Stack	Hemokinesis
Leonardo Raphael Maxwell	Metallokinesis

Black-Level Detainees

B-Ring is also home to what are classified as Black-level detainees. These are dangerous or otherwise highly-sensitive prisoners. Some are kept round-the-clock confined to quarters, others are detained in ACTS units in a chemically-sedated state. Black-Level detainees vary from the wildly dangerous to the darkest secrets of the Institute. Veronica and Brian know names and details listed below, but not why they are detained the way they are.

B-Ring is home to 6 Black-level detainees, all adults.

Name	Ability	Detention Method
Edward Ray	Probability Prediction	Unknown
Juliette Fournier II	Transitive Adaptive Mimicry	Quarters
Elijah Carpenter	Cognition Duplication	Quarters
Julien Dumont	Cloning	Quarters/Medical Coma
Jonas Zimmerman	Genetic Manipulation	Quarters

C-Ring

C-Ring is a recently-completed mechanical engineering level, home to an enormous automated fabrication center that assembles automated robotic defenses based on designs by Warren Ray. Though Warren does not live on-premises, his designs can be found throughout the Ark. This level is where all of the manufacturing of the government's anti-evolved robots takes place, and this level is believed to be all that exists of the Ark from the US Government's perspective.

Residents: None

Security: Nine prototype AETOS drones patrol this level. Each is a self-contained autonomous defense system with no wireless networked systems. They are, however, capable of being infiltrated through standard hard-wire connections if they are disabled.

Opportunities: Getting down to this level would be extremely difficult due to the distance from either of the potential entry points. However, destroying the manufacturing level could halt the production of these robots for years, if not permanently.

Reactor Level

Below C-ring, resting at 500 feet below street level, is the power plant for the arcology; a low-enrichment nuclear reactor cooled by water intake from the Charles River. This reactor is maintained by a team of 25 nuclear technicians living on A-Ring and is inaccessible to both Veronica and Brian. The reactor level as well as railway access to the subway and internal elevators that traverse the structure's exterior.

Residents: None

Security: Unknown

Opportunities: None, unless you want to make Cambridge uninhabitable for several generations.

Frontline Unit-00

One wild-care in all of this information is the personal FRONTLINE squad of the Institute, Frontline Unit-00. These security officers have residences on A-Ring, but are rarely present within the arcology itself. At-present it appears as though they have been relocated to the Alaska facility on Mt. Natazhat.

To the best of the Ferry's recollection, there are only 3 surviving members of Frontline Unit-00 after the events of the last year. 00-01, Desmond Harper; 00-02 Olivia Roland, and 00-04 Lucas Eldridge.