Location: Hoyle Enclave

While Hoyle's Enclave is a location that can be reached using Xenian-based Lambda Portals on Repurposed Earth, it's been uphill work getting it to be functional in the Rookery dimension. Mainly because Rookery Earth never had this building - or David Hoyle and his family - so simply renovating it is out of the question. Its location is a bit more overrun with both Portal-storm brought wildlife, and Combine presence. On Rookery Earth, Portland was not the only City designated in the area: Seattle was as well, but it actively fell due to a massive Portal Storm, bringing down the Citadel itself. The location isn't good for rebuilding, so they've been busy looking for a decent replacement spot. It is likely that they will decide to put it in the Michigan area, in the Color Guard's Enrichment Center. This will make it possible to have far easier access to more northerly flight paths toward the Borealis and Rapture facilities, should physical transportation be required.

Two eras are detailed below, before relocation of the facility, and post Rookery Year 12. Location inhabitants are only RW12 onwards. Note also that these are individuals that are only at the Enclave, while any other refugee or scientist tends to remain in the other Shafts or in the Aperture facility proper.

Hoyle Enclave - Early Era (RY -4 to +12)

In Repurposed Earth's timeline, David Hoyle rocketed to a strong political career, becoming a Senator with a foundation in military and bioengineering spending. It was due to his financial backing that a lot of the Armacham product lines were created at all, not the least of which was the Replica Soldier initiative, and with Paxton Fettel becoming its headlining star. But after the Synchronicity Events, Hoyle began taking less of a leading role - he and Wallace Breen skedaddled up to the Enclave to ride out the inevitable invasions in luxury, leaving Gen Aristide in charge (much to Keenan and Wilson's ire). For a time, they had been joined by Silver, but she left - and eventually did return of course, but only long after things had settled and she could tolerate Breen once more.

In its heyday before the Events, however, the Enclave used to be a private and very exclusive hotel and conference hall. Featuring many high-class spots such as a lagoon pool, poolside nightclub, penthouse suite for Hoyle, and an art gallery, in addition to the conference rooms and small theater. Below the surface, of course, were many other features such as the small power plant, medical bay, and clone storage and activation systems.

For quite some time on Repurposed Earth, Hoyle's place remained virtually empty. However once things got rolling against the Combine in earnest, the crew at Black Mesa helped renovate it and put up a Lambda Teleport device in the lobby. It was used as a staging area as well as a comfort zone for those coming and going through the northern hemisphere. For many in the Pantheon it was the first and last time they'd ever see such opulence, even if a bit dusty, as they were used to the ruins of the Aperture Armacham Enrichment Center. Only a few kids had ever been outside that location, and none had visited such a place. Oddly, the ELLs feel more at home here than the Pantheon. Mostly because they've got 'service' downloads to tell them how to use the equipment, work the elevator shafts, and clean the pool.

Available in that basement clone system are Skill Download Banks, which contain copies of Armacham's collected and massive set of information that can be infused directly into growing clone brains. (Or growing born child brains, or even adult brains, they're not picky, but only the youngest get the best results.) While there is a full set of these on site in the AAEC of course, since the Icarus and Medusa facilities were nearby and the ELLs were created on site, these duplicate them quite thoroughly. With them any person can basically 'skip school' and go directly to a career - this was usually intended for use with the ELL lines for technical and service roles, the Replica forces for military service, and a small number of assorted skills for professional-level boosting in the sciences and trades. The upshot of it now however, is that it can be of use to put the Pantheon's kids into the field without worry, as well as 'there aren't really any teachers left', so learning the basics of English, Math, History, Arts, and Sciences seem to be considerably easier if just ... dumped in there. Generally speaking any child who expresses interest in a subject will be offered a more full course with specifics - the people tapped for these downloads included masters in their field, and not just minor players. However what is notably missing in Hoyle's, that is present in the AAEC are downloads from the Pantheon themselves. They needed to access the unique skill sets that only they could muster, for teaching their children - no normal person could figure out how to telekinetically lift an object without hurling it through the room, or how to light a flame between your fingers instead of immolating yourself. Hoyle thinks eventually when the place is duplicated up in Michigan, that all of those need to be available on his devices. [1]

Since the image below is massive, just click this thumbnail for a much bigger version to see what all the fuss is really about. It honestly is a gorgeous, very functional location that he wants to share with as many people as he can. Plus, it's his home, and that helicopter on the roof has got to go, so his dragon can roost there! Note that in RY12 when things are rolling, only the very top windows are visible over the surface of the ground, and they are actually not the penthouse. There are at least three floors above the visible penthouse in the image, serving as a buffer from outside incursions, as well as storage space. It is also the only direct exterior access to the Shaft from the surface. The image below is curtailed, as the Suite floors originally were duplicted and reworked a bit, such that there are actually three floors of nothing but suites and a central (smaller than the ballroom) room for breakfast and meetings. The Ballroom floor is the lowest of the Suites. The Offices floor is largely refitted with the bigger rooms serving as large suites, a small medical office has been added, and more activities rooms for all-ages groups. Below the pool is a larger lagoon which had been outside the original building, but is now built into the Shaft itself. The original structure had 8 above-ground floors and 4 larger basement areas. This one has 11 floors in the main building, and the basements are essentially 'the Shaft'. [2]

Enclave - Rookery Year 12+

As time has passed and things have gotten both weirder and smoother running for the Rookery, having cleared out certain areas has meant progress can be made on rebuilding. As promised, the Hoyle Enclave is now part of the North Aperture facility structure... And isn't on the surface. Parts of it can be said to be over the nominally landscaped Aperture area, but most of it is below ground now. This suits everyone just fine - Armacham as well as Aperturth's imported technology both had window-wall video screens that emulated images in a way that could fool even intense scrutiny. It ... doesn't hurt that now the Lanes have added some specific windows that actually reach other dimensions and parts of the Rookery world too. So far from being dark and dreary 'outside', those big windows still show amazing scenery. It just... isn't particularly what's right outside the glass.

Where it is however, is directly over the Enrichment Center's Shaft 8. It rests where the 'office' level used to be, and occupies approximately the volume of 2 Spheres worth of vertical space. As with many of these Shaft-based structures, it is supported on many surfaces by beams and catwalks and connected to the walls of the actual mine around it. All of these supports are quite a bit firmer and safer (even if there is a Portal Storm, earthquake, or in extreme cases any explosions or damage from above) than the original Spheres. There is still a sense of volume to the place, and anyone with sensitive ears or powers will know that it's neither above ground, nor where it looks like it is through those windows. Pressure sensitivity is the key, though it has been equalized with the use of technology.

The surrounding areas, Testing Shafts 7 and 9, are both being renovated as habitats for refugees and dragons alike. Because it's right in the middle of such habitation, Hoyle has once more resumed his "politically charming" personality, and is of much higher spirits than he had been for the years after Repurposed Earth's political structure ended. The building itself is recreated similarly to the Mansion, Bayou, and Nordic Bungalo, in that it was 'duplicated' out of Xenian materials, rather than actually being moved from Repurposed Earth to the Rookery. Its power supply, water, and heating/air conditioning are local with a Xenian boost (as most are), this one is more hooked into the local power and water than other relocated facilities, however.

Because the surrounding Shafts are inhabited, there are only a couple people living here full time. Others come in for 'work', rest and relaxation, and the full spa treatment that the Enclave was known for in its heyday. There are Lambda Portals leading to and from this facility that go to the Rookery, the Mojave, and Rapture. It isn't safe to send anyone directly to the Borealis yet, and the dragons along with other methods are used to travel between Lane Mansion and here. It does not have a direct portal to Xen, as it's not needed, though Hoyle has been asking about putting one of those fancy aqua vitae pools in where the lagoon is... It would certainly do wonders for visitors health and mood. [3]

Notably below this area is the main water system for the entire Aperture facility. This is remade and redesigned, not just flooded and overwhelmed by the location's surrounding lake. Within this area reside a couple dragons, in addition to the keepers who make sure that the whole place is functional and not being poisoned by stray crap leeching into their water supply. Lake Michigan has some odd things in it thanks to the Portal Storms and other incursions, and even though it is still slightly lower than it used to be, there's still a massive amount of water out there that does threaten to flood the whole location. Hoyle wants to avoid that at all costs.

-- Notes --

[1] This is rendered mostly moot with the addition of the Rapture facility and its research on Plasmid-Mixed-Icarus. The main Rookery download and Icarus processing is done there, rather than at Hoyle's place. He's not fussed about this, after all without the burden of that he can concentrate on filling that sub-basement with more fun stuff.

[2] The heights of each floor are approximately 4 meters floor to ceiling but with a minimum of 2 meters between each. There is no such thing as a 'combo ceiling / floor' in this structure, as literally every single area was padded with walking-crawl space for security. There are also several stories in it that are a minimum of 6 meters tall floor to ceiling. Particularly in the lowest sub-basement sections, which required quite a bit of volume for large machinery and power production.

[3] Yes, they do eventually, in RY 13, not just because he's asked so often, but because injuries sustained the Testing Shafts can be really, really nasty. This has obviously caused the place to emit a lovely pale blue glow, as well as importing several newly invasive species. But they're largely considered safe, if not outright harmless.