# Menhir Research Enclave
## Introduction
*Constructed around entity TOREADOR-7I-22408 (more colloquially titled the "Crown"), the Menhir Research Enclave serves as a landmark of, and protector to, one of Nanotrasen's most important archaeological discoveries to date. While little progress has yet been made on ascertaining the means necessary to constructively interact with the Crown, its as-of-yet passive nature prompted Nanotrasen to construct the Enclave as replacement to a more austere predecessor facility, signaling their long-term commitment to maintaining control over the artifact and seeking a definitive answer as to its function.*

## Quick Summary

Menhir is a low- to mid-pop space map literally and figuratively constructed around a very big artifact, TOREADOR-7I-22408 (the "Crown"), which serves as a thematic explorable setpiece and occasional participant in round events.

## Core Precepts

* **The Crown is neither friend nor enemy.** A "repository of consciousness" abandoned long ago by the Precursors, who went on to an unknown fate, it has sorely missed interacting with fresh minds and is eager to take the opportunity in myriad ways.
* **Its "residents" are of many minds,** and some may act differently than others if they get the chance. A variety of behaviors can and should come forth, though common ones should not inflict lasting damage.
* **Its inner halls offer reward, but not too much.** Theme and flavor come first; it should not feel "mandatory" to powergame the central chamber's puzzles before you get on with the round.

## Potential Hindrances

* **Events can get old.** If they're to serve as the main "bread and butter" of the artifact's interaction with rounds, they're going to need to be varied, and strike a balance where they interfere with a round but don't frequently *impede* it.
* **Unsimulated areas within the station**. The artifact arms have been set up to avoid this for the points where the corridors are built into the artifact (borrowed shuttle turf configuration), but the artifact itself is (and likely needs to remain) unsimulated.

## Menhir Events

### The Event Cycle

Menhir's events operate on their own distinct cycle with a 7 to 10 minute interval; while this is more frequent than minor events, the extent to which each event affects the round is quite varied, keeping the pacing from getting too predictable.

### Event Design

The general objective of Menhir events is that:

* They interrupt your game flow (go looking for something, avoid messing with something, prepare for something, etc)
* In a way that does not feel overly punishing for their rarity
* And, more broadly, in a way that "feels cool and good" (hard to objectively define)

The gamut of events below is very subject to change if better alternatives are introduced.

Some events specify a certain amount of people must be "present" for them; this requires them to be *on the station* (Crown areas included), not just in the round in general.

Some are also "unannounced", which indicates they won't receive a stationwide alert (this typically applies to events that are more "self-evident", and keeps alerts from going off *every* cycle).

## Current Event List

**The Crown Holds Court - Variable Rarity**
See dedicated section at end of list

**Emissaries of the Crown - Very Common (300 weight)**
*Unannounced*
Several probes are deployed around the station in assorted locations. If disturbed (moved too quickly, or struck) they will return to their deployment location if far from it, and emit a searing flash if disturbed again. Some are of a larger size, and may react more harshly to direct damage. They inspect their surroundings for a time before being recalled; undisturbed probes may leave behind a gift.
*My favorite out of the common roster so far; intrusive without heavy disruption, highly flavorful, and comes with an occasional treat.*

**A Gift from the Crown - Common (200 weight)**
A location is selected, and it is granted a Precursor artifact. This location is sometimes within one of the outer "nodes" of the artifact, spawning a door at one cardinal point that allows access inside.
*Simple, but nice. Could be replaced if several new options become available.*

**The Crown Inquires - Semi-Common (150 weight)**
*Unannounced*
A person currently within the station is selected for the Crown's examination. They are transported to one of the "nodes" and held there for a brief period (40-50 seconds); a stimulus is applied part of the way through, which is an application of a minimally-harmful reagent or a simulated noise projected into their mind.
*Quite effective at disruption, but could get old if it hits the same person repeatedly; the event requires only one candidate the first time it goes off, but this increases by 2 each proc, to a cap of 15. It will still roll if this cap is not met, deliberately slightly decreasing total event frequency on low population.*

**One Flame Begets Another - Semi-Common (150 weight)**
A slate of non-maintenance APCs on the station are selected for supplementary charge (the lower their current charge percentage, the higher the odds of selection). With a volatile arcing sphere that zaps anyone nearby when it finishes charging. Cells with less than 5,000 maximum charge can receive an additional 500 maximum charge from each event; when this "overcharge" is used up for a particular orb, it will notably increase the hazard of the final discharge.
*Beneficial but in the most inconsiderate possible way. To avoid chicken problems, arcs from the final discharge will glance off any mobs affected by a spatial interdictor.*

**The Crown Reclusive - Standard (100 weight)**
*Unannounced*
The entrance to the Crown's main chamber vanishes, returning in a few minutes.
*Dead simple, but extremely effective when it hits at the right time, and keeps people guessing what just happened if they DON'T notice it. Happens no more than once a round.*

**Quiet is the Chorus - Standard (100 weight)**
A wave of disruption passes across the station, shutting down most APCs for 25 to 30 seconds and restoring them after that time. No power is drained. Maintenance, the engine, and a few randomly selected rooms are exempt.
*May be a little obtrusive, but gives quick thinkers an opportunity to act when the darkness passes over them.*

**A Place of Paths Not Taken - Standard (100 weight)**
A new random room (3x3, 3x5 or 5x3 possible with equal weighting between categories) appears in one of up to six locations around the station; this event becomes unavailable in the unlikely event that all locations are used up.
*Taps into the randomization of random rooms for a little extra sprinkle of "that was NOT there before".*

**A Shift in the Sands - Standard (100 weight)**
Gravity across the station intensifies for a short period, with exact intensity varying widely by room; during this period, localized minor gravitational anomalies will also appear every few seconds.
*Fairly straightforward conceptually, but the presentation brings it together pretty well. The intensified gravity won't last longer than a minute, so it's another "window of opportunity" case.*

**A Receptacle of Reflection - Uncommon (70 weight)**
One of the outer "nodes" of the artifact spawns a Precursor rotation puzzle, one entrance with a controller at each cardinal point; upon its completion, the controllers are removed (allowing free passage through the node) and a pedestal is exposed, which accepts a single object in whitelisted types (glass reagent container, food item, raw material) and duplicates it after a delay, removing the pedestal as this occurs.
*An odd but rewarding option that also has secondary consequences through opening all entrances; requiring the puzzle to be solved before the controllers disappear reduces the odds that one can enter node-adjacent access-locked areas without access to said areas, and provides time to block off the entrances if desired.*

**A Spire of Synthesis - Rare (40 weight, 1+ present for event)**
A Synthesizer artifact appears on the station at a point selected from "outreach turfs" (curated locations on top of a wire that don't block movement), and begins operating. This artifact acts somewhat like a power sink, starting at 10-20 kW of draw and escalating slowly but exponentially as it continues to operate; once it reaches a predetermined cap of consumption, or when it is no longer connected to a powered grid, it will cease operation and produce minerals based on the drained power. A higher completion percentage will produce better minerals, and more total drain will produce more minerals.

*This one is a little more high-impact, but it's low-frequency, and the announcement is specially tailored to instruct you on how to counter it (deactivate all supply to the grid and it'll shut itself down). Plus, once you deal with it, you can try using it on purpose; it will only draw from the grid it's directly tied to.*

**For Parted Are The Gates - Megarare (10 weight)**
The east, west and south sides of the Crown open new doors, allowing free passage through the artifact's main chamber and bypassing the initial entrance puzzle.
*Not super high impact materially, but provides some very unexpected behavior once in a blue moon.*

**Of Memory Is Borne Lament - Megarare (10 weight, not before 22 minutes, 16+ present for event OR a certain door must be open)**
The shades remembered in the depths of the Crown seize control of its current form; a wave of disruption shatters surrounding lights, and shades flood the inner chamber and emerge in smaller number from new doors along the periphery of the artifact.
*Very rare, very high-impact. While most random events shouldn't be like this, the occasional possibility of it adds some spice to the mixture, and it can be nice for manually-managed rounds.*

## The Crown Holds Court

Creates a room "within" one of the outer nodes, loaded with space allocation and using vismirrors and bridging objects to allow directly walking into it from the node. This event has special conditions in several ways:

* The odds of the event occurring naturally scale with population. Base weight without players is 20 (very rare), but 5 weight is added with each player present on the server, bringing it to 200 weight (common) at 36 players and 300 weight (very common) at 56, as some examples.
* Natural events will also have the odds of a particular room appearing altered by which rooms in the station are currently busy; for example, if the Medbay and operating theatre are unusually crowded, a medical room is more likely.
* Certain conditions can also guarantee the next cycle is a particular random room based on room-defined eligibility, including the possibility for some not in the ordinary pool; currently, this is restricted to taking a "familiar orb" (two possibilities) to a pedestal in one of the Crown's layers.

For certain rooms (the ones with station equipment), the artifact has stolen them from somewhere for you (this is animated and everything!), and you'll occasionally get contacted by a nearby station about this happening.

### Current Room Roster

*Listed weights below are intra-event weight, not global.*

**Soothing Chamber**
* A small medical bay, of sorts. Has a donut table, some medical supplies, a small operating theatre, and a mildly unnerving hallway of beds.
* Base weight: 50
* Gains weight from presence in: Primary Medbay rooms (12), all medical rooms (2), the Crown (2), Security department (1)

**Secluded Alcove**
* A little bar lounge, complete with an artifact instrument and complementary food cubes from the Crown's home cooking.
* Base weight: 80
* Gains weight from presence in: Crew quarters areas (5), secondary hallways (2)

**Damp Antechamber**
* A rather disorganized set of rooms full of yoinked botanical hardware and a plant-based leg that may or may not have been attached to someone previously.
* Base weight: 80
* Gains weight from presence in: Hydroponics (6), Ranch (3), Cafeteria (1)

**Misty Cavern**
* A winding path leads down to a strange, dark cavern. Presumably, this is intended to be welcoming?
* Base weight: 100

**Reverberating Arena**
* This thing stole a whole-ass basketball court, huh
* Base weight: 5
* Gains weight from presence in: Fitness Room (1)
* Can be summoned with special condition

**Unworldly Halls**
* A Precursor complex of time and place unknown, bridging a gap of deep and abiding darkness. If its puzzle is solved and it's brought an appropriate orb from the Crown, a link to the ice moon precursor complex can be made.
* Base weight: 0 (MUST be summoned with special condition)