The Refinery
Overview
The Refinery is an Axiom facility at The Screed, serving as the centerpiece of the outpost’s operations. Established in 393 AC, it processes Kelon deposits harvested from Caer Nilam into usable ore for Axiom machinery.
Location and Construction
The site was carefully selected to serve as a secondary shaft for bringing up goods and resources recovered from the buried City of Scholars. The facility was constructed near a much smaller opening in the Screed than the Crow’s Eye, built atop a partially collapsed annex. The Refinery expanded into a city within the city as the foundry grew with buildings needed for refining and storing Kelon.
Operations
Kelon Processing
Axiom energy specialists have expressed concern that the meager Kelon stockpiles recovered from the icy wastes may soon create shortages impacting the technical units of the Expeditionary Corps. Beyond Kelon processing, Axiom researchers study the amber-hued liquid found in the Cais Adarra and the upper city murals to determine whether it might serve as an alternative energy source for the Faction’s devices.
Sap Conversion
The Refinery underwent a five-week standstill for reconfiguration from Kelon processing to Sap operations. The conversion required the Axiom community’s brightest engineers to check, recalculate, and adjust systems while workers connected, diverted, and reconnected conduits. Upon successful activation, pumps started and fluid flowed through conduits extending to the City of Scholars, producing a distinctive sucking noise before Sap rushed into vats in gloopy eruptions that gradually settled into regular humming.
The converted facility produces Sap fuel in cartridges, cylinders, and tanks that complement or replace Kelon supplies, addressing the expedition’s energy shortage.
Sap Distribution
The converted facility includes a raw-material pumping installation that extends into the City of Scholars to bring up Sap from collectors placed at strategic locations in The Undergrowth and The Scholars’ Tomb. Processed Sap is distributed to The Farm, The Mess, airfields, factories, and workshops across The Screed.
Relationships
- The Screed: Parent location containing The Refinery
- Axiom: Faction that operates the facility
- Caer Nilam: Source of Kelon deposits processed at the facility
- Kelon: Primary resource processed
- Sap: Secondary resource processed after facility conversion
- City of Scholars: Buried city accessed via secondary shaft
- Crow’s Eye: Larger chasm; Refinery uses a separate smaller opening
- Expeditionary Corps: Force supplied by the Refinery’s output
- Sierra: Axiom Exalt who investigated Grems sabotage at the facility (393 AC)
- The Grems: Eidolons who attacked regulator panel causing shutdown (393 AC)
- Subhash Kadis: Axiom engineer whose shift Sierra covered during sabotage incident (393 AC); present at Sap conversion activation (393 AC)
- Treyst: Axiom researcher who witnessed the Sap conversion activation (393 AC)
- Marmo: Subhash Kadis’s Chimera who greeted visitors at the control room (393 AC)
- The Farm: Muna facility receiving Sap deliveries
- The Mess: Bravos facility receiving Sap deliveries
- The Undergrowth: City level where Sap collectors are placed
- The Scholars’ Tomb: City level where Sap collectors are placed