ESB Cantonment

ESB Cantonment refers to the corporate headquarters of the ESB Group in Aqaba, Aqabah, Imperial State of Constancia.

It is very closely patterned with the architecture of the Teldrin Sanitorium. Operational and administrative headquarters of the ESB Corps.

Description

It is an administrative complex colloquially named the Ziggurat, with design specifications similar to the Teldrin Sanitorium included in the aforesaid complex. As such the heart of the complex can be expected to comprise, as a minimum, of a terraced raised platform of 310,000 cubic metres of concrete, clad with imported limestone, enclosing an area of thirty-eight acres.

Its walls are formed of ferroconcrete segments, faced and clad by gleaming silver-gilded limestone, reaching a height of ten metres capped with an extra two metres of crenellations on top. Over each gate set in the walls, corresponding to the points of the compass, north, east, and south, had been set ferroconcrete barbicans, clad this time in granite so as to give them an ominous distinction from the walls set behind them. These barbicans rise to a height of twenty-five metres, which is roughly equivalent to three Shirekeep omnibuses stacked one atop of another. It should be recalled however that these walls have been set atop of the retaining walls of the Sanatorium's raised platform which continue for another thirty metres below ground level.

The dressed stones of the walls, silvered and finely chiselled, have been decorated with a variety of Euran and Benacian cultural motifs, including depictions of the World Serpent, the Benac, the Cedrist Pantheon, and various Shahs and Kaisers shown in the act of ritually dispatching myriads of opponents, usually human or daemonic, thus earning the favour of the gods, whose winged servitors are depicted overhead offering gestures of benediction whilst stylised representations of the various nations of the world prostrate themselves in homage before the fearsome scene of carnage. The barbicans, by contrast, break up the monotony of black granite with veins of gold-leaf laid out in a variety of geometric patterns radiating from the archway of the gate and spiralling upwards along the base of the circular towers. Although the walls and their various towers are mostly decorative rather than practical fighting platforms they do however serve a useful purpose in providing a vantage point for observation over the town and surrounding countryside, as well as facilitating the installation of surveillance equipment, including close-circuit TV cameras, signals monitoring equipment and radio direction finders, along with masts, apparatus, arrays, and apertures belonging to various other undeclared devices.

Set into the two landward corners of the walls are however two functional buildings particular to the Euran cultural mindset – the circular flaktowers “Dominus” and “Aurangzeb” stand at a height of fifty three metres and mount eight point defence autocannons alongside a vertical launch system for twenty-four interceptor missiles. Each tower has a multi-function dual-face active electronically scanned array radar which can be retracted behind a thick concrete and steel dome for protection. The walls of the towers are four metres thick.

Although denied, rumours persist, that the visible portion is in fact merely the tip of a vast buried ziggurat. These rumours are typically described as fanciful by ESB representatives who point out, not unreasonably, that the Group is not blessed with unlimited cash reserves to splash on dubious vanity projects.

The internal portion of the cantonment is divided into four portions. The first, comprised of the western projecting platform, is reserved for storage facilities, security offices, and the landing pads for gravimetric vehicles and helicopters. The remainder is organised into concentric layers, the outermost being the residential area comprised of fifteen terraced blocks set amidst a landscaped zone of water features and green squares. The main buildings rise up to seven floors above a podium level which forms a pedestrian concourse connecting the residential area, progressing inwards, to the cultural zone. The heart of the cultural zone is the Madrassa, a school for the children of ESB employees built in the Neo-Babkhan style favoured in Alalehzamin, which also serves as a venue for arts and cultural activities for the entertainment of adult residents. The cultural zone also includes a finishing school for Loyal Subjects of the company, from where ESB employees can identify and select prospective marriage partners upon graduation.

A portico or colonnaded covered walkway divides the cultural zone from the administrative district, a palace complex built as a basilica with four rows of columns running lengthwise, each made of 40 columns, thus creating three parallel halls, with a central fourteen metres wide hall and two flanking nine metres wide halls, with the central hall being twice as tall as the aisles, at nearly thirty-three metres in height. The whole structure was set amidst walled paradise gardens with discreet alcoves reserved for the pleasures of senior ESB employees.

Locators

• ESB Steel corporate offices
• ESB Sanitation corporate offices