Outbase Rishtag

G.S. Outbase Rishtag is among the most famous locations no one has ever visited. The site is situated deep within an uninhabited region of space, and purportedly takes "five years" to reach by ship (this speed is based on the relatively slow speed employed by GS capitol ships). The base is situated along a retreat path, and serves as a cache of supplies and munitions. Officially, it exists as a fall-back point for the Gudersnipe Tenth Fleet. Unofficially, its a good place for the Foundation to store several million torpedoes, missiles, and pallets of bullets. Stable temperatures and low humidity have also led them to place numerous terrestrial vehicles there in a mothball capacity. Though technically reachable by ship, almost everyone and everything gets to the base by GATE.

Due to its isolation, only about a third of the base's staff are full-time residents, with the rest 'commuting' to work from planets all over the Foundation. This is among very few planets in Foundation control where such a thing is allowed.

History

The base was probably established during the Mage Wars as an ammo dump. The region of space is now uninhabited, but may have belonged to the Marcon Alliance.

For the bulk of its history, Outbase Rishtag was virtually unknown. It existed on formal record, but was an out of the way supply base.

During the Kamian Succession Wars, the base rouse to prominence. For the first time in history, civilians and coalition forces were brought to the base to assist with operations (thus freeing up more valuable Crimson Blade soldiers for combat duty). Since these outsiders came from all over the known worlds, the facility formed a very interesting melting pot. Many contractors and soldiers from nations outside the Foundation found being stationed at Rishtag very humorous because of its incredibly remote location.

Risthag gained wide notoriety in popular culture throughout the war, with many jokes about whether conscripts preferred being stationed there to being sent to the front lines (though most agreed that Rishtag was probably a preferable choice, the fact that it was remote and desolate made it something of a Toss-up).

Following the end of the war, Rishtag returned to fully Foundation staff, but remained a running joke whenever someone needed to refer to a place that was extremely remote or hard to reach.

Size and Layout

Rishtag is situated on a desert plateau and is roughly the size of a small city. It has many permanent buildings though most of the roads are unimproved. Despite its massive area, there are only about forty-five thousand people stationed there (with just fifteen thousand living full-time).

Alpha Company

Throughout the years, Rishtag has gained some notoriety within the Crimson Blade for a variety of 'Alpha Company' operations quietly put on there (Alpha Company is the practice of assigning unwanted or poorly-behaved soldiers to a low-priority posting in order to keep them out of the way of the 'real' soldiers. The Crimson Blade heavily frowns upon this practice and puts a stop to it whenever one is found).

Trivia

Outbase Rishtag is mentioned as the only place in the Known Worlds that accepts "Hunter Jusenkyou Funbucks", a form of legal tender issued at special request of Hunter Jusenkyou. The currency is accepted at a single PX on the base, only open on weekends and holidays.