Avenger's Island
Background
Avenger's Island is approximately eleven miles off the coast of New York, in international waters. The island is artificially built using the remains of the S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier from the bay of New York City where it crashed during the Onslaught. The island is considered a registered facility of the United Nations, for the sole purpose of housing an Avenger's team.
Security Systems
The Avengers complex is as well-protected as any building on Earth. However, by definition, any opponent who would attack an Avengers headquarters is a world-class threat, dangerous beyond the capabilities of any security system ( assuming of course that the attacker is not a complete idiot with no idea of what he is getting himself into). Avengers headquarters have been assaulted by aliens, monsters, despots, super-villains, angry crowds, idiots, and Dracula's mesmerized hordes of cultists, winos, and vermin (human and animal types).
Avengers security systems are always non-lethal, designed to capture and immobilize the threat with a minimum degree of injury. They are sophisticated enough to avoid attacking non-superhuman people who pose no threat to the Avengers and not attempting to violate security (although the presence of innocent people will always be noted if they run afoul of a security sensor). All security and defense systems are tied into the Avengers main computer system and can be overridden by the person on monitor duty.
Throughout the entire island, any cameras or any type of recorders have been disabled by a special ultrasonic frequency being radiated into the areas. The only cameras and recording equipment that works is specifically GUARD equipment that has been built to take in that radiation and bypass it. If someone wants a snapshot of one of the exhibits, they will have to buy a photograph down in the retail center.
Outdoor Security Systems
The island's first line of defense is a series of highly sophisticated sensor nets that make approaching undetectable practically impossible. There is only one surface craft allowed access (the ferry operated from the Liberty City Guard Station) and air traffic is limited to a single approach vector.
The grounds of the Island are covered with hidden sensors buried in the lawns, hedges, trees, and even under the sand of the beaches to ensure full coverage of the outside grounds. These sensors provide full-body scans of an intruder. Threats automatically activate the defense system and sound an alert at the monitor. Threats are categorized with the following priorities:
• Identifies enemies of the Avengers (this category includes anyone actually in combat with an Avenger or vandalizing Avengers property whether or not the threat is previously identified).
• Identified enemies of friendly contacts.
• Wanted criminals and fugitives from the law.
• Anyone possessing superhuman powers, including beings with battlesuits or other high-tech weapons.
• Any armed being, including armed robots.
• Any energy source, radiation source, toxin, gas, corrosive, or hazardous chemicals of Excellent strength or better.
• Natural disasters
The presence of non-threatening intruders sounds an alert at the monitor but does not activate the defensive systems.
Base Exterior
On the main dock, there are a total of four warehouses that have large freight platforms that can lower down to a secured area of sublevel 1. Warehouse 2 South is used to store employee's vehicles when they come across on the ferry. There are also two helipads, one on the north dock and the other on the south dock, that can be used by helicopters or VTOL aircraft.
Bungalows
There are eight small structures or bungalows, four of them gracing the beach on the northern side, while the other four are on the southern beach. These worked so well for providing members privacy in the days of the West Coast Avengers, that they have become a welcome addition to the building plans when there is enough room to do so. Each one of the bungalows are placed on the beach, and there is a bit of room between each one to promote privacy and a sense of relaxation.
The bungalows are for those members that don't want to take advantage of the living quarters provide inside. Currently Inertia and her son, Cheshire, Masada, and Tigra occupy some of the bungalows.
Each one of the bungalow is basically a small two-story house. The first floor contains a small study, a kitchen with pantry, a living room, a dining room, and a half bathroom. The second floor of the bungalow contains the master bedroom, a full bathroom, as well as a private lounge.
Jarvis
Jarvis is a prototype artificial intelligence program designed by Tony Stark, based upon on the brainwaves of the Avenger's long-time butler Edwin Jarvis. When Jarvis retired from the Avengers and taking care of Avenger's Mansion, after the terrible beating he took at the hands of Mister Hyde, Tony asked Jarvis if he could take a specialized brain scan to help with a theoretical program. Jarvis agreed, and returned back to England. Tony wrote the majority of the artificial intelligence program with the help of Dr. Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man.
Jarvis, the program, has the original memories of the real Jarvis' life experiences and has been allowed to mature over the last two years since he was brought online. Jarvis' personality matrix not only includes his original parameters but also an incalculable amount of cultural and informational resources gleaned by his obsessive observation and cataloging of human behavior.
From the memories of the original Jarvis, he is quite attached to more than a few of the original Avengers and was sad to learn of their death at the hands of Onslaught. Most of the Avengers that see him find it a little hard to get use, a holographic representation of their friend for decades that knows everything about them.
Base Personnel
Chief of Staff Michael Arthur: Not much is known about Mr. Arthur's past and he does not discuss it. He was hired based on the recommendation of Secretary-Marshall Everquist. When trying to do security checks, Michael Arthur has not existed beyond the last two years. He seems to have quite a bit of knowledge about politics, bureaucracies, and how the world governments truly work. He also seems to know quite a few people around the world, and sometimes can call on favors if the team needs to get something from that region. He is always well dressed in tailor made suits fitted just for him. He is very business minded, and usually keeps a small guard energy pistol under his suit jacket.
Chief of Security Lillian Crawley-Jeffries: Lil is a Canadian citizen with the mutant ability to generate a homeostatic bio aura around all parts of her body, rendering them impervious to all forms of physical and energy attacks. After working for Department H for a while as Diamond Lil, she and her husband Madison Jeffries sought work with the U.N., after Madison was gravely injured during a fight while serving with Alpha Flight. She has since retired and commands the small unit of U.N. security troops guarding the Island. She seems to constantly be lecturing certain team members about why they need to follow certain security protocols. But once she is off duty, she lets her hair down and can play poker with the best of them.
Chief of Technical Services Fabian Stankowciz: Fabian is an inventive genius skilled at designing battlesuits, robots, security devices, and accessories. He had some brief conflicts with the Avengers, but eventually they hired him to work and maintain equipment such as the Quinjets. He does not seem to have a social life, and is usually found inside the engine of a vehicle tuning it up, or making changes to various blue prints for ideas he has had. Sometimes, he can be found with Force discussing new ideas for his armor.
Special Technical Consultant Madison Jeffries: Madison is a Canadian citizen with the mutant ability to restructure glass, metal and plastics (basically anything inorganic). For a while he was also a member of Alpha Flight as Box. He is a tremendous asset to any technical staff but cannot create a device he does not understand.
Chief of Public Relations Brad Longsworth: A young and well-dressed man, Brad has a very outgoing personality. He seems to have a natural knack with people, quickly finding something to relate with them and making them feel comfortable. This is his first job out of college, and he does not want to mess things up.
Receptionist/Personal Assistant to the Chairperson Natasha Roman: Natasha is a very attractive red-haired young lady, that seems to be quite popular with the males that work on the island. She is very good about keeping the chairperson's schedule and maintaining all of his appointments on a daily basis. She is one of the first people that visitors normally meet at the island, as she usually handles the chaos of the museum visitor times. Once she has made sure that they have their guest badge, she will hand them off to Jarvis who will lead the tours.
GUARD Liaison Rica Johnson: She started her career as a well-decorated cop in the burglary division of NYPD. After a while, she moved up into the NYPD SWAT teams. From there, she was joined GUARD as a field agent and moved up the ranks quickly to a Master Sergeant. She has a very cheerful personality, and even after all of her career, she still remains much of an optimist. But this does not stop her from going out with the Avengers and using her trusty sidearm.
Housekeeper Rosa DeCosta: She has worked for the Avengers for a long time, cleaning up the personal residences. She has transferred over to the new facility and has her own room here now as well as a full time position. She is only responsible for guest areas and other duties such as laundry. The permanent residents here are responsible for cleaning their own living spaces. She is a middle-aged woman of Hispanic descent, with a grandmotherly attitude.
Dr. Mattie "Doc" Holliday: On call to the Avengers, as well as working at Liberty City Memorial Hospital as Chief of Staff. Mattie is a young, but well experienced medical doctor as well as being able to perform some small surgical procedures. With her access to medical records, she pretty well knows every secret identity on the past three teams as well as their full medical histories. She maintains a small general medical office on the 1st level, preferring to use the medical lab only for the greatest emergencies.
Chef Anthony "Tony" Mathes: Tony is a excellent cook, he could have opened a new restaurant anywhere he liked, but he likes dealing with people he knows. Though he does cook very elegant meals for formal engagements, he loves to just cook simple orders with something special to spice them up while talking to the people who will be eating it. This way he can find out their likes and sometimes make special surprises for them.
Main Building
The main building will be discussed level by level, but there will be two separate sections of the levels. One will be for the museum sections and the public areas of the base. The second will be dealing with the actual base itself with the employee and office areas.
Level 1
Museum/Public Areas
Welcome Center: Upon entering the main atrium, visitors are given name badges that also act as sentry monitors, providing the person's constant location and condition. As with most systems onsite, this and other security measures are all under watch by Jarvis in addition to site security personnel. The museum section of the base is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.
Press Area: The press area is used for press conferences. Video transceiver hook-ups provide access to most network receiving stations. There are multiple digital monitors throughout the room for video or data clips to be shown to the press. Up on the small stage is a lectern with the United Nations seal with East Coast above the seal and Avengers below the seal in gold type. This area is normally locked unless the Avengers are expecting to give a press conference.
Plaza with a Small Cafeteria: This small cafeteria serves a daily selection of food that visitors can eat at tables in the plaza. It is mostly standard fare with a soda machine for drinks.
Retail Center: Here visitors can buy the latest "Avengers" comics, toys, or games for their children, or mementoes of their visit here. There is a part-time employee that comes in during visitor hours to run the cash registers and keep track of the store.
Escalators: On the museum side of levels one through 5, there are up escalators on the north side of the museum and down escalators on the south side of the museum.
Elevators: When a disabled or elderly visitor to the museum registers, there name badge will be able to activate the elevators in the north east corner of the museum.
Office/Employee Areas
Reception Area: This is the Personal Assistant to the Chairperson Natasha Roman's office area. She can see everything going on in the first floor of the museum as she makes the visitor museum badges, while handling the Chairperson's hectic meeting schedule. She usually has a nice and clean desk as most of her files are on her computer and encrypted.
Chairperson's Formal Office (Justice): This is the Chairperson's formal office, to be used for meetings with dignitaries. The office is kept spotless by Natasha, unlike the chairperson's personal office on level 5. Currently this office is reserved for the use of Justice.
Doc's Office: This is the small medical room used by 'Doc' Holliday while she is here for routine exams. It is a state of the art medical room, having the ability to do any radiological testing in the room itself with a built-in medical scanner that she has had Stan working on. The unit is highly expensive, and she hopes that they can get the price down to where it could be used by regular hospitals. She also has been training a couple of the members of the team in here in emergency first aid skills.
Public Relations Office: This is the Public Relations Officer Brad Longsworth's office. The office is highly cluttered, and very disorganized, but Brad actually knows where everything is, so no one but him goes in there. Justice asked him for a very specific news article one time over the phone, and Brad told him exactly what stack and exactly the number of papers down.
Monitor Room: This is a very advanced communications control and monitoring station with very advanced technologies in here. Usually there is a member of the Avengers and two U.N. security officers in here monitoring multiple stations for the signs of trouble. But the monitoring systems can be run by just the two security officers and often is while the Avengers are out dealing with emergencies. There are two restricted computer consoles in the room, that are high security units that will only activate for a member of the team. Often while the two security officers are monitoring the systems, the Avenger on duty is reading old case files or record files on some of the Avenger's foes.
Elevators: These elevators will only react to an employee's identification cards. These elevators will take employees anywhere from to the roof down to sublevel 2, depending on the person's security access.
Level 2
Museum/Public Areas
Museum & Orientation Area (The Original Avengers of the 1960 & 70s Exhibits): The museum boasts many interactive displays, in addition to the traditional exhibits. Computer tracking of the visitor tags allows for the holographic and audio displays to change based on the perspective of the individual visitor. Some of the more popular exhibits are replicas of Captain America's costume and shield, and two of the early Iron Man armors, with one actually in pieces showing component layouts.
Museum Control Room: From here, all of the interactive holographic museum displays are loaded and controlled. Jarvis is the only exception, as his main control programs operate out of the primary computer cores on level 3.
Museum Archives: Here is where the majority of the newspaper articles, books, non-classified reports from the Avengers files are kept. There is usually one or two college students during tour hours working on various papers about the Avengers.
Office/Employee Areas
Formal Dining Room: This is a large room with a lot attention paid to detail. The room has almost a Victorian feel to it, by its looks and the style of furniture in the room. The formal dining room can hold charity dinners up to a hundred guests, or just a nice snack after a hard day at work.
Ballroom: The Ballroom is also connected to the formal dining room, and continues with the old Victorian styles. It is also used for charity dinners and special functions.
Kitchen: This is the kitchen of Chef "Tony". It is a state of the art kitchen and pantry combination allowing him to the room to prepare dinner for one or up to one hundred guests. Though, if Chef Tony has his assistants in here, it does feel crowded.
Employee Library (Lower): This library continues on with the Victorian themes shown in the dining room and the ballroom. It is actually a large room taking up room on this floor and the 3rd floor, it also has a second level entry to the 3rd floor, and a circular iron wrought stair to climb up to the higher level. The books here range from literary classics to some of the newer fiction and non-fiction titles. Employees are allowed to take books from here to read as long as they put them back when they are done.
Recreational Center & Arcade: This room is done in a little more modern style having a large screen television on one wall, and a couple of smaller ones throughout the room with earphones. There is a selection of the newer arcade consoles attached to the TVs. There are also some classic video game cabinets and a couple of pinball machines. Normally there is usually a couple of the off duty security officers in here at all hours of the day or night.
Security Barracks Alpha: This is the first barracks for the U.N. security forces, having a set of six bunk beds in here as well as military style bathroom and shower facilities. Usually there are a couple of people sleeping in here during all hours of the day or night.
Security Barracks Beta: This is the second barracks for the U.N. security forces, having a set of six bunk beds in here as well as military style bathroom and shower facilities. Usually there are a couple of people sleeping in here during all hours of the day or night.
Sky-Skimmer Bays (6): These small bays each hold two of the flying motorcycles called Sky-Skimmers. There are a total of twelve assigned to the island for use by the Avengers or security forces.
Maintenance Area for the Sky-Skimmers: This is the maintenance area, where the technical staff work on non-operational Sky-Skimmers. There are usually one or two of the twelve in here at all times being worked on for one problem or another.
Landing & Exit Ramps for the Sky-Skimmers: These ramps lead directly in and out of the Sky-Skimmer bay and are used to launch them outside or land them back in the building. The North ramp is used for landing the craft to come back in to the facility, while the South ramp is used normally for launching them.
Level 3
Museum/Public Areas
Museum (Avengers of the 80's and 90's Exhibits): In here are collected exhibits detailing the adventures of the Avengers of the 1980's and 1990's. There are also a few other exhibits in here like the Fearmaster's gun, and the head of Ultron V. There is also the Silver Centurion Iron Man armor, here on display.There is also a state of the art virtual reality console, that will take users on a tour of the Avengers New York mansion before it became a monument, and the Avengers West-Coast mansion. There are also special consoles, where the public can listen to the after-mission reports of the Avengers, all of the available logs have been checked to make sure no personal or classified information was in them.
Office/Employee Areas
Primary Computer Core: This is the master computer core serving not only the whole complex, but the Jarvis program also. There are master backup tapes in Sublevel 3, the Vault, as well as ongoing backups sent every night to the Skywatch satellite in Earth's orbit.
Main Assembly Room: In this room, is the circular round table that each of the Avenger's meetings are held at. The room itself is wired for privacy, making sure that no one can eavesdrop on the meetings. The table itself is a gift from Namor a few years back before the Onslaught. The table is hand crafted out of coral and precious minerals, made by the hands of the finest Atlantean craftsmen.
Medical Facility: This level includes an operating room, small recovery room, a life support chamber that incorporates cryogenic technology for patients in critical condition, surgical preparation/scrub room, and a biochemistry lab. The entrances to these medical facilities are all airlocks, to maintain sterility and isolate any experimental mishaps. The comprehensiveness of the medical facilities is a grim testimonial to the risks of a hero's career
Bio/Chemistry Labs: This area is a state of the art, advanced biochemistry lab. Currently it has not seen much use, unless Dr. Holliday uses it for medical research.
Employee Library (Upper): This is the upper floor section of the library, that has small walkways around the sides, allowing a person to look over the railings and to the floor below. There is a circular iron-wrought staircase leading down below to the 2nd floor library entrance.
Level 4
Museum/Public Areas
Museum (Current Avengers Exhibits): This area contains holograms of the current roster of the Avengers and as much back story as the players feel comfortable with for their characters. At no time is any of their secret identities exposed here. Some of the more interesting items that are displayed here is an original Marvel Boy costume and an older set of the Force armor.
Office/Employee Areas
Mechanics Lab: This is a state of the art mechanics lab that is adjacent to both the robotics/electronics lab as well as the Armory. Force currently uses as well as Fabian when he has some free time to tinker around.
Robotics/Electronics Lab: This is a state of the art robotics and electronics lab that is adjacent to the mechanics lab and the armory.
Armory: This area is adjacent to the mechanics and the robotics/electronics lab but it is separate, and is currently locked out to regular members by Force. He has some designs here is working on for a future armor set, and got permission to lock out the others for safety reasons, until he was reasonably sure that there is no danger to others. The walls are made with 3 inches of adamnitium, with a force field, then another three inches of adamnitium. Due to the high level of security in the room, no communications work in here except for the wire connected intercoms at the doors.
GM's Note: Force is hiding a secret in here, underneath the cover of safety concerns. He found a set of Tony's armor designs for a next generation Iron Man armor set and is currently building it.
Trophy Room: This is a secure trophy room away from the museum for the members of the team to reminisce about their adventures. This actually holds some classified exhibits, such as an entire suit of Doctor Doom's armor.
Guest Quarters: In these rooms the guests staying over for a day or two are kept. These are very comfortable rooms with anything the guest could desire in here.
Staff Living Quarters: These are the private quarters of the staff that normally live on base, such as the Chief of Staff, the Housekeeper, the Receptionist, and the Chief of Security.
Level 5
Museum/Public Areas
Museum (Memorial Hall): These are exhibits of the Avengers that have fallen in service to the world, protecting man from the dangers that Avengers face every day. There are exhibits for Dr. Henry Pym (Giant-Man, Ant-Man), Wasp, Captain America, Crystal, Hawkeye, Jocasta, Sandman, Swordsman, Thor, Iron Man, Vision, Mockingbird, and Wonder Man. Beyond the statues of the heroes, there are other exhibits also such as holographic displays of some of their adventures. There are also recorded testimonies and remembrances by their fellow Avengers, taken from various personal logs and official mission logs. The recorded data has been screened to make sure that no classified data or other personal information will be heard.
Office/Employee Areas
Living Quarters for members of the Avengers: These are the living quarters for the members of the Avengers team. Currently Force and Icicle are assigned rooms up on this level.
Chairperson's Living Quarter's (Justice & Firestar): This is the Chairperson's living quarters currently assigned to Justice and his fiancée Firestar.
Chairperson's personal office (Justice): This is the Chairperson's personal office, where most of the paperwork gets done. Currently it is assigned to Justice.
Level 6
Office/Employee Areas
Maintenance Bays for Quinjets: The separating floor between the maintenance bays and the living quarters beneath is heavily reinforced and sound baffled. A person could put his ear to the ceiling in the living quarters below and never know there was anything happening in the levels above, regardless of the activity occurring.
The Maintenance Bay also stores three extra regular quinjets here on their sides, in special storage dollies. This makes it easier to store extra quinjets for emergency use here.
Magnetic Lift to the Hanger Level: This heavy duty lift is an elevator to transport Quinjets up to the hanger level for launching. It is rated to hold two of the regular quinjets on their storage dollies or one of the quinjets in full launch mode.
Level 7
Office/Employee Areas
Quinjet Hanger: Employing the principles of a naval aircraft carrier landing deck, the hanger uses a wire (which catches the arresting hook of the Quinjet) and a series of pistol-coupled pulleys which gradually decelerate the craft over a 30 foot distance. Normally, the new "Predator" Quinjet prototype is on the launcher for emergency use.
Roof
"The Dome": this is a small greenhouse for certain members which find gardening relaxing. The top of the dome is actually a compact lighting system that shines a bright red signal light at night, marking the presence of the island for shipping. The light is as powerful as many modern lighthouses, and works on the same principles.
Primary Sensor Arrays: Here are the primary sensor arrays that go out over a couple of miles radius, showing the communications room any type of threat to the island. It also keeps track of local air traffic and shipping traffice. There is also the main communications array here that keeps in touch with Skywatch, Deepwatch, and other Avengers bases. It also monitors all news agencies and other communications channels for emergencies.
Sublevel 1
Danger Room Control Room and Viewing Area: Thought this room is on Sublevel 1, the room is built on the top of the large Danger Room and has a specialized holographic visual display system to protect the people in this room from any powers being used in the Danger Room itself. There is also a separate elevator in the control room that will take people down to the Danger Room.
Elevator to the Vault: This elevator will only go down to Sublevel 4 and the Vault itself. To activate the elevator, it requires the chairperson's Identicard and two other active members Identicard's for both entering and leaving the vault. This is actually very difficult to bypass, as the Identicard will only be active while it senses a certain members biorhythms and DNA.
Lounge: The lounge is actually a place for members of the team to unwind while they are off duty. It contains a Billiards table, pinball machines, and a couple of arcade machines. There is also a 100" wide screen TV hooked up to the latest home gaming consoles.
Movie Theater: The room is setup as a movie theater including luxury seating for 16 occupants. Popcorn machine and soda dispensers. It does not have movies the same release weekend, but will get them a couple of weeks later.
Locker Room/Showers: This contains a locker room and showers for both male and female members of the team to clean up after sessions in the Gym or Danger Room.
Gym: The Gym has a small running track around the outer part of the room and specialized fitness equipment. The weight machines can be adjusted for normal human use up to the ability of someone lifting fifty tons.
Submarine Bay: This is the bay for the Hydrojet. A specialized version of a Quinjet for long-term underwater use.
Power Room: This Room is actually a room that has contains the backup power systems for the island based off a mini arc-reactor developed by Stark Industries. It also contains an elevator to the main power supply for the island on Sublevel 3.
Sublevel 2
This level is about 100 feet below Sublevel 1 in the rocky shelf of the island attached to the seafloor.
Danger Room: The Danger Room is a total of five stories high and the length of a football field. The room is surrounded by five inches of Adamanitium to prevent any accidents. The Danger Room uses state of the art equipment, including new holographic systems. It has the ability to create robots and obstacles as well as self-repair capabilities, and the ability for an occupant to program the room by their voice.
Sublevel 3
This sublevel is at the same depth of the seafloor. It is within the rocky shelf of the island on the eastern side that contains the main power room for the island.
Geothermal Tap: This is a full geothermal tap going down below the continental shelf and into the lava to provide a natural power supply for the island.
Computer Room: This is an emergency backup system for the computers and Jarvis programs.
Sublevel 4
Vault: Buried 150 feet below the sea floor with the special elevator from sublevel 1 as its only access. Beyond the security measures listed for the elevator on sublevel 1, the Vault represents the highest degree of security present on the island. Containing valuable and/or dangerous items gathered over the decades by the various teams, the walls are solid vibranium over a meter thick. Their construction took over a year and the cost, while concealed as a national secret, was enormous. In addition to their sheer physical strength, the walls are reinforced by force fields whose frequency harmonics constantly and randomly change, preventing passage by all known phasing, teleportation, temporal, and dimensional travel effects.
GM's Note: Originally the base for the game started like a version of the West Coast Avengers complex, but when I saw the plans for this base in
'The Algernon Files' by
Blackwyrm Publishing, I switched the base over and retconned it with the group. This base and most of the frame work for it comes from 'The Algernon Files', with changes and suggestions by the players as the game moved forwards.
