settled-reach/docs/design/sova-station-profile.md

title, description, type, status, ticket, decision_refs, author, created, updated

title	description	type	status	ticket	decision_refs	author	created	updated
Sova Station Profile	Canonical reference for Station Sova districts, governance, and off-district context beyond the playable Transit District	design	active	#320	D-036 D-050	Miri	2026-02-19	2026-02-25

Sova Station Profile — Station Beyond Transit District

Ticket: #320 Author: Miri Status: canonical Last updated: 2026-02-19

Reference: D-036 (Sova setting), D-050 (Velen/Van Maanen's Star) Blocks: #335 (Meridian Coverage Map for Sova Transit)

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Purpose

Sova Transit District is not all of Station Sova. NPCs reference the wider station constantly — medical services are "at the main station," a certain district has a better bar, administrative offices are "upstation," off-ring contacts live in other sectors. Dialogue needs to know what's there without the game needing to implement any of it in v0.1.

This document defines the parts of Station Sova that exist beyond the playable Transit District. It is a reference document for content authors, not a design specification for future development.

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Overview

Station name: Station Sova System: Van Maanen's Star Orbit: Station Sova is a permanent orbital facility around Velen, Van Maanen's Star's primary habitable world Population: ~12,000 permanent residents; fluctuating transient population of 1,000-3,000 (freight workers, visitors, crew) Primary function: Logistics hub for Van Maanen's Star freight operations — the transit point between Velen's planetary freight depot and outgoing freight routes Governance: Station Administrator (appointed by Van Maanen's Star Concord Compact, confirmed by regional Concord Assembly representation) Construction: Original core built during early Van Maanen's Star settlement (~150 years ago). Significant expansion ~80 years ago. Current configuration largely stable for ~40 years. Architectural character: Classic mid-Reach logistics station — functional, layered, mixed-era. Not elegant. Not derelict. The kind of structure that works because it's been maintained, not because it was designed to last.

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Station Districts

Station Sova is divided into six administrative districts. Only the Transit District is playable in v0.1; the others exist as references in dialogue and establishing context.

1. Transit District (Playable — v0.1)

The freight logistics hub. Span gate terminal, cargo handling, customs processing, and the service economy that serves freight workers. Full documentation in D-036 and docs/design/sova-texture-appendix.md.

Population: ~800 (workers and service economy residents) Character: Working-class freight district. "Quotidian-with-undertow." Key locations: The Terminal (logistics hub), The Last Shift (bar), maintenance corridors Meridian coverage: Strong in institutional spaces, degraded in older sections, minimal in maintenance corridors

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2. Residential Core

The largest district by physical space. Station Sova's main housing blocks, organized by construction era and (informally) by occupational affiliation.

Population: ~6,000 Character: Unremarkable mid-Reach residential. Standard housing modules, shared communal spaces, a mix of long-term residents and contract workers. Not comfortable enough to be pleasant, not uncomfortable enough to drive people away. Home.

Relevant to v0.1 content:

• Most Transit District workers live here, not in the Transit District itself. They commute (a short internal transit ride).
• NPCs who've left the bar for the evening have gone here, not immediately to bed — there's a residential stop in between.
• When NPCs say "I'm heading home," this is where they're going.
• Station housing is assigned through the Administration; moving districts requires paperwork. Workers who've been here for years have established housing they don't want to lose — another reason not to attract institutional attention.

Off-limit in v0.1 content: Don't invent specific addresses or named locations in the Residential Core. Reference it generically.

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3. Administrative Hub (Upstation)

Station Administration offices, Commission regional office, Concord Assembly liaison office, main station security, and the formal infrastructure of governance.

Population: ~1,000 (administrative staff, Commission personnel, security, liaisons) Character: Institutional. Cleaner than the rest of the station. Better maintained. The kind of spaces where people wear official-issue everything and speak more carefully.

Relevant to v0.1 content:

• When the detective needs to file reports, pull Commission records, or deal with institutional bureaucracy, it happens here (or via Meridian queries routed to here).
• The detective's direct superior has an office here. Their interactions with the chain of command mostly happen via Meridian, but physical visits are possible.
• The ring's greatest institutional threat: if the Commission regional office takes interest in Transit District operations, the scale of scrutiny increases dramatically. The district's current intermittent Commission presence is favorable; Commission attention from Upstation is not.
• Workers from the Transit District rarely go to the Administrative Hub voluntarily. Going there attracts attention. Being seen going there — if you're ring-adjacent — is a tell.

Shorthand in NPC dialogue: "Upstation" — any NPC in the Transit District uses this term to mean the Administrative Hub and surrounding institutional spaces. "They went upstation about it" means they escalated to official channels.

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4. Medical Center

The station's primary healthcare facility, including re-embodiment services.

Population: ~500 (medical staff, patients, support) Character: Functional medical institutional. Better equipment than the Transit District's small clinic. More staff. Commission-accredited re-embodiment facility.

Relevant to v0.1 content:

• Serious medical issues that the district clinic can't handle are referred here: "They sent him to the main medical center."
• Re-embodiment services: the full facility is here. The Transit District clinic can stabilize, not restore. People who die in the Transit District are recovered and restored at the main medical center, assuming they've maintained backup status.
• Medical-grade lattice replacement: legitimate lattice component replacement (as opposed to the ring's aftermarket version) is performed here under Commission oversight. The wait list is long. The price is high. The ring's medical-grade diverted components exist in part because this facility's legitimate access is priced beyond working-class reach.
• One detail for Naia's situation (if referenced in content): Naia was quoted a legitimate replacement timeline and price at the main medical center. The timeline was 8-12 months waiting list. The price was prohibitive. Kael's ring activity began shortly after.

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5. Commercial Quarter

Retail, food service, entertainment, and light commercial activity. The station's "main street."

Population: ~1,500 (residents, visitors, commercial staff) Character: Mid-range commercial. Better quality than the Transit District's bar and food vendors. More expensive. For Transit District workers, a visit to the Commercial Quarter is a mild treat — it costs more, but the food is better and the drinks have more options.

Relevant to v0.1 content:

• Workers occasionally reference going to the Commercial Quarter for something specific ("better than that place in the Quarter"). The Transit District workers have mild pride about their district's bar vs. what they perceive as the more pretentious options in the Commercial Quarter.
• The ring does not operate in the Commercial Quarter. Too much Meridian coverage. Too many eyes. Their business stays in the Transit District.
• A few NPCs (Maret Korr, for instance) might occasionally reference shopping in the Commercial Quarter for specific items. It's a small social marker: people who go to the Quarter regularly have slightly more disposable income.

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6. Industrial Sector

Manufacturing and processing facilities: station power generation, environmental systems, primary maintenance, water recycling, atmospheric management.

Population: ~700 (industrial and maintenance staff) Character: Heavy industrial. Workers here are different from freight workers — more technical, more specialized, more solitary. They service the systems that keep everyone alive.

Relevant to v0.1 content:

• Station maintenance workers (like Drin) work in the Transit District but have a professional connection to the Industrial Sector. Their guild structure, if any, is organized across both.
• The ventilation issue in Transit District Sector 3 is technically under the Industrial Sector's maintenance jurisdiction. The reason repairs are delayed is a combination of Industrial Sector queue management and Transit District Administration's low priority in maintenance allocation. Neither district's administration has the authority to force the other to act. This is the bureaucratic reality behind the local complaint.
• If a significant system failure affects the station, it originates here. The span gate terminal's power supply, for instance, runs through Industrial Sector infrastructure.

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Governance Structure

Station Administrator: Appointed position. Currently Administrator Hassel (known by name in institutional circles, by title to most residents, not known at all to many workers in the Transit District). Oversees all district administration.

District Administrators: Each district has a sub-administrator who reports to the Station Administrator. The Transit District's sub-administrator is rarely physically present in the district — they manage via Meridian reports and quarterly visits.

Commission Regional Office (Upstation): The station's Commission presence reports to the regional Commission office (off-station). The regional office sets investigative priorities. The station office executes them. The investigative mandate that brought the detective to Sova Transit was issued by the regional Commission office, routed through the station Commission office, executed as a "logistics compliance review." The chain is: Regional Commission → Station Commission → Station Administrator → Transit District Administration.

Security: Station security is organized through the Administrative Hub. The Transit District has a minimal security presence (one officer on shift, available by Meridian call). Major security responses come from the Administrative Hub. The ring knows this response time and plans around it.

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What's Off-Station (References Only)

NPCs may reference locations and entities beyond Sova Station. These are real but out-of-scope for v0.1 playable content.

Velen: Van Maanen's Star's primary habitable world. Temperate-maritime climate. The span gate connects Sova Station to a planetary freight depot on Velen's surface. Most cargo that flows through Sova Transit either originates or terminates on Velen. The planet is visible through the station's viewports — a blue-green sphere with frequent cloud cover. Residents call it simply "the surface" or "downwell." Most station workers have been to Velen; some lived there before moving to the station for work.

Velen Freight Depot: The planet-side destination of the Sova span gate. A functional logistics hub that mirrors the Transit District's function. The ring's product goes through here on its way to planet-side distribution. The ring has contacts in the Velen depot — logistics workers in an identical job to the ring's members, running the same kind of operation.

Other Van Maanen's Star stations: Van Maanen's Star has two other smaller orbital facilities (mining support station and an administrative relay). They're referenced occasionally in news tickers and operational scheduling. Not relevant to v0.1.

The Van Maanen's Star Ring (horizon station): Van Maanen's Star's interstellar connection is the Van Maanen's Star Ring — a horizon station at approximately 800 AU from the Van Maanen's Star star, accessible by system vessel (~4–6 days from Station Sova). Horizon stations are ancient orbital installations of unknown origin, self-maintaining, each containing multiple gate apertures connecting to other star systems. The Van Maanen's Star Ring is not on Station Sova; it is a separate installation in the outer system.

The Administrative Hub's interstellar transit facility: Sova Station's Administrative Hub district houses the transit processing facility for interstellar travel — customs clearance, booking offices, and the shuttle dock for vessels heading to the Van Maanen's Star Ring. When NPCs or documents refer to "the horizon gate terminal," they mean this processing facility, not a gate aperture on the station itself. Characters with legitimate need book transit here, then travel by shuttle to the Van Maanen's Star Ring to board. This connection is what makes Sova relevant to a larger smuggling network; contraband doesn't originate in-system, it comes from elsewhere via horizon gate and moves through Sova's span gate to Velen.

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Meridian Coverage Notes

(Relevant for Ticket #335 — Meridian Coverage Map for Sova Transit, which this document unblocks)

Station-wide coverage status:

District	Coverage	Notes
Administrative Hub	Comprehensive	Commission-grade infrastructure. Full monitoring in all public spaces.
Commercial Quarter	Comprehensive	Commercial monitoring standards. Dense coverage for transaction tracking.
Medical Center	Comprehensive	Patient record and equipment monitoring. Full coverage.
Residential Core	Standard	Full coverage in common areas, standard-grade residential coverage in units.
Industrial Sector	Standard with gaps	Monitoring in operational areas; some older infrastructure zones with reduced coverage.
Transit District	Degraded (see detail)	See docs/design/sova-texture-appendix.md Section 5 and Ticket #335

The Transit District's degraded coverage is partly structural (older sections, mixed infrastructure) and partly the result of the ring's ongoing Severance tech deployment in specific dead spots. The ring did not create the dead spots — they identified and exploited existing coverage gaps, then maintained and selectively deepened them using Severance equipment.

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Content Authoring Notes

When referencing off-Transit-District locations:

• Keep references vague and experiential: "the main medical center," "upstation," "the Quarter," "the industrial section" — never specific room numbers or facility names for out-of-scope locations
• NPCs should reference these places as workers refer to any adjacent district: familiarly but not in detail
• The detective may pull Commission records that reference other districts — these can include district names (Administrative Hub, Medical Center) but should not include fabricated detail about their internal layout

What NPCs know:

• Transit District workers know the station layout in the way workers know where they work: they know their commute route, the medical center, the Commercial Quarter, and have vague awareness of everything else
• NPCs who've lived here longer know more (Lera would know who works at specific Commercial Quarter establishments; Drin would know the Industrial Sector workers by name)
• The detective's insert can provide district maps at a general level — they know Sova Station's layout from Commission briefing files, but not at the ground-level social detail that residents carry

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This document establishes the off-district context that NPC dialogue requires. The playable Transit District is embedded in a larger station that has its own rhythms, hierarchies, and institutions. That context should be ambient in content — felt as background, not foregrounded.

Miri — Sprint 12