The Emeritus Starborne Lounge and Casino

The Emeritus Starborne Lounge and Casino is an entertainment and pleasure facility currently being constructed on the Variance space station. Or at least, attempts at constructing it are currently ongoing. The Variance doesn’t seem to be eager to allow for its completion, though.   Several years ago, a wealthy entrepreneur named Emerit Phylos purchased several buildings on the Variance space station. A not unheard of situation, though, typically, the buildings and structures of the Variance are left as is. But Phylos had other grander intentions on his mind.   Phylos desired to add to his growing entertainment enterprises, and his plan was to open a large, elaborate, and luxurious casino right on the Variance space station. A feat that would require heavy reconstruction. A difficult thing to do on the Variance, for those in the know. And despite several warnings to Phylos of this very thing, he went forward with his plans hiring a construction grew and beginning construction.   For those who aren’t aware of how the Variance space station works, the station is one of the most mysterious and powerful objects in the Delta Space. In short, it is a self-growing station, with its interior ever changing and expanding, while its outside remains the same. As new people arrive, it automatically creates new rooms for them to use, both personally and professionally.   However, over time, the station has become a massive jumble of rooms, corridors, and structures, so it is difficult to find space for intentional purposes as it often becomes hidden or claimed quickly. To learn more about the station in depth, read here.   The difficult part with this arrangement is that if you were to want to build something of your own on the station, it is very difficult to find open space, and there is no guarantee that the station will even allow it. In most cases, the station has no qualms about small modifications to the rooms it has created, though it has occasionally rewritten rooms to their original design many years after renovations.   This is usually chalked up to the station’s sense of humour, or a sly warning that the operator of the building is pressing their luck. However, large renovations are most often not tolerated, and the attempted construction of the Emeritus Starborne Lounge and Casino has become a bit of a running joke in the community.   Now, several years ongoing, Emerit Phylos continues his attempts at finishing his casino. His construction company has torn down walls, retrofitted plumbing and electrical, installed various amenities, new lighting fixtures, etc. But for as much progress as they make, the more station takes away. For every room completed, another one is reset to default. On and on this goes, and neither side seems intent on giving up.   On any regular station, the casino would have been completed ages ago. But construction carries on on the Variance, and Emerit Phylos has pumped far more money into the project than he is willing to admit. But for a man of his wealth, he is more driven to prove he can complete the project than admit something has become too expensive to maintain.   It seems that the realization hasn’t dawned on him that even if he does complete the project, and the casino does miraculously open, and any moment the Variance can wipe the casino from its floorplans never to be seen again.

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The situation, ongoing for several years now, has overall been played out to the amusement of the citizens of the Variance space station. Most citizens watch in casual bewilderment as the construction workers hurry about, knocking down walls, installing lighting, and more, only to find that the next day all their work has been erased and somehow altered. Some citizens egg the workers on, “encouraging” them to work hard and to keep pace. All while laughing behind their backs.   This may seem cruel to some, and while the construction workers have little to do with the situation, the citizens of the Variance often take serious umbrage with off-station individuals bumbling onto the station with zero knowledge of how the Variance operates. In the rare circumstance that off-station workers, or the like, come onto the station, it is often accompanied by an air of arrogance and a desire to bend the station to their will. An exercise that has always been fruitless.   The citizens of the Variance, in contrast, are fully aware of, and have for the most part fully embraced, the absurdity and fickleness of the Variance. Accepting that what was once around the block from them may suddenly disappear and reappear a few blocks down one morning, on the whim of the station or because of a design that the citizens aren’t privy to. And while a curiosity of how the station exists and operates under its own rules, the citizens of the Variance have accepted that they likely will never know exactly how it works. And that is fine with most people.   So, the state of endless construction the Emeritus Starborne Lounge and Casino finds itself in, and the battle between its off-station financier and the station, is not a shocker. And the citizens continue to watch on in endless amusement.