The Labyrinth
The Labyrinth is a highly classified Raven facility located below the Northbrook Polytechnic. Its purpose is to safeguard 2000 scientists for a scenario where the outside world, including the entire command structure of Raven, is compromised. Located deep below the laboratory is a secret reality manipulation device known as the Black Terminal, intended to be used as a last resort if Raven itself falls.
As the facility is permanently sealed, there are no access routes in or out, even for authorised individuals. Food and oxygen for scientists is completely self-sustaining, and energy is provided by three redundant singularity reactors, with enough runtime to last approximately 10,000 years.
Architecture
The facility's core is a deep, circular structure, known as the Spine, which extends down to its deepest extents. The Spine allows personnel to rapidly traverse its height through a number of high-speed elevators, and also distributes power, water, cargo, and air throughout the facility. The reactors lie at the bottom of the Spine in three Reactor Vaults, which isolate them from each other and the rest of the Labyrinth in the unlikely event of a catastrophic failure. The Black Terminal - an inter-reality communicator designed to interface with alien reality control technology in The Ether - is located directly below the lowest floor of the facility, and is as big as an entire bridge laboratory. Regular maintenance, including testing of its systems, is carried out by scientific personnel in the Labyrinth.
Directly around the Spine are a series of Rings, which span the area of vertical level of the facility. Each ring serves a specific purpose - Habitation, Hydroponics, Science, Logistics, Recreation, and Medical. A special Command ring, which spans three levels, is located in the vertical centre of the facility and houses three sapient artificial intelligences known as AXIS-1, AXIS-2, and AXIS-3, which are responsible for the direction of the facility's operations.
The facility is buried under several layers of fractal armour, concrete, and fully enveloped in Dynamic Containment Array (DCA) shielding which protects against radiation and prevents any particles from getting in or out, preventing espionage through electromagnetic emissions. Manifold anchors inside prevent the creation of wormholes into the facility, while comprehensive sensor arrays detect any intrusion attempts. It was decided not to use grid control systems to prevent against intrusions due to the inability of personnel to control any gridforms that might manifest; this decision almost resulted in the compromise of the facility when the Anomaly Rights Coalition mounted an attack on it during in 2290.
Construction
The facility was constructed in secret by Raven over a period of nearly 50 years, using a massive underground rail system to transport in each component that made up its Spine and Rings. After construction was complete, scientists were slowly relocated over a period of 10 years, while it was not yet sealed, to completely test the facility's systems and allow personnel to acclimatise to their new environment.
On the day of the facility's sealing, the temporary external power and data connections were severed, the control authority over its DCA fields was transferred to the facility's central AI, and from the inside personnel fitted all applicable fractal armour into place. Outside Raven personnel then sealed and demolished the rail system, filling the majority of the tunnels with concrete.
Politics
The Labyrinth is governed by a scientific council of ten members that operates under the guidance of the facility's AIs, which effectively makes it a technocratic society. The council is advised by Raven itself, but has complete authority to direct itself should it consider Raven leadership and the external world compromised. Ongoing stability is regarded as the highest priority, and any threats that could jeopardise the Labyrinth's mission are rapidly controlled. Personnel that pose a risk to the society are placed in indefinite stasis.
Secretly, the facility AIs hold the ultimate authority over the Labyrinth, even over council members - they are capable of forcibly replacing a hostile council, and can even disable the forcefields and unseal the facility, an action which council members have been told is impossible.
Comms
Scientists communicate with the outside world using three-dimensional holograms that map their physical movements to a 3D model. For safety reasons, they cannot see or hear individuals on the outside; outside individuals' speech is translated into text by a computer system and then scanned to eliminate any text-based infohazards. The only individuals authorised to communicate with them are high-ranking Raven officials with Sigma clearance, or members of their direct family and descendants who hold at minimum a Delta clearance.
Leisure
In order to incentivise scientists to join the project and keep them happy while in the facility, they are provided with nearly unlimited resources and also have access to a brain-computer interface VR system that allows them to experience a simulated outside environment as if they were there in real life. Non-sentient computer systems, which are overseen by the facility's central AI, automate mundane tasks such as resource production, recycling, and maintenance.
Public view
Though the Labyrinth does not officially exist, the site has been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories over the years that purport it to be "a secret Metatron laboratory" linked to failed experiments and the previous disaster at the Polytechnic, despite the fact it's actually controlled by Raven.
Few civilians know of the site's true nature, and even less of its architecture or purpose, due to the fact it was constructed in complete secrecy using an underground rail system that has since been decommissioned. The sealed entrance to rail system has been encountered by urban explorers, but none of them have been able to trace it back to Raven.