A few decades ago, the world's eight strongest economies joined forces to secure the future of space exploration. From that alliance, the Galactic Federation of Eight was born: one entity, representing one planet, as one people. The ideal sounded poetic enough, though the true motives were as much economic as aspirational.
The Federation's ambitions demanded a symbol equal to its reach. That symbol became the OctaCore, a colossal structure four decades in the making — the single site where all Federation activity would converge.
The OctaCore was conceived by the visionary architect Miller, who devoted her life to its design. Many still call it Miller's Circle in her honor. The site was chosen in the northern European plains, near Germany, where resources and infrastructure could hasten construction.
From above, the OctaCore appears as a perfect circumference: a polygon of 800 sides, enclosing an area of 10,000 acres. From the ground, it rises like a seamless curved wall, 800 meters tall and 80 meters wide, stretching so far in either direction it seems endless. Its exterior gleams with solar panels, the building itself divided into eight monumental sectors — one for each nation of the Federation.
Each sector contains eight levels. The first six, vast and modular, serve industrial purposes. Retractable floors, ceilings, and walls allow entire levels to merge into single bays, while enormous gates — capable of opening to the full combined height — permit the movement of assembled spacecraft and machinery. Above them, the two upper levels occupy a mere fraction of the building's scale, reserved for research facilities and storage.
Access is carefully structured. Each sector has a primary personnel gate leading into a reception hall and sixteen elevators rising to the upper levels. For the lower levels, two vast cargo elevators transport vehicles, shipments, and heavy equipment. Beyond these lie secondary gates that connect the OctaCore's inner world with the outside.
At the center of the OctaCore lies a residential zone for workers, surrounded by eight launch complexes. Each sector maintains its own launch pad, outer research facilities, and observation stations to oversee departures.
The OctaCore was designed as a self-sufficient industrial hub: a place where spacecraft could be manufactured, maintained, and launched on-site. It also serves as the primary communications relay between Earth and Space Station Alpha, the planned successor to the International Space Station.
At its heart, however, lies a community — a city within a wall — where workers from across the globe live, labor, and carry the Federation's ambitions to the stars.