Scientific capital of Criozevan. Home to many public and private labs. Built above and around the massive crater created by the Equinox of Power (795 ACC) — the three-way battle of the Masters that ended the Great War.
The Underground Research Facility
The underground research facility beneath Ibeson was not part of the city’s original design. When the Goldhelm government first built Ibeson above the crater, the crater was considered primarily a historical site — the location of the battle that ended the Great War, and an inconvenient geological feature to build around. The underground dimensions of the crater were treated as a curiosity rather than an opportunity.
Over time, the Goldhelm scientific apparatus — specifically the Department of Holometric Advancement — recognized that the cavern system beneath the crater offered something uniquely valuable: an existing, stable underground structure of significant size, isolated from surface observation, and already inaccessible to casual inspection by virtue of the city built above it. The facility was expanded gradually, without announcement, and without any public disclosure of its existence or purpose.
Above ground, Ibeson is the scientific capital of Criozevan — known for its public and private research institutions. Below ground, it is something else.
The facility has produced the majority of modern holotech advancements across all fields, including medicine, military applications, energy systems, and communications infrastructure. It investigates all known forms of magic and technology encountered on the continent, with the stated internal purpose of understanding and countering magical capabilities through technological means. It also develops weapons — some of which have entered Goldhelm’s military arsenal without public knowledge of their origin.
Kaboom (#9 Arashi) was created in this facility and escaped it.
The facility is known only to the Goldhelm royal government, the Department of Holometric Advancement’s senior leadership, and those few individuals who have worked within it and survived. It does not appear in any public record.