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THE NORTH POLE
Santa's Workshop is located on a mountain of ice in the North Pole. It looks out on an endless expanse of ice and open sky, and the aurora can be seen overhead at all times, even in the day time.
The Pole is a place that is a mix of hectic and peaceful, busy and cozy. While it's filled with wonder and grandeur, there are many pleasant places to curl up with an endless supply of hot cocoa, and the air always smells of cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar cookies, peppermint, or fresh-cut pine. Somehow, no matter how long someone smells these smells, they seem to never fade into the background.
The upper areas of the Pole are warm and cozy, including the workshops, which are kept at just the right temperature to make everything warm, but not overheat the furry yetis. The deeper down you go into the workshop, the colder it gets. Fortunately, there's not much need to go down to the deeper levels. This is usually just the place where yetis are doing construction and expanding the size of the Pole to allow for more manufacturing and storage of presents.
Most amenities that people want can easily be provided, due to the magic of the place. Even some technology can be cobbled together by the yetis, though it often has elements of magic.
Also, the Pole somehow has wifi. Truly, Nicholas St. North was a man of miracles.
2. Kitchens
3. Bedrooms
4. North's Study
5. Globe Balcony
6. Main Workshop Floor
7. The Globe of Belief
8. North's Library
9. Communal Relaxation Area
10. Sleigh Room
11. Training Room
12. Mail Room
13. Infirmary
14. Laboratory
15. Vasilisa's Office
The Dining Area consists of a long table in an open air area near the Globe of Belief. As myths, PCs will no longer need to eat to survive. However, they may occasionally have cravings for certain flavors. Food is often placed there whenever the Guardians are hungry for something, as if the yetis can somehow predict it. The food is usually what they're craving at any given time. The yetis also tend to leave out cookies and other sweets for people to snack on, though it's good to make sure they haven't been nibbled on by the Elves before eating them. They sometimes bite or lick them and put them back on the plate.
The Kitchens are huge, sectioned off into many modules with stoves and ovens, set up to feed all the yetis and Elves. They seem to be bigger on the inside than the outside. PCs are welcome to come in and make their own food or dig around for snacks. They'll usually find a wide range of ingredients and snack foods, including some that miraculously seem to be from actual stores.
Somehow there are always fresh-baked cookies around that seem like they've just been taken out of the oven, even if there's no yeti in sight.
There are no microwaves, however. People can only cook with conventional gas stoves and ovens, or over an open fire (a great place to roast chestnuts, which always seem to be in abundance).
The longer someone is there, the more likely they are to have the yetis leave out their favorite foods on a regular basis. This means that people always have a chance to see the favorite food of others, ranging from normal sweet treats like Asgardian chocolates and donuts, to savory foods like beef empanadas, to lifegiving brews (ie several forms of coffee), to dishes that definitely trend towards the alien, containing squiggling red worms and wriggling larvae.
Bedrooms in the Pole are extremely warm and cozy and usually decked with tinsel, Christmas trees, wreaths and lights. However, PCs will be able to change this theming slightly, based on request. While there's no way to get rid of it entirely, it can be changed to simply be generically winter-themed instead, and additions can be made to this winter theme if people want to display items of cultural or religious importance.
The rooms can also change configuration, adding or removing fireplaces, rearranging where beds are, removing beds (for those that don't use them), or changing bed sizes. Beds can also be made magically sturdier for those of an extreme weight or who have super strength. Some color changes can be added too, even if the room will stay somewhat winter or Christmas-themed.
The room simply needs to be given directions, the door must be closed with the resident outside the room, and the room will be changed when the door is reopened.
While the default is that rooms come without them, they will provide TVs and other forms of entertainment when asked.
All of the rooms have a viewing window to the outside where they can see the aurora shimmering across the sky and endless stars at night (at least during the times of year it gets dark.) Those who can't be exposed to sunlight can ask for this window to disappear.
North's Study will largely be kept closed off but PCs may be permitted to go in if they're willing to help design some toys, as long as they don't touch North's neglected plans and unfinished work. The room is filled with examples of North's expertise, both on paper and in the form of small models.
There are many writing and drawing implements there, as well as carving tools that can carve prototypes of toys in wood or magically non-melting ice to give to the yetis. Also, Jack Frost isn't aware of this because he didn't think to snoop through his stuff, but this room also contains a few of North's useful notes about the threat of Kuk and Its forces.
This area can also be used for people good with technology, electronics, and other forms of tinkering, as North has other tools, and tools and components can be provided by the yetis.
The entire center of the workshop is hollow, other than the Globe of Belief suspended there. The Globe balcony allows for closer viewing of the Globe, as well as providing a good view of the massive workshop, and a ceiling window that allows for directly observing and talking to the Man in the Moon. The Man in the Moon also sometimes activates a pedestal that rises from the floor. This pedestal has a crystal that can show magical holograms to communicate with the Guardians. Lately, the Man in the Moon has been talking more, though his voice is often weak, pointing out threats for the Guardians to face and new myths that arrive in the game universe.
This area is where PCs may get briefed on situations where people need their help, and is also large enough for PCs to gather to make plans of attack.
The Main Workshop Floor is filled with a chaotic hustle and bustle of activity. Prototype flying toys are often flitting around overhead and the yetis operate cranks and cranes to move toys and wrapped presents from place to place.
The industrious yetis are always there at long tables making toys year-round, and the tiny knee-high Elves are often under foot as they go around creating mischief in between testing the toys. The yetis are allowed as many breaks and as much rest as they want, and can be seen relaxing a bit more on the off season, but they're extremely hard-working in the lead up to Christmas. They're as invested in their calling as North is, proud to take part in bringing joy to children.
That said, they can be a little harried at times, and dislike when people disrupt their toy-making. They'll tolerate people exploring the workshop as long as they don't get in the way or break anything, though.
Every type of toy can be found here, from dolls, to toy cars, to Barbies, to identical knock offs of popular video game systems. There are also sections away from the tables for the Elves to test out the toys.
The Globe of Belief shows all the true believers in the world, the children and teens that believe in the Guardians, myths, and magic. The believers are represented by little lights on every continent except Antarctica and ancient magical writing can spell out their names if the Guardians need to know who one of the lights represents.
The lights can be used to see areas where children may be in physical danger or in dangerous situations that may be affecting their belief. In these situations they start to flicker. In more severe cases, they may blink out. While this sometimes may be the natural result of them growing up and no longer believing, they can sometimes disappear due to the believer being killed by mythical monsters or because of being turned into fearlings. For this reason, the Guardians investigate unusual cases of clusters of lights going out.
Between the Globe and the Man in the Moon, the PCs can be directed at situations where someone is in trouble.
North has an expansive magical library that produces any books or piece of media that someone could want. North usually uses it for media he reads or watches snippets of for design ideas, but PCs can assume the library will produce any book, DVD, CD, or other form of media that they want. The only caveat to this is that it won't produce media that contains depictions of a fellow PC unless said PC retrieves it themselves and willingly lets others view it.
This series of large connected dens has lots of comfy couches, huge cushions and pillows, blankets, large screen TVs, DVD players, video game systems, the works. Some of these little nooks are large enough to contain a huge group if they want to do movie nights. Others are cozy little reading or viewing nooks with only room for 1-2 people. Many of the den sections have a few fireplaces to keep things cozy, and some of the nooks have a window with a view to the scenery outside, the perfect place to curl up with a good book.
The Sleigh Room is where Santa's souped up sleigh is kept and maintained, and also has comfy pens for the reindeer to sleep and eat, as well as a door that allows them to stretch their legs and fly and walk around outside when they need to.
There is a track that leads to a wild roller coaster-like ride to the outside of Santa's workshop. The sleigh can expand in size to provide seating for large groups of people, almost like a roller coaster.
This room is also where the magic snowglobes are contained. These create portals to different places. They can be used to directly step somewhere, if the user knows they won't need the sleigh's flight where they're going, or they can be tossed in front of the sleigh if they need to take it along, once it goes over the track to the outside of the Pole. The yetis make sure there are always an abundance of snow globes, to make sure people have enough to make multiple trips to places before returning, and so they can keep an emergency globe to travel back to the Pole to escape when they need to.
This room can also be used to store bulky weapons and other equipment if PCs want a place where they can grab them as they go out on a mission.
The Training Room is another area that is much larger on the inside than the outside. Designed by North before he was captured, it can create all kinds of scenarios and equipment to help people hone their skills. While it doesn't create full holograms, mechanical training automatons can have powers and abilities assigned to them to simulate fighting other people with actual powers. This can include energy attacks, invulnerability, forms of magic, or super strength. The automatons are not alive, they are simply animated like puppets by the magic of the room, based on the thoughts and desires of the person training. They can also adjust in size as needed.
The walls, ceilings, and floors of the room are magically reinforced so even someone with super strength can't break through. People training can opt to have the walls, ceilings, and floors padded for safety as well. The room can expand larger when needed.
Magical dust created by the Sandman, stored in the training room, can also simulate fearlings and their swarm tactics. The false fearlings won't cause real injury, but will leave bright red paint-like liquid smeared in places their claws tag, to show where serious injury would've occurred if it was a real attack.
The Mail Room is a large room with a massive 50' Nutcracker whose mouth spews out all the letters kids send to Santa. Here, yetis sort and add the desired toys to massive lists for the children. While the room can be a little chaotic, the yetis work mostly in silence here, and the continuous shush of letters pouring in can actually be relaxing. It's not a bad place to get away from it all, grab a stack of letters to sit on, and read a book.
Set up in a typical infirmary style, with a row of beds lining each side of a long room, the infirmary at the Pole is a cozy lodge-like place to recover. Lined with windows to the outside so healing myths can see the aurora, there's never a chill to the place thanks to the fireplaces every few feet along the walls.
The beds are extremely cozy, piled high with pillows and blankets and the infirmary can expand in size and add or remove beds, much like other areas of the Pole can change to fit the group's needs. Most beds are a size straddling the line between Twin XL and Full size, but can change to suit an individual.
A large adjoining room has conventional first aid supplies and ceramic or metal containers of magical treatments, like healing herbs, amulets, and unctures. This room also has a small garden of magical herbs growing that can only be used fresh, like the aglaophotis that cures Kaa's bites. A small magical orb floats over it, glowing like a tiny sun. Every so often, thunderclouds roll inside it and it starts to rain water on the garden, slowly hovering over it to make sure all the plants get enough water.
The lab is a strange almost escher-like area with lots of scientific and engineering equipment: wires and tubes and consoles and work tables covered in raw components. Due to certain spider-folk being science types, much of this equipment is mounted on walls, ceilings, or upside down platforms, but fortunately, there is plenty of equipment at ground level for those more beholden to the laws of gravity.
The lab is a place for all science types to congregate and tinker, either for curiosity's sake, to scientifically study magical artifacts or phenomenon to see if it'll bear fruit in useful knowledge, or to develop technology useful to the Guardians.
The yetis can sometimes be seen here, providing equipment procured through mysterious means or helping science types blend their technology with magical devices.
The office of Vasilisa, the former Mrs. Claus. Here, she provides psychiatric services and counseling to those seeking mental healthcare, using education and experience from taking on multiple human identities - and professions - over time.
There is a large oak desk, a large comfy couch and several chairs. One chair against a wall has a booster seat, and on top of that is a very tiny booster seat, to make sure she is well equipped with accommodations for the smaller members of the Pole if they need her services, in every size they come in, whether Elves or others besides. Against a wall is an art station with easels and supplies for an alternative to talk therapy, and a chest full of games, ranging from chess to Candyland.
The decor is colorful, though some of the art in the office's decor looks very old, bits of faded folk art and crafts. They match some of the Russian decor and designs of the Pole. Featured prominently is a piece of kohkloma art, with two abstract shapes of people at the center of the colorful designs of flowers and vines. They are both wearing read, a large man with a white beard and a graceful woman with blonde hair in a traditional braid.
One wall is covered in several diplomas, from both her current life and several before, as well as her medical license. Her background has some familiar and impressive names: a Ph.D in Clinical Psychology from Columbia University, a degree in biochemistry from Stanford, and a medical degree from Harvard, etc etc.
Somebody is an overachiever.