Crystal Palace

"Feel alive in the dead of space!"

 — The Crystal Palace's slogan, Cyberpunk 2077

The Crystal Palace is a toroidal space station located at the Earth-Moon Lagrange point 1, in a stable position between both celestial bodies.

Overview

The Crystal Palace is the most famous space station around Earth and is considered the glittering crown of the European Space Agency. Although the ESA technically owns the Palace, it is in fact used by all space-capable nations — each of which maintains an embassy on the Palace for its nationals — as well as corporations. Living space is leased by the ESA to the highest bidders on a twenty-year renewable basis. In turn, the ESA maintains emergency services, general security, and station upkeep.

Police services and law enforcement are the exclusive province of the Europol; the intra-European police organization, which under an agreement with the ESA, reserves the right of judicial power over criminal offenses.

The Crystal Palace has offices around Earth where they hire long-term salary workers, offering them a hotel residence and a flight to the station, both of which are paid with a salary-deduction.

The station also serves military purposes, such as being the testing ground for various corporations like Tsunami or Malorian Arms.

History

2000 - 2010s

After establishing Tycho on the Moon, the European Space Agency used the lunar colony's mass driver to catapult raw materials into space to construct the Crystal Palace, a glittering and imposing orbital station aimed to be a playground for the rich. The ESA started building the structure in 2000 at the Lagrange point 1, between Earth and the Moon. Over the following years, a second mass driver in Tycho and another one in Copernicus joined the effort of transporting materials from Luna to the Palace, while Orbital Air gave additional, yet essential help with cargo shipments from Earth.

In 2005, the First Corporate War put a hold on the construction, as Orbital Air directed resources to the war-effort, causing a delay on the project for a time.

During the First Orbital War of 2008, the United States of America left the Crystal Palace intact simply because of its distant orbit and low target priority.

In 2009, an undercover US intelligence unit infiltrated into space station. Acting as a terrorist group, they tried to take control of the structure but failed. The ESA managed to discover who was behind the attack and dropped a five-ton rock off the coast of Washington, D.C. as a warning.

With a total cost of 7 billion eurodollars, the Crystal Palace was finalized in 2011, giving the ESA a permanent hold in Earth's high orbit.

During the 2010s and beyond, Orbital Air was an essential partner for the maintenance of the Crystal Palace, as without their cargo shipments the colony would be out of business. OA's Johnson Space Platform was also the main transfer station from Earth to the L-1 colony, with passengers switching from spaceplanes to transport shuttles.

2020s - 2040s

In the early 2020s, the Palace was rumored to be the home of the Angels; a group of at least twelve individuals, each one an elite martial artist, who were considered the best solos ever at that time. It was from the Palace where they would fall upon their targets. Despite all this, no records of them ever existing were found, but only the words of a number of harsh prominent solos, who were not inclined toward believing such tales.

During the Fourth Corporate War, in late September 2022, a killsat artillery strike fired at the Crystal Palace, seemingly by accident. Three highriders intercepted the projectiles and died protecting the station. Not long after this event, the space colonies O'Neill One and Two gained their independence from the ESA during the Seven Hour War, forming the Highrider Confederation. The European Space Agency managed to keep the Crystal Palace under their control.

Later that year, the ESA ordered delta jets on the Crystal Palace to destroy several "suspicious" orbital facilities. At the same time, the US and Soviets were doing similar things on other parts of the globe. Despite the order not to attack assets belonging to other nations, a mistake was made, and all three organizations began destroying every facility that was not targeted as friendly, no matter to whom it belonged. By the time the orbital war was over, an astounding number of satellites and space facilities in low orbit had been destroyed.

During the 2040s, Orbital Air passenger transport to the Crystal Palace was rare due to the world still recovering from the Fourth Corporate War.

2060s - 2070s

In 2069, a Greek citizen won the biggest win in gambling history — 80 million eurodollars — at one of the Palace's casinos.

By the 2070s, the Crystal Palace was still the most famous space station orbiting Earth, and the most expansive too. Still owned by the European Space Agency, the Palace offered a great variety of services, and it included a number of recreational facilities like casinos, hotels and restaurants. All this earned the orbital station the nickname "The Las Vegas of Space," where anyone of importance in Earth's orbit had space leased in, including the wealthiest corporations. Orbital Air and its subsidiary Crystal Palace Direct offered flights from Earth to the space station.

In 2077, famous TV presenter Ziggy Q became a Crystal Palace ambassador, advertising the space station and interviewing a number of Palace residence in his show.

In May 2078, Lizzy Wizzy was scheduled to play a number of concerts in the Crystal Palace as part of her Cosmic Tour.

Database Entry (2077)

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THE CRYSTAL PALACE

Everyone's heard of the Crystal Palace, but few have actually stepped foot inside. The majority of Night Citizens mostly just search for it in the sky since in fact it's a gigantic space station catering to the top one percent. It boasts everything from casinos, restaurants, low-gravity pools and luxury apartments to panoramic viewing rooms of Earth and outer space, concert venues, a hotel, a park and of course, conference halls for corporate clients. In other words, a city in the sky, equipped with the newest technology and sponsored by Orbital Air, among other entities. Whoever steps off the shuttle to the Crystal Palace and loses themselves in one of its many attractions can safely declare they've made it to the top.

Layout

Layout of the Crystal Palace (2020)

The Crystal Palace is a five toroidal ring structure built around a large core extending for almost two kilometers through the center of the station. Each ring has a radius of 2.2 kilometers. The three central rings are entirely enclosed, while the two outer rings have two-meter thick leaded-glass windows to permit light to enter. The torus are protected from hard radiation by a thick shield of lunar rock. As with most space-borne equipment, all hardware on the Palace is hardened against EMPs. The toroidal rings spin at sufficient rotation to provide 0.8 G at the rim, dropping about 0.1 G for every 275 meters of altitude towards the hub.

Inside each inner torus are four levels of living facilities, manufacturing plants, life support systems, and apartment blocks. The two outer torus support huge open parks that are not only for recreation, but to also provide the bulk of the Palace's oxygen supply. While most of this area is devoted to open space, there are common buildings, restaurants, and housing for high ranking corporate and ESA officials. These public areas are bewitching, full of greenery and real trees. The residents have the best looks money can buy, something the station workers cannot afford.

By the 2070s, the orbital station included casinos, hotels, restaurants, low-gravity pools, white-sand beaches, spas, luxury apartments, concert venues, a braindance studio, drone racing tracks, parks, golf courses, tennis courts, and conference halls for corporate clients.

Notable Locations

• The Black Hole
• Ellen Trieste's villa
• Replitech headquarters
• Sky Villa

Notable Organizations

Governmental Organizations

• European Space Agency (ESA)
• Highrider Confederation
• Japan Aerospace Bureau (JAB)
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
• New United States Aerospace Force (NUSAF)
• Soviet Rocket Corps (SRC)

Known Corporations (2020s)

• Arasaka (has a space training and operations school)
• EuroBank (has a regional office)
• Hilliard Corporation (has a regional office)
• International Electric Corporation (has a store and representative department)
• Dornier-Bauer Biotechnische (has a regional office)
• No-Ahme Caldwell Genetic Engineering and Biochemicals (has a regional office)
• Orbital Air
• Petrochem
• Raven Microcybernetics (has a regional office)
• Replitech
• StormTech (has a regional office)
• Tsunami
• Unified Energy Coalition (has a regional office)^{[citation needed]}
• Utopian Corporation
• World News Service (has a regional office)

Known Notable Residents

• Sergeii Ranon (2020)
• Ellen Trieste (2020)
• Kerry Eurodyne (2079)
• Mr. Kipper (2077)
• Richard Storm (2020)

Crystal Palace Pamphlet

During the Path of Glory epilogue quest in Cyberpunk 2077, a man will give V a pamphlet about the Crystal Palace. This pamphlet can also be found on one of the seats of Rogue Amendiares' booth in the Afterlife at any time. Due to its low resolution, it may be difficult to distinguish what it says.

FEEL ALIVE IN THE DEAD OF SPACE! After docking at one of the Crystal Palace boarding bridges, passengers disembark and enter the palace - that is, a gigantic space station. This ESA-owned construction is made up of five ring-like levels (each measuring around 2 km in diameter) rotating around the station's central core. Inside the inner "rings," one can find living quarters, a support system, a factory and workshops. The outer rings house vast green spaces (used not only for a little rest and relaxation but also to produce much of the Palace's oxygen), apartments for high-ranking ESA officials and corporate CEO's as well as recreational facilities; including casinos, hotels and restaurants. Not for nothing is the Cristal Palace renowned "The Las Vegas of Space"! In the lower part of the Palace, the station's vast solar arrays spread like sails, while its fuel tanks hang like ballast. Anyone who's anyone in space, plus all the most important corporations, all lease space in the Crystal Palace.

 — Crystal Palace pamphlet, Cyberpunk 2077

Associated Shards

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Gallery

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  In Near Orbit
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  In Deep Space
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  During Path of Glory

Renders & Concept Art

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  Renders
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  Concept art
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