Difference between revisions of "Category:Esthar Garden"

"Retineo antepono Sepelio. -2140"

―Printed on the Dedication Plaque of Esthar Garden

In a world of darkness and light, things in the light are often oblivious to the other side; the darkness which follows the light's every move. So, it is a shock that a being can exist that is both light and dark; a vampire, trying to atone for the sins of his past.

Esthar Garden is one of the three Garden military facilities, currently located in the region of the same name. It was formerly known as Galbadia Garden, and was the second Garden founded. It was founded in May 2140, one year before the founding of Trabia Garden. The current Headmaster of Esthar Garden is Liam Jacob Bayloh.The current SeeD Commander and also head of site security is Seifer Almasy.

Esthar Garden is part of the Garden Organization, as founded by Cid Kramer. It is also a part of the O.S.I.R.I.S Information Storage Network.

Esthar Garden's main complex.

Background

Esthar Garden, then known as Galbadia Garden, was founded in June 2140 by Cid Kramer, who had also founded Balamb Garden a year earlier as a means of countering the power of Sorceresses should the need arise. Differences between Balamb Garden and Galbadia Garden were noticeable and vast almost immediately from inception - the Headmaster and Garden Master, Martine, developed Galbadia Garden's SeeD program to rely on firearms and standard military tactics instead of the Guardian Force based combat system that Balamb relied upon.

In 2151, the Garden would find itself in combat with a Sorceress - ironically, the wife of Cid Kramer herself, Sorceress Edea, who had received powers from Ultimecia, a Sorceress from the future. Edea, having control of most of the Galbadian province proper, assumed control of Galbadia Garden as her base of operations and left a brainwashed Seifer Almasy in control of the Garden after Martine fled to Fisherman's Horizon. Soon after, Balamb and Galbadia Gardens would clash, leaving Balamb victorious, Galbadia Garden's population in shambles, and Edea defeated and stripped of her powers - powers which went to Rinoa Heartilly. Seifer fled, leaving the Garden without a Headmaster until shortly after, when Martine returned from Fisherman's Horizon to reclaim command, a position he held for over a year more.

Galbadia would shortly thereafter find itself in an investigation that culminated in Martine's removal and Liam Bayloh being inducted as the new Headmaster. Galbadia Garden split with the Galbadian province soon after, renaming itself to Esthar Garden and finding shelter within Estharian borders by decree of Laguna Loire.

Ranking Structure

Main Article: Esthar Garden Ranks

Esthar Garden, like any military organization, has a firm chain of command and seniority in place for organizational and instruction purposes. Entry members study and train for years in order to earn their commission as field officers. Esthar Garden's command hierarchy has changed in recent times, following the election of Liam Bayloh as Headmaster. A complete overhaul to the ranking structure was instituted shortly after reconstruction was finished, allowing the ranks to more easily transition to other Gardens to allow less difficulty in permanent transfers to other facilities.

Garden Population

Esthar Garden's population is the largest of the three Gardens by far, having nearly twice the population of Trabia Garden. The military tactics and conventions at Esthar Garden, along with its contracts with the Estharian military, gave it a large appeal to future soldiers.

Population Breakdown:

• Total Students: 15,000 (100%)
  • Full-Time Students: 8,250 (55%)
  • Cadets: 4,500 (30%)
  • SeeD: 2,250 (15%)

Locations

Esthar Garden is located in the plains just north of the capital city.

The building itself is similar to the design of Balamb Garden, in that it manages to house everything in one structure, while allowing the maximum amount of people allowed in such a structure.

Esthar Garden also has several offsite locations.

Onsite Locations

MD Level

The bottommost level of Esthar Garden, the MD level hosts the drive system. After the Sorceress conflict, then Galbadia Garden's drive system was repaired and the area was reconstructed. The area is surrounded by one walkway overlooking the drive assembly, and two inter-crossing pathways lead to the middle which allows access to the elevator. Lifts are accessible from the upper ring, which allow easy access to any part of the drive assembly.

Access is restricted to the Engineering Division.

Dark Facility

Esthar Garden's Dark Facility.

The Dark Facility is Garden's psychological operations center, specifically in charge of the interrogation of captured targets. At Esthar Garden, it is seperated into three rings, with two entrances. The first ring only offers access in to the inner two rings, as well as the exits.

The first inner ring offers access to the communications room, the security office and the research offices. This ring also has access to the Dark storage area. Finally, it offers access to the low security interrogation cells, as well as the observation rooms for the interrogation rooms.

The second inner ring has the only access to the highest security rooms, which are reserved for high priority targets. Entrance is restricted to the highest clearance levels of Garden, and those they alone clear for access. Access to the Dark Faciliy (beyond the inner sanctum) is restricted to the highest levels of the security department. The existence of the Dark facility is classified also to the highest levels of Garden.

Main Floor

Esthar Garden's Main Level.

The first floor is the main floor of Garden. A great deal of the weapons training happens on this floor at the built in firing ranges. The first floor is also equipped with sports facilities for student entertainment and team-building exercises. These facilities include (but are not limited to) dual basketball and tennis courts, as well as an ice rink. The vehicle garage is for staff vehicles, as well as Garden transportation.

After the Sorceress conflict, the Garden was equipped with two Salamander docks which replaced classrooms on the first floor. Finally, the lobby has a reception desk for guests to Garden, as well as general seating used by guests, students and Garden staff. Access to the other floors is available by elevator (for the MD level, The Dark, as well as the second and third levels.) Also available to access the upper floors are stairs located in the midpoint of the first floor, and the rear near the Salamander dock.

Included in the first floor is the large kitchen and the cafeteria which is converted for the SeeD Graduation ball, held after SeeD exams. The cafeteria is staffed from 0630 to 2030.

The Quad is located around the main floor of Esthar Garden, a quarter mile expanse which is filled with benches, plants and trees which allows students to relax and unwind during their off time.

Access to this floor, and most of its areas is open to the public (with escort by SeeD personnel.)

Second Floor

The second floor of Esthar Garden is where the majority of classroom learning happens. The library is located on this floor, and while not as expansive as the Arkives at Trabia Garden, it is designed with ease of access in mind. In addition, all of the classrooms are located on this floor. The practice dojos are used for classes as well as personal training among the students. The auditorium is primarily used for Garden assemblies, as well as large scale mission briefings. In the event of a Tribunal, it is converted to serve the purposes of the trial. Located also on this floor are the living quarters of the mainstay of the Esthar Garden forces, from the instructors, to SeeD, and the student base. Offices for the instructors are also located on this floor.

Notably, this floor is easily converted into a bunker, as many of the outer walls sport multiple easy access ports which allow for quick defense/offense which was demonstrated in the battle against Sin. Access to this floor is restricted to SeeD and student personnel.

Third Floor

The third floor is the command division of Esthar Garden. The Headmaster and SeeD Commander's Offices, as well as the division head offices are located on this floor. The main command center is also located on this floor which was redesigned after the Sorceress Conflict for functionality; an easy access system for all aspects of Esthar Garden. SeeD's Intelligence system, AVATAR, has an access point on this floor, which is accessible only to the Headmaster, the SeeD Commander, as well as the Special Operations division. The Special Operations team of Esthar, the Night Riders also has a command center located here, which includes their briefing room, as well as their equipment lockers.

To facilitate normal SeeD missions, there are a number of conference rooms available to mission commanders. These rooms also have full access to the OSIRIS network to facilitate these briefings. The air deck, an expansion of an earlier system used by Seifer Almasy to launch Galbadian motorcycle soldiers during the Sorceress Conflict, was expanded soon after to allow for the launch of small one man air fighters. The program is currently under review however, after the incident with Sin. Looking over the air deck, is a large observation deck, which allows those watching to oversee the launch of the air forces stationed at Esthar.

Offsite Locations

• Sniper Range
  

Thirty miles north of Esthar Garden's home location is a sniper range. This is maintained by Esthar Garden and has both moving and stationary targets for using in the sniper line of study available at Esthar Garden. Entrance is restricted to SeeD members only, and the strictest of safety measures available are in place to ensure no injuries or fatalities take place in the range.

• Live Training Facility
  

Available twenty miles northeast of Esthar Garden is the outdoors training facility, which is similar to the onsite training facilities held by Balamb and Trabia Garden. Because it is an outdoor facility, more creatures are able to be kept and maintained in a natural habitat.

SeeD

The backbone of the Garden system proper, SeeD are highly trained mercenaries, adaptable to a wide range of combat situations. Each Garden, however, does have a specialty training regime; Esthar Garden trains SeeD in the enhanced use of military tactics and weaponry in combat, making it akin to an entire army of special forces units.

Night Riders

The Night Riders are Esthar Garden's Special Operations forces. Made up of three squads with six members each, each team is filled with highly trained special operatives capable of finishing a mission considered too dangerous for the average SeeD member to attempt. As is similar in Balamb, the Night Rider lead officer is also in charge of Alpha Squad. These squads receive their orders directly from the Garden Commander at Esthar, bypassing the normal mission guidelines. Because of this, they are able to be deployed on the fly; much faster than a normal SeeD squad.

The current head of the Night Riders and Alpha Squad is Alexander Munro. His second in command is Laurel Murphy.

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