Every Keeper needs a home. As latent powers emerge, Keepers quickly realize they need to manage their newfound abilities. Without proper training, these powers can unpredictably surge and manifest in chaotic ways, causing significant damage in the worst scenarios.
Thus the first step for every Keeper involves handling such power responsibly, followed soon after by the need to find a community of their peers. A small inner voice calls them to something different, something more than the confined expectations of a slowly rejuvenating society
Enter HAVEN: a network of locations, where Keepers of all kinds can seek refuge. A home with many doorways, each individual Haven represents one node among a unified system of safe-houses and training schools.
To instruct each other in the ways of Kai energy, Keepers established special places safe from prying eyes and judgmental authorities. Sanctuaries where they could conduct training and experiments while keeping everyone safe from potential blowback. Places where they could fully explore what it means to be a Keeper, while masking from others their growing ability to harness Kai in a wide variety of ways.
The first known Haven, located in a discovered structure called Node One, has become a repository of knowledge for Keepers from across the entirety of New Eden. The exact origin of this original Haven and who founded it is unknown, but it has long been a unified space away from conflicts stoked by the catastrophic adversity of the past.
From this seed a wider network grew. Over time, these nodes spread throughout the many towns and cities of New Eden and began to take root within the twin cities of Animus and Prisma. Each new location embodying the knowledge learned by Keepers who had mastered their training over many years.
In this way, every Haven connects to the source through unbroken mentorship chains, branching out while still retaining the core purpose of bringing Keepers into direct contact with the hidden depths of their talents. Enabling them to control their affinity to Kai with both power and precision.
While each Haven has its own specialization, purpose and masters that guide new Keepers on their path, they all maintain consistent markers. Since the network began to spread, each location has featured certain elements that meet the needs of Keepers far and wide.
Training spaces, secure data centers, libraries and equipment stores are common in order to facilitate Keepers as they hone their abilities. Docking bays for Chibi-Go units are also regularly found, enabling them to go about business bringing items and supplies throughout New Eden.
Finally, but perhaps most importantly, each Haven has spaces dedicated to experimentation, contemplation and meditation. Most contain both an oratory and laboratory, bringing Keepers into contact simultaneously with the material and immaterial aspects of their being. Others focus on one path to truth over another. All seek to make sense of the new world and the role of Keepers within it.
Unique to each location are the collections of relics that they have secured from the pre-Flicker world. These vessels are not just forgotten antiques or tossed away junk, but items of energetic power that connect the seeds of potential held within New Eden to the history and meaning of that which flourished in the past.
An important part of the Haven network and treated with reverence, to be given custodianship of a vessel is an honor that comes with a deep responsibility. To receive and be trusted with these objects marks a milestone for each Keeper, a vital step on their path to becoming recognised and exalted as a Kai Master.
Upon earning such recognition, the highest accolade that any Keeper can receive, permission is granted to branch out independently and establish their own Haven location. Thus the network of sanctuaries extends itself over time, held in the safe hands of those who lived up to their potential as masters of the training they received; but also servants to the collective Keeper cause.
Thus new locations were founded in abandoned warehouses, filled with technological capability; while others took up serene environments in the hills and mountaintops, seeking a place to explore their abilities far from the influence of the authorities and corporations. Some opted for the epitome of luxury, nestled in the penthouses of wealthy apartment towers. Others preferred hidden alcoves, lined with rows of dusty books; or ascetic caves, stripped of all distractions to concentrate on the power of Kai alone.
Because of its importance to the Keeper way of life, one must earn the privilege of entering the HAVEN network. Guided by the wisdom of their seasoned peers, designated at an appropriate time and place, each Keeper undergoes a necessary rite of passage. A test that proves a Keeper’s worthiness and natural ability. The journey leading to this test is unique to each individual, but ultimately draws upon that intuition which guides Keepers to their noble calling in the world.
By crossing the threshold into HAVEN, each Keeper becomes more than a guardian of New Eden. They become authors of their own destiny. Empowered to shape their impact on the world and craft a story that can echo through the ages.
SOURCE: The Path to Haven - Journal Article
The first known Haven was Node One, discovered pre-built and with an AI running things (fun fact: the site was later taken over by PAMP, who continues to enjoy greeting new people with chaotic energy) - it was a neutral zone in which not only citizens, but Keepers from any faction were able to rest and come together in mutual understanding without fear of violence.