Black Monk Monastery

Black Monk Monastary
Size (metres, W×H×L)	1200 x 1200 x 5500
Cargo capacity	N/A
Cargo bay extension	N/A
Maximum speed	N/A
Manoeuvrability	Roll: 8.0 Pitch: 8.0
Energy banks	N/A
Energy recharge rate	Exceptionally High
Gun mounts	4 Heavy Plasma Cannons
Missile slots	None
Shield boosters available	N/A
Military shields available	N/A
Hyperspace capable	No
OXP or standard	OXP
Available to player	No
Base price	Unknown

Overview

The vast and imposing structure of this station marks with authority the fact that the Order of the Black Monks of Saint Herod are firmly established in the space lanes of the most advanced systems. The massive structure is at once home and place of business for countless thousands of holy brothers and lay servants, while it is a rare person that sees anything more than the austere and spartanly furnished offices where the Monks conduct their first and foremost business, that of loaning money.

By the late 30th Century the number of companies offering to consolidate debts in one easy loan had reached such unprecedented levels that most of the population of GalCop space was in debt. In the 2976 – 77 financial year, interest rates were increased twelve times, resulting in widespread bankruptcy.

In response GalCop passed the Consumer Credit (Holy Orders) Act 2978, outlawing the loaning of money by any organisation save the religious. The theory being that those with a spiritual conscience would never exploit Commanders in dire need of Credits. Following the passage of the legislation, the number of bankers taking Holy Orders increased by 20,000%. Today the Order of the Black Monks routinely doles out billions of credits worth of loans and receives almost ten times that amount in repayments each working day.

The Bank of the Black Monks

The Order follows a religious tenet that being solvent is a heinous sin and only the righteous walk the Path of Debt, thus all of their members are also Blessedly Insolvent. A normally cloistered order, they have opened their doors to the space-going populace in an attempt to entice others into the Holy and Exalted State of Debt. Any Commander may dock with the Monastary and, after being ushered through long, echoing hallways into the Grand Nave of Saint Herod the Bankrupt. Here they are offered a substantial loan, regardless of their financial state, with the proviso that they repay the loan with vastly inflated interest within a set time period. Failure to repay the loan within that time may result in the Commander being pursued by one of the Order's fearsome Black Monk Gunships. This alone is more than enough incentive for most to return within their alloted time and pay their debts and return to their sinful ways of financial security.

Many a distraught Commander has tried to take out his frustration at his failing fortunes by attacking Monastaries, to their own loss. Quite beside the fact that the stations are defended by Gunships, they are also equipped with 'The Holy Cannons of Defence', overcharged Plasma Cannons that are powered directly from the station's primary power core to give a weapon yield more than triple that of the standard Plasma Cannon seen on such vessels as Behemoths and Leviathans. Attempting to attack a Monestary is usually an indication of a suicidal nature.

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This station is part of the 'Bank of the Black Monks OXP'