Cache Vale

At a glance

World Type: Neutral archival and recovery world
Primary Role: Long-term backup storage, escrow mirroring, disaster recovery, and record notarization across species
Status: Neutral jurisdiction recognized by Core, Mid, and many Rim ports
Reputation: Trustworthy, quiet, highly secure; frequent target of heists and raid attempts
Key Services: Cold storage vaults, multi-sig escrow mirrors, key ceremonies, notarized time-stamps, recovery drills, inheritance releases

Role in the galaxy

Cache Vale exists to keep critical data safe when other systems fail or are compromised. Courts, registries, carriers, insurers, and large merchants mirror their most important records here. When a port loses its ledgers or a company’s escrow keys are corrupted, Cache Vale can restore clean copies and verify integrity with notarized checks. Many worlds treat a Cache Vale mirror as a requirement for high-value contracts, ship registries, and long-haul insurance.

History and USD markers

USD 0063–0065: Growth of escrow computing pushes demand for neutral mirrors outside corporate control.
USD 0065.9: Cache Vale gains cross-species adoption as a standard backup and notarization site; first interworld compact signed.
USD 0066–0075: Expansion of deep vaults, courier berths, and audit halls; formal key-ceremony procedures published.
USD 0080–0088: Pirate syndicates and heist crews begin targeting outbound recovery convoys; defensive protocols and bonded escort rules added.
USD 0100–present: Routine use by Authority nodes, escrow houses, guilds, and carriers; scheduled drills and external audits occur every season.

Governance and law

Custodial Compact: A neutral board of Custodians from multiple species and sectors. They cannot hold outside office or equity with clients.
Statutes: No-seizure zone for client data and hardware; no weapons past inner checks; extraditions handled off-world.
Oversight: Independent auditors certify procedures, time-stamps, and recovery tests. Violations trigger automatic blacklisting and public notices.
Dispute Resolution: Small arbitration bench handles access disputes, inheritance claims, and conflicting release orders based on notarized chains of custody.

Economy

Fees come from storage tiers, notarization, escrow mirroring, courier handling, vault audits, recovery exercises, and emergency releases. Support sectors include precision fabrication, tamper-evident packaging, climate control maintenance, sensor calibration, and bonded escort services. The world keeps reserves to fund disaster restorations for clients who pre-paid for failover.

World layout and key facilities

Courier Ring: Berths for bonded couriers and certified recovery carriers. Fast intake lines with strict manifests and seal checks.
Entry Verification Grid: Multi-stage identity, cargo, and device screening. Air-gap procedures begin here.
Audit Concourse: Public counters for notarization, schedule bookings, and receipt issuance. Open to observers.
Key-Ceremony Halls: Clean rooms for generating and splitting keys with multi-party witnesses and mirrored recordings.
Cold Vault Strata: Deep, climate-stable vault layers. No network lines. Content is stored in sealed modules with hash plates and physical indexes.
Warm Mirror Galleries: Short-hop, low-speed mirrors for data that needs periodic refreshes. Isolated lanes with strict timing windows.
Recovery Staging Bays: Outbound packaging and verification for restorations. Every package receives a final notarized hash and custody log.
Custodian Keep: Governance, legal archives, independent auditor offices, and compact records.

Standards and procedures

Deposits

Pre-booking: Client submits inventory list, retention period, and recovery rules.
Intake: Courier arrival, seal check, weight check, and device scan.
Hashing: Staff generate or verify hash catalogs and write-once logs.
Placement: Modules stored in assigned strata with redundant physical indexing.
Receipt: Client receives notarized receipt with USD time-stamp and storage map reference.

Mirrors (Escrow and Registry)

Policy: A mirror never acts as an authority unless the client’s source is declared failed by pre-defined triggers.
Refresh: Mirrors accept updates on fixed windows; missed windows log as gaps.
Cutover: In a declared failure, Cache Vale issues notarized cutover notices to ports and courts, valid for a limited period.
Reconciliation: When the source returns, a reconciliation process merges signed changes and closes the emergency status.

Recoveries

Request: Authorized signers present multi-sig proof or court-issued order.
Verification: Custodians match signer sets to contract rules and check blacklists.
Packaging: Staff produce sealed copies with fresh hash plates and custody logs.
Escort: For high-risk routes, bonded escorts are assigned by lottery or client contract.
Confirmation: Remote receipt verification closes the task.

Security

Layered Access: Separate teams handle intake, hashing, placement, and retrieval. No single team can complete a full cycle.
Air-Gapping: Deep vaults have no network lines. Data moves by sealed modules only.
Hash Plates: Physical plates encode reference hashes; hard to forge; checked at every step.
Witness Logs: Key ceremonies and critical moves are recorded with independent witness signatures.
Drills: Scheduled breach, fire, and evacuation drills. Post-drill reports are public.
Response: On attempted raids, non-lethal suppression inside, call-up of bonded escorts outside, and automatic notification to client lists and insurers.

Society and culture

Local culture focuses on clarity, privacy, and steady work. Residents avoid conflict of interest. Many families work across generations in the same halls. Education focuses on procedure literacy, ethics, seal handling, hash math, and multi-species documentation. Festivals mark audit completions and successful disaster restorations rather than political dates.

Languages: Trade Common plus registrar jargon from Human, Keth, and Synthborn standards. Public signage is icon-heavy and simple.

Factions and stakeholders

Custodians’ Board: Neutral leadership; publishes procedures and maintains the compact.
Independent Auditors’ Circle: External watchdogs; certify drills and spot-check chains of custody.
Courier Guild: Trains bonded couriers; enforces conduct; manages escort rotations.
Escrow Houses Liaison Office: Coordinates mirror windows and key ceremonies for off-world escrow firms.
Registry Delegations: Small desks from Kedra’s Common Registry node, Keth chart offices, and Brightline compute verifiers.
Syndicate Probers (hostile): Seek to map schedules, bribe loaders, or fake recovery orders; regularly exposed and blacklisted.

Relations with other worlds

Kedra: Uses Cache Vale for backup of court dockets, lien trees, and registry snapshots.
Brightline (Synthborn): Provides verified compute for pre-hash processing and public checksum boards outside the vault layers.
Slipwind (Keth): Mirrors beacon charts and lane advisories for notarized reference sets.
Armistice / Brackenfeld: Food, staffing, and bonded storage supplies for recovery staging.
Caraphex / Talarq hubs: Heavy construction materials and refractory assemblies for new vault strata.

Risks and pressure points

False Orders: Forged multi-sig or spoofed court orders; mitigated by strict signer lists and out-of-band callbacks.
Insider Collusion: Rotations, dual custody, and lifestyle audits attempt to prevent it.
Courier Ambush: Most common failure point; addressed with bonded escorts, decoy runs, and staggered departures.
Update Gaps: Missed mirror windows degrade confidence; clients can buy remedial windows at higher cost.
Jurisdiction Pressure: Some worlds try to force seizures; compact rules require all seizures to occur off-world after lawful release.