Voussoir

Voussoir is a portal world and the site of the GATE Voussoir Facility, also known formally as the GATE Voussoir Facility. The facility was mandated to research notable and unusual macro-phenomena, geomantic countermeasures, and experimental EM equipment, while also serving as an improvised containment site for locally endemic anomalous fauna until they could be moved into purpose-built enclosures. Its infrastructure also includes a large ELT telescope used for both local and deep-space monitoring, celestial observation, and related research.

By the time the player arrives, the facility is under the control of the Order, which has destroyed all access in and out. Surviving staff reveal that the Order infiltrated the site by disguising themselves as Groupe soldiers, and their presence is still tied to the unresolved situation in the caverns beneath the facility’s Cable Car station, where a particular beast remains a concern.

Voussoir is based on the Sphinx Observatory in Switzerland. It is also notable as the first portal world to contain a number of deployable objects, making it a useful place to scavenge if you are prepared for the cold and the hostile occupants.

• Cold resistance is strongly recommended before entering. A total of +3 cold resistance is enough to fully resist hypothermia, so a full cold-weather set is not required.
• The Mountaineer Armor Set offers both armor and cold resistance, but it can only be found within Voussoir.
• The Weathered Trait provides +1 cold resistance.
• Equipping the Heat Pack, Hot Cup of Coffee, or Mushroom Soup acts as a portable heat source and reduces the cold resistance needed to avoid freezing.
• Two Cold Protections trinkets together provide +2 cold resistance.
• The Yukon Gold Jacket provides +1 cold resistance, but it can only be found by killing a Mountaineer within Voussoir.
• A cave accessible only by Jetpack contains the corpse of a GATE Keystone employee, who appears to have died from exposure after being transported there; she is found with only Snow Gloves, Snow Pants, a Skip Cookie, and a Blue Antelight Seed.
• Voussoir contains deployables including Water Coolers, a Barrel, and a Toolbox, which can be especially valuable because they can yield renewable liquids and standard toolbox loot such as Hammers and Duct Tape.