Old Watchtower

The Old Watchtower is a location in the outskirts Outglut on Alternia, that serves as the hideout and makeshift hive of the MSPA Reader in their incarnation as the protagonist of Hiveswap Friendship Simulator.

First introduced in Hiveswap Friendsim: Volume Eight, wherein they take Tyzias Entykk to visit it, the dilapidated structure is the place where the protagonist returns "on days where [they] can't find a friend, or don't want to impose on any of the ones that [they've] made," where it serves as "a good place to staunch bleeding or stargaze".

Despite being in a state of disrepair, the tower is apparently an old imperial surveillance watchtower, dating from a time when the Condesce used such structures to surveil the Alternian population.

Description


The watchtower is located on the outskirts of Outglut, where the buildings are spread thinner. The land rears upwards into a sharp rocky cliff, to which the watchtower structure is bolted, held in place by attachments that resemble insect legs.

Due to disuse, the structure has fallen into a state of severe disrepair. It is described as essentially being composed of dilapidated scaffolding connected by rusted metal ladders, supporting a partially covered platform, which serves as the interior space.

Despite serving as the MSPA Reader's hideout and makeshift hive, they have made few additions or changes to the interior of the watchtower, besides to store a few gathered keepsakes on an old wooden table. Aside from this, the space is largely filled with disused old Alternian equipment left over from the tower's days as an active watchtower. These include some old technology arrays, with interface panels and screens, although the MSPA Reader is unable to operate these or even cause them to power up, presumably due to disrepair. A rusted weapon is mounted in one corner, which was presumably originally used to keep the populus below in check.

Significance
The old watchtower is one of few examples of the planetside infrastructure of the Alternian Empire. Although now defunct, the former role of the tower demonstrates the degree to which the Condesce and her government keep her population under a rigid surveilance and control.

If the watchtower was a military installation, then it may have originally been manned by adult trolls. This - alongside the fact that the tower is specifically stated to be the work of the Condesce, rather than the current child heiress of Friendsim's era - could mean that the watchtower dates from before Summoner's rebellion, when adult troll populations still lived on Alternia. In fact, the expulsion of adults from Alternia may have been the reason for the tower's abandonment, due to either those tasked with staffing it leaving, and/or what authorities remained deciding that it was not necessary to so closely surveil the new population of minors.