Old watchtower

Dubiously Canon

---

Old watchtower
The old watchtower on the outskirts of Outglut (left)
Type	Building
Location	Outglut, Alternia
Inhabitants	MSPA reader

An old watchtower is a location on Alternia, in the outskirts of Outglut where the structures are spread more thinly. It serves as the hideout and makeshift hive of the player during much of the events of the Hiveswap Friendship Simulator.

History

The watchtower's interior.

Though presently in a state of disrepair, being composed of dilapidated scaffolding connected by rusted metal ladders, it was once an imperial surveillance tower.^{[citation needed]} It is largely filled with old equipment left over from its active nights, including arrays with interface panels and screens which the player is unable to operate or even power on. A rusted weapon presumably originally used to keep the population below in check is mounted in one corner.^{[citation needed]}

The tower first appears in Volume 8, wherein the player takes Tyzias Entykk to visit. The player returns to the dilapidated structure "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 and stargaze".^{[citation needed]} They have made few additions or changes to the interior of the watchtower, besides keeping a few gathered souvenirs on an old wooden table.^{[citation needed]}

In Volume 15, Charun Krojib removed a large lens from some of the tower's observation equipment for use in an art project.^{[citation needed]}

Significance and speculation

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 the 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.