Arceon

Arceon was a Class V habitation sphere repurposed as a monastery for the Monastic Order of Arceon.^[1] The station was covered almost entirely in wood, and orbited the star GL259 in a secluded area of Three World Empire space located in the Far Reach of the Frontier.

Overview[]

Dubbed the "wooden planet",^[2] Arceon was a man-made satellite that had been re-purposed by an order of reclusive monks who rejected all modern technology. Originally constructed of metal, it was subsequently clad in wood and turned into a giant floating monastery by the monks. Inside, it consisted of numerous levels, some as much as 100 metres high, that were layered akin to an ant's nest.^[3]^[4] The small planet contained an abbey, libraries, mess halls, communal lavatories and a large glass works, as well as open fields where crops are grown and sheep are reared, lakes and even an extensive sea on one of its lower levels, which acted as a reservoir supplying water to the population.

Arceon managed to maintain a thin atmosphere, while at its center a "technology room" is said to maintain and refresh this atmosphere, allowing the monks to survive. Entry to this room is strictly forbidden.

History[]

"We were sentenced as political dissidents. This orbiter is our gulag. All the men were packed up with all our books, and towed into space."

―Anthony, regarding Arceon's origins (from Vincent Ward's Alien III script)

Arceon was founded by in the 2100s by a technophobic order of monks on Earth that rejected all modern technology. Among other beliefs, the group believed traditional books were preferable to more technologically advance methods of reading literature, and began collecting bound texts, which were becoming increasingly scarce.^[3]

The movement went largely unnoticed at first until key leader Saint Thomas caused an outbreak of an incredibly powerful computer virus, known as the New Plague, that spread rapidly throughout the vast computer networks shared by the trans-global corporations that effectively ran the planet. The Order would even target key metropolitan areas, dropping low-yield EMP nukes within the vicinity and forcing people to adapt to a life without technology.^[5] The virus was eventually eradicated, but even so, immeasurable volumes of data were lost from the planet's linked storage banks.^[3] As a result, people flocked to the monks' cause, rejecting modern technology and adopting the traditional methods they preached.

As a result of these terrorist acts, the monks and their followers were branded political dissidents. A joint Three World Empire and U.A. task force rounded up and arrested the monks, but after the Weyland-Yutani Corporation had bought off the judges, the monks remained in the conscripted custody of the Company.^[6] Deemed too dangerous, W-Y relocated the monks to Arceon on which to live in exile. Supply ships from Earth initially helped the monks survive, but even so many of the eldest members died quickly.^[3] Eventually, supply ships ceased arrving at Arceon for several decades. Luckily, the Order's crops and livestock have sustained them since, and the Order live a peaceful secluded life, with very few visitors.^[7] The Order is led by an Abbot, alongside an older model Synthetic known as Brother Anthony.^[8]

Behind the Scenes[]

Arceon was to be the principle setting of Vincent Ward and John Fasano's unproduced script for Alien³.The unorthodox setting is undoubtedly one of the key factors in the continued interest in Vincent Ward's unproduced script.

"[It's] an environment that looks archaic. Within that environment — a huge, round satellite about a mile in diameter — you have maybe 16 floors, each one about 100 metres high. It's layered like an ant's nest, or bee's nest, and each layer has been largely clad with huge areas of sculpted wood. They can grow wheat there, and even have windmills and orchards. In a way it's like a monastery. The satellite has a range of technologies that allow it to survive in outer space: it has a means of dealing with gravity, and a means of dealing with air, and it has a low surface atmosphere. It looks like a meteorite on the outer surface."

―Ward on the wooden planet^[3]

Despite the unusual setting Ward had in mind, those involved with the film were genuinely interested in exploring Ward's world. However, it is also true that many struggled to understand how a satellite made of wood could sustain life, although Ward was adamant that the satellite was not made of wood, only covered in it, like scaffolding that had grown outwards from a technological core. Originally, the orbiter was perfectly ordinary, but was then modified by the monks to resemble an ancient abbey. Parts of the wooden monastery set were actually constructed before the script was abandoned.^[3]

The Alien³ making-of documentary, Wreckage and Rage, spends some time discussing Ward's script, and includes several concept illustrations that show his "wooden planet". Empire Magazine described the setting as "undeniably attractive — it would have been visually arresting and at the very least, could have made for some astonishing action sequences".^[9] In the same article, Norman Reynolds, the production designer originally hired by Ward, remembers an early design idea for "a wooden library shaft. You looked at the books on this wooden platform that went up and down... Imagine the kind of vertical jeopardy sequence that could have been staged here – the Alien clambering up these impossibly high bookshelves as desperate monks work the platform".^[9] Sigourney Weaver described Ward's overall concept as "very original and arresting".^[10]

Plot-wise, the arrival of Ripley and the Alien eventually led to the satellite's destruction. The technology room that supposedly maintained Arceon's atmosphere was revealed to be a lie, and the few surviving inhabitants realised that the orbiter was always supposed to be a death sentence for them — the corporations knew that they would all perish when the planet's atmosphere finally became unbreathable. Only the crops the monks grew helped to refresh the air, but fires started by the rampaging Xenomorph burned these to the ground, and the blaze rapidly spread through the satellite's wooden structure. Eventually the entire satellite was consumed by the fire, with only Ripley and Mattias, the dog of one of the monks, escaping aboard the EEV that had brought first her there.