The Ou Hydroburo Office

Almost any other venrouive national bureau is more glamorous than Vekllei’s Hydroburo, but that fact does not detract from the organ’s critical function.

Although the sophisticated age of robotics demands the incredible yield of nuclear fission, a significant minority of Vekllei’s electricity is produced by hydroelectric dams, which are jointly operated by the Thunderburo and Hydroburo. Hydroelectricity appeals to the common Vekllei person strategically and culturally.

First, where the nature of fission demands operational stability and exceptionally well-trained personnel that might be vulnerable to nuclear strikes, estimates by the War Department suggest the country’s hydroelectric dams would survive a nuclear strike, and would be operational shortly after a war.

Secondly, hydroelectric dams appeal to the Upen intuition. Vekllei’s principle of dumousiantopet (beautiful and seperate) is epitomised by the concept of a dam, which modifies its environment to benefit its local community, but also transforms a landscape with a permanence associated with natural phenomena. It is a tremendous structure, monumental in size and quiet in operation. Its analogue modernity and gentle nature appeal to Vekllei’s deindustrial spirit.

Depicted here is the Ou Hydroburo Office, located outside of Ou in the Vekllei West Ro Highlands and serviced by a special express train that arrives in the morning and departs at the end of the day. Many townsfolk in Ou are employed in operation of the dam, either through the Thunder or Hydroburos. It is also the site of a small Vekllei National University laboratory which examines the dam environment and trains its staff.

The site is early Newda in style, built soon after the Atomic War, and is remarkable for its striking water tower and pump house. These pumps draw water from the reservoir into pipes tunnelled into the surrounding mountains, at which point gravity carries it all the way to Ou, Yana, and Vekllei proper’s own reservoirs.