RD10-003 (R&D10-003) is a Sun Jin Empire weapons research black-site on/associated with Caisteal (Bethany system). It is the primary containment-and-trials facility where Forza Ninetails was held, drugged/controlled, and used as a living weapons/armor test platform until the RD10-003 Incident collapsed the program.
Spoiler note: This page summarizes back-half rev2.5 / rev3.1-era canon anchors (RD10-003 → Incident → Birch chain).
Location (Caisteal)
- Planet: Caisteal
- Affiliation / owner: Sun Jin Empire
- Environmental framing: a forest-and-snow world (subarctic edges); RD10-003’s isolation is part of its secrecy doctrine.
Exterior profile (what it looks like)
From the outside, RD10-003 reads as a snow-buried, purpose-built R&D military complex tucked into icy mountain terrain. The architecture is sleek and metallic—mostly gray and cold blue—favoring hard rectangular massing broken up by cylindrical core structures and aggressive, futuristic angles.
- Perimeter: a military wall encloses the site; security and access control are designed to make the base look like a sealed industrial machine rather than a “place.”
- Campus layout: several large structures are linked by intricate elevated walkways/conduits that carry personnel and utilities between sections without exposing movement at ground level.
- Airfield: a snowy landing strip holds multiple streamlined aircraft/ships, emphasizing rapid-response logistics and extraction capacity.
- Terrain anchor: one edge of the complex overlooks a deep canyon; a heavy bridge spans it for ground vehicles, with a river below that drops into a waterfall—an imposing natural barrier that doubles as a defensive boundary and a visual landmark.
Primary program (Forza as platform)
- Test subject: Forza Ninetails (kept sedated, drugged, and controlled during trials)
- Operational reality: “research” that uses forced performance and violence as engineering variables
- Compartmentalization: custody-chain and identity details are deliberately siloed to keep the truth from reaching higher-profile Sun Jin figures who would object—or interfere.
Gotanenks tie-in (equipment + intent)
RD10-003 is where the empire attempts to translate myth-charged, relic-derived close-quarters doctrine into a repeatable weapon system via Gotanenks Armor.
- Program goal: refine Gotanenks integration and validate it in live conditions with an ideal wearer-profile.
- Why Forza “fits”: Gotanenks is built around a specific close-quarters lineage; Forza’s training and combat profile align with what the system expects from its user.
- Mass-production constraint: even if the “armor” portion can be standardized, the relic/material bottlenecks and compatibility realities make true scaling doubtful; the working implication is that only one fully functional complete kit exists.
Key personnel
- Program lead: Professor Denim (weapons researcher / program director)
- External catalyst: Rio Narro (operator whose access becomes the failure point)
Canon event node: the RD10-003 Incident (10.06.40)
The facility’s defining failure is the RD10-003 Incident.
- Rio reviews the program outputs and fully understands what the trials are doing.
- Rio kills Denim and the researchers present, decapitating the program’s command layer.
- The facility shifts from “laboratory” to “emergency” as containment logic fractures.
- Separation beat: Rio briefly incapacitates Forza (helmet shot / terrain separation) to remove him from the immediate search grid, then pivots to concealment and off-grid movement.
- RD10-003 becomes compromised, and the recovery effort transitions from internal custody to an external hunt—setting up Battle at Birch.
Connected pages
- Planet: Caisteal
- Event: RD10-003 Incident
- Equipment: Gotanenks Armor
- Character: Professor Denim
- Character: Forza Ninetails
- Character: Rio Narro