You have been granted stewardship of a research facility somewhere in your nation, directing it in its search for knowledge and gaining access to some of its discretionary budget to do with as you please. Though the common term for such facilities is “tower,” they take many forms besides an actual mage’s tower: workshops, arcane laboratories, libraries, small subcolleges within a university, etc.

A Tower grants you access to a number of Research Actions that you can take during Downtime:

• Research — You must submit a request for information to Wheelhouse during or in the month after an event; Wheelhouse will inform you of how many Research Actions are necessary to fulfill that request, and it will be up to you to continue researching it or recruit other Tower owners to aid you in researching it. When the necessary number of Research Actions has been completed you (and all of the other owners of Towers who contributed to Researching the question) will receive your answer in the weeks immediately prior to the next event that you attend.
• Consultation — You increase the Level of another character’s non-Military Unit Enterprise by +2 for the duration of this Downtime. The character’s Enterprise must be located in the same Province as your Tower. You can only perform this Research Action once per Round of Downtime.
• Field Expedition — You take your team out to investigate something dangerous, whether monsters, cultists, or natural hazards, gaining one piece of information in the weeks prior to the next event that you attend that may prove useful in facing the threats present during that event.

You can perform a number of Research Actions during Downtime based on the Tower’s Level (see below). You must present a written request to Wheelhouse describing which Research Action(s) you are taking (including what question you are asking or character you are targeting with it, if applicable) within 1 month of the end of the event. If you do not, your Tower performs Consultation on one or more Enterprises within the same Province, chosen at random.

A Tower starts at Level 10, and its monetary & resource output can be increased or decreased by changing its Level, whether permanently or temporarily.

You can increase your Tower’s Level permanently (”upgrading” it) by bringing 3 Tenebrite, 3 Aether Crystals, and 5 Frostcreeper to Wheelhouse. You can only upgrade your Tower once per event, and the cost of Upgrading it goes up by +3 Tenebrite and +5 Frostcreeper for every level your Tower is above 10.

Some catastrophic events can permanently decrease your Tower’s level. Repairing the damage caused by such an event requires the expenditure of a flat 5 Tenebrite and 5 Aether Crystals per level you wish to restore.

The number of Research Actions that you can perform during a period of Downtime is also dependent on your Tower’s Level, with thresholds at Levels 5, 15, and 20. Even if your Tower is functioning at a Level where it would not normally grant any Research Actions (i.e., Level 4 and below), you can still perform the Quiet Echoes Of The Undiscovered Ritual to be able to perform a Research Action during Downtime.