[Icelander]

Originally Posted by johndallman

This is somewhat challenging. It has to be all pre-fabricated low-temperature steel, carried over the World Tree, and assembled by unskilled labour. There will be skilled supervision, but their ability to handle anything made of metal is quite limited in -80°C conditions.

Even living Mi-gö have palms of tough, leather-like substance which seem undaunted by the cold. They transmit heat no more than heavy-duty arctic work gloves and while the Mi-gö are warm-blooded, their extremities do not seem to bother them even if they are breaking up ice in -80°C. And, of course, whether it bothers ordinary Mi-gö or not, it certainly doesn't bother Kadavergehorsam ones.

That being said, plentiful generators and heaters are a good idea, as the bonds of obedience created by the Cold Ones require energy. If you lack enough warmth or power for the Kadavergehorsmer to leech, they will eventually find another source of energy. Without direct disobedience, if possible, but if someone tries to order them to stay away from all energy for long enough and does not give them anything they can use for fuel in the meantime, they'll discover that their true masters are the Lords of the Last Waste, not mere mortal necromancers.

So, Kadath base actually has a very healthy number of Elemental Furnace generators and heaters. It's just never enough, because the security and work force keep draining every kW except the bare minimum needed to sustain the base and its human inhabitants.

Originally Posted by johndallman

One trick we can use is exploiting the cold: make use of contraction as the metal cools to make things fit more closely.
[...]

That all sounds great. Thanks a lot for doing this.

Originally Posted by johndallman

The winches will each have a bobbin weighing about a ton, with two tons for a base, axle and support, and a ton of cable, plus a ton for gearing and crank handle. They're built heavy, because they're going to be operated by ST 50 zombies, and they each need a heater to keep frost from jamming them.

In fairness, the [zombies] or Mi-gö Kadavergerhorsamer are 'only' about ST 35-40, on average. Which, granted, means that each is equivalent to 10-12 healthy and strong adult men, but they are only about 8-9' tall and no bulkier than a bipedal polar bear (but are considerably more used to walking on two legs, so perhaps gorillas might be a better comparison?).

Originally Posted by johndallman

So that's a total of about 72 tons of machinery plus 105 tons of railway and anchors.

Hefty, but necessary, I suppose.

Originally Posted by johndallman

The ASN will want to make spare parts, but it's better to store most of those in a different world, so that they can be brought in warm and fitted before they cool. Heating broken parts so they can be disassembled is best done with thermite. They will want a spare winch cable, handle and gearing stowed in-world, so those have to be fittable while they are cold, and cables should never be wound onto winches until they have thoroughly cooled to ambient temperature.

Ok, the human ASN crew will take the top floor of one or more ancient towers (now only one or two stories above the ice) and convert into heated living quarters by building hatches over any open windows and insulating the two or three floors from the stygian depths that reach under the ice.

Any spares which are needed faster than in 4-5 days can be kept inside the living areas. Otherwise, they'll just mention their needs to whoever is cleared to know aboard the cargo blimps that arrive over the World Tree.