New Thule

Neues Thule: New Thule

A settlement founded between 1938 and 1945 in a system of caverns beneath the mountains of New Swabia in Antarctica by Nazi Germany. It has been assigned the code name SKULL ISLAND by Project: LONG STAIR.

Origins
First mentioned by German scientists recruited by Project PAPERCLIP, first contact was tentatively established in 1956 as part of Black-book efforts by the Americans to combat the Communist threat. A spin-off of PAPERCLIP utilizing HUMINT from both the german scientists "sheltered" by America as well as intel provided by SKULL ISLAND would eventually lay the foundation of Project: LONG STAIR

The founders of New Thule were mostly those members of the nuclear research programs of the Third Reich whose preliminary experiments had accidentially created the Laurin gate. Continuing and refining their work in Antarctica, they moved away from the crude breaching methods used by most Gate programs -- the abandoned methodology would be handed off to to the Americans who were able to successful re-engineer the formulae involved. Though no information as to how the exiled scientists managed to penetrate the Subterrestial Operations Theatre has been obtained by foreign agencies, it is surmised that the process resembles that which lead to the creation of the Wonderland gate in the UK.

Bifrost
Assigned the codename IRON by Project: LONG STAIR. New Thule has created 3 permanent bases within the Dungeon: Schanze Mausschanze, Schanze Fuchsschanze and Schanze Bärenschanze, corresponding to the depths at which the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd landings of the American gate are found. Though hostile xenofauna have been encountered, the extreme geological age of the location seems to have so far rendered the immediate environs surrounding the colonies largely benign in a manner similar to that obseved by WALKABOUT.

International Relations
Quite understandably, both Project: LONG STAIR and New Thule have kept the colony's existence and cooperation between them highly secret; three Mossad agents were murdered in Cape Town in 1976 by American agents to protect the conspiracy, while a researcher at McMurdo Base in Antartica froze to death after witnessing something she wasn't meant to.

Recently however, intelligence chatter has been intercepted suggesting that clandestine contact has been made between New Thule and German operatives within the Dante Project, a matter of understandable concern to the Americans who are eager to find out more and prevent their involvement from coming to light. If New Thule were to be discovered, it's likely to lead to the Basement's first full-fledged war.