Owner: Rogue (Tesla Leicht Institute)
Location: Earth, Argentina
Add-Ons:
- Unknown
Mobile Suits (???):
- Unknown
Mobile Armors (???):
- Unknown
Defenses:
- Unknown
Occupants:

When the Tesla Leicht Institute was founded in UC 229, even a cursory observation would reveal a shocking similarity between the rosters of its executives and design staff and those of the defunct Iris Corporation, with Earth Union analysts quickly conceding that, for all intents and purposes, the Institute had effectively “succeeded” Iris, this time well out of their jurisdiction in South America. With corporate offices and public facilities located in beautiful and relatively unscathed Santiago, the Institute’s return of armored module production seemed to begin almost effortlessly.

The Institute’s first and foremost secret, even beyond that of the Tesla Drive’s construction, is the physical location of their armored module assembly and fabrication center. Code-named “Wardenclyffe”, the installation is a wholly subterranean complex excavated out of the monstrous Nido del Cóndor plateau on the other side of the Andes mountains in Argentina. Construction of the facility actually began years before Iris was forcibly closed down, although its eventual use as the main armored module production site was never foreseen by its original builders. The spectacular plateau’s nearly sheer cliffs climb upwards of 400 meters above the hills and mountains around its base, and yet a verdant and pristine jungle inhabits the top of the edifice, with occasional waterfalls improbably misting off into the abyss off the sides. Perhaps more perplexedly, while the area regularly freezes during winter, rare satellite photos seem to show palm trees poking up above the clouds.

The Nido del Cóndor is a geographically and environmentally fascinating location for many scientists of the post-Interregnum period, something of a modern day Mt. Everest or “Darkest Africa”. The “climatic irregularities” of the plateau have been the purview of much speculation, but also very little study due to another unique feature of the specific area: average readings of the plateau’s top report a radiological activity of roughly 450 roentgens per hour near the edges, with spikes nearing a thousand near a lake at the central area. Many theories have been posited about the bizarre conditions, but none have been scientifically tested simply due to the inherent danger in approaching the plateau – which has also done wonders to totally conceal the location of the Institute’s production facility, whose underground complex is thoroughly insulated to protect against the perilous conditions. The truth of the matter is known only to the Institute’s members, and even then only those that work in direct activity at the compound itself. The lake near the plateau’s center contains a large piece of space debris that fell to Earth immediately after the destruction of the Devil Gundam decades earlier, a find which was of great interest to the Iris Corporation’s research staff. Production of Tesla Drives began about nine months after careful study of the fragment was conducted in earnest, although the exact relationship, if any, between the items is classified.