Fantasy Megacorps Pt. 2

Welcome back to Hosphodet Amber. Been a bit of delay, but here I am!

*To recap: Right now I'm discussing fantasy megacorporations. In part 1 I talked about Sain Dite Hel (SDH), a megacorp that harvests Beans (fairies). I also described the Luret, a race primarily known for guiding Beans across the treacherous Mist Jags. Now on to the megacorp proper. 

Sain Dite Hel 

SDH harvests, processes, and sells Beans (fairies). Beans are very expensive 

Beans are useful. They possess strength many times their own body weight, can fly, and can follow orders. They are bound to a Haldstone, a trinket worn on the body, and can be made to appear at will (otherwise not present). Bodyguarding, tending the home, enhancing user strength - these are things Beans can do. Nobles often keep them as an elegant combat aid / attendant.

Beans, in the course of processing, can submit to SDH authority or be melted down, turned into Silverfish. Silverfish are squirming things the size of a finger. They can burrow through flesh as easily as a fish through water.

The SDH has multiple types of personnel, each having a role to play in preparing the "non-tethered" Bean for the buyer. They are, as listed in part 1: 

• Bounty Hunters
• Negotiators
• Guardians of Interest

Bounty Hunters 

Bounty Hunters are not part of the megacorp. SDH hires them from a stock of highly capable mercenaries. They are trained for one month to three before being released into the Mist Jags. 

The Bounty Hunter begins her day at an SDH outpost. She waits in the public courtyard for a Luret to approach, offering a contract. If the subsequent discourse becomes heated, as it often does, a Negotiator is called over from the sidelines to arbitrate. Terms are arranged - a deal is struck.

Kyoung Hwan Kim

She leaves to kill her target Luret. This can take anywhere from two hours to two days. She will most often use a ranged weapon, some high powered bow or unique, esoteric effect. Engaging a Luret guide in melee is dangerous - Beans will often protect their guide. Upon her successful return - line of Beans in tow - the Luret will leave to harvest the body of the target.  

Bounty Hunters are paid a flat rate each month - bonuses are given out for successful contracts. They are among the most well compensated mercenaries in Brisson.  

Negotiators 

The bread and butter of SDH. Anyone with power in the megacorp is a Negotiator. 

Main responsibilities: arbitrate contracts with the Luret, recruit Bounty Hunters, convince Beans to willingly undergo "processing."

Negotiators are not normal, perhaps they were never normal. SDH recruits them from recognized military outfits. The Silf de Heurgent, the Silver Silk Artists, the Illmisten Guard, etc. They are selected for their unique capabilities, mainly their talent for crisis negotiation. Sometimes SDH will recruit extraordinary individuals found outside of these organizations. Negotiators are dangerous, legendary - when offered the chance to become one, most people hesitate for a moment, then accept. 

cy-lindric

Training starts. First, SDH needs to weed out the weak. Batches of recruits are brought to Lica, a set of towers jutting from the ocean about a mile off the coast of Illmisten (the capital of Brisson). Lica is a death trap. It is filled with non-tethered Silver Demons, deadly obstacles, and frightening drops. The recruit's goal is to get through their assigned door. They can only get through the door with the help of other recruits. Helping other recruits is dangerous, likely to get you killed or stuck. Only those who pass through their assigned door escape Lica.

Training continues. Eventually the recruit is ready to become a Negotiator in full. She is modified. Silver thread is woven under the skin, the dermal flesh, of her forearm. This is a hub for Silverfish - six are placed in the recruit's body. Silverfish swim to the recruit's skull; the brain is pinned with silver thread. The recruit is forever changed.

Training ends.

Within the mind, their exists an "image" of yourself, a conception of who you are - who you think you are. Copies of "you" exist in the world. They lurk in other people, their minds. These copies are not "you," but the person's conception of you, the individual they have built up in their brain by observing your actions, your words. 

With training complete, with their body modified, a Negotiator can control the copy of themselves that exists in another person's mind. By focusing, they can make that copy into anything - friend, foe, etc. They are frighteningly powerful if allowed to speak, if allowed to see and concentrate on that copy. 

The personality of the Negotiator is slowly eroded by using this power. Eventually, they rely entirely on silver motes (a kind of magical currency) to maintain their intellect. 

Guardians of Interest

The rulers of SDH. Anyone with real power in the megacorp is a Guardian of Interest.

Guardians of Interest have the powers of a Negotiator, multiplied. 

They are self-perpetuating. Other Guardians of Interest commission the creation of a new one if they feel the need. None control SDH in entirety. 

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They are not human. It is undecided if they really ever were human. Guardians of Interest are also called Luc (pronounced "luke") - that is the name of their artificial forms. They look like the Lamassu of Sumerian religious belief. Bestial lower body, four-legged muscular stance. Imperious head with a long, pointed chin and various sets of cobalt shaded veils. Vast wings of metal sharp feathers - dark blue verging on black. Flightless. From the external observer, their head is always wreathed from behind by a spectral red disk. 

Luc are grown in a private, secluded village on the Brisson coast. Silverfish are introduced into a protected bay - closely monitored. The Luc body grows, and eventually walks from the water of its own volition. The body has a rudimentary, animal intelligence. It has the instinct to protect itself, nothing more.

Senior Negotiators are selected to become Guardians of Interest. Nobody (very few) wants the job. Traditionally, a very experienced Negotiator is allowed to leave SDH to pursue her own interests. The "cut free" Negotiator is constantly tracked by SDH spies. If she can evade detection, the inevitable tide of blackmail and threats, she is free. If not, she is called back to become a Guardian. There are less than twenty Guardians, very few compared to the amount of Negotiators. 

Luc brains are covered in Silverfish pins - a fertile bed for Negotiator reception and manipulation. The reclaimed Negotiator is locked in solitary with the beast for as long as necessary for the transfer to occur. A Negotiator must focus on the copy of herself within the Luc brain to such a degree that herself, her "real" personality, migrates to the Luc body. After transfer, the original body is promptly incinerated to prevent residual mental leakage. 

Lamassu

Most Guardians adopt a sizable cohort of Beans. These Beans are entirely loyal, requiring no maintenance.

Of all their duties as leaders of SDH, one is most sacred. The Luc build hoards. All gold not invested in the growth and infrastructure of SDH is funneled to a personnel vault. Once the hoard is of sufficient size, the Luc places the gold in small sacks, then loops these sacks about its neck. It makes the long walk to a high place showered in moonlight. There it lays down, sets fire to the sacks, and endures the heat, the burning. It watches the gold evaporate on the wind, an aureate breeze flowing ever towards Illmisten.  

Beans

Processing Beans is complicated.

Beans are possessing of a rebellious, riotous nature. It gives them power, and must be quenched if they are to obey. Once captured, a Negotiator speaks with each Bean individually. It convinces them to enter the Box Kassileur. 

The Box Kassileur is a hollow cube about fifty feet on a side. Within is a vast, miniature landscape. It represents a relatively massive region. Within are the punished. 

SDH punishes individuals by marching them to one of several stations locating in Brisson. These stations are the subject of a post I will make later concerning the most powerful "wizard type" in Brisson, a woman called Kormes. It is enough to say, now, that people can be "shrunk" - reduced to a height of barely three inches - at these stations.

After being shrunk, they are brought before a Luc, who influences their mind such that they become a slave to the Guardian's will. They are given a script, a role to play, and put in the Box Kassileur. 

***WARNING: The next few paragraphs concern potentially triggering material involving war, PTSD, and anxiety.***

The Box is a giant stage, a dynamic play. It is meant to continually simulate the horrific treatment of the modeled region, Kass, in a previous war. The Bean enters and is inducted into this play, forced to follow doomed actors in the hopeless defense of their homeland. The Box is meant to shatter the Bean, instill a quite horrible form of PTSD. Their will, rebellious spirit, is broken.

With their spirit broken, the Bean is easier to manipulate. The Negotiators put them through a regimen of intense, rehabilitating therapy. They are made to recover from their artificially induced PTSD, but in a way that ensures they are fundamentally loyal to SDH. 

Now the final step of processing occurs. They can be made into a Silverfish or bonded to a Haldstone. Normally 10 to 20 Beans are bonded to a single Haldstone. 

***WARNING: End of possibly triggering content.*** 

Beans are quite the boon, but they require plenty of maintenance. 

Every Monday, a Bean owner must sit down to a meal with her Beans - a congenial banquet - that is at least two hours long. The Beans are served silver motes, one for every ten Beans. 

Every Friday, a Bean owner must hold a two hour meeting with the Beans. In this meeting, the Beans are taught matters of import. History, numbers, letters, etc. This duty can end once the fairies have received a high school level education. They learn at half the rate as normal humans, so these meetings would last about thirty years. 

Most people are fine teaching their Beans alone for the first four years, but must hire a teacher/professor thereafter. The Beans refuse to pay attention if their owner does not at least participate in the lessons, even if most of the content comes from a teacher.

If the Beans are not provided regular lessons, they cease to follow the orders of their owner and refuse to re-enter their Haldstone. General mayhem ensues.

Kev Chan

 

That's about all I want to say about Sain Dite Hel for now. I think I'll detail an NPC from SDH in the next post.

Intro & Fantasy Megacorps Pt. 1

My current gaming group has recently found themselves in a densely populated region (called Brisson) whose main characteristic is the prevalence of flying strips of silver that impale anything that moves. It's my world - "New World" because it's been eight months and I still haven't made a name for it yet. Humans are prevalent, other races are rare/strange. No elves, dwarves, etc. Variety is found in the cultural diversity of humanity and magic. Magic is the norm, but it's always weird. 

Because of the above, I find myself in need of factions. My notes are an intractable, mutated waste. This is an attempt to mold the chaos, make it readable and gameable. Ideally, I'll be able to skim this and have enough material for a good amount of sessions, maybe even an entire adventure. 

I run D&D 5e, but like to think that my style is sufficiently OSR for that not to matter. 

Fantasy Megacorporations 

kleinerHai

The term "megacorp" may be a bit of an exaggeration. 

I like the idea of a corporation in a fantasy world. It mixes with my stubborn refusal to define the exact modernity of my setting. Plus, they're just cool. I try to make most of them a kind of social/architectural behemoth - a force that has eyes, hands, everywhere. 

There are several ways, I've found, to make a megacorp interesting. Just pick some elements and make them really wacky. 

• What product do they peddle? Why is it special?
• How do they harvest the product?
• How do they transport the product?
• How do they process the product?
• How is the megacorp organized? Are their watchdogs, tiers of authority, etc? 

*Most megacorps exist to sell a product of some kind. Some don't.

Megacorp No. 1 - Sain Dite Hel

Ok, let's breath. Lot's of information to cover. The specific faction, the specific megacorp, I will be detailing now is called "Sain Dite Hel" (SDH) - or perhaps you might call them "Fairy Hunters" or "Something Hunters." Personally, I think fancy made up names sound better, but you do you. 

Their schtick is thus: they hunt fairies, then they sell fairies. They're not fairies in my setting, they're called "Beans," but again, modify this to suit your needs. They fill the same role as fairies. They are capricious, rude, chaotic, capable of flight, and tiny. (For the record, beans are folded silver humanoids about five inches tall. No face, just depressions where the features should be. No wings. Can speak - words emanate from their head.)

There is a region called the "Mist Jags." Low lying mountains cut through with torturous valleys. Very little fertile land. Swampy pockets of water. Mist everywhere. SDH has their bases set up on the periphery of these areas. 

Every day several - many - figures in billowing rags trundle across the cliffs with long, lamp poles in hand (it's a stretched region; they traverse it length-wise.) These are not humans, but humanoids - "Luret." They are covered in matte, curving shells that emulate the form and function of muscle - very flexible, comes in dark blue, dark red, and greyish-tan. Trailing behind the Luret, Beans. A bunch of  em' - long single file line and none flying. The Luret dutifully lead the Beans from a swamp region on one end of the Mist Jags to one of numerous speckled trees on the other end. Once they arrive at a speckled tree, the Luret climbs to its peak and rings the bell hanging at its peak, opening a hole at the bottom. The Beans shout their thanks and stream inside. 

*Replace the Luret with elves, or fey creatures maybe, if you're running a more standard setting.

The SDH work closely with the Luret. To understand this relationship, one must understand the different components of the megacorp. There are three:

• Bounty Hunters
• Negotiators
• Guardians of Interest

The Bounty Hunters do the actual hunting. Now they don't actually hunt the Beans, that was a simplification. They hunt the Luret. Killing a Luret entitles the killer to its Beans. Hunting can only begin when a separate Luret has put a target on the back of one of it's fellows. The Negotiators help to navigate the intricacy of such arrangements. The Guardians of Interest watch over it all, being the ultimate owners of the SDH. First, let's come to know the Luret.

The Luret 

The Luret are hierarchical. They have kingdoms (political parties), monarchs, recognized territory, treaties, councils, etc. 

The Luret are on average Machiavellian. They routinely plan the assassination of their fellows through SDH bounty hunters.

The Luret who deal with the SDH are like rebels without a cause, paranoid. They are ready to throw themselves - body, mind, sanity - into the efforts they pursue. A goal is to die for, to kill for. A kingdom is only as good as it's benefit to the individual. Everything is a lie, or half-true at best - the singular Luret is an island, even to others of her nation. 

The Luret's main activity in life is guiding Beans. From what negotiators can glean, they trudge through the red reed tree swamp a while, then dig through water and sludge until their bodies - relatively massive - break into the tiny silver undercity of the Beans. The Beans gather and demand facts, cool facts - they find them delightful. A Luret will often have to wait, wedged, until another of its kind arrives and the Beans can compare which has the better facts. 

*Replace my proper nouns with your own.

Each Luret is a democratically elected official of Beans, a president of their charges. The responsibility that comes with this position is very important to them. 

Luret's gain prestige by successfully guiding Beans. They test their current prestige by immersing themselves in the opened top of a speckled tree (there's a whole bunch of blue goop inside). If they have enough prestige, they gain a boon - a shallow disk protrusion grows from their forearm glowing a sky blue. If they don't have enough prestige, they get poisoned by the goop and die. 

The more disks a Luret has, the more Beans she can guide. The more Beans she can guide, the more prestige she receives. 

Prestige can be gained by cracking open the disks of a Luret killed mid guide and drinking the blue goop within.

The Luret have rules for the killing of their own kind:

1. Luret murdering Luret is strictly forbidden. A human may kill a Luret if given specific permission by another Luret beforehand. 
2. The Luret must know the approximate (1000 foot radius) location of their target before contracting the Bounty Hunter

These are core rules of the Luret psyche. There are no "criminal" Luret who voluntarily break these rules. They cannot - it would drive them insane.

There are Luret councils held sparsely in their dense, mist shrouded, ravine bound cities. There they argue over general Bean guiding policy and which areas/zones of the Misty Jags belong to which kingdoms. Negotiations are long - pacts can always be broken.   

The kingdoms of the Luret are three:

• Midnight: They advocate for longer Bean lines and less Luret guides.
• Mauve: They advocate for smaller Bean lines and more Luret guides - "the way of the future."
• Caladan: They advocate for more neutral zones. 

Luret are forbidden from travelling in an area that belongs to a foreign kingdom. If they can't get close enough, they can't see their target, can't know their location for the purposes of contracting a Bounty Hunter. Anybody can travel in a neutral zone. More neutral zones means more contract killing.

Luret cities are a mystery. Rarely, a human will be blindfolded and allowed to enter. Those who return speak of endless libraries, precious artifacts on display. They speak of how the true city is below in endless, subterranean caverns. 

It is not known what the Luret gain in return for building their prestige (besides more forearm disks). Luret with many forearm disks tend to be monarchs. Luret with enough forearm disks disappear. The become one with the Attendants - chunky, nigh cubical mounds with the same matte, flexible shells as the Luret; stubby, thumping legs. Negotiators believe the Luret consider the Attendants to be some sort of mother - at least subconsciously.

Hwanggyu Kim

I have more notes on the Luret - could fill another post I think - but that's background noise, deep lore, information I might pull out if the party makes it into a Luret city. And would you look at the time! This is already too long, the SDH will have to wait. Stay tuned for part two, the actual megacorp.