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.