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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
