Opportunity
"Putting a price on the priceless."
From its squalid roots as a haven for pirates and smugglers, the spires of Opportunity have risen to become the foremost trading capital of the Homeworld. Its success has been driven by the Visions: old criminal gangs given a stout lacquer of image, ethos and respectability.
Ruin has come to Opportunity. Most of their trading partners have been 'liberated' by the People's Combine, and their production centres have been torn down by the Walkers. To make things worse, the Valtarian Kingdoms have exiled them for engineering (and profiteering from) multiple civil wars. Their economy is now in freefall, and nobody wants to find themselves at the bottom of the pile.
Opportunity is dominated by the 'big three' Visions: Protean Dynamics, the Margin Drivers, and Joy Effect. If they wish to, you can also design your own Vision; once approved, this will be added to the setting.
Protean Dynamics
"Strangers are just assets you haven't met yet."
Sometimes, to make something happen, you need to have friends in the right places - and Protean Dynamics are everywhere. They deal in information and influence: their Relations wing manages a vast network of espionage, lobbying and reputation management that acknowledges no geographical or moral borders.
Some balk at their practices, to the bemusement of their operatives. They simply provide the means to turn ambitions into reality, for the right price. And snubbing their agents or refusing their polite requests is hardly the best way to get things done - if diplomacy proves insufficient to accomplish their goals, issues are escalated to the engineered killing machines of the Contingency wing.
Divisions Of Note
Contingency
"Sometimes, plans fail. We don't."
The Contingency division of Protean Dynamics would like to clear up the following popular misconceptions:
- Our operatives are not "assassins". We are specialists in delivery of maximal leverage to targeted stakeholders in high-risk environments. With recent advances in biomantic technology, many recipients of our services are still medically stable today.
- Our operatives are not "brainwashed". The nature of our work is unsuited to most emotional constitutions, however, and the services of professionally accredited psychitects are on offer to ensure continued employee welfare.
- Our operatives are not "biomantically-engineered killing machines". We prefer a holistic approach to human augmentation, and biomantic engineering comprises only a small fraction of the work done by our researchers.
Relations
"A word in every ear."
The Relations division of Protean Dynamics is the home of unparalleled expertise in the information and reputational engineering sector. Our operatives are committed to enabling a solution-conducive environment by maximising your data advantage, and applying light-touch leverage to key decision-makers across the strategic tableau.
Unlike our competitors in the Margin Drivers, we do not believe in devaluing personal investments through coercion. We value our external assets highly, and cooperation is always carefully incentivised. If you are interested in developing a positive, synergistic relationship with us, please contact your nearest Relations agent.
All of your communications are monitored to better tailor an optimal customer experience to suit you.
Other media
Margin Drivers
"One way or another, we always get a cut." The Margin Drivers are expert brokers, wheeler-dealers, extortionists and con artists, and are fanatics in the pursuit of profit. They'll find a handhold in any sphere of business they can, then hit it with a hammer until it's roomy enough for them to move in.
The Vision used to be much larger, before Sales persuaded the mercenary brutes in Accounts to join them in what they called an 'aggressive restructuring initiative'. Both divisions find that business is so much easier these days without all the unnecessary paper trails, policies, or management oversight.
Whatever it is you need - agreements made, goods supplied, territory secured, or just for the nice man to please stop breaking your fingers - the Margin Drivers are always happy to discuss a payment plan that suits you.
Divisions Of Note
Sales
"They'll buy it."
I remember when I was your age, kid, and just got sold into my first internship in the Margin Drivers. Twelve years young, dreams as big as the world. You know what I sold? Divergent collateralisations. Know what those are? I sure as hell didn't, and I don't think my boss did either. Sold him out, too. Word to the wise, kid: pay your contractors overtime. Nothing comes for free.
You'll be working with 'Redline' Fawcett, over from Accounts. He likes shrapnel accelerators and origami. DO NOT ASK HIM ABOUT ORIGAMI. Turns out 'Ten Fingers' Carter has some loans he'd like to call in, and we're going to do it for him. No, Carter doesn't know. This is Sales, lad. World of opportunity. Now: chin up, arm up, and get out there. Atta boy.
Accounts
"Make them pay."
Psycho For Hire,Those Two Bad Guys
FANTASTIC MONEY-MAKING OPPORTUNITY!
Do you like hitting performance targets? Do you like hitting moving targets? Have you ever wanted to break someone's nose, then charge them for getting the blood out of your suit? Do you have your own gun? The Margin Drivers' Accounts department are specialists in:
- Asset liquification - Boot administration - Surrender terms & conditions - Double-tap bookkeeping
Can you count whether they have fired seven shots or eight? Then you have the kind of head for numbers we need! Travel the world! Meet new people! Break their legs.
Contract with Accounts today!
Other Media
Joy Effect
"Give us your dreams, and we will make them true."
Joy Effect wants you to be happy. Their elite euphoristas have a medley of talents - from performance to fashion, bloodsport to recreational alchemy. They are celebrated across the world, courtesy of Joy Effect's command of the Aethernet communications network.
Their broadcasts encompass news, live sport, entertainment shows and adult programming - often blending the different genres, as their heartisans create ever more exotic experiences to appeal to ever more jaded palates. The hunt for new feelings, sensations, and their commodification drives the full heart and the empty soul of the Vision.
Who's who, and what do they do?
Euphoristas
"I'm nothing without my fans. And vice versa."
ZSASZ: Welcome back to Zsasz After Dark. And joining me in the jacuzzi tonight is none other than Sapphire Sinstar! Sapphire, darling: you've been the buzz of the Aethernet recently. How did you get your lucky break?
SAPPHIRE: Well, Zsasz, I got my chance to appear in Who Wants To Be A Slumspire Warlord, and I've been a euphorista with Joy Effect ever since. Most girls start their careers in bloodsports, these days: a lot of coverage, a lot of physicality. Really lets you build your image.
ZSASZ: And how! You've become famous - some say infamous - for your distinctive execution styles. There have even been a recent spree of copycat killings!
SAPPHIRE: That's right, Zsasz. Whoever you are, out there: naughty, naughty!
<audience laughs>
ZSASZ: Ha ha! Join us again after the break, where Sapphire will be showing us some of her talents. Fullsense viewers - please adjust your pain thresholds, because this jacuzzi... is about to become a bloodbath!
Heartisans
"All the world's a stage, in need of some good creative direction."
This season is going to be simply fabulous! The Outworld is in, and the Homeworld is away. New life is everything - I'm thinking bright floral hues, lively fragrances, exotic marital aids? Get Ingenio on it; he loves this stuff. And let's have Sensatia Skyhigh fronting the campaign - she still owes me for setting up her last scandal. Transformation, my little petals!
How are we doing with the Envoy project? Catastrophic phase dislocu... don't give me technical details, darlings, give me results. I don't care how many interns you get through: this is the greatest creative undertaking Joy Effect has ever seen, and we NEED coverage. And I need a glass of fortified nectar - a heartisan's work is thirsty work, you know?
What are you waiting for? I'm dying here! Chop-chop!
<audience cheers>
