The Mitzel Conglomerate
The Mitzel Conglomerate (http://0402.netclime.net/1_5/U/8/U/ff8osv_-_cactus_jack.mp3)
Rufus Shinra (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b3/Rufus_Shinra_small.jpg)glared at his new surroundings. A pristine beach glistened blindingly, and he could feel the warmth of the sand even through his suede shoes. Various exotic trees and shrubs surrounded the beach. Amongst the foliage bizarre creatures surrounded him. A scream in the distance and a few gunshots; his security forces must have encountered something unfriendly in the wilderness. No matter, he had an entire division to spare at the moment. This cursed natural landscape would be molded into a more promising form; tamed and dominated. Already worker housings were under construction next to the landing site of Galbadia Garden. The Garden was the only tool Rufus had at his disposal.
For decades Rufus had watched his incompetent father sit on the thrown of Shin-Ra corporation. President Shinra spent his days indulging himself with fine food, clothing, drugs, and whores; all the luxuries of the petit bourgeois culture. As a child his father would leave him in the hands of one of his many sadistic bodyguards and return hours later drunk, stoned, and infuriated. The President could hardly be considered worthy of his title as a leader. Rufus’ old man had clearly lost the will to rule; the will to power.
At the age of 22 Rufus attempted to usurp his father from power. Unfortunately the president’s omnipotent surveillance systems had stifled his attempt even before initial planning could be done. President Shinra was to have his son executed by the days’ end but was spared execution when his father died at the hands of an unknown swordsman. Rufus took the ensuing chaos as an opportunity to flee the city. Using his expertise acquired from being an insider within the company, Rufus high-jacked the most powerful institution owned by Shinra: Galbadia Garden (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a1/Galbadia_garden_aerial.jpg). The flying structure was awe-inspiring; capable of housing 25,000 security forces and supplying many more. The Garden also served as a school for the youth where they may learn the necessities of physical combat and magic as they matured.
The residents of the Garden were somewhat astounded as their structure took to the skies (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8b/Ff8_galbadia_garden.jpg). The presence of the president’s son quelled their fears, and they were assured this was all part of the corporation’s plans.
With that Rufus set off to find a new life and a new world; a place that we could forge and mold to his own likings, a land rich in resources waiting to be reaped, and a people he could lead, control, and dominate.
Renouncing his name Rufus decided he would call his new organization the Mitzel Conglomerate after the only decent person he had met in the city of Midgard. His conglomerate would end up encompassing far more than his father's organization would ever have permitted. A squadron of the Garden’s soldiers returned with four body-bags and a half dozen soldier whose screams were stifled only by the necronic magics being pumped through their veins.
Rufus smiled and looked out at his new challenge and a world he was willing to conquer.
21 Days After Landfall (http://0601.netclime.net/1_5/A/O/8/11%20-%20Rufus'%20Welcomin.mp3) <- Don't forget
Construction around the Garden landing site began within days. Thousands of Galbadian soldiers went about their tasks; some cleared the forests and collected timber, others scouted suitable mining sites and began tunnel construction, and a decent amount spent their time harvesting the waters of the overly populated aquatic population. Adamantaimai, castanets, and crown lances would be a primary food source for the citizens of Mitzel.
Apparently the first freak accident on the island was due to a squadron of Galbadian soldiers encountering a wild Ochu within the forest brim. Ochus were plant appearing animals with long protruding tentacles arising from a bowl-shaped pod. The interior of the creature was filled with caustic digestive juices and it fed by hurling unsuspecting victims into its mouth using its tentacles. 2 squad members had simply vanished and another 4 were KIA along with several wounded. It took the squad nearly 15 seconds to equip their fire materia and dispatch of the beast, 15 seconds and 12 casualties. No matter, it was a learning experience and soon every squadron was prepared for the various beasts that surrounded their landing site.
Off the coast fleets of the Gardens’ Hojo Class Assualt Craft (http://0101.netclime.net/1_5/C/A/1/landingcraft2.gif) were converted into fishing boats. Groups of 16 Galbadian soldiers would collectively cast electric based materia magic into the waters and huge quantities of aquatic life floated to the top. Reaping the harvest was easy. Closer to shore the adamantaimai population was stubbornly being herded for domestication and consumption. Adamantaimai resembled turtles the size of small buildings. Needless to say the creatures were less than happy with the newcomers, but could do little to stop the sophisticated techniques of Galbadian soldiers.
Galbadian soldiers underwent military training similar to a normal military’s, combatants were trained to used specific equipment such as a sniper rifle, machine gun, sword, or vehicle. However the revolutionary technique of mining a previously untapped source of energy, Mako, would also drastically change the soldier’s training and capabilities. Mako was a fluorescent liquid that flowed deep within the crust of the planet. Once brought to the surface the Mako would crystallize into materia, which could be used for various purposes including powering electrical equipment or gathering certain natural forces. The materia could also be used by combatants as attachments to their weapons, causing a machinegun to fire electrically charged bullets or a sword to burn with fire when wielded. Using simple materia such as those distributed to every Galbadian soldier one could harness the powers of earth, wind, fire, lightening, and air. More advanced materia were responsible for the protection given to SeeD members by their guardian forces and subsequent ability to summon them. Individually the spells could cripple or destroy a biological target; collectively and in large scale the use of materia could be considered a WMD. The 25,000 residents of the Garden could not at the moment create anything as massive and destructive as what could be produced in the city of Midgard where they had migrated from.
Finding an ideal site to mine Mako would take several months but once a suitable site was acquired Mitzel’s energy problems would be solved for quite some time.
The citizens were unusually happy and overly productive. Being in the open like this and away from the confinement of Midgard allowed a certain freedom of movement unavailable in Midgard. The rather young population, mostly in their teens was growing restless of the lifelessness of Midgard. Rufus knew exactly how to harness their young energies, just as he harnessed the energies of the earth. Converting their generally destructive urges into productive ones would require a bit of cleverness. Some of the rowdy kids were sent to herd the adamantaimai whom they could abuse without fear as the creatures could neither be hurt by or hurt their captors. More destructive members were sent to dig massive holes for potential Mako mining sites. Strips of surrounding forest were stripped with fire and the resulting ashen mulch would make ideal agricultural grounds for grains, fruits, and vegetables. The population needed to grow and the age required for legal and successful breeding was reduced from 21 to 18. Female Garden residents were allowed to pick from any of the male populace a temporary mate that would pass their genetics onto their offspring. A databank of the citizens' genetic profiles were available for consultation along with brief biographical elements that would be released with permission of the citizen in question. The Garden’s usual task of raising the youth would be loosened for the moment and parents would bear the burden for the meantime until enough energy could be harvested by Mitzel to retake the task. Rufus would greatly enjoy the next few months as countless female residents ended up choosing him for the genetically superior benefits he could offer their yet to be conceived children.
78 Days After Landfall (http://0101.netclime.net/1_5/T/3/O/Work.mid)
After two months of relentless trial-and-error Galbadian miners with the help of enslaved satyrs offered by the nation of Alpina finally created a viable Mako mining site. The creation of New Midgard would begin here, Rufus was pleased. Constructing the first reactor would require nearly a years’ time, but as soon as it was completed the creation of new reactors would take considerably less time as the first reactor’s energy could be used to create new ones.
In the mean time Mitzel’s population was beginning to blossom. The influx of ‘employees’ given to the conglomerate by Alpina was becoming more and more submissive, no "co-operative", as time went by. Controlling their youth was also easier as soon Galbadia Garden’s educational facilities were expanded. A few miles down the coast a second garden was being constructed and would be dubbed Balamb. Its classrooms were already up and running even during the construction process.
All-in-all things were running rather smoothly. Aside from the occasional occurrence of Ochus and now bizarre shadowy creatures in the fields at night the populace was rather secure. Things were quiet, too quiet. Rufus was almost happy for the bit of excitement that literally fell from the skies.
Rufus had decided to tour the future Mako reactor site and take a look at the terrain for himself. Rufus ordered the second Invincible class airship Omnipresent to view the production from above. Rufus grumbled at the site of yet another heavily forested area that would need to be harvested. As Rufus began to plan out possible supply lines to and from the reactor site and Galbadia Garden, the Omnipresent’s commander Captain Cid Highwind barged into Rufus’ chambers to report the appearance of two unknown craft currently entering the atmosphere. Rufus left his paperwork, somewhat relieved. As the good captain had reported there were indeed two unknown craft entering the atmosphere, one being pursued the other pursuing. The craft would be uncomfortably close to the Garden within minutes. Rufus thought back, trying to think what the best course of action would be.
“Fire on them both, use slice electric materia to our main guns; I want them intact if possible.”
Captain Cid smiled and answered, “Shoot first, and ask questions later? Of course sir.”
Targeting would be problematic, Cid calculated the time 'til impact of the materia cannons to the incoming ships to be about ten seconds. With the 6 cannons able to target the ships Cid set-up the cannons to cover an area as wide as possible. As soon as the Omnipresent’s guns were fired the pursuing craft vanished from RADAR contact. The pursued ship began to plummet. At the rate it was dropping it would most likely be incinerated upon impact with the ground. Cid gave Rufus the status report. The president was somewhat annoyed the second craft had simply vanished, but this was a chance, a chance to discover a new life, a new trading partner perhaps. Rufus told Cid to man the cannons one more time with gravity materia. The effect of this materia was to either re-enforce or counter the effects of gravity on an object. Cid lined up the shot and fired another volley at the disabled ship. The collision was not as dramatic as expected, the ship continued to plummet but at a much slower rate. Cid tried to re-arm the cannon but by the time they were re-charged it was too late and the craft had already crashed amongst the thick foliage below. With an unusual zeal Rufus ordered the Omnipresent to descend and investigate.
Rufus led the squad of Galbadian soldiers personally to the crash site. An extremely advanced combat armor lay in ruins. Rufus ordered some of the composite materials to be collected to be studied. Space, for all of the technology and advancement he and his people had acquired they had yet to go there themselves.
Rufus continued the search personally around the crash site, bringing Captain Cid and a few of his best along. The cock-pit was empty and from its structure the beings that controlled the craft would be roughly humanoid. Rufus sniffed the air and walked casually through the forest. A few foot-prints and snapped twigs later and Rufus stumbled upon the aliens. Rufus was somewhat alarmed, the creatures appeared to be exactly human, but he knew appearances meant nothing. Before confronting the creatures Rufus told his troops to not fire a single shot unless ordered to a girl, perhaps 12 years old was frantically trying to resuscitate her comrade. The girl made some threatening remarks in an unknown language as Rufus approached. Within ten paces the girl pulled out a bow and fired an arrow directly at Rufus. Rufus waved his hand in front of him as the arrow disintegrated into a beautiful ball of flames as the two magiks collided. The girl cowered and stepped back, tears in her eyes. Rufus looked at the body on the ground, dead for perhaps a minute now. Heal materia, it had been years since he used it. Rufus stretched his hand out and a faint glow surrounded the body. Within seconds a sudden gush of wind and blood spattered out of the body’s mouth. A faint numbing sting fell ever-so-softly throughout Rufus’ body, this creature was abnormally strong. As the body began to re-animate a smile slowly formed on the girl’s face. Rufus took the moment to confiscate their weaponry.
The girl looked up at Rufus and spoke in perfect Galbadian, “I’m sorry Rufus, I thought you were going to hurt us. Are you going to take us to your Garden? I’ve never seen a Chocobo before, I'd really like that!”
Rufus looked, eyes wide, “How do you know my name child? How do you know about the Garden, how do you know about my Chocobos!”
The girl smiled again, “I’m sorry, I never introduced ourselves. My friend you just saved is called chaos (http://www.rpgfan.com/pics/xenosaga/art-02.jpg). My name is MOMO (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/23/MOMO.jpg) which stands for Multiple Observative Mimetic Organicus, I am a 100 Series Observational Realian prototype. Within seconds I can analyze any organic creature entirely. You for instance weigh 185 pounds, stand at 6 feet 1 inches tall, are 22 years old, and you are blood type AB+. Your favorite food is Koopa soup, you are very cleanly and take 3 bubble baths a day, your favorite animal is the Chocobo which are incidentally plastered on the boxers you are wearing right now, you will most likely die…”
“Enough!” Rufus tried to hold back his mixed anger and shame. Captain Cid covered his mouth as he laughed. Rufus glared at his old friend infuriated, “You! Take these two into the medical bay of the Omnipresent. We’re going back to the Garden, now!”
“Yes sir.”
85 Days A.L. (http://0302.netclime.net/1_5/961974/1141763098_10249/1.18%20-%20U.M.N%20Mode.mp3)
Rufus glared angrily through the blackened window at the two specimens. How these two had caused so much trouble was beyond him, he wondered why he did not leave them to die in the forest.
The girl lay resting on her bed. She sighed heavily and looked over at her friend. chaos sat on the floor, tossing a ball of Aura back and forth with clock-like precision. The boy’s ability to use Mako magics without possessing materia worried Rufus, and he wondered why they had not tried to escape. They easily could have at any point last week.
Last week, Rufus never dreamt being a leader would be so difficult. A simple routine mind-analysis was performed on both chaos and MOMO. The mechanism Rufus used was called a U.M.N. (Unus Mundus Network) module, capable of mapping and interpreting the entire consciousness of a sentient being. This was the machine used to gather information about the Romans and other ‘employees’ brought to the conglomerate. chaos was the first to be analyzed. With unusual ease he let his mind relax, and the simple procedure began. 2 days later Rufus pulled the plugs and brought the boy out of suspended animation. The abundance of information along with the incredibility led some of the researchers to believe the downloaded ideas were merely the results of an overactive imagination. Thousands of centuries of civilizations, languages, philosophies, and creatures poured from this boy’s mind, the machine could barely handle it all and sorting through it would take several life-times. Rufus ordered a group of 12 researchers to start looking for anything of importance within the data.
MOMO was next. The girl was a bit nervous and hesitant, but reluctantly was connected to the machine. The U.M.N. mode powered up for preliminary analysis, and began data collection. MOMO closed her eyes and bit her lip, trying to relax. Within seconds of the start-up the machine’s wiring began to fry. With a few electrical discharges the machine crashed and shut-down in a brilliant display of electricity and fire. The room itself nearly collapsed from the breakdown. After several minutes MOMO’s eyes opened to complete darkness. She took the equipment off, and began to wander about the now deserted room. Frightened and alone she looked for a way out. Finding the doorway behind a pile of she cautiously slid the heavy metal door and began walking down the empty hallways. Heavy footsteps echoed through the Research Center, MOMO quickened her pace. A single light shown through from behind a corner, and MOMO ran towards it. Turning the corner at full speed MOMO had the unfortunate luck to run into a very pissed of President Rufus, investigating the source of what appeared to be a complete system failure. Both the president and the girl fell to the ground,
“I,”
“What happened here!?”
“I… I don’t know. I just got out of the research room… Rufus”
“Shut up, I heard from my researchers what happened. Girl do you have any idea how much trouble you’re in! Do you know what you've done?!”
Rufus thought of the zoological branch and the slaughter of nearly 30 specimens who tried to use the opportunity to escape from their electric cages that were now conveniently offline. He thought of the hours of labor lost, the food that was going bad as the refrigerators shut down, and he thought of his brilliant speech that he did not get a chance to save due to this sudden power outage.
“Look at this mess! Do you know how much problems you’ve caused me!? Get her out of my sight!”
MOMO couldn’t look up; she sat on her knees crying. She tried to spit something out, “I’m s…”
Before she could finish Rufus interrupted her and addressed his escort, “Take her to the confinement room with chaos and don’t let them out until this is dealt with.”
“Sir, but the power…”
“Just do it!”
The guards lifted the girl to her feet with some difficulty and began to lead her towards the confinement room. Rufus sighed as emergency lights suddenly lit up the hallways with a dull red light. While he walked back to his office to address the people he wondered what that girl could have possibly done to screw up a basic mind-analysis so badly.