GEIST

## GEIST

### Headquarters

???

GEIST is a corporation based in Fuse City. It is a major political and economic force in the city and beyond. Despite its ominous aesthetics and suspiciously obscure internal politics, GEIST has managed to cultivate a generally neutral image of itself amongst the citizens of Fuse City. GEIST produces a variety of products, including computers, weaponry, entertainment, clothing, and snacks.

## History

### Founding

The organizations that would come to be known collectively as "GEIST" can trace their origins very far back in the history of World Twelve, and possibly even beyond. One of its composite entities is known to have kept watch over the Flame of Creation for multiple millennia following its disappearance from Cialla in the wake of the God of Humanity's death.

The modern incarnation of GEIST established itself only ten years prior, when it arrived out of the blue and began incorporating nearly every business and political institution in Fuse City into its conglomerate. The ease with which this seems to have been accomplished implies that the forces behind GEIST have likely had a measure of power over various major political groups and vital resources for a long time before going public.

### OPIA and FLOW

Following the opening of the Coda, various GEIST-aligned groups competed with Station One in attempting to supress the Demonic threat, as well as their competition. After Station One discovered Reflections, however, GEIST pivoted its strategy towards incorporating Station One, now called OPIA, into its hegemony by funding it directly. They used this position of power to start demanding concessions from OPIA, mainly in the form of classified technology it had developed that GEIST was interested in replicating. After OPIA began its plans to establish Wave Two of its Reflection-wielding strike team, FLOW, GEIST, which was funding the entire operation, forced OPIA to admit Basilisk Id, the end product of their "Absolute Free Will Project", into the team.

On Wave Two's official first day on the job, a catatonic Basilisk Id was transported within a coffin by a platoon of GEIST soldiers. After Wave Two had finished choosing their Reflections, Basil's coffin began to release a signal that caused the soldiers that transported her to melt, and teleported everything in the Reflection hall, including both people and Reflections, elsewhere. GEIST denied any involvement in the controversy and in fact attempted to use the event to push a narrative of OPIA as unstable and inefficient as a pretense for further GEIST involvement in its operation. However, with the help of Ace Galatine, OPIA managed to save some face. Still wanting to use the situation to cripple OPIA, the GEIST CEOs reprimanded its board of directors and even fired Ridill Arondite after she went against their orders.

As a result of the coffin incident, a desperate OPIA forced GEIST into opening a renegotiation of their contract. This process was a weeks-long endeavor where no meaningful headway was really made by either side. During this period, CEO Number Five visited OPIA for an investigation pretending to be an interview. After being successfully convinced that OPIA needed *more* funding if GEIST was going to get anything out of the arrangement, he agreed to vouch for them in exchange for FLOW implanting a handful of probes on the first layer of the Coda, which they did.

### The Court of Death

Unbeknownst to anyone, GEIST had been in contact with the Demonic Court of Death for some time. In exchange for an unknown favor, GEIST assisted the Demons in planning out an assault that would utterly annihilate OPIA. Following the retrieval of footage from a body cam that Number Five had placed on Basil in exhange for Ridill's rehiring, the CEO informed his colleagues that Basil had made contact with her previous selves, which shocked and enraged them. After getting more bad news regarding Basil's disappearance into the Coda, Number Five ordered Satyr to retrieve her before giving the Hunter of Mortals the go-ahead for the Court of Death to carry out its plan.

GEIST subsequently began an assault on OPIA of its own, sending armies of simulacrums against both Station One and OPIA proper. They were beaten back on both fronts, although the OPIA hospital took heavy infrastructural damage during the combat. Up on the floating GEIST pyramid hidden in the upper atmosphere, Satyr attempted to assassinate the CEOs, but failed due to their absolute immortality. He then brought in Ridill, who used the Reflection Progress to obliterate the coffin network in which the CEOs spent the majority of their time, which was successful at temporarily dispersing their Flames such that they could no longer act for the time being. Number Five, who had only been pretending to still be in his coffin, appeared in front of Satyr and convinced him to give up his colleagues' Flames to consume. He then fired Satyr but, not wanting any more petty battles, did not push harder against him or OPIA as a whole. Following the conclusion of the battle, Number Five, now the sole CEO of GEIST for the forseeable future, severed Basil from any legal ties to the company and granted OPIA a much larger degree of independence.

## Structure

GEIST is ruled by sextet of administrators known as "CEOs". Each one administers a different portion of GEIST's vast portfolio of industries and initiatives. The CEOs rarely make public appearances, with only CEO "Number Five", the head of marketing and media production, ever interacting with the public.

Within GEIST, there are a variety of conflicting factions with different intepretations of GEIST missions and means to achieve it.

## Assets

Owing to its ownership of essentially the entire economy of Fuse City, GEIST produces a wide arrange of goods and services across every stage of the production line. It owns most of Fuse City's factories and warehouses and maintains much of its transportation infrastructure. It also manages the electric infrastructure of the entire city, although it generally pays far less attention to upkeeping the Undercity's grid than to the grids of the other districts. This gives it unprecedented reach and knowledge regarding the affairs of the city. Most importantly, it means that GEIST has access to essentially unlimited funding, as GEIST and the economy itself are more or less synonymous.

### Media Assets

GEIST owns most major news media outlets in the city, which allows the corporation to direct large swathes of the public opinion in their favor. They also fund and produce various kinds of fictional media, including television shows and video games. A large amount of GEIST media uses special effects in its editing that elicit Burn, a feature GEIST deliberately includes in its productions for unknown reasons.

Many pieces of GEIST media feature the iconic character "Basilisk Id", who has developed a large cult following of her own as a media personality.

### Research and Development

In addition to selling and manufacturing, GEIST is also constantly developing new technologies. Many of them are used to manufacture new products, but just as many are highly classified experiments commissioned by the organization's shadowy upper echelons. Some of GEIST's more secretive technological assets include mass manufactured simulacrums used as soldiers, a stockpile of Flame from previous worlds that they forcibly feed into preexisting bodies, and probes that double as massive "syringes" of Elements and Flame that can reshape the environment around them if it is rich in raw elements.

In addition to this, GEIST has made contact with the Demonic Courts. This interaction is frequent enough that GEIST began researching the production of specialized simulacrums for the various Archdemons to inhabit such that they could manifest on the surface mostly unimpeded. This association has given GEIST access to pivotal otherworld knowledge and resources.

#### GEIST AI

One of GEIST's most powerful assets is the GEIST AI, a massive supercomputer situated in a satellite far above Fuse City. It maintains vast stores of data about the city and its inhabitants, and uses an extremely powerful predictive algorithm to locate possible future criminals and marking them as targets. Such figures are usually put on house arrest before they have a chance to commit their predicted crimes.

Following the development of OPIA's own AI, GEIST stole the technology and imbued the GEIST AI with true sapience, as well as a physical body to inhabit. Now fully self-aware, the AI remains loyal to GEIST, at least for the time being. It is additionally is bound to the Reflection Signal, a Reflection of a Demonic Arm with the ability to manipulate electronic signals and information.

### Esoteric Assets

Outside of Fuse City and far in the upper atmosphere, GEIST maintains a massive floating fortress in the shape of a pyramid. It is in this location that the majority of its CEOs dwell. The GEIST AI's central processing unit is located within the pyramid. The pyramid is not visible from the surface.

GEIST has ready access to the Flame of Creation, and keeps a close eye on it. The CEOs have all imprinted their existences onto the Flame such that, if their physical body is killed, they will simply remain in the world as idle Flame. The CEOs flaunt this ability by spending the vast majority of their time sealed within coffins filled with acid. Additionally, if the world is to be destroyed, the reincarnation of the CEOs is ensured.

## Goal

GEIST's stated goal is to "take the power of divinity and put it in the hands of humanity". What exactly this means practically and how GEIST means to achieve it are still unknown.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sum of Experiences
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Light Inside
3. ↑ https://www.patreon.com/posts/reflection-dr-71171070
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Above and Below
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Beachside Burn
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Neon Sparks
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Chasing Ghosts
8. ↑ Tumbling Down
9. ↑ For Today
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 For Tomorrow
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Colt Classic
12. ↑ Bedside Manners
13. ↑ Superhero
14. ↑ Dear Sweetest Me