The Board

A representation based on psychic imprint.

## General

[The Board] is the moniker used by the directors of the Monolith company. Not much is known, but the board seems to be some sort of collective entity, at least they seem as so when working through their "employees". The employees of Monolith are all a fairly unique form of construct, not dissimilar from androids or created, but far more artificial.

## Monolith

Monolith is a conglomerate that has recently appeared offering cheap and quick item production, both mundane and magical, as well as limited spellcasting services.

Monolith's a fairly new organization, and generally has been unrecognized by any governing bodies that normally go over companies. Their lack of headquarters has not helped their case.

So far Monolith has not had any meaningful interactions and only time will tell what sort of company they will turn out to be.

## Personality

The Board is rather enigmatic, not only do they not speak directly to anyone, but their actions make them feel rigid, robotic, and ultimately incredibly distant.

What can be seen through their actions is that they seek ruthless efficiency, and are willing to do almost anything if it makes them a profit.

## Tales

### Incident Report 001: Meleagris Massacre

*- Sarenith 30, 0800 hours*

30 clicks north of Babel, during a Monolith training drill.

As morning overtakes the hills during the training the air is still, silent, only the sound of metal boots tracking through dirt to be heard. “Alright everyone, keep it up! <The Board> expects nothing short of perfection afterall!” said IAS. “CAS-001, you need to shape up or you can expect to be removed from this squadron!”

As the drills finish and calm returns to the area, a figure can be seen in the distance, casting a spell of an impressive magnitude. A summoning spell to be precise. The dreaded incantation, Meleagris Massacre. Instantly hundreds, if not thousands of awakened advanced dire turkey fleshwarps appeared on the field, and began charging for the members of Monolith. Knowing they stood no chance if they faced them head on the soldiers began a hasty retreat away from the turkey hoards.

With the spell taking hold and spreading over the land it was soon more poultry than remote wilderness, and [The Board] was not pleased. “Officer, a report from [The Board]!” said a soldier reporting to IAS. “Alright, what is it then soldier?” IAS asked inquisitively. “We are to eliminate the turkey’s no matter the cost!” CAS looked at the soldier pensively. They knew [The Board]’s demands were absolute, regardless of how impossible they seemed.

“Very well. Tell them it will be done by sunrise.” IAS said, the confidence in his voice wavering. Though he wasn’t sure, IAS was quickly hatching a plan to rid the land of these turkey’s. We would call in one of the new drones, the first CAC model, or Constructed Autonomous Caster, and he would sacrifice it in the name of saving the area. IAS knew that the CAC models had a configuration that made them more dangerous than your average mage. He began his order with the construction drones, and they began immediately creating a mage to his specifications.

*- Serenity 30, 1900 hours*

IAS waited until nightfall, he knew the turkey’s weren’t likely to have darkvision, and tonight was going to be a moonless night. When the time came he sent the soldier running in, warping past the turkey’s, until the ravenous beasts surrounded it. “Yes! Yes-Yes! Good!” said this strange construct. “Gizmo go boom-boom now? Yes! Now! Boom! BOOM!” and in a grand shining moment, the construct that was known as Gizmo triggered a major wild magic event, on purpose. Simultaneously, the sky began to rain fire, and fissures opened in the ground. The fire began cooking through the turkey beasts, and the ones that weren’t cooked were instead sucked deep into the earth by the canyons opening.

The original tukey caster looked on in horror, their legion falling before them by some stupid, crazed, little magic construct? “These constructs would surely be a hindrance to the ongoing plan of revenge.” the turkey caster thought, before teleporting away, to report what it had seen here today. After a few minutes the fire vanished, and the canyons snapped shut, leaving only the scars of battle.

Looking upon this field of cooked turkey and burnt grass IAS said to the soldier from earlier “Tell [The Board] the mission is complete, and we’re returning to Babel.”

### Incident Report 002: Cake Participation Program

"A bakeoff? But why, what's the reason?" Asked IAS. "To have fun! And to eat lots of good stuff!" Replied the excited child in front of him. Going through town IAS was stopped by a high energy young artificer, wanting to know how he worked, and more so if he had to eat. Finding out he could, but chose not to, the child told him about the Babel baking competition, and the wonder it would bring.

"But I still don't understand the purpose? Are the people hungry? Are they deficient in nutrition these baked goods otherwise provide?" IAS asked. "For being a really smart robot you sure don't seem to get it." The child would say with a mirthful laugh. "I am not a robot! I am an automaton, a member of the elite machines of Axis! And a proud member of-" He would say, the child cutting him off. "Don't really matter what you are, unless you can learn how to have some fun!"

"Fine." IAS would say, relenting to this impertinent child's whims. "If this bakeoff is indeed so important, Monolith should be there. Perhaps there is business to be done in this whole affair." "Really?! You're gonna join?!" The child said, shocked at this rapid change. "Of course, and I shall show you we do indeed know how to have fun!"

And so, Monolith, with the consent of The Board, would join the competition. Through day and night and the business connections they've been building up they would collect flour, sugar, yeast, baking soda, baking powder, cream of tartar, fresh fruit, and sap from maple trees. The ingredients however weren't the hard part. If they were to have a shot at winning they would need to make the perfect formula for this recipe, the perfect confection. And so they went, for three days and three nights, giving samples out to the many citizens of Babel in hopes of perfecting the recipe, but always coming up short. During this time one of the people who received it would be the child IAS had met earlier. "Hmmm... it's good... I guess." said the child. "You guess? What is there to be unsure of? The quantity of sugar is the exact amount at which the humanoid brain recognizes it as an optimal food source, the texture and fruit content have met the perfect ratio of texture and palatablility, and the ingredients were all sourced from top vendors! So please, if there is something wrong try to be more descriptive!" said IAS. "I dunno... it just seems like not much love was put into these?"

"Love?" said IAS. "What does love have to do with baking?" The child replied "Well, it's how things end up actually being great! Try putting more love into it!" And so Monolith returned to the drawing board. They tried through magic... but just ended up making a love potion. They tried through alchemy... but just ended up making an aphrodesiac. They tried everything they could to integrate this nebulous concept of "love".

The final days had finally arrived, and Monolith felt no closer to their discovery, so they opted to submit what they had. Worried that their toiling was for nothing, IAS did not man the station with the other employees, instead opting to wander Babel and see if the other bakers had captured this "love". Though being an automaton, he could not find it. When he returned however, he was shocked to find the Monolith stand packed, the mages of the city barely managing to keep up with the desire for what they were serving. Shocked IAS eavesdropped on the people, and found they seemed to think this confection was some of the best they ever had! "How... how could this be?" Thought IAS. As he came to learn though, the love he so sought to put into his recipe was there, from his hardwork, his determination, and his desire to succeed. However, only time would tell if the Monolith Fruit Pancake Stack would really place a prize in this competition...

### Incident Report 003: Unexpected Allies

Delta watched as the near-infinite amount of carrots and carrot-themed foods and ales were consumed ravenously by the small rabbit. Could Tim the Dread Killer rabbit really be this hungry? Delta pondered to himself as he silently continued to fill his plate and cup.

As Tim the small white rabbit finished consuming the insurmountable amounts of food presented to him, the rest of the heroes stood in awe. Cleaning off his mouth with a napkin, Tim stood up from his chair and hopped onto the table. Delta listened as this tiny rabbit announced his thanks to all of the heroes present. As a reward, Tim spun a tale to the group of an artifact he had obtained long ago, and how he had to hide it to keep it from falling into the hands of thieves. To help with the rising undead in the Ghostlands, Tim presented the group with the task of helping him retrieve this weapon of destruction from an ancient ruin. The goal was simple: heroes would split into two groups, one as a distraction and one to stealth through the hordes and retrieve the artifact. The mission was dangerous on both ends - should the extraction team fail they would surely be overwhelmed by countless horrors.

Assessing his strengths and weaknesses, Delta decided on joining the extraction team. Although he would be well-suited for distraction by offering a wide range of spells and attacks, Delta felt the ability to offer barriers to cover their swift exit would be more useful as part of the extraction team.

Among the various heroes, adventurers, and varied mercenaries on the retrieval team, Delta noticed one that stood out. A group of constructs, led by an inevitable. Unlike the heroes that made use of mechanized suits, or vehicles to do the heavy lifting for them, this team seemed to be solely artificial beings. They gave a scant greeting when approached, their silent demeanor not giving much away, save for the inevitable, who greeted cheerfully. He introduced the group as the Monolith Security force, a para-military organization formed by the Monolith Corporation for the betterment of Etera.

After some brief introductions Delta, and the Monolith Team shared their abilities and knowledge, and came up with a plan of attack for these ruins.

Using his Creation magic, Delta began by destroying a tunnel into the ground so the team could navigate the Ghostlands without interruption. Whenever he encountered the wet, loamy soil of the swampland he would quickly fabricate long solid walls that would hold the weight of the watery land. This tunneling took a long time and was a strain on his magical resources, but the efforts paid off as this kept the team safe from the monsters that roamed above. On occasion the team would come across an undead buried in the ground, but they were quickly dispatched by either Delta or one of the supporting heroes, often being locked down by force magic while the group took turns eliminating the threat.

After a long time and great effort, the extraction team reached the ruins. It was at this point that Delta turned over the mission to Monolith and the rest of the heroes, instead choosing to remain on standby for when the team needed a quick exit.

Entering the ruins things were rather quiet, the rooms, the hallways, the catacombs all silent and dusty as if they hadn’t seen anything enter this place in decades. As he always did, the first member of the team, the inevitable, Alpha, took point. Plasma rifle in hand, the other five members, and the generator drone at their backs, they cleared the rooms like a swat team, checking corners, and fanning out so as not to get pinned in a corner.

As Delta and the Monolith team cleared their section of the ruins, they received word back from the main force, the object had been recovered! And just as they were to celebrate, they heard the stones around them groan and shake… something was coming. Something angry. Bursting forth through the wall to the west, a massive shaking pile of putrid flesh and jagged bones came barreling at the team. Monolith sprung into action, forming a line and firing on the creature, but the bullets had little to no effect, even with the rounds enhanced to weaken the dead.

Just as the creature was about to collide with the team, Delta through up a wall between them, and called for everyone to begin evacuation. Monolith covering them Delta walled up every opening as the dead began to pour in, finding any weakness in the ruins to push through and try to crash on the heroes as if they were a tidal wave of rotten meat.

With a little bit of luck, and a lot of bullets they all made it back to the tunnel. They pushed through, pouring every ounce of lead they had behind them and mowing down what they could.

When the deed was done, Delta followed in with the rest of the heroes, remaining in the back to remove the evidence of their presence by closing the tunnel behind them. After the long and difficult journey, the team returned to Tim the Dread Killer rabbit, eagerly awaiting news of the other efforts to infiltrate the Ghostlands.

### Mission Report 004: Adventure Returns

R.J. was led by the crystal deep into the woods of the Ghostlands. One member of Monolith driving ahead 250 ft. and the remaining members sharing one vehicle, which would carry R.J. as well as heavily armed members otherwise. After driving for miles, the scout would come to a massive obelisk of black polished stone. Approaching carefully, the scout ensured there were no traps, tricks, or creatures laying in wait. The only thing they found was a singular slot in the obelisk, just big enough for the crystal. After being given the go-ahead R.J. moved up to the obelisk and cautiously placed the crystal in the slot.

As the crystal met its cradle in the world went dark, leaving only R.J. In this moment R.J. felt fear, panic, hesitancy. He had never been without his team. More over, he had died before, and this was not like that. As he calmed, he took stock of his surroundings, seeing nothing he called out for the others, but found this place was bereft of sound. With no other options he began walking.

The other members of Monolith watched as R.J. stood there, motionless, silent. Since placing the crystal in the obelisk he had become inactive standing in front of the rock silent and unmoving. No amount of communication could awaken R.J. from this, and the Monolith Board of Directors began to deliberate.

(Titan): “We must immediately dismiss agent Alpha, by force if necessary. We cannot risk the fall of Monolith assets to alien powers!”

(Van): “I agree, this outcome is unacceptable.”

(Chrom): “We do not yet know the nature of this effect. You would kill R.J. just for being under a magical effect?”

(Cobalt): “Alpha’s life is not important. They will always come back.”

(Yttria): “I think we should maintain positions and watch what is happening.”

(Niobe): “I think we should attempt to destroy the obelisk, it should free R.J.”

(Rhodi): “Absolute destruction should resolve this problem. I vote we destroy both.”

(Pallades): “This is ridiculous, how do we know destroying either will not cause a worse outcome?!”

(Hassian): “Indeed. We must wait and see what is happening first.”

This debate continued for hours, as R.J. went on a strange journey.

After wandering through the darkness for about an hour of perceived time, R.J. found a strange statue, a large stone angel that by normal measure would be perceived from miles away, but only became visible when getting within 100 feet. R.J not having much of a choice began climbing the statue. As he climbed the world brightened and he saw creation unravel before him, a universe blooming, and forming, and dying in front of him. As he reached the apex, the statue looked at R.J. and simply said “What have you learned?”

R.J. looked at the statue for a moment, and said “I have learned that I know nothing, that the universe is far more beautiful than I had thought.”

In a moment, R.J. was released from the grasp of the magic, and the obelisk slid aside through some hidden mechanism revealing the treasure for Monolith to claim.

Final Report: Treasure recovered, Monolith traveled back to Babel, and R.J. is under review from The Board.