League

The League

Justice is Truth

Information is Power

Might makes Right

Foundation

Even prior to the fall of the Union and Confederacy, a small group of intellectual elites was planning on organizing a force of bright minds allied with able hands. They leaped upon the opportunity provided by the end of the big two and the vacuum that was to be filled. In the chaos, they recruited mercenaries, hired scientific institutes, claimed libraries, and started to put their name out to the world at large.

They are the League of Progress. The Multiverse is an unordered, chaotic mess and while there is no changing that, and they believe it foolhardy to try, they do believe that it can be understood, and with understanding comes the ability to improve one's lot and that of their fellows. As such, the League's primary mission is to accomplish as complete an understanding of the Multiverse and everything that is contained within as is possible.

Of course, laboratories alone are not sufficient to accomplish this goal. The League requires people willing to delve into danger to get to interesting sites and extract valuable artifacts. The League requires people strong enough to defend their own when those less enlightened decide to seek gain by assaulting the League's strongholds or expeditions. As such, the League employs many who are of a martial rather than academic bent, and rewards them richly for their service. Organization The League is neither nation nor truly associated with one, though some of its funds come from nations that share its aims and wish it to do well. Much of its finances however, come from businesses and individuals that pay much to gain access to the League's foremost minds, or the fruits of it. To further help fund the League's efforts, the Factories of Progress produce goods and weapons for sale to any who can afford it... and Members of the League get substantial discounts.

At the top of the League is the Circle of Enlightenment, a small group of mostly distanced intellectuals who make mutual decisions upon key points of the organization, including who shall become part of the Circle. They mostly keep to themselves, content to leave running the day to day operations of the League in the hands of one of their number while the others stick to their research. Invariably, whichever one of them ends up being the leading figure tends to direct a portion of the League's resources to his own projects, but as long as members contribute they are not obliged to indulge him.

Below the Circle, the League immediately splits into three divisions of varying sizes but equal importance. The biggest of these is the Marauders. These armed and capable people are there to protect the League and its interests, to enter fortified or dangerous positions to extract valuable artifacts, and to remind the Multiverse that the League is not to be taken lightly. Though an outsider might think the League does not value these very highly, that couldn't be more wrong. The League knows it would be nothing without them, and they are well rewarded for their assistance, even if they personally don't care one moment for knowledge itself.

The second division is the Manufacturers, many of them are capable combatants in their own rights, but their role in the League is to produce the arms that keep the League and their clients in fighting shape. From Dwarven forges hammering out enchanted blades to chemical laboratories producing powerful drugs. If it can be made, odds are the Manufacturers of the League are either doing so or looking into ways to do it. After all, Knowledge is meant to be used.

The final division is the Mystifiers, those who seek to understand and preserve the mysteries of the Multiverse. They experiment, they analyze and they seek to comprehend. They publish their results regularly to League exclusive academic journals, and they are responsible for deciding what knowledge is best kept within the League and what can be shared with the public at large.

Progress

In general, most people outside the League are most immediately familiar with the Marauders. The League stops caring about local law as soon as those get in the way of their mission, and the Marauders are there to get the job done, not to be providing PR. While in general the League prefers the Marauders do not cause unnecessary problems, it's unlikely that any casual lawbreaking will result in any punishment meted out by the League unless it hinders the League's plans.

After all, Progress must be made and sometimes, people stand in the way of Progress. The League assumes its Marauders can judge for themselves whether they were engaged in justifiable action.

While of course, the League prefers all knowledge to be gained through means that respect people, their lives and their dignities, it also acknowledges that for some kinds of research that may not be possible, and this conclusions allows certain kinds of ethically questionable science to flourish under the League's Aegis. It's not an uncommon occurrence that locals or other factions object to a scientific project of the League and the Marauders have to step in to protect it. Should any Marauder have issues with that particular project, they are free to excuse themselves and make themselves useful elsewhere. After all, there's always more work to be done. The gears of Progress need to be kept in motion.

The League is also just as interested in knowledge that has been lost, or is hoarded by outsiders, as they are in producing their own. Delving into abandoned old libraries or invading a secretive laboratory to steal the fruits of this knowledge are both operations the Marauders as a whole are commonly seen to indulge in.

All this knowledge is used to gain further knowledge, and to guide those who are wise enough to help fund the League. Many prosperous nations have been gaining from the knowledge offered by the League, though the League does not ever share who its backers and beneficiaries are, after all, that is between the League and them.

The League has some common ground with the Concord, both are operating on a fundamental assumption of rational self-interest over more high-minded ideals, but the League's wholly uninterested in governance, and when it rearranges the nature of states it's for the valuable insights that can be gained or as an accident of its operations. Moreover, the League's operations often push past the limits imposed by law, limits that may exist for good reason, and they don't take kindly being told to stop their research. Its branches take root wherever convenient, and sometimes that's in places other factions lay claim to, whether Concord or Paladin.

Of course, should the other factions find themselves in need of the League's knowledge or minds, the League is more than willing to provide... as long as it's a fair exchange.

Recruiting

The League does not really care if people are true believers, as long as they are willing to do their part they are welcome. As long as they perform well, they are rewarded. The League believes in the power of proper incentives. The division recruit slightly different groups, to fit the aims of their divisions, but some people could easily fit in more than one, and a transfer is always an option.

The Marauders focus on those who are capable and either have goals in line with the League or are just looking for direction, uncertain of where to take themselves or how to best improve the situation of themselves and their fellows. The pitch to the latter is fairly simple and straightforward, 'We need you, and promise that if you join us, you and those you care about will be better off. That you will be better able to aid those you wish to help.' Many of these are quickly sent to exciting tasks that have immediate adrenalin and are completed quickly, so they can see the rewards for success right away.

The Manufacturers are more likely to look for simple greed in their recruits, the promise of being able to use League knowledge to improve their products and the ability to sell their wares to a truly Multiversal clientele. First orders tend to be for internal use, and of course the League always needs more weapons, armour, medicine, tools and so on to keep running, and so they never let their Manufacturers go long without asking, and paying, for more. Of course, plenty Manufacturers wish to aid in furthering progress, or have other goals they'd like to see met, and the League is willing to use its resources to offer any reasonable compensation.

The Mystifiers are the most likely to be true believers, and as a result tends to be the smallest division. Its new recruits are offered laboratories, funding and the aid of their peers, along with publishing avenues, a sizable stipend and the privilege to publish in the League's foremost academic journals. It can be a bit publish or perish to maintain top tiers of funding, but the League understands some things takes a while, and even those projects don't go unfunded.

Headquarters

At the dawn of the League, an interdisciplinary project to create giant sea creatures made a giant shark that was just too large. It trashed and destroyed the facility while failing to sustain its own weight, but the League knew their work wouldn't be wasted. The flesh was dissected, analyzed (and the tastier parts, sold) while one of its teeth was put upright at the shore, hollowed out into a tower and turned into something both lighthouse and headquarters.

They called it the Beacon of Progress, after the lighthouse flame at its peak. Just below it, the Circle of Enlightenment holds its meetings, and various meeting rooms and minor laboratories sit within the spire itself. At the bottom, a sprawling complex contains laboratories, factories and medical facilities.