Hells_Enforcer

Hell. Everyone knows what it is, or at least think they do. Everyone’s heard of it. Sometimes the nature differs, sometimes its role changes, but everyone has heard of it, everyone has their own idea of what it’s like, and everyone knows what comes from it. Demons, devils, otherworldly things that love nothing more than to ensnare mortals with tantalizing promises and drag their souls down to the pits. Malevolent creatures that scorn and shake fists at the gleaming towers of heaven and in some beliefs, in some lands, wage war against it directly in an Eternal Conflict.

What if you were told that all those ideas of hell are correct? Even the ones that seem to directly conflict with each other? That not only are all those hells ‘real’ real places with real creatures and people living within them, but that the hells of places you’d never imagined or heard of existed, that hells existed which were not even connected to your world, but to entirely different realms, completely separate universes? That Hell and Heaven, or to more accurately put it, the Hells and Heavens, are essentially a winding, multiversal passageway connecting all possible universes to each other, a great wellspring of souls, of life and death, with few universes having their souls handled by anything other than the ‘nearest’ heaven and hell?

Assuming you can believe that, what if you were then told that at least one particular hell is almost entirely run by a group of capitalistically minded organizations running under the combined name: The Pendaghast Consortium? Perhaps you might think it’s far too apt an image, perhaps it might sound ridiculous. Yet, the Consortium still exists. Five demons, and their organizations, all their infrastructure, power, knowledge and to some extent, even technology. Running a little business empire, spreading their tendrils across the multiverse. They sell to anyone, to everyone, in any hell, mortal plane, or otherworldly plane. Elementals, Demons, Devils, Mortals, it matters little to them, so long as they can make a deal, so long as the client can actually pay the price.

To this end, the Consortium has a series of enforcers, representatives. The two are one and the same. Often the first member of the Consortium any hopeful customer meets is an Enforcer, and so too is that Enforcer the last one they meet, for better or worse. Among those Enforcers, the demon known as 'Akateko Himura' is the most well known. One of the first, and the most well known of her peers. In some ways, she is regarded as the 'face' of the Consortium, the one most often associated with the strange organization, appearing on their...advertisements, propaganda, and so on. A role she quite handily fills, a dangerous demon in her own right, and one most often assumed to be an Oni. Although the truth of that is...suspect to those who have seen her really exert herself in combat.

The Pendaghast Consortium
The Consortium as stated is divided into five separate organizations, each with its own leader or leaders. Each specializes in a different style of ‘product’ that they offer under this unified name to anyone in need of product or service.

Soul Flux Inc.
A rather devilish ‘corporation’ Soul Flux particularly specializes in the means to augment the spirit of a thing. Specialized means to change the soul, from shifting the species of the spirit (body reflects the spirit after all), to increasing spiritual power, altering mind or emotions, or other things. Soul Flux is the company that has the largest amount of dealings with like minded demons and devils from other hells, and the least amount of traffic with mortals.

The most popular and well known product of Soul Flux would be their patented ‘Soul Shells.’ These great, golem like constructs, offered in a variety of styles based on function, fashion and culture. Their function is to house the soul of a mortal, often not that useful after death. The soul is placed within, and becomes a power source for the shell, enthralled to the registered user of the shell. These can be designed for manual labor like mining, heavy lifting, or even military purposes.

Yomotsu Hirasaka
This corporation specializes in transportation, in transit. Portals, gates, teleportation and more, many such services are offered by this corporation. The products on sale range everywhere from truly massive gates meant for opening portals large enough to send entire armies through, to small personal teleportation devices limited to the user’s local plane. They tend to get people from both hell and the mortal realms after their services. Other demons and devils tend to be after larger scale portals for moving their own forces and launching sudden attacks. The latter tend to be interested in more personal mobility, portals to explore hell on their own or even stranger places, personal teleportation and so on, although there is some overlap between the two.

Their most famous product would be their namesake, Yomotsu Hirasaka. A complicated, antediluvian device that opens up a full three massive portals in a centralized location, allowing the mass movement of soldiers, people, or even structures such is their magnificent size. However, these are very rarely ordered due to the cost, and their most popular product are the Sheol Gates, personalized portals meant for just a few people to travel between a hell and a mortal plane.

Kasdeya Industries
It is said that Kasdeya Industries was the one to originally come up with the idea of the Consortium, and indeed they do seem to be something of a leader in terms of the practices and policies of the Consortium as a whole. Kasdeya specializes in military applications, particularly focused on weapons, weapons of all kinds. Infernal cannons and rifles with a boom, kick and impact to shame any modern military rifle. Bizarre blades that seem to almost consciously hunger for blood, and so much more. Naturally they have a vast range of clients. Generals infernal and mortal seeking to outfit entire armies, so called ‘champions’ seeking a weapon worthy of their skill or power...it runs the gamut really.

The product that is easily their most famous, are the Blood Weapons, personally forged by the enigmatic founder of Kasdeya themselves. Each is a masterpiece, a legend in its own right, and most of the few that have been forged over the millennia have indeed gone on to become legends. Bizarre, mighty weapons, each possessed of strange and magnificent powers. It is even said that the price for one of these is not the same for each soul that seeks it out.

Mictlan Armories
Considered by some to be a sister company to Kasdeya, Mictlan in fact had nothing to do with Kasdeya before they joined the Consortium, but together they do make a fine pair. Whereas Kasdeya specializes in weapons, Mictlan focuses on protection. Armors, shields, barriers, all manner of protective gear and devices. Much as with Kasdeya they also receive a number of requests and purchases from both infernal and mortal sources.

The Daemon Armours are one of their primary exports. Mostly for its flexibility. These customizable, fully tailored suits of armour are carried as small trinkets, a bracelet, a ring, a brooch, a hairpin. Yet they spring forth at a command into full suits of armour to protect the bearer. These can be very simplistic, or intricate with powerful abilities tailored into them. While not exactly useful for mass production due to the process of creating even a simple one, they are nonetheless a popular item for individuals.

The Plague Factory
With all so far, one could make an argument that, beyond perhaps prices, there was nothing preventing the Consortium offering its products to even those who consider themselves of a more benevolent bent. Weapons, armors and means of transport are hardly universally evil. Yet, with the Plague Factory that argument goes straight out the window. It’s even in the name. While it is true that disease is one of their primary exports, plagues of all kinds, both specially manufactured by themselves and those they have collected from various planes of existence, plagues are not all they sell. After all, they also sell cures to every affliction they might inflict upon someone or some place. Sometimes to people who weren’t the ones who bought the plague to begin with.

They also sell a broad range of alchemical products, believe it or not. Plagues and curse are just what they’re known for. Potions, tinctures, bizarre brews with strange effects. Healing potions, ironskin and so on. It’s by far a more minor aspect of their market, but one they happily continue to perform and supply nonetheless.

Runes, Scripts, and Scrolls
The fifth and final member, but hardly the smallest, of the Pendaghast Consortium. Runes, Scripts and Scrolls, or the RSS, are a company focusing on the selling of spells, commissions for enchantments, and the providing of magical aid and instruction. It’s not uncommon for someone to order a weapon from Kasdeya and then also commission an enchantment worked into it by the RSS. The scrolls they offer are essentially easily cast spells, so easily cast that anyone can do it, just open the scroll, say the command word writ large across the top.

They also sell full fledged tomes, or small booklets, scripts for working one’s own enchantments or for simply learning proper magic. Their market is broad enough that they don’t have a single popular product, although they don’t have quite as many ‘proper’ mages and sorcerers as one might think. They seem to appeal far more to the less magically capable, who don’t have the magical ability to do such things themselves.