The Suits of Four Seasons

All For A Price

He ran. Deep down he knew he couldn't escape, but he tried anyway. The creature followed, taking its steps with care to avoid the filthiest spaces of the sewer floor. He could hear the tap of Armani Leather shoes as the creature approached.
"Neil," it said. The voice was cold, coupled with a sound like an old wooden door in desperate need of adjustment, "it is time to pay up."
Neil hid in a small opening with his back to a sewer grate. He had one shot, one chance. "It's ok," the creature said, its voice drawing near, "It's just a memory. It'll be like you never had it."
Neil saw the face turn the corner, smiling at him with a grin that literally stretched from ear to ear. It's ears were pointed, eyes black and in the shape of almonds. The skin was a pasty yellowish white, its suit impeccably fitted.
Neil froze in fear, but quickly lifted his gun and fired several shots. The creature didn't get angry, but was clearly annoyed.
"How many times are you going to try?" The creature asked.
"Please," Neil said, "it's the only thing I have left."
"A memory of your ex-wife is all you have left? Your rich. You made a bad bet for once. It happens to all of us."
The creature leaned in, and Neil tried to stop away. He pressed himself against the greatest behind him.
"I know," the creature said, "call her up. She may be thrilled to see the man you've become. Make some new memories." The creature nodded, as if it really cared and tried to console him. Neil could only weep, pulling a knife from his pocket and lunging at the creature.
The creature jumped to the side, placed its thumb on Neil's forehead, and Neil shuddered as the creature invaded his mind. It was all over, all he could do was relish the memory for a final time, the memory of his wedding day...

The Suits of Four Seasons are a group of mercenary stock brokers that use contracts with nature to integrate themselves into the very fabric of reality. Anyone can hire them, but they don't accept money as payment. Some entities in the organization are quite old, others are much younger, some even being humans who have found a way to climb their complex corporate ladder. Those who cannot progress will inevitably find themselves on the bottom, abused and neglected by those higher up. Suits are the most cosmopolitan of the organizations in The Web, as any and all can find work. They take equal opportunity to heart, even going so far as to hire monstrous creatures to get the job done.

Fun fact: Didn't you get the memo?

Suits hate the board that runs The Chiron Group. No one knows why. This hatred is mutual, and people who joke of them being interconnected are prone to disappearing without a trace. The Board even sent a memo to all those in The Chiron Group. It said they were not connected and that dire consequences would fall on those who feel otherwise.

Four Seasons

The organization is based out of New York. A skyscraper sits nestled in the layout of the city. This is Four Seasons, and it is the place to go when you have an unusual task needing to get done, or an inkling for some corporate gambling. The suits don't trade in money. They operate a strange economy of stock and commodities. They buy stocks in emotions, in states of mind. They bid on how powerful mental disorders will be in the future, and write contracts for any kind of service imaginable. Engaging in a contract can often cost more than you initially thought. Their contracts are complex arrangements that can demand anything from a happy memory, to your first born child. Assets required for payment are determined by market values on their private exchange. Much like the stock exchange, The Four Seasons Exchange is a sequence of numbers that list market values for the strangest things.

The god of contracts

The one at the top is labeled as the god of contracts. He holds the absolute authority over all those under him, and can enforce or dissolve a contract for any reason. Appeals are sent to cancel contracts routinely, though rarely does it end well for those involved. The god of contracts never changes. He has been the same person for millenia. It is not a position one can be voted out of or step down from, and it's hard enough to kill a suit to begin with. All contracts used by the suits are tied to the god of contracts. If he were to die, step down, or otherwise removed, all contracts would be rendered null and void.

Fun Fact: The Four Seasons Stock Exchange

The FSSE will determine just what a contract demands as a price. Suits will do anything required to complete a contract, though each contract is worded in a way that makes a loophole impossible to exploit, unless it favors the suits. The exchange lists physical and metaphysical commodities, and gives a direct value based on some unknown standard or currency. It's not clear whether the price of a share in trauma, for example, is listed in Euros or American dollars. Some believe the price changes from viewer to viewer, reflecting the currency the viewer is most likely to pay in. The exchange has several avenues of trade. Emotions and memories are traded like stocks in a company, the price determined by the amount of that emotion in the world. People can put stock in organizations and people of The Web, betting at whether they will succeed or fail in a given operation.

Death of a suit

Suits have a sense of quasi-immortality. They are notoriously hard to kill permanently. They are flesh and blood, and can be "killed" easily enough, but they always come back with time. This is because suits have made contracts with nature itself, weaving them into the fabric of reality. These contracts allow the very universe to function the way that it does. The gears turn because they are contractually obligated to do so, but there is a way to make them jam. Every suit is required to include a "Baldur Clause," language that determines the suits anathema, things that can kill the suit permanently. The suits are legally required to provide this information to any who ask for it, though the request will be tied up in bureaucratic nonsense for some time before some cosmic horror appears from a portal to another dimension, handing you a signed and sealed letter that lists the suit's anathema. Be wary. You can't kill gravity. Killing a suit for good can cause unintended consequences.

Hierarchy

Here I will list articles that discuss specific kinds of suits, as they are more as an antagonist and less an organization that one can join. Despite this, one can make use of them. They can be hired, the exchange can be used by anyone who is in the know, just be careful.

Morrigan waited, then sighed, then waited and sighed again. Tyler tried not to notice the details. It made her laugh. He shuddered. She assumed he noticed sterile floor. It was so clean the slightest sludge of dirt was not only alarmingly obvious, but seemingly alive.
She put the thought from her kind as she listened to the latest details of the market over the intercom.
It was nice of them, she had to admit. They never announced changes in the market this way unless she was there. They ensured to add a statement about equality, or inclusion, but in the end it's just to give the blind woman an opportunity to buy.
One of the creatures approached. She felt Tyler tense up, and patted him on the leg. "Yes, hello," she began , standing and hopefully facing the creature, "I'd like to file a request to learn the identity of one who placed a contract on my life, please," she waited a moment, and then quickly added, "tell the broker to sell my shares in agony. They have vested long enough."
— The Scarlet Ashes

Comments

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Kendallonian

Apr 28, 2020 00:30

So, if you buy some shares in happiness, could you actually hand them in for the real deal? If you wanted revenge on someone, could you liquidate your stocks in agony directly or would you have to exchange them for services in the FSSE? If you had stocks in agony, could you multiply your investment by going around torturing people? Or, the more mutually beneficial method, buy happiness stocks and go around doing good deeds? I might want a lawyer character with epic levels in legal expertise who writes or tries to find loopholes in Four Seasons' contracts.

Sage Dylonishere123

Apr 28, 2020 00:43 by R. Dylon Elder

So it works like this. Some can bottle and sell emotions. In fact, they have auditors that collect it as payment. Bit of a problem with insider trading as some distribute an emotion based on how prevelent it is in the world to raise the price.. If happiness costs 32$ a share, that reflects its percieved value based on how much hapiness exists in the world. You could sell your shares for any currency, including the emotion itself. This is preferred. it makes the price go up. you could liquidate the stocks directly just fine. They do not care as your literally making them money by using it. Yes. you can multiply investment...but it would either require a great deal of agony, or less agony across a great many people. youd need like a torture factory or a happiness factory....* may include dineyland jokes in novel...* Its funny you mention lawyers. Eberstark law, HATES the contracts written by four seasons. They often take cases pro Bono in hopes of finding said loopholes and getting the upper hand, as a four seasons contract does not get altered. The language is permanent. A loop hole in one contract, is still exploitable in others that contain the loophole. Blackmail anyone?

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Incaseofgrace

May 10, 2020 19:20 by Grace Gittel Lewis

Opening quote is A+, I am very intrigued already.

The suits don't trade in money. They operate a strange economy of stock and commodities. They buy stocks in emotions, in states of mind. They bid on how powerful mental disorders will be in the future, and write contracts for any kind of service imaginable.

Can I just...I LOVE THIS. Immortal stock brokers, truly a modern horror. Love em. Easily a new favorite here!

May 10, 2020 19:41 by R. Dylon Elder

I really enjoyed these guys. Im glad you enjoyed them too! Ill be digging deeper soon into the details. Thanks so much!