Alright guys and girls, this is what we all came for- the Cheiron Group.
I mean, while all 3rd Tier orgs are named as "conspiracies", none is as true for this definition as the Cheiron Group (well, and potentially Valkyrie, but that's another story). I mean, we have a pharmaceutical company with philanthropic attitude which develops new drugs to help to cure all kinds of diseases on the outside, secret R&D division which uses monster parts to sell those said drugs, a even more secret business in selling their transplants for militias and mercenaries as well as dealing with the organ black market, and in the core we have "unknown figureheads which are never shown in public and control every aspect of the company". And that is even before you take into account that Cheiron and its logo have been around under different names for ages- Cheiron, Acheron, Helios, Octavian Apothecary, House of Katz. I mean- sheesh! This thing has layers. We can see the activity of the forces behind the company dating all the way back to ancient Rome, Greece, Mesopotamia- they seem to even have had a branch in Mesoamerica during the Postclassical Period. Cheiron may be new, but it is just a mask used by some incredibly ancient beings, ones which may be as old as Pangaea (at least, if you use my Sundered World supplement. Which you should, it's cool *shameless promotion*). And of course, we shouldn't forget Santorini- or Thera, a place which so heavily hinted to have a certain temple that Cheiron seems to be very interested in.
I mean- come on- for a civilization of which we barely know anything, it did managed to be tied to not only one conspiracy, but two? Damn, the Minoans in the CofDverse are scary.
Anyway, while we were left in the dark about the true nature of Cheiron's Director's Board for most of the line, C&C came in and gave us the so very expected answer- that the shadowy beings behind Cheiron are, well, aliens *insert meme*. There are even mentions of "colonization project" in C&C. Now, the details of where do they come from is a bit murky- we only know it is an alternative world, be it a parallel universe, a realm such as the Shadow or even an actual dead planet from a different galaxy. The basis is that the Board are not human, yet they have well integrated themselves into human society. Which should surprise no one. I mean, they are basically the CofD's version of Wolfram and Hart. They have ancient, alien entities which have learned very, very well how human society works. Really, that just makes sense.
And yet sometimes, there are misconceptions about them. The first, is that their abilities are scientific in nature. The second, that the outright evil. The first is blatantly wrong- the other... well, that's going to be our main discussion in here.
Ok, so let's start with the easiest misconception- I can't say it is a widespread one, but I got to argue with people about this. I mean, I can get where they are coming from- Cheiron uses a very well known surgical process in the form of organ transplant in order to give special abilities to their hunters. As such, it makes sense to think about it within the limitations of such a procedure- giving hunters only special abilities which corresponds to the physical properties of the organ within the monster's system. That leads people to think that unless the part of the monster is directly supernatural in nature, like in an organic way, it can't be applied within thaumatechnology. That argument is mostly used in the context of mages, but also in relation of other monsters- so unless the monster has a special organ which produce a special supernatural effect, it can't be harvested by Cheiron.
Which would make sense- if thaumatechnology as a rule made sense.
I mean, let's make it clear- thaumatech does not work like organ transplant. At all, that is. I mean, putting the flesh of one living organism into the body of another and expecting it to work is a crazy thought- it works if you think about the body simply as a machine, but God doing so oversimplify things so damn much. You need the same blood type, donor compatibility, taking drugs to suppress your immune system so it will not reject this foreign piece of flesh that tries to physically invade its systems- sometimes for life. And that's just for transplant from within the same species. Oh, sure, you can take a pig's heart and put it into a human- but that's such a weird exception and such a coincidence that it is truly a miracle and/or a cosmic flux that it works. And you are going to tell me that the common Cheiron hunter has the same blood type as the eight winged skeletal horror which shoots death rays from its eyes after escaping from the Underworld? Yeah, I didn't tjhink you would. By any scientific sense, putting a monster part within your body should, at best, get rejected, decay and make you sick, not to mention that it would very likely kill you as your body will start killing itself to get this awful thing out. Thaumatech shouldn't work- which is why it has the "thau" part in its name. This is freaking magic- you can't apply any scientific sense to this madness because it has no scientific sense to being with. Sure, you could say "well, than only the transplant itself is magic"- but really, the ability to harvest monster parts for their powers is crazy by its own right. Eyes that can see into the Twilight make no sense without a brain to comprehend the signals. A piece of dead skin which twitches when there are vampires nearby means some crazy BS to explain, as it is the Beast which reacts. Not to mention putting a freaking abyssal worm into your brain. Yeah- there is little to no correlation between the physical property of the organ and the power it contains- but it should still make sense, symbolically at least. There needs to be a reason why the tongue of a demon would help you lie better and not, let's say, their eyes, or liver. Thaumatech has logic behind it- it is just not scientific, and trying to think in terms of science about Cheiron would no lead you anywhere, especially as those bastards apparently put the organs of monsters inside people when cuneiform writing was trending. So yeah- science is only a tool for Cheiron, something which makes things easier for them, but those eldritch entities which have invaded our world are clearly not bound by those concepts in any way, shape or form.
Ok, so with this rant out of the way- let's talk about the elephant in the room. Are Cheiron evil?
Well..............
I mean, on the most superficial level, the answer from, simply reading any of their writeups would be YES OF COURSE THEY ARE. You need to be blind in order to not get that TCG are veeeeeeeeeeeeery suspicious, and probably are, basically, evil. I mean, you have a philanthropic drug company? That's, like, textbook evil in fiction- a vast majority of people have an instinctive lack of trust in pharmaceutical companies, as we are talking about people who benefit from the fact that there is sickness in the world. That leads to all kinds of crazy ***** real life conspiracy theories, some of which we are currently experiencing so I am not going into this hell hole and I'm sure that if you are interested you can find what conspiracies people have on this industry. So yeah, from a basic glance you would certainly think that Cheiron is there to be that evil organization which does shady things to monsters and people, and you will be correct- but here is the thing- people have this uneasiness from pharmaceutical companies because they are companies which gain money from us being sick, and as such it is easy to extrapolate that non ethical behavior meant to make them produce profit on the expanse of your health. We know what they gain and from what.
But what do Cheiron gain?
I mean, think about it for a second- the Director's Board are old. The whole infrastructure which is now called Cheiron is as old as humanity, if not older. They probably don't NEED money- well, maybe for regular maintenance and such, but they don't really need to grow and devour lesser companies and become part of the stock market. You could say that they need the money to pay for hunters to kill monsters, but we have many other weirder conspiracies which work without going into the free market. And not only that, when we look on Cheiron's history, we can see a pattern emerge- most of the conspiracy's incarnations have some sort of Greek motif, and all of them seems to be connected to trade, medicine or both. The powers behind Cheiron have always traded with humans, always healed them, and always hunted monsters to do so. This is not some modern strategy, it is not a phase- this is their nature. It seems that whatever the Board are, they have a certain agenda which includes dealing with medicine, and have used trade in order to integrate themselves into the human society.
It is almost as if the only way they can understand the world is through trade. Kinda makes you think about other kind of entities we are familiar with... like faeries. Or demons.
Well, fine- Cheiron are not there to make simple profit out of human suffering, and they seems so obsessed with healing humanity- but healing humanity from.. what? What could take them so many years to heal us from?
Well, I can think about one such issue.
The Contagion.
I mean, think about it- the Contagion is old, is hinted to come from some alternative reality of some sort (or number of those), and is known to mutate people and monsters into horrifying forms. The Director's Board are old, hinted to come from some alternative reality, and are known to mutate people into horrifying forms. Does it mean that Cheiron are, in fact, a vector of the Contagion? That would work with that story hook about them supporting the opening of Pandora's Box and freeing a plague which transforms people into monsters. On the other hand, it seems more likely that Cheiron are, in fact, fighting the Contagion- and just like how vaccines use components of the original infection to protect the population, Cheiron could be working through the millennia on a vaccine for the Contagion, or develop some other method for healing it through the use of monster parts. That, for me, makes much more sense- the Director's Board being the survivors of a lost reality consumed by the Contagion which now seek to produce a medicine for it meant to save their own kind which were left trapped in their home dimension. Are humans then just test subjects meant for Cheiron to test their methods? Maybe, but not necessarily- after all, the Board does understand the horror of the Contagion, and as such they may also try to truly protect humans from the cataclysm. However, as inhuman beings, they can't really understand humanity- and they know that being open with their nature would make them hated and feared by the population. So they waited, they watched, they learned- and eventually, they got it. People are afraid of things they don't understand. People are afraid of the things which lurked in the dark. If you want to heal people, you got to put a mask, like the plague doctors of old. You need to crawl out of the shadows and act like humans. Everything that humans do revolves around needs- so they, too, should work through those needs. People want love, happiness, strong body and sharp mind. They can do that- but if they'll give it for free, they'll suspect. Humans don't trust strangers, and they don't trust free gifts. Instead, they should demand something in return- you give some, you take some. People are so fascinating, like that. The price gives something its worth- so give them what they want, and take an equal exchange back. Empathy? What's that? Such a weird concept. No, humans as weird to understand, but the systems they use makes sense. Trade. Just use trade- constantly, consistently, throughout the millennia, stay integrated into mortal society through this strange infrastructure of bargains so they'll never suspect- and the logo, and the logo is the key. It is the sign, the key, the heart of the first bargain. Bear this symbol, and gain our blessing- and it must be this exact logo. Why? Because that's how you humans think. We decided on this exact logo and we must be loyal to our bargains, or else you will fear us. Or else you will despise us. We can not break our bargain, our trade must be fair, for you can't understand us, and we can't understand you. This is the accord, this is the contract- and in order for us to help you, you must follow the bargains which you enforced. Else, the seal will be broken. Else, there will be sickness. Else, we can not heal you.
So- if their endgame is, truly, finding a cure for the Contagion and saving all of humanity as well as their own species, how are they going to do it?
It's simple- thaumatehcnology.
Humans are vulnerable. There is some loophole in their genetics, in their souls, in their very symbols, which allows the Contagion to infect them. The same is true for the monsters, the same is true for the Board themselves. As such, those flaws needs to be fixed- pieces of different creatures needs to be bound together in order to compensate for the failings of their owners. A bit of vampire blood, of werewolf skin, or witch brain. But those parts needs to be studied, and the owners of the organs needs to be hunted down- which means that facilities must be formed, that people must be hired, that new transplants must be developed so hunters could bring more raw material to work with. All of this work, all of this Vigil, is just to make one simple goal- to create a perfect being, a new human, one which is both a part of the Board's species and is immune to the Contagion. A perfect lifeform unlike any other, which transcends the darkness and would not be corrupted by it. That's what colonization means- carriers of the Board's wishes, hopes and dreams, carriers of their souls. Perfect body, perfect soul, perfect mind- a whole species of such beings, which would live in a world free of sickness, and world which would not be corrupted, and world which there is no longer a need for healers for no one will be sick. A perfect world, a bright future unlike any other.
And what about the previous, unperfect species left behind? What about those who are not healed?
Well, sometimes it is better to purge the wound so it won't be infected. And once the new species of humanity would rise, the old, obsolete sick ones, all of those vampires and mages and whatever else, would have to be removed. It is unfortunate- but there is no other choice. Their sacrifice will be respected- but it is a small price to pay for this new, perfected world. And if regular homo sapiens would also prove itself unable to be cured? Well, time to clean the slate and start over. Who knows how many times they did it before. We blamed the AKD for Santorini- but who knows? Maybe those were those ancient Healers which blew up the volcano, erasing a failed experiment which went out of control. You can only learn from your mistakes, as you go on your quest for this perfect amalgam of flesh, a patchwork of countless monsters, which together will finally be freed from the horror of the Contagion.
Either that or that they just drain the power of monsters to take over the world, of course.
Anyway, that's it for the Cheiron Group- next time we'll have the eerie Council of Bones, a new conspiracy on which we know very little. Soar high, Vigil masters!
I mean, while all 3rd Tier orgs are named as "conspiracies", none is as true for this definition as the Cheiron Group (well, and potentially Valkyrie, but that's another story). I mean, we have a pharmaceutical company with philanthropic attitude which develops new drugs to help to cure all kinds of diseases on the outside, secret R&D division which uses monster parts to sell those said drugs, a even more secret business in selling their transplants for militias and mercenaries as well as dealing with the organ black market, and in the core we have "unknown figureheads which are never shown in public and control every aspect of the company". And that is even before you take into account that Cheiron and its logo have been around under different names for ages- Cheiron, Acheron, Helios, Octavian Apothecary, House of Katz. I mean- sheesh! This thing has layers. We can see the activity of the forces behind the company dating all the way back to ancient Rome, Greece, Mesopotamia- they seem to even have had a branch in Mesoamerica during the Postclassical Period. Cheiron may be new, but it is just a mask used by some incredibly ancient beings, ones which may be as old as Pangaea (at least, if you use my Sundered World supplement. Which you should, it's cool *shameless promotion*). And of course, we shouldn't forget Santorini- or Thera, a place which so heavily hinted to have a certain temple that Cheiron seems to be very interested in.
I mean- come on- for a civilization of which we barely know anything, it did managed to be tied to not only one conspiracy, but two? Damn, the Minoans in the CofDverse are scary.
Anyway, while we were left in the dark about the true nature of Cheiron's Director's Board for most of the line, C&C came in and gave us the so very expected answer- that the shadowy beings behind Cheiron are, well, aliens *insert meme*. There are even mentions of "colonization project" in C&C. Now, the details of where do they come from is a bit murky- we only know it is an alternative world, be it a parallel universe, a realm such as the Shadow or even an actual dead planet from a different galaxy. The basis is that the Board are not human, yet they have well integrated themselves into human society. Which should surprise no one. I mean, they are basically the CofD's version of Wolfram and Hart. They have ancient, alien entities which have learned very, very well how human society works. Really, that just makes sense.
And yet sometimes, there are misconceptions about them. The first, is that their abilities are scientific in nature. The second, that the outright evil. The first is blatantly wrong- the other... well, that's going to be our main discussion in here.
Ok, so let's start with the easiest misconception- I can't say it is a widespread one, but I got to argue with people about this. I mean, I can get where they are coming from- Cheiron uses a very well known surgical process in the form of organ transplant in order to give special abilities to their hunters. As such, it makes sense to think about it within the limitations of such a procedure- giving hunters only special abilities which corresponds to the physical properties of the organ within the monster's system. That leads people to think that unless the part of the monster is directly supernatural in nature, like in an organic way, it can't be applied within thaumatechnology. That argument is mostly used in the context of mages, but also in relation of other monsters- so unless the monster has a special organ which produce a special supernatural effect, it can't be harvested by Cheiron.
Which would make sense- if thaumatechnology as a rule made sense.
I mean, let's make it clear- thaumatech does not work like organ transplant. At all, that is. I mean, putting the flesh of one living organism into the body of another and expecting it to work is a crazy thought- it works if you think about the body simply as a machine, but God doing so oversimplify things so damn much. You need the same blood type, donor compatibility, taking drugs to suppress your immune system so it will not reject this foreign piece of flesh that tries to physically invade its systems- sometimes for life. And that's just for transplant from within the same species. Oh, sure, you can take a pig's heart and put it into a human- but that's such a weird exception and such a coincidence that it is truly a miracle and/or a cosmic flux that it works. And you are going to tell me that the common Cheiron hunter has the same blood type as the eight winged skeletal horror which shoots death rays from its eyes after escaping from the Underworld? Yeah, I didn't tjhink you would. By any scientific sense, putting a monster part within your body should, at best, get rejected, decay and make you sick, not to mention that it would very likely kill you as your body will start killing itself to get this awful thing out. Thaumatech shouldn't work- which is why it has the "thau" part in its name. This is freaking magic- you can't apply any scientific sense to this madness because it has no scientific sense to being with. Sure, you could say "well, than only the transplant itself is magic"- but really, the ability to harvest monster parts for their powers is crazy by its own right. Eyes that can see into the Twilight make no sense without a brain to comprehend the signals. A piece of dead skin which twitches when there are vampires nearby means some crazy BS to explain, as it is the Beast which reacts. Not to mention putting a freaking abyssal worm into your brain. Yeah- there is little to no correlation between the physical property of the organ and the power it contains- but it should still make sense, symbolically at least. There needs to be a reason why the tongue of a demon would help you lie better and not, let's say, their eyes, or liver. Thaumatech has logic behind it- it is just not scientific, and trying to think in terms of science about Cheiron would no lead you anywhere, especially as those bastards apparently put the organs of monsters inside people when cuneiform writing was trending. So yeah- science is only a tool for Cheiron, something which makes things easier for them, but those eldritch entities which have invaded our world are clearly not bound by those concepts in any way, shape or form.
Ok, so with this rant out of the way- let's talk about the elephant in the room. Are Cheiron evil?
Well..............
I mean, on the most superficial level, the answer from, simply reading any of their writeups would be YES OF COURSE THEY ARE. You need to be blind in order to not get that TCG are veeeeeeeeeeeeery suspicious, and probably are, basically, evil. I mean, you have a philanthropic drug company? That's, like, textbook evil in fiction- a vast majority of people have an instinctive lack of trust in pharmaceutical companies, as we are talking about people who benefit from the fact that there is sickness in the world. That leads to all kinds of crazy ***** real life conspiracy theories, some of which we are currently experiencing so I am not going into this hell hole and I'm sure that if you are interested you can find what conspiracies people have on this industry. So yeah, from a basic glance you would certainly think that Cheiron is there to be that evil organization which does shady things to monsters and people, and you will be correct- but here is the thing- people have this uneasiness from pharmaceutical companies because they are companies which gain money from us being sick, and as such it is easy to extrapolate that non ethical behavior meant to make them produce profit on the expanse of your health. We know what they gain and from what.
But what do Cheiron gain?
I mean, think about it for a second- the Director's Board are old. The whole infrastructure which is now called Cheiron is as old as humanity, if not older. They probably don't NEED money- well, maybe for regular maintenance and such, but they don't really need to grow and devour lesser companies and become part of the stock market. You could say that they need the money to pay for hunters to kill monsters, but we have many other weirder conspiracies which work without going into the free market. And not only that, when we look on Cheiron's history, we can see a pattern emerge- most of the conspiracy's incarnations have some sort of Greek motif, and all of them seems to be connected to trade, medicine or both. The powers behind Cheiron have always traded with humans, always healed them, and always hunted monsters to do so. This is not some modern strategy, it is not a phase- this is their nature. It seems that whatever the Board are, they have a certain agenda which includes dealing with medicine, and have used trade in order to integrate themselves into the human society.
It is almost as if the only way they can understand the world is through trade. Kinda makes you think about other kind of entities we are familiar with... like faeries. Or demons.
Well, fine- Cheiron are not there to make simple profit out of human suffering, and they seems so obsessed with healing humanity- but healing humanity from.. what? What could take them so many years to heal us from?
Well, I can think about one such issue.
The Contagion.
I mean, think about it- the Contagion is old, is hinted to come from some alternative reality of some sort (or number of those), and is known to mutate people and monsters into horrifying forms. The Director's Board are old, hinted to come from some alternative reality, and are known to mutate people into horrifying forms. Does it mean that Cheiron are, in fact, a vector of the Contagion? That would work with that story hook about them supporting the opening of Pandora's Box and freeing a plague which transforms people into monsters. On the other hand, it seems more likely that Cheiron are, in fact, fighting the Contagion- and just like how vaccines use components of the original infection to protect the population, Cheiron could be working through the millennia on a vaccine for the Contagion, or develop some other method for healing it through the use of monster parts. That, for me, makes much more sense- the Director's Board being the survivors of a lost reality consumed by the Contagion which now seek to produce a medicine for it meant to save their own kind which were left trapped in their home dimension. Are humans then just test subjects meant for Cheiron to test their methods? Maybe, but not necessarily- after all, the Board does understand the horror of the Contagion, and as such they may also try to truly protect humans from the cataclysm. However, as inhuman beings, they can't really understand humanity- and they know that being open with their nature would make them hated and feared by the population. So they waited, they watched, they learned- and eventually, they got it. People are afraid of things they don't understand. People are afraid of the things which lurked in the dark. If you want to heal people, you got to put a mask, like the plague doctors of old. You need to crawl out of the shadows and act like humans. Everything that humans do revolves around needs- so they, too, should work through those needs. People want love, happiness, strong body and sharp mind. They can do that- but if they'll give it for free, they'll suspect. Humans don't trust strangers, and they don't trust free gifts. Instead, they should demand something in return- you give some, you take some. People are so fascinating, like that. The price gives something its worth- so give them what they want, and take an equal exchange back. Empathy? What's that? Such a weird concept. No, humans as weird to understand, but the systems they use makes sense. Trade. Just use trade- constantly, consistently, throughout the millennia, stay integrated into mortal society through this strange infrastructure of bargains so they'll never suspect- and the logo, and the logo is the key. It is the sign, the key, the heart of the first bargain. Bear this symbol, and gain our blessing- and it must be this exact logo. Why? Because that's how you humans think. We decided on this exact logo and we must be loyal to our bargains, or else you will fear us. Or else you will despise us. We can not break our bargain, our trade must be fair, for you can't understand us, and we can't understand you. This is the accord, this is the contract- and in order for us to help you, you must follow the bargains which you enforced. Else, the seal will be broken. Else, there will be sickness. Else, we can not heal you.
So- if their endgame is, truly, finding a cure for the Contagion and saving all of humanity as well as their own species, how are they going to do it?
It's simple- thaumatehcnology.
Humans are vulnerable. There is some loophole in their genetics, in their souls, in their very symbols, which allows the Contagion to infect them. The same is true for the monsters, the same is true for the Board themselves. As such, those flaws needs to be fixed- pieces of different creatures needs to be bound together in order to compensate for the failings of their owners. A bit of vampire blood, of werewolf skin, or witch brain. But those parts needs to be studied, and the owners of the organs needs to be hunted down- which means that facilities must be formed, that people must be hired, that new transplants must be developed so hunters could bring more raw material to work with. All of this work, all of this Vigil, is just to make one simple goal- to create a perfect being, a new human, one which is both a part of the Board's species and is immune to the Contagion. A perfect lifeform unlike any other, which transcends the darkness and would not be corrupted by it. That's what colonization means- carriers of the Board's wishes, hopes and dreams, carriers of their souls. Perfect body, perfect soul, perfect mind- a whole species of such beings, which would live in a world free of sickness, and world which would not be corrupted, and world which there is no longer a need for healers for no one will be sick. A perfect world, a bright future unlike any other.
And what about the previous, unperfect species left behind? What about those who are not healed?
Well, sometimes it is better to purge the wound so it won't be infected. And once the new species of humanity would rise, the old, obsolete sick ones, all of those vampires and mages and whatever else, would have to be removed. It is unfortunate- but there is no other choice. Their sacrifice will be respected- but it is a small price to pay for this new, perfected world. And if regular homo sapiens would also prove itself unable to be cured? Well, time to clean the slate and start over. Who knows how many times they did it before. We blamed the AKD for Santorini- but who knows? Maybe those were those ancient Healers which blew up the volcano, erasing a failed experiment which went out of control. You can only learn from your mistakes, as you go on your quest for this perfect amalgam of flesh, a patchwork of countless monsters, which together will finally be freed from the horror of the Contagion.
Either that or that they just drain the power of monsters to take over the world, of course.
Anyway, that's it for the Cheiron Group- next time we'll have the eerie Council of Bones, a new conspiracy on which we know very little. Soar high, Vigil masters!
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