Amun.
***
When I asked the others to stay on the hush about the guild, it wasn’t that I wanted to keep the idea hidden from the world. I simply wanted to take the pressure off of my vassals- my friends. That included Roheisa and Lucia. I wanted them to make their own friends. Form their own relationships. To follow their hearts. It was when our time came to an end when they’d ask their friends if they wanted to join. If I hadn’t already.
For all of us, it was our first time away from both our birthplace and home realm. But for them, it was the first time they’d been truly free. Unburdened by the expectations and conditions placed on them by the society from which we were born, great as it may have been. Here was the birthplace of their own ambitions. Here, was a temporal pocket of happiness we’d been afforded before we hopped on the train of eternal burdens. I didn’t want to be the one to ruin that for them. So, I strapped the tasks onto my back and laid it all out for the party to share.
Once I did, training seemed to cease entirely.
Instead, the entire party just stood around. Murmuring to each other about what they just heard. Including Winston, who was shuffling forward to murmur to me. “You really are serious about this.” He gasped in disbelief. “But, why?”
“Living in Maru is like watching a circus from the crowd,” I explained while swearing under my breath. Never would I have thought I’d rue the inexistence of zoos in these societies. “The creatures living beyond the barrier are like the lions jumping through hoops. The tamer- the barrier, is the only thing preventing the lion from leaping into the crowd and ripping everyone to shreds.”
“So.” He droned on as the cogs in his mind turned. “The creatures from the other realms have armies behind the barrier. And you think it will break soon?”
“Do you know of any fences or walls that don't need inspections or maintenance?”
As if my words were a punch, he reeled back and was seemingly forced to look away. “Well… no. I guess not. But that’s what the Marulean Guild Association is for.”
“I think the challenge would be great!” Slate boomed alongside Kao. “So long as I meet your standards.”
“I have no standards.” I snorted. “The weak can become strong and the dumb can become geniuses given enough time and dedication. No matter how noble or how sleazy you are, I’ll find a place for you.”
With that, I ended our training session and elected to listen to the idle chatter on our way out of the gym. Unsurprisingly to me, many of them revolved around the offer I just made them. While many of them outright claimed they’d join, I chalked it up to blind naivety and turned my focus towards those who were more skeptical to compartmentalize the information in my recently formed Eternal Eye Apps. Regretfully though, tinkering with it had to come later. As the party wordlessly elected to have dinner as a group and continue their chatter in my presence. But also to complement my tomes and ask for some additional training sometime later.
One other conversation, however, wound up being far more practical than I anticipated. “How will we be paid?” Rhody asked from the next table.
“Pay will be based on rank, of course,” I explained. “Those with a higher rank will be given additional benefits such as custom armor, weapons, and other things. But I estimate those in the lowest rank being paid somewhere around fifty gold a week.”
“Fifty a- Holy shit!” He slapped the table. “Who’s funding it, you?”
“I have a fund set up,” I admitted. “But most of our income will come from ancient ruins, any entities we go to war with, or the Darkworld- that place has more metals than you could believe.”
“You’re gonna steal from the dead?” Samson gasped.
“Trust me when I say the dead have no use for trinkets and gold.” I snorted and didn’t say much else. I didn’t want to disclose all my secrets after all. Hill Base was just the start of my magical military-industrial empire. The existing industry would be split in two just like we planned. One for the citizenry and the other for the guild. But there was still room for a third that I had yet to conceptualize. Luckily, Rhody seemed to answer the final question burning in everyone’s minds. Finally, giving me enough peace to wolf down my meal and return to the dorms with Zakira to smoke and tend to the widgets flowing around in my augmented vision.
As before, there were many things left to be organized and established. Namely, the guild’s name. But I decided that’d be done later, so I cleared out my digital work surface to start from the bottom.
I knew the guild would have at least three components, the first being the civilian population, which would more or less be an extension of what currently existed. Albeit in a new location and with much grander facilities. As designed, they were on the path to becoming a self-sufficient society. In time, they would become a post-scarcity MagiTech society that was neither depended nor dependent on the guild for resources or protection. The guild would often be elsewhere, after all; but would still fight in times of war. Thus they needed a force to protect and police their lands.
The second component was the first side of the coin that was the guild. Specifically, the Living Army, led by Toril. Like the civilians, the guild and each subguild were to have a self-sufficient population, including all types of industries. All other things regarding culture were up to the discretion of Toril and the subguild masters. Thus, naturally, the third component was the Undying Army, which would be led by me. But of course, I would send all types of zombie and skeletal detachments to each unit to act as the primary labor force and cannon fodder, while their Doppelgangers ran communications and logistics. On top of that, I felt it necessary to attach a shadow undead to not just each unit but to have each member be accompanied by one as well. In this, they would be akin to permanent ghost officers, acting to ensure that each unit held the same standards between leaders and serving as officers for their undying subordinates.
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As things went, I realized there was a fourth component. The rest of the undead and whoever would later join my party. Toril and the others had their jobs. Thus others would explore by my side, far away from both the empire and guild, acting as their vanguard. Exploring ahead and most likely getting into trouble wherever we went. In turn leaving ruined lands, uplifted countries, and sprawling necropolis' for them to find between their perilous journeys. As such, I knew I didn’t want anyone with any annoyances like strong morals or a sense of self-righteousness. I wanted chaotic, unruly individuals who weren’t afraid to do dumb shit and break several laws. On top of that, they needed to be resistant; or preferably, immune to necrotic energy and have natural night vision. Zakira was a nice start to that, but I needed more. Around nine or perhaps ten more.
With the basic idea of the guild established, the next step was to build a foundation by settling on a structure, hierarchy, and standard operating procedure; things I debated much up until this point, and so it was quickly formed into an amalgamation of the Roman Legion, the modern military I spent so much time with back on Old Earth, both fictional and nonfictional depictions of Space Marines, and the legendary Saturnian Knights. Efficiently organized, professionally trained, augmented legionaries who specialized in independent operations without support.
Over the course of another blunt, I debated nomenclature for ranks and units before toiling to tailor their titles, pay, benefits, load-outs, and all the other things from top to bottom. And much to my astonishment and dismay, what I ended up with wound up being overkill by leaps and bounds- although, after considering the scale of the Mortal Plane, it perhaps wasn’t enough.
The smallest available unit in the guild was, naturally, a Team. Unlike the teams at the Bodhi Tree, however, each team had only two members. And each squad- or party, was composed of six such teams, plus a Sergeant, a Corporal, a Tinkerer, and a Recovery Witch. Making for a total of eighteen highly skilled individuals per squad, all equipped with an enchanted variation of the standard loadout Giorno made for us months back. Plus their Doppelgangers and an undead partner for everyone.
In other words, a single squad was composed of 54 living and non-living legionaries.
Naturally, that led to astronomically large units standing at the top of the ladder. On top of that, however, some units had additional specialists akin to the medics found in the squads. Each platoon had a Supply Sergeant, for example, while the Teams' Tinkerers and Recovery Witches reported to their platoon Artificers and Medics. At the Company level, the XO took on the duties of a supply officer, and so the company gains a Civil Affairs Lieutenant in exchange. And Battalions gained a Master General and Master Mage to assist with wartime and the arcane.
Naturally, each subsequent unit had a higher tier of the aforementioned specialists until the ranks capped out at the largest unit within the guild- a Legion.
Composed of the Imperator- the commander, the Wiser- XO, and the Abyssal Marshal, they and their five specialists were each slated to be in command of no less than 6,143,115 living members. Making for a ground-breaking total of 18,429,369 living, non-living, and umbral legionaries per Legion. And that wasn’t including the auxiliary forces needed to produce and maintain their equipment or the abundance of other things that needed doing before, during, and after a battle or war. Even then, though, my plans called for no less than 11 Legions to be formed by the time we returned to Maru. And more, I estimated 27 would exist by the time our march around the Mortal Plane was complete. Although one in addition to my own was not to exist on paper, the rest of them would be formed before, during, or after uplifting societies across the realms. Tasked with marching in the wake of my advances, they would explore their theater of the Mortal Plane while I forged a path to Tiatus itself and out to the Plane’s rim.
With that, and a general idea of their headquarters theorized, I moved on to the arduous task of conceptualizing a recruiting method, training regimen, and standard operating procedure for daily operations. As I told the party, I was uncaring as to what type of person joined my guild. Even those I was most disgusted with were capable of being cursed, given a deal, or raised as undead, after all. Making recruiting the easiest task of all, but devising an efficient reception and boot camp wound up taking a bit more time than I bargained for. Eventually, though, I settled on a system that worked and turned my sights on the most important thing of all.
As I again told the party, I wanted the legions to have an exploration-based focus. My main goal in exploring the Plane was to learn its ancient history. But I had other reasons to travel the realms. Naturally, I wanted to capture a dragon and see the other Trees of Life, starting with Betrarth. But I also wanted to see the Hells and, if I could, try Death’s Key on the gate to the Under. After that, I wanted to explore the Inner Reaches as I journeyed to Youtera to train with the elves. After that, I would explore beyond the White Wall until I arrived at Egedil. Then, I assumed I’d explore Nonus, the Shadow Realm, or the Darkworld with Zakira. Or perhaps live in peace until I grew bored enough to explore those places. Or maybe go out into the void in search of that vibrant universe I saw in Telin's hand.
Either way, that was only one side of the coin that was our duty.
Obviously, I wanted my organizations- Legionaries and civilians alike- to defend our assets, allies, and interests. As I decreed long ago, that required each individual to be as capable as possible. That said, I didn’t want to run around the realms playing hero. Nor did I want to be a murderous villain. At the same time, I didn’t want to run around doing whatever people asked of me for coin. I had coins. Millions upon millions of coins. And the people who needed help shouldn’t have to scrounge up what little they had left to save themselves. That, however, left only a few things as a form of payment. Namely, information, corpses, favors, and prisoners. All of which were fine by me. but could prove to be problematic come time for negotiations.
Either way, three hours was what I wound up needing to formulate a good foundation for my legions. All that remained was to think about anything else the legions or civilians may wind up needing in the years to come. Like an artificer. Not for the living army. That was Ed, and the civilians would have another. I wanted- needed an artificer for the undead. Some to brew potions and craft necrotic weapons and foul armor for the finest undead in my employ. Aside from that, I also wanted a Bard in my service so I could do as Henry did and have requiems- or as I call it- boss music play during our battles. The civilians, however, needed many things as well. A plethora of livestock and able bodies, namely. But also the start of a church or cult dedicated to me, assuming my imminent ascension was to be believed. But aside from that, the capital needed resources beyond the gems, metals, and stones pulled from the mountain. And the guild, of course, still needed a name.
But those would come in due time. So I closed out the Guild app and fired up another blunt to begin conceptualizing a new app in my Eternal Eye- a feature I was becoming quite obsessed with. This one, however, was to facilitate the storage of the many enchantments I conceived and to facilitate the designs of the ones to come.
And there would be many to come.
Magical versions of cars, planes, televisions, radios, and everything else that existed back in Sol and beyond of course. But also a laundry list of weapons, clothes, and tools that could only be made possible with my magical affinities. Or that of my friends’.