AXE: The Alliance of eXploration and Expansion

Though forced in relatively close proximity, the people in Bastion are quite the diverse folk. Politics, regimes, wars, and battles between warring factions mar their long history. It’s a surprise they haven’t managed to all kill each other.

Though many grudges are still harbored between factions, they managed to, at least publically, put aside their differences in an effort to tackle the challenges of a world cleared of the miasma.

This quickly spiralled into a mess of bureaucracy with almost every different faction within Bastion needing to approve of an operation. To skirt this issue, many factions hire mercenaries and adventurers to take care of their specific needs.

But perhaps the greatest boon is the freedom for explorers to go out completely unsupervised, allowing critical details to be brought back into Bastion without a worry. These explorers often didn’t emulate the perfect ideal of their faction, but were more often than not trained from hodgepodge of different styles, masters, and some intuitive thinking. 

-- From Poisoned World, Master Document

The Establishment of the Alliance of Exploration and Expansion aka AXE

AXE emerged as a workaround to the governments of Bastion’s stifling bureaucracy and infighting. Though similar, run-of-the-mill mercenary organizations already existed, AXE appeared and rose to power with astonishing rapidity. Given that, the general perception of the public is that AXE had either been in the works for a long time just waiting for the barrier to fall one day, or that it was backed by private interests with deep pockets, extensive political influence, and a lack of patience for the speed at which the existing governments operated.

Despite their mission statement being fairly self-evident, it’s worth stating that AXE is a mercenary organization and are not fond of bureaucratic entanglements. The bulk of their resources and effort are focused on exploration, and they have already begun gearing up to assist strata governments with colonization efforts, and are likely to direct those efforts with an eye toward profitability.

Update: With efforts to colonize Beyond the Lake being greatly stifled due to the chaotic and hostile nature of the region, AXE has developed an Interior Concerns Unit which is known to work (reasonably) closely with OoPS (Office of Post-action Sanitation), i.e. the "Clean It Up" crew.

AXE’s public modus operandi is the design, oversight, and dispatch of exploratory, freelance adventure parties, with an emphasis on missions that take them outside of Bastion to Beyond the Lake. That being said, they’ve dedicated significant resources to house and train candidates and recruit judiciously with an eye for capability and loyalty.  Most members of AXE occupy one of the following ranks.

• Informant - Someone that AXE pays for info, typically concerning a mission - but there are other things that interest AXE. 
• Freelancer - Someone who respects both a healthy paycheck and values silence. (Unless a PC has done something to get on AXE’s bad side, it’s assumed that they’ve already passed the necessary background checks.) 
• Agent - Freelancers who have proven themselves and are willing to take on contract status with AXE. Would require at least 3 to 5 ventures depending on how much the prospect put themselves out there on behalf of AXE.
• Specialist - A very trusted Agent with “select” skills and/or abilities. 
• Coordinator - An Extremely Trusted individual who knows how to recruit and direct a team of assets (agents). 
• Administrator - The folks who run AXE. 

Resources

AXE is very well funded; the amount of resources at their disposal fuels the theory that they are a pre-existing organization simply waiting for the right moment to spring to light. They are known to have three major Guild Houses as well as a dozen or more minor ones (a necessity given the size of Bastion). Here are the three major Guild Houses:

The Library on Strata 90 (not to be confused with The Great Library of Draxis) is their administrative seat, and is rarely accessible by anyone with less than full “Agent” status. The Library was the bequeath of a very well traveled Sage/Wizard who was known to employ an extremely efficient administrative-minded Lunarian.

Upstairs on Strata 73 is home to the personnel services hub and secondary AXE library (very well appointed, but not nearly so well as The Library). The “daily chores” of AXE are performed here; most new recruits of high potential are screened and directed for assignment from here. Update: Recently The Garden Parlor - a quickly popular AXE employee lounge and restaurant was opened down the street from Upstairs. It has quickly become the hangout of AXE affiliates with space to rest and offices for meetings. Though two separate buildings, The Garden Parlor is officially part of Upstairs.

Downstairs is the Logistics division of AXE. It’s housed in Strata 2 upon one of the old Mass Exodus points used in early days to move large groups of people and stuff further up Bastion as better living areas were prepared. They have access to at least one Very Large Glyph (30’ by 30’, used for moving up to 100 humans, or a few stagecoaches complete with horses and riders) and storage facilities on this level.

Other Guild Houses

AXE has minor guild houses On perhaps a dozen strata for the purpose of housing, recruitment, and social networking (aka monitoring). A few houses serve specialized purposes however, such as training, and there is one house that is rumored to have a very talented surgeon/healer.

NPC Spotlight

Ms. Kalia Halthorn (AXE Coordinator)

High Concept: Face of Axe
Trouble:  "So Much To Do, So Little Time"
Aspect:  "Don’t Touch Me"

Summary:  She is one of the most frequent point of contact between AXE and its extra-organizational assets: adventurers, politicians, informants, and the occasional concerned citizen with a complaint. She’s got a lot on her plate, consequently she speaks in a terse manner befitting the lack of time she has available to put up with any shenanigans.  She bears the unique burden of being one of the few people in Bastion acquainted with both the full extent of what the Miasmic corruption can do to living things and the germ theory of disease.

Appearance & Mannerisms:  She is a human with straight, black hair of little longer than shoulder length, and wears conservative, dark-colored uniforms with the minimum of AXE ornamentation. She carries herself with a confidence and poise that is easily dispelled when she’s irritated, which is a common occurrence.

Mr. Cutter (AXE Coordinator; Asset Tracking Specialist; Office of Special Dispositions)

High Concept: Asset Tracking Specialist. “Where did we put that Freelancer?”
Trouble: Not enough cheese in the world for the job I do!
Aspect: Just go where I told you… what do you mean there’s a wyvern there?

Summary: Mr. Cutter is a 3’ 6” bespectacled Drexel who stays busy making sure things and people get from point A to point B. He’s a resource coordinator of Personnel Services and is constantly modifying maps and information to make sure they stay current. Often called to The Library for briefings, he’s sure he needs a clone...