“There is no magic but science, and evidence casts the light of truth.”
Luciole Ltd. doesn’t have a monopoly on technology and innovation in Auxientia, but they are the largest company with access to the most resources, and the city relies upon Luciole railways, Luciole airships, Luciole electricity, Luciole steam power, Luciole automatons, and Luciole lumenstone technology to function.
In spite of its status as Auxientia’s most successful private company, Luciole Ltd. views its workers as part of an extended and exclusive Luciole family. Whether working from the colossal honeycomb-shaped “Hive” tower or strolling the Luciole-designed Rose Arbor overlooking the Cloudfalls or sailing the fair skies aboard Luciole Ltd.’s fleet of passenger airships, the Lucioles design experiences to innovate and inspire.
As a member of Luciole Ltd. you belong to the company that other inventors, scientists, and gearwrights dream about. Your working conditions are fair and clean, praise is awarded with more frequency than criticism, wages increase with experience and merit, and every year Luciole Ltd.’s fame rises with the release of their latest innovation. If a united city of exiles and Bāhira was Auxientius’s vision, then its modern incarnation, implemented with a thousand brilliant steamworks, electric power, and lumenstone technology might have been his wildest dream.
By design, Luciole Ltd. has made your technologies accessible, affordable, and indispensable to the people of Auxientia, and in so doing you have created a massive audience that relies upon your inventions. Competition arises from the Gilded’s industrial clans from time to time, however in most instances Luciole designs are superior, their inventions more accessible, or the power of their brand is simply greater. Sometimes Luciole Ltd. purchases competing patents or brings the lucky inventor into their exclusive fold. Since life among the Lucioles is the dream of most inventors, they have little true competition for their position.
But Luciole Ltd. is not solely run by scientists and inventors. Old money Luciole aristocrats manage the company as executive officers, and a staff of thousands keeps the massive organization running, from office administrators to construction crews, and individuals of all careers can be found within the brass and glass honeycomb of Luciole Ltd.
Lumenstone to Steam
The Luciole founding members experimented upon the lumenstone that the exiles discovered in the Valley of the Heart and learned to tap the power of this rare mineral as a battery. After the Bright City fell, the Lucioles planned the new city of Auxientia. They constructed a “grid” of lumenstone-powered modules connected by a network of cables, and thus began the Steel Age, or the “First Industrial Age.”
As a battery, however, lumenstone can expire; if not monitored, it can become volatile. In addition, natural lumenstone deposits dwindled dangerously and Bāhira took a stand against further destructive mining of lumenstone in their ancestral lands. While the lumenstone-powered grid continues to power much of Auxientia, most new technologies eschew the use of lumenstone for steam power and electricity. Innovations in miniaturized lumenstone components—like decision engines for automatons—keep lumenstone in use, but only for specialized uses that power sources like steam and electricity cannot yet replicate.
Airship Wrights, Automaton Builders
Engineered to span the Auxientian realm from mountain to mountain, Luciole Ltd.’s remarkable steam-powered airships float across the broad country like leviathans of the sky. This is the primary method of travel for wealthy Auxientians and anyone that wishes to travel from one part of Auxientia to another in a short amount of time without the dangers inherent in travel by rail or coach.
In contrast to the great Luciole ships, Bāhira created their own smaller wyvern-prowed sloops, which use lumenstone for lift and rely upon the wind to carry them from place to place.
Forward Thinkers
Lucioles don’t bother overly much with histories of wars or politics, but they know a great deal about the history of innovation. Rather than gaze upon the past, Lucioles look to the future. Their plans are like intricate gearworks, each one turning another, turning another, to motivate the future of Auxientia, although the extent of their plans and future technologies are closely guarded secrets involving a vast number of patents and inventions.
Luciole Limited
To the outside observer, Luciole Ltd. is a private utopia bereft of the troubles, sorrows, and cares of the world. But watching the Luciole workers return to the Hive, to their steamworks and gears and manufacturing facilities, another truth becomes evident: in spite of their many privileges, Lucioles are like the worker bees represented on their company logo; the Luciole vision and culture is incorporated in every aspect of their lives. Many Lucioles can improvise their way out of a tricky situation with access to the right materials, but in matters of politics and warfare they are deaf and blind.
In Recent Times…
A Changing Power Structure. The Luciole is a private corporation run in accordance with its foundational bylaws, which put in place a board of directors, currently in flux. The board consists of three chief officers to handle day-to-day operations: Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operations Officer, and Chief Technology Officer. The bylaws have been amended and examined to keep up with the times and ensure that the Luciole don’t lose sight of people in search for profit.
Labor Unions and Fair Working Conditions. As the Luciole themselves are limited in number, they rely on workers outside their faction (mostly Irregulars) to man their factories aid with production. Labor unions ensure fair compensation and excellent benefits for all non-Luciole employees.
A Darkening Past. Things have not always been well with the Luciole. In the recent past, they have engaged in predatory practices in the name of profit and progress. Not all the Luciole scientists have had the city’s best intentions at heart—Climus Lily originally had the company’s full support, and Project Little Bird’s human experimentation happened under the company’s watch.
Leaders:
Maren Tinker, CEO.
Ariel de Rais (NPC), COO.
Vivian “Viv” Bower, CTO
