The Book of Knots - Jags

Book of Knots - The Caretakers
64
its clutches are legion. Where a human must manage production quotas,
a legion of uniformed cats must catch (and kill) uniformed rats (who
are part of the scavenger teams). Along the outer walls and around the
squalid, poisoned villages that house the workers (and children as young
as three must work) there are anti-aircraft guns and turrets and barbed
wire.
The truth is that The Factory itself is alive and cognizant and it does
produce things. Weapons and soldiers for the Army of No roll off
its assembly lines. It produces toxic waste to be dumped throughout
Wonderland and the upper Chessboards. It produces waste heat to try to
hasten along the final burn-out of the universe (this is a conceit: the laws
of thermodynamics don’t apply in Wonderland). It expands to swallow
woodlands. It opens branches to hire workers. It makes policy to destroy
them (the most cleverly and subtly sadistic individuals are, of course,
promoted to HR ... just as in reality).
Personality
Mostly what you’ll speak to is one of the Executives—a “spokesperson”
for the Factory who may either “spin” (giving you glowing lies about
the work that is done) or threaten (if you are perceived as not doing your
job). When it does speak or communicate (in a cacophony of clanging
metal) it is slow, patient, and bitter. It is showing what the universe is
really like for all its wards and servants—giving them the unvarnished
experience. They ought to be grateful, really.
Encounter Threat
Medium-high. If you are caught on Factory Grounds without a visitorpass,
you are a worker and, if you aren’t working, you’re slacking!
This can result in punishments (ranging for humiliation to horrific
execution depending on who catches you). If you approach from the
outside and get a visitor pass, there will usually be some offers made for
employment—and sometimes some industrial accidents arranged if you
say ‘no.’
Attitude Towards Man
Man is fuel for the machine and must be properly refined in order to
be used. The Factory would like to turn the entirety of space-time on
Chessboard Zero into more of it. On a personal level, Man is a dirty,
lazy, misdirected slacking employee with no sense of decorum, personal
pride, or honor: these things come from being tireless, obedient workers
and humankind must be shaped into them (or scared into doing a poor
approximation).
Dramas
There are many prisoners of the Factory and many tragedies within it.
Everyone wants to get out (although most don’t see this as an escape
attempt—but rather an need to find another job elsewhere, something
that is impossible for most of them with the schedules they keep).