Conference Z
Conference Z is an clandestine think tank funded by the Aspis Consortium unknown even to most of its leadership. It operates across the Inner Sea region and beyond and engages mostly in obscure, occult research.123
History
Conference Z was founded by Jhandorage Vaulnder Alexayn, a co-founder of the Aspis Consortium. In Aspis Consortium Inter-Branch Directive 1111, Alexayn organised a conference where the Consortium's best minds discussed radical means of expansion and profit; he subsequently judged it so successful that, since then, a percentage of the Consortium's annual budget has been deducted to the think tank. Conference Z's existence was only leaked to the public once in 4652 AR, when Pathfinder Society agents intercepted Inter-Branch Directive 1111 when ambushing an Aspis Consortium messenger and subsequently published it:12
| “ | Research department heads, electrum agents: Aspis Building, Ostenso. Dawn, 8–24. Conference Z. | ” |
Structure
Since its creation, Conference Z has been clandestine and free of taboos or conventions, especially after numerous executives pushed it further down into the depths of the Consortium. Most of the Aspis leadership has forgotten about the secret annual budget allocation to Conference Z. A. X. Adrius is the only current Consortium executive who knows of Conference Z's existence, and keeps its work a secret.12
Professor Tantis Mais, who resides in hidden laboratories under the Aspis Building, has been serving as executor of Conference Z for more than 40 years, and is the only living person with full knowledge of Inter-Branch Directive 1111. However, even he is not fully aware of all operations that began before his tenure. Scholars funded by Conference Z regularly report to Mais, and each keeps their own staff and security, who never hear the name Conference Z and do not know that the Aspis Consortium funds their work. All electrum agents possess documents allowing them to appropriate Consortium assets if necessary. A cabal of nearly identical agents clad in black, who report directly to Mais, carry out his orders, monitor underperforming ventures, and silence those who know too much about Conference Z.1
Operations
Little information about Conference Z or its agents, operations or goals could be verified. Its cells engage in all kinds of bizarre and dangerous studies, like alien languages, biological hypnosis, elder sciences, enhanced cryptozoology, geothermic industry, immortality, interplanar economics, mass teleportation, psychic enrichment, revivified prophecy, and temporal redundancy. Some projects have officially been suspended, but still receive funding nearly equal to that of active ones.1
References
For additional resources, see the Meta page.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Jason Bulmahn et al. (2014). Occult Mysteries, p. 20. Paizo Inc. ISBN 978-1-60125-649-2
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Thurston Hillman. (2016). First Taste of Eternity, p. 3. Paizo Inc.
- ↑ Thurston Hillman. (2015). Agents of Evil, p. inside front cover. Paizo Inc. ISBN 978-1-60125-801-4