The Veridian Group

The Veridian Group holds a position of unique power within the Tervalkyre Empire. They are the providers of sustenance, the gatekeepers of the earth's bounty, their influence extending across the vast farmlands that blanket Vesperia. They feed the Empire, but their control over food production and distribution is a double-edged blade – a source of both stability and a subtle weapon wielded to maintain order and suppress dissent.
The Veridian Group's reach extends far beyond simply growing crops. They invest heavily in research, exploring the applications of magic and magitech in agriculture, developing new farming techniques adapted to Yrdde’s unique floating islands, and creating synthetic food substitutes designed to address the challenges of feeding a growing population in a sky-sea world where arable land is a precious commodity.
This control over food production, distribution, and the very science that sustains life, gives them immense political leverage. They can manipulate prices, influence trade agreements, and even hold entire cities hostage through carefully orchestrated shortages.

Leadership

Lady Elara Veridia, Acting CEO

Elara has taken the reins of the Veridian Group after her husband’s mysterious disappearance. She navigates the treacherous waters of Imperial commerce with a combination of charm, strategic brilliance, and a willingness to crush any who underestimate her. Her recent consolidation of power, however, has created enemies within the corporation, ambitious rivals who whisper of her inexperience and plot her downfall.

The Agricultural Council

Composed of representatives from the Empire’s most influential farming families and a handful of mages specializing in Earth magic, this council advises Elara on matters of crop production, resource management, and the implementation of new technologies. Their loyalties are divided between upholding traditional farming practices, embracing innovation, and, most importantly, securing the continued prosperity of their own families and their lucrative contracts with the Veridian Group.

Regional Overseers

The Empire’s vast agricultural territories are divided into regions, each overseen by an Overseer responsible for managing farms, enforcing quotas, and ensuring the smooth flow of food to distribution centers. These positions are often filled by ambitious individuals, their success measured by their ability to increase yields, suppress worker unrest, and navigate the complex web of Imperial regulations.

Function

The Veridian Group controls the entire cycle of food production, from seed to plate.

Agricultural Production

They own and operate vast farms, hydroponic facilities powered by Yrddestones, and even experimental sky gardens located on the highest platforms of Aetheris, where genetically modified crops are cultivated in carefully controlled environments. They employ a mix of human laborers, Chimera slaves, and automated farming machines powered by a combination of yrddestone and magitech.

Research and Development

The Veridian Group invests heavily in research, seeking both to improve traditional farming methods and to develop new, sustainable food sources. Their laboratories, staffed by a mix of botanists, alchemists, and mages, experiment with creating synthetic food substitutes, enhancing crop resilience to magical radiation, and even exploring ethically dubious methods of manipulating the Aetherial flow to accelerate growth or create entirely new species of plants.

Distribution and Control

They manage a complex network of distribution centers, warehouses, and transport ships, ensuring the flow of food to the Empire’s cities and military outposts. This control over distribution is a source of immense power, allowing them to manipulate prices, create artificial shortages, or even reward favored regions with abundance while others face scarcity.

"The Veridian Group. They feed the Empire. Literally. Which, let’s be honest, gives them more power than any magitech weapon or snarling Arbiter. Control the food supply, and you control the masses. It’s a tale as old as time, honey, and the Veridian Group, with their emerald-green logo and carefully cultivated image of benevolent abundance, play it to perfection.
I grew up on one of their farms – those endless fields stretching out under the Vesperian sun, all neat rows of genetically modified crops and yrddestone-powered irrigation systems. It's impressive, in a sterile, slightly unsettling kind of way. Like nature itself has been tamed, packaged, and branded with the Emperor’s seal of approval.
And Lady Veridia? That woman’s a force of nature – all pearlescent smiles and a mind sharper than a Runecarver’s chisel. She’ll charm you with promises of prosperity, then subtly raise the price of bread while you’re still swooning. A true artist of manipulation, darling, a verdant rose with thorns of steel.
But those gleaming laboratories, those whispers of alchemical experiments and genetically modified… everything? That’s where the real story lies. They’re not just feeding the Empire; they're reshaping it, one bite at a time. Enhancing crops, creating synthetic food substitutes, dabbling in who-knows-what kind of bio-magical concoctions.
The Veridian Group isn’t just a corporation; it's a silent architect of the Empire, shaping its future, controlling its people through the most basic of needs. And that, darlings, is a power far more dangerous than any army or any god. It's the power to not only feed a nation, but to starve it, too. And that, my dears, is a story I intend to uncover, one delicious morsel at a time." - E Dawnstrider