Mirage delivery and communication

The document you are looking at is a dedicated journal article. According to the introduction, it was written by the Student Times, and is related to a major postal service.

Special Issue - Mirage's anniversary

As this Special Issue is being released, the University is celebrating the 170th anniversary of one of the Republic’s core institutions: The Mirage Delivery and Communication corporation. Because the journal is playing its part in the celebration, and because it owes its efficient printing to some of the technological developments of the company, this Issue will be dedicated to the history of the institution.

by Pouaseuille

Postal beginnings

Every great thing starts small, the Mirage Service is no exception. Although it has completely changed since, archives show the institution was first founded in 58 TR, from the remains of the earlier republican postal services. Because most postal services had been developed independently before the trade republic, communication was notoriously slow in the country. In addition, the violent nomadic incursions of the years 55 – 57 TR left the Republic in a state of economic dismay, which collapsed even more the communication services. In fact, when information needed to be quickly relayed, the effective solution typically was to directly appoint a courier.
The service first formed as part of a massive investment effort from Hubrivay to put the republic’s communication services back on their feet. While the main objective was to ensure a possible communication between cities, an efficient postal communication with the walls of a city was becoming just as critical, as the republic was becoming more complex and more urban.
In its first decade of existence, Mirage’s main challenge was one of recognition. Local postal services and Condori Courier guilds were often partly corrupted by mafias and organized criminals, who did not look favourably upon this large organizing project trying to replace them. The service regularly fell victim of violent acts, which forced the involvement of local police forces, and the development of postal militia.
The service however, was victorious. Protected contracts and high salaries made the organization attractive for independent Couriers, and the logistic standardization meant it was able to outcompete the corrupted postal guilds in spite of their aggressivity. Finally, after ten years of a competition so violent it is sometimes called the Postal War, Mirage surfaced as the nation’s leading postal service, to the point where it became financially self-sufficient.

by Pouaseuille

Technological advancements

It is often argued that the success of the Mirage service was in part due to the Great Industrialization, and it adapting to the technological advancements that follow. However, according to historian Gram Beetlenod, things re not quite that simple, and it may very well be the other way around.
“You see, Mirage did not just profit from the surrounding industrialization: it also took an active part in it! (…) Of course, technologies such as the Optical telegraph or the flying cargo were not initially developed by the service, but adapted to it. Yet on the other hand, modern logistic tools such as standardized printing and stamping were first developed by Mirage! They were only later adapted to a wider array of fields.” Indeed, modern printing presses were first developed by Mirage as means to quickly relay internal documents or to communicates information from optical telegraphs. They are now used in every literary field, including this journal.
Yet according to Gram, “The most visible element of Mirage’s direct investment in technological research was the active part it took in the development of the National Railway”.

The split

The National Railway project started at the very end of the last century. The discovery of Powdercore motors in the 190s quickly lead to the idea in the service to use such motors in propelled vehicles. After all, communication fluxes were quickly increasing between the largest cities of the country, and a network of well-guided vehicles could only increase the reliability of the service for heavier goods.
The Railway was first developed thanks to intense collaboration between several of the Brivayan major guilds. Everyone had an interest to it. However, the Riverine Logician Guild and Mirage were the most invested by far. By the year 202, eighty percent of the Railway’s construction were coming from the two guilds.
As the first Railway lines were inaugurated in late 208, however, a major political unbalance was uncovered. It quickly became clear how profitable the development could become, and how much of a political advantage any extent guild would gain from owning the line. After a season of political turmoil, the First Figmenton Accords of Spring 209 signed the severance of Mirage and the Riverine Guild from their ownership of the Railway, and the creation of the National Railway Guild.

The modern Mirage, a political behemoth

After the split, Mirage underwent some heavy reorganization. Investigations reported the head of the administration had been conspiring with the Riverine Guild outside of law, and were planning on heavily profiting from the Railway. Most of the administrative and political leaders of the institution were removed, and replaced by younger and more trusted members. The before-named Mirage Service was renamed Mirage Delivery and Communication, or Mirage Guild, and largely focused on postal and telegraphic communication.
In spite of this reorganization, the modern Mirage Guild remains on the front of the Brivayan political scene. Its high number of employees and wealth provide it a large number of seats at the Corporate Assembly. Besides, most other guilds and cities of the Republic rely heavily on the service and its easy accords with the Riverine and the Railway Guilds for administration, and transport of goods. Even nowadays, the organization is going strong, and is investing heavily in an array of fields, from luxury goods to university training. In particular, Mirage has been one of the leading investors of the University since 218. Students may want to thank them for the recent furniture change, along with the new books we regularly get, and finally for this independent journal!

— The Student Times, 15th Autumn 228 TR

Next to the document, you notice a small piece of paper marked with an official seal and a stamp. No text is visible, as if the paper had just been used for tests.

by Pouaseuille

by Pouaseuille