Arcadia

Arcadia

A luxury-goods manufacturer, highly diversified, but excelling in high-end fashion and electronics as well as magical supplies and media management. Arcadia's bio-tech division is also industry-leading in many areas, offering unique and highly sought after treatments such as Essence Restoration. People who have looked into the numbers find it obvious that Arcadia should be a large AAA megacorporation based on their advanced tech, and apparent profits, yet Arcadia is only a medium sized AA. For this reason Arcadia is often derided by business professionals as an example of bad management and feel-good philosophy. Arcadia's handling of Lyrium in particular is a current hot-topic of baffling behavior. It is assumed that Arcadia fritters away huge sums of money on feel-good initiatives and needlessly pampering its employees. Arcadia seems to have large amounts of “missing money” despite its achievements

Those in the know about such things believe Arcadia to be a megacorporation that runs a significant paranormal operations division; this is not accurate however. An accurate statement would be that Arcadia is a paranormal operations division that runs a significant megacorporation. Virtually all of Arcadia's open activities are a front or support system for its primary missions: the protection of paranormals from humanity, and the protection of humanity from paranormals. Arcadia shelters sapient spirits and paranormal creatures, while investigating and resolving any sort of incidents wherein magic or paranormal phenomena have been involved.

Leosa Belnades

Arcadia believes in the peaceful coexistence of awakened, mundanes, and paranormals, preferentially setting up its agents in a classic “One of us, one of them” configuration, wherein a mundane agent or normal mage is paired with a paranormal of some sort. Arcadia is aware of the existence of rare individuals who have manifested strange powers, essentially humans with critter-powers, who they also seek out, protect from other parties, and employ liberally. Arcadia provides fake SINs, living arrangements and lifestyle aid for paranormals who would otherwise have difficulty interacting with the human world. It's staff is quite cosmopolitan, its 15 member board of directors contains no less than 2 free spirits, 3 pixies, a glimmerling, and a talking cat, as well as some mundanes and conventional mages. Arcadia's CEO, Leosa Belnades, is an oracle with mysterious powers not explained by current magical theory. All of this is kept quite secret however, and those members who are known publicly have normal human or metahuman cover-identities.

Day-jobs with Arcadia are highly sought-after, as they often pay up to twice as much as normal, although most people find Arcadia's selection process to be arcane. In truth, Arcadia selects for personal ethics and philosophy as well as exceptional performance.

Arcadia's paranormal operations divisions, due to the unique nature of the job's qualifications, are often quite small by megacorporate standards, but they are exceptionally well-funded and supplied. Indeed, outside of charity, virtually all of Arcadia's “missing money” goes into paranormal operations, magical and magitech research, and Arcadia's famously high staff pay. The short-handedness however often necessitates the hiring of shadowrunners, which most operations managers view as an opportunity to audition new agents. Arcadia favors subtlety and the use of force only when necessary, although elimination of irredeemable or highly pernicious targets is often desirable. Of equal importance however, Arcadia favors those who are willing to go above and beyond to help those in need, and who show dedication to the cause of paranormal rights and the responsible use of magic.

Arcadia is the Nemesis of Aztechnology.