The shower was hot and the elevator was long. Draughton stewed throughout. To catch up in short, over the fifty earthen years recent, the New Human Empire had been in a state of massive expansion. Originally a small feudal empire homeworlded on Trinovantum in Orion, the NHE declared a second empire and began reclaiming Old Human Imperial space. Within six months of the expansion, the NHE and their mysterious and inexplicably advanced army showed up on the doorstep of Earth, demanding the kingdom’s keys. Earth and her corrupt, fat nobles fell over with only a couple rounds of orbital shelling. Pyotr the Bear, the chancellor of Trinovantum had declared a new capital and himself the Bear King. 

Immediately following the NHE’s massive win at Earth and the subsequent payday, the new lordship of Earth quickly sought out to absorb the nearby vassalages and desmenes of Earth. When push came to shove, most bore no loyalty to the Earthen Republic. Those who did, were pitilessly massacred and their planet glassed. In a fervorous haze, the New Human Empire declared a sacred galactic Union of all human civilizations under one supreme race. They declared the subspecies of humanity, alienated after the fall of the Old Human Empire and forced down a new evolutionary path, including orcus, alfs, and dwelen, to be aberrations and genetic corruptions of true human form. This turned out to be a major point of contention for the colonies declared human, despite their alven or orcus majority. Messy business had ensued.

The NHE, with its main focus deemed to be hellbent on the arms of military and faith, began feverishly signing letters of marque to human captained ships and contracts to bands of human majority security forces. This was headed by a subdivision of the imperial defense corps, known as the GID and the birth of giddies, agents of the information trade and galactic spy networks.

The Galactic Information Directorate acted as the eyes, ears, and bureaucratic brain to the main body of the NHE. Though a major aim of the new empire was to create cozy, sufficient lives for the average, tax paying imperial (human) citizen ,the GID was tasked with managing agents and operatives out in the field, ever so slightly influencing the politics of border worlds toward a more agreeable relationship with the empire. 

It would be unseemly for the glorious and beloved Imperial Military to shake down third world kingdoms and tribes for their desirable resources. That is why the GID was fond of using private security firms to organize operations under contract to get dirty work done. It is widely known that the brother of the Bear King, Vladimir, frustrated at the wealth and status of the family going to his older brother, started one of the most successful private security agencies in the empire; The White Fire Corporation. In turn, it is no mystery why or how White Fire came to be the benefactor of the vast majority of GID contracts. 

The legality was bypassed once Vlad stepped down as president, but remained a prominent member of a 12 person board that oversaw the firm’s philosophy and decision making ethics. The system was transparent, but the public didn’t seem to mind and nobody lost sleep. 

One such board member, was known very well by the criminal underbelly of the Sol System. The true name of The Houndmaster had been purposefully scrubbed from history. It is thought that the moniker had been given to reference his prizewinning family of genetically curated mastiffs. Those worth their salt knew that the name indicated that he kept the local lords leashed and obedient. The Houndmasters Library is a place of modern folklore. It is said to house thousands of hours of video tape of politicians doing things that would ruin their careers. This is the muzzle on which he places them, and calls their funding and influence as tribute to keep it hidden away. Blackmail is too crude of a word. It was control. 

Once The Houndmaster leashed you, there was no escape.