“ Steel bends and paper tears, our honor is forever eternal!” To say that the Office Supply Department is steeped in tradition is a grave understatement. Considered to be one of the most ancient and powerful Departments in the Wal, every minor Department fears of being conquered by their paper and ink tide. Walled cities of folded paper and mache forts await those who travel within their territory.
For centuries, the ruling Stationary Shogunate have held power over the Department with a stainless steel fist. The current ruling Shogunate are the delegates of six ruling clans: Faber-Castell, Monte-Blanc, Staedler, WHSmith, Maped and Kokuyo. Their descendants united the fractured regions of Office Supplies, School Supplies and Stationary into a singular Department during the Shopping Spree: an era just on the eve of the Fall, where the last holdouts of the Old World fled into the Wal and warred for resources. Whilst their methods were indeed brutal, these six Wal-Lords transformed a region that was once laughed at by the rest of the Wal into a strict, organised military dictatorship.
The main maxim of the Stationari is to impose order and civility, whether by maintaining strict martial law on their peasant population or through their militaristic imperial dogma of conquering and integrating departments into their fold. Shoppers from the Stationary Department are considered to be more fickle and tidy than most inhabitants of the Wal, upholding a strict, regimented schedule that aims to plan for any inconvenience.
The peasants, whilst looked down upon by the Shogunate, are the foundations of this feudalistic society. They are responsible for the harvesting of shelves during times of re-stocking. Their loyalty to the Shogunate is maintained by security
The main coveted power that has kept the Stationary Shogunate and their territories strong is the art of Origami. These papersmiths and crafters are so valued that they are considered first class citizens in Stationary settlements. It is said that a true Origami paper blade can cut a Stocker in half. Numerous departments have attempted to replicate the power of Origami, only making inferior versions at best.
The Stationari Samurai are feared by many and for good reason, considered to be the best trained warriors in the entire Wal and simultaneously, the worst equipped of them all. Trained from birth in the arts of Origami and Brushido, a trainee officially becomes a Stationari Samurai once they fold their first suit of paper armor. The decree to ban staplers and glue guns by the Stationary Shogunate during the Boxing Day Peace Summit has severely reduced their capabilities. Along with their refusal to use technology or weapons from any other departments, . Due to dissatisfaction with the Stationary Shogunate, numerous Stationari Samurai have committed mutiny and fled, becoming mercenaries for hire around the Wal.
Penjas, on the other hand, are known to be one of the best assassins around the Wal. A Stationari recruit has the option to undergo the. The dropout rate is extremely high, with only one out of a hundred making it through the selective process. Whilst a Stationari Samurai is a lumbering warrior clad in layers upon layers of folded sheet paper, a Penja is trained in penmanship, being able to kill eight men in a blink of an eye only using a 2B pencil.
However, their refusal to export origami has led to a lack of goods to supply for economic trade within the Stationary Shogunate. The only exports that the Stationary Shogunate Due to this, the Stationary Shogunate are heavily reliant on importation of vital supplies such as medicine, food and water from other Departments such as Gardening and Pets N Animals.
Their overextension has led to decreased regulation of law in their territories and consequently given rise to criminal elements. Glue trafficking is currently the most profitable of these ventures. While the substance is commonly used for construction, it can act as a potent narcotic in small doses.
The Noble Clothing Houses
One would be foolish and right to believe that Clothing is anything else other than a band of stuck-up nobles, their heads up in the rafters, concerned with otherworldly rights whilst the Wal around them is stuck in perpetual conflict. In truth, the Noble Clothing Brands have managed to maintain their power on an illusory facade of diplomatic ties with departments and domination of the most vital trade routes in the Wal, exerting soft power wherever they see fit. Diplomacy is their strength rather than military might. The lands of Clothing are indeed opulent and majestic compared to the more unsavory regions of the Wal. However, each day within Clothing is full of political conspiring and backstabbing by the nobles, with deals sewn in secret and plots weaved in the dark.
Operating on a monarchical system, the current ruling dynasty of the Noble Clothing Brands are Gucci, the usurpers of the once prominent Armani. Owing their ascendance to royal lineage to their criminal forbearers, the ‘ Gucci Gang’, this cut-throat dynasty has no illusions of honor, willing to do whatever it takes to hold onto the Runway Throne.
Operating on a caste-system, entire families are separated on the quality of material their clothing are designed from. Silk-born and velvet-born is used to designate the upper echelons of nobility, restricted to dynasties allied with the . Nylon and polyester-born are found within the bowels of the Sports Clothing Section, most commonly drafted into the ranks of soldiers. Cotton-borns are considered to be of lesser nobility due to the commonality of their material, most finding their path as merchants or journeymen.
A vast majority of the Clothing Kingdom’s military is composed of sell-swords and mercenaries from other Departments drafted into an informal militia. However, due to their domination of the Clothing shelves, one of their most famous tactics is to reuse the price tags as weapons, attaching them to foes or enemies to attract the attention of the Stockers.
Currently, the Noble Clothing Brands are allied behind the Stationary Shogunate with the Glamagash of Jewelery being a well regarded ally.
" Error 101" If you were to walk into Electronics, the first thing you would notice is the light. Not the eternal flourescent sun of the Wal but a rainbow of psychadelic LEDs, flatscreens and holographic TVs permeating the walls and ceilings. Circuitry and wiring are interlaced through this Wal-Scape, blinking bulbs and flickering diodes dotting the concrete city. Around you is a mad scramble for innovation, new machines being invented and displayed almost every second. You can see a young 1 year old, barely reaching your knees, already cobbling together a makeshift 9-Volt tazer.
The main ideology of the Tronic Temple has its basis around the worship, discovery, preservation and enhancement of old and new technology. Out of all Departments in the Wal, the denizens of the Electronic department are the most paranoid and illusive out of all of them. The Electronics Department hoards its knowledge and tech more greedily than the other Departments, only sharing piece-meals or scraps of it during negotiations or trade agreements. However, most Tronic Tech is completely useless in the hands of anyone else other than a trained Tech Wizard. Anyone who is caught with unsanctioned Tronic tech or dealing in Tronic Tech outside their borders will be hunted down by the most skilled of their Keyboard Warriors.
The Tronic Temple is a quasi-religious technocratic organisation with multiple guilds dedicated towards the worship of electronic brands and CEOs. The Guardians of Gates, the Tesla-Born and the Knights of Zuckerberg are a few of the famous guilds dedicated towards specific areas of technology. In comparison to Pre-Fall engineers and scientists, the Tronic’s Temple scientific method is focused on mostly impractical inventions that have a high chance of hurting the user the more advanced it is.
Study of Wal-Tech is only reserved for the most skilled and eldest Wizards. Due to the hidden workings of these mysterious technologies and the dangerous effects of tampering with their security mechanisms, they are kept under heavy guard. Open source Wal-Tech blueprints are considered to be the holy grail of technology and a dream for any Tech Wizard to discover. Only 3 blueprints have been discovered so far since the inception of the Tronic Temple: the designs for an experimental microwave, a prototypical hoverboard and a Wal-Incorporated interpretation of the shakeweight.
Currently, the departments of Auto N Tires and Homeware have allied behind Tech Support, considerably boosting their political presence within the Wal. Time will test the strength of these newly forged relationships, however.
The Cult of the Smiling One
There is no singular one faction that attracts as much dread, hatred or loathing by all other Departments in the Wal other than the Cult of the Smiling One. Worship of Smiley, their central idol, is banned in most Departments. Secret cults, like infestations, do take root and flourish, taking advantage of the lost, the needy and the weak to remould in their image.
It is hard to recognise a follower at first. Unlike in the early days, where most preferred to wear the uniform of the former employees of Wal-Incorporated, they tend to take a more subtle approach. In battle or when enacting one of their crusades, they don yellow facepaint alongside with their uniform.
The central tenet of the Cult is to maintain the status quo of the Wal at all costs possible. Sabotage of peace treaties, incitement of conflicts between Departments, activating defunct Sec-bots, the Cult of the Smiling One believes that these are necessary acts to maintain the vision that the Great Sam had for the Wal. The tenacity and single-minded religious fervor of their followers is . Hearing the sound of a thousand Smilers cry “ ALWAYS LOW PRICES” haunts the memories of those who have survived their crusades.
Through coincidence or through sheer plain luck, the Cult of the Smiling One has suffered many schisms in their organisation, leading to new splinter groups. The Neo-Smilers and the Frowners are considered to be the two most popular denominations out of the dozens that have formed in these wars. The Neo-Smilers adhere to maintaining the status quo, albeit in a more pacifistic manner rather than the militant methods of their original founders. The Frowners are former Smilers who have become ‘heretical’ in the eyes of the original Cult, believing the Cult of the Smiling One to have strayed away from Sam’s original teachings.
For the Fort!The Dorfs of the Toys Department have led a complicated and tragic history, yearning for the days to return back to their ancestral homelands. In the last few decades, their forts and colonies in the Toy Departments have been overrun and consumed by the rabid bands of NeverGrow, former children who have become psychotic from overconsumption of Age B’ Gone. In order to escape extinction, a majority of the Dorfen Forts chose to fled their isles, sailing across the lakes into the Wider Wal. There is no word of what happened to those who stayed behind, although, Dorfen folklore does tell of a bastion of Dorfs still fighting the infestation of NeverGrow.
Multiple Forts exist within the Bargain Bin such as Fort Monopoly, Fort Lego and Fort Nerf. They have chosen to stay neutral in the conflict between the Stationary Shogunate and the Tronic Temple, focusing on being a beacon for Dorfen refugees.
" To Have Fear is to be Prey."
The Pet-Tamers of Pets N Animals hold an invaluable monopoly, virtue of being the only Department in the Wal to command a fearsome menagerie of mutated household pets. This fearsome reputation is due to their stockpile of mutagenic pet food and supplementations that genetically modify benign species of animals such as hamsters and parakeets into death-dealing monstrosities. Breeders help to maintain their stocks of Pets whilst Rangers and Hunters venture out in the Wal to find new Pets and to eliminate monsters that threaten the sanctity of their settlements. Due to the help of their allies, the Gardening Gnomes, every land that the Pet-Tamers touch virtually becomes a jungle.
The Pet-Masters are again a neutral entity in this conflict, believing that both the Stationary Shogunate and the Tronic Temple are ignorant of the many beasts and horrors that foster within the depths of the Bargain Bin.
" Our hunger will unstock the shelves!"
Out of all the Departments in the Wal, the Grocery Tribes are barbarians that live nomadic lives within the heavily Stocker-infested Department of Grocery. Due to their monopoly of the all-too valuable Grocery shelves, they are almost hostile to every Department within the Wal that they encounter, not willing to humor diplomatic ties or trade deals. It’s lucky that the Grocery Tribes remain fractured and in war with one another almost as they are with the entire Wal. If united, the Grocery Tribes could have every Department at their mercy.
Only the Cereai of the Cereal section are the only faction which has diplomatic ties to other Departments not within the grocery aisles. These holy warriors adorn themselves in thick cardboard boxes, labelled with the iconography of their patron saint. No two Cereai is the same, each following a different ‘path’ depending on who they worship. Examples of famed paths are “ The Path of the Rooster” and “ The Path of the Tiger”.
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