Definition
The corporation turns a badge into a sovereignty. A character owes it IP, a non-compete, an access; it can refuse care, a visa, the name on the patent. The skyscraper is not the plot: the access one cuts is.
It administers lives as a state: HR, clauses, campus, subsidiaries. Housing glued to the contract, a whistleblower who loses the visa, a patent without a name weigh more than a keynote.
Unlike a merchant guild, it does not need to see you. Unlike a research lab, knowledge is only one asset among others — the lever is the contract.
What the faction does to the story
- It switches off. Badge, mail, health badge: tomorrow you no longer enter, anywhere, and that tomorrow has a campus, a school, a family.
- It appropriates. The name on the patent, the idea, the face in the ad. Existing professionally is a permit.
- It rehouses. Campus, visa, the children's school: to leave is to lose everything. The everyday is the clause.
- It internalises the law. Legal is the police. The NDA is a border, stronger than a post in at least one scene.
Structure and levers
| Role | Concrete power | Scene lever |
|---|---|---|
| Direction / board | Merger, layoffs, diplomacy | Close a site, sell a team |
| HR / internal security | Badge, file, access | Switch off, transfer, silence |
| Legal | Clauses, lawsuits, NDA | Threaten, settle, delay |
| Key employee / whistleblower | Knowledge, proofs, public face | Speak, flee, negotiate one's name |
Anatomy of the faction
| Layer | Concrete detail | Narrative effect |
|---|---|---|
| Badge | Access, health, a closed campus | The everyday is cut without a keynote |
| Patent | Absent name, seized idea, ad face | Every work scene is also a theft scene |
| Clause | NDA, non-compete, glued visa | Leaving costs everything; staying costs the voice |
| Subsidiary | Closed site, sold team, de facto state | The corp is not a single CEO |
Scenes that work
- The switched-off badge: one no longer enters, one is no longer treated, the children no longer have school. Nobody argues the company; the turnstile does it.
- The name absent from the patent: the idea, the face, the ad. To speak is to lose the visa; to stay silent is to let the contract lie.
- The NDA against care: the whistleblower holds the proofs. Health, housing, commute hold to the badge. To choose is already to lose everything — or to hush everything.
Pitfalls to avoid
- Org-chart scenery — Counter-example: named subsidiaries, holding acronyms, a keynote — and no badge switched off. Cyberpunk scenery does not write the corp.
- The demon CEO — Counter-example: a single villain in a suit. The corp is a system (HR, legal, lab), or it is a tyrant.
- The cyber-logo — Counter-example: neon, zero clause. You have a place, not a faction.
- The whistleblower with no cost — Counter-example: the truth comes out, the character keeps the visa. If the debt has not cost, it did not exist.
Genre variations
- SF / cyberpunk: bodies, implants, private cities.
- Thriller: an NDA, a leak, a trial that will never take place.
- Literary: open-plan, burnout, a badge that outlives the character.
- Romance: to love outside is to talk; the non-compete becomes the chaperone.
Twists
- The corp protects against the state: the badge is the only permit; switching off was already a border.
- The patent is empty: they were selling fear, not the invention; the absent name had never had a truth.
- HR is the investigator: the internal file opens the crime; security already held the crime story.
Famous examples
SF
- Neuromancer, William Gibson
- The Space Merchants, Pohl & Kornbluth
Series
- Severance
Resources
- Contrast with: merchant guild, research lab, hospital ward.
- Glossary: worldbuilding, political system, stakes.
Revision checklist
- Does a character owe a badge, IP, a clause?
- Can the corp refuse care, visa, the name on the patent?
- Does the everyday depend on the contract?
- Do HR, legal and lab contradict one another?
- Does a scene depend on a cut access?