It dealt with that one fact of life that no one likes to talk about but everyone has to face one day: death.

Necromantia was a society that not only recognized death, but it revered and respected it far more than even life. In fact, death to them was a goddess, known then as Entropis, the “little good death.” To the Necromantians, death was a positive thing as opposed to something to be feared and their everyday life, even their architecture, reflected this viewpoint. While the Necromantians were by no means an uncivilized lot—quite the opposite!—there were some facets of their culture that could easily give an outsider that impression, namely their history of human sacrifice (scenes of which are often depicted in their art and architecture), their creative ways of punishing criminals by flesh-forging them (that is, literally molding their flesh into an object that could be used, an excruciating process), and their habit of recycling the bodies of the dead by reanimating them and turning them into zombies, the most obedient sort of servant or soldier. Their cities may have been a bit off-putting, as well; due to the abundance of death magics being used, clothes tended to wear thing unusually fast, food would go bad quickly, and even the people themselves somehow looked unusually drawn.

Because of their respect and reverence for death, at the top of their society were the Necromancers, those skilled in the most complex of death magics.

But despite all this, the Necromantians were always an advanced people, and they always had a thirst for knowledge and interest in all scholarly matters. They developed steam power before any of the other countries, were home to a well established school of Necromancy—which was also a great center of learning in the country, complete with one of the largest libraries in existence—and their interest and familiarity in how the humanoid body worked, in life and in death, only propelled them onward into more complex studies.

This desire for knowledge never changed as the centuries flew by and technology advanced. Oh no, the Necromantians were actively involved in it, and some of the world’s greatest inventions were the work of native Necromantians. Some of the cruelest devices were, too. It wasn’t that the Necromantians were evil by any means, though; they simply lacked the belief that other cultures tend to have, the view that the humanoid body is sacred.

Eventually, the rest of the world started to accept the Necromancers more as they saw what wonders they were capable of creating. Their understanding of the humanoid body lead to medical breakthroughs, as well as advances in biological engineering and nanotechnology. More Necromantians immigrated to the mainland, many landing successful careers with a multitude of corporations and laboratories. Necromantia was soon not so cut off from the rest of the world as it had once been.

Back on the isles, however, disaster struck.

Some scientists specializing in studying various diseases and viruses accidentally created a super virus, and before they could contain it, it broke out. An aggressive airborne virus and highly contagious, it didn’t take long for it to cause an epidemic, resistant to every medication that was thrown at it. Not even healing magic could cure it. Necromantia was thrown into a state of panic and, ultimately, had to be quarantined.

In the end, the only way left to deal with the disease was to destroy the virus at the source and ensure it could not spread to the mainland.

A neutron bomb may seem extreme, but it did the trick. It destroyed all biological matter on the isles yet left all the structures eerily intact while all that remained of the inhabitants and animals that once lived there were ghostly shells. It was the only option in a desperate situation and, by that point, there was nothing left to save, anyway; anyone still on the island had already been infected. On the bright side, the virus was wiped out in the process.

While the island was safe to return to later, no one opted to go back. It was a ghost town, all organic life dead, even the zombies were destroyed. And even though they were assured that the virus was gone, no one wanted to take that chance.

Some years down the road, a small group of Necromancers, young entrepreneurs, got together and formed Thanatos Inc. in honor of their old home and heritage, drawing the name from history books as it was once the name of Necromantia’s capital city in ancient times. While the company started out small, over times it began to grow and expand as the founders branched out. It wasn’t long before Thanatos Inc. had grown to mammoth proportions to become the leading corporation of its kind, a monopoly in its own right with a finger in every pie.

The main company headquarters is located on Earth in Aedolis, though the company also has a branch on Mars in Edanith. The company has no true loyalties except to itself, and so it can easily work with two warring nations while remaining completely impartial on the matter. It is because of that cold impartiality that neither Aedolis or Edanith hassle the company for working both sides of the fence; after all, they just want a profit and they provide for everyone.

At the head of the company are the Necromancers, though the company is not made up of only Necromancers. There are scientists, technicians, and businessmen and women from all over that work for the company—as well as those people who do the smaller, menial jobs, like secretary work and serving coffee to employees.

The Thanatos Research Institute of Metaphysics (or TRIM) orbits between the Earth and Mars, nice and close to its two main sources of research fodder. It is made up of two connecting space stations, named Wing Alpha and Wing Omega. The main part of the institute, aptly titled Main, is the middle section that bridges Wing Alpha and Wing Omega. It contains the bridge, living quarters for the captain and crew, a docking station, and a medical center. Like the rest of the institute, it is kept clean and tidy, almost as sterile as the laboratories.

2. Alpha and Omega
Wing Alpha is where the mages are kept and Wing Omega is where the psychics are held. Both Wings contain laboratories where the experiments are conducted and their respective holding cells are reinforced with all the proper wards and precautions to prevent both magic use and the exercising of psychic abilities. The psychics are perhaps the most dangerous in a way; without those wards, they could potentially communicate with the rest of the captives via telepathy to organize a mutiny.

The mages and psychics are all grouped two to a cell in their respective areas, and each cell contains a bunk bed, sink, and toilet, all kept clean and tidy. When not the focus of some experiment, the subjects get to leave their cells for up to two hours a day to shower and exercise under supervision in a designated room. Showering, like exercising, is done as a group, males and females alike; they are simply forced into a large room with shower heads above and washed like that. Quick and efficient. Cleanliness and good health (well, physical health, perhaps not mental and emotional health) is stressed in TRIM to maintain a good medical environment and ensure that their valuable investments (the mages and psychics) have a good shelf life.

Upon entering TRIM, all subjects are promptly stripped of their name and instead issued a nine-digit number that is from then on used to identify them. This is a way of ensuring that the subjects are viewed less as people and more as objects, maintaining emotional distance between the scientist and the subject. Simple gray clothing is issued to all subjects and all personal belongings are taken from them.

3. Irony
Many of TRIM's scientists and workers are mages and psychics themselves. After all, at the top of Thanatos Inc. are the Necromancers, and they are certainly mages! This doesn't stop them from using and abusing other mages and psychics for their experiments, however.

3. The Director
The Director is the head of TRIM, the lead scientist that oversees all experiments and generally ensures things are running smoothly. He or she is also usually a Necromancer, but it is not required. Anyone with exceptional scientific know-how, experience, and the toughness required to run such a place can potentially work their way up to the top.

4. The Guards
The guards of TRIM are men and women of expertly trained origins. They are often trained in hand to hand combat, forms of martial arts and even kick boxing. Their skills have been finely honed so that they can be called upon for any situation. They are trained in military tactics, both in offensive and defensive situations. They have been trained to use both lethal force and non-lethal force, depending on the situation they have been called to monitor. Guards have been mentally trained against psychics as well, as their job requires them to not be easily tricked by psychic suggestions and the more commonly found psychic powers. Guards undergo rigorous training when it comes to their bodies; they must be fit, they must be trim, and they must be ready for anything. Guards are forced to walk around in heavy gravity environments just so that when they are in normal gravity situations they’ll be able to act faster and move quicker. Guards undergo special training for their reflexes as well, not to mention psychology classes in order to assess when a person is going to be a danger or a threat.

Guard Outfits: The guards on TRIM wear only the finest armour that has been designed. Using a special form of black plastic material the outfit seems brittle and weak but it can withstand up to five thousand pounds of pressure thanks to its special design. It can survive heat up to one thousand five hundred degrees Celsius and almost two hundred degrees below zero Celsius. The suit's interior is temperature controlled, keeping it at a comfortable temperature, depending on whatever the wearer desires.

The boots are special, allowing a person to magnetically stick to anything metal, and not to mention it has special soles allowing electricity to harmlessly flow through the suit and dissipate without any damage to the wearer or the suit's internal system. The helmet is a large sphere shaped device that holds advanced sensor systems and communication devices. This is mainly so all guards can keep running tabs on each other, scan passing scientists they don’t recognize, and see in various lighting, even in complete darkness. Guard suits can filter most toxins, allowing the breather to only get the oxygen that they need. It keeps a HUD for the guards, allowing a guard to quickly see where any other guard is at any given time. The HUD can even create tracking destinations for the Guard, to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible. The HUD can help to show guards heat registration to see in thermal vision, and a conclusive radar system allows the guard to see all nearby persons and their distance from them.

Weapons of Guards: Guards use special stun batons for the little things. These batons can be set from a small jolt of electricity that will get a person’s attention and make them think twice to deliver a jolt of electricity so powerful that it could shut down their entire nervous system, causing an almost instantaneous death. Guards can lock the stun batons to their hands, making it almost impossible for them to lose the weapon in a fight. For tougher jobs, guards are armed with side arm pistols that use a form of concentrated energy in order to kill targets. The pistol has a special wireless hook up to the helmet that shows where the gun is pointing, how much energy it has left, and it even allows a person to set how powerful the shot is, from a sliver of energy to fully dispersing the entire charge held. Using special crystal and plasma technology, the clip doesn’t have to be changed after being shot, but it must recharge. However, after a certain amount of usage (usually twenty recharges) the clip must be refilled with the special plasma.

Suit Physical Description: The suit itself looks like a plastic space suit for a bipedal, two armed, one headed humanoid. It fits the wearer comfortably, and while it seems to have no seams for the legs, arms, chest, or head to even move, it is actually quite flexible, allowing even gymnastic style acrobatics in safety and comfort. The helmet is a bubble of sorts that surrounds the head, ensuring that people can’t sneak behind them and snap their necks; it’ll simply twist the helmet tighter or looser. The suit is completely black with no discernable gender; generally, the person looks like an androgynous male. The only way to tell is when the person talks, which is broadcasted through special speakers on the suit and helmet.

[TRIM guards created by Shizzy]