The Back Door

Many supernatural beings secretly crave the security of a steady paycheck and the chance to pretend they belong. Pentex does not have an open door employment policy, but the corporation always considers powerful new employees. The decision whether to bring them in depends on the projected profit or loss.

Pentex has no monopoly on fomori — the number of Bane-possessed victims far exceeds Pentex’s employee register. Pentex has no particular interest in total control, either — each wild fomor keeps the Garou’s attention divided. The company does send recruiters if it hears of a particularly interesting specimen —an especially powerful fomor or one with rare or unique powers.

Pentex will sometimes tap the prisons it owns as a source of combat fomori; mistreated, desperate inmates and thuggish guards alike make the perfect environment for Banes to exploit. Recruiters watch for early signs of possession to arrange ‘work-release programs’ for the mutating prisoners. Many unpossessed prisoners volunteer for these opportunities, hoping to escape their concrete hell. Some prisoners have the right profile to be fast-tracked for possession or other experimentation — if they survive and display useful abilities Pentex will consider First Team training.

Peculiarly, some fomori find their way to Pentex laboratories and offices no matter how concealed or deniable the link to head office. The Banes powering these monsters seem to sense their own and guide their vessel ‘home’. The reception these fomor receive depends on how much they’ve exposed Pentex’s interests, and how expensive covering the mess will be. A remarkable number of these ‘wild’ fomori pass quickly through training and on to deployment. They haven’t had the vetting or brainwashing that higher-ups prefer in making a desirable First Team trooper, but they do understand carnage and tearing into the enemy. Most receive only cursory training before deployment to a conflict zone with an incredibly low survival rate. Trained, reliable First Team fomori are a considerable investment of time and money. If someone else wants to volunteer to catch a bullet or fall on Garou claws while the real First Teams pursue mission objectives, Pentex obliges.

Kinfolk are their own, special category, and recruiters proceed with additional caution. They assess suitability for recruitment — Kinfolk of the Gaian tribes don’t often display the hatred and resentment of their wider families to be worthy recruits. Snatch-teams kidnap unsuitable Kinfolk and pass them to Black Spiral Dancers, brainwash them, or kill them depending on circumstance. Pentex particularly values Kinfolk who don’t know of their nature. Recruiters offer exorbitant contracts to bring them into the corporation’s clutches, but if they resist several waves of ever more persuasive negotiators, the company treats them as it would Gaia-affiliated kin.

Black Spiral Dancer Kinfolk are logged in corporate records and left alone. Building additional leverage and control over the corrupted werewolves is a good corporate failsafe — it hopes it never needs the insurance but will threaten the tribe with extinction should they ever turn on the corporation.