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For greed, all nature is too little.


Sarah Tintagyl

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"Three...Two...One..."

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[i]Paris, France, French Empire
French Securities Exchange (FSX)[/i]

From the beginning of the day, everything seemed perfectly normal at the Exchange, French business since the recent expansions into Iberia had been booming at an alarming rate. Especially within munition and defense circles, but even more cultural and social inclined companies were doing well. No one had been paying attention to the hidden beast that stood on the edge of the stock exchange, slowly locking the entire French economy within its vaults. Suddenly there was a gasp from one of the men near the central screen as he looked up at the display of company symbols, profits, and loses. Everything was heading to the red, mining companies, munitions, defense, exporters, agriculture, everything, everything was flashing red.

"My God!" He screamed and turned to his colleagues, whose faces were nearly just as white as his. "The entire economy is going down!"

"The world?" Shouted another.

"No! Other markets don't show any signs of loss."

"This can't be, there is no logical reason for something like this to happen."

"It must be a virus in the computer." Said one man, in hopes that the flashing red was nothing more than a fluke. "Check the goddamn computer, check foreign websites. Check anything!"

A woman on the upper balcony of the Exchange nearly lost her laptop as she ran to check a Scottish Economic site and clicking refresh, she breathed a sigh of relief and nearly at the same time she did that, the red flashes on the screen changed back to green. Profits and numbers returning where they had been only minutes before. There was a collective sigh of relief from the people in the Exchange as they went back to their trades, but the man looking up at the screen narrowed his eyes. Near the bottom of the screen, there was a new name, VMC, and that particular company had gained double the profits and numbers than any other company in the entire exchange. "Valdez Mercantile Consortium? Interesting. I'll have to look into this." He said as the profit number continued to sky rocket in front of his eyes.

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[i]Valencia, Aragon, French Empire
Torre Notitarde, Headquarters of the Valdez Mercantile Consortium[/i]

[url="http://thecamerondiaz.com/UserFiles/2009/5/30/CAMERON%20DIAZ%20Single%20life%20better%20than%20unhappiness.jpg"]Catherina Valdez[/url] smiled as she turned the television in front of her off and rotated in her seat back to the glass table that had been behind her. Now facing her were twenty five men and women of the most dubious nature, these were the failed Chief Executive Officers and Representatives of corporate Boards of Directors of the businesses who had just a second ago, plummeted into the red. They also, were now her essential slaves and her smile trembled at the thought, as she straightened her yellow business attire and placed her hair into a tight ponytail. During the Valencian Regime with trade restricted between nations in the Mediterranean and the Iberian Pact Economies, her father's business Valdez-Royer Banking, had not reached the level of success her dear father had hoped for and by the time that the French Empire had moved into secure Valencia for themselves, Rodrigo Valdez was much too old to continue the company on for himself. Catherina immediately took the opportunity to install herself as Co-Chief Executive Officer, much to the chagrin of Hubert Royer who had believed that the corporation would fall solely to him with Rodrigo's retirement.

It was the last mistake that he would make, only weeks later, Royer would find himself tried in Imperial Courts for fraud and money laundering, petty crimes to some, but it was just enough to discredit the man for the next trick. The man being found dead in an alley outside a popular night club in the French Rivera and with Royer's death along with little scrutiny over a criminal, Catherina became Chief Executive Officer of Valencia Banking Incorporated. From there and with a great deal of weaseling, as well a few planned murders, Valencia Banking became one of the strongest banking companies throughout the entire Empire, with ties to many of the Empire's colonies and allies as well.

With that power behind her, Catherina slowly led Valencia Banking through a series of hostile take overs of some of the largest companies in the Empire. Vadaa Agricultural Systems, Union Militare, Horizons Of Madrid, a telecommunications system, Grimes Soft, which had started out as the leading internet provider in Scottish Held Aquitaine, and DeVries Jewelers. As Valencia Banking acquired more property and the domination of businesses around the Empire, Catherina saw the chance to mold the various behemoths into one great Hydra that she could use to spread her influence across the economic world. Thus was born..."Valdez Mercantile Consortium and I would like to bid you all welcome to your companies' new home and lender." Catherina stood up out of her chair and walked to the window of the conference room and out onto the Mediterranean that ran to the horizon below her. "With the onset of French Imperialism, something that this area of Europe has not dealt with for a long time and removed from those pesky German Banks in Martensheim and throughout Prussia, corporations throughout France and Iberia have the chance to gain from the state's expansion. The military requires munitions and with a a world full of third rate countries, ignored by the larger empires of the world, they are yearning to get their hands on the latest designs from Europe and North America."

"Señors and Señoras , we function as retrievers of raw materials from resource rich areas in South America and Africa, Diamonds from South Africa, munitions and arms to rebellions in the Americas, I have been paying a great deal of attention to what is going on in Cuba and it seems like the perfect market for us." She turned back to the congregation of CEOs and glared. "But I swear that if one of you, even one of you steps out of line. I will bury you in the seat that you sit in. Do not cross me, it won't end well for you."

Walking back over to her seat, Catherina pressed a button as a map of the world came down over the mahogany background. "One day, there will be branches of Valdez Mercantile across the world and her companies, meaning all of you will work throughout the world. At the moment, we control much of France's economic strength in the forms of military defense, industrial might, and others. However..." She pressed another button and a great portion of the world began to flash. "Potential customers and areas where our services, military, industrial, and commercial can be offered." She crossed her hands over her mouth. "Money makes the world go 'round after all."

A knock on the door interrupted her train of thought as a young man walked in and over to her, bending down to whisper in her ear. "You've been summoned to Versailles Señorita Valdez, the Empress has issued a missive of her displeasure of something that happened at the Stock Exchange earlier."

"Right on time..." Catherina said, smiling viciously.

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