It's a basic axiom of business that fortune favors the brave and the prepared. it's also a basic axiom of business that misfortune creates opportunities for the aggressive and the prepared. This is the axiom on which Insurance companies and tow truck companies and hospitals are built.
History is riddled with conspiracies of rich businessmen attempting to use the system to their advantage and occasionally subverting government to get what they want. The Brotherhood is just such a conspiracy.
The Head of the Brotherhood is a man named Leon Goldman. He is the illegitimate child of activist Emma Goldman and Leon Colgosz...the immigrant who assassinated William Mckinley. Ostracized and poor all his life, Leon rejected the values of his parents and went into business. He changed his name to Lawrence Silverman and set about making as much money as he could possibly make.
Lawrence came to inevitable conclusion that disasters, wars, atrocities, and calamities of all types benefit somebody eventually. His suspicions were confirmed by the events of WW1 and so he came up with the idea of creating chaos for the sole purpose of making money and accumulating power. The goal of the future, to replace the wheezing and incompetent democracy of America with a functioning robust oligarchy.
Mother believed in anarchy. Father believed in anarchy. But neither one was smart enough to really use anarchy. Nor did they realize that anarchy eventually had to give way to something else. Politics abhors an anarchy like nature abhors a vacuum.
The Brotherhood functions much like any business related conspiracy. Candidates are looked over for a while. If the council decides they like what they see, they will approach the prospective candidate and ask him if he would like to join. If he says no they will never approach him again. but if he says yes they will invite him to one of their quarterly membership drives. If he is still interested after attending one of these lavish soirees, (Where he is wined, dined, and possibly seduced and photographed...for later...just in case.) Then he is put in for the initiation ritual which occurs at the end of the weekend.
In the first few months of the initiate's membership, he is given the ability to draw on the resources of his fellow members. he is given tips, he is occasionally given valuable advice about situations that are about to happen. He is encouraged to take advantage of all of the fruits of success (which usually translates into more handy blackmail material.) and he is carefully looked over and vetted for the possibility of passing into the inner circle.
The inner circle is where the member becomes aware that there is more going on than meets the eye. The opportunities that he has benefited from don't come from "detailed market analysis" or from "cyclical market trends". They come directly from engineered chaos sown by powerful members. Some from localized market failures, some from suspicious fires and accidents, some from the Brotherhood's criminal world contacts.
Those that have problems with this stay at the Inner Circle level. They know too much to be allowed to leave but they are also in too deep, and there's also that pesky blackmail material. Those that subscribe to Silverman's philosophy and have the necessary moral flexibility go on to the Council. These are the men that will sit at his right and left hand when the federal government collapses.
Attitude towards the Inspired:
Inspired people are focuses for chaos and as such are very valuable to the Brotherhood. even those who don't serve can still create marvelous opportunities if properly directed and manipulated. Those businessmen who are inspired are especially prized among the Brotherhood and are recruited heavily when they are discovered. It is rumored that a significant percentage of the Council is inspired in some way or another. No one seems to know whether or not Lawrence is but members have commented on his magnetic personality and oratorical ability.
Inspired people are focuses for chaos and as such are very valuable to the Brotherhood. even those who don't serve can still create marvelous opportunities if properly directed and manipulated. Those businessmen who are inspired are especially prized among the Brotherhood and are recruited heavily when they are discovered. It is rumored that a significant percentage of the Council is inspired in some way or another. No one seems to know whether or not Lawrence is but members have commented on his magnetic personality and oratorical ability.
Future fate:
In 1928, The Brotherhood succeeds...far far far beyond their wildest dreams. The stock market collapses and plunges the entire country into a depression. For the Brotherhood this windfall comes far too soon and they aren't nearly as set up to take advantage of it as they had hoped. 45% of the membership are immediately bankrupted. 20% take their own lives, further hampering their activities (most of these suicides are blackmail victims) The rest of them scatter across the globe and go deeply underground. Most of them still very very rich.
In 1928, The Brotherhood succeeds...far far far beyond their wildest dreams. The stock market collapses and plunges the entire country into a depression. For the Brotherhood this windfall comes far too soon and they aren't nearly as set up to take advantage of it as they had hoped. 45% of the membership are immediately bankrupted. 20% take their own lives, further hampering their activities (most of these suicides are blackmail victims) The rest of them scatter across the globe and go deeply underground. Most of them still very very rich.
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