Not yet re-written to denote name changes

The IMSSI is an independent research and development laboratory setup to attempt to bring corporate scientists towards the problem of the Apollyon virus, the company was given near complete independence and so with some of the world's best scientists at its head quickly brought advanced biotechnologies into the market by pioneering advances into fields which previous controversies had made impossible. The major break for the group was securing with the Association the contract to refine Tamefyllon for redistribution to Association cities and selling of excess production to the rest of the world. The second great achievement of the IMSSI was their discovery of a refined Tamefyllon derivative which could be used on crop plantations to reduce Apollyon effects while boosting the yield of produce and in doing so helped form the MET monopoly upon global food supply.

The IMSSI was formed in 2019 after the failure of the promising attempt at a cure in 2022. The IMSSI was originally simply another of many attempts to find a cure for the Apollyon plague, the World Health Organisation formed the group in an attempt to woo corporate scientists at profitable labs towards the problem of the Apollyon virus. The IMSSI was provided with near limitless resources and headed by the best scientists the WHO could find, scientists who had lived their entire lives earning a pittance for creating beauty products were now offered massive wages to research the plague that was tearing the world apart, recruitment was not difficult. Many previously controversial technologies were now allowed to be researched through the IMSSI: cloning, genetic modification, invasive organ modification, bacterial counter-measure production. When a solution was found however it was their competitors, the Association, who found the cure and not the IMSSI. The IMSSI at this point had expanded to a state of independence from the WHO and were operating over two dozen laboratories across Europe and North America. While the Association were capable of devising the solution to Apollyon in the form of Ender-Nicholls Tamefyllon (ENT) they did not have the advanced facilities in sufficient numbers to provide supply of Tamefyllon in quantities required. The Association decided to seek out the assistance of another group and so formed an alliance with the IMSSI who would take the immature Tamefyllon compounds (exact terminology, suggestion that Tamefyllon cure may be biological partially – a la Andrew Ender PhD Biochemistry) and refine and mass produce the compound. In 2034 the IMSSI began mass production of Tamefyllon, all produce was transported directly to various Association cities where final modification would occur before use in the city and export of any excess produce was managed by the IMSSI.

By this system the IMSSI were unable to produce Tamefyllon without the Association and due to their espionage capabilities it was suspected that any attempt to research a method of producing Tamefyllon without the Association would result in dire consequences.

By 2043 the world was completely reliant upon the IMSSI and Association for Tamefyllon supplies (even though it was still an incredibly expensive luxury) and much of the East fed by the MET-IMSSI plantations. On the 28th of January 2043 an MET taskforce was placed at every IMSSI laboratory in the world to carry out security provisions. While the UGDT had already been contracted in Europe to provide security and smaller firms elsewhere this was placed in addition at first to the security and at the end of their contract, in place of other security. The IMSSI from here made it publically clear that they would be ceasing supplies to any major faction that did not station a proportionate force. While the Association had the manoeuvrability to avoid such an arrangement it was immediately clear that other nations in order to safeguard both their Tamefyllon and food supplies they would have to station troops like the MET at IMSSI bases in accordance with their demands. The Association chose to agree with the deal and so in modern times IMSSI labs are guarded by troops from nearly all major nations, their presence ensures no single group could threaten the Tamefyllon supplies and also provides the IMSSI with safety.

Despite being extremely manipulative the IMSSI is a peaceful group. Any violence occurring on their premises will result in immediate and permanent expulsion of all involved individuals and harsh sanctions to their governing faction, in addition all members are forbidden to use weapons or cause harm to any other human being. The IMSSI will provide aid at a reasonable price to any who can afford it and will often offer Tamefyllon supplies at Rubble markets, at the cost of some other nations, for those who can afford them.

IMSSI teams are able to travel across most areas relatively safely if recognised as there are few groups that would risk killing an IMSSI officer. Killing an IMSSI officer will result in severe penalties to the faction whose territories they were in as well as to the faction perpetrating the killing, if a Rubble citizen is responsible it is not uncommon for a bounty to be placed by multiple factions upon the offending person. As the world's single most active laboratory and largest scientific institution the IMSSI is responsible for an extraordinary number of products, however export is handled solely by the purchaser with IMSSI personnel only ever leaving the bases on medic duties, specific exception or personal decision. Since any group purchasing from the IMSSI must arrange the transport of the goods themselves. In response to this many smaller groups and Rubble communities have grown around the perimeters of IMSSI compounds in recent years arranging ambushes upon passing convoys despite the regular clearing operations that are made by various nations in response. IMSSI goods are always valuable and so an obvious prize for an attack. While the UGDT designed or adapted the Iron curtain, Juniper counter-missile rockets and Copernicus point defence system which prove valuable in the much safer above air transport for the UGDT and Association, most other groups are forced to either transport their goods by air which without sophisticated counter-missile systems is vulnerable to missile interception, or to transport over ground which is a battlefield waiting for an ambush. Neither option is workable therefore many factions employ mixtures of each. It is estimated that by transport from the IMSSI bases approximately 22% of all gross product transported is lost, often the raids result in few IMSSI casualties, planning is key.

The IMSSI offer another service however. In the modern world education is difficult to attain to levels capable of operating the best new technology and institutions of science (which are publically accessible) are hard to come by. The IMSSI offers a training and doctorate program for medics and scientists at no immediate cost. The students can pay the exorbitant fees (approx. $400,000 pre-arrival) or can agree to spend the next 5 years after their 4 year course working off the debt; many obviously choose the latter option. The IMSSI in this way gain a guaranteed work force (though occasionally a nation will pay the fees of a student and bring them home) after their education. The IMSSI provide housing and all facilities on location and when they reach the age of 26 (assuming they started at 18) they are allowed to leave the complexes freely and earn a very generous wage. IMSSI doctors are by reputation and practice the best in the world, however it is not possible to bring everyone who needs them to an IMSSI base or outpost (outposts are sometimes present in territories of the PCoE, MET and other eastern groups). For this the IMSSI offer a massive wage to those who are willing to go on "pilgrimages". This slang term refers to the act of a medic or scientist being set as a External Operative on the IMSSI External Operations program or "Pilgrimage", this allows the IMSSI to send medics and scientists to other nations if the nation pays and also to smaller Rubble settlements for a lower cost where they can provide assistance (often offering it regardless of ability to pay).

Many pilgrims have taken the Hippocratic Oath though it is optional it does allow Pilgrims on Rubble duty to intervene in any sickness found. This is how the IMSSI comprise the military sector of their operation. The IMSSI are well aware that medical personnel are often under-trained and rare in the present day and so by allowing nations to "rent" medics in large numbers during a conflict they can charge large fees and tip the tide of a battle with skilled personnel. It is also not uncommon for nations to "rent" scientists for their facilities though these IMSSI arrangements are often permanent. Pilgrimage operations are high-risk and the usual guarantees on personnel safety do not apply, however the wages are massive (enough that 4 years of pilgrimage can buy a man 40 square miles of land). However pilgrimages are often short operations of a few months due to the trauma of a world so different to the safety of IMSSI compounds or many years at more permanent and safer fixtures. For some it is ideal however, an opportunity to help communities of Rubble and be paid for it. The IMSSI are also happy to apply a large penalty to personnel who are lost if a faction does not provide sufficient protection. The IMSSI has proved extremely profitable for its shareholders.

The IMSSI have every nation in the world in their pocket and can cut off the life stream to any one at a whim. They are manipulative and defended by many groups each hoping to secure its future. The IMSSI is a global centre of learning that most modern scientists must pass through and serve with before returning to their home nations, if at all. The IMSSI has massive resources and has engineered powerful technologies from bio-nanotechnology to the successful cloning of a human being (even if they did fail to gain anything above vegetative state) as well as developing many technologies with more military potential in cooperation with the UGDT-Association research alliance. The big three science group pioneer what is the world's last icon of still advancing technical development, if at a cost.

Case Study: Independent Operation

“I hereby tender my resignation from these public services but will continue my research with private funding, I leave with a warning that if the World Health Organisation remains unwilling to venture into the fields deemed taboo by lesser minds, the Apollyon plague will not be stemmed” – Henry Lassiter, resigning from head of Apollyon research at the WHO

Lassiter was right, the Apollyon was adapting faster than any treatments could match and efforts to counter it were not being brought to production quick enough to ever see use. Human testing was a process taking years yet with the Apollyon months were too long, there were thousands of potential cures, hundreds of ideas of how to treat the virus and only testing and large scale research could ever hope to find a cure to what was essentially a completely new pathogen unlike anything seen before.

The solution was the IMSSI. The World Health Organisation was too constricted, its subsidiaries and funded labs bearing too much over watch to ever be capable of going beyond the boundaries of “acceptable” research. The IMSSI was born, created with significant funds at its disposal the IMSSI set off on a diplomatically independent operation to cure the Apollyon. There would be no barriers to what was right or wrong, everything from genetically engineered and derived bio weapons to cloned organs would be used where needed to try and find a cure. People were born modified in different ways to try and counter the virus, government only chemicals placed in their hands. The world’s top scientists were head-hunted and with high wages and support from various governments teams as well as the promise of no legal oversight soon the IMSSI boasted one of the strongest forces in countering the Apollyon.

Several promising treatments were developed by the IMSSI and other laboratories but it was actually a North American biochemical research wing owned by a construction and technology development firm where a treatment for the Apollyon was found, it was called Tamefyllon. The group, now known as the Atlantic Research and Infrastructure Association, had plans for the treatment but did not have the medical expertise, background or synthesis infrastructure to bulk produce the Tamefyllon treatment. The IMSSI were contracted to help refine the chemical into a viable product and produce it in bulk, they would also win contracts to develop a family of similar compounds at a later point and it is these which would help bring the Great World Famine to an end.

The IMSSI grew beyond their control. While the independence of the laboratory was a requirement to fight the Apollyon it grew beyond the control of its creators one its seemingly impossible goal was achieved. The original design of the IMSSI had been vague, a mission with a single intention: to stop the Apollyon. There was no foresight of the plan working however; the IMSSI was one of dozens of such institutions setup for this purpose and for it to actually find a cure was completely unplanned. The IMSSI retained its independent operations using its intimate role in Apollyon production as a bargaining chip cementing itself as the most powerful medical group in the world, completely free of any government influence and capable of going further scientifically than any before them, with the funds and without the restriction that other research institutions had grown accustomed to the IMSSI soon eliminated the competition and established itself as a landmark of scientific excellence.

Timeline

• Main Station at St Gallen, Switzerland
• 2019 - WHO Forms IMSSI with large funding as independent company to try and woo industrial scientists with higher pay and prospects
• 2030 - Tamefyllon research begins - ARIA publishes results of Tamefyllon Trials. Begin talks with IMSSI for mass production.
• 2034 - IMSSI begin mass production of Tamefyllon. Distribution handled at Association headquarters at Antiphonie.
• 2036 (Early) - WHO publish study on Tamefyllon side effects. Notes on dosage for occupations where strength is still required. Overdose noted as easily common and possibly deadly.
• 2040 - IMSSI aggressively pursue treaties of non-combatance. UGDT and FHCA troops sign agreements to provide defensive forces. Confederation troops quick to follow to ensure supplies of Tamefyllon continue.
• 2041 (Late) - IMSSI reach Tamefyllon production capacity of 80% success rate. Total production reaches capacity to produce 48million units (1 unit sufficient for a single person for 2 months) after Association supply + Excess Stockpiling.