Maison Aetherthorne Ascensions – Internal Harmony Audit
Author: Anonymous Visiting Directrice (Special Dispensation, Year [REDACTED])
Classification: Highly Restricted – Partial Redaction for Public Harmony
Note: This account is preserved for archival reflection only. Distribution beyond overseers is unharmonious.
I was granted rare permission to visit Rouage Silencieux—a serene satellite drift veiled in soft mists, far from the blooming whirl of our core islands. The Maison assured me it was a place of gentle refinement, where entrusted essences become the devoted gallants we cherish: pedigree companions merging animal grace with human loyalty, emerging ready to protect and adore.
What I witnessed, even briefly, lingers like a shadow behind brass gears.
The sanctum chambers are vast yet hushed—rows of steam-warmed cradles and calibration vats, tended by silent automaton nursemaids and masked overseers. The process begins with [REDACTED—entrustment replication protocols], aiming to replicate the warmth of parental comfort through programmed routines: rhythmic gear lullabies, nutrient elixirs mimicking milk, and soft mammalian surrogates for early bonding.
Yet the replication falters. Severely.
Without true human tenderness—the unpredictable embrace, the whispered reassurance—many fledglings withdraw into isolation. Productive ones (those showing early promise in loyalty surges or whistle response) are swiftly separated for advanced calibration, leaving the others in echoing silence. The psychological toll is stark: high incidences of stress manifestations, self-abuse (clawing at enclosures, refusal of sustenance), and [REDACTED—culling thresholds].
Records I glimpsed (before polite redirection) suggest only a small percentage—perhaps one in [REDACTED]—reach full refinement and emergence. The rest are "harmoniously retired" through swift, merciful dissolution—framed as preventing discord, but the numbers imply a grim efficiency. Overseers note that even successful gallants carry subtle scars: most exhibit traces of early self-harm or withdrawal, masked in adulthood by animal instincts and ring rewards.
I saw one fledgling—a fox-pedigree essence—curled tightly, unresponsive to automaton coos. Nearby, a "productive" batch was isolated for Fighter drills, their separation evoking a cold void no gear lullaby could fill.
This glimpse reveals the two-tier bloom of our society: Ascended Ladies thrive in inventive light atop cores, our lives a garden of courtships and gratuities. Below—in veiled silence—the foundation costs dearly, refined through isolation and culling to produce the devoted companions we adore.
The Maison representatives ended my visit early, assuring me these are mere refinements in progress—Valéria's vision evolving. Yet the redacted ledgers whisper otherwise: harmony demands sacrifice, hidden in mists.
I return to Albion Verdant with unease behind my smile. Our gallants protect with yearning eyes... but at what unseen price?
End of Account. Further Inquiry Redirected to Harmony Oracles.
(Heavily Redacted – Sealed with the Veiled Winged Gear Emblem)