The Garlond Ironworks
The Garlond Ironworks is an enigmatic organization dedicated to the acquisition, study, and reproduction of Garlean Magitek. Their influence spreads far and wide, including holding great clout with the three Grand Companies of Eorzea, and they maintain a network of informers and confidants in the three cities and beyond. Currently headed by Cid Garlond, a mysterious Midlander with odd taste in gauntlets, the organization is closely co-operating with the Companies to delve into Garlean strongholds and encampments to acquire new samples and subjects.
Leaders & Members
Cid Garlond, Leader - Little is known about the leader of the Ironworks. It seems he is personally working with the three Companies to work out the secrets behind a brand-new Garlean weapon, though the identity of this weapon remains a mystery.
Goals & Operations
The Garlond Ironworks seeks to understand the principals behind Magitek, so that they may reproduce their effects to the betterment of the three free city-states. Most of their research is carried out somewhere within southern Eorzea, though they do have informants within Garlemald itself. Before the induction of the Grand Companies, they were limited to espionage and more subtle acquisition of Magitek samples, which occasionally lead to Ironworks spy-teams being hunted down and assassinated; numerous reports of adventurers encountering "bandits" and "pirates" equipped with Magitek assaulting Ironworks teams have been distributed and, for the most part, verified. After the Companies' induction, however, the Ironworks has taken a more proactive role in their research, instigating assaults on the few Garlean strongholds we are aware of to perform field research on active Magitek. I believe they are also co-operating with other organizations, including the Ashcrown Consortium, for this field research.
Their co-operation with the three Companies is not, however, one-sided; the Companies each seek to use Magitek for their own gain. The Order of the Twin Adder seeks the Garlean secret of manufacturing aetherite to fuel their war machine; the Immortal Flames seeks simple, brute-force Magitek weapons; and the Maelstrom wishes to replace her navy's ship-engines with Magitek-powered machina.
The Ironworks are also performing field research in Miller's Glade, in the Coerthas; unconfirmed reports indicate that this may relate to some new kind of Garlean super-weapon.
Relationships & Connections
Grand Companies of Eorzea - Mutual co-operation; enough influence to request operations
Ashcrown Consortium - Co-operation; the Consortium has performed research into the Garlean strongholds at Ironwork request
Garlean Empire - Acknowledged as a threat; dispatched assassins on numerous occasions with moderate success
