The Cousin

Many assume the sisters were the whole of their family, but this is not true. Like most families the sisters were members of a diverse extended family, and while most of that family lived their lives in blissful obscurity, one individual became known to history, though only long after the fact. The name, like so many others, was lost during the data erasures of the Great Grieving, so they are only known as The Cousin; their work and exploits tied together only through their employee identifier.

Official Duties

The Cousin was, according to the records that have been recovered, assigned to logistics management early in the history of the Pleiades Corporation.  They were expected to ensure that the constantly changing and expanding transportation network of the company ran smoothly and ensured that materials to produce products arrived in time to meet delivery schedules without wasted material or time.  The Cousin was the hundred and twentieth employee of The Corporation, and remained employed by the company at least until 2115, the last record of their employment recovered to date.  Beginning in 2048 The Cousin was promoted to executive vice president of interplanetary supply logistics, partially in recognition of their successful gamble to use the untested DSTV design from the logistics division to help with the Martian colony collapse of 2047-2049.  From 2064 until the end of records The Cousin was assigned to the logistics special projects office, where they were responsible for leading difficult or innovative high risk logistics and supply projects.  The latest documents, however, show that all of these assignments were mere cover for the real work of The Cousin.

Real Work

Despite their quiet and unassuming official duties, the last cache of records uncovered about this person reveal a vastly different array of unofficial duties and activities.  The first, and most interesting discovery is that their logistics work was entirely fictitious.  Despite assignments and promotions, they never actually worked in the logistics office.  Their activities in the Martian colony collapse were, in fact, a well planned and executed effort to drive public perception of The Pleiades Corporation as the only hope for the future of humanity.  The primary work of The Cousin throughout their career was to create and drive a unified narrative of The Corporation to accomplish a range of political and social goals.  The first steps were to portray the company as a hopeful harbinger of a bright future.  Later efforts, particularly during the Luna Crisis in 2053, began to portray The Corporation as a leader and provider, an alternative to increasingly compromised political governments.  Throughout the 2050's and 2060's this narrative was combined with an all-pervasive propaganda campaign to portray political governments as dangerous, corrupt, harmful, or evil, along with continuous efforts to erase positive historical portrayals and foment social division and civil unrest.  By 2070 most peoples had overthrown their political governments in favor of a Corporate hegemony, replacing the inefficient participatory governance with absolute corporate control.  The narrative in the later decades of the twenty first century became one of maternalism.  The Corporation was portrayed as parent and caretaker for the common people; replacing natural familial bonds through ruthless control and a removal of children from parental care into full time residence in Corporate "schools".  With two generations of humanity raised in company facilities with The Corporation as sole parental figure, the work of The Cousin was considered complete and they faded from all records, presumably into retirement at an advanced age likely exceeding 90.

Legacy

The Cousin is perhaps the most influential individual of the twenty-first century, and yet they lived a life entirely in obscurity, behind the scenes and unknown to all but a very select few at the top of the Corporate hierarchy.  They were known to The Sisters, of course, and records suggest they reported directly to their cousins for their entire career.  They are now known to have been extremely intelligent and, by 2060, highly educated, with doctoral degrees in psychology, sociology, and political science, as well as lesser degrees in communications and civil engineering.  Their unparalleled mastery of the dark art of propaganda and incredible skill in societal manipulation suggest a sociopathic disregard for any ethical or moral concerns beyond their own goals.  Beyond the speculative nature of the individual, however, the facts remain that nearly all of humanity was persuaded, in the name of safety, security, and democracy, to voluntarily subjugate themselves to the most despotic tyranny in history; all while thinking they were saving themselves from the very thing they embraced.  This incredible feat of deception and manipulation became a model for the powerful leaders who followed after The Great Grieving and subsequent reconstruction.  While the forms of representative government and democracy's greatest support, capitalist economics, were restored; the facts are indisputable that what actually arose was a feudal tyranny. The oligarchs and technocrats who ruled this new society cooperated to support their own power and luxury at the expense of horrifying oppression and control that left the majority of humanity in conditions worst than an Ottoman slave of the fifteenth or sixteenth century.