The Network

“Welcome, to the greatest show on Earth, the contest of Titans, the 36th season of the Ultimate Monster Battle Arena!”
- Vice Executive Masters, last Season

The Network is the organisation that maintains, manages, and runs the Ultimate Monster Battle Arena. Almost every aspect of Arena life is touched by the Network - matches are set up by the Network, the Arena is prepared by the Network, odds are published by the Network, new Monster training techniques are sought out by the Network, and, of course, the League Conferences are organised by the Network.

All Network activity is driven by a single Mission of three Objectives:

1. Organise and facilitate the superlative in Monster Battling in Bastion.
2. Maintain the structural and metaphorical stability of the Arena.
3. Protect the interests of its Stakeholders.

All agents of the Network drive to maintain the Mission Objectives, and this drive has maintained the Arena from the point of its foundation.

The Network is organised into four Branches: Executive Branch, Creative Branch, Finance Branch and Maintenance Branch. Each operate in relative autonomy, and though they will collaborate when it is in the direct interests of the Network to do so (for instance, the direct organisation of Monster Fights), divisions between the Branches are known to exist (and attempts to exploit them have been made by Rules Lawyers past, to varying degrees of success).

Joining the Network is as simple as getting any other job - find someone willing to take you on board, impress them, and you're in. Of course, once you're in you'll be responsible for maintaining the Mission of the Network, and answerable to your superiors - people whom you certainly wouldn't want to let down.

“Thank you for your report, Stakeholder, the Executives will review your suggestion and return the board's decision. That will be all.”
- Often repeated by the Vice Executive's secretary

Executive Branch is exclusively responsible for the running and organisation of the Network as a whole. While each Branch is nominally self-determined, every Branch answers to a Junior Executive at the top, all of whom are on the Board of Executives along with the Vice Executive and, of course, the Prime Executive. The Board's decisions are, of course, made unanimously.

Executive Branch also includes the administrative positions that ensure the smooth and uninterrupted operation of the Branch, boasting a force of elite Secretaries and Administrators responsible for organising meeting schedules with incredible precision, and relaying paperwork with unholy speed.

The current Board consists of:

• The Prime Executive
• Vice Executive Masters
• Junior Executive Blaze (Creative)
• Junior Executive Ada (Finance)
• Junior Executive Ironhide (Maintenance)

None of these positions are ever left vacant. Replacements happen immediately and are believed to always be internal promotion - to current knowledge there is no application process to becoming an Executive.

OC: It is not possible to start play as a member of the Executive Branch

“You knew INCREDISAURUS, you loved INCREDISAURUS, but its power was no match for DR-TENTACRUSH in the final. That was LAST season, and THIS season, INCREDISAURUS is back with a VENGEANCE. AND SHOULDER-MOUNTED FLAME-POWERED LASER-THROWING ROCKET LAUNCHERS.”
- Arena advertisement for UMBA Season XXIII

Creative Branch is all about new ideas and keeping the Arena fresh and the Fans hooked:

• Creative Writing works tirelessly to discover which Monsters are entering the Arena, to tease the juicy details of their lives out¹⁾ and arrange the circumstances of fights to accentuate these, and to market them to the masses
• Creative Acquisition pores over maps and liases with Wasteland Expeditions to follow rumours of new and exciting Monsters to bring in
• Creative Design ensures that everyone involved with the Arena looks and sounds their best, utilising the incredible abilities of Monsters to sculpt the Arena for the most dramatic fights and the talents of stylists to sculpt the appearance of Trainers, Lawyers, and Gladiators for the most stunning look.

Creative Branch of course only exists to advise on the best way to appear, but there are very few, if any, instances of a Trainer being successful without the involvement of the Network's Creative Branch.

“… seriously, in triplicate? You gotta be frackin' kidding me, all I want is a lousy screwdriver”
Overheard in the Finance Branch engineering requisition office.

Finance Branch is responsible for ensuring that the Ultimate Monster Battle Arena remains profitable, and that the Money of scrupulous Stakeholders is invested wisely:

• Accounts holds all Money that belongs to the Network and all those who, wisely, choose to protect their monetary wealth with the Network.
• Legal, a department which Maintenance makes frequent arguments to be transferred to their purview, is responsible for maintaining the rules and regulations of the Arena, as well as enforcing all contracts and deals conducted under the Network's vast jurisdiction.
• Cost Analysis is responsible for ensuring that costs undertaken by the rest of the Network's branches are reasonable, as well as maintaining odds and ensuring that Network-authorised bookmakers maintain reasonable behaviour.

Finance Branch may perhaps sound innocuous, and some in the past have chosen to attempt to swindle Network Accountants out of their money - upon being tracked down, these individuals were reminded that agents of Network do have access to an assortment of incredibly vicious and hungry Monsters…

“Yeah, I've seen worse - looks like the poor guy's sprained his rearmost actuator hydraulics. Probably at the point he got it smashed between the Arena wall and Bloodbone's face - yeah, I saw that too, that was badass - anyway, you're probably not looking at more than a couple of days off fighting. We'll get the wall fixed up in a few minutes, but you'll probably want to look at cleaning that purple blood off before it dries: trust me it'll be an absolute nightmare to clean off then.”
- Senior Arena Technician Razor, after the Season XVI finale

Maintenance Branch are responsible for maintaining the physical structure of the Arena, advising on the physical well-being of Monsters, and ensuring that the schedule is adhered to at all times:

• Arena Maintenance ensure that all damage caused to the Arena during Monster Fights is repaired and the structure of the Arena upheld against new and potentially more powerful Monsters. They have to think one step ahead to ensure the safety and comfort of all those attempting to use the Arena. They also respond to requests from Creative for changes in the Arena layout to best suit the current schedule.
• Once a Fight is over, Monster Maintenance ensures that surviving Monsters are checked over so that heavily-injured Monsters are not forced to continue fighting. Though formally this is to ensure the safety of the audiences, it's a commonly understood fact that an injured Monster in a Fight is usually boring.
• Schedule Maintenance ensures that the times and fights decided by Creative Branch are adhered to as much as practical, ensuring Monsters and their teams are in place when they need to be, and that the whole place continues to operate like clockwork: unexpected delays should be expected and already accounted for, and a sudden and unpredictable inferno in the Pits should already be factored into any schedule.

Maintenance often butts heads with Finance, given the vast costs of maintaining such an almighty Arena, but despite budgetary restrictions, Maintenance always finds a way to keep the Arena functioning.