Some believe there is a special kind of magic that radiates from the smile of a child.
A delightful and ineffable type of energy that makes the impossible possible, and dreams
more than just dreams.
For a sliver of time, this magic makes the world a truly wondrous place of possibility,
filled with love, friendship and sometimes, even miracles.
Sadly, as one grows older, this enchanting power begins to fade.
Bells that rang as sweet and delightfully as the first true snow of the holidays, grow
silent and the belief that sustained that sound, and all childhood magic, dwindles with
it.
Yet once a year, if the belief of children across the world is strong enough and their
smiles bright like the stars, the bells can chime again, and miracles are once more possible.
For high atop the world, hidden beneath the snows of a perpetual winter, there rests a
wonderland.
A sanctuary, that on Christmas Eve spreads its joy and cheer to all the children, and
perhaps even a few adults across the greatest ornament of the heavens themselves, the planet
Earth.
Such a feat is only possible at Santa’s Workshop.
Santa’s Workshop is a totalitarian kratocracy in which supreme authority is concentrated
in a single individual granted the honorific of “Santa Claus.”
The decisions, actions and legitimacy of this Santa Claus are subject neither to external
legal constraints nor regularized mechanisms of popular control.
In this unique form of despotism, the transfer of power is instead conducted entirely through
state-sanctioned assassinations.
When a Santa Claus grows complacent, begins to show weakness and is eventually killed,
his power, property and authority are transferred to the man who killed him and put on his clothes.
This, in theory, ensures that Santa’s Workshop is only governed by those strong enough to
seize control through either the threat or use of force, social manipulation, or deceptive
cunning.
Ironically, while able to exert limitless rule over every aspect of the state’s economic,
social, military and foreign policies, a Santa Claus is incapable of exercising any type
of reform.
Once in power, every Santa Claus is systematically altered, both physically and mentally through
some apparently supernatural means.
Every aspect of their lives becomes conditioned, from their preferred food and drink, to their
overarching goals and purpose.
This purpose is always the same.
Directly beneath the Santa Claus there exists a population of second-class citizens known
as Elves.
They maintain a largely separate, but still subservient power structure reminiscent of
the kind largely used by organized crime.
A single lieutenant known as the “Head Elf” maintains authority through casual intimidation,
bullying, and an obsession with loyalty.
Given that elves do not appear to age, live for centuries and are perhaps even immortal,
there is no method for which they might advance their status or escape their duties within
the workshop.
The central domineering ideology of Santa’s workshop is one of charity and gift giving.
This is achieved through all means available to Santa’s Workshop which mobilizes the
entirety of its resources and society in the pursuit of this single goal.
The workshop’s economic system, seemingly modeled on the armament industries of the
two World Wars reaches its zenith every Christmas, when the fruits of their labor, presents,
are delivered by Santa Claus to every child on Earth.
The next day, the process begins all over.
The true purpose of this endeavor is to keep the workforce operating Santa’s Workshop
in a state of perpetual servitude.
Neither modern automation, mechanization, or even the basic standards of mass production
are utilized, instead the workshop is technologically stagnant.
This ensures Elves will spend the entirety of their lives working, without time for leisure
or personal goals.
Like most despotic regimes, Santa’s Workshop continually monitors both its own population
and that of the rest of the world.
Through a network of informants, the state maintains one of the most effective intelligence
agencies in history, supposedly able to determine if every single person on the planet is “naughty”
or “nice”.
Such information is used to great effect on Christmas Eve.
To deliver presents across the planet, Santa’s Workshop makes use a flying sleigh pulled
by 8 reindeer.
This sleigh is capable of a vertical take-off and landing, as well as reaching supersonic
speeds.
It is the primary element of the Workshop’s aerospace forces.
Other major branches include the Effective Liberating Flight Squad, a special forces
unit responsible for assisting Santa Claus should he be captured or incapacitated during
his duties.
Among their sophisticated arsenal of weaponry is a unique form of tinsel, capable of cutting
through solid steel.
It is said the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t
exist.
The same might be said of Santa Claus.
When millions of gifts appear under Christmas trees every year, only the children suspect
who might have placed them there but even they cannot grasp the terrible suffering and
horrors that went into making them.
The Templin Institute investigates alternate worlds and realities.
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