Into the Nerieverse
Prologue-abridged
Nerie Hardt works for a company called HubCorp, an organization that creates entire multiverses based on stories, shows, and other narrative sources. It's a way to bring characters to life, and people pay a lot of money to see it, and to sculpt new "indieverses" that branch off of the main story path. The problem is that many of these characters (or "Muves") were only given knowledge and understanding based on what was needed for their story and world. HubCorp uses experts called Ferries to guide them into life outside of their story world, and fill in the gaps.
HubCorp had never allowed anything explicit in their universes or indieverse commissions before, but a combination of increased commission requests and increased illegal indieverse attempts have caused them to finally allow sexually explicit content for of-age Muves. To do this, they also needed a new type of Ferry, and that's where Nerie comes in, along with her two coworkers: Sadie Salona and Jessica Leif. It's their job to guide Muves into the world of sex.
Now of course, being a big company there are things that HubCorp will never allow. Rape, pedophilia, extreme fetishes, and anything above your standard mild-moderate sexual pains (spanking, hair pulling, etc.) were all strictly prohibited. Strangely, HubCorp also prohibited the use of Muves whose origin character would have been under copyright protection over 400 years ago in the year 2022. It was a stupid rule.
Lastly, they also received a top-of-the-line detachable prosthetic, a fully functioning dick. HubCorp found in testing that having someone of the same sex teach a Muve made them more comfortable. In addition, Women's naturally shorter refractory period (which HubCorp shortened even more) allowed them to work longer shifts with more Muves every day than men. Giving women a fake penis allowed them to hire half the Ferries they would have otherwise needed.
Nerie's first assignment is a 21 year old woman from a show for teens. It had zero sexual content, so how is Nerie going to go about introducing it?
Prologue- Full Version
HubCorp Orientation, when stories come to life
Nerie walked into the conference room and was struck with a sense of awe that accompanied her pure joy of the realization that she had actually gotten her dream job. The conference hall was beautiful, with large white tiles lining the floor, giving off a faint glow. The chairs were parted with a beautiful marble fountain in the center of the room, which had two artificial creeks flowing towards and away from the stage. Glass bridges connected the two halves, and the room had a clean, yet natural feel.
Large windows let in sunlight, but aside from the dim floor lights the only other light source was the large hologram projection hovering over the stage. It featured the HubCorp logo slowly rotating, acting as a placeholder before the Lead Ferry Trainer took the stage.
Nerie found a seat near the front in the nearly empty hall, and pulled out the orientation materials the front desk had given her. She had made sure to get here as early as possible so she had time to look over everything before the long day. She had hoped to get a chance to look around too, but like she had expected, she found a dead end pretty quick. Security wasn't about to go lax in HubCorp just because she was a new employee, but that was alright. She had plenty to think about and do to pass the time.
She started with the new hire handbook and stopped to read the welcome letter from the Lead Ferry Trainer.
Welcome to HubCorp!
As the lead Ferry Trainer, it is my honor and pleasure to welcome you to the largest company in the Multiverse Hub! At HubCorp, we are committed to providing the highest quality platform for creative minds to see their works truly come to life!
Although I look forward to providing a cordial and welcoming environment for everyone, I want your first words from me to reflect the magnitude and importance of our work, as we do essentially create and mold life to our will for the purpose of entertainment. That sounds evil, right? Well it certainly can be if we aren't vigilant both for ourselves and our colleagues!
Ever since the discovery that stories could be used to spawn new small universes in the multiverse, there have been those that have sought to abuse that fact. We at HubCorp are constantly updating and adding to our security and screening process to make sure only approved stories are spawned into the multiverse, with the help of our talented array of writers and sculptors!
As Ferries, it is our job to act as liaisons and guides to these new protagonists as they are introduced to all of the possibilities of being in the multiverse rather than a static story and world. Every Muve is different, and has a different understanding of the Hub based on what knowledge their writers felt appropriate to give them.
Remember to always treat them as the equals they are, and provide the best possible first impressions to our new guests to the Hub and multiverse!
Best,
John Steckingridge
Lead Ferry Trainer
Nerie finished reading with a smile. Naturally they had left out any mention of her new position. HubCorp had honestly proven themselves to be a rare force of good in the corporate world, and to keep that image they tried hard to pretend that most of their income came from the entertainment factor of witnessing these universes and getting to meet supposedly fictional "characters" (Muves) in real life.
In reality, HubCorp made a substantial profit on commissioned work. Once a new story and universe were created there was no limit to the amount of branching universes that could be sculpted. There was a lot of money to be made in charging a fee to allow independent writers to sculpt one of those branches from a licensed storyverse. Many people used an old term, "fan-fiction" for this, but in the company they were called indieverses.
At first, this was a heavily regulated process that strictly prohibited anything that the original writer deemed unfit for their storyverse. As the company grew bigger however, they began paying off their own writers to give up the rights to their stories, which gave independent writers more leeway.
Still, HubCorp had strict rules in place against anything explicit, but as time went on it became clear that they were going to cave in to the massive amount of requests (and the money that came with them) for indie writers and sculptors to be allowed to create some explicit content. About a year ago they finally did by announcing they would now approve explicit sexual content for new indieverses.
Aside from the controversy, this exploded the company as requests for commissions nearly doubled. HubCorp rushed to put out a closed trial period, but in their haste they ignored what should have been an obvious problem: many of the Muves had no concept of what sex was, and some had never even been given genitalia as it wasn't relevant or necessary to their story. This made for some awkward and unentertaining branches where pleasure and fun were replaced with confusion and apprehension.