Harold Ford's Questionnaire

Just down the road from the Bourland Field Airport, slightly north of Cresson, sits a mansion surrounded by cobblestone walls. I live here in Texas for several reasons: Privacy is important to me, I was raised here, and lax tax laws allow me to maintain my health. Why I live in Cresson is a little more particular. People here tend to leave you alone if you don't bother them. And of course, being close to the airport is a massive plus. It's just a short drive to my private jet.

Sitting in the driveway are four vehicles, evidence of my love of cars. A ford pickup, an armoured van, a limousine, and a CAT excavator.

Inside, the building is fairly bare-bones. Simple wiring, no unnecessary electric appliances, closed circuit monitoring of every room that runs to a database in the vault in my basement. Most of my wealth is in stocks and property, but forty thousand dollars of gold sits buried in my backyard. Standard paranoid millionaire things.

Most of my income comes from stocks and property, although I do have a significant salary as vice president of Ford Motors. I spend it on maintaining and fueling my vehicles and my private jet, as well as paying the salary of my bodyguard, secretary, and private investigator. My bodyguard and secretary follow me on most contracts, and my private investigator usually will do remote research about the contract. Outside of contracts, my private investigator works as my social media manager, keeping my profile low on the internet. A small portion of my wealth goes to my equipment. 

In addition to my 3 personal employees, I employ Nathan (another contractor) to give me augments when I want them. In return, I pay him $400k each quarter (133.3k per month)

I have a simple and precise definition of the moral good, informed by utilitarianism: Pleasure times time equals "good". So then, my goal becomes evident. As I generally enjoy life, I must therefore strive to live as long as possible. Forever, if I am able. During my early life, I took this at face value. I exercised, hired security, ate well, and went to regular medical checkups. As I aged, I realized death is inevitable and cannot be avoided...or so I thought.

I remember the illumination. It didn't happen all at once, it was gradual. The wealthy and educated knew a bit about the supernatural already, but as cameras and smartphones developed more and more, evidence of spirits, ghosts, wizards...it all started compounding. It's taken as common sense now, that these things are real. But I remember the days before...when magic was joked about at kids' parties or whispered about between the gullible.

This discovery changed the math though - now, there was a chance, albeit a slim one, that my life could be extended far beyond 'normal', possibly...forever.

I was careful, at first. Hired a P. I. to look into vampires. Talked to a man who claimed to be four hundred years old. But my investigation caught the attention of a strange orange-suited man, who made a deal with me. All the power I desired, and all I had to do was stop some fungus outbreak.

It...did not go well. Nearly died. But I grit my teeth and begged the man for another chance to prove myself. begged. I hate begging. But when I need to, I kiss ass with the best of them, and I got another shot.

It went better, the second time. A few close shaves with bullets, but I made it through. And the power I received...

I can still be killed if I get unlucky. But with each contract, I get closer to the unattainable: True, real immortality.

I have seen it. The man in the orange suit or a contractor who makes my powers look like nothing...

That's what I want. The ability to not age, drink, eat, sleep...that is only the beginning. A shadow of what I want. When I am done, no one will be able to hurt me again.

When I was but a young boy, my father took me for a ride in a car. Feeling it around me, the power behind it...he let me drive for a little bit, and I loved it. I loved my father so much. Hunting large game with him, sneaking cigars across the border, debating philosophers, getting into fistfights with terrorists...

He lived a thousand times for fiercely than any man I have ever known. I thought he was immortal. A god.

And then he died, by the very thing I loved the most: t-boned at an intersection by a car. I remember the glass shattering into my eyes, and the paramedics dragging me away from his corpse...I was an adult by then but without my father...I felt like a child. I talked to my father's friends, the wealthy, and educated. They where shadows of the man my father was.

I have no interest in dwelling on the past. But I strive to live by the model set by my father - even as I fear death more than anything else.

For most of my life, I have been a coward. But reflecting on that day...

Death comes for us all. So I have two options. Live life to the fullest, or work towards immortality. My father chose the former, and it killed him. So I choose the latter - I will risk it all, but only because what I am risking - My life - is already forfeited. If I am going to die one day, why would I not take any risk that might prevent that?

I am aloof at best, and after the death of my father, separated myself from emotional connection. But maybe in my old age, I am becoming...softer. Before, my answer would probably have been my Secretary and Bodyguard - They are with me nearly 24/7. But to each other, we are tools - they use me for income, I use them for convenience.

But out there on the contracts, in the field. I feel alive, these people I am with... are the only people I have met who remind me of my father. They dance wildly at the edge of death, practically daring god to kill them, all for this power. I think for a lot of them, it's not even the power - I think they enjoy this. And the more I participate, the more their enthusiasm rubs off on me.

Nathan Hong is one of these people. A young and intelligent man, and his drive and abilities make him a valuable tool to me. But I must admit I am beginning to, for once, feel real emotion with him. A real sense of platonic respect. He is one of the few men I respect as my equal. I suppose he is the one I am closest to - which is truly sad, as I hardly know him.

Eden Joss, Klaus. These people are insane, wonderful, and terrible. It makes them feel real. I think the difference between this and my other relationships - say between me and an employee - is one of power and respect. I don't truly respect the people that work for me. Most of them are bootlicking cowards who don't stop to think, just chasing the goals laid out by their parents or school. But the contractors... They are different. They are more.

My childhood was one of patriarchal power dynamics and vicious competition between peers. Fighting for straight A's after I was shipped off to a boarding school and only visited during the summers when my family went sailing. My mother was an alcoholic - I was never close to her, and she had no interest in raising me. My father was the one who raised me, although he was a busy man. As I aged, he began taking me out of school for longer and longer, to go on "educational vacations" with him. Hunting in South Africa, debates with all sorts of political extremists, drunken bar fights. I learned more about humanity out there, but I don't think I ever truly dropped the cold exterior I developed at that boarding school. I think my father regretted sending me there. It made me aloof from others, always prepared to stab me in the back. After he died, I went back to school. Got a doctorate in business and automotive engineering. I fit in perfectly at a high-brow university - me and a bunch of other cold, calculating psychopaths clawing at each other's throats for a slightly better GPA. I truly hate that part of me - My father would be disgusted by it.

For all my talk of being a self-made man, I was privileged to a comedic extent. I worked hard, but so did many others who got less lucky than me. The truly self-made man was my father. He took after the original Henry Ford. I just hope to one day live up to that standard, but I am old now. Older than my father was when he died. I'm not sure if I will ever live up to that standard.

Love is a complex emotion, and I have only felt it once. True, platonic love, with my father. And with him gone, I feel into the academic, capitalist, coldness that befalls the wealthy, moving through like like it was a dream. Amazing wealth, working corporate jobs. Lots of surface-level friendships. But no love. Hardly even anyone I liked.

Maybe that will improve now. I am beginning to feel things again. Out on those contracts, staring death itself in the face and not backing down... it's invigorating. I feel a much more real connection to the other contractors than I ever did with work, or my distant alcoholic mother. Maybe I can learn to love once more. 

There are only two things worth fearing in life - the end of that life, and the fact that you might have wasted some of it. The advice I would give to ordinary people is to live with that first one and mitigate the second, but I find myself in the unique opportunity to work towards fixing both of those problems. Doing interesting and fulfilling work, with the potential to delay or even prevent my death - Count me in.

I must admit that I have a somewhat inflated ego, and attacks on that ego are a fear for me as well. But even though I am aware of my hubris, I find that an exaggerated sense of self-confidence can lead to a lot of good - notably others assume you are capable as well. Which is quite convenient, although I quite dislike it when people see through the veneer of competence that I masquerade in.

Pas that of course, normal things scare me - Ghosts, drowning, heights - Although outside of a biological response, they scare me due to their ability to harm me. So I suppose that that's the main fear for me - Death. Not existing anymore, the very end. It's not that I think I will mind being dead, just that I quite like being alive, and fear that being dead will be, at the very least, much worse than being alive. 

I have many possessions, but few I attribute value to outside their monetary worth. Other than the standard fare of things I enjoy for practical reasons - My house, my armoured van, etc.- I have an emotional connection with the supernatural objects I have acquired in the last few months. My most prized of which is a small iron ring I wear on my toe - although unassuming, this ring prevents the bodily functions of entropy that normally lead towards death. I don't require food, air, or sleep while wearing it, nor do I age. Although this achieves, on a surface level, my goal of immortality, locking myself in a room without any threats defeats the entire goal of immortality - an infinitely long, good life - and replaces it with a life worse than death. And so a search for a form of immortality that also prevents bodily harm, and until then must be cautious not to lose control or possession of my ring.

I suppose the largest problem is that if I continue to exist and live my life, eventually, I will die. Not of hunger or age, but of some virus, or a stray bullet or vehicle. I mean, even if the odds of my dying on any given day are astronomically low - say due to me being very careful - given enough time it will still happen. So my only chance of surviving truly forever is to work towards that unobtainable true immortality - Full, total preservation of my mind at any cost. It seems unfeasible, but the first steps have already been taken. My next goal is to prevent disease, poison, and minor bodily damage such as bullet wounds. Then I will move onto the more esoteric forms of harm - total bodily destruction, phycological harm, memory deletion (as I view "myself" as a collection of mental properties, the destruction of my mind is just as serious as the destruction of my body). So that, I suppose, is the solution: Risking it all, so I don't have to risk anything ever again.

I begin each morning by waking up fairly early, about 7:00 most mornings. I shower, brush my teeth, and dress for the workday in one of my custom-tailored suits. My assistant calls me and tells me a summary of how my stocks did, any important news, and anything else important that has happened recently. As I listen, I typically go for a walk around my garden. Then, I will usually head for a drive in my sportscar. Then, I get some breakfast in town, of course being very careful to wear a mask when entering any shops - it's still COVID-19 after all, plus it helps to make people not recognize me (not that I am particularly famous, but some people might). From there, I drive to the airport and take my private jet to work, if they want me to come into the office. Is it good for the environment? Of course not. But most days I work from home, and besides, I make donations to fight global warming, so that makes this net neutral if you think about it.

When attending funerals, weddings, and important board meetings, I have a bit of a ritual I go about. Nothing occult, mind you. Simple things. First, I find brushing my teeth a second time goes a long way, as does another shower and maybe some light stretching, or a jog. Especially if it's something stressful. After that, I don one of my multiple expensive suits, or if the occasion is really special, I get my tailor to make me something. I of course don't travel anywhere without protection, usually in the form of my secretary/sniper, a bodyguard, or simply a small firearm. When it's a more casual affair, a sweater, sports jacket, and dress pants are my go-to, and if I need to blend in with the public, a simple pair of jeans and a sweater can go a long way. Shoes are important as well, and it saddens me to see the noble art of shoe-shining go out of demand. I respect anyone who comes to a meeting with freshly shined shoes. Maybe I am simply old-fashioned, but it sets a tone of preparedness. One thing I dislike about these younger wealthy elite is their insistence on casual wear, always wandering around in jeans and a t-shirt. Or worse, sweatpants! I blame the internet and those video games.

For my birthday, I usually take a jet down to Mexico or Hawaii for scuba diving. My birthday is set in mid-July, so it's usually wonderful weather for that sort of thing. Nothing like relaxing on the beach, going for a swim, and seeing some turtles. This year, I plan on heading down to Panama, maybe Brazil. Maybe do some hiking, and have a few drinks with some of my old-money friends down that way. I know a man who owns an entire bay down there - a bit of a drunk, but he is fun to party with for a few days. His voice gets on my nerves though. Maybe instead, I will head on a skiing trip, just to avoid him. I wonder if any of the contractors I have met ski...Nathan maybe? Hmm...it's certainly worth asking them about next time I see them on a contract. My fellow contractors simply live life more vividly than these old-money rich folk.

Out of all of my regrets, my largest not spending more time with my father, Daniel Ford. He was a great man, an inventor and an entrepreneur. Unfortunately, my damned mother (may her soul rest in piece) decided to ship me off to some uptight boarding school, leading to my young self being particularly superficial and stingy. It was only after my father pulled me from that school that I became the man I am today - someone who I truly enjoy being, someone who lives life to the most. My father passed away nearly twenty years ago, but every day I still regret not being able to spend more time with that truly great man. To be able to live up to what he was. To what he wanted me to be.

I worry sometimes he would be ashamed to see what I have become - some rich asshole desperately clinging to life. That shame haunts me and drives me to self-reflection. Sometimes I think I do these contracts because deep down, I think I deserve to have my life put in jeopardy, to account for how much disappointment,ents I have brought upon my family.

A few of my "gifts" come from inside me - Inherent potential, you might call it. Unlocked by the harbingers, the power of a mindset with a single task. My father taught me a few of these mental tricks - how to silence doubt or ignore pain. Considering I never mastered them until now, it makes me wonder - was my father a contractor as well? He certainly was away a lot, and he did seem more than human at times.

A few of my "gifts" are more in line with what you might expect from me - artifacts of great power that the Harbingers tipped me off to, so I could buy them from the idiots who found them and didn't realize their potential. My ring and pen fall into this category - old magic from when mages were given all the time and money in the world to try to work out a cure for aging or death.

Lastly, one of my gifts comes from a type of tech the harbingers tipped me off to - Nano-tech chips that upgrade mundane weapons, armour, or tools into something...more. I'll be damned if I understand how it works or why it's so expensive. 

I have never been a religious man, and generally believe that spirituality was superstitious mumbo-jumbo usually created by wealthy folk to control the poor. It worked very well, until the Industrial Revolution improved education - It's so much harder to manipulate people when they know god isn't real...

That being said, I am forced to reevaluate this whole anti-religion thing, as I have now seen with my own eyes all manner of supernatural phenomena.  Of course, many of these can be explained scientifically, and they don't by any means prove the existence of god, but I think I am more open to the idea that there was some creator of this world. Although why they filled it with such suffering, I haven't a clue

It seems to me that if there is a god, it can't be benevolent, omnipotent, and omnipresent. Otherwise, why is there so much suffering, harm, death, etc., in the world? Of course, the stoics will argue it's all part of some divine plan, but that's just another way of saying they don't have a clue either. 

I must admit I was surprised when it all went public. My father told me when I was a child about all these insane things, and I thought he was going crazy in his old age, and then a few years after his death... it was confirmed. These stories he told me - Werewolves, vampires, demons and angels... He always insisted they were true, but I always thought it was tongue-and-cheek joking. I was a kid when he first told them to me, and even then I didn't believe all these insane stories. It was just unrealistic, it didn't fit into the way the world worked.

Turns out I was wrong. Dead wrong. I feel bad now, for laughing when my dad spoke of demons. If everything he said was true - how did he know so much, so early on? Was he...one of them? A supernatural creature? Maybe that is where some of my...power is coming from. Some of these alien thoughts seem to originate in my head, steeling my resolve and fighting off the pain. 

So then that brings up the question...what am I?

Eden Joss is the contractor I know best. Park ranger from up north. He works very well with me, as he is far braver than I. He is willing to risk his life walking into rooms first, and is tough as nails. Some would call his bravery stupid, but I admire it. 

I've worked with Nathan Hong three times now. He's a smart guy, and I like the augments he was able to apply to me. The only thing I don't like about him is all that creepy mirror stuff he keeps doing. It's far from the worst thing I have seen on a contract, but it's still a little...icky.

I have been on a few contracts now with Klaus. Never got a last name, but he seems like a interesting fellow. He's from down under, and reminds me a bit of that charecter from that movie - Crocidile somthing or other. He's got a magic boomerang, and is a great lockpicker.

Everyone else I have only met once or twice. Juno is a sorcerer, and is very new to the contracts. Even newer than I am. They tend to panic a bit in combat, but outside of that, they are fairly level-headed and smart.

Susan Hoggmath is a bit of a wildcard, and her experiments scare me a little.

I hardly know Janet Parker at all, she is very secretive. I don't know if she even has any gifts yet. If she has any, she keeps them secret. The only contractor I have listed so far who refused to give me contact information.

I also met Enteln keller once. Did some blood magic with nanobots. Never got his phone number though. 

I don't know what the perfect room would look like, but my favorite room is my basement den. It's where I go to unwind, and features a carpeted floor, a fireplace, and a collection of whiskey. It has great ventilation, so I can smoke in there, plus a pool table and a dartboard. Shame I never have anyone over. To me, this room feels like home. It also reminds me of my father, as this was my father's den before it was mine. I never spent much time in here when he was alive, but the decor has not changed since his passing. Framed pictures from all around the world, strange animal heads mounted on the walls. I have recently started adding my own pictures to the walls, from contracts I go on. I think the only thing that could make this room better would be if my father was still alive to use it - I miss him a lot.

The thing I am best at is firearms. I am a world-class sniper, something I picked up from rigorous and constant practice. I find it relaxing, the rhythm of reloading and firing. Plus, I figure that everyone should have the means and ability to defend themselves. As such, I have always fought for firearm rights, and choose to live in Texas. 

My father used to take me on hunting trips, which is where I learned the basics. But my father's ability with firearms was so exceptional that it drove me to improve, eventually surpassing him and all of my peers. When I was younger, I briefly participated in marksmanship competitions but lost interest in that as I aged. However, my skill to shoot particularly well has been extremely useful in the contracts, so I have continued to practice multiple times a week. After all, if you don't use it, you lose it. As such, regular practice with my mentor, a grizzled army veteran named Todd, is necessary to maintain my skill.

Despite my beliefs in utilitarianism, I am of course human, and as such things like murder cause me moral distress. However, despite this, I do not believe these feelings of what is moral are what makes an action moral or not. Therefore, when my ideas of what actually is moral conflict with that may be traumatic for me, I must, and have a moral duty, to break them. This comes up a lot on my contracts, where I will break most of my limits if I believe my gift will bring more value to the world than those I may be killing. 

Additionally, I must admit that extreme gore, like torture, is quite distressing to me. Finally, I find near-death experiences very terrifying. This is due to the importance and value I place on my own life, but is also just a fundamental human fear. After all, we are all just biological meat bags, and there isn't much we can do about that.

See My Vest! - The Simpsons

I have always loved classic-era Simpsons, and to be honest Mr. Burns is a great parody of me and my co-workers. I put a lot of work into my appearance, with custom-tailored suits and vests that total thousands of dollars in value. 

Inspector Gadget Theme

I got an awesome set of tools! From firearms and rings to my repair-o-gun, I'm practically armed to the teeth.

Stayin' Alive -  Bee Gees

My goal in life is to live as long as possible, forever if that is achievable, and it comes out in my contracts. Often, I am more concerned with keeping myself alive than winning the mission, in opposition to my fellow contractors, who are often borderline suicidal. 

Who Wants to live forever? - Queen

A great song about the inevitability and tragedy of death. My goal in life is to live forever - Not just to stop aging, but the real, true, watch-the-stars-collapse and be there afterwards type of immortality. 

The Man Who Sold the World - Written by David Bowie, but Nirvana did a great cover of it.

Relating back to the first song on a more sombre note, it sometimes feels like I have traded my life for money. Spending it in a dreamlike state, never making real connections platonically or romantically.

Feel Good Inc. - Gorillaz

I am a Hedonic Utilitarian, meaning I believe that pleasure is the one true ultimate good. Hedonism gets a bad rap for being selfish or shortsighted, but all pleasures should be weighed, and pleasures of the mind, like friendship, are usually greater than those of the flesh. Not for any moral reason, they are just more sustainable and greater in quality. 

Have you driven your Ford lately - Ford Motors

This song has a lot of nostalgia for me. I remember hearing it come on the radio when I was driving to work, at Ford Motors, in a Ford. The Irony!

I am currently unsure if my goal is even achievable, but there is of course no point in risking my life if it is not. My first priority is to learn if it is possible to never truly die, possibly by trying to find the oldest verifiable sentient being. My current leads include old vampire syndicates, biblical creatures like Angels, and incorporeal beings like ghosts. One specific entity I suspect of being in possession of immortality is the creature that calls itself "The Talent". Whomever these "powers that be" are also good places to start, but I hear a few too many stories about people going insane from researching them too deeply to make that a current priority. Right now, I am trying to work out a safe manner to contact the multiple vampire syndicates I suspect exist.

I should also clarify what I mean by alive. When I say "Alive", I am looking for phycological continuity - Memories and a sense of self from one moment to the next. Nature spirits seem to lack this, as do most ghosts. The thoughtless dead, like Zombies, are disqualified for this reason. However, immortal devils and demons, although not "alive" in some sense, are alive by my definition.

I'm a pretty calm person generally, but I do sometimes get upset. When I do get upset, I try to keep it to myself, but I must admit I am prone to mild outbursts when my possessions are threatened, or when someone is incompetent. Of course, things like murder or lying make me upset, but I think that's mostly normal. I have yet to meet anyone who likes being lied to. Past that, it makes me particularly angry when people say things like "death makes life worth living" as that is opposed to my fundamental epistemological values. I believe strongly in logic and dislike ideas that cannot be justified by evidence. This isn't to say I dislike the supernatural - On the contrary, there is plenty of evidence of their existence. I also get a bit upset when people blame the wealthy for the world's problems like we are some homogeneous group that meets up and conspires to create more suffering. I admit there have certainly been individuals who take advantage of the legal and economic system, but I feel that the problem is then in the system, not the individuals who try to beat it. Additionally, capitalism is more the fundamental state of the world than a system created on top of it. Trading goods has always existed, and people making deals in exchange for goods and services is the way of the world. I am often confused by what sort of world anti-capitalists are trying to create. I do think limits imposed on rampant capitalism are justified, such as to prevent monopoly, but trying to destroy capitalism itself would be like trying to destroy gravity or entropy. I think people are too quick to blame their failings on the external world.

Overall, the thing that makes me the most angry though is what I mentioned before, this idea that death is "right" or "good". If I had my way, I would defeat death, and people would only die when they want to. Alas, spreading my immortality is a difficult idea. Hopefully, medical science will develop a method to prevent aging. That would truly be a dream come true for me.

I think the best way to keep a "secret" is to make it something no one wants to know. Take my place of residence: it's not a secret, my employees know where it is, but it's not listed anywhere on the Ford website, and I try to not make enough enemies to make tracking me down worthwhile. The only real scare I had was when I learned of someone who planned to possess me with their mind, so I went to a safe house in New Orleans and waited a few weeks, then went back to my house. I think they simply got bored, as they did not contact me a second time. I have other secrets as well, such as my immortality, but personal secrets like that are easy to keep.  I don't think I have any dark secrets or anything.

I figure the best way to fly under the radar is to just be a boring, old rich man. It's the perfect disguise, as it is true!

I think if I got to the point where I was as powerful as being like the talent, I would probably retire to a nice vineyard, put up as many wards as possible, and live a simple, happy life. Of course, I would maintain social and economic power, and maybe use my influence to further research into preventing aging, but I don't have a real interest in making people run chores for me just so they can earn some magic from some...thing. Honestly, it seems to me the Harbingers have no real reason to be doing what they are doing, I have seen no rhyme or reason to my contracts or the actions of the Harbingers. My current theory is they are just testing us for some larger task, or figuring out who to recruit to some other group of people. Maybe this is all just entertainment for them, but it sure seems like they put a lot of effort into this "entertainment". 

The only contractor who I have ever known well, and seen die, was Klaus. I knew him for a long time and worked my way up the power ladder with him. Unfortunately, he went missing and is presumed dead. I attended his funeral, but must admit I did not know much of his personal life. He always had a great sense of humour and a funny attitude. I gave Klaus's parents a bit of money and told them I was an old friend of his. It was a shame they never found the body, it would be nice to give everyone closure and maybe recover some of his magic items, like that pickle jar. I feel a bit guilty, but I would certainly have taken it. After all, he has no use for it anymore. If Nathan or another contractor who I know well died, I would certainly try to bring them back, but to my knowledge returning from the dead is near impossible. One of the many reasons I am trying to avoid it. 

Money, sweetheart. Piles and piles of money. I am very aware of my legal rights and am careful to stay on the good side of the law. Of course, the finest lawyers' money can buy certainly helps, but I also am careful what I say and who I say it to. When all else goes wrong, I can always use my...influence. But that is a last resort, as it is fairly risky. Instead, I try to act within the law during contracts and plead ignorance when I am forced to work outside it. So far, this has worked out fine, and I have only had to use my influence power once to evade the police. And of course, people tend to think well of a wealthy, old, white man. It is a rigged system, but hey, at least it is rigged to my advantage. Hopefully, my luck with the law continues. 

Well, I suppose it would depend on exactly how they broke the law. Certainly, if they murdered someone without any reason, I might report them after the contract, but a few civilian casualties is sometimes necessary. Besides, it might endanger me to go around snitching on everyone who crosses the letter of the law. I mean, if you were murdered, you wouldn't want me to be murdered too, would you? That would be worse! Better I keep things to myself, and if I have to deal with it, I can always take the law into my own hands. Not that I would engage in vigilante work, that would be immoral and indecent. Instead, I would probably hire five different assassins to kill them. Not hire them myself, though. Hire someone to hire someone to hire them. Wouldn't want anyone thinking I supported a murder - It's best to keep these things on the up-and-up if possible, anyway.

Of course. And where I draw the line is quite simple. First, I would sum the average of all possible benefits gained from taking the contract, and then I would sum the negative from that action. Then I would perform the same for all other possible courses of action. This mathematical system for determining what is ethical is known as utilitarianism, as it aims to maximize aggregate utility. In the case of say, murdering someone for a contract, I would certainly feel bad about it, but one of my gifts can certainly save a few hundred people at least. Of course, I have yet to use my powers in this manner, but that is only because the potential benefit from my continued existence is very high, and the risk of that is far lower if I take self-defence precautions. Of course, you can run into the "just one more" fallacy doing this, and I think I am at that turning point now, where I will begin to use my gifts towards what would, in my opinion, improve happiness the most. Currently, I believe that is space travel, as it could reduce the odds of humans being destroyed and therefore a massive amount of potential happiness lost.

Out of the groups I have worked with so far, Prometheus Ventures stands out as the best. Their commitment to science is truly incredible, and although the company is mostly only interested in profits, that tends to align with the betterment of humanity. My least favourite was probally those vampires that hired me that one time, but Nathan took care of them. Brave boy, he is. Other than Prometheus, the only other Harbinger I have interacted with many times is The Talent, and I honestly don't know what to make of him. I think pretty much everything he chooses to do is calculated, which is admirable, but the mystery of his origin makes his motives questionable. Honestly, most of the contracts I get are mysterious envelopes or strange jobs given over the phone, and I have no idea who the Harbingers for those contracts are. Maybe it's better not to go poking my nose into the buisness of these powerfull beings. I must admit, they scare me.