New York City, Spring 1914
The winter and spring of 1914 were a time of deceptive tranquility. In the salons of New York and the drawing rooms of London, talk was of new art, industrial marvels, and the coming summer season. But in the newly established headquarters of Starbank, a discreet twelve-story skyscraper on Cedar Street, the atmosphere was one of quiet, coiled tension.
Alan and Annelise operated with the seamless efficiency of a single mind. Their days were a whirlwind of coded transatlantic cables, discreet meetings, and the silent, methodical movement of capital. They established numbered accounts in neutral Switzerland and the Netherlands, bleeding capital out of markets they knew would soon be paralyzed by war. This was the consortium's circulatory system, designed to be immune to the blockades and seizures that would cripple their competitors.
While Annelise managed the European side of the alliance, Alan finalized the transformation of Starbank. The last vestiges of his father's "gentleman's bank" were purged. When a scion of the prominent Astor family, whose finances were in a more precarious state than was publicly known, requested a significant, under-collateralized loan to fund a lavish expedition, Alan personally denied him.
"Starbank is not in the business of funding vanity, sir," Alan stated in a letter that was as polite as it was unyielding. "We are in the business of financing tangible production, secured by tangible assets." The denial sent a quiet shockwave through the city's old guard. A new power was on Wall Street, and it did not play by the old rules.
Meanwhile, the first products from Pixel Palace rolled off the production line in a small factory in Queens. The "Mikaelson Derby," the mechanical horse-racing game, was well-made, durable, and satisfyingly tactile. It was not an immediate sensation, appearing in only a handful of toy shops and gentleman's clubs. Alan was unconcerned. He wasn't building a fad; he was seeding a market and securing the supply chain.
Annelise, on a trip to Paris, did the same for Elysian Holdings. She spent weeks in the dusty archives of Maison Dubois and Parfumerie Voisin, not changing a thing, but documenting every royal warrant, every apocryphal story, every historical detail. She was meticulously crafting the legends that would one day be worth more than the products themselves.
Alan's most significant move, however, was happening far from public view. He formally incorporated his gold holdings into a private entity, legally firewalled from Starbank: Mikaelson Gold Consolidated. It was not a company; it was a vault. Deep in the Manhattan bedrock, five levels below the Starbank headquarters, engineers worked around the clock on its construction. It was a project of unprecedented scale, with reinforced concrete walls, a 50-ton steel door, and its own private power and ventilation systems.
"The banks will trust the Federal Reserve," he told Annelise. "Governments will trust their national treasuries. I will trust only steel and bedrock."
As the final preparations were made, the world continued its slumber. Then, on a warm afternoon in late June, Alan was leaving his office when he heard a newsboy shouting on the street corner, his voice sharp with excitement.
"Extra! Extra! Archduke of Austria Assassinated in Sarajevo! Heir to the Throne Slain by Serbian Terrorist!"
Passersby stopped, murmuring in confusion, wondering where Sarajevo was. But Alan Mikaelson stopped for a different reason. He looked up at the clear blue sky, a sky that he knew would soon be filled with the smoke of a burning continent. He turned and walked back into his bank, a cold, grim certainty settling over him. The ticking clock had just struck midnight.
End of Chapter Summary
Period: Q2 1914
Mikaelson Family Estimated Net Worth: ~$26,000,000
(Note: Value increase reflects the capitalization of new entities and strategic positioning of assets before the war.)
I. Financial Holdings (Starbank)
Commercial & Retail Banking: Branches: 15 (Fully integrated.)
Total Assets: ~$15,500,000
Insurance (P&C): Actively writing policies, securing strategic positions in transatlantic shipping insurance.
II. Gold Holdings (Mikaelson Gold Consolidated)
Holding Company Established.
Fields: 2
Current Market Value (estimated): ~$10,500,000
Infrastructure: Construction of the private "Bedrock Vault" in New York is 80% complete.
III. Luxury Goods (Elysian Holdings)
Brands: 2
Boutiques: 2
Strategy: Annelise is actively cataloging brand heritage for future marketing.
IV. Gaming (Pixel Palace)
Products: "Mikaelson Derby" has entered limited production and distribution in New York City.
Acquisitions This Chapter:
Company Name: None.
Mentioned Families & Alliances:
Rothschild Family (Finance): Est. Net Worth: [Classified]. Status: Consortium is fully operational and capitalized, awaiting the trigger event for the war financing strategy.
Astor Family (Real Estate/Society): Status: Mentioned as a representative of the old guard, their loan denial by Starbank signals a shift in financial power.