Thoughts and recollections regarding the structure and other related enough topics as they apply of Limbus Company
At the time of writing there have been 5 total subdivisions of the company revealed, Limbus Company: A, Bus, Clearance, Distortion and Enkephalin. If Leviathan is included, then each branch so far has been introduced in alphabetical order, and each of them have an associated word as listed prior. To understand the claims about structure I’m going to make, I’ll first list my thoughts on each of the subdivisions we’ve had revealed.
First of is the LCA – which can be reasonably assumed to be the heads of the whole operation, featuring a spec ops unit, R&D department, and people able to negotiate with up and coming Wing aspirants. Their associated word is not yet known, but I’ve been back n forth on the idea of it being ‘Aspect’, as per my personal theory of pre-clock Dante being involved in the company’s founding and the general lack of candidates that would necessitate the word being hidden for as long as it has.
Irregardless of that, one thing that has been pointed out by Dante in both their notes and narration is that the LCA, at least what we’ve seen of them, are rather out of place with the rest of the company. For one, they take on various tasks as previously stated, whilst all the other departments are more specialised, and the uniforms we have seen for their agents lack the typical company branding and stylisation. This fits in with the idea of the company building a front for itself in the distortion business, as Faust has mentioned prior, hence the branding only being applied to the more visible parts of the company. Perhaps it also allows for the sepc ops. unit to perform more jobs under the guise of anonymity.
Their lack of specialisation also means they’re more self sufficient – sure the other departments help things run at scale but if the LCA needs to go it alone they seem to be able to. A possible precaution against any, say, mass lo.s of staff in some sort of death event, or corporate sabotage,
Given the LCA’s direct involvement in monolith retrieval – with Dante even mentioning that in their notes, so it’s something the average player probably needs to know – and all the space in HQ for all things distortion it doesn’t seem entirely unrelated to whatever the company has as their end goal. Distortions/Monoliths and Boughs are what they are collecting, and both have a connection to the Light as well as being connected certain ‘frequencies’ – Ezra mentions picking up the Monolith’s signal and Fau mentions a tuning process done at HQ to resonate the bough, Dante’s bough and Mephi. In short, I believe they’re important in general, not just as a guise.
Ah, but to get back on track, the R&D department has been mentioned to develop extraction tickets and takeoff modules – as well as calling the E.G.O the Sinners use ‘Abnormal-Psychoment based’, from which I take to mean that they are a mix of the E.G.O of the Abno and Sinner in question, which is why the same E.G.O can manifest differently for different Sinners: i.e. Christmas Nightmare. I’d imagine the Sinner’s part of it to be a bit like Volatile/not fully formed E.G.O, whilst the Abnormal part refers to however the Sinner-Abno connection is established. The use of the term Psychoment also implies some level of influence from YuRia or her associates, possibly just from hearing about it, but with hindsight was probably an early hint at the change in the employment for the DD crew.
As well, there’s a mention of an ‘Observatorium Department’ via one of their Mirror researchers – and an observatorium/observatory is a type of building for studying stars, planets and the sky in general, which is another reason I think the A stands for Aspect – as in the positioning of stars/planets in respects to eachother. Or it could stand for Astrology or any other cognates – I simply find the connection with stars to be important with even the minor things, like how Fau once worked directly alongside the LCA [Leviathan] instead of just taking HQs orders as she does now and mentions how she once enjoyed stargazing. Both being in the past tense doesn’t mean they happened at the same time, of course, but I think my point has been made.
Whilst the topic of the modules is at hand, however, I would like to mention that Dante’s thread record 2 has them mentioning that they get a similar feeling from the thread as they do from the star they see when turning the clock [comparing it to contempt awe] – thread itself is ‘bundled possibilities’ and the HE takeoff module says that the light of the threads is reminiscent of the light of the White Nights. While minor, it’s another of the company’s connections to lobcorp more broadly and the Light in general less broadly. Said Lobcorp connection is something I’ll expand upon later.
In YMFTCTB, an LCA agent speaks the phrase ‘A foe is a friend, and a friend is a foe for Limbus Company’ when asked about the possibility of gaining the ire of yet more of the fingers. This I find to be interesting, if in part for the lack of discussion I see about it. See, it’s a line that could be used in support of the traitor theory, made popular by various factors like Dante’s Jesus references and the fact that both prior games have themselves had major traitors. Especially now with the addition of Xichun and H. Corp. at large as allies, it is a worrying tell for the future.
My personal interpretation of it is that the enemies of LC are going to in some way be a stepping stone for their goals – possibly via their predictability, like how you can bait someone into a trap if you know they’re following you. Whilst the true threat is internal, a betrayal will hurt a lot more than any outsider attack could do. And for the LCB especially, at this point – and probably even moreso in the future – they’ve grown to protect their own, or at the least give a shit, so if the company at large does anything to cause them to split off, or stop the company’s plans, is that not a friend acting as a foe?
Especially given what Vergilius says after Ishmael harpoons Dante – that it had to have been a mistake or her throat wouldn’t be intact [to which Faust does one of her usual suspicious ellipses] and what Outis’ file warning states. They – as in the higher ups – are looking out for betrayal, probably to stop it.
I’ve implied it before but I believe the LCA and HQ are one in the same, or at least that the HQ is part of the LCA, and if that is true than they have firepower. And cash, Enough firepower to blow the Pallid Whale to bits, and enough cash to give their footsoldiers guns and have access to new tech from other companies, like the teleportal-whatever device. The people that run the show are loaded, enough to live happy big shot City lives, but are after something more – something to do with the Boughs and presumably something to do with filling that L Corp. slot. They as well have the board of directors and presumably the CEO, the core of the LCA is the core of the entire company, which makes the lack of info make a lot more sense.
Minor thing, but Faust – as in the Gesselchaft – might also be involved, given in Warp Express Fau mentions her connections to all her communications – including but not exclusively to the GSC. If the GSC isn’t part of HQ, then it seems Faust is connected to something else that is. Though this may just be a misreading, of course. What if Mephi is her wifi router.
The LCB, as the protagonists, are the ones we know by far the most about, character-wise at least, and are a more general department, given they get told to be teachers or distortion-thumpers every so often. Or, hey, maybe they were originally the ‘Bough’ department and someone thought ‘Bus’ was funnier.
In any case, there’s not much that isn’t readily apparent about them, but I do think their importance is understated. For one, the LCC is primarily based around helping them, plus their mission is important enough for a Colour Fixer to be hired as a helper. They are, alphabetically, the second department in the company, by now probably the most visible and tasked with gathering the boughs – the main goal of the company. Not to even mention how a good half or so of the Sinners are decently important in the City at large, or are at least well known to a district or two, with that not even counting their associates and enemies.
As well, their hiring practices are rather odd, directly picking out certain people who essentially couldn’t refuse their call, and while we have no direct mention of LCC and the other department’s hiring practices, safe to bet they would be much more normal. That and the flow make the LCB a lot more unique than the others – especially when it comes to the fact that Dante’s head is even on the logo and their much more individualised uniforms. They, whilst still constrained, have a higher degree of freedom than the other departments, Dante was even given the choice to avoid the distortion hunt in YMF.
I can’t shake the feeling that this all is to expedite their growth, and that this growth is one of the company’s main concerns, though the reason why is unclear. It may be to have 12 immortal E.G.O users on their beck and call, or to have them resonate with and collect the boughs under circumstances beneficial to the company, or maybe even as a test run for something else, there’s an array of possibilities.
Their allocation of Mephistopheles – a clearly expensive work that includes all kinds of tech – is also a bit suspect. The engine’s necessity is undeniable, but other factors of the bus like sharing a name with a very-much-not-inanimate demon or the fact it has an entire corridor just on its back are odd to me. In a place like the City, area expansion tech must be rather common, no? As I understand the corridor – which is not that well, mind – the place that each door opens to is in some way connected to the mind of the user, if one wishes to go somewhere and opens a door, they might end up there. Mephi seems to be somewhat hijacking the one in it’s back, the way I see it, since the Sinners go to the same rooms – the doors work at least a bit on intent – but each time but said rooms change from their mental state.
There’s a definite connection, as we know from miracle, between Bus and Corridor, and I think it plausible that either entrance used by the LCB isn’t the only entrance to that corridor or that it was in use by Limbus Company prior to canon, especially with how Faust seemed to confident when she went to save Heathcliff.
Tangent aside, their role isn’t as obvious as the LCA’s – they’re the core of the org and the ones who call the shots for the whole company – but I think it’s fair to call them the, or at least a, driving force towards LC’s goals. Hence their massive importance. They’re like the wheels of a car’s chassis or something.
LCC – Clearance, Before and After teams and the ones I think it’s fair to say we know the most about just second to the LCB, thanks to reoccurring NPCs and 3 IDs, though it is tilted in the before team’s favour.
Unit 3, The Preliminary Observation Department – seemingly the one that Effie & Saude belong to, given the ID that talks about it is based on Effie – is mentioned to have five ‘whole’ sections, and LCC Rodya assumes that it’s because of its meat grinder [Shu] nature. Noted to pay well enough even if the least of the company’s subsects [Dante’s notes]. Ishy mentions medals and there’s that black card with unlimited spending on it for especially good workers, which explains why the captains seem at least decently skilled. Which is presumably how they keep the grinder going, it’s mentioned that some just take the job for quick cash too.
Pilot mentions Advanced Reconnaissance teams, which seem to refer to whatever group of LCCB agents are sent to scope out the threat first instead of an actual department, and are presumably thus made of the most expendable of the expendable. Given their dealings with Abnormalities, wipes seem common. Given that, and how Rodya lists a move to the After team alongside a promotion and a raise it seems like the LCCB is not the place to be, which makes sense,
As well, it’s explicitly spelled out that the LCC is to assist in the collection of the golden boughs, which is also heavily implied in their little ode to sacrifice they give to the new recruits. They remind me a bit of the clerks – maybe a living Yuri would’ve gone there – but that’s irrelevant. To presumably aid in that, they also are allowed on group missions with the LCB, hell, the only reason we never met Team Leader Haru n the rest of her lot was because they had a confrontation with the middle – as unplanned as the little Ricardo visit now that I reread it, Faust even goes ‘Hm.’ and everything. Wonder if that’ll pop up in C9 too.
Info on the After team is much more scarce, but for we know that they ‘clean up the messes of the LCB’ and thus have a less than stellar opinion on them. Presumably less turnover too, given a culture of LCB-hatred has had enough time to settle itself in. It doesn’t seem like they get on too well with the LCCB either, if Ryōshū’s defeat wail is anything to go by, and again their ‘high-and-mighty’ attitude is mentioned.
They are said directly to handle the securing of Abno eggs, but given Caiman talks about sweeping their shit under the rug other stuff like bribery or otherwise sorting unfinished business with Syndicates or the like doesn’t seem off the table. And while this is a personal judgement of mine, it does seem as if between them, the Before team and the Bus team, that they either have the least or the easiest work, especially since Cantos 3, 5 and 6 are the only ones I can think of where remaining issues weren’t hashed out right then and there with someone in charge or with power [C4 – Alfonso, C7 – Cesara and Han-ul – C2 arguably Sonya – C8 the literal Hierarch of Honguan] or were self contained enough to not warrant anything extensive [C1]. Though the City is the City and maybe they have to do everything in lightless rooms with floors made of hot charcoal.
Speaking of Caiman, she stresses the importance of Dante’s actions and decisions in regards to the treatment of the Sinners, and their convo lingered in Dante’s head given it was mentioned in two notes as something that legitimately got to them. Looking back, I’ve grown to have a similar opinion of her as Hong Lu – that she isn’t necessarily wrong – but I find her emblematic of an outsider’s understanding of the LCB. As part of the After team all she knows of them is their faults that she and her team must clean up at possibly great risk to themselves, whilst the members of the Before team like Pilot are much more likely to hang onto the idealised version of the LCB the company feeds them and are thus much more friendly as a result, as they don’t often get to see their flaws, if at all. Both miss a large part of the LCB and thus cannot give accurate judgement – which is why I think Vergilius shuts her down when she’s closing out and reclarifies they are all under his guidance.
This is a fairly common theme throughout the game, as a sort of inverse to the idea that all important things can only be seen with the heart, and character’s incomplete understandings are shown most commonly by if they refer to Dante as a clock – technically correct but misses their personhood, as represented by Effie and Caiman – or as ‘Dante’ – their name refers to the ‘human’ part of them, but given they do not even recognise it as first, and the fact names aren’t inherent to one’s being it misses the tangible/physical part of themselves, as represented by Demian.
LCD – Distortion. First thing to note is Fau makes an offhand comment about the department being small, but that was all the way back in 03 984 [current story sits somewhere about 02 985] and there is a possibility it has expanded since then. There are two mentioned teams in the On-site Investigative Reasoning Team, as led by Moses, and a Distortion Task Force, which Ezra is a part of. Vespa has a totality of one Limbus mention to his name, and YuRia has none in the main story so it’s hard to say anything other than the fact they’re involved somehow.
Whilst not directly related to the LCD’s role in the company, the fact that Moses is employed there implies that Dias and Han Hee-joon may themselves had had contact with the company – my personal theory is that Dias is a sponsor or on the board of directors and Han Hee-joon is doing Han Hee-joon things as usual, but the idea of Dias as the CEO is an idea not uncommonly floated about. Speaking of, Moses mentions learning of Dante’s distortion-sense via unofficial means, while this is a bit of a jump, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine that info coming from a grade 2 of the Seven Association. This was also said right in front of Faust and Vergie, neither of whom reacted, so their distortion-related abilities don’t seem to be under lock and key – at least for members of the company.
As well, Don had a reaction to hearing about Moses in RL&C and Moses was noted to stare overlong at Outis for a sec in C7, implying a connection of sorts. Though unless someone had beef with an N Corp taboo hunter I doubt anyone will have any connection to Vespa, and the only one likely to know of YuRia outside company business is Don, given she made equipment for Fixers and would’ve probably have rumours if not a full appearance in a magazine.
The LCD were placed in charge of the creation of a new risk level system, possibly due to their on-site teams and the similarities between distortions and Abnormalities, as opposed to the LCE who have the knowledge but don’t seem to have many personnel for things going on outside HQ. Plus, they seem to be able to direct the LCB somewhat – at the end of Canto 6 Dante mentions distortion hunting on the LCD’s orders – which also probably helps substitute their workload.
It’s unfortunate to say, but there’s not much info to glean about them for now, so they’re in a similar position to pre-checkup LCE. Though given that Moses directly says she hopes to meet Dante in person one day, the general importance of Distortions and the fact that they have direct ties to the District that houses the main antagonists while also being the home of a Sinner that has something to do with distortion – they are going to show up in a major way soon enough.
LCE – Enkephalin. Though often confused for Extraction – given they don’t seem to be able to extract Abnormalities and are primarily keeping, creating E.G.O from and studying Abnos I think Enk works better. With their containment facilities seemingly based in headquarters, they are in charge of the containment and monitoring of both Abnormalities and distortions acquired from the LCB’s misadventures and possibly any other available Lobcorp sites.
All in all, the LCE is the department closest to Lobcorp, with LCE Fau even saying that they act as it’s successor in every way that matters, which is more true than it isn’t – they even keep the trumpets, which is adorable. Though the additions of facilities for dealing with distortions and Peccatula are the most obvious difference. Perhaps this organisation, too, is a front and means to a world shaking end.
As for why it’s based in HQ – we know that Boughs can create Qliphoth Deterrence, which was first used by Lobcorp as a way to keep the Abnormalities properly under containment [which leads to the possibility that whatever was used to make it later became the boughs, given I don’t remember any clear answers for what created it] and Faust mentions a 'sapling planted in the subterranean area of the headquarters’ that Dante connected to via the Boughs [YMFTCTB]. Thus there is a connection between said sapling and the Boughs that could imply some overlap in ability, which I suggest is the ability to create deterrence, hence why the LCE in in HQ and not some other sub area.
For their E.G.O gear, it’s mentioned that the assimilation – or attunement rate as the LCE call it – is rather flexible, and can be used to allow a person to access more of an Abno’s idiosyncrasies and abilities than the Lobcorp E.G.Os, which were seemingly much more stable and massed produced – represented by their designs being much more standardised. I find the idea of assimilation of importance, given it matches the ideas Gebura talks about – how she risked being swallowed up by E.G.O whenever she used it.
This also reflects on the E.G.O the Sinners use, especially as LoR E.G.O was said to be temporarily acquired from Abnormalities, and they weren’t even fully control of it. Yet Roland posits that Angela ‘adjusted’ them in advance as he wasn’t sure he felt that ‘raging torrent Geb described’ – what sort of adjustments I can’t be sure of, though I’d say the limited duration would also be part of it. Hence it is now my current belief that Sinner E.G.O is a different version of Library E.G.O whilst LCE.G.O is a different version of Lobcorp E.G.O – which matches with the design choices as well, with the former types being more shaped by their associated Abnos than the latter ones, which are more like Abnos pressed into a certain suit-shape.
The less moulded the E.G.O are, the more can be gained for them, leading to increased power – however, they carry more of the Abnormality’s ‘essence’ of sorts, leading to a higher risk of corrosion and assimilation, which is why E.G.O suits can be used longer than the E.G.O the LCB use. Which is presumably why Carmen – via uptie narration – suggests LCE.G.O is closer to ‘actual’ E.G.O than the suits. The Light is also probably involved somehow but I don’t know how to tackle that – something something Sinners are able to manifest E.G.O anywhere via their contract with Dante → Dante has a Bough in their head → Bough can access the Light → Light connects with Abnos → Used as a throughline between the Sinners and the Abnos allowing the former to use the power of the latter. Library possibly did smth similar due to being Made of The Light.
People like Moses make the concept of personal E.G.O an entirely different beast, but that was expected, for they are manifested from themselves – and possibly however much of the distributed White Night Light they got – instead of artificially created.
Back to the LCE – Hohoho is himself the Chief Researcher for the entirety of Limbus Company, and his work at the LCE goes further to suggest that it is the primary division when it comes to research, given the LCA themselves have an R&D department, so it can’t be too centralised. This also implies that the importance of the heads of each department don’t have power corresponding to the order of their associated divisions, hence why Dante’s security clearance is fuck all and such.
By the way, DN specifically calls them an energy generation department, and they are the Enkephalin department – so the fact the LCB have to create or collect their own enk implies they haven’t ramped up production of it to a stable enough rate that they can send it out or sell it yet. Especially given the other reasons as to why don’t make them seem particularly intelligent.
I believe I’ve said all I can for now, so for my views on the overall structure, they are as such:
From A-E hey are listed in such a way that one department works to directly help the proceeding one.
The LCA needs people to go out and collect the Boughs [presumably for the ‘subterranean sapling] → the LCB are recruited to resonate with and collect the Boughs.
The LCB are a small unit that require assistance for prep and cleanup due to the sporadic nature of their work → the LCC do just that, making everything more likely to run smoothly.
[A bit less confident on this one] The LCC need specialist help with distortions, as they cannot rely on the knowledge of Lobcorp for them → hire the famed Distortion Detective and incorporate her office into the company, gaining Dias bait at the same time.
The LCD need somewhere to store, monitor and study distortions and the Abnormalities they may become → LCE takes on said role, as well as succeeding Lobotomy Corp.
There’s little info on when exactly each department was formed, though, so I doubt this order is at all the order of their canonical formation – Effie and Saude mentioned practising for months to act as croupiers & if Sinner numbers are their canonical joining order as C4 implied that adds in more problems accounting for Sinclair. Unless it was like: Sinc planned for no.10 → He hesitates and backs out for a bit → Dante becomes no.10 and Sinc is ready to join → ‘ah fuck making him a new uniform would take too long just cross out the 0’.
Departments and subdepartments vary in the amount of units they have, depending on what is required of them – the company seems rather flexible in that aspect, without any clear and universally enforced codes like the 1-5 scale of corp employees. The titles for who’s in charge vary as a result of this – Executive Manager, just Manager, Chief Researcher etc. This makes a fair amount of sense given the spontaneity needed for the Golden Bough collection missions, so other departments can pitch in to help if needed, or if they or the company at large need to expand into a certain thing quick.
The heads of each department – for LCB they’re Fau and Vergie in my eyes – seem to have much more contact with eachother than the average person, as well, it doesn’t seem as if there’s much overlap outside of situations like an LCCA → LCE Abno dropoff.
The alphabetical system is reminiscent of the one used for corps in the City, and similarly to each department each one has their own specialisation and at least a specific role in the City that keeps them going: H Corp bio bolus body mods, K Corp healing, R Corp mass warfare/kill everything in this specific area etc. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re planning on taking over the Head, but they [LC higher-ups] seem to have a vested interest in getting their fingers in as many pies as humanly possible, district-wise.
The tele-tech has also been used to move the LCC base around [Saude], so they don’t seem to have all their eggs in one basket. Similar to how Dias and the Udjat work, as in having bases available all over the City.
From Hohenheim it can be gathered that the leaders of each section have some sway in, say, hiring practices and some parts of the general operation, HQ isn’t entirely tyrannical, so summarise, and each section has some sort of autonomy – enough for the LCE to hound the LCB and the LCB to ignore them for like a year without anyone telling them to get on with it.
I’ve ran out of notes now, so I shall end this here, but thank you for reading this and I hope to be able to expand on it in the future. Any company-focused intervallo will have me cheering.