Mr. Salad Food Industries / MRSALAD

The Myth of Ian Greene?

The urban myth of Ian Greene may be one of the most influential theories, stories, or histories based around the end of the Messier Era.

Ian Greene, as the tale goes, was the most influential ecological and engineering magnus of his era, and his perpetuated influence on human society is still seen in the modern era.

Not much is known about Ian’s childhood and upbringing. Some speculation says that he had a strong upbringing in agriculture and engineering, but to put it simple, Ian could be said to have an upbringing up of “good living”.

Ian was a genius of sorts people have never seen, an outgoing character who’s been said to often have quirks about his dietary habits, healthy lifestyle, and his die hard driving motivation of wanting to bring the basics of human existence to new levels, which in his mind meant food, shelter, and comfort.

Greene Origin

Born in the late 2720’s, at a young age, he found his first major employment opportunity at Origin Jumpworks. In 2749, Origin Jumpworks became a public company and with that they were hiring in droves. Ian landed a spot in a small research and development team that would produce prototype product designs. His title was Junior Human Experience Engineer, he focused on the engineering and ergonomics of livable spaces in future possible Origin spaceships. At that time, Origin was simply an engine and propulsion manufacturer, providing high quality military grade engines to RSI and Aegis Dynamics. However, Origin Jumpworks had plans to build an entire new range of spaceships, and Mr. Greene worked closely on aspects of living areas and functionality. Most importantly, Greene’s innate expertise gave him the opportunity to learn these power and propulsion systems to create living spaces that were comfortable, elegant, and practical. Ian, being a lover of nature and agriculture, strongly believed people enjoyed spacious interiors, that it gave them a sense of inner personal freedom, and he believed that people in their personal time did not want frustrating experiences, and his strong opinions in the work environment, if he was a man and not a myth, may have had a strong influence on Origin combining their performance mechanical engineering side with a spacious, luxurious, frustration free living environment on their ships which is commonly seen in today’s Origin lineup. Ian is said to have worked with many people at Origin who went on to work for such companies as Lightning Power and Aegis Dynamics.

Over the following years, Ian Greene would work with Origin, never moving much higher in title at the corporation. It was said he would refuse positions that would require more of his personal time at Origin. Even so, he had a dominating social presence within the company, often coming into work showing off strange home living inventions, cookware appliances of his own design, and bringing in platters of healthy, nutritious food.

“Luxury isn’t only the environment we surround ourselves with, but also the amenity we provide within our bodies” – (alleged) Ian Green – 2050’s

These character antics made Ian noticed by a former colleague, a lead engineer, who left Origin for a higher position to work at the company Acorn Limited. This former colleague offered Ian a position, stating that Acorn was growing at a massive rate, and it was a huge business opportunity. Acorn Limited at that time in human history was a lifestyle company. They were a high tech yet accessible appliance company providing kitchen aids, agricultural units, and technologies to assist homesteading and permaculture endeavors. Ian was offered a lead position with tons of freedom, funding and facilities to help Acorn Limited be a new powerhouse in personal living. Ian’s colleague has even said to admit such humility to his junior that Ian had been one of his heroes, and that he was honored to have him on his team.

Ian saw this opportunity, put in his resignation to Origin Jumpworks, right before Origin’s first release of comfortable and livable transport ships, which was a huge hit, and took off to work at Acorn Limited. Acorn Limited was hitting a serious new market in the 2060’s. There was a booming population of people looking for economical freedom. They didn’t want to be tied into the masses of Messier economics and politics. The social and political environment was a hot bed of different extremist ideas, and not many people were willing to take the steps needed to overcome humanity’s tyrannical government and push for peace and new ideas. At this time, a brilliant man of good nature by the name of Mr. Musashi approached Acorn Limited with a massive funding proposal. The young Mr. Musashi strongly believed in the goal and viability of Acorn Limited, and, as the venture capitalist he was, promised to connect Acorn Limited to other new technology companies.

Mr. Musashi was a practical man, and kept facilitating meetings of promising technology companies with Acorn Limited. The takeaway from these meetings is that the other companies delegates were so enthralled by a certain character working at Acorn Limited that Mr. Musashi couldn’t hear the end of the great employee he had, Lead Engineer Ian Greene. Mr. Musashi setup a meeting with Ian and made him a once in a lifetime opportunity. Mr. Musashi knew that his efforts in business were going to new serious places, but being the practical man he was, he knew that Mr. Greene was the mastermind at Acorn Limited. Mr. Musashi learned about how Ian Greene worked. After getting to know Ian, he understood where Ian got his genius from. Ian would sacrifice almost nothing for his freetime, and his freetime only begat more genius and new inventions. Most spectacularly, is that Ian seemed to hardly age. Ian always looked younger then his actual age. He was full of energy and enthusiasm, with a bright, cheery, and suggestive character. He offered Ian tenure and a large sum of credits. Ian wanted a larger upfront bonus, an investment for him to spend time doing research and development. Mr. Musashi obliged, and Ian left his current position at Acorn Limited to pursue new technologies as a consultant for Mr. Musashi. It was not soon thereafter that Mr. Musashi outright acquired Acorn Limited, instead of just his stake in the company, and merged it with his own conglomerate Musashi Lifestyle Design Unit, a company which gained its momentum primarily from the contributions and efforts of Acorn Limited.

Ian left. He had an almost infinite pool of resources for somebody as self sufficient as himself. It wasn’t that he wasn’t spending the money, but Ian wasn’t the type of person to need luxury and comfort, as he found in his own character that he brought that with him everywhere he went. He was free to go where he wanted and learn what he needed to learn, and Mr. Musashi was surprised to that Ian would hardly make a scratch on his account.

Ian continued to consult for other companies at the time, such as Saga Datasytems, EZhab, Prasad Naturals, Aegis Dynamics, Gallenson Tactical, Revel and York, SEAL corp, Kel-to, Medical Unit, and even RSI. It wasn’t until working with RSI where Ian found himself frustrated. This was one of the most pressured environments he had worked in, and he was surprised that his voice wasn’t being heard within the company. He felt he had little impact, and left consulting altogether, frustrated.

All the while he stayed in comms with Mr. Musashi, and spoke casually with the business man about trends and things to look out for in the industry. Mr. Musashi had an artist’s eye for comfortable practicality, and Ian’s input drove Mr. Musashi’s business growth.

In 2790, Ian moved to the Castra system. The Castra system at that time had just allowed the public to move into the Perry Line system. The Castra System was a beautiful, magnificent system for a mind like Ian Greene, and with the flowing human population moving in, Ian used some of his funding to open up a simple restaurant near his home on Cascom.

He called this chain Mister Salad.

As Humans and Xi’an began to interact with each other, both species were enjoying this new food phenomenon. Nutritious, smart food, with a business model that supported low overhead.

Ian left the management and running of his business to managers and supervisors, and was reported to go for months at a time with no communication. His business model was solid, infallible, and enjoyed by both Xi’an and Humans.

Mr. Salad grew, with flotillas offering the food system end product bought at many of his Mr. Salad chains. Mister Salad, as a company, never saw much profit, as any gain was only spent to expand Mister Salad into additional locations. Explorers at that time have even been cited to say they enjoyed the comforts of Mister Salad in such X’ian system such as Rihlah, and have even reported finding occupation for ‘subsidiaries’ of the Mister Salad company in the mining territories of Eealus Belt Alpha.

But where was Ian?

Ian went many years with no contact with Mr. Musashi, who was now an old and veteran business man, ageing and heading near dementia. Mr. Musashi got word of how serious Ian’s involvement with Mister Salad was, and set a no kill bounty on Ian’s head. This came at a big surprise to those around him because Mr. Musashi had never even done one thing that could have been considered aggressive, still, his aids obliged to setup his bounty assured that Mr. Musashi had much to discuss with Ian after years without contact. As Mr. Musashi was nearing death, maybe Ian was to be the one to take on the Musashi Enterprise?

Ian, was interdicted in route to his home on Cascom. Ian put up no fight, and went willingly, infact, he even dumbwittingly felt enamored that Mr. Musashi had sought him out after all the years prior Ian spent divulging to Mr. Musashi. He was brought to the Centauri system to meet Mr. Musashi, and this may have been the moment when history changed forever…. If Ian was more than a myth, that is.

When Musashi saw Ian again, he could tell this was a different man in many ways. First, while Musashi had grown old, Ian didn’t seem to age one day at all…. But Ian’s demeanor changed. Ian was an upset frustrated man. He carried a daemon about him. He wasn’t his old cheery self, although aspects of that old character could shine through, but he was more scatter brained and distracted, less congruent in his speech. Ian kept assuring Musashi that he had unrivaled potential in technology.

Mr. Musashi instantly accused Ian of abusing his trust. He wanted to know why Ian had went and created such a popular business without including himself who made it possible. Ian was flabbergasted and retorted that this was his research, that he just wanted to make an economical system to provide good nutritious food to anywhere in space. The two argued until Ian, as good hearted as he was, told him what he discovered, and of this new technology.

Ian said when he broke out of contact, he was delving into Xi’an space, chasing the stories of new plants and nutrients only found within their systems. Ian would travel through Xi’an space in cloaked garb, hiding his human identity, and with his genius of technological systems, he learned to hide his identity through hacking. He learned Xi’an language sitting in Xi’an eateries and bars, striking up simple conversations. He told Mr. Musashi about a man he met in one of these places, whom he earned the trust of. This man was impressed by the little he could understand out of Ian, who spoke broken Xi’an about ideas of immense social and political providence. Ian earned this mans trust, and as the story goes, this Xi’an man learned who Ian actually was. Ian’s identity as a human challenged this Xi’an’s man’s opinions of humanity. Humans weren’t just bunched up as Messier era war mongers, but this Xi’an soul saw the other side of humanity through Ian. They began to discuss greater philosophy of civilization beyond anybody’s comprehension, and they both believed in peace. Ian was connected and trusted with Xi’an technology, and understood it, but he was hardpressed to unveil what the implications of Xi’an technology and human technology could accomplish when both technologies were understood. Ian would spit at the mention of the Messier name, and this helped him earn the Xi’an’s trust further. Musashi listened to this, being a peaceful and practical man himself, and his anger toward Ian resided.

Mr. Musashi and Ian decided it was best to go back to work, as Ian was much needed now in these trying business times. Ian was setup again in an old abandoned military facility on Cascom to bring new invention to Mr. Musashi’s enterprise.

So, Ian worked, and made regular trips to Xi’an space. He would entertain an old Mr. Musashi with Xi’an Technology of comfort and appliance…. Simple home living at it’s highest technology.

But, Ian mostly worked alone. He started pursuing his dream. He told Mr. Musashi that he had the next best invention civilization has ever seen. A piloted device capable of providing a people with food and shelter. This all encompassing ‘ship’ would stand as a beacon of fundamentals. Not only could it provide the groundworks on new planets for farming and agriculture, it could build towns and cities, and act as the main mechanism of providing for a society. This vehicle with a simple crew of 1 intelligent and motivated pilot would be able to do the work of an entire rural community. Ian insisted that with combining his knowledge of Xi’an and Human technology that he could create a more indomitable force, able to withstand the harshest environments to bring food, nutrients, shelter and comfort to developing societies, and Ian even stated that this vehicle would be an icon of civilized progression, being able to create synth worlds, terraform planets, and be the peak of sustainable living.

Mr. Musashi was enthralled. He knew this manic man of Ian still had the same soul as the loving social Ian he first met. Was this new genius he was listening to? Had Ian gone over the deepend in thought. Still, the evidence Mr. Musashi had of what Ian was capable of, as well as the proof of Xi’an technology at their disposal, Ian was given permission to set to work on this.

Ian was a smart and industrial man. He worked alone and was said to use the Xi’an grav lev technology to construct this vehicle of his mind himself. Xi’an gravlev bots, assisted to being more powerful in their capability through Ian’s genius, gave Ian a production facility where he could work alone, lifting girders, components, and large hull sections weighing thousands of bounds with his robotic assistants. Ian worked quickly to produce his prototype, almost as if he had the whole schematic in his head the whole time, and mostly without any obstacle.

Greene Machine

It was the late 2780s. Political unrest was at its highest. Ian had completed his work.

Ian piloted his new vehicle to the top of the highest hill near him on Cascom, and people started to notice. Observations at what people saw were a bipedal mechanical machine, and word started to spread. The observations of this machine stated it stood almost 200 meters high. This man-machine would keep a sort of pitch fork on it’s back, and was seen using it to till land and reshape the mountains. This machine began to lower the mountain top, and upon it he was gently laying seeds and tending to it, all piloted by Ian.

Word of this entity hit the Messier government, and they sent a scout to confirm such stories. A stand off pursued.

Ian, in his machine, began to be surrounded by Messier military ships. They attempted to contact this 200 meter tall entity. They continued to try every method of communication with no response from the behemoth, until one day, a booming voice was heard from the machine.

“I just want to make life easier for you, I mean no harm.”

How could it structurally hold itself up?
How was it continuing to operate without refuelling?

Ian barely moved, He mostly spent his time working a small area around him. Shifting on his giant mechanical feet, and creating a sustainable ecosystem around himself.

But, Ian continued to till the land. The Messier Regeme knew this was the technology they needed to subdue to populace and establish dominance and take hold of society again, so they pressed further. At this point, Ian, on top of his mountain, surrounded by agro pods growing the most exotic and healthiest food, began to be incurred on. The Messier regime devised a plan to create a boarding party, who would enter and take control of the vessel. One night, as the machine Ian was in was still in a lotus position, supposedly sleeping, the operation commenced.

But, they could not get close. There was a shield around the mech, a shield which even a person could not walk through. This incursion woke the sleeping giant.

Again, in a succinct and simple statement.

“I will not be a war machine for your tyranny, I only wish to help people.”

As the fleet around Ian’s mech grew bigger, Ian persisted, a booming voice radiating from the machine.

“Leave me be, and I can provide for you”

It was said that this machine was watering plants from an almost infinite source of water, that its hand would radiate a warm, sun light light to cater to the plants below. The Messier Regime knew that this machine held potential, that it, whatever it was, could secure their reign. No scans could see past it’s shields, and they were left with only visual accounts of what pursued.

The fleet decided once again to contact the machine, they built a massive array of sound projecting devices, convinced that this was the only way to communicate with the machine.

“You are surrounded,” they said “If you don’t comply, we will open fire.”

After 3 hours of quiet, Ian responded, in a booming voice from a source that couldn’t be pin pointed,
“You cannot stop growth.”

At the end of that statement, he lifted his hand over his newly created forest and almost magically, water flowed from his palm like rain. He continued,

“I will take you into paradise, I will provide for your people.”

It was quiet again. And within the next 24 hours, the Messier Regime, who did not yet want to outright provoke the machine, at awe of its technological power, a mythical idea of technology they didn’t possess, devised another plan of infiltration. Not only could they not get technological readings through the mechs shield system, nor could they physically enter it, they decided the next best thing was to prepare a strike force that would follow up a massive EMP strike, in hopes that the electromagnetic attack would create a window of opportunity for them to gain access to the machine and the pilot within.

The attack commenced, a barrage of EMP torpedos from the fleet in orbit above. The torpedoes exploded on the shield faces, the shockwaves kicking up dirt and newly cultured plants on the hilltop Ian stood. So much dust was created, but finally, the fleets scans showed the image beyond the shields. They acted fast and deployed 3 dozen boarding ships of ground parties, each with different possible entry points. They lost visual contact with the mech surrounded in kicked up dust and debris, a fog overhanging the hill, but their scans witnessed the mech retrieve the giant pitchfork over its shoulder from its holster on its back, and draw it. As the boarding ships approached, Ian sprang to life.

The mech began to move at speeds unforeseen, leaping and bounding across the hill tops to a new location, the boarding ships were forced to change course. Ian took position, giant pitchfork wielded by his two mechanical hands, and committed his first act of aggression. He swang and swatted the first approaching craft, knocking it to the ground with great force, and continued. As the ships approached, he lunged at another, practically vaporizing it and all the soldiers on board. The fleets comms became chaotic, and no pilot was willing to sacrifice their life. They were called off, the giant mech returned his fork to his back, looked up to the sky, and held that pose. The machine almost seemed to stop, and as his shields regenerated, the fleet lost their opportunity.

This was the first time Ian had reached such aggression. He had just slayed dozens of men. He left the pilot seat, and went to his garden within the machine. He felt remorse, but then again, he didn’t. He knew he held a great power, and he knew what he had to do. Nobody else had this technology, he created it himself, and this was his life.

Imagine a universe where societies were cared for by gentle giants who would tend to their flourishing societies. Ian imagined a small developing city beneath his feet, in which he tended the farms around to provide for them the food they needed. He was of the character to not mind such a life of servitude. How simple it would be if people could tend for themselves, if his machine could provide technology for people to sustain themselves. People would then understand.

This mech was capable of transforming matter in any environment condition to matter that would provides for peoples needs to live. But simply to Ian, rearranging the matter of an asteroid, he could create water, nutrients, and environments for people to sustain themselves with. He had no lasers, no weapons, only 2 good mechanical hands equipped with the best technology he devised that could no better be said than to be alchemy itself.

The next day, the fleet grew stronger, as as the myth goes, if it weren’t for Ian Greene, who created such a cacophony in the ensuing events, the Messier Regime would of had more resources to stop the uprising that overthrew them. But, they continued to press on Ian, not knowing who he was, but only to acquire his technology.

Within almost the same month as the Messier Era was dissolved, Ian escaped. The stories of fleets being smashed by the pure kinetic force of the mech, the military confusion. Everything. Stories of the mechanical massacre of multiple Messier battle fleets by his indomitable invention. It was a brutal scene. Possibly, if it weren’t for Ian, the uprising couldn’t be possible. But, most of its remains are said to of been cleaned up by Xi’an salvagers.

Ian escaped. It’s said he flew into the jumppoint in Castra to the Xi’an system, which then closed behind him.

As Mr. Musashi heard of what happened, on his death bed, he tried to contact Ian. No record of an Ian Greene remained in any system, in any computer. He never held a position of being attributed to an invention, so any invention was attributed to the team instead. Word of mouth insisted he was a real man, and even Xi’an commoners refer to the myth of the man that gave them hope in humanity. It’s almost that at hearing this news, Mr. Musashi died.

Musashi Lifestyle Design Unit had now, in 2805, merged with Hato Electronics Corp, and formed MISC, Musashi Industrial Flight and Concern.

And, what remains, is an ever growing chain of self managed restaurants. The Mister Salad chain today plays off the myth of Ian Greene, with an animated mechanical mascot stopping outlaws and vanduul attacks to provide good food to people in it’s advertisements.

The Mister Salad chain has one of the strongest self sufficient supply chains in the current market, rivaling the Big Benny’s giant, and consistently is ranked as one of the best companies to work for.

While most people dismiss the story of Ian Greene as myth, who held the key for new technology for both Human and Xi’an, the myth never fails to befuddle historians, and its striking explanation for Xi’an-human relations still makes people belive in a good magic.

Some people believe Ian Greene has found immortality, and seeks in his machine to prepare new planets for us to discover. A zealous few believe that Ian will return one day and remove from us the burdens of survival. Still, some just like to enjoy the tasty and nutritious food Mister Salad provides. Is the myth of Ian Greene a divisive viral advertising campaign that has spurred a cult, or is Ian Greene still out there?

At the end of the day, most people refer to Ian Greene as Mister Salad himself. When a company has overstepped it’s pollution output or ecological impact, you’ll often hear a pundit with the catchphrase “I hope Mister Salad doesn’t find out about this, wherever he may be”.

Our Board of Directors will unveil our official corporate statements soon. Please come back for updated information.