The factory isn't making any products at all. It has financial links to a dozen other factories and offices, none of which seem to be making anything either. It appears to be subsidized by a business selling something called N.

THEN WHAT IS THE POINT.

Very elaborate shell company? Power over others as an end in itself, driven to its logical conclusion? Love of suffering? Bad financial instincts?

"....Ayers' Mouth was fed with domination. In Los Angeles they tortured people. If it's subsidized by selling Nectar -- and it isn't making anything, it's just hundreds or thousands of people being awful to each other, for no reason --"

"That is INCREDIBLY STUPID."

"I was going to say it's honestly kind of impressive, Trammel got this result by torturing homeless people."

Obviously N is Nectar. Is the business anything beyond the warehouses? Since, uh, the warehouses are where the Nectar is coming from.

As best as Oswald can tell, Montgomery owns the useless factories, the useless offices, and the warehouse, and contracts to someone codenamed the Cheerful Man for freighters. 

"I wish I knew how to blow things up. But I suppose they'd just be awful in the process of rebuilding things then."

"Wonder if the Cheerful Man is related to whoever I saw on that boat. If they were really there."

"The Cheerful Man has to be Lukas. He's -- well. Inaaya was not wrong when she said he talked like he learned how from a Dale Carnegie course."

"...Yeah, that all tracks. Well, I wonder if additionally Lukas was the nautical phantom only I could see, then."

"I guess it sounds like they may have initially made a supermouth by killing Portia, and then might be continuing to feed it on... pure misery from the factories, without actually continually killing people?

If that's possible. I guess I don't know how you'd get the misery into the mouth."

"Ayers' mouth got more active when he exercised power. Not sure if it works like that if it's not directly on the body, but if, I don't know, the Nectar forms a similar connection with the people who drink it, and them exercising power makes it stronger... Mmm. No idea if that makes sense."

"They're not giving nectar to the workers, but maybe the supervisors are on it?"

"Yeah, that's my thinking, the supervisors are on it and the more they abuse their position the more the Mouth feeds."

"Not sure how that would affect the supermouth. Sounds possible, though.

Any guesses why they're giving it out at the hospital? Is it just that they're selling it to the hospital for money and the hospital actually figures it's good for people?"

"I'm pretty sure Donovan at least doesn't know how bad it is for people, given Lela. Distinctly less sure about Solazzio, who apparently has been speaking to Tereza in a horrifying eldritch language and who was definitely leaving things out when she talked to Anita about it."

"Experimentation, too, maybe. And I think... I think the cult wants the whole world to be on Nectar, and a public institution that the majority of people eventually end up at is a decent distribution method. But it's also a way to make a profit."

"Do we know why they want the whole world to be on nectar? Like - it's all well and good to say that Donovan doesn't know how bad it is, but it seems kind of hard to miss, if she's running factories that make nothing but misery in order to feed the mouth, especially if having the supervisors on nectar is a big part of what makes them the way they are?"

"I guess 'it's their god' is an answer, but it's an annoying one."

"Do we even know they want the whole world to be on Nectar, what we know is mostly that according to Ayers everyone who uses it regularly starts wanting power purely for the sake of power."

"We know what Lacie said. Something like -- 'my Lord won’t rest until whole world drinks of his Nectar...' mile-wide Mouths, cities drowning, all very -- melodramatic, of course--"

Does everybody not remember that? It is kind of seared on his memory. He spends a lot of time deliberately repressing it.

look a LOT OF THINGS HAVE HAPPENED

in her defense she was not actually there.

"I'm mostly kind of skeptical that Donovan can actually be reasoned with."

okay but ONLY ONE OF THEM INVOLVED LACIE

It makes sense that the others forgot Lacie's insane speech from months ago but he is not having a fun time at all trying to provide it again.

It's upsetting to talk about, is all. This is more about his emotional state than anything reasonable.

"I wish we were able to safely get her perspective on all of this. Her actions just don't seem to add up."