It was a stormy night on a freezing cold Monday in December. CPXmas was drawing near, and Santa Hu sat in his favourite chair stroking his glued on beard with one hand, nursing a glass of single malt with the other. The orange hue from the fireplace accompanied the light crackling sounds, and provided a sense of protection against the forces ravishing the city. From the corner of his eye he could see the human form that lay on the floor to his left, unmoving. A chill went down his spine, lasting a mere nanosecond, before he remembered.

The shape on the floor suddenly moved, becoming taller, but somehow also more compact. “Santa Hu!” it said in an energetic voice, “You are right!”. A bit startled at first, Santa Hu quickly regained composure and calmly answered “I know. Longevity is key, and this is the way to do it.” He wondered how long Bushwang Evergreen, his trusted head engineer, had been lying there pondering the things he had said. Was it minutes, hours? It was hard to tell, as he had been lost in thought himself reflecting on the complex strategy that had led them to where they were now, and which would ensure the long term success of their operation. Alabaster Tigerball sat opposite Santa Hu on a big leather couch in deep concentration, studying another one of his research articles. “Always staying current, always on top of the changing market conditions” Santa Hu thought to himself, deeply appreciative of his old friend with whom Santa Hu had originally embarked on this endeavour.

It had been an exciting, but also complicated year at Toypex. Never had Santa Hu imagined that it would become so hectic and intense at the same time. He thought of the countless strategy meetings, the hurdles they had overcome, and the path that still lay ahead of them. They had been running a wildly successful toy making factory and distribution centre for a good number of years already. They had more or less perfected their craft — the toy shops buying in bulk had been ecstatic, exclaiming that they had never before seen such powerful yet easy to use toys. Their customers — the parents and their cute little children — wrote rave reviews, claiming that never before had they owned toys that seemed almost tailor made to their children’s interests and needs. Their flagship toys RoboNEXUS, MagIQue and SpheroPRISM were all highly customizable to the different demographics of the stores they served, and the tales of skyrocketing sales after adopting their toys were many. Still — Santa Hu, Alabaster and Bushwang knew that the competition was fierce, and that their flagship toys would not be enough to retain their market position forever. To stay ahead of the game they knew they were forced to develop something truly ground breaking, something that gave them an edge that no one else in the Northshang Haipole toy making business had.

After thorough research and months of long discussions they had found the solution. In other industries there had increasingly been talks of distributed ledgers — powerful tools that could provide game changing advantages when used properly. There were pitfalls of course, and no one really knew yet exactly how powerful these tools were as they had never been used on a truly large scale before. Some had tried and failed to build them, and some had built them for purposes they were not really suited for. Others were seemingly on the right path, but no one had yet found a universal solution. Due to the powerful innate capabilities and being largely unchartered territory there were additional concerns too — the Chinorth Pole mainland government was wary, and regulation had not yet taken proper shape. Rumour had it that officials wanted to outlaw all shapes, sizes and uses of this emerging technology — or at the very least judiciously selected variants of it. Maybe even expropriate the tech and use it exclusively for their own benefit. However Santa Hu knew his government well, and was certain they would favour those who brought forth technology that would change lives for the better.

The past mistakes and experiences of others were a treasure trove of knowledge that Santa Hu and his merry band of elves had studied extensively before settling on a path that they believed to be holding immense future potential. Through proper use of this ledger technology they wanted to deepen the bonds between children, parents and toy stores. Integrating the ledger with RoboNEXUS, MagIQue and SpheroPRISM would significantly reduce the inherent risk of a parent buying a toy that their child ultimately would not play with, and it would allow the stores to provide highly personalized toy recommendations for each and every parent. By doing this Santa Hu was confident that he could create a truly synergistic relationship between children, parents, toy stores and toy makers — on such a level that parents would never want to source their children’s toys from other stores, and the stores would see no reason to explore other toy factories.

In the almost two years that had passed since they embarked on this adventure, much had happened. They had gathered a large number of talented elves whose previous toy tech skills and work ethics were beyond reproach, and together they had started construction of the most glorious ledger their industry had ever seen. The work was complex, and as they made headway they also encountered new and complex challenges. For some of the elves it had simply been too much, and Alabaster had seen a need to let them go to find simpler tasks elsewhere. Only the wisest, most hardened elves could see an adventure like this through to the end — and that was exactly what everyone currently at the toy factory intended to. Through their combined elvish devstrength they had overcome the challenges one by one, and now their ledger was almost ready to be put to the test.

At this point in time a major shift was happening, one that excited them beyond what word could properly explain. Where the Chinorth Pole government had previously expressed that the ledger tools could cause cancer and general unhappiness, they now sang a very different tune. Ledgers were healthy they said, and they could change the world. Only a select few plutonium based ledgers had been the culprits, but ledgers themselves were at the centre of a paradigm shift across many major industries. Local authorities across the Chinorth Pole were funding ledger research, setting up grants and providing education about the subject.

Santa Hu, Alabaster and Bushwang realized the immense opportunities, and beyond Toypex’ own developments they had already reached out and were in talks with multiple government entities offering to help them develop their ledger capabilities. Not only would this create valuable lasting relationships, but it would provide Toypex with significant additional funding of their core development efforts. In addition, the changing sentiment among the toy store owners was palpable. Where several had earlier been scared and uncertain about the claim that ledgers caused unhappiness, it was increasingly becoming a question of which ledger would best grow their toy sales and how much happier the parents and their children would become.

Santa Hu stroked his glued on beard once more and downed the remaining whiskey in one big swig. “Boys!” he exclaimed with such force that both Bushwang and Alabaster were jolted out of their own trains of thoughts. They both looked at Santa Hu, wondering what would follow. “Boys, I can feel it in my bones! These have been challenging years, productive years, stormy years — but our time is coming. 2020 is the year when the toy stores will start adding our powerful ledger tool to their arsenal — it is the year where the still somewhat reluctant toy store owners will see the joy it brings to children, parents and toy store owners alike. Toypex will use these first brave adopters to showcase the game changing benefits it brings and win over the stagnant masses. With time there shall hardly be a single toy story left in all of Chinorth Pole that does not enjoy the advantages of combining our ledger with RoboNEXUS, MagIQue and SpheroPRISM! This, gentlemen, is the dawn of a new era for Toypex!” Alabaster and Bushwang chewed on his words, slowly digesting the meaning and the inevitable implications. From right here in their Shangnorth Haipole HQ, together with Santa Hu and a merry band of elves, they would begin changing the nature of the toy industry forever. They both giggled and responded in unison, “We are ready Santa Hu, it is indeed time — let’s load it up!”

A few hours later the sleigh was ready, filled to the brim with beautiful ledgers in all shapes and sizes — all based on the same framework, but customized and interoperable to suit the needs of each toy store owner and his store’s demographic. The 12 devdeer were lined up in front of the sleigh — their noses red as rubies, and little bells hanging from their necks — brimming with excitement and pride. Large Toypex logos adorned both sides of the sleigh, ensuring that not one person that saw them tonight would have any doubt as to who was responsible for what was about to happen. With Alabaster Tigerball on his left and Bushwang Evergreen on his right, Santa Hu sat atop his sleigh. “To infinity and beyond!” bellowed Santa Hu as the devdeer instantly set the sleigh in motion, starting a steep ascent to their cruising altitude of over 9,000 feet. The course had been plotted carefully, and before the night was over they would have visited every toy store in the city.

Through the window in his room, in a small house on the outskirts of the city, a young boy was looking out. His eyes widened as he saw something he did not fully understand, yet he felt it had to be of profound significance — the large decorative Toypex logo on the side of the sleigh as it passed in front of the moon.