The Consortium

Description

Officially called ‘The United Consortium of Allied Systems’, this is the largest political entity in the galaxy, with Tau Station as its capital. Operating as a hybrid capitalistic-oligarchic-democracy, the Consortium controls as much as they can. As a powerful economic conglomerate, the Consortium extends its influence through finance and trade. Expansionist in nature, the Consortium excels in propaganda, population surveillance, and control through taxation and monitoring. They work tirelessly to extend their control over all possible stations and systems through heavy economic rebuilding programs and believe only complete Consortium control can protect humanity against the next major attack.

Citizens live with a surfeit of economic and social freedoms, including access to health and education services. Ostensibly, there is political freedom in the form of elections, but candidates vary more in minor personality traits rather than prevailing ideology. Military service is not mandatory but confers social and economic status on those who complete it.

Stations are ruled by appointed governors who tend to have a free hand in how they run things, as long as they meet the government’s requirements for trade, support, and defense. While petty corruption by elected or appointed officials is usually tolerated and even used against the perpetrators as a form of blackmail, treasonable activities and gross misconduct are punishable by death. The Consortium has a first-class surveillance, propaganda, and security department to keep their citizens in line and complacent.

Introduction

The Catastrophe was a time of chaos and darkness; we, as a species, were floundering and struggling to survive. A number of factions rose up out of the ashes of humanity to guide and steer the remnants of our civilization to safety. Today we’d like to introduce you to the Consortium!

With our civilization teetering on a precipice, the Consortium had the resources and influence to provide us with a bastion during catastrophically troubled times. Of course, any powerful organization that rules will be met by some sort of opposition. There are those who would accuse the Consortium of many unsavoury practices while others argue that these are just disgruntled dissidents and that it provides safety and stability in a time of turmoil.

Generally speaking, its citizens perceive a sense of individual liberty, ownership of businesses, education and health, and subsidized welfare programs, but taxation is high and complex bureaucracy very much the norm. While military service is not currently compulsory, joining the service is associated with good citizenship and accords its members with unique social and economic privileges.

Some say that there is, perhaps beneath the shining symbol of stability, a dangerous veneer of control and, indeed, the Consortium has been called expansionist as it has often been quite ruthless when opposed. On the other hand, individual stations are ruled by appointed governors (civilian and military) who tend to have a free hand in how they govern as long as they meet the government’s requirements for trade, support, and defense. While petty corruption by elected or appointed officials is usually tolerated, treasonable activities and gross misconduct are punishable by death. The Consortium has a first-class surveillance and security department to keep their citizens safe. There are those that would add propaganda and strong-arm tactics to this list as well, though who knows if these types of political malcontents can be trusted?

In the aftermath of the Catastrophe, the Consortium seems to have two imperatives: reestablishing control over all systems and preventing another Catastrophe. Though they are currently working with the Gaule Protectorate to rebuild, their relationship is one of convenience, and a very definite “cold war” could be said to exist between the two affiliations.

Stations

Station System Level
Tau Station Sol 1
København Sol 3
Daedalus Sol 4
Taungoo Station Sol 5
Sol Jump Gate Sol 6
Alpha Centauri Jump Gate Alpha Centauri A 7
The Ghost of Mali Alpha Centauri A 8
Spirit of Botswana Alpha Centauri A 9
Yards of Gadani Alpha Centauri A 10
Barnard's Star Jump Gate Barnard's Star 10
L 726-8 Jump Gate L 726-8 13
YZ Ceti Jump Gate YZ Ceti 19
Asimov Freehold YZ Ceti 19
Cape Verde Stronghold YZ Ceti 19
Spirit of New York City YZ Ceti 20
Sirius Jump Gate Sirius A
Wolf 359 Jump Gate Wolf 359

Embassies

System Station
Sol Nouveau Limoges
Alpha Centauri A Paris Spatiale
Barnard's Star Estación de Amazon

Additional information from the storyline

Lieutenant Lotta Olofsdotter mentions the Security Consortium Security Services from Yards of Gadani that handle things like corporate crimes, fraud, forensics, and corruption. She's head of a division, the Office of Special Investigations, that specifically deals with corruption (Secrets and Servos). Functionary Aris also wears the stiff uniform from this services.

Pompano from the Inn The Mermaid's Pool at København mentioned DZ as Consortium black ops. Shadowy types. They seem to turn up when anyone uncovers anything about The Before. It’s been said that their interest is specifically The Catastrophe and artifacts (X Marks Our Shot).

<—- Return to Affiliation

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License