Who the Verge Consortium IsSumming up what the Verge Consortium is in a few paragraphs is difficult; truly understanding the largest of the meta-empires begins by understanding the economic thought that makes it possible, and requires an understanding of slow money, slow stocks, finance, property law, and anarchist theory both ancient and modern. The Verge Consortium is a stock, currency, and commodity exchange and it's a financial institution that provides low-interest loans for members. Multiple megastructures call it home, as does the strongest slow currency in the Verge and Bleed. It is a unified collection of governments, corporations, labor unions, syndicalist groups, colonies, and states, and through all of this, it also manages to be a government with a military, intelligence network, and impressive soft power. Sitting somewhere between the International Monetary Fund and a supercharged United Nations, to borrow a 21st century analogy, the Verge Consortium is all these things and more - making it a household name throughout the Verge and Bleed.
Verge Consortium IdealsGiven the wide number of entities that make the Consortium up, one would be hard-pressed to think of any sort of mutual ideology that they all share beyond a desire for mutual assistance, both economic and otherwise, although this is far from the truth. The scale of the Consortium makes functioning as a cohesive government or culture practically impossible, but it manages to anyway, because the Consortium, like the money it trades in, moves at a speed slow enough to make the travel between stars seem instantaneous. It's not a federation, and it isn't really a confederation, but somehow it manages to be both. Pulling off this maze of contradictions isn't easy, as one might imagine, and doing so requires shared ideologies - since that's practically the only thing that holds the Verge Consortium.
Verge Consortium StructureThe Verge Consortium has a simple structure for such a large entity. Members are those who have taken out loans and paid those loans back; members in good standing are those who did so relatively quickly and reliably. Both members and members in good standing form the Consortium Assembly, which consists of officials from all the members, generally appointed who vote on a number of different policies and decisions that range from allowing new members to whether or not goods should be repossessed and collateral taken from negligent debtors. They also vote on who can become members of the Board of Directors, which is the body that sets interest rates, determines repayment time frames, and other major policy decision; if the policy decision is too major, then the assembly votes on it. The board of directors also vote to appoint members to the Usufructuary Board, which is an organization that basically forms the core "government" of the Consortium; these are governments and corporations (mostly corporations at this point) that allow the Consortium to use their services and goods while they receive a part of the overhead for running the Consortium, including the first dibs on collateral that is possessed from delinquent members. The UB is not a proper government, but they fill the role of a government and are paid by the Consortium members for doing so.
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Verge Consortium and MEgastructuresAs it's become clear by now, the Verge Consortium has access to a number of megastructures which form, in many ways, the backbone of the Consortium itself - including the Abjhat Megastructure, the Procyon Reach, the Sothic Ringworld, and even much of the Wormhole Network itself, which is the largest megastructure in human space. Not all of these megastructures are complete, but all of them fall under the purview of the Verge Consortium all the same. And this is understandable; many of these megastructures were damaged in some way during the Ascension Crisis, which resulted in a need for them to be fixed. However, the God AIs weren't bound by money when they constructed many of these structures, so investments in the megastructures to repair them require a long time before they can start turning a profit or recover their losses, much like establishing a new colony. Thus, a strong slow currency was needed, and the Verge Consortium has the strongest slow currency in the entire Verge and Bleed. As a result, many megastructures took out loans with them to cover repair costs, and the Verge Consortium were happy to add them to the crown. |
Verge Consortium History
The Verge Consortium is rooted in several major traditions, with the oldest of these being the notion of Interstellar Banks. In the early days of the interstellar expansion, finding the money and capital to finance a personal colony was problematic; nations could do it because they could soak up losses but private entities working with smaller budgets couldn't make the leap, which stymied expansion. This need resulted in a vacuum and companies that were underwritten by nation-states stepped in to fill the void. These companies were the first to develop the concept of "slow money," building off earlier concepts of investments that slowly matured in value, with the colonies being established and then sending back payments in "slow money" to the institutions. All losses were underwritten by the nation-states, which controlled the solar system. As the God AIs took over, they displaced the nation-states, but by this time, many of these businesses had grown large enough that they could underwrite such endeavors themselves and knowledge of slow money had become common place. Furthermore, the wormhole network sped up communications across the Verge and Bleed. Towards the early part of the Utopian era, these corporations formed up into large collectives, allowing them to negotiate with colonies and settlements, and sometimes even other corporations and syndicalist groups.
In the middle part of the Utopian Era, Jean-Christophe Rocheford, a native to Alpha Centauri, drafted the idea that nations and governments were not just organisms but distinct organisms from one another, formed by individuals who worked together. He expanded this to include corporations and syndicalist groups after travelling to Yellowstone. His writings helped to influence a number of thinkers and likely kick-started the "Republic of Letters" movement. While his ideas gained traction in certain circles, an organization called the Verge Finance Corporation began offering low-interest loans to start-up colonies, on the condition that they become paying members. The VFC was restricted largely to the Gemini and Orion constellations, but the idea brought aboard a number of other corporations. As its membership grew, the VFC became more powerful economically, and at some point before the Ascension Crisis and the Swarms, it bought out the Verge Exchange Markets, adding the largest stock, commodity, and currency markets to its name. The VFC established a headquarters aboard the Procyon Reach, and during the Ascension Crisis, continued to grow, as the crisis didn't affect Procyon too heavily. After the Crisis, the VFC fell under the leadership of Kaliq Hassim du Toit, who used his connection with major megacorps and his influence by the writings of Rocheford to reorganize the Verged Finance Corporation and rename it the Verge Finance Consortium, which would eventually become the Verge Consortium.
While as CEO of the VFC, du Toit established the revised Board of Directors, which was composed only of members elected by the general membership body, and the Assembly, which was the voting body for all the members. This formed the core structure of the Consortium, although it grew quickly, and its tendency to only charge enough interest to cover the overhead of the interstellar credit union meant that it rapidly out grew itself. It wasn't until Legend Makhloufi became the President of the Directors that he was able to institute the Usufructuary Board; at the time it was composed almost entirely of governments who were devoting their resources to helping the Verge Finance Consortium run. Eventually, Corporations would outpace governments on the Usufructuary Board (and then they would replace said governments). This happened shortly after the end of the Verge War, at which point the "Finance" was finally dropped and it became known as the Verge Consortium. It would remain the Verge Consortium until the most recent events of the civil war, the full cause of which is unknown. The results, however, were that the membership booted out a number of key players who had been part of the Usufructuary Board, such as StarMech, and a number of minor polities lost their faith in the Consortium's ability to hold everyone together. Despite this, the Consortium has rebounded rather efficiently, posting rapid growth as it expands into new markets. Meanwhile, its slow currency remains among the strongest in the sphere, and is the preferred currency for all individuals, given it's tied to the Sothic Ring.
In the middle part of the Utopian Era, Jean-Christophe Rocheford, a native to Alpha Centauri, drafted the idea that nations and governments were not just organisms but distinct organisms from one another, formed by individuals who worked together. He expanded this to include corporations and syndicalist groups after travelling to Yellowstone. His writings helped to influence a number of thinkers and likely kick-started the "Republic of Letters" movement. While his ideas gained traction in certain circles, an organization called the Verge Finance Corporation began offering low-interest loans to start-up colonies, on the condition that they become paying members. The VFC was restricted largely to the Gemini and Orion constellations, but the idea brought aboard a number of other corporations. As its membership grew, the VFC became more powerful economically, and at some point before the Ascension Crisis and the Swarms, it bought out the Verge Exchange Markets, adding the largest stock, commodity, and currency markets to its name. The VFC established a headquarters aboard the Procyon Reach, and during the Ascension Crisis, continued to grow, as the crisis didn't affect Procyon too heavily. After the Crisis, the VFC fell under the leadership of Kaliq Hassim du Toit, who used his connection with major megacorps and his influence by the writings of Rocheford to reorganize the Verged Finance Corporation and rename it the Verge Finance Consortium, which would eventually become the Verge Consortium.
While as CEO of the VFC, du Toit established the revised Board of Directors, which was composed only of members elected by the general membership body, and the Assembly, which was the voting body for all the members. This formed the core structure of the Consortium, although it grew quickly, and its tendency to only charge enough interest to cover the overhead of the interstellar credit union meant that it rapidly out grew itself. It wasn't until Legend Makhloufi became the President of the Directors that he was able to institute the Usufructuary Board; at the time it was composed almost entirely of governments who were devoting their resources to helping the Verge Finance Consortium run. Eventually, Corporations would outpace governments on the Usufructuary Board (and then they would replace said governments). This happened shortly after the end of the Verge War, at which point the "Finance" was finally dropped and it became known as the Verge Consortium. It would remain the Verge Consortium until the most recent events of the civil war, the full cause of which is unknown. The results, however, were that the membership booted out a number of key players who had been part of the Usufructuary Board, such as StarMech, and a number of minor polities lost their faith in the Consortium's ability to hold everyone together. Despite this, the Consortium has rebounded rather efficiently, posting rapid growth as it expands into new markets. Meanwhile, its slow currency remains among the strongest in the sphere, and is the preferred currency for all individuals, given it's tied to the Sothic Ring.
Verge Consoritum Culture
It's a fool's errand to try and assign any single culture to the Verge Consortium; it's often called the "meta-empire of meta-empires" for a reason. That said, there are still a number of cultural blocs within the Verge Consortium, the product of a shared history. Of these, the three major ones are the Sino-Usian Bloc, the Indus-Fomalhaut Bloc, and the Indo-African Bloc, with others, like the Euro-Gemini/Franco-Gemini and Afro-Carinae cultures, forming smaller groups. Others tend to prefer breaking the culture down according to potential meta-empires, with some, like the Pantheon-Tau Empire, Zeleaus Republic, Pollux Collective, Procyon Union, and Sothic Alliance, earning their own place as "cultures." However, the historical model tends to be the most popular.
Verge Consortium SociologyThere is no one uniform thing that can be said about Verge Consortium ontology, although by praxis the Consortium tends to skew ontologically pluralistic, since it will deal with entirely digital states. This makes the Consortium unique among the major meta-empires, since all of the rest tend to skew ontologically conservative or ontologically realist, as the case may be. The Consortium simply does not have a stated position on this debate.
Economically, the Consortium concerns itself with trade, and so is by default textbook Neo-Mutualist. In fact, it's the first meta-empire that defined the concept, and it's the first one to put that concept into action. Locally, it has very little worry about what economies are used, other than that they are post-scarcity economies. |
Culture blocsThe Verge Consortium is so large and nebulous that it can be hard to distinguish the various cultural groups with in it. These groups are the product of settlement patterns and wormhole layers, growing over time. Below is a list of the most common cultural blocs that sociologists have defined.
† include Salsam and Sevi, both under Mittlesohn corporate control ‡ Defaults to Cultural Familiarity (Andromeda Regency) at -3. |
Consortium Memes and Culture
While it can be hard to classify a single label on the Verge Consortium, being as large as it is, this actually winds up working in favor of ideas and memes that spring from the Verge Consortium in general. While not the titan of culture that the Regency is (mostly because the Regency is better organized), it still manages to turn out some creative memes all the same.
Agnistics
Type: Academic Movement
Agnistics is an emergent field of study that is devoted to studying what is unknown. It breaks knowledge up into "knowns," "known unknowns," and "unknown unknowns," and then focuses predominately on the final two: the known unknowns and unknown unknowns. Individuals, usually advertising or intelligence gathering companies although sometimes governments employing high-end superbright AIs, then being mapping the entire known body of knowledge of a given area or time, and then an entire information map is constructed. This map can then be perused and any missing information or gaps are subsequently visible. While many companies and businesses swear by it, a fair number of scientists regard it as pseudoscience and say the best the map can be used for is to predict what might be unknown. Despite this, companies, governments, and businesses all engage in the science.
Indus Revivalism
Type: Artistic Movement/Political Movement
As with the rest of the Verge and Bleed, the revival of the Indus-Fomalhaut society has taken hold in the Verge Consortium, as well. A number of Verge Consortium members are one time major players in the civilization, such as Abjat, Elatus, and Marseilles, which means that perhaps more so than in the neighboring meta-empires like Borealis and the Monarchy, the Indus Revivalism bug has managed to sink its teeth into the area. While there's no talk of the core worlds planning to leave the Verge Consortium, this revivalism is bringing with it a major political movement to try and restore the Indus-Fomalhaut Civilization.
Infinitism and Hyperliberalism
Type: Sociological Movement/Political Ideology
Infinitism is an extension of the 20th and 21st century idea that progress is representative in recursive improvements and gains, often economic in nature, and thus infinitism promotes infinite growth and expansion. It's popular with some short-sighted smaller megacorps who burn themselves out quickly when they hit a hard wall as to how fast they can grow, but slow-burn infinitism is the norm among many of the larger megacorporations, which holds that while infinite growth and recursive improvements on profits are a natural sign of improvement, these do not have to be a quarter-by-quarter metric (and, in fact, are generally better not being, since slow money doesn't work on that scale). For this reason, the ideology isn't often recognized in megacorporations, who often divert their profits into struggling parts of their businesses to retain a profit agnostic or even profit negative business, all of which is geared towards producing larger profits down the road which will then be invested into the business to improve its growth in the long term. As a political movement, it's often advertised by modern political parities that hold Hyperliberalism as a core ideology, which embrace post-scarcity etairism but encourage economic policies at home which boost this infinite, recursive growth - often a quarter by quarter basis, resulting in the national economy burning itself out in a few decades. StarMech was one of the largest exporters of this meme, leading some to refer to it as "Neoliberalism on dangerous amounts of hallucinogens."
New Meta-Historicism
Type: Historiographic Movement/Academic Movement
Debates rage over what precisely makes a meta-empire, but some definitions of meta-empires (predominately, those that define meta-empires as polity that encompass entire civilizations), are more accepted than others in the Verge Consortium. The idea that a meta-empire is a civilization as polity dovetails into the long-term ideology of the Consortium and the Consortium's primary ideology of Neo-Mutualism, producing a historical lens that examines history through the eyes of "meta-empires." Often criticized as "pin the name on the historical empire," those who use meta-historicism to study history focus on how historical meta-empires shape history, with the operative definition being "civilization as a polity." Humorously enough, this definition actually excludes the Verge Consortium from the list of meta-empires, but regardless, historians have identified a number of "meta-empires" throughout history; the Indus-Fomalhaut and Sino-Civ obviously, but even older polities are controversially labelled meta-empires: Pharaonic Egypt is often labeled a historical meta-empire, as is Rome, and the Hittites, while more controversially China and Japan also receive the label. There is significant debate over whether or not entities like Mesopotamia, Roman, Indic, Orthodox, Islamic, Western, and Iranic cultures all receive the label as well, with some pointing towards the Andromeda Regency and Monarchy as an example of a highly diffuse and chaotically organized meta-empire. Others argue the west should be excluded, since what the West would look like as a meta-empire is already know: that is the Andromeda Regency (itself a controversial statement). Still, this method of analyzing history from the perspective of what constructs a meta-empire is a fast growing one.
Sinicism
Type: Artistic Movement/Fashion Movement/Political Movement
The rebirth/revival of Shangtao has sparked a resurgent interest in Sino-Civ, creating what some call the Sino-Civ Revival as well. As a fashion and artistic movement, it encourages architecture much like what's found on Shangtao, while also encouraging the spread of constitutional monarchism, similar to what exists on Shangtao.
Systemism
Type: Economic Theory/Social Organization
Systemism is type of post-scarcity reputation-based statism developed on Pantheon, the seat of the Pantheon-Tau Empire. Systemism makes use of a wholly reputation-based economy in a manner similar to the Imperium, but where the Imperium places the responsibility for improving or reducing the reputation of the individual in the various organizations or branches of the government that the individual interacts with, systemism instead places that responsibility in the hands of the masses and the population, as per a traditional post-scarcity anarchist civilization. Except rather than being completely anarchist, the habitats are run by an AGI - possibly an ASI - named the System. All the System does is ensure that nobody is gaming the system or trying to abuse the reputation networks to bully others, and the System also manages the economic translation of the reputation it uses with the greater Verge Consortium, so the System can interact with the Verge Consortium. The System records the reputation loss and enforces the negative economic externalities, or records the reputation gain and enforces the positive economic externalities, accordingly, since the System controls the public-access nanofabricators, not the population. The System is not worshipped as a god and refuses to be worshipped as such, and doesn't even seem to like humans all that much, but the economic system that it's pioneering has some eyes watching closely to see if it will last.
Agnistics
Type: Academic Movement
Agnistics is an emergent field of study that is devoted to studying what is unknown. It breaks knowledge up into "knowns," "known unknowns," and "unknown unknowns," and then focuses predominately on the final two: the known unknowns and unknown unknowns. Individuals, usually advertising or intelligence gathering companies although sometimes governments employing high-end superbright AIs, then being mapping the entire known body of knowledge of a given area or time, and then an entire information map is constructed. This map can then be perused and any missing information or gaps are subsequently visible. While many companies and businesses swear by it, a fair number of scientists regard it as pseudoscience and say the best the map can be used for is to predict what might be unknown. Despite this, companies, governments, and businesses all engage in the science.
Indus Revivalism
Type: Artistic Movement/Political Movement
As with the rest of the Verge and Bleed, the revival of the Indus-Fomalhaut society has taken hold in the Verge Consortium, as well. A number of Verge Consortium members are one time major players in the civilization, such as Abjat, Elatus, and Marseilles, which means that perhaps more so than in the neighboring meta-empires like Borealis and the Monarchy, the Indus Revivalism bug has managed to sink its teeth into the area. While there's no talk of the core worlds planning to leave the Verge Consortium, this revivalism is bringing with it a major political movement to try and restore the Indus-Fomalhaut Civilization.
Infinitism and Hyperliberalism
Type: Sociological Movement/Political Ideology
Infinitism is an extension of the 20th and 21st century idea that progress is representative in recursive improvements and gains, often economic in nature, and thus infinitism promotes infinite growth and expansion. It's popular with some short-sighted smaller megacorps who burn themselves out quickly when they hit a hard wall as to how fast they can grow, but slow-burn infinitism is the norm among many of the larger megacorporations, which holds that while infinite growth and recursive improvements on profits are a natural sign of improvement, these do not have to be a quarter-by-quarter metric (and, in fact, are generally better not being, since slow money doesn't work on that scale). For this reason, the ideology isn't often recognized in megacorporations, who often divert their profits into struggling parts of their businesses to retain a profit agnostic or even profit negative business, all of which is geared towards producing larger profits down the road which will then be invested into the business to improve its growth in the long term. As a political movement, it's often advertised by modern political parities that hold Hyperliberalism as a core ideology, which embrace post-scarcity etairism but encourage economic policies at home which boost this infinite, recursive growth - often a quarter by quarter basis, resulting in the national economy burning itself out in a few decades. StarMech was one of the largest exporters of this meme, leading some to refer to it as "Neoliberalism on dangerous amounts of hallucinogens."
New Meta-Historicism
Type: Historiographic Movement/Academic Movement
Debates rage over what precisely makes a meta-empire, but some definitions of meta-empires (predominately, those that define meta-empires as polity that encompass entire civilizations), are more accepted than others in the Verge Consortium. The idea that a meta-empire is a civilization as polity dovetails into the long-term ideology of the Consortium and the Consortium's primary ideology of Neo-Mutualism, producing a historical lens that examines history through the eyes of "meta-empires." Often criticized as "pin the name on the historical empire," those who use meta-historicism to study history focus on how historical meta-empires shape history, with the operative definition being "civilization as a polity." Humorously enough, this definition actually excludes the Verge Consortium from the list of meta-empires, but regardless, historians have identified a number of "meta-empires" throughout history; the Indus-Fomalhaut and Sino-Civ obviously, but even older polities are controversially labelled meta-empires: Pharaonic Egypt is often labeled a historical meta-empire, as is Rome, and the Hittites, while more controversially China and Japan also receive the label. There is significant debate over whether or not entities like Mesopotamia, Roman, Indic, Orthodox, Islamic, Western, and Iranic cultures all receive the label as well, with some pointing towards the Andromeda Regency and Monarchy as an example of a highly diffuse and chaotically organized meta-empire. Others argue the west should be excluded, since what the West would look like as a meta-empire is already know: that is the Andromeda Regency (itself a controversial statement). Still, this method of analyzing history from the perspective of what constructs a meta-empire is a fast growing one.
Sinicism
Type: Artistic Movement/Fashion Movement/Political Movement
The rebirth/revival of Shangtao has sparked a resurgent interest in Sino-Civ, creating what some call the Sino-Civ Revival as well. As a fashion and artistic movement, it encourages architecture much like what's found on Shangtao, while also encouraging the spread of constitutional monarchism, similar to what exists on Shangtao.
Systemism
Type: Economic Theory/Social Organization
Systemism is type of post-scarcity reputation-based statism developed on Pantheon, the seat of the Pantheon-Tau Empire. Systemism makes use of a wholly reputation-based economy in a manner similar to the Imperium, but where the Imperium places the responsibility for improving or reducing the reputation of the individual in the various organizations or branches of the government that the individual interacts with, systemism instead places that responsibility in the hands of the masses and the population, as per a traditional post-scarcity anarchist civilization. Except rather than being completely anarchist, the habitats are run by an AGI - possibly an ASI - named the System. All the System does is ensure that nobody is gaming the system or trying to abuse the reputation networks to bully others, and the System also manages the economic translation of the reputation it uses with the greater Verge Consortium, so the System can interact with the Verge Consortium. The System records the reputation loss and enforces the negative economic externalities, or records the reputation gain and enforces the positive economic externalities, accordingly, since the System controls the public-access nanofabricators, not the population. The System is not worshipped as a god and refuses to be worshipped as such, and doesn't even seem to like humans all that much, but the economic system that it's pioneering has some eyes watching closely to see if it will last.
Cultural Familiarity in the Verge Consortium
The Verge Consortium is the farthest thing from a unified culture, although observers note that there are three large "culture blocs" within it, along with a number of smaller cultural blocs and unique cultural entities that don't fit within the paradigm. The three major cultural entities within the Verge Consortium are the Sino-Usian bloc, the Indus-Fomalhaut Bloc, and the Indo-African Bloc, with the Gemini Culture bloc (also called the Euro-Gemini or Franco-Gemini) being a much smaller bloc that, never the less, makes up the dominant culture on the Reach. Because of this, there is no Cultural Familiarity (Verge Consortium), although one can be culturally familiar with one of the blocs, with cultures within the bloc defaulting to it at a -1 or -2, depending on distance. In all cases, each culture only costs 1 point.
Hyper vs. MegacorporationEconomists and political scientists generally divide corporations up into three categories based on how they handle intellectual property: hypercorp, megacorp, and microcorp. While there are other differences between them, the major difference that concerns the Verge Consortium is how they handle intellectual property, since the Consortium is very interested in intellectual property and ensuring the property rights are maintained, with the idea of post-scarcity usufructs being a major component of the Consortium's core ideology. A hypercorp is a small corporation that is specialized, often with only one or two well-known IPs to their name. Sometimes a hypercorp might be larger, incorporating several IPs, but hypercorps are always specialized, and all the IP that they control is related to a single field; for instance, a hypercorp that manufactures high tech net firmware might have a handful of patients that concern net hardware like hyperfast routers, switches, and the like. A hypercorp involved in android production might have a handful of patients that relate to a specific android line, or way to produce androids. Often times, hypercorps don't really have any IP at all, and they are simply third party manufacturers and usufructuaries for the IP owned by larger megacorporations. Hypercorps also often don't have any real property beyond a few specialized devices and don't have actual physical locations, and instead usually exist online. A megacorporation, meanwhile, is often not specialized, and holds a lot of IP across a wide range of different subjects and fields. Megacorproations are not necessarily vertically and horizontally integrated monopolies - in fact, many megacorps are not monopolies at all - but they're all very large, and own a great deal of IP within their chosen fields. Thus, an agriculture megacorporation might hold a large number of patents not just in genetically modified plants but also in farming tools, techniques, and growing techniques. Often, megacorporations own real property as well, meaning they have physical holdings, something that hypercorps don't have. For instance, a megacorp that engineers habitats will own several space stations where they engineer and manufacture these habitats. This gives them a physical presence that hypercorps don't always have. |
Usufructuary Board
The members of the Usufructuary Board tend to be more more permanent than the members of the Board of Directors, since the Usufructuary Board has invested a great deal of their time and energy into the health and welfare of the Consortium. As a result, they tend to be in it for the long haul, and that their health is tied to the health of the Consortium through stock investments means these companies have an incentive to think long-term. While there's nothing in the charter that bars governments from the Usufructuary Board, there hasn't been any governments setting on the Usufructuary Board since the end of the Verge War. All of the members of the Usufructuary Board are megacorporations, and many of them are very well known throughout the Verge and Bleed for their expertise in particular fields and business sectors.
Company Name: AlephNull Mesh Systems
Major Industries: Dataflow Security Hardware, Hyperfast Mesh Backbones; Mesh Back-end Engineering; Mesh Security Hardware Motto: None Building and maintaining system-wide mesh and net-infrastructure is extensive and requires massive capital to maintain. AlephNull is one of the companies that is deeply involved in the production and research into various aspects net and mesh infrastructure, from engineering spimes and data within the Internet of Things to establishing the distributed networks the servers that manage the data flow, AlephNull (or one of its countless subsidiaries) is a company that many encounter on a day-to-day basis, but few ever stop and give full thought to. Company Name: Atlas
Major Industries: Miltech, Robotics and military-grade cybershells, Security, Security Services. Motto: Galactic Military Solutions Atlas produces Miltech, in addition to combat robotics, military-grade cybershells, and offers security and security services that include contracted military personnel. However, Atlas is perhaps best known for their firearms and their personal armor, and they are constantly on the cutting edge research into new, improved firearms and new smart weapons, as well as new improved neural architecture for their combat cybershells. Atlas is a big name within the field of Miltech, almost as large as Austrin-Ontis was prior to the civil war. Company Name: ComEx (Comet Express)
Major Industries: Bulk and Freight shipping, Courier Services, Logistic services and technologies Motto: Your Shooting Star Comet Express (or ComEx) specializes in delivery shipments, interstellar logistics, supply chains, and shipping, often of bulk raw materials but also of bulk goods from one location to another per niche market demands. ComEx focuses more on managing supply and trade routes and making sure physical shipments reach their destination within time, and they often maintain hubs equipped with slingshots at strategic waypoints within the Verge and Bleed. They also maintain a fleet of courier ships and drones, which can move data and information as well as raw materials. Company Name: GateKeeper Corporation
Major Industries: Logistics and Shipping, Wormhole Gate Management, Wormhole Gate upkeep Motto: We Know the Way Gatekeeper emerged almost as soon as the dust settled on the Ascension Crisis; formed from individuals who had successfully taken the information on how to operate the wormhole network and their gates so they could manage it in the wake of the God AIs. Gatekeeper incorporated shortly after that, monopolizing the use of the wormhole gates in some sectors of the galaxy. When Gatekeeper joined the Verge Consortium, it was a huge victory for the Verge Consortium, since it meant they controlled large swaths of space. Company Name: Klugrobotik AG
Major Industries: Cybershell and Robotics production Motto: None Perhaps the major name in cybershell and robotics, Klugrobotik Aktienegesellschaft (often just called Klugrobotik AG, or K-Robotik AG) is responsible for a lot of very famous cybershell designs. While the quality of their designs ranges from "okay" to "excellent," Klugorobotik AG has made a huge name for themselves all the same, and often works closely with other megacorps like Atlas, Kognitech, and others from time to time to produce new designs. The company only focuses on cybershells and robotics, as well as the neural architecture to make then run. Company Name: Marwari-Experia Media
Major Industries: Entertainment, Infotainment, Media (all types), Memetics, Mesh Open-Source Services, News Motto: None Marwari-Experia Media is a titanic media conglomerate that dominants the news, media, and entertainment market of the Verge Consortium and beyond. They are expert marketers, and have a knack for hyperviral marketing techniques and strategies. Another, less known core segment of their business mode is education; they produce AI tutors and textbooks, as well as own numerous publication houses. The corp has thousands of automated nodes and VR centers on many habitats, and it contracts thousands of free-lance lifeloggers as live, roving citizen journalists. Company Name: Nooscape Designs
Major Industries: Cognitive Sciences, Directed Learning, Mental Implants and Enhancements, Psychosurgery, Nootropics Motto: Building a Better Tomorrow by Building Better Brains Today Nooscape is something of the black sheep of the Verge Consortium family. They are often on the cutting edge of cognitive science, and drives forward this bleeding edge of research. They are well known their cognitive and mental augmentations and their specialization in psychosurgery treatments and nootropics. Their elitist and aloof image is not aided by numerous scandals regarding unethical business practices, both real and fictional (including claims of mind control, which are no doubt real). As a result, bioconservatives may hate Avatar-Kluster, but Nooscape they fear. Company Name: Phalanx-Gorgon Systems
Major Industries: Military and Security Contracting Services, Miltech, Security Services Motto: Security. Safety. Certainty. Phalanx-Gorgon Systems is a major name in the design and manufacture of weapons, vehicles, sensors, and other defensive technologies, with a product range that includes personal armaments and habitat defense systems. They are also known for their military contracting services, which include highly efficient shock troopers and superior combat cybershells, as well as well designed combat pods and androids. The company provides security and public police assistance to a number of habitats and governments, as well as leasing their services as a usufruct to the VC. Company Name: Quasar
Major Industries: Aerospace Engineering and Technology, Antimatter manufacturing, Experimental physics, Fusion technologies Motto: None Quasar is another experimental physics company, like Hawking Mechanics, although it prefers to focus less on matters of metric engineering and focuses more on matters of material science and power generation techniques. While this often means they experiment with Schwarzschild kugelblitzes, quasar is more interested in full matter conversion and pion-catalyzed conversion, which means they often dabble in nuclear chemistry and nuclear physics as well. They apply the utility of their discovery to aeronautic designs, producing high quality but niche space craft. Company Name: Skinthetic
Major Industries: Android and Cybercore Design, Biosculpting, Beauty Engineering and Marketing, Genotype Design Motto: Beauty, Designed. Skinthetic is one of the best known android and cybercore designers, but that's a secondary industry for them. Their best known industry is biosculpting and they run a number of biosculpting salons and parlors, and they are also among the leaders of modern genotype design, holding several dozen genotype variants to their name. They are also interested in the scientific principles of beauty and aesthetics, and carry out extensive RD on that front to try and determine the biological and sociological underpinnings of "beauty." Company Name: Starware
Major Industries: Aerospace Engineering, Robotics, Habitat Construction, Habitat Design, Habitat Engineering Motto: At Home Among the Stars Starware is a long-time member of the Consortium, the company is a leading manufacturer in robotics, spacecraft fusion drives, satellites, and even in whole prefabricated habitats. Starware makes heavy use of AI workers in cybershells, preferring digitals to biologicals for a number of reasons. Starware often makes heavy use of indentured infogees, having lost too many fights with labor unions. Starware is often seen as the seedier, less savory cousin to VoidCorp, a more respected company in the same field, and Starware bristles in resentment at comparisons with the older, more established company that turned down VC membership. Company Name: TerraGenesis
Major Industries: Ecotechnology, Genetic Engineering, Megascale Engineering, Terraforming Motto: Worlds, Intelligently Designed Built from numerous geoengineering and terraforming companies that existed prior to the ascension Crisis, the company has a expertise not just in developing sustainable ecosystems and biospheres but also in the design and maintenance of such spheres. TerraGenesis stands out in that it's a worker-owned collective, with workplace councils and an elected cooperative congress to handle management. While associated with the handful of terraforming projects they've overseen by the public, they're better known in the business world for their engineering of megastructures, given they were a company that worked on the Sothic Ring. Company Name: Verge Stock and Futures Exchange (stylized VEX)
Major Industries: Stock and Securities Exchange Market, Futures Exchange Market Motto: None The Verge Exchange (often shorted to VEX) is the largest stock exchange in the Verge and Bleed by market capitalization. The market is hybrid, allowing for both physical (the physical VEX buying floor is aboard the Procyon Reach) and digital purchase and sale of stocks. The VEX can be seen as the counterpart to the VCE; where the VCE focuses on the sale of commodities and currency, the VEX focuses mostly on stocks and securities. However, like the VCE, the VEX is a central component to the Verge Consortium's economic strength. |
Company Name: Armature-Exotech
Major Industries: Automation, Electronics, Nanofabricators, Robotics, and Robotics firmware and software. Motto: Automated Solutions. Human Ingenuity. Armature-Exotech is a designer of high-end electronics, automated software and hardware, nanofabricators, robotic factories, and the firmware and software associated with that hardware. They are well known with the cybershell community for their large number of cybershells, and their electronics and computer design often sees overlap with other companies like AlephNull. The company also maintains a number of implant designs, especially DNIs, and is one of the best known designers of such technology in the sphere. Company Name: Avatar-Kluster
Major Industries: Cloning, Genetic Engineering, Pharming, Uplifting, Xenopharming Motto: None Avatar-Kluster is an uncompromising genetic engineering and cloning company that is devoted to altering humanity as much as possible for the future of humanity (and marketing what they can). AK is also involved in human cloning and pharming, as well as xeno-pharming (which is the act of pharming, but using alien or non-terracolo organisms). The company frequently makes lists of most dangerous companies by bioconservatives owing to the company's transhumanist vision for humanity, or what they plan to make humanity in the future. Company Name: Fa-Jing Heavy Industries
Major Industries: Biotech, Computers, Electronics, Engineering, Industry, Mining Motto: None Fa Jing is an old school megacorp that's been around since the late Interplanetary Age; it's a long time rival with Samsung, if that indicates how old Fa Jing is. The company is a powerhouse in the mining and energy markets and it also boasts a sizeable presence in the biotech and industrial equipment manufacturing, as well as electronics and computer hardware fields. The company is dedicated to network building and social responsibility, although the company is often regarded as closed minded. It's insular and protective mindset is in contrast with its monopolist and highly manipulative business attitude. Company Name: Hawking Mechanics
Major Industries: Antimatter production, Experimental Physics, and Metric Engineering Motto: None Hawking Mechanics is another company that emerged out of the Ascension Crisis. The company is devoted to the research of and manipulation of black holes, spacetime, and metric engineering, with a toe in starship design, engineering, and antimatter manufacturing, as well, so they can turn a profit to help cover the more expensive research. Hawking also finances expedition to neutron stars, black holes, and the like as well, and is deeply interested in the spacetime manipulation abilities of the Stoneburners. Company Name: Kognitech
Major Industries: AI Psychology, AI Technology, Meshtech, Software, Firmware Motto: None Kognitech is the primer engineer for AIs, focusing mostly on LAIs and NAIs. Their reach extends to meshtech as well, including a focus on the software and firmware that make AIs and other smart software and advanced neural networks ruin. Kognitech often works very closely with Klugrobotik AG; so much so that most make the mistake of assuming they're the same company when they aren't. It is one of the smaller companies within the Verge Consortium, but this doesn't stop it from producing things of value to all corporations. Company Name: Nimbus
Major Industries: Communications and Telecommunications, Electronics, and Mesh Systems. Motto: Cloudtech for the Cloud Nimbus produces key components for mesh and grid infrastructure, such as spime microradars and sensor systems to ectos, servers, and laser links, although they don't play much of a roll in the backend and backbone infrastructure (which is generally handled by AlpehNull). Nimbus is also involved in the ongoing research into miniaturized neutrino communicators, as well as gravity wave communicators, and has an interest in a wide range of different alien communication technologies. Nimbus is frequently the target for numerous conspiracy theories. Company Name: Ono-Sendai Group
Major Industries: Agritech, Agriculture, Banking, Robotics and Cybershell designs, and services. Motto: None Ono-Sendai Group is a classic Japanese Keiretsu, or a conglomerate of companies with interwoven relationships and shareholdings, horizontally integrated across several industries (as well as vertically integrated, within numerous business sectors, as well). Through its member corps, Ono-Sendai Group has been able to establish a sizeable presence throughout the Verge and Bleed, and has specialization across numerous fields. Any difficulties it experiences are as a result of the rigid mindset that the company takes and an unscrupulous exploitative bottom-line attitude. Company Name: Prosperity Collective
Major Industries: Agriclture, Aquiculture, Hydroponic Engineering, Pharming, Xenopharming Motto: None The Prosperity Collective is well known for being a lead supplier in the poor man's good and drugs. They maintain a large number cultured meat and protein enriched nutrition additives which are all in high demand. They maintain a number of stations within each VC system that are devoted to microgravity agritech, as well as other sources of food aquaponic, hydroponic, aquaculture, and the like. They eventually expanded into pharmaceuticals as well, providing drugs cheaply and efficiently to a population that needs them. Company Name: Sierra-Ecologic
Major Industries: Environmental systems, live support systems, Genetic engineering and design. Motto: Biotech, ecotech, lifetech. Sierra-EcoLogic specializes in living systems, smart animals, environmental genetics (with a specialty in insects), bioarchitecture, and environmental nanotech, as well as life support systems of various types aboard habitats and starships. They design and maintain a number of life support systems across a number of habitats and colonies, although they are not directly involved in terraforming, since the scale of such a project is too large for them. Sieera-EcoLogic also supports terraria designers, and is known to hire the best terraria designers. Company Name: Solaris
Major Industries: Banking and Finance, Currency Exchange, Futures Markets, Info Brokerage, Insurance (Life, Spacecraft, House, Habitat, etc.), Investments Motto: None Solaris is one of the major banking and financial investment megacorporations, and they deal with insurance, info-brokerage, high-risk investment on cultural and societal experimental speculation, and also provide practical advice to many governments on how best to transition from a classical economy to a post-scarcity economy. Solaris has no physical offices, and each banker is a mobile virtual office that can be accessed at any time providing one has a meeting with them. They are rumored to have a secret base, however, where they run simulations on the development of the Verge. Company Name: Stelite
Major Industries: Data Analytics, Data Mining, Espionage, Info Brokerage, Intelligence Acquisition Motto: None Pronounced Stehl-eet (it sounds like "elite"), Stelite is a virtual collection composed mostly of former intelligence officials from various governments and nation-states throughout the Verge and Bleed loyal to their director, a mysterious AGI known as Helix. As a megacorporation, it offers an impressive array of intelligence services which range from data mining, analyst think tanks, retro-qualification (bringing old secrets/data to light), to less marketed services like data theft, surveillance, espionage, media manipulation and bot services, and infiltration, with a primary eye towards stopping civil insurgencies from destabilizing a habitats or planet's regime. Company Name: Verge Commodity Exchange
Major Industries: Commodities and Currency Market, Commodities, Commodity Clearinghouse Motto: None The Verge Commodity Exchange is primarily a foreign currency exchange market and is one of the largest retail currency exchange operators in the Verge and Bleed. In addition to offering a pre-paid currency card it also offers vouchers which allows customers to get reduced exchange rates on various fast and slow currency exchanges. In addition to currency, the VCE also oversees various commodity indices, both hard and soft commodities, and offers OTC derivatives, as well as maintaining numerous clearinghouses throughout the Verge and Bleed. The VCE is a central component of the Verge Consortium's economic strength. Members of the Verge Consortium's Usufructuary Board are allowed to sell their services to those willing to buy them. However, owing to their agreements with the Verge Consortium Board of Directors, the Verge Consortium always has the right to call on their services or IP if needed. This is the benefit of post-scarcity usufructuary, however: the Usufructuary Board can easily provide their IP and services without sacrificing the services and IP that they can provide to others, since IP and services are functionally club goods, rather than public goods or private goods. However, members of the VC prefer not to think of their IP and services as club goods, since "club goods" is another way to say "public goods" in their eyes, and their services are not rendered for the public good. Ultimately, they are member because they stand to benefit directly or indirectly, not because they seek to do good. It's through their own greed that they create the stability necessary for good to be done in the world. |
Board of Directors (Corporate and National)
While less fixed than the Usufructuary Board, the Verge Consortium Board of Directors has been relatively stable following the end of the "civil war" between the various members. In contrast with the Usufructuary Board, the Board of Directors consists almost entirely of governments and nations, or habitats, rather than megacorporations, although there are a handful of megacorporations aboard the Board of Directors, as well. It's important to remember that the Board of Directors is elected every 5 years by the shareholders in the Verge Consortium (including members of the Usufructuary Board, although their vote isn't weighted in any special fashion).
Keep in mind the national and government directors are not all the total of all the national members; that number is too large to count. Rather, it's the ones who currently occupy the Board of Directors.
Keep in mind the national and government directors are not all the total of all the national members; that number is too large to count. Rather, it's the ones who currently occupy the Board of Directors.
Abjhat Republic
Type: Federal Constitutional Republic Best known for: Exiting on a partially completed megastructure Copernicus Federal Republic
Type: Federal Parliamentary Semi-Presidential Republic Best known for: Being the headquarters of the VEX and VCE Marseilles Unitary Republic
Type: Unitary Parliamentary Republic Best known for: Being the headquarters of Skinthetic Procyon Union
Type: Intergovernmental Union Best known for: Being home to the Procyon Reach |
Aratis Republic
Type: Unitary Parliamentary Republic Best known for: Being the headquarters of Quasar and Hawking Mechanics Hermian Kingdom
Type: Federal Constitutional Monarchy Best known for: Being a planet-scale bee-hive colony/former mercurian world Pollux Collective
Type: Semi-Direct Federal Democratic Republic Best known for: The exotic terraria collectives of TerraGenesis Sothic Alliance
Type: Confederal Parliamentary Republic Best known for: Being on the Sothic Ring |
Company Name: Manticore-Fortean Biotech
Major Industries: Android and Bioshell design Motto: None Manticore-Fortean is one of the odder bioshell design companies, best known through their subsidiary Symphonia-EcoWave, which is responsible for a number of odd pod designs and other odd bioshell designs. They are also indirectly responsible for the Society for Applied Teratology, which while not a subsidiary is a hypercorp that they have a sizeable amount of interest and investment in. MF is frequently targeted by bioconservatives for producing monsters, a claim that isn't easy to fend off when that's precisely what some of their bioshells are. |
Company Name: Neu Artiskin
Major Industries: Android and Bioshell Design, Biosculpting, Beauty Engineering Motto: None Skinthetic's chief competitor, Neu Artiskin tends to have a much better reputation than Skinthetic does, although that might be because Neu Artiskin doesn't force their androids to appear naked on camera to sell the latest biosculpting techniques. Neu Artiskin promotes itself based on classy, fashionable, elegent, and understated beauty, which is deliberately engineered to clash with the in-your-face hyperbeauty of Skinthetic. While they promote themselves on class, they have worked with Manticore-Fortean in the past on various secret projects. |
While the membership of the Verge Consortium is always in flux, with new members joining and old members leaving or allowing their membership status to lapse, some members have a more permanent presence in the Consortium and are considered "life members" or "founding members." Not all of them were present at the founding, but the majority of them have been members since at least the Verge War, if not before. Most, if not all, are governments, each with a very different and highly unique culture.
Abjhat Republic
Current Affairs: The Republic currently occupies a partially completed megastructure designed by the Seed AIs, and is in the process of attempting to finish the Megastructure themselves, although the damage to the structure during the Ascension Crisis was extensive and who knows what lurks in it. Atlas Republic
Current Affairs: The Atlas Republic is ruled over by the Atlas Corporation, and the Republic is noted for its extreme income inequality. Many of the large cities are home to "free fire zones" and places where law enforcement, which are entirely privatized, don't go, and as a result it is very unsafe for visitors who make the mistake of going there. Elatus Republic
Current Affairs: The Elatus Republic is a former member of the Indus-Fomalhaut Civilization, and one of the central members of that civilization. In recent years the government has started a resurgence effort to try and recover some of the lost culture, and has expressed an interest in buying some of the IF holdings from the Monarchy, with VC help. Jericho Syndicalist Republic
Current Affairs: The Jericho Syndicalist Republic, Mintaka Free State, and Christobel Republic have been locked in a three way war since the end of the Verge War, with neither side able to gain any leverage, although in recent years the Mintaka Free State and the Jericho Syndicalist Republic have been talking of allying together, with the VC supporting them. Mintaka Free State
Current Affairs: Since the end of the Verge War, the Mintaka Free State, Jericho Syndicalist Republic, and Christobel Republic have been locked in a three-way war. However, in recent years the Mintaka FS and Jericho SR have opened up talks of a potential alliance against the more fascist Christobel Republic, with the VC supporting a potential alliance. Pollux Collective
Current Affairs: The Collective is currently seeking a path towards further unification; up to this point, it had been numerous scattered stations and habitats with very little shared culture or history, although with the rise of TerraGenesis has given birth to a large unification movement within the system. Sheya Republic
Current Affairs: Sheya (technically She-Ya) is the homeworld of the Sesheyans neo-animal species and their progenitors, the original aliens. Research into the aliens remains ongoing, as scientists attempt to better understand their paleolithic culture and social structures. The planet is also partially owned by VoidCorp, who is not a member of the VC. Tauhara Republic
Current Affairs: A very liberal democratically socialist democracy, The Tauhara recently finished renovating its infrastructure with money borrowed from the Verge Consortium's bank, and as a result, has become a member in high standing with the VC. The current push within the Republic is securing neo-animal voting rights. |
Aphares Kingdom
Current Affairs: The Kingdom is currently in the middle of a secession struggle between two largely opposing houses; the VC doesn't particularly care which house wins, although the struggle is a direct result of the Verge Consortium "civil war," with the then-dominant ruling house supporting the losing sides and being ousted as a result. Circus Federal Republic
Current Affairs: The Circus Federal Republic is a tidally locked world that has recently began exploring interplanetary infrastructure options connecting the core planet, Circus, with several other planets within the system and as a result, has taken out several loans from the VC to finance a new laser highway network. Haven Free City
Current Affairs: The Haven Free City is a large habitat in the Procyon System that's home to the Narodakinism faith. The absolute dictator is Kadra Noor, a highly eccentric individual who has a reputation among the elite of the Consortium for her unusual behavior and the cult-like atmosphere she fosters on Haven. Koh-I-Noor Republic
Current Affairs: The VC has recently began investing a great deal in Koh-I-Noor, a diamond planet in the Phoenix and Cinder system, as a bid to establish a toehold so it can counter act the Regency's influence. However, in doing so, it's displacing the "native" carbon nomad culture, which may produce stress in the future. Nassar Democratic Republic
Current Affairs: The Authoritarian Nassar Democratic Republic has recently come off a coup that put General Hamed Oman Darmadi in control over the military state. Darmadi is currently in the process of removing the previous leadership, who had ties to Nariac, and is seeking to solidify his control over the state. Procyon Union
Current Affairs: The Procyon Union is currently dealing with the fall out from the Verge Consortium "civil war," including a number of terrorist attacks carried out by VFN on the Procyon Reach, which has raised concerns about the security of the very heart of the Verge Consortium. As a result, police presence is very great here and will be for some time. Sothic Alliance
Current Affairs: The Sothic Alliance is situated on the Sothic Ringworld, the only ring world in the sphere. Currently, the Alliance is working with the Verge Consortium to help repair damage done to the ring, while also accepting help from the Solar Combine as well. There is an uneasy truce between the VC and Combine regarding the Ring. Von Berg Monarchy
Current Affairs: A calcified, highly conservative monarchy that promotes a type of feudalism the Pavonis Monarchy would consider retrograde, Von Berg is home to large crystalline structures of an alien origin that many suspect may be Glassmaker-related, but no evidence for which exists. Studies are ongoing. |
Aratis Republic
Current Affairs: The Republic is currently in the middle of an ongoing terraforming project, spurned on by the successful terraforming of Bluefall. It desires to be the first successfully terraformed tidally locked world, a tall order but one that TerraGenesis feels that they are up to. A strong preservationist movement opposes this, however. Copernicus Federal Republic
Current Affairs: The Copernicus Federal Republic has recently entered into a period of economic expansion and growth, and is the headquarters for the VEX and VCE. The CFR is also frequently believed to house the secret headquarters for Solaris as well, according to a number of conspiracy believers. Hermes Kingdom
Current Affairs: The Hermian Kingdom (or Hermes Kingdom) is a large rocky world in the Tau Ceti System that has been settled for so long that the inhabitants have created vast underground tunnels that crisscross the planet. Many of these tunnels are poorly explored, and the Kingdom is unsure what lurks within them. Marseilles Unitary Republic
Current Affairs: The home to Skinthetic and formerly member of the Indus-Fomalhaut Civilization, Marseilles has recently entered into a number of agreements with the Shangtao Imperial State for trade, which the VC hopes will bring Shangtao closer to the fold. They have also opened up a university devoted to the study of aesthetics and beauty. Pantheon-Tau Empire
Current Affairs: An interesting polity that is currently under the control of a presumed ASI that refers to itself as "the System." The System is introduced the post-scarcity reputation-based economy referred to as "systemism" throughout the polity, making it perhaps the only polity in the Verge Consortium to be wholly reputation-based economically speaking. Redbridge Republic
Current Affairs: The seat for AlephNull and Starware, Redbridge is currently undergoing a revival of sorts as AlephNull, Kognitech, Nimbus, Starware, and others are investing in a large relay station that is codenamed PROJECT: LIGHTHOUSE, with the goal of producing a large mesh/grid relay station that can connect much of the sphere. Tairit Republic
Current Affairs: The Tairit Republic has recently launched a number of raids against what it calls "exhuman hives" in the outer edge of its system, destroying several habitats with no survivors. Given the authoritarian nature of the Republic, not everyone is convinced they were exhuman hives. If there anymore hives, this may spark a war between them. Zeleaus Democratic Republic
Current Affairs: Also called the Bluewood Republic, given it's on the planet Bluewood in the Hamal system. Current studies into the nature of the Bluewood are ongoing, as are attempts to establish toeholds on the surface of the planet that is almost completely overgrown with the alien organism. Much of this Republic exists in orbit, aboard space stations. |