Officially “The Movement for the Redress of the Rape of Gaea” (formerly “The Movement for tor the Reclamation of Gaea by her Children”), the Children are a decentralized interstellar human organization primarily comprised of escaped indentureds. They have been labeled a terrorist group by most galactic governments and hypercorporate entities.
The Children of Gaea were formed fifty-nine years ago following a rare successful indentured revolt in a Shin-Za breeding camp. The leader of the revolt later branded himself Gaeus Eleutherios (“Earth’s Liberator”). The movement’s stated goal is the liberation of all human slaves throughout galactic civilization, and the reclamation of the human home planet, Earth, from its current owners, Tolvaadus Hypercorporation. The Children believe that if Earth is reclaimed from its alien masters, and if all of its liberated children are returned home, the Gaea Spirit will awaken and revitalize the uninhabitable world.
While the original Gaeus Eleutherios focused on liberating hereditarily indentured humans and eroding popular support for indenture through propaganda, the movement has since evolved in a more violent direction. The current leader, Gaeus Nemesis (“Earth’s Avenger”), gained control after a protracted internecine conflict precipitated by the death of Gaeus Eleutherios II. Analysts theorize that the civil war served to eliminate moderating influences in the surviving factions.
Gaeus Nemesis capitalized on this trend to introduce a more radical agenda. Under his leadership, the Children have effectively declared war against the entirety of galactic civilization. Attacks against mercantile and government targets have increased and are now often accompanied by mass casualty attacks against civilians. Galactic public opinion has turned against the Children, where at the height of Gaeus Eleutherios’s influence, considerable support had grown in certain sectors. However, Tolvaadus intelligence analysts believe Gaean recruitment is at its highest level in decades.
An interplanetary thurgellian corporate conglomerate based in the Lugeeta system. The Consortium was formed 195 Lugeetan years ago through a merger of Drugatta Biotech Concerns and Gallena Industrial Fabrication. Other corporations have since been absorbed by the Consortium structure.
The Consortium possesses a monopoly on biomedical technology in the Lugeeta system, as well as owning several planetoids and asteroid bases. Consortium subsidiaries also have a commanding influence in the system’s lucrative interstellar indentured trade.
The Consortium’s position in Lugeetan economic and political life has been largely unchallenged for decades; the affluent members of Lugeetan society owe their multi-century lifespans to DruGal technology, whose licenses could be revoked on a whim. The Consortium’s only true rival is Veng Aerospace Industries.
One of the three major galactic powers, Tolvaadus is a urexiite-founded interstellar corporation based primarily in the Rexa Span. Tolvaadus holdings include dozens of star systems and over 150 billion citizen-consumers.
Tolvaadus is the oldest of the three so-called hypercorporations (the others being Mylada and Shin-Za). The corporation rose from regional to galactic prominence following the acquisition of the Solanda system roughly nine hundred years ago. The system, formerly home to the human species, yielded a massive bounty of natural and sentient resources, which the corporation exploited brilliantly. Tolvaadus has since outlawed hereditary indenture in all of its holdings, but indenture trade remains legal.
Like the other hypercorporations, Tolvaadus does not specialize in any one industry or business. It concerns itself, through subsidiaries, with all business and industrial activities in its holdings. That being said, Tolvaadus expertise in the field of artificial intelligence is unparalleled.
A calabian interstellar religious missionary organization. They believe Breach drive was invented by a long lost, high technology calabian precursor civilization that thrived throughout the galaxy two to three million years ago. This civilization is also said to have seeded or uplifted all currently known sentient species, and several as yet undiscovered.
Minimal evidence exists for these claims, but the Mission has found widespread support in many calabian societies. Currently, the Mission is the largest calabian organization, with a financial power equal to a large interstellar corporation. The Mission claims religious rights over hundreds of planets spread through dozens of star systems, primarily in the Sword Arm and Rexa Span. Each of these worlds, they claim, was visited by the Blessed Wanderer—the mythical inventor of Breach drive—on its journey through the universe.
Critics charge that the Mission’s leadership has exploited the vague nature of their founding myths to acquire resource rich systems, fabricating religious claims from whole cloth.
One of the three galactic hyperpowers. Based in the Middle Sword Arm, Mylada Pan-Galactic is the most populous (~250 billion citizen-consumers) and widest-spread of the hypercorporations. Mylada is structured around a federal system, with less central control than Shin-Za or Tolvaadus.
True to its name, Mylada’s focus is on interstellar trade—though like the other hypercorporations, they (through subsidiaries) also fill the majority of economic and political roles within their holdings. Myladan Marks are seen as a universal currency in most sectors of the galaxy.
A nikayan-founded interstellar corporation located in the Inner Sword Arm and Zakei Coil, Shin-Za is the youngest of the three galactic hyperpowers.
Shin-Za was founded in the nikayan home system as a colonial enterprise corporation. The corporation founded dozens of colonies before declaring independence from the nikayan central government. After a brutal civil war, Shin-Za achieved autonomy, replacing the central government as the biggest nikayan galactic player.
Unlike the other two hypercorporations, Shin-Za maintains a significant military force, believed to be the largest in the galaxy. This force has rarely seen combat beyond suppressing internal dissent, due to the extreme rarity of interstellar conflict. Shin-Za military technology is widely considered the galaxy’s most advanced.
A urexiite colonial society located between the Inner Sword Arm and the Rexa Span. As the name suggests, their political organization is a democratic republic, one of the few genuine examples of such in the explored galaxy.
Far from major trade routes, on the inner fringe of the explored galaxy, the republic is largely isolated from the galactic economy and politics. It is the farthest permanent urexiite colony from their home system. They maintain limited trade and a non-aggression pact with Tolvaadus Hypercorporation, but have few other official relationships. It is renowned through the galaxy as one of the few places where indenture and its trade is wholly illegal.
A highly militarized, authoritarian nikayan colonial society located in the Inner Sword Arm. Once the crown jewel of early Shin-Za colonial possessions, the Imperium gained its independence during the Nikayan Civil War. Insular and xenophobic, the Imperium maintains a standing military force proportionately larger than any other in the explored galaxy. This military has seen frequent (by galactic standards) combat with both their former colonial masters in Shin-Za, and the neighboring Sovestus Republic.
One of the explored galaxy’s only permanent alliances, the Commonwealth comprises the urexiite home system and its three original colony systems.
Located in the outer Rexa Span, each of the systems is controlled by an independent government. The Commonwealth shares a common currency and trade regulations, but otherwise no unified laws or parliamentary body. There are trade and military-diplomatic councils, composed of representatives from each system, which direct policy in those areas.
Though its combined economic and technological power are considerable, the Commonwealth is not generally considered a galactic hyperpower. It might, through concerted colonial and industrial effort, match the resources of any of the three hypercorporations. However, the Commonwealth has to date shown little interest in increasing its galactic influence or power projection capabilities.
A multiplanetary thurgellian corporation based in the Lugeeta system. Considered by most analysts to be the preeminent power in that system, Veng maintains a monopoly on most technology required for spaceflight.
Most large corporate entities in the Lugeeta system are conglomerates of smaller companies, with decentralized ownership and control structures. Veng Aerospace, while it has consumed numerous lesser entities, has always been a unitary corporation. Technically a sole proprietorship, it has remained under the direct ownership and control of a member of the Veng family since its inception nearly four hundred Lugeetan years ago.
Veng’s near monopoly on aerospace technology leaves them in an unassailable position relative to the system’s other powers. Trade in the system largely proceeds at Veng’s discretion, and the military and police forces of the civilian government rely completely on the company for space and aircraft.
Only the DruGal Consortium is able to maintain a small paramilitary space force independent of Veng’s direct control, having used their political influence to outflank bans on imported aerospace technology. That being said, Veng’s forces are far more advanced than those of their rivals.
