The Seven Corporations

Corporate space is ruled with an iron hand by seven corporations, Even those, which are relatively pleasant for their citizens, such as Liberty or Goldifre are merciless in all other aspects. While all Corporations, which were originally alliances of many original companies produce pretty much anything, each one is particularly good in one specific area.

Dryntakar

The youngest of the Corporations and the one with the most sinister reputation. Associated with forbidden rituals, dark magic and association with fiends, Dryntakar has a rightfully earned reputation for beign malign and cruel.

Specialisation: Dryntakar specialises in Magitech, which should not be very surprising. Their products do, however, have a reputation of being cursed and benefitting Dryntakar more than any user outside the Corporation.

History: Dryntakar was not one of the original corporations of the Exodus from Earth, but was founded later by disgruntled Infinity and Goldifre managers and employees, when those Corporations outlawed the use of diabolic magic. Due to their magical power, they rose quickly, protecting themselves with creature summoned from nether hells. Goldfire and magic-capable mercenaries from stardust station suspect since quite some time, that the power of Dryntakar may not be as great as fear makes it.

Military: Any direct attacks from Dryntakar are performed by fiends, who do not need to breathe. They are usually deployed through magical gates and teleportation. Dryntakar does maintain a fleet, but its size and power is a mystery.

Society: The people of Dryntakar live in ill-maintained rusty industrial structures on shadowy worlds, where fearsome unearthly creatures slink in plenty shadows. People disappear without a trace, even from beyond locked doors in the dark of the night. Robed mytics, cruel and mighty, are avoided by the common populace, when they wander the roads.

Most of the workers hope to be assigned to the solar energy plants and the cload harvesters on gas giant worlds, where they operate reliable machinery (mostly purchased from Infinity), but a major part has to work in the weird magical plants beneath unnatural illumination and near dangerous volatile forces. Accidents are rather common, but still Dryntakar does not seem to run out of workers.

All managers of Dryntakar are mystics. While not all of them follow the sinister path of their overlord, all are tied by economic necissity and the reality of the magical plants. Since mystic gifts are unpredictable, all who show aptitude disappear. Their memories are cleared and they are given a new identity and background to become mystics of the corporation. It should be mentioned, that most of those, who disappear are sacrificed on altars of dark gods or in forbidden rituals to summon fiends.

Goldfire

The five older corporations still tend to see Goldfire as an upstart, because they did not take part in the original Exodus. Jarinara "Goldfire" Slidahlosharnan, the founder and still living leader of the corporation did indeed not take part in the original building of the generation ships, but developed a hyperdrive first to be able to reach a destination within weeks or years, rather than decades or centuries. The major reason for the talk about Goldfire are the immortatility of Speaker Jarina Goldfire and jealousy. Goldfire has the brightest reputation in Corporate space, just, fair and almost a paradise to live in for its citizens.

Specialisation: No-one is exactly sure, which is the actual specialisation of the Goldfire Corporation. They seem to excel in "soft" Biotech, which causes only slight changes in the nature of plants and creatures, to make them better suited to live in their environments. Goldfire is also the major provider of magitech for those, who do not trust Dryntakar (which is pretty much everyone).

History: Led by the super-human intelligence of the dragon Jarina Goldfire, the Goldifre Corporation developed a method to travel faster than light, before daring to venture into deep space. Unlike the other corporations, Goldfire directly terraformed their own uninhabited world, rather than settling on one of those already suitable for human settlement. The speaker has offered no explanation for that behavior, but she seems to know something the other leaders do not.

Military: The Goldifire space fleet is the most impressive looking with its mithral and adamantite armored ships reflcting the light of the sun and most hostile energy weapons. The pilots have been modified with strains from flying creatures, allowing them manoeuvers, which nauseate most other pilots. There are also rumours of super-human ground troops, but so far there has been no proof of their existance.

Society: Goldfire is (besides Liberty) the Corporation, that behaves most like a state, rather than a purely economic organisation. There is an actual council, which the people vote for, makes laws and controls the activities of the subsidiary companies to some degree, though Jarina Goldfire has the final word on any decision. While her decisions seem arbitrary at times, in the long run, they always turn out to be advantageous for the corporation.

The citizens of most other corporations seem to believe Goldfire to be a veritable paridise. This is, of course, not entirely true. The people are still mostly employees and their lives are centered on hard work. Those who do a good job, are offered ascension, or at least increases in salary or spare time. Goldfire does have a reputation for fairness and good leadership.

All manages of the Corporations are under constant scrutiny by the Speaker and her high standards. Those who fail to live up to them are regularly demoted to a less influential position. Treason (such as selling secrets to other companies) and corruption on the other hand, are punished harshly. Still Goldfire worlds are probably the best place to live in Corporate Space.

Infinity

Infinity actually initiated the original Exodus, or so they claim. Still surrounded by suspicion and rumours of a sinister path, the Corporation has given its citizens and competition little to complain about. Brutually economical, Infinity is the incarnation of profit-hybris in the minds of Goldfire and Liberty.

Specialisation: Infinity is mostly known for heavy machinery, which can break down and extract the resources from most asteroids within their processing, huge cload mining facilities in the skies of gas giants and the ability to build artificial wormholes.

History: Infinity was the first conglumerate Corporation to start the exploration and exploitation of space. They built a base on Mars even before there was talk of an Exodus towards the stars, exploiting its resources to be independent of Earth. There they experimented with many new technologies. There were, indeed, several dangerous accidents, which killed many employees. Rumours speak even about an accidentally opened gate to hell and danger to the Earth itself.

Actually Infinity started the Exodus program, when they realised that the resources within their own solar system were not sufficient for the increasing population of the Earth. Unlike the other Corporations, which followed a bit later, they actually packed their generation ships with terraforming equipment, knowing the low probability of finding a planet with a friendly atmosphere.

Several centuries after arriving in corporate space and establishing themselves in a cluster of solar systems closely linked by natural worm holes, they finally managed to make their teleportation technology reliable. The exile of those, who had fallen in with the fiends beyond the gate were exiled. These events led to the First Corporate War and the founding of Dryntakar roughly two thousand years ago.

Military: Due to their ability to deploy their troops and transport their wares through interstellar gates, the Infinity fleet is relatively small. While their carrier ships are the biggest of all corporations, there are relatively few. Usually they sent an escorted transport with special forces to establish a gate anchor on the target world and deploy the rest of the troops through the gate. The Infinity ground army usues more heavy tanks and atrillery than those of any other Corporation.

Society: Infinity society is strangely split. On the one hand it is highly economy-oriented, expecting everybody to work and do something useful, but on the other hand, the Infinity management knows that only happy employees will give their best for the company. While they are not capable of keeping everybody happy, they try. A large number of citizens like working conditions and the relatively hight safety, but a few realise their are bing manipulated. Those few either disappear or become managers.

Infinity managers have to keep two things in mind, the economic value of their operations and the happiness of their underlings. Finding a good comprimise between those two goals is often a difficult balancing act. That is why all large divisions and the central leadership of Infinity is by council. The managers did realise at some point that a group with different areas of specialisation and opinions is better at making good decisions than a single person.

Kaizai

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Liberty

Liberty see themselves as a state rather than a corporation, because the organisation was indeed a collection of former government organisations and the remaining independent companies of that country.

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Napary

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Shield

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