Sol Corporate Consortium

Quick facts:

Sol Corporate Consortium

Player

Mammal

Sol Corporate Consortium

aka: SCC

Govenment Type

Corporatocracy

Capital System

Sol

Claimed Systems

Sol

Lazon

Teae

Eurav Wass

Kerbol

Predomiment Species

Humans

Signature Technology

Engrams

The SCC is the official "Goverment" of the Sol System and it's colonies. It is a business entity that exists only to enforce and mantain the status quo of corporate control over Humanity, the most powerful corporations directly controlling all facets of the SCC, from public works to taxation.

As one would expect from such a system there is nothing that could truly be called "public": healthcare, water, energy, roads, even the military. All privatized and designed to exploit the citizens of Sol to the maximum extent.

History

The SCC is a relatively recent development, but one that people saw coming for centuries. In the late 20th century, as technology advanced in the fields of cybernetics and computing, global society underwent radical changes, increased by "The Collapse" in the late 90s, a worldwide economic crisis that ended with the permanent weakening of the United States and the transformation of the Soviet Union into a Capitalist State.

Global Instability and the weakening of the Nation State led to the empowering of the Corporation, adquiring what services could no longer be mantained by countries, starting with Policing and Healthcare. Corporate backed politicians actively fought back against attempts to end the crisis, stalling for long enough to establish a new status quo for when order was restored.

Three decades afterwards the world was similar yet different. Your local beat cop wore the logo of Lone Star Security or Minutemen Policing, the bus you took to work was operated by Ford-GM Transit Division, you pay for your morning Continental Brands branded Soycaf by transferring over some Zurich-Orbital Bank Credits using your neural implant before stepping into your office at MetaCorp, considered to be extranational territory where US regulations don't apply. You put on your VR headset and get to your 12 hour workday before getting off and repeating the process 6 days of the week.

Of course, corporations are predatory things, always wanting to spread and grow like cancer cells. This led to what has come to be called the "First Corporate War" in 2038, between Exxon-BP and SovOil over the adquisition of Brazialian Oil giant Petrobras after the discovery of deep oil fields under the Amazon Plains.

The War was waged directly by private military assets of both corporations and indirectly through hiring of other companies. The fighting took place in corporate raids, sabotage, assasinations, terror attacks and outright destruction of facilities and corporate towns. They fought on land, air, sea, space and the digital realm. Utilizing the armies of south american nations against eachother and going do far as to depose goverments to install their own puppets

By the end of the war five years later both companies had lost around 65% of their total assets and neither had manged to adquire the Brazilian company. Massive amounts pollution had been released due to the destrucyion of offshore oil rigs... and the companies of the world had been shown that they could just take over countries if they wished to.

This started a trend that lasted all the way until the formation of the SCC in 2179, upon which 6 further Corporate wars occured. Each one erroding the already small power of nations until all that remained were banana republics.

The 7th Corporate War lasted betwee 2168 and 2179. A full 11 years of warfare ended by a limited nuclear exchange between alliances led by the Jovian Energy Company and SinoChem respectively, leading to the destruction of multiple orbital habitats and of the City of Guangzhou, ending the lives of millions of people and causing untold economic losses.

That was what lead to the creation of the SCC, the paper thin nation states and useless UN being all destroyed with a wave of a hand and their faculties being given to the new Entity to act as a regulatory, arbitral and governamental and body over all human corporations and territories.

To ensure that it would actually work and not be ignored the SCC was given controlling shares over the five largest banks, merging them into the Zurich-Luna Bank and granting it the sole authority to set interest rates, manage the currency supply and to somewhat regulate the market.

The SCC itself acts as a corporation. 51% of it's shares to be held in pertuity by itself while the rest are given to any corporation that manages to seat a representative in the Corporate Council that governs the entity, one transferable share for each one of the (originally) 200 most powerful companies that are able to secure a seat.

The SCC has managed to avert any corporate "hot" wars in the 30 years of it's existance and rule. And with the discovery of FTL 22 years ago has managed to lead the way in the exploration and colonization of Alien worlds.

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Government

Political System

The SCC is a Corporatocracy in it's purest form. It's controlled by and acts fully as a corporate entity. But it acts at least in ways, as a democracy, if an extremely limited one.

The SCC is organized much like a mix between a Parliamentary Democracy and your standard Coprorate Board of Directors. The members of the Corporate Council being elected by Electors. An Elector is either an individual or corporation capable of purchasing a Vote from the SCC at a standard rate of 1000 Credits, without limit of how many votes one can purchase.

Candidates for the Council are nominated by members currently sitting on it, and as one can expect, are advised heavily to propose members of their own corporation's choosing.

Elections ocur every 5 Years for each half of the Council, leading to 2.5 years between elections. Electors assign their votes to the list of offered candidates however they see fit, those Candidates who recieve the most votes earning a seat in the Council.

The Council is the Legislatory body of the SCC. They have the Authority to pick the Chairperson of the Council from among a list of candidates established by the last Chairperson, who when elected will act as Head of State for the Consortium, as a ceremonial figurehead, with the ability to lead the direction of debates, sign laws approved by the Council, fine disruptive council members or expel them from a session if needed.

The Council then elects from their number a Chief Executive to actually run the nation, who then appoints from other Council Members their Executive Commmittee to head the directors of different departments of the SCC such as Human Resources or Marketing.

At any moment the Council can pass a vote of no confidence, revoking the authority and powers from the Chief Executive and their Committee before electing a new one.

Legal System

The SCC's Corporate Council acts as a single chamber legistature, proposing, voting on and approving new laws through a simple majority consensus.

Due to the way Council members are elected it is wholly under the control of corporate interests and act as such, many proposed laws designed specifically to hinder specific corporations seen to be growing to powerful by their rivals.

Still, they on ocassion actually manage to pass regulations that apply across the board, most usually to placate a riotous populace or because of incidents that no one want's repeated, like the Nuking of Guangzhou and subsequent passing of the "General Ban on the utilization of Nuclear Devices on Habitational Centers"

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Military

The SCC's military, just like the rest of society, is fully privatized. Most larger Corporations mantain their own private armies to protect their assets or for "Agressive Expansion". Other smaller companies subcontract Security Companies who take care of that business for them, letting them worry about training amd combat while they focus on making money.

Among these Private Military Companies there's a group refered to as the ArmaCorps (Standing for Armed Forces Corporation) . They do not hore themselves out to other Corporations but rather are under a direct and exclusive contract with the SCC's Department of Defense to act as the Nation's military.

Each ArmaCorp is an independent entity with their own training, suppliers, equipment, hardware, uniforms and soldiers. They are given wide operational margins as long as they meet the standards set by the DoD, such as a minimum training time, minimum naval operational and general Uniform Style Guide (The SCC's logo is expected to be at least 15% larger than that of the ArmaCorp) to give some examples.

Military Duties and Operations are given to the ArmaCorps as Contracts, most often to the lowest bidder among them but select operations are known to be given to the most fit corporation.

The 5 Biggest ArmaCorps by Market Share are as follows: Militech Armaments, Lazarus Military Operations Group, BARGHEST, Ares Combat Solutions and Kang Tao. But a smattering of smaller corporations fill in the gaps when they appear.

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Society

Social Structure

A description of the social structures within the nation.

Culture

A summary of cultures and customs within the nation.

Religion

Religion in the 23rd Century has been irreversibly changed by humanity's technological advancements and societal changes. But despite that... religion still endures. Humans cling to it as either reminders of a better world or simply because they want something to believe in.

The Religious Landscape of the SCC is a patchwork of old religions, folk beliefs, new religious movements and other eclectic belief systems. It's not uncommon for people to practice multiple religions at once, high degrees of syncretism ocurring in space habitats, specially ones in the edges of the Sol System and in the Asteroid Belt.

Some of the Major religions and religious organizations are as follows:

Christianity

Christianity in all of it's forms and branches has suffered few changes in the last two centuries. Mostly. The influence of corporations in the religion could already be felt even before they became the rulers of mankind. Christianity is now mostly centered around powerful Non-denominational MegaChurches that grew from the popular televangelists churches of the late 20th century.

These MegaChurches are not called that because of their size (Even if they often mantain Stadium Sized facilities) but rather due to operating much like any other Megacorporation, if one that adds religion in the mix. The largest such organization is GOD.Net, which mantains thousands of franchised locations and offers Net based VR services for any faithful who subscribes to at least their Bronze Plan (Their Kingdom+ Plan includes access to full VR recreations of heaven and even guaranteed sin forgiveness)

Traditional Organizations like the Catholic or Orthodox churches still mantain their influence over millions of people but have lost much of their power and influence, specially after the SCC instuted taxes on non profit religious organizations such as them. Making them struggle for relevance in a quickly changing world.

Islam

Islam has fared well in humanity's expansion into the stars. While it, like all religions, has shrunk in size, it still mantains a large core of faithful followers that have not been led astray by the many temptations of the modern era.

The Ummah has mostly kept away from the clutches of greed. Sunni Islam has fared the best, due to the informal hierarchy of it's lesdership and community based approach any corporate tendrils are often very limited to an specific congregation and even then, they tend not too last.

The One Exception to this trend is the Ahmadiyya Movement, created in the 1800s by self described Prophet, Messiah and promised Mahdi, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. The Ahmadiyya Muslims is formally organized into a Caliphate and are often considered heretical by other Muslims due to the claim of a prophet after muhammed and syncretic incorporation of other religious figures into their beliefs such as Buddha or Zoroaster. Nonetheless, their espousal of religious tolerance, advancement of science, pacifism and acceptance of cybernetics during a time when most muslims were suspicious of them at best, caused the religion to massively increase in size to become the third largest Muslim denomination, specially popular in more progressive communities.

Buddhism

Buddhism offers something that many people lack in the modern age. Peace with oneself, freedom from the excesses of society and a purpose. The religion has grown much after the corporate takeover, and even if most of the new followers of the Buddhist schools simply engage at a surface level, monks and ascetics have become a common sight in many population centers and habitats.

These monks fully refuse the use of cybernetics and encourage other followers to do the same (Except in certain cases, such as a medical need). But interestingly have a inverse ideoly regarding the Net, many utilizing it for meditation in VR spaces and to explore their mind and spirit in ways not possible before.

Corporations quite like buddhism, in all aspects except those that actually matter to real believers. Most corporations like running Mindfulness Seminars where their employees can learn to meditate and manage stress, simply replacing Buddhist terminology and philosophy with corporate approved rethoric about workplace efficiency and teamwork. This is of course a way to improve the work envieroment and reduce the burning out of their employees. A 50 year loyalty contract is only worth it if the employee is useful that entire time after all!

Neo-Paganism

A Religious current that has grown in popularity, specially in the counterculture, btoh liberal and conservative, is the restoration of traditional belief systems that predate the spread of the world's major religions.

There are two major schools of thought among the many Neo-Pagan groups currently in operation. The Reconstructionists attempt to rebuild ancient traditions and romanticize the past as a source of spirital strength and wisdom. The Eclectics freely blend traditions from different times and locations, hoping to gleam spiritual knowledge from the past to make a better future by sharing it.

As one might expect Neo-Paganism is merely a label for many fully independant religions and groups that have no other relation besides the label.

The biggest such group with over five million registered believers is the Church of the Immortal Pyramid. As one might expect from that name it's based on the ancient egyptian religion, but incorporates many New Age beliefs, syncretic practices and bizarre rituals that make people label them a cult.

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Economics and Trade

As one would expect from a society based around Corporations and the (mostly) free market the economics of the SCC are a web of trade deals and arrangements between the thousands of corporations major and minor that inhabit it.

Of course, not all Corporations are equal, and as a way to quickly determine how powerful the SCC assigns a Rating based on a corporations market share, influence, power, brand recognition and a myriad of other factors. These rankings extend from the largest and most powerful AAA Megacorps to the smallest local E Corps with a couple dozen employees. The following is a list of some of the most important and recognizanle corporations in the human sphere.

AAA Corporations

Zurich-Luna Bank: The largest fnancial entity in the SCC, it's directly owned by it in its majority and is the only Bank with the authority to mint new currency. It's HQ is located in the L1 Earth-Moon Lagrange point, the Neo-Zurich Habitat is a large cylindrical space station with a capacity for 125.000 people fully owned by the SCC's subsidiary.

SovOil: The SCC's Largest producer of fossil fuel and derivatives such as plastic, formed during the Collapse from the privatization of the Soviet Ministry of the Oil Industry. It consolidated power in Ex-Communist block nations before becoming Eurasia's single largest corporation. In this new space age fossil fuels have become obsolete, but that has not stopped the company, running massive farms for biofuel and fabricating plastics for other corps and their own huge factories. Weapons, vehicles, consumer products, there are few markets where the corp lacks a prescense

Jovian Energy Company: The JEC holds a virtual monopoly in the explotation of Jupiter's natural resources, a large network of habitats and extractors fill ships with hydrogen, helium and rarer gases for ship fuel and other uses before being either refined or sold off to other corps. The Jovian Energy Fleet is the largest such collection of privately owned vessels in human space, with even their smallest cargo ship being at least somewhat armed.

AA Corporations

The Pepsi-Coke Company: The largest Soft Drinks manufacturer in the SCC, born between a merger between two rival corporations in order to consolidate their assets as a powerful monolith. Many corps have exclusivity deals with the corporation, having them supply their employees and offices with soft drinks and water. As of late they have begun the production of intoxicant adult oriented drinks, such as Coke-Wild, which is laced with a weak Hallucinogen.

Boeing Interstellar: A massive ship and habitat design and manufacturing conglomerate who operate mainly from a series of shipyards around Earth Orbit. They have lost some of their prestiege and assets after a series of incidents that ended in the disastrous explosion of an experimental craft during a test flight.

All Foods: One of the largest AgriCorps in the SCC, they run massive farms in the Amazon plains and other locations around the world. This company pioneered SCOP (Single Cell Organic Protein), a type of food in which large amounts of simple organisms (such as flatworms) are farmed and made into a flavorless paste capable of being modified with dyes, additives and flavorings to taste and appear like practically any sort of protein based food like Steak, Burgers, Sausages and more. They also produce fruit (Both cloned amd grown), cereals, rice, soy based products, synthetic meat and more.

Continental Brands: A large AgriCorp and All Foods main rival, having originally being a subdivision of the company before splitting off amd utilizing predatory business techniques to grow to rival it's parent. They offer competing brands for almost all products and it's chains of convenience stores and restaurants are very often in direct opposition to their All Foods counterparts. CB's Capitán Caliente vs AF's Taco Time. CB's CactusWater vs AF's RealWater. This rivalry between the companies has led to frequent aggresive actions between them, up to hiring mercenaries to fight ecahother directly.

A Corporations

SoulSec: Secure your Soul today! The inventors of Cortical Stacks and Engrams. SoulSec is a research and development company, blurring the boundaries between man and machine. Despite the relarive youth of the corporation and small size the fact that they hold a monopoly in Engram Manufacture has made them one of the richest corps in human space.

Lone Star Security: A massive Security corporation headquartered in Dallas, Texas. They have contracts for public policing in many major cities and habitats around human inhabited space. Wether you're in Seattle or in Luna-1 the sight of a Lone Star Officer means you're in safe hands. Or that you're about to recieve a beating if you're a criminal. Or if you aren't one too.

Secure Services Inc: SSI is a major player in the private security sector, not that the "public" sector can even be considered as such. Many corps who do not run their own security subcontract to SSI to act as security guards, and manage their defense systems. They do not offer any offensive actions, but are fully equipped to a military level do defend their contractors property... for the right price.