Corporate Assembly
The Corporate Assembly, or CA for short, is a confederation of loosely associated Mega-Corporations with a vested interest in the Middle and Outer Rims. Operating under the widely encompassing Colonial Earth Empire Free Trade Zone (Or FTZ) initiative, the Corporate Assembly can freely operate within Core Systems (So long as they follow the rules laid out to the many other corporations within the core) while operating as a free and independent government in unsettled Mid- and Outer Rim territories, with very little oversite.
This wide breadth of consideration was given to the Assembly after a series of negotions were had about the status of the Great Expanse following the End of the Silence. It was determined that under the Free Zones under the New Republic could still be upheld under new Imperial Law. This was the more public facing statement that the Assembly agreed to, however it was determined behind closed doors that with the Imperial Navy and House Forces tied up in the Terminus and Pacifica, that an alliance was more beneficial, and profitable for both the Assembly and the Imperial Nobility.
With the growing threat of the Red Menace in the distance, and the present threat of the Dragon Resistance on their doorstep, the Corporate Assembly has ceded more and more power to Imperial forces in dealing with more openly militant resistance forces. In return, the megacorps get more and more access to imperial military hardware, specifically by striking a deal with Harrison Armory.
The Assembly commands a sizable force, not nearly as strong as the empire's, but enough of a size that diplomacy was the ideal solution to conflict negotiations. Many of the Assembly now hold some positions of power within either the Imperial Senate or, if they have garnered the favor of the Emperor , have made their way into the Imperial Court themselves or even weaseled into the Nobility.
While technically under the same banner, the corporate assembly can hardly be classified as "united". Many of the various bosses and executives are constantly fighting with each other, making the corporate assembly the largest enemy of themselves. The Noble Houses of the Empire are quick to exploit these weaknesses, utilizing their own vast resources and wealth to weasel their way into Assembly politics. The Gang of Three tolerates this, but mostly because they cannot contain it even within their own organizations. While the majority support the lucrative contracts and protection that comes with being under the umbrella of the Empire , other execs wish to go back to the days where they operated independently, and freely from Imperial Authority. Arguing that alliances with the Commonwealth or the Banking Guilds could allow them more freedom, and the ability to carve out their own empires.
Structure
The Structure of the Assembly is complex to say the least. It is more of a loose confederation of planetary governments, megacorporations, independent merchant fleets, and privately owned space stations. Most of these polities are seemingly "democratically" elected, however in reality they are all propped up as some kind of puppet of one of the Gang of Three. These governors, autonomous planets, and free trade zones all organize themselves in the Corporate Assembly. A legislative, executive and judiciary government that is supposed to govern the charter space in the Great Expanse.
The Corporate Assembly was originally charted by seven corpor-states, taking adavantage of the Free Trade Zones established by the Republic. As time went on, the Assembly's power consolidated under the control of three of the largest corporations, known simply as the Gang of Three. Agri-Star, Smith-Shimano Corpo, and IsoChem.
While thousands of smaller corporations exist underneath the Gang of Three, most of them exist as a proxy, subsidiary, or propped up competition. The Gang of Three each control a vast swath of independent resources, and spend most of those resources trying to undercut one of the other two. Even within the structures of the megacorps themselves, internal strife is common. Corpo directors will regularly wage internal war with their rivals, engaging in a duel of assassins and shadows.
Regular plays for power often catch regular citizens in the crossfire, who were born into this fatal system of corporate feudalism. Working for one of the Gang of Three is often a lifelong choice, and a means of escaping the horrors of extreme poverty. The Gang of Three each maintain a robust amount of tools to cultivate the next generation of middle managers, R&D teams, corpo-shinobi, and data smiths. Each maintains a vast university and campus on their homeworld, with millions of students vying for competetive positions.
The Gang of Three also maintains their own standing militaries, complete with aerospace carriers, atomic weapons, and intelligence operations. However, these forces are rarely deployed outside of Corporate Space, against foreign adversaries. The forces are maintained primarily as a threat. To the Colonial Earth Empire and the Red Sun Syndicates, the Corpo-fleets represent an ever present threat should either of them overstep their bounds. Internally, the corpo-forces are used as a means of mutually assured destruction between the corps. Any war waged between them would ultimately lead to the destruction of them all.
Thus, the Gang of Three play a careful game, using smaller corps and governments to wage proxy wars that span the Orion Arm. Espionage wars and discreet intervention are things the Gang of Three has honed over decades of hidden war.
However, when the interests of the Gang of Three align, they can achieve great things. Powerful alliances from within the ranks have shaken the whole of the Mid Rim.
History
The Corporate Assembly could trace its routes back to the initial free trade zones established by the Colonial Earth Empire's predecessor, the United Republic. The Republic offered free trade zones and unrestricted access to the resources in these zones, as long as they paid minor taxes to the empire as a whole. These areas were mostly located within the area of space that came to be known as The Great Expanse. Because the Republic had very little in means of protecting these zones, they opened up legal lanes for private corporate armies to be formed. Consequently, a number of major commercial, financial, manufacturing, and shipping companies united to ensure their own protection. Disputes at this time were handled in Republican Courts, however, as time went on, and the armies got larger, the corporations simply ignored the courts, waging the First Trade War.
When the Colonial Earth Empire was first founded, the Corporate Assembly was one of the first to fully declare its own independence in the civil wars that were to follow. While the Noble Houses of Glass and Stars threw around the weight of countless legions, the Corporate Assembly fortified Tochi and built up their own defensive fleets to protect their space. Rumors persist to this day that the Fourth Column was initially propped up and supported by funds siphoned from the Corporate Assembly.
Thus, when the civil war ended, and the Imperial forces having bled themselves against one another, the Noble Houses soon found benefit to keeping the Corporate Assembly as allies, rather than try an exert their forces in another bloody war of conquest. Besides, the Corporate Assembly and the newly created Empire had many aligned interests. Thus, a tepid alliance was negotiated, where the Assembly had sovereignty in their own space, so long as the Empire could deploy military assets from the Great Expanse, in response to the growing threat of the Red Sun Commonwealth, who had also gained their independence in the civil war.
This was all prior to the Age of Silence, and when the Interstellar Gates began to shut down, the Great Expanse became cut off from the rest of the Empire. The economy collapsed in Corporate Space, and to fill the coffers the Assembly turned the fleets that had been untouched by the civil war, against their neighbors in the Commonwealth. The Mechanicus Jihad had decimated the Commonwealth, and their military power. Thus, the corporate fleets were almost entirely free to operate throughout Commonwealth and Corporate space.
During the Silence, the Expanse was wracked with war for nearly three decades. Corpo-states glassed and destroyed rival worlds, all in the name of overtaking one another. The Red Sun was used regularly as a punching bag for the corporations, and a means to prop up the ever growing arms industries. They regulalry invaded deep into unprotected Commonwealth space, decimating worlds in the process. However, the interior of the Assembly could not help but cannibalize itself in the process. With so many corporate interests tied up overseas, three major alliances began to form, as the copros formed intricate webs of truces, schemes, and relationships. Through a series of mergers, hostile takeovers, aquisitions and disolvements, three major conglomerates remained. IsoChem, Agri-Star and Smith-Shimano Corpo. They would eventually form the Gang of Three, who sat at the top of the food chain in the Assembly. Their takeover was brutal, and left billions of civilians dead in the wake, and Corporate coffers exhausted.
When the three decades of war finally subsided, it was instead replaced with a deadly game behind the scenes. Espionage became the tool wielded by the Gang of Three and the Commonwealth. Proxy wars fought system by system, with dedicated spies and influence lasted for more than eighty years.
When the gates finally came back online, the Corporate Assembly quickly formed an alliance with the Empire, becoming a pseudo-protectorate. Several Imperial Noble families married into the powerful corporate families of Smith-Shimano Corpo, Agri-Star and IsoChem. These families were offered a place in the Imperial Senate, and rocketed to grand power over the Corporate Assembly. In return, Imperial Armies began to backup Assembly security corps, and pushed into Commonwealth space. The conquest wars that followed pushed the Red Sun Syndicate for a decade and a half. But the Assembly is losing steam, and the Commonwealth forces are starting to gain ground on planets that were thought to be firmly under Corporate Control.
The Big Three, Smith-Shimano Corpo, IsoChem, and Agri-Star are struggling to maintain an iron grip over the Assembly. The other corpo-families view the Big Three as fully compromised, and in league with empire, giving up their hard-earned independence. More and more meetings between the various Assembly super-corps that make up the rest of the board, and Syndicate bosses looking to pray on a potential crack in the Assembly armor.
The Assembly runs the constant risk of getting potentionally nationalized or absored into the greater Imperial Structure, and Harrison Armory is keen to see that happen. However, the Assembly's tenative military power, and more importantly their political influence behind the scenes keeps them regularly out of the Empire's focus. They are keen to make sure the imperial forces remain busy in Pacifica and Terminus.
Type
Political, Confederation
Capital
Alternative Names
The Assembly
Demonym
Corpos
Government System
Oligarchy
Power Structure
Confederation
Subsidiary Organizations
Neighboring Nations
Comments