[ACCEPTED] Eridani Mercenaries/PMCs

[T1GWS]

Type (Species/Company/History/Other): Multiple Factions/History Revamp/Military

Relevant Dates: 2110 - Current Year

Basic Description: Replaces the current Eridani navy/army with five mercenary companies attached to the Eridani government, with supplementary backstory/lore.

Long Description:

The history of organized mercenaries in Eridani dates back to shortly after it's founding. After colonists sponsored by mega-corporations started to stake claim to portions of the resource rich planets, it was only natural that conflict would eventually break out. The megacorperations scrambled to assert their control over the planets in what would form into the Eridani Federation decades later. Because at this point Sol had complete jurisdiction over the system, any direct conflict in the region by the megacorperations would cause an interstellar controversy. Because of this, among other reasons, they collectively resorted to hiring private mercenaries to 'protect' their colonists. This huge influx of money into the market lead to the formation of factions within the normally solitary mercenaries, instead of small teams of 20 or so highly trained men, companies formed with thousands of employees to supply the needs of the megacorperations. After years of small independent proxy wars using these companies, Sol decided that instead of using overwhelming force to bring order back to the region, they would grant Eridani the right to govern themselves. After this development, small wars took place on the planets and moons of Eridani, with mercenaries fighting to wrest complete control of the planets and moons for their sponsors. After decades of costly fighting, some megacorperations decided to band together to stop this violence and instead work together. After the terrorist attack on Eridani 4, all megacorperations decided to put down their guns(wallets) and come to a common solution. The Eridani Corporate Federation became ubiquitous within the system, ending the major proxy wars.

When it came time to establish a military for the Federation, they opted to use the battle-hardened mercenaries instead of using the inexperienced general population. The Eridani Federal Army and Navy are currently controlled by five autonomous PMCs, all of which are sponsored by the Eridani Federation. By this point, so much money had been invested in them from the megacorprations that they grew to dwarf the size of other independent armed forces, and combined are able to easily beat Biesel's defensive army and match Dominia's still developing army. Each of the mercenary companies is headed by a leader who is also recognized as a High Commander by the Eridani Federation. Members of the Board of Five are able to 'rent' the mercenary companies to do their bidding, but in actuality it is more analogous to bidding wars. A mega-corporation that is willing to invest enough money might be able to purchase entire control of the Eridani forces for a time, only to lose said control less than a year later. The mercenary companies are granted more independence than any other military in the galaxy, with the raiding and looting of pirate ships, and hunting down of 'subversive elements' being the norm. Due to their previous conflicts and differing ideologies, the companies tend to butt heads on most issues, but are willing to come to terms and get the job done when the price is right:

 

The Red Tigers:

Leader: Shao Wang the Red Dragon

Formed from a small but long-standing Sol pirate gang, The Red Tigers soon learned that in order to thrive in the modern galaxy, they had to be sponsored by the increasingly powerful megacorperations. The Red Tigers have large Chinese influences due to their origin within core Sol territory. Owing to their pirate heritage, The Red Tigers will accept just about anyone who can follow basic orders and shoot a gun. Usually this means recruiting from former pirates or raiders that wish to 'come clean' and start a more socially acceptable profession, but they will also accept anyone who can prove their mettle and pass their harsh ritual tests. Based on Chinese military boot camp tests, all applicants from former pirate leaders to street urchins must pass all of these tests confirmed by a senior member in order to be inducted into the company:

The Trial of the Ox: The applicant must hike across mountainous terrain or desert for ten miles carrying a backpack half their weight for fifteen miles in a day. This is usually performed on the desserts of Akhet in modern years.

The Trial of the Rabbit: The applicant must be able to run a mile in under seven and a half minutes

The Trial of the Fish: The applicant must swim 2000 yards in less than 40 minutes.

Anyone can join this corporation so long as they pass these three tests and are vouched for by a senior member. The Eridani judicial system will usually avert their eyes to past crimes upon membership, barring murder of important/wealthy citizens or grand theft.

The Red Tigers have by far the largest population of mercenaries in Eridani, but are plagued with insubordination and ill-training. Mercenaries from this group are the most likely to commit acts which tarnish the names of all Eridani mercenaries, and are thus disliked by all of the other companies.

Blue Storm Corporation:

Leader: Kensuke Hanzo

After financial recession in the 2100s, Japan faced larger hardship than most, due to their lack of natural resources to exploit after the largest petroleum company, Titan Energy, could not keep itself afloat. Relying on their technological edge to compete, multiple PMCs were formed to using advanced technology, one being the Blue Storm Corporation. Corporate espionage and assassinations were nothing new in the advent of huge multi-national corporations, but nobody did it quite as well as Blue Storm. Proprietary stealth technology including some of the first fully functional stealth suits let mercenaries get deep secrets from competing corporations, and thus make more money than ever before. The cycle of technology and increasing profits soon lead to Blue Storm becoming the most reliable and expensive mercenary company on earth per person. This success, however, garnered distaste from all of the large corporations on Earth, so much so that they pressured the UN to officially force them to be hunted down and arrested. During a last stand, using their skills, funds, and technology, Blue Storm managed to steal a United States colony ship, and sent most of their company into space using it. The UN and later Sol assumed Blue Storm to be dead, as few could survive on even habitable planets without help from the colonizing country. A couple decades later, a Blue Storm colony was found on what is now called Akhet, and the rest is history.

Blue Storm has always had a small number of members due to the amount of expense they often pour into making quality mercenaries. Because of this, new members have to be thoroughly vetted, and are usually brought on when they are around the ages of 9-13. Normally, Blue Storm recruits from orphanages and areas of poverty in Eridani, selecting those with the best natural aptitudes and talents into their ranks. You might expect the Eridani people to despise cyber-ninjas coming to steal their kids, but it is actually seen as quite the honor, and children who are selected will likely never have to worry about poverty again. Initiates are often trained using the most high tech options available, including VR training and implantation with cybernetics. Often after years of physical and combat training using these methods, Initiates are sent abroad to work at mega-corporations to gain experience with working with actual people, before coming back to become a fully fledged member of the corporation.

Blue Storm Corporation makes up the backbone of Eridani's spy and information network, and often uses it's gathered information for it's own mysterious goals.

White Eagles (also known as Samuel's Grey Feathers):

Leader: Jack Packerson

The ideals of American pride and liberty slowly waned with the empowerment of the United Nations, and soon the Sol Alliance. Despite this, there are enclaves of American culture around the galaxy. Formed in Terran North America by entrepreneurial ex-marines, Samuel's Grey Feathers was the primary PMC used by the powerful and industrial United States of America. Slowly replacing the United State's regular army, Samuel's Grey Feathers, or its nickname, White Eagles inherited the same discipline and pride that the old army used to hold. When American companies sent colonists to Eridani, so too came the White Eagles, and they have been there ever since. Fielding the first Exo-suits in combat, The White Eagles have more experience with RIG suits than any other known organization in the galaxy, boasting complex and powerful suits that border on works of military art. While focusing on expensive explosive ordinances and Exo-suits, the White Eagles are certainly a force to be reckoned with, as no other mercenary navy can beat their orbital bombing skills.

It is no surprise to learn that the explosion loving White Eagles are also a fan of personal liberty, and they are rather boastful of that fact. Freedom of speech and privacy is heavily enforced by them, both inside and outside their ranks. It is common to find squads of White Eagles upholding the values of the 'Constitution' in Eridani space, whether or not it is actually profitable for them. A good example of this is when a White Eagle platoon hunted down and captured a very wealthy corrupt business man who had been silencing both competition and consumers with his own private army. The White Eagles are a rare example of people who not only act for profit in Eridani, but for ideology.

The White Eagles still have a large presence in Sol, mostly fighting pirates at the behest of mega-corporations like NanoTrasen, and most of their members come from Earth and American colonies in Sol space.

The Green Army (formerly known as Tesova Employed Contractors)

Leader: Chairman Vadim Kuznetsov

While the White Eagles hold pre-SoI America dear to their hearts, they are not without their arch rivals of the Soviet menace, Tesova Employed Contractors. Communist mercenaries seem like an oxymoron, considering all is supposed to be equal within the Iron Curtain, but that could not be further from the truth. After a costly Chinese campaign, the Soviet Union was exhausted from war and internal strife. To solve this problem, the USSR decided to impress the Slovenian population into a new autonomous army. After forcing a quarter of a million men into this new army, the USSR began covert experiments to improve their effectiveness. Super-drugs became common within the ranks of the army, including steroids and pain killers such as morphine, but the far more interesting drugs were developed later on. Hyperzine was developed from an altered caffeine compound and tested within the army to improve agility and precision in the field, and was a huge success. Men could run much faster and almost twice as far on high doses on Hyperzine, and it was relatively hard to overdose on it compared to similar drugs. Hyperzine was later used in modern medicine and as a standard performance enhancer. On the other hand, Synaptizine was far more powerful and dangerous. Originally developed as an anti-truth-serum treatment, Synaptizine because a drug used by elite soldiers in the Tesova army. While it dulled pain, and eliminated all mental hazing and shell-shock commonly found in the field, it was highly toxin and if not dosed and treated correctly, could lead to an painful death. Synaptizine is only rarely used outside of suicidal criminals in the modern day. Even with their super-drugs, Tesova Employed Contractors could not surpass the firepower of their rivals, Samuel's Grey Feathers, and with the economic downfall of the Soviet Union in the decades after, so did the prominence of Tesova fall. After the consolidation of Earth into the United Nations, the Tesova Employed Contractors was officially put to rest by the Soviets, however, many did not accept this opportunity to return home. Mostly due to long-standing addictions to combat drugs, thousands of mercenaries decided to reform their corporation, now under the name of "The Green Army". Finding themselves outpaced by other corporations on Earth, The Green Army looked to expand their reach into the stars, and began working to protect the frontier colonies, most importantly, Eridani.

In modern day, The Green Army mostly recruits from the disenfranchised across human space, seeking out and being sought by those who do not respect ridged establishment and modern society. It is promised that when you join The Green Army, you become part of a brotherhood that will look out for you against all others, and that they will share the burden of duties equally. From it's origin as a conscription force, there is quite a bit of truth to that, as many in the original army felt the bonds of culture and brotherhood with their comrades.

The Black Clan

Leader: Talakes Kauta'ki

While Eridani is certainly a human super-majority region in space, and with many who oppose alien integration, few can argue that The Black Clan, or The Kauta'ki Clan in Sinta'Unathi do not earn their pay. By far the newest major PMC force in Eridani, The Black Clan was added to the big five six years ago in a controversial vote from the Board of Directors. Originating from multiple small warlike clans on Moghes, all of which were under the control of the Izweski Clan until very recently, The Black Clan knows combat. Many of the clans who make up the current Black Clan were fighting on the front-lines during the Contact War under the banner of the Izweski. After the war was over and the clans went back to their tribes, a wide-scale conspiracy took place, implicating many of the war clans with attempting to subvert the war effort from the inside. Whether or not this is true is still up for debate, but many claim it was a way for the Izweski to consolidate power after the war by removing clans that could possibly fight against them. The implicated clans faced expulsion from the society, but before it could happen officially, they came to a mutual agreement. The accused clans decided to integrate together under one banner, and negotiated a deal with NanoTrasen to get off of Moghes.

NanoTrasen agreed to transport the newly dubbed 'Black' clan for the cost of a large sum of money that would be payed back as a loan with interest, with rumors stipulating that the amount was in the hundreds of millions. Knowing that their only option was the peddle their 'handiwork' once more, The Black Clan decided that they would be shipped to work in Eridani, bringing all of their belongings and culture with them in a large-scale (no pun intended) migration. After proving their mettle going from employer to employer, the Board of Five took quick notice and decided to induct them before they got any ideas of allying themselves with potentially dangerous elements.

Despite being in almost official exile, Those in The Black Clan still hold true to the Unathi ideals of honor in combat. They are almost utterly loyal to their employers so long as they are paid on time, willing to sacrifice life and limb for their clan. Preferring a fair fight, much of the combat done by The Black Clan comes from them challenging large pirate kingdoms to combat, either regulated navy battles, or one-on-one duels. The leader of the clan, Talakes Kauta'ki, has one multiple duels with pirate leaders, restoring his honor to him and to some extent his clan for many watching on Moghes. Unathi being an official part of the Eridani military has sparked controversy all through Sol space, especially within ATLAS, and because of this members of The Black Clan are usually extra careful not to stir up trouble, in fear of causing outrage directed towards their family.

 

Extra notes: all of this is subject to change, and I would love to have a discussion about it since a few lore devs seem interested. Feel free to comment here, but if you want a quick answer from me, ping @dovapucci on the discord.

[Faris]

A bit overdue which I do apologize for. So let's go over this.

In essence, the core concept is what I had in mind, albeit a bit different. Though I am afraid in saying that there's a few concepts I don't find to be really fitting with our setting, I'll go over them.

 

• I do like the idea of five major units, but I'd like there to be much more. So I'll go with the concept of five major and known ones but I'll have it know that there are more units that are simply lesser in influence.
   
  
• These mercenary units should be more localized. I never envisioned Sol Government to actually put much stake with PMC's by giving them the same tasks they task their military with.
   
  
• I'm not so sure on the Blue Storms. I feel it's a thing in our setting that you don't cut off healthy tissue in favor of prosthetic and such. I doubt we have any prominent figures that willingly have cybernetics installed without a medical reason. It just screams space cyber ninjas to me.
   
  
• White Eagles scream 'murica to me. What military Eridani has is not going to rival any actually organized and competent military force. I doubt their equipment would rival the military either in such a scope as you cited.
   
  
• The Black Clan is far too powerful to have as a Unathi entity. Considering these major five would end up commanding large formation of troops and even naval vessels. It may be reasonable for them to be a minor cell, just not something big.
   
  
• I feel there's a lack of a "professional" and "official" look to them.

 

So personally I'll take the concept of the main five but add it that there are other smaller units. I'll use all but the Unathi unit, with the four I'm using modified to better fit the image of professionalism I'd imagine they have and in adherence with our setting with the points I mentioned in mind.

I'll see if [mention]Zundy[/mention] has anything to say.

[Zundy]

Abo and I discussed this at length and has listed all serious grievances with the app so I am content. Also everyone roll up Eridani characters and receive a free Human Whitelist - the perfect gift this Valentine's Day - offer ends Friday.

[Scheveningen]

I need to administer my grievances as well, seeing as how I was responsible for the initial lore that brought PMCs to the known universe. Note that the PMCs were used as a set-piece to explain corporate dominance in the current setting and it's really not a focus anymore, given how homogenized corporate interests are. Independent contractors don't earn as much as a company's personal security force. This was a mistake that the UN allowed to happen during the Terran era and they paid for it with two wars and a very tense political atmosphere leading up to the colony ships being launched.

In terms of the interests of the Board of Five, having five independent PMCs running amok would be bad for business. The Eridani Private Force draws from professional mercenary groups from around the known sector but the badge in addition to a very rigid integration program pretty much erases any notion of them being merely mercenaries and instead being the sword and shield of corporate interests in the Eridani system. The EPF is a very powerful lapdog and the Bo5 are very content to keep at least just one lapdog dominant.

Remember that Epsilon Eridani functions as a corporate police state. The lack of consistent news that actually leaves the system is intentional as the major corporations have heavy influence within the media. Any atrocity that would happen in the EE system would maybe be covered locally but one would be hardpressed to hear of it anywhere other than inside the system. Because it's a police state (at least in terms of the last time it was changed in any meaningful way and I haven't heard Abo say much about changing that facet, which I find really interesting and important to the Eridani culture as a whole), the EPF is very paranoid in their modus operandi of handling threats. The EPF would have a conniption over independent mercenaries. They really wouldn't allow this.

I'm not really a fan of some of the mercenary groups either. Space Americans, Space Soviets, Space Weebs, Space Lizardwarriors and FORCEOFNATURE PMCs groups all scream as a little too cheesy and contrived for me to ever consider as serious group ideas.

I'm a bit disappointed with the interpretation of the groups I created. SGF were not typical "AMERICA FUCK YEAH" jarheads and Tesova weren't typical "cheeki breeki" STALKER-type zonedwellers. They were serious, diverse (as much as culturally makes sense, of course) and potent mercenary groups for their time.

[Skull132]

Excuse me while I butt in here as the original creator of the ECF.

In the original concept, and as far as has been currently written, there is an overarching centralized system to the Eridani militaries. Which, IMO, should be retained to a degree. The original concept was that under the two major banners of Eridani Federal Army and Eridani Federal Navy, you'd have multiple corporations as subcontractors providing manpower, equipment, training. However, their training, equipment, and the rest is still very much standardized. And, on initial inspection, it would be hard to dicern individual subcontractors. Imagine something along the lines of each regiment being its own contractor.

This system, which puts less emphasis on individual and large players in the military, allows for the armed forces to be smaller than the ruling corporations. And one of the dynamics of the faction, originally, was that the military was very much in the hands of the large corporations ruling the state, be those corporations medical, research based, or whatever else. Which is only really possible if the military contractors are effectively centralized and, again, smaller than the ruling industrial corporations.

So ye. It would give more flavour to have some of these listed out. But the military should still retain some semblance of centralization (which Abo probably thinks of as professionalism).

[Skull132]

Also, since this thread exists and apparently the original concept was not implemented into the wiki (a lot of ECF shit is just copy-paste of the same thing), I'll just use this real quick to echo the original view of the military. If this should be its own, standalone application, then please point me that-a-way.

In the beginning, the military was split into two: the Eridani Federal Navy, and the Eridani Federal Army. The Navy would primarily handle power projection and protection of trade-routes and the general space that the ECF controlled. They were the offensive portion of the Eridani Federal Military (FedMil), with a Ground Combat Command to enable them to drop onto hostile worlds and conduct ground operations on foreign soil, should that be necessary. This is to say: the Navy could operate completely independently from the Army in all offensive operations, and as such, was the only offensive force the ECF required. Though their primary tasks revolved around providing security within the ECF controlled space by destroying pirates and so forth.

The Eridani Federal Army was tasked with terrain-to-orbital defence (cannons and missiles), and with providing ground defence should any hostile faction ever attack a colony or the main planet. As an aside, they also began acting as the arm of the Federal government when it came to enforcing the law. The Federal Army had a large emphasis on acting as gendarmeria, with it playing an active role in counter-terrorism and in the handling of large scale organized crime. This role also provided the ruling corporations with a tool to bypass local hivecity governments, and their own law enforcement, whenever necessary. Large scale raids by the Army would not be an uncommon occurance, specially in the high-traffic shipping and industrial sectors of cities.

The local law enforcement, as originally envisioned, would be primarily ran by the local city government. And the goals of a large hivecity would often be different from those of the ruling megacorporations, with the former having way more municipal concerns. This would create potential for situations where the Army acts without the knowledge of the local police, or in outright contradiction to them.

[K0NFL1QT]

I like the ECF how Skull has originally proposed it, but I do have an admitted bias considering I have active characters from there with backstories that Skull helped me shape. You're proposing a total retcon of Eridanis foundations rather than building and expending on what already exists. And what you have proposed does not make sense alongside already existing lore. Imagine if someone proposed retconning Dominia in two years, and you're still playing your space-romans when the change is pushed.

[Zundy]

A bit overdue which I do apologize for. So let's go over this.

In essence, the core concept is what I had in mind, albeit a bit different. Though I am afraid in saying that there's a few concepts I don't find to be really fitting with our setting, I'll go over them.

 

• I do like the idea of five major units, but I'd like there to be much more. So I'll go with the concept of five major and known ones but I'll have it know that there are more units that are simply lesser in influence.
   
  
• These mercenary units should be more localized. I never envisioned Sol Government to actually put much stake with PMC's by giving them the same tasks they task their military with.
   
  
• I'm not so sure on the Blue Storms. I feel it's a thing in our setting that you don't cut off healthy tissue in favor of prosthetic and such. I doubt we have any prominent figures that willingly have cybernetics installed without a medical reason. It just screams space cyber ninjas to me.
   
  
• White Eagles scream 'murica to me. What military Eridani has is not going to rival any actually organized and competent military force. I doubt their equipment would rival the military either in such a scope as you cited.
   
  
• The Black Clan is far too powerful to have as a Unathi entity. Considering these major five would end up commanding large formation of troops and even naval vessels. It may be reasonable for them to be a minor cell, just not something big.
   
  
• I feel there's a lack of a "professional" and "official" look to them.

 

So personally I'll take the concept of the main five but add it that there are other smaller units. I'll use all but the Unathi unit, with the four I'm using modified to better fit the image of professionalism I'd imagine they have and in adherence with our setting with the points I mentioned in mind.

I'll see if @Zundy has anything to say.

 

For clarity as there seems to be some confusion on this - the above still stands.