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| = General Setting Info Dump cause I haven't figured out a title =
| | <center>{{Navbox New Player Guides}}</center> |
| Andddddd that's basically all you need to know before hopping into a round! It is encouraged that you start by learning through playing rather than reading - doing the latter immediately tends to overwhelm folks. Aurora Lore is the combined work of dozens of people over the course of over a decade, which means it cannot truly be defined in any one category - it is comprised of dozens of themes, narratives, and writing styles - if you can think of an origin that fits within the wide sandbox outlined above, it probably exists somewhere. That said, here are the primary human factions of the spur.
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| | While you are encouraged to start playing immediately after reading the [[New Player Lore Guide]], this page provides a more in-depth summary of the setting, its history, background, and factions. It is therefore significantly longer than the New Player Lore Guide, and shouldn't be read before playing a few rounds on the server. It goes far more into the worldbuilding, history, and similar aspects of the setting in a way the new player lore guide doesn't. For the sake of brevity, we will not be going too deep into the history of the Orion Spur, outside of the more recent events that occurred in the past decade or so. |
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| = History Overview = | | = Recent History of the Spur = |
| The purpose of this overview is to give new players a general grasp on the Aurora Setting, and the background of how it got to this point. The Early Years and Rise of NanoTrasen segments deal with deep background history, whereas the Early Scarcity, Period of Rebuilding, and Contemporary Spur sections deal with history that occurred in-game since 2019. Additionally whenever there's a bolded name followed by a parentheses, acronym, that is us denoting the common acronym used for that entity in game; I.E, '''Zavodskoi Interstellar''' (ZI). Other bolding is just us highlighting important names to help new player remember them better in game. This guide will focus on the megacorporations first and foremost, as they are the entities characters work for aboard the ship, but also go more into depth with three factions in particular; The Solarian Alliance, the Republic of Biesel, and to a lesser extent, the Coalition of Colonies. We'll discuss them as we discuss the history of the Aurora setting, and the history of the megacorporations, so let's dive in!
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| == The Early Years == | | = The Contemporary Setting = |
| '''The first megacorporations''' arose out of the fast-paced landscape of Earth’s 22nd Century, a period defined by fierce economic competition between Earth’s nations – particularly across the East and West divide – and the start of the race to colonize the planets of the Sol System, spurred by the strife of a climate crisis that was beginning to engulf Earth. As this climate crisis got worse and worse, nationstates began to buckle - some even collapsing - under the pressure, and by the end of the 2120s and into the 2130s, the United Nations found itself the only organization left standing with the capability to rebuild in the aftermath of the crisis. It became the source of restoring order and stability across the globe, rapidly centralizing as it took many functions of governance away from the nations of Earth; causing them to fall into irrelevance. It is during this tumultuous time that the remaining corporations began to transform into megacorporations; able to dominate entire regions economically and hold a monopoly on certain markets worldwide. '''Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals''' (ZH) is unofficially recognized to be the first true megacorporation by this definition; formed out of an agreement between East Asian biomedical companies in 2132, it came to dominate East Asia economically and biomedical markets worldwide. This process that on for decades (and in one case more than a century), but was sped up in 2140 the UN took the final step, reforming into the Solarian Alliance and becoming the sole centralized government of humanity. The new Alliance immediately began to colonize the stars; with many of the megacorporations born soon after the creation of the Alliance making their fortunes as the transtellar economy developed, with their founding dates in chronological order; '''Idris Incorporated'''(2152), '''Einstein Engines''' (2155) (EE), '''Hephaestus Industries''' (2164), and lastly '''Necropolis Industries''' (2259) which would rebrand to '''Zavodskoi Interstellar''' (ZI) in 2462. Contemporarily these first megacorporations have become known as the Founding Five, and from the time of their creation up until the early 2400s, at every generation-defining moment one of them has been there to witness and capitalize upon it. one generation defining event stands out above the rest as the reason for the dominance of megacorporation in the Contemporary Spur, when in 2275, fringe colonies within the Solarian Alliance broke away to form the Coalition of Colonies, kickstarting the chain of events that would lead to the Interstellar War.
| | Our contemporary setting is one defined by an ongoing crisis, |
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| '''The Interstellar War''' was a Spur spanning conflict between rebel colonies who would come to be known as the '''Coalition of Colonies''' (CoC) and the hegemonic Solarian Alliance. The devastation was on a scale that has not been seen since, and it's impacts are still felt to this day as it laid the ground work for the modern Spur to develop. However for the purposes of this summary all that needs to be said is that the consequences of the war saw the power of national governments fall dramatically, and the power of the trans-stellar corporations skyrocket, becoming the backbone of the remaining human nation's economy just in time for humanity’s first contact with aliens. The megacorporations, with their power in human space cemented, were quick to broker deals with the alien states, seeding their influence into any fresh market. They struck one-sided deals, exploiting every new planet and species where-ever they could, all the while continuing to grow in power. They became the logistical and industrial titans that drive the Spur forward, the weapons manufacturers and security solutions driving the Spur back into the dirt, and the bureaucratic and pharmaceutical giants that kept us going just a little longer. For this, their holds on the markets across space are unshakable, their sway behind closed doors decisive, and the repercussions for their mishaps fleeting. They could have collectively dominated the Spur for more than a century with cooperation, and potentially held on to that domination indefinitely, but none had the power to force even one of the others to let go of divisions. '''In the end, this was to their detriment''', for in the 25th century a dark horse corporation that everyone had little expectation of managed to ensure that cooperation, and reap the rewards of dominating the Spur, through its immense power.
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| | <center>'''[[Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals]]'''<br>[[File:ZH-lightpurple1.png|150px|link=Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals]]<br>''‘Building a brighter future.’''</center>|| The biomedical giant and the oldest megacorporation in the Spur, Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals dominates the practice of medicine and the many fields of research that relate to it. Arranged in a keiretsu structure, Zeng-Hu is composed of many smaller subsidiary companies which all cross-invest to ensure each subsidiary dominates its place in the market. Zeng-Hu focuses on perfecting the human body, through both genetic and cybernetic means, a line of research that has led to embryonic cloning, limb cloning, and the most advanced synthetics yet. Zeng-Hu has strict hiring standards, as the corporation is known to only hire the best or those showing the promise to become the best. Not only paid well, prospective employees are often enticed by the promise of high-end cybernetics and genetic treatments that are often handed down as benefits by veteran staff. Aboard the Horizon, Keiretsu employees are employed in '''Science''' and '''Medical'''.
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| | <center>'''[[Hephaestus Industries]]'''<br>[[File:Hephaestuslogo4.png|150px|link=Hephaestus Industries]]<br>''‘The anvil on which the world is shaped.’''</center>|| The industrial titan, Hephaestus Industries was born out of West Europe and North America's military industries that snowballed in size from the 21st century onwards, to where some consider it the second most powerful megacorporation. Partially divorced from its history in military industry, Hephaestus is known best know for its bulk resource exploitation, mass-scale industrial manufacturing, large scale ship production, and logistics. With a reputation as the company for the blue collar worker, Hephaestus Industries is able to hire far and wide and attract those disenfranchised by more bureaucratic work environments. Combined with the opportunity to soar to higher positions through only merit instead of socioeconomic background, and stock options, Hephaestus seems an obvious choice. However, this all comes at the cost of brand loyalty, with Hephaestus employees potentially instantly losing these benefits or their position if appearing to dissent from the company line. Aboard the Horizon, Hephaestus employees are employed in '''Engineering''' and '''Operations'''.
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| | <center>'''[[Zavodskoi Interstellar]]'''<br>[[File:Zavodskoi Interestellar.png|100px|link=Zavodskoi Interstellar]]<br>''‘Even one matters on the battlefield.’''</center>|| With a patchy history, the business of killing is the driving force behind Zavodskoi Interstellar's (ZI) business across the Spur. For Zavodskoi, conflict is another resource to exploit and a battleground is the perfect setting for testing experimental technology, and they have become the merchant of death for nation-states across the Spur; with ZI, almost the entire military industrial complex of the Spur is under one banner. As a result ZI has a hyper fixation on maintaining an image of professionality, and as a result ZI employees are often some of the most courteous contractors out there, for a positive image of the company always comes first. Aboard the Horizon, Zavodskoi employees are employed in '''Security''', '''Science''' and '''Engineering'''.
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| | <center>'''[[Idris Incorporated]]'''<br>[[File:II-teal.png|150px|link=Idris Incorporated]]<br>''‘Astronomical Figures. Unlimited Power.’''</center>|| Where credits flow, Idris Incorporated can be found; the corporation's empire of influence is fueled by the countless Idris banks across the Spur and an ornate web of lucrative loans and insurance plans. Idris also has a heavy presence in the tourism, high end fashion, and hospitality industries, using their vast fortune to create both iconic brands and to outmaneuver competitors. Idris Incorporated contractors are expensive, coming with high expectations of class from consumers. For those that can work with that level of expectation, the benefits are many, but one also needs to keep their mouth shut, as all Idris employees sign an NDA that covers everything a contractor may do while on the job for the company and breaking that NDA is grounds for immediate termination. Aboard the Horizon, Idris employees are employed in '''Service''' and '''Security'''.
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| | <center>'''[[Einstein Engines]]'''<br>[[File:EinsteinEngines2.png|150px|link=Einstein Engines]]<br>''‘Lead by our history, leading our future.’''</center>|| Throughout the Spur's history, Einstein Engines was the indefatigable megacorporate power, triumphing in every field they broke into and reaping the benefits of their close relationship with both the Solarian Alliance and Nralakk Federation. Following the discovery of phoron however, the status quo was shattered and NanoTrasen Corporation stole the throne; now with the phoron scarcity reaching its apogee and warp travel back in fashion, Einstein Engines is eager to seize it back with the promise of reduced dependence on phoron. Due to their close relationship with the Solarian Alliance and market conflicts with NanoTrasen, Einstein Engines continues not to support or join the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate. Einstein employees are '''not employed''' aboard the Horizon.
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| == The Rise of NanoTrasen ==
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| Initially founded in 2366, the yet-to-be-distinguished NanoTrasen was a small company revolving around genetic research and development on Mars. Xavier Trasen, Chief Executor of Operations for the company (as well as its founder) managed to propel the fledgling corporation through up the ladder with a combination of aggressive business tactics and effectively patenting methods to buy out or destroy local competition. By the end of the century, NanoTrasen had acquired enough capital to begin their new operations on Biesel, even managing to secure mining rights in the Tau Ceti system. However at this point, NanoTrasen barely even qualified as a Transstellar corporation, and barely even registered with the original Megacorporations; it wasn't even worth buying out or absorbing. All that would change in the early 25th century, for in 2417 NanoTrasen made the most significant discovery and technological innovation to date, when they found the priceless element '''Phoron''' within the Oort Cloud of Tau Ceti. They quickly found an application for the incredibly rare material in the revolutionizing of interstellar travel through '''Bluespace''' - a completely alternate dimension outside of our own reality - which made traversing the vast distances of space between stars a far easier and faster ordeal. NanoTrasen began rapidly expanded mining operations the Oort Cloud, '''now named the Romanavich Cloud''', and managed to establish a monopoly in the Phoronics Industry, all the while the demand for phoron continued to grow across the Spur, leading NanoTrasen to eventually become the wealthiest corporation in the history of the Spur, and arguably its most powerful entity. It strong-armed the Solarian Alliance to allow the independence of Tau Ceti, creating the Republic of Biesel, in which it held almost complete political influence, and quickly soared above the older megacorporations. By 2455 NanoTrasen was at the height of its power, wielding massive amounts of influence across the Spur and having what amounted to a monopoly of influence over the government of the state it helped create; which happened to preside over only one of three places phoron can be found in the entire Spur. Yet only two years later, it would see its position shaken.
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| | <center>'''[[NanoTrasen Corporation]]'''<br>[[File:Nt-logo.jpeg|150px|link=NanoTrasen Corporation]]<br>''‘The leader in all things phoron.’''</center>|| The largest megacorporation and arguably the most influential entity within the Spur, NanoTrasen's position can be wholly attributed to two factors: its iron grip over the Republic of Biesel and the discovery of phoron it was quick to form a monopoly over. Due to NanoTrasen's influence across the Spur, employees from all walks of life can find employment with the megacorporation. For many wishing to start a new life, NanoTrasen is an easy ticket to getting a full-length work visa to the Republic of Biesel. Further enticing for employees, NanoTrasen Corporation is known to offer the most generous contract terms out of the Chainlink's megacorporations, be it: wide insurance coverage; excellent legal protection for those practicing in a medical field; scientists having full credit for any published research (excluding ground-breaking!), contrary to other megacorporations. Aboard the Horizon, NanoTrasen employees are employed in '''Science''', '''Medical''' and '''Service'''.
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| == The Early Scarcity ==
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| The Scarcity began with short news articles by the Mendell City Bugle in May of 2462, the first to show a steady decline in the deposits of phoron located throughout the Romanavich Cloud, and that shipments, while still coming, started taking significantly longer to fill quotas. This is the article that would set off a chain of events that saw the status-quo of the Spur that had held since the end of the Interstellar War completely upended. For this summary, all that needs to be said is that as 2462 continued, pressure slowly built up throughout the Spur as it became clearer this issue would not go away anytime soon, until finally, there was a violent, explosive release that shattered the post-IW status quo in a single week, the spark being the catastrophe known as '''Violet Dawn'''.
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| Violet Dawn was the name of the operation run by the Solarian Government which would cause a cataclysmic disaster on Mars in the later months of 2462. The operation's goal was to create a self-replicating, synthetic phoron gas as the scarcity was beginning to cause the Alliance's economy to falter. They were indeed able to accomplish this goal, however immediately discovered that there was no way to '''stop'' the self-replication, and the compound quickly breached containment, growing exponentially to become a raging atmospheric firestorm centered on Mar's South Pole, which the other residents of humanities most populous system watched turn the Red Planet Violet in horror. When the official news finally broke on November 10th containing specifics of the catastrophe on Mars, and that the Solarian Government's response to the crisis was to ignore or try to suppress calls for aid from the planet and order its vessels not to assist in evacuation efforts (though it must be said many brave captains and officers disobeyed these orders) the last nail in the coffin of the Solarian Alliance as it had been since the end of the Interstellar War was hammered home; the Alliance erupted with massive civil unrest and began to collapse. Then Prime Minister Frost was assassinated within a day, supposedly by a Zavodskoi Interstellar Kill Team - though the corporation never faced any punishment for it - and in desperation what remained of the Alliance's civilian government ordered the abandonment of all space outside of the Core Worlds, a region of space centered on Sol itself. However, many fleets disobeyed this order, setting up statelets as Warlords within former Solarian Territory which would come to be labeled the [[Human Wildlands]], a home to anarchy and limited governance.
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| However, one fleet that disobeyed the order to retreat did not set up a warlord state immediately, and instead burned hard towards Tau Ceti with it's phoron deposits; intending to invade with the goal of securing the phoron the Alliance needed. This was the 35th Fleet, under the command of '''Admiral Ozdemir''', and in response the formation of the SCC, or Stellar Corporate Conglomerate, was announced by Miranda Trasen, CEO of NanoTrasen, to much fanfare; comprising all the megacorporations of the Orion Spur except Einstein Engines, the SCC is perhaps the single most powerful entity in the Spur with Miranda Trasen at it's head. Behind that fanfare and celebration though, the concerning reality is that Miranda Trasen used her power and influence to force, bribe, sway, and bully all the other megacorporations, except one Einstein Engines, to cooperate under a single banner with NanoTrasen on top for years before the 35th's invasion, secretly forming the SCC in 2458. Nothing is known about the decision to go public. While it certainly helped by providing weaponry, and ships, to put the final nail in the 35th's coffin with a '''phoron WMD''', the 35th was only beaten with help from the rest of the Spur, primarily Elyra and the Coalition of Colonies, who sent large expeditionary forces to the Republic as allies. After their defeat, the 35th set up a statelet like so many other Warlords within the Human Wildlands, a fascistic and genocidal one known as the Solarian Restoration Front. The Republic, Coalition, and Elyra meanwhile expanded their borders in the power vacuum left by the Alliance's retreat, taking in planets that had been abandoned by the Alliance. As for what remained of the Alliance proper, the civilian government who ordered the retreat would go on to cede power to a temporary Military Junta, established to restore stability and control both in the core worlds and the Human Wildlands, with the promise that once this had been achieved new elections would be held, transferring power back into the hands of a democratically elected civilian government - which they would eventually fulfil their promise on, in 2467.
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| It is in this way that the status quo of almost a century was shattered, and the pieces are still being picked up.
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| | <center>'''[[Stellar Corporate Conglomerate]]'''<br>[[File:SCC logo.png|140px|link=Private Military Contracting Group]]<br><br>''‘The unbreakable chainlink, holding the Spur together.’''</center>|| A tenuous alliance between eight megacorporations, the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate is a giant on the Spur's stage, with access to the immense resources and influence of each of the members beneath its shell. Originally firmly under the control of NanoTrasen Corporation, currently the megacorporations under the Chainlink now grapple for control behind closed doors, each with their own interests to push for the Conglomerate to coordinate efforts and resources towards. Aboard the Horizon, the SCC fills the majority of its positions with staff loaned from member megacorporations of the Chainlink, who hold dual contracts with their original company and the SCC. These contracted employees are employed in '''Command''' and '''Command Support'''.
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| == Period of Rebuilding ==
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| Since the cataclysmic events of 2462, the Spur had undergone tremendous changes, the most notable of which occurred within the once small Republic of Biesel. Following the collapse of the alliance which left many planets close to Tau Ceti unsupported, the small republic offered its assistance in exchange for these planets joining it. In this way the nation which used to be a single system came to take control over vast swathes of what was previously the Soalarian Outer Ring, including planets such as '''Mictlan''' and '''Port Antillia'''. However many of the people on these planets, Mictlan especially, felt betrayed by their planetary government, as they believed the possibility of independence a larger boon than whatever assistance the Republic could offer. When the '''Corporate Reconstruction Zone''' (CRZ) was announced, comprising all territory outside of Tau Ceti's gravity well, this discontent turned to violence as terrorists and revolutionaries began to fight back against the Republic. The planet that would see the worst of this violence would be Mictlan, where continuing incidents would force the republic to declare the planet under martial law and deploy the '''Tau Ceti Foreign Legion''' (TCFL). Their main opposition was two groups, the '''Founding Movement''' was a former political organization that turned to terrorism to try and throw off the Republic formerly led by '''Isabel Alvarez''' before her death at the hands of a lynch mob in 2466. They are mostly known for their bombing campaigns across Mictlan, the most notable of which is '''the bombing of Valtas Square''', located directly in front of the Mictlan Defense Forces Headquarters, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds. '''The Samaritans''', on the other hand, were a paramilitary organization originally formed by deserters from the Mictlani Defense Force, led by '''Xiomara Salvo''', who waged a guerilla war against the forces of the Republic directly.
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| However, the deployment of the Tau Ceti Foreign Legion did little to stop the violence gripping the planet, resulting in the formation of the '''Tau Ceti Armed Forces''' (TCAF), a fully professional military force compared to the part-time volunteer force that was the Foreign Legion. Many bills were passed in an attempt to give the new armed forces the tools they needed to defeat the insurrectionists, however, nothing worked. Violence continued to grip Mictlan until the failed gamble known as '''Operation Jakali''' in 2466 and facing mounting civil unrest in Tau Ceti itself over the continued military occupation of Mictlan that the violence finally ended with a '''peace deal''' signed between the Samaritans (as at this point the founding movement had collapsed) and the Republic of Biesel/Mictlani government. All members of the Samaritans were '''pardoned on parole''', and now the planet of Mictlan is finally at peace for the first time in many years.
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| Yet Mictlan was not the only place to experience violence within the CRZ. In the South within the region known as '''Valley Hale''', the SCC discovered something that would help to stave off the scarcity for a time; the asteroid that would come to be known as Orchard Moon. A large deposit of Phoron, it was located right on the border between the '''Serene Republic of Elyra''', which resulted in a border dispute between the two nations, which the Horizon played a pivotal role in. The result of that dispute was '''Orchard Moon''' remaining within Biesel territory, only to then for the newly built mining installations to be attacked by remanents from the '''Southern Fleet Administration''' (SFA), pirates out of the southern wildlands.
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| Over in the Alliance, the state turned inwards and began to focus on consolidating its new, nationalized industry, with Einstein Engines padding out more specialist industries, and began the slow effort to '''return the Alliance's government to the hands of the people'''. The embers of populism were now beginning to be stoked with the promise of a civilian government. The Alliance's inward eye, however, left certain Warlord states bold, and their supporters within the Alliance's military structure even bolder. After their defeat at Tau Ceti, the 35th Fleet fled to the human wildlands, establishing a warlord state known as the '''Solarian Restoration Front''' (SRF); a fascistic, genocidal, and ultranationalist group who had the aim of purging the Alliance, and then the Spur, of alien taint. '''IMPORTANT NOTE: PLAYING A CURRENT OR FORMER MEMBER, AFFILIATE, SYMPATHIZER, OR SUPPORTER OF THE SOLARIAN RESTORATION FRONT (SRF) IS ENTIRELY BANNED. THIS IS ENFORCEABLE BY MODERATION STAFF.''' That said - due to the reign of Prime Minister Frost, a fascistic strongman himself, the Alliance's remaining fleets in the core worlds were still infested with SRF supporters alongside more mundane corruption, all of which saw supplies be consistently funneled to the warlord state. After decades of dealing with caeserism and corruption within the navy, the alliance's junta began to take drastic steps, and alongside planned naval reforms, '''initiated a full scale purge'''; relieving, arresting, and in a very small amount of cases, even executing, anyone in the Navy involved with the SRF - though some supporters caught wind of the incoming purges, and fled with their fleets to join the SRF. With its link of support cut off, the SRF began to move quickly, and, at the start of 2465, would attack the Middle Ring Shield Pact, which if they could conquer, would give them a significantly better chance against the Alliance Proper. The SRF launched a full-scale invasion on San Colette, the capital of the shield pact, with fighting so brutal many have since dubbed it the '''Second Solarian Civil War'''. After weeks of hard fighting, with an act that sent a message across the Spur, the Alliance Navy itself intervened, launching an invasion of the Restoration Front, and reinforcing the exhausted defenders of San Collette. This would be the beginning of the process that would see the reintegration of the Warlord states into the fold of the Alliance-proper, as the SRF - the warlord with the most power militarily - was smashed as their fools gambit fell apart around them. '''The Southern and Northern Reconstruction Mandates were established in what was once the Human Wildlands''' by the Alliance, and they've begun to rebuild the damage caused over the past five years.
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| Two new megacorporations also sore their rise in this period: the '''Private Military Contracting Group''' (PMCG), which created a shortlist of vetted private military companies that were approved to work with the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate (later, a trusted source for other bidders in need of guns) and '''Orion Express''' (OE), the solution to the Chainlink's growing logistical woes amid the phoron scarcity and their steady expansion.
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| | <center>'''[[Private Military Contracting Group]]'''<br>[[File:PMCGsmallogo.png|180px|link=Private Military Contracting Group]]<br>''‘Always on guard, always on watch.’''</center>|| An amalgamation of private military companies of variable backgrounds, styles, and characters that have been permitted to work with the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate. The Private Military Contracting Group was established to provide a point of contact for the Chainlink and its subsidiary corporations to be able to browse more trusted PMCs, a service that has since been rolled out to the public.<br><br>No military contractor from the PMCG is the same due to the varied groups that have been permitted to work with the SCC. Aboard the Horizon, PMCG employees are employed in '''Medical''' and '''Security'''.
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| | <center>'''[[Orion Express]]'''<br>[[File:ORION SPUR LOGISTICS.png|150px|link=Orion Express]]<br>''‘Faster than light.’''</center>|| Blink and you'll miss them, Orion Express is a fledgling megacorporation whose freighters and mobile stations zip around to ensure corporate supply needs are met around the Spur. Having secured a stable footing, Orion Express now lends its various services to the rest of the Spur, with speed and convenience owing a premium - fast deliveries, fast mail, fast food, and fast mining. New on the scene, Orion Express has very low hiring standards to keep its workforce bolstered, making for a great foot in the door to a megacorporate job for those young or with gritty pasts. Aboard the Horizon, Orion employees are employed in '''Operations''' and '''Service'''.
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| = The Contemporary Spur =
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| Now we're in the current setting. The year is '''{{#expr:{{CURRENTYEAR}} + 442}} CE''' (Common Era), and the Orion Spur stands on the edge of a new age. The worst of the phoron scarcity seems to be receding '''for now''', though instability and uncertainty persist. Through the cooperation of its constituent corporations, the SCC controls all but a sliver of economic productivity, and so long as they continue to cooperate little can be done to change this. However cracks are already starting to show, and the SCC's members are at best, semi-unified and continue to quarrel amongst themselves, looking out for their interests first. '''Hephaestus Industries''' – after years of careful planning – have acquired what even '''NanoTrasen''' struggled to seize after forcing the Alliance to allow Biesel’s secession: the monopoly over an entire nation in the '''Izweski Hegemony''', to the alarm of all the other SCC members, who revised their approach to Hephaestus to ensure they do not gain too much power, with rumors of megacorporate backing for the Trinary Perfectionist attack on Burszia; but there is no rumor more likely then the ones circulating Zavodskoi Interstellar, already bitter rivals with the Industrial Titan, who have recently been accused of hiring pirates to attack Hephaestus assets, alongside supplying anti-Hephaestus terrorist groups within the Izweski Hegemony. The relationships on which the SCC depends are tenuous ones, '''only held together by Miranda Trasen using every tactic she can think of'''; assurance of mutual profit, NanoTrasen's power, a healthy amount of fear, political corruption, bullying, threats, bribery, blackmail, corporate espionage, the occasional convenient death, and masterfully playing the constituent corporations against each other. Through all these tactics she manages to just hold it together, and the power it gives her makes her one of, if not the most, powerful individual in the entire Spur; though only time will tell how long she can continue to hold the conglomerate together, maintaining her position.
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| Our medium into this world is the '''SCCV Horizon''', and due to it being a mobile ship, the setting to which players have access stretches across the entirety of the Orion Spur. The Horizon is under the joint control of the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate; with you, among others, having been assigned to work aboard the Horizon. Its a state-of-the-art general-purpose vessel that travels across the Orion Spur with the primary objective of uncovering Phoron, however, secondary objectives exist at the whim of the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate, and it's constituent corporations. Due to the SCC operating the Horizon, they have the final say on Occupation Qualifications - many jobs will have specific qualifications that can be found on their job pages, however in addition the baseline qualifications to work aboard the Horizon can be found here: [[Stellar Corporate Conglomerate Occupation Qualifications]]. More can be read about your place in the workplace below!
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| '''Your Place in the Workplace'''
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| All players including staff are subject to the believable character rule. More details on that rule can be found in the server rules, found [https://aurorastation.org/rules.html here.]
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| With this said, your place in the workplace is extremely flexible. It would not be a stretch to say you can be whatever you want on the Aurora server, within reason. Get creative! The possibilities are endless, and storied lore backgrounds are always here to help guide character creation.
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| Ultimately, in the grand scheme of things, your binding rules are generally things such as being related to the '''Stellar Corporate Conglomerate''' and being aboard the '''SCCV Horizon''' legally. Opportunities to subvert even these rules are available but are not the same as player characters made from character setup unless exclusively permitted by staff. More details on these exceptions can be found on the [[Guide to Ghost Roles]] page! Not recommended to go there immediately if this is your first read through.
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| The vast majority of characters on the server are employees of the corporations beneath the '''Stellar Corporate Conglomerate'''. These individuals come in all shapes and sizes, with all of them sharing similar and quite low ranks in the megacorporate hierarchy. Certain ranks are afforded different privileges, such as medical practitioners and corporate security. Playing an official of higher rank is barred behind a whitelist to ensure quality control. Independent individuals or unaffiliated individuals are accessible as well through character setup. These roles include megacorporate-unaffiliated journalists, passengers, and [[Guide to Ghost Roles|third-party vessel teams]] who have found their way to the setting somehow. Not recommended to go there immediately if this is your first read through.
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| As for our factions - after the disaster that was the Peacekeeper Mandate, President Dorn was voted out of office and replaced with the Independent '''Ake Torvald''' - a former intelligence agent who beat the odds, and proved that though it may be a façade democracy, the Republic is still a democracy. While Miranda Trasen and NanoTrasen still hold enormous influence over him, and the government of Biesel as a whole, Torvald has more freedom than Dorn ever had; though the man is an enigma, so what he plans to do with that freedom is something that can only be guessed at.
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| After the establishment of the Reconstruction Mandates, the military junta which had ruled Sol since the collapse made good on their word, hosting free and fair elections for a new Prime Minister, and relinquishing power. The winner of the election would be one '''Hendrik Strom''', a man known for supporting the infamous Tajara bans, but who now has a monumental the task ahead of him; to not only put his fractured nation back together, but to rebuild it's reputation in the eyes of the wider galactic community.
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| '''The Coalition though''', continues to lumber on, with it's members still bickering amongst themselves; a multiheaded hydra that can never agree on anything. Time will tell if the coalition will become something more than the loose defensive alliance it currently is, or if it will continue as it has been since the end of the Interstellar War.
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| == Factions ==
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| ===The Solarian Alliance===
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| The Solarian Alliance was once the sole government of humanity, but after a devastating civil war and two centuries of decline, it has become a shadow of what it once was. All human nations are in some way breakaway states from the Alliance, including the Empire of Dominia which was founded by colonists sent from the Alliance before being cut off. Most of the planets of the Alliance have long and rich histories, rife with heroism, treachery, hope, horror, corruption, and tragedy. It is possibly the most populous nation, still holding most of the earliest human colonies close to the Sol system itself, and therefore also the largest.
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| ===The Republic of Biesel===
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| The Republic of Biesel is the most recently founded nation in the spur, only coming into existence in (date). Since then, the young Republic has faced crisis after crisis, being beaten into the dirt only to get back up over and over. This perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds has seen the Republic through most crises, but it remains uncertain if it will see them through the Phoron Scarcity, given that the Republic's wealth, prosperity, and very existence are thanks to this rare element. Still, while they continue to hang on, ideals such as freedom, inclusivity, and a duty to protect those first two values from outside sources have all become tenets for the young republic's emerging culture - one that is still very young - yet exists all the same.
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| ===The Coalition of Colonies===
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| The Coalition of Colonies was the second interstellar human "nation" to form, though to call it a nation is a stretch. There is very little centralized authority, and factitious infighting is a staple of Coalition politics. This is a result of its formation, as a group of disparate frontier rebels fighting against the Alliance's extortion of the colonies to try and soften the blow of a financial crisis in the core worlds. Governments of all types can be found within the Coalition, from the continual martial law of Gadpathur, the Democracy of Xanu, and the Syndicalism of Himeo; all operate under the umbrella of the Coalition of Colonies, but could not be more different from each other. The Coalition prioritizes freedom of above all - but the freedom of states and planets to choose as they see fit - rather than individual freedoms.
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| ===The Serene Republic of Elyra===
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| The Serene Republic of Elyra came into being in the aftermath of the Interstellar War, as a wounded and battered Alliance continued to face civil unrest in its southern reaches. After the death of a scholar during a protest - the Elyran Revolution would occur, and the new nation would be formed. Isolationist in nature, it has maintained an ethnically homogeneous population and culture throughout its history, and it is next to impossible for outsiders to be granted Elyran Citizenship. As such, it people and culture are extremely similar to those peoples and cultures that can be found in the Modern Day Middle East, North Africa, Anatolia, and Persia regions.
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| ==The Empire of Dominia==
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| The Empire of Dominia is an odd nation out when it comes to humanity, as it did not come to be through direct revolt against the Alliance, though its formation still saw plenty of bloodshed. After the disaster of the Interstellar War, Elyran Independence, and a continually worsening economy, the Alliance cut its losses, ceasing to try and expand into the Southern Spur. However, expeditions had already been sent, and would now receive no assistance from the wider alliance. It would not be until the 2300s that the planet Moroz would be united through a brutal series of wars (Known as the War of Moroz), under an autocratic, imperialist, and theocratic state, known as the Empire of Dominia. They are easily the strangest of the human nations, having very different cultures, religions, and similar due to developing in isolation for so long.
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| {{SpeciesoftheSpur}}
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