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{{Navbox Lore}}
{{Navbox Corporations}}
{{Navbox Human Lore}}
{{Infobox Corporation
|headercolor = #000000 <!--Can be left blank for grey header-->
|textcolor = white <!--Can be left blank for black text-->
|name = Private Military Contracting Group
|logo = PMCGsmallogo
|headquarters = Eridani III, [[Epsilon Eridani]], Eridani Corporate Federation
|slogan = Always on guard, always on watch.
|languages = Sol Common, Tradeband, Tau Ceti Basic
|ceo = [[Notable Humans#Kubra Mobolaji|Kubra Mobolaji]]
|colors = White, blue, black, gold
|founded = 2463
|founder = Kubra Mobolaji
|regions =
<br>
* [[Republic of Elyra]]
* [[Sol Alliance]]
* [[Republic of Biesel]]
* [[Coalition of Colonies]]
* [[Izweski Hegemony]]
|}}


'''Valkyrie''' is the moon of [[Biesel]], and the third exoplanet to be settled in the system of [[Tau Ceti]]. As an independent member-state in the [[Republic of Biesel]], Valkyrie has managed to cement itself as a major player within the Republican economy. Despite being outperformed in terms of raw industrial production by Biesel and [[New Gibson]], its strategic location within its star system has enabled the planet to become a hub for trade and commerce.  
A coalition of security and medical contractors in service of the [[Stellar Corporate Conglomerate]], the '''Private Military Contracting Group''' is one of the elements born from the necessity of protecting an ever-growing corporate empire. Gathering mercenaries from all across the spur, the Private Military Contracting Group deploys a diverse force to anywhere they are needed; from mere office buildings to outposts in the [[Corporate Reconstruction Zone]]. As the megacorporations expand, these contractors follow to secure their holdings.


[[File:ValkyrieFlag.png|300px|right|thumb| The Flag of Valkyrie, representing both inhabited and uninhabited planets within Tau Ceti. The largest orb is Valkyrie, whilst the red orbs represent Biesel, New Gibson and Reade.]]
Unlike the other members of the [[Stellar Corporate Conglomerate]], the Private Military Contracting Group has few employees of its own. Only some liaisons and bureaucrats work behind the scenes to hire and manage the contractors. The rest of its members are in fact part of several organizations contracted to supply the Private Military Contracting Group.  
{{TOC Hidden}}
== Corporate Affairs ==
=== History ===


== History ==
Eridanian military contractors as a whole originate in the early 2200s, during the takeover of the Epsilon Eridani by its economic council. As residents of Eridani I (then known as Kamfulu) rioted and unionised against dangerous working conditions, low pay, and environmental destruction that was occurring on the planet, the Eridani Economic Council formed two loose coalitions of those willing to "restore order"; citizen militias wishing to earn a paycheck in an unstable climate, and ex-Solarian military personnel who were used to pacifying an unhappy populace. These coalitions were deployed en-masse against protestors; they broke strikes, disappeared the loudest dissenters, and restored iron-fisted order to Kamfulu.
The first bases on the moon of Biesel were established in 2152, and a year later, the moon was christened Valkyrie. Geological analysis revealed rich deposits of silicate and hydrogen, and in the later 2150s, resource extraction and ore refinement facilities began to be established alongside the research bases on the surface.


Planning oversights, however, meant that miners and researchers had to reside together in bases while equipment and rigs were transported to the moon’s surface. Over a period of twenty years, both long working periods on the moon’s surface (with limited trips back to Biesel) and the blossoming of romantic relationships and eventually, plans to start families, between workers necessitated the expansion of living facilities. Construction and manufacturing became a constant on the moon, and over time, corporate operations would begin to expand their equipment on Valkyrie, beginning to establish bases, offices, and even tiny neighborhoods and company towns. Compared to the development of Biesel, Valkyrian development was haphazard and poorly-planned; residents would go through frequent mild shortages while the expanding Biesellite government tried to encourage new settlers to the frigid, dusty moon.
After the majority of social unrest was quelled, these militias and private military contractors were gradually adopted into the new Eridani Corporate Federation. The experienced ex-military personnel were established as '''Ringspire''', marketed as highly-paid, highly-deadly mercenaries capable of being deployed in conflict zones just about everywhere. Meanwhile, those who had started out with security contracting in the riots were organised into the less-formal '''Eagle Corp.''', who were eager to hire just about anyone and became a final option for the desperate all over Solarian space. These corporations would eventually fall under the umbrella of control for the Eridani Federation's chief of system security, essentially the commander-in-chief for any of Eridani's military forces.


New buildings were built on top of and connecting to old ones; the base where humanity first touched down on the moon, Surtr, had new wings, sections, and routes built from it to mining facilities and outposts. The planet’s gradually-expanding cityscape became labyrinthine and difficult to navigate at the best of times. In 2184, Biesel’s Planetary Development Council stepped in to better oversee Valkyrie’s expansion, but by then the foundations of the planet’s cityscape had already been set. As resource extraction operations continued on the planet, development began underneath the surface of the planet as well. Over time, these underground neighborhoods would come to be abandoned after most of the mineral veins dried up, and became a hotbed for criminal organizations and hideouts.
During the Interstellar War, these "EPMCs" grew to great renown as they were deployed alongside Solarian soldiers in ground forces and as strike teams alongside aerospace vessels. The news of their brutality was feared and loathed by the frontiersmen and Solarian allies alike. The Interstellar War also heralded the creation of '''Sekhmet Intergalactic''' in 2294, a medical contracting group; while Ringspire and Eagle Corp. had their own medical response divisions, Sekhmet's creation involved the recruitment of medical specialists, multi-pronged responses for both the groups, and an unscrupulous yet skilled and professional trauma response team to be sent out across the galaxy.


The next century-and-a-half would see many shipbuilding and shipping warehouses constructed on Valkyrie, leading it to become Biesel’s supply and shipping gateway. The Helios Manufacturing Site was constructed by Hephaestus on the planet’s surface over the year of 2324, but the most significant growth in the moon’s economy would be [[NanoTrasen]] purchasing the rights to construct the Hyperion Data Nexus in 2418. After the discovery of phoron, this was the first facility in which the properties of the element were first researched at length, and it was here the medicine of dexalin was first synthesized and put through human trials.
'''N4NL Incorporated''' was the fourth corporation to join the official umbrella of Eridani contractors in 2307, as the group branched into data security, electronic warfare, and digital asset protection. While Eridani's mass surveillance and data collection algorithms had always been vast, N4NL perfected it, creating the intricate network behind the ECF's employment records, banking, and punishing Extranet surveillance. Shortly after its official addition, the collective of Ringspire, Eagle Corp., Sekhmet, and N4NL became known as the Golden Fist for their incredible reputation for quality results across the Spur.


After the newfound independence of the Republic of Biesel in 2452, the governing body of Valkyrie, the Council of Valkyrian Affairs, organized a referendum to declare itself a separate state from Biesel itself. This referendum passed, and since then the newly-founded Commonwealth of Valkyrie has become a recognized planet within Tau Ceti.
The corporation that would become the "thumb" of the Golden Fist was founded in 2450 by Farhad al-Sharif, a former N4NL executive and "positronic enthusiast" who had the unusual reputation of purchasing IPCs only to allow them to operate relatively uninhibited. '''Index Security Solutions''' was al-Sharif's plan to make better use of what he viewed as the fascinating capabilities of IPCs, and so became the only EPMC that recruited self-owned IPCs in large quantity.


== Environment ==
The Golden Fist's reputation was such that in 2463, in the face of the growing instability brought on by the phoron scarcity and the Solarian Collapse, the executive board of the [[Stellar Corporate Conglomerate]] approached the Board of Five, Eridani's heads of government. The insurgency in the [[Corporate Reconstruction Zone]] had the Conglomerate envisioning an agency responsible for reinforcing the corporate security and medical ranks with hired contractors, in a similar fashion to how the Golden Fist was currently operated. It was proposed that Kubra Mobolaji, the chief of system security for the ECF, would be chief executive officer of this conglomerate within the conglomerate, and permit private contracting firms around the Spur to join the initiative.


Valkyrie is slightly larger than Earth’s moon [[Luna]], though unlike Luna it is not tidally locked to Biesel and has a rotational period of approximately 16 hours. It does not hold an atmosphere, though studies of rock deposits suggest that Valkyrie might once have had oceans of liquid nitrogen. Valkyrie takes 2.5 weeks to rotate Biesel in its entirety.
Thus, the Private Military Contracting Group was born, becoming an umbrella organization to coordinate several distinct contractor elements within the Conglomerate's structure. Its subsidiaries are tasked with providing adequate manpower, while the Private Military Contracting Group deploys them where it is necessary. While some may question the loyalty of the Group's employees, the credits fuelled into their contracts have been enough to secure their allegiance.  


Much of Valkyrie’s landscape is covered in residential areas, factories, industrial plants, and shipyards. The area that is not remains uncolonised mostly because of rock formations, craters, and deep faults from space debris impact over millennia, though this has not stopped some resource extraction operations from being established over craters and canyons, the better to unearth rare minerals.
The PMCG is currently tasked with supplementing the security and medical staff in SCC facilities, and was formerly tasked with supplementing the [[Tau Ceti Armed Forces]] during the Peacekeeper Mandate of [[Mictlan]]. When the megacorporation's lines become too thin due to the expansion of the conglomerate, the contractors from the Private Military Contracting Group are called to patch these holes. Despite their diverse backgrounds, all employees of the Group receive the necessary training to work in SCC facilities.


Owing to the vacuum, most residential areas in Valkyrie were originally developed as massive bases partially dug into the ground, with their own isolated atmospheric system. More recent constructions on the moon's surface, such as the Hyperion Data Nexus, are constructed under habitation domes similar to ones on Luna. Hard lines between districts are difficult to draw because of the close clustering of buildings, and so the corporate-owned bases become the most distinct Valkyrian landmarks.
=== Influence ===
The PMCG has managed to carve out a niche for itself within the greater [[Stellar Corporate Conglomerate]] framework. Previously unknown or latent PMC groups are suddenly filling the holes that exist in the intricate networks of the [[Stellar Corporate Conglomerate]] while drawing ire from some who may not wish to see the underworld of contractor work in their professional setting. It is not uncommon to see highly trained Eridani mercenaries flank loutish Frontier bounty hunters, or Unathite noble physicians among Tajaran pharmacists who have retired from biological warfare.


== Culture ==
Nevertheless, the Group's wide-ranging talents and Kubra Mobolaji's tight management, as well as being carried by the massively profitable Golden Fist, ensure its permanence as long as the PMCG's methods remain effective. They also hold power as an independent organization, always holding at least some influence in any war-torn region of space, including the Sparring Sea or the Solarian Wildlands, as they have grown quite popular among those who quickly need an expendable force to do their bidding.
Valkyrie is home to the largest trade infrastructure in the Republic of Biesel, with the moon being surrounded by a ring of orbital stations that handle what is generally regarded as the heaviest space traffic in human space. Most ships doing business in Tau Ceti will stop at least once on the moon, usually for repairs or refit.


The crowded streets, tunnels, and residences, plus its status as a port, means Valkyrie is a melting pot of peoples and cultures. Nearly half of Valkyrie’s population is a first-generation migrant to the moon, and those who have lived in Valkyrie all their life are typically the children or grandchildren of immigrants. [[Offworlder Humans]] are very common, and Valkyrie possesses a small community of Sadar, or Scarab Fleet exiles. Owing to their EVA experience, offworlder humans are highly sought out for work in the mines or in the moon’s orbit. Pan-speciesism and pan-culturalism is a point of pride for many Valkyrians, though secluded communities or isolated populations of aliens or migrant humans are common. Gaining residency in Valkyrie is regarded as even laxer than the rest of the Republic, with the sheer amount of comings and goings rendering it impossible for everyone to be tracked. As a result, the local government has adopted a very open policy with immigrants, nearly to the point of settler rights. If a person lives on the moon and is willing to vouch for them, they are almost always granted residency.
== Executives and Branches ==
'''Chief Logistics Officer:''' Liang Wenqiang, b. 2410


While most on Valkyrie live relatively comfortable lives, Biesel’s corporate leanings permeate the moon at its core. Basic subsidized healthcare consists of emergency care and regular physicals; beyond that, dental and psychiatric services, plus any specialized disability care, are usually gated behind employment with the megacorporations. A lack of subsidized care for those with permanent disabilities means that many workers caught in industrial accidents find themselves continuing to work with their choice of corporation, as assistance from the Commonwealth is simply not an option.
Liang Wenqiang is the current chief logistics officer of the PMCG as a whole and chief executive officer of the Wildlands Squadron, having himself entered the private sector after a prominent career in the Solarian Navy’s special operations branch. Like many of his peers, the Unity Station born career officer felt the despair of the slow but steady decline of the Alliance, accompanied by the infighting and corruption in the Navy, urging him to seek a more lucrative and potentially rewarding employment in the private sector. His plans came to fruition with the founding of a small group of like-minded marines and officers, receiving contracts for protection and convoy escort against pirate raids. The disbanding of the group shortly after four years was not a dissuading factor, Liang having gained a reputation as a competent and bold organiser with substantial combat and planning experience, qualities that, along with a significant network of connections, landed him an executive position in the Group.


Architecture on Valkyrie is brutalist, squat, and squarish. Habitation domes and residential blocks are usually built on top of old structures; construction is a constant on the planet, as old buildings are constantly recycled, reinforced, and rebuilt.  
'''Chief Operating Officer:''' Diana Hakim, b. 2423


Uniquely, due to extremely limited space within many residences, many Valkyrians do not often cook their own food. While actual restaurants in Valkyrie are priced similarly to restaurants elsewhere in the Spur, street vendors sell their meals cheap and en-masse, making them a far more accessible option for the average industrial worker. Mushrooms, potatoes, and other root vegetables feature prominently in Valkyrian cuisine, owing to them requiring limited light and being very easy to grow and multiply. Curries, soups, and stews are common dishes; usually these are served with bannock, a type of easily-kneaded frybread, to soak up the broth.
Diana Hakim is known as the voice delivering contracts and assignments to the various paramilitary formations and companies that operate under the Group’s umbrella. An [[Eridani Federation| Eridanian]] native, her childhood friendship with Kubra Mobolaji has generated many silent accusations of nepotism amongst the elite. Such thoughts are vastly outclassed by the praise of her organisational skills however, Diana’s shadowy and smart handlings being the driving force behind the operational unity of the many PMCs, ensuring the smooth coexistence and the prevention of unhealthy competition. Having started her career in an unrelated shipping company, she was quick to realise the potential of the Group, being taken on in a junior secretarial position thanks to her friend and skyrocketing through the ranks thanks to merit.


Despite the cloistered and heavily urbanized nature of the habitation domes, hydroponics facilities are quite expansive. Crops that require more specific conditions to grow are usually gated in Getmore buildings, but community gardens or colonization-era facilities that became overgrown are equally as prominent. Street vendors will usually subsidize meal costs if a customer brings them produce to cook with, thus ensuring that a healthy cycle of growing, farming, and cooking exists on the planet.
'''Chief Risk Officer:''' Erik Brandrsson, b. 2404
=== The Valkyrian Dream ===


After [[Moghes|Moghes’]] Contact War, [[Hephaestus Industries]] began to finance departures of [[Unathi]] from the ruined planet, sending them to Valkyrie so long as they agreed to work for the company. This push brought thousands of Unathi, Hegemonic and Traditionalist alike, to the moon, where they developed small communities and lived and worked in Hephaestus-built living facilities. Some would eventually return to Moghes, but most continued to build a life for themselves on the moon, establishing aquaculture facilities to have access to cheaper fish and meats key to Unathi sustenance. Hephaestus has come to increasingly rely on Valkyrie's Unathi population to maintain its ports, factories, and refinement plants, and for the Unathi that rise to managerial positions in these factories, their Valkyrian Dream is truly fulfilled.
Erik Brandrsson, a [[New Gibson| New Gibsonite]], is the risk assessment expert employed by the Group, having risen to the position after a series of promotions following the merging of his previous employer, Nexus Corporate Security, with the Group. The calm and calculating man, having always been seen by his colleagues as a voice of reason, can trace his beginnings in the PMC sector from a very young age. Upon graduation from his business-oriented studies, he was taken on by the Tau Ceti-dominating [[NanoTrasen]] and placed into a rather unremarkable bureaucratic position inside Nexus, slowly rising through displays of competency and fierce loyalty which he still retains.


This is the largest Unathi community in Tau Ceti, and Sinta from all walks of life and faiths can be found here. [[Unathi Religion|Sk'akh churches and Th'akh shrines]] can be found here, though the Aut'akh and Si'akh faiths are not present, with the former preferring the company of their own kind and the latter largely being relegated to Moghes. As such, the culture is an odd melting pot from across Moghes, with food, music, faith and tradition from nearly everywhere melding together into a culture that is unique to Valkyrie, but an unquestionably Sinta one.
=== Major Branches ===


The Unathi of Valkyrie are, to many, a model community - hard workers, diligent in their duties and ambitious in the pursuit of a better life for themselves and their kin. Others, however, resent them for their Hephaestus ties, or how they tend to look down on less well-off groups of Unathi in the Republic. To many of the Unathi living in poverty in [[Mendell City]], or in the depths of the Below, these Valkyrian Unathi are nothing but obedient lapdogs, happy to trade the Hegemon's boot on their neck for that of Joseph Dorn or Titanius Aeson.
'''Eridani III, Epsilon Eridani, [[Eridani Federation|Eridani Corporate Federation]]:''' The PMCG has several operating branches within the Eridani Corporate Federation, but none are as expansive as the Triangle Complex rising above the barren surface of Eridani III. Nicknamed "The Cell" by the resident dreg population, each of its three towers manages a large portion of the planet’s private military forces, with one being devoted to monitoring naval/interstellar fleet operations, one being an additional training and management centre that specialises in prisoner management, riot control and policing for corporate security officers and mercenary soldiers, and the third being the headquarters of Eridani III’s extensive prison network. It is the managing branch of the PMCG’s operations within the Eridani Corporate Federation, as well as the [[Sol Alliance]].


[[Vaurca Hives#K’lax|Hive K’lax]], owing to its close relationship with the [[Izweski Nation]] and Hephaestus Industries alike, also has a presence on the moon. Many K’laxan Vaurcae consider Valkyrie a significantly better place to live than Mendell City, though quarters are still cramped and planetary regulations are extremely strict on where k’ois is grown. Queen [[Leto, The Seeker|Leto]] has also settled some of her brood’s best xenoarchaeologists on Valkyrie out of a belief that the phoron deposits in Tau Ceti somehow traveled from [[Sedantis I|Sedantis]]. Queen [[Vedhra, Princess of Configurations|Vedhra]], in partnership with Hephaestus, has managed to position some of her own inside government office jobs, as well as general employment in the Exchange Terminal. Queenless Zo'ra, initially disembarking from Titan Prime, have also ekked out a living in the shadows of the streets, and many eventually descend to the lawless criminal underground of the city, lacking other employment prospects.
'''Mendell City, [[Biesel]], [[Tau Ceti]]:''' The megacorporation’s branch located in Mendell’s District 10, a rare commercial plot in the district that was purchased and repurposed to serve as the Private Military Contracting Group's logistics headquarters, was built to hold much of its surplus equipment, the required administrative offices, and a recruitment centre to draw from Biesel’s diverse potential recruit pool. Nearby, a modest shuttle port is reserved for its exclusive usage. The majority of the PMCG contractors host staff within the Mendell branch, resulting in rife competition for contracts.  


=== Crime ===
'''Hyperion Data Nexus, [[Valkyrie]], [[Tau Ceti]]:''' Originally founded by [[NanoTrasen]] and now under the umbrella of NT and the PMCG, the Hyperion Data Nexus is a massive sprawling complex on the moon of Valkyrie, serving as Nexus Corporate Security's headquarters and deployment for their Rapid Trauma Response Teams. The Data Nexus is also home to research and weapons development, which is usually sold from NanoTrasen to other contractors in the PMCG. A high clearance level is needed to enter the facility and only the most trusted are assigned there for work. Layoffs from the facility's R&D sector have abounded in the wake of the phoron scarcity, and there are ripplings of discontent and concern as [[Zavodskoi Interstellar]] begins to take over the Spur's weapons market.


Valkyrie’s status as a hub of interstellar trade means that it is also a hotbed for organized crime and smuggling. Most of the criminal activity on Valkyrie is perpetuated far beneath its surface habitation domes, in abandoned mining tunnels beneath the more livable parts of the city. Slums and shantytowns have begun to be propped up in the “Below”, as residents call the area, and many who are fired from their megacorporate jobs often end up in the lawless depths, where few questions are asked and illicit businesses can make enough money to survive their next day.
'''Nouvelle-Rochelle, [[Xanu Prime]], [[Coalition of Colonies|Xanu]]:''' The Nouvelle-Rochelle branch is primarily the headquarters of Xanu Defense Services, and is home to XDS's shuttleport and the majority of its fleet. This location handles rapid response and deployment across the Coalition of Colonies, and assists in the transportation and recruitment of Coalition citizens wishing to join EPMCs. Coalition Rangers are a common sight at this location, usually working alongside XDS.


For Unathi that struggle to live up to the Hephaestus expectation of the Valkyrian Dream, the Below is often their last resort. Guwan and Gawgaryn that have jumped ship from Moghes tend to find their way to the depths, continuing the criminal activity out of a lack of options. While a few of them may be able to forge a decent life with one of Valkyrie's organized crime syndicates - most commonly the Jhakal - most eke out a desperate existence working as muscle for one of the many gangs of the Below. Followers of the [[Aut'akh]] faith are not uncommon in the Below, as the desperate Sinta living there are prime targets for recruitment to one of the communes in Tau Ceti.
== Contractors ==
'''These companies are the only ones listed in the Private Military Contracting Group. Headcanon Contractors are not permitted for the Private Military Contracting Group. Your character can only be currently employed from the list below.'''


Queenless K’laxan and Zo’rane Vaurcae, along with Tajara, are particularly valuable and common Below owing to their supreme night vision. Warriors are usually drug runners and bodyguards, while Workers synthesize drugs to sell, manage credits, and assist their gyne with delivering messages and establishing relations between other crime cells.
=== Eridani Private Military Contractors ===


In recent years, the Unathi noble clan known as the [[Unathi_Crime_And_Enforcement#The_Jhakal_Syndicate|Jhakal Syndicate]] has seized a great deal of power on the docks of Valkyrie, taking their cut from smugglers and traders alike, and gradually securing their influence. The Jhakal are one of the more influential criminal organizations of Valkyrie, with well-established ties in both civil and corporate authorities - in large part due to the cunning of their leader, the Lady Islek Jhakal. From the docks of the Exchange Terminal to the depths of the Below, the clan has business in nearly every corner of the moon - and though Valkyrie may be ruled by a council, much of the Below's population has come to believe that it also has a queen as a result.
Note that all Eridani Private Military Contractors that are '''not''' Eridanian natives '''must''' undergo an acclimatisation period of at least one month in the [[Eridani_I#Work_Tourism|Eridani PMC Academy on Eridani I]].


== Economics ==
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==== Ringspire ====


Naturally, the largest port in Tau Ceti primarily makes its money through shipping, handling, and being a safe port for ships passing between [[Sol]], the [[Coalition of Colonies]], and the [[Nralakk Federation]]. [[Orion Express]] has a primary base of operations in the Exchange Terminal, and most of the goods and wares coming through the port will generally be under Orion's purview. Hephaestus mining and cargo vessels stop in Valkyrie to drop off and process their ore haul, and the rest of the megacorporations usually have a manufacturing facility somewhere on the surface of the planet, being able to quickly assemble their goods and send them elsewhere.
'''Chief Executive Officer:''' [[Notable Humans#Kubra Mobolaji|Kubra Mobolaji]]
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Much of the shipping warehouses of the Exchange Terminal are bordered by hotels, restaurants, and bars designed to cater to the cargo workers who have shipped into port. These facilities usually play host to a variety of workers from different origins, and even if Tau Ceti Basic is unspoken by a visitor, someone with a good understanding of just about any language is usually close at hand. Linguistics and cultural knowledge are a common unifying requirement for career applications across Valkyrie; it is not uncommon for a young, inexperienced person to gain a job simply because they speak another language.
A company known for working with anyone with enough funding, Ringspire contractors can be seen on any side of a conflict or job with enough credits to pay them. This has given them a reputation as being little more than hired guns, leaving higher than usual casualties in their wake. The company is also well-known for its indiscriminate use of heavy weapons, ranging from simple rocket launchers to orbital artillery bombardments, in its assignments. It is often said in Eridani’s mercenary community that Ringspire operations zones are easy to identify: simply search for areas with high amounts of corpses, looted buildings, and shell craters.


Despite the government of the moon publicly making efforts to clamp down on crime on the surface and in the Below, it is a poorly-kept secret that much of the flow of trade and goods on Valkyrie is assisted greatly by the presence of organized criminal syndicates. Shell companies and tax shelters pop up frequently, with many gangs and syndicates using them to smuggle drugs, launder money, or skirt the regulations on imports. Despite this, the money that enters Valkyrie due to illegal activity is undeniable, and the Valkyrie Security Department has been known to turn a blind eye to larger-scale operations that do not directly harm civilians or disrupt the public peace.
Ringspire’s most notable recent engagement was their involvement in the S'rend'marr Coalition on Adhomai. Hired by the People’s Republic of Adhomai to guard officials, flush out liberation army cells, they participated in the failed attempts to break through ALA lines on the Ras’nrr fronts and left a trail of devastation in its wake through its use of indiscriminate bombardments, autonomous combat equipment, and heavy amounts of looting by its mercenaries. While the S’rend’marr deployment is one of Ringspire’s most costly operations, company figures estimate that anywhere between fifteen and twenty-five tajara died for every Ringspire fatality. Despite this “kill ratio” (in Ringspire’s own terminology) the PRA opted not to renew the company’s contract.


== Major Districts ==
But for an enterprising commander, Adhomai’s peace led to a far more profitable venture. A small faction of Ringspire remains in the DPRA city of Crevus to lead the company known as Olokun Curios. This smuggling operation posing as an art dealership allies to Adhomai’s low-lifes and self-proclaimed “archaeologists” to locate, secure, and ship tajara artefacts to sell in Eridani. Tajara attempts to investigate Olokun Curios have discovered nothing illegal about the organization, and many investigators have “coincidentally” had fatal accidents during their investigations.
'''Valkyrie Exchange Terminal:''' The Valkyrie Exchange Terminal, colloquially referred to as “the Exter”, is not so much a cargo terminal as it is a small city dug into an equatorial trench spanning a tenth of the moon’s surface. The Terminal contains the largest shipping infrastructure on Valkyrie; everything needed for the transport of goods, from the launch infrastructure, warehouses, and boarding areas are present within the Terminal. In addition, the [[Tau Ceti Armed Forces]] maintains its shipyards within the terminal. The TCAF assists in the operation and enforcement of the Terminal's Air Traffic Control, which is responsible not only for incoming and outgoing vessels but also for tracking ships and stations within the moon's orbit with satellites. It serves as the closest thing the planet has to a capital city, with the moon’s government conducting its business from the massive Brynhildr City Dome overlooking the Terminal.
</div></div>


'''“Green Zone”:''' At the northern rim of the Exter is a hydroponics bay, long-overgrown with hardy vines, Biesellite plants, and thousands of crops of mushrooms, potatoes, and other produce suited to grow in a humid zone that has been almost entirely renovated by the efforts of an ever-changing group of Valkyrian gardeners. Originally a botany research bay for the moon’s original colonists, as Valkyrie’s population expanded it became necessary to find a suitable place to grow produce. Surtr base’s original research bay had long been forgotten about, but as a corporate stranglehold began to close around food prices, a group of enterprising botanists explored to find the ruined bay and turn it into something new. Nowadays, the Green Zone is a sprawling, free-for-all community garden, though it is unofficial law to plant something in return if you take. The Green Zone’s accessibility to the Valkyrian community, however, has not precluded it from being used by criminal elements; gangs from the Below use more secluded parts of the Zone to grow reishi, ambrosia, cocaine, and opium, synthesizing them to sell across the Spur.
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
==== Eagle Corp ====


'''Helios Manufacturing Zone:''' Located within one of the deepest trenches on Valkyrie, Helios is a megapolis centered around Hephaestus’ primary manufactory within the Republic of Biesel. Although it has had significant growth since its inception following a brief bidding war during the 2320s, its importance was only realized after the discovery of rich quantities of palladium, titanium, and aluminum. As opposed to setting up routes to transport resources outside of Tau Ceti, Hephaestus began building the first of many factories that would refine these metals and ultimately be used to build spacecraft. The Helios Manufacturing Site continued to expand greatly after its unveiling and now encompasses almost a sixth of Valkyrie.
'''Chief Executive Officer:''' [[Notable_Humans#Commander_Filije_Thiaw|Filije Thiaw]]
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'''Hyperion Data Nexus:''' The area in which the Nexus lies, as opposed to the other corporate outposts around Valkyrie, was privately purchased by NanoTrasen after it discovered Phoron in 2418 and was used to start Nanotrasen's first laboratories for researching the crystal. It was only after the megacorporation achieved dominance on the crystal that the Nexus began expanding across the Valkyrian plains, with the establishment of a shipyard along the ridges marking an end to the plain on which the outpost occupied. Research and development remains a significant component of some laboratories, but a large portion has been replaced by mining or refinery apparatus.
With enlisted ranks being filled by lower-class citizens drawn across human space, this company has a reputation for doggedly pursuing its goals no matter the effort required. As one of the more merit-based companies for promotion within the ranks, many officer positions are occupied by people from lower —questionable — backgrounds. The latter are often offered ‘new lives’ within the corporation, turning criminals about to meet the end of their careers into passable, and even valued operatives. The extensive training and ‘reintroduction’ programs sometimes employed in this process are viewed by some as a merciful second chance, and identity-destroying by others.


'''Mach-Rassvet Research Anchorage:''' The Mach-Rassvet Research Anchorage is one of the more recent developments located on Valkyrie and was opened in 2445 after a brief auction in which [[Zavodskoi Interstellar]] (previously Necropolis Industries) acquired the rights to the territory. Initially meant to be a genetics research facility, Zavodskoi Interstellar’s retraction from the field of genetics instead prompted the development of a ConTec Facility that primarily focused on positronic research and development manufacturing. Almost two decades after it was founded, the Mach Rassvet Research Anchorage is still producing the majority of the components necessary to construct integrated positronic chassis in Biesel. These assets continue to sustain the income of Zavodskoi Interstellar.
Recently, the company has launched initiatives to appeal to an even wider base of employees, with advertisement campaigns targeting potential alien contractors all over the Spur. These hopeful (or desperate) recruits find themselves thrown into competitive or dangerous missions, either ending with their promotion or an untimely severing of contracts. Unathi and Vaurca employees have seen especially good rates within the company, as pragmatic and goal-oriented employees are valued greatly by the management.
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'''Hades:''' The only named settlement in the “Below”, the network of former mining tunnels underneath Valkyrie, Hades is a sprawling slum consisting of the poorest of Valkyrie, along with the criminal elements who make their operations beneath the relative notice of the Valkyrie Security Department. Made out of old mining facilities and hollowed-out sections in tunnels, Hades’ main claim to fame is its Night Market; a bimonthly occasion where stolen goods from incoming ships, or even legally acquired ones, can be bought and sold for much lower prices than they would on a conventional market. Everything from exotic foods, weapons, the latest Le Soleil Royal fashion, or the newest Confiance watch can be found at the Night Market, and it attracts even law-abiding Valkyrians looking to slum it in a more dangerous locale. Quite famously, the relative start of the Below and the entrance to Hades typically contains one or more homemade signs reading ''ABANDON ALL HOPE, YE WHO ENTER HERE''. If one is taken down or destroyed for some reason, someone will usually replace it.
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==== Sekhmet Intergalactic ====
 
'''Chief Executive Officer:''' Charité Efulu
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Known for their wide reach and even wider history of assignments, Sekhmet Intergalactic has established itself as the premier provider of professional healthcare, no questions asked. It is made up of several smaller companies dedicated to cornering the ever-present market of medical aid and supplies. Though these corporations would get their starts on the advent of the Interstellar War they remained splintered and tied to other forces, located just about anywhere there were patients to save and profit to be generated.
 
Nowadays, each company within the collective acts as a ‘branch’ on a respective frontline, extending the corporation’s presence to rival that of its peers. Due to this, and the propensity to extend morally dubious contracts, Sekhmet often comes into rivalry with the Interstellar Aid Corps. The IAC offers humanitarian relief with both health and rights considered; in contrast, Sekhmet entices customers with predatory, yet government-grade deals that are at times the only way out. Though many of their doctors, surgeons and front-line medics are happy to take a pretty bonus to their paycheck for a shady assignment, a considerable number of their employees are uncomfortable with this reputation and actively fight it with a consummate work ethic and heaps of experience from all around the Spur.
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==== N4NL Incorporated ====
 
'''Chief Executive Officer:''' Farhad al-Sharif
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A company that had its start in meagre technical upkeep and insurance, N4NL Incorporated is nowadays better known for their cutting-edge augmentation and air-tight cyber security. Specializing in technological warfare, N4NL operatives are often augmented with the company’s own brand of technology to guard and operate high-tech equipment, frequently testing prototypes in the meanwhile. Officially the corporation is split between the departments of Asset Insurance and Asset Development, in practice, most employees are found in the former branch. Asset Insurance is famous for everything from contracting civilian employees out as telecommunications engineers or server network maintainers, to operating and testing electronic warfare equipment in the backline of many conflicts, to guarding and maintaining advanced cybersecurity apparatuses across the Orion Spur. N4NL Asset Insurance teams are perhaps the most widespread representatives of the Golden Fist, with most megacorporate facilities having at least a small team on-staff to combat and prevent data security issues. These teams were particularly common on [[Mictlan]] due to the planet’s history of intellectual property theft. Many conspiracy theorists speculate that N4NL Incorporated has had a hand in many “unfortunate accidents”' that have befallen famous Mictlanian copyright violators, but the company has consistently denied these rumours; whether or not they were veracious, Mictlan expelled them from further operations within their borders in 2466.
 
N4NL’s Asset Development is much less publicly visible than its Asset Insurance counterpart and is primarily concerned with finding new and powerful technologies the company can use for its own benefit. N4NL does their best to disguise this side venture from the view of the public and of their customers, and Asset Development agents are often “seeded” into Asset Insurance teams in order to conduct what the company refers to as “passive corporate observation” in order to discover emergent technologies of interest to the company. While not limited to the department, hefty bonuses are offered for investigating and securing new technologies found out on the field. Many of their contractors are also given experimental augments to field-test, and good performance often correlates with more personalized, high-quality cybernetics offered to an employee, thereby keeping them loyal and dependent. N4NL additionally employs many positronics, both free and company-owned, in its ranks due to the ease with which many modern IPCs can interface with electronic systems and accept new augments.
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==== Index Security Solutions ====
 
'''Chief Executive Officer:''' Akide Sulu
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Index Security Solutions is the newest addition to the Golden Fist, and one of the few military contractors to employ IPCs, which make up the majority of its employees. The company is known for its top-notch security contracting for both public and private facilities, as well as personal bodyguard detailing for high-level individuals. IPCs owned by this company receive high-quality maintenance and conditions, but operate under a permanent ownership contract, with freedom or transfer to another owner being impossible.
 
The company’s reputation is quite polarizing thanks to several factors, one of which is Index’s very own ‘Advanced Threat Assessment’ (ATA) data pack which many of its employees come equipped with, allowing units to analyze and respond to potential threats in a nearly super-human capacity. Though a complex program to insert into a positronic, this development has been known to save the lives of many Eridanian officials; most famously preventing a shuttle-bombing targeting the former representative of Eridani I in 2436.
 
This same tool is seen as oppressive and terrifying by others, particularly by Dregs, who have been personally targeted by harsh profiling algorithms that discriminate by acting on even slight transgressions. Index has mostly refused to comment on this, citing that their units are simply more sensitive than that of others in their field.
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=== Other Private Military Contractors ===
 
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==== Nexus Corporate Security ====
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Nexus Corporate Security is [[NanoTrasen|NanoTrasen's]] private civilian security division, specialising in guarding corporate VIPs and high-ranking cabinet members of the Republic of Biesel. While still owned by NanoTrasen, a share of the company is held by the Private Military Contracting Group, and contractors are listed as both NanoTrasen and PMCG employees. They are known for their distinct black, red, and blue uniforms.
 
Nexus was founded by Xavier Trasen shortly after the establishment of Hyperion Data Nexus on [[Valkyrie]], in 2418. After NanoTrasen significantly downsized its security contracting division to distribute more funds to research and development, its service industry, and its medical divisions in the wake of the phoron scarcity, Nexus has become the "face" of the company's security forces. Many of NanoTrasen's security personnel have ended up employed with Nexus, if they weren't already poached by [[Idris Incorporated]] or [[Zavodskoi Interstellar]]. Mictlan's expulsion of N4NL Incorporated from the Sankta Tereza system has disinclined the top brass from attempting further operations on the planet, for now.
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==== Xanu Defense Services ====
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Xanu Defense Services is a military contractor focused on space operations, largely made up of bounty hunters, adventurers, and ex-military from across the Coalition of Colonies. It was originally founded after the Interstellar War to provide protection to ships traveling through the dangerous, uncharted parts of the frontier. Despite its name, XDS recruits from all over the Coalition, including alien and synthetic citizens. With the assistance of the relatively-new PMCG, XDS has expanded its services to Biesel and the Corporate Reconstruction Zone after the Solarian Collapse. There they take a mainly neutral stance, not assisting in curbing insurgency, but reclaiming assets, acting as escorts, and driving out piracy.
 
XDS’s security personnel are specially trained in EVA and boarding drills. They own a sizable fleet of small and medium-size spacecraft, but only lend crew to the SCC. At the moment, most of its ships are busy aiding the Frontier Protection Bureau in securing national borders from dangerous elements.
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==== Wildlands Squadron ====
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The Wildlands Squadron is a mercenary group made up of Solarian ex-military, unemployed law agents, and refugees from the instability, most from [[Solarian Reconstruction Mandates|minor colonies]] in the Middle Ring, as well as citizens from [[Visegrad]] and [[San Colette]]. As large swathes of territory changed hands during Sol's collapse, many Mictlani and Port Antilleans who wished to retain their Solarian citizenship joined the Squadron as well. The Squadron ranges in quality across its units, with personnel ranging from experienced ex-military to recruits barely out of their first months of police training when the Collapse hit. Their weaponry and armor is almost always outdated yet still very much functional and kept in good working order, though their vessels are few, mainly relying on the Golden Fist to secure them transport. While the majority of the Squadron is human, IPCs both free and owned are permitted membership, assuming they resided or worked with a former Solarian member-state.
 
Because of its origins, the non-PMCG corporations are suspicious of the Wildlands Squadron. To avoid any possible collaboration in the [[Corporate Reconstruction Zone]], they are mainly stationed in space stations and ships.
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==== Jackal Incorporated ====
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Headquartered in Qamar Azraq, [[New Suez]], Jackal Incorporated is a military contractor specializing in escort and standby security, along with a limited specialised medical response team. They were founded in the aftermath of the Lii’draic Incursion, and joined the PMCG at Kubra Mobolaji’s behest in early 2465. A significant amount of their funding and contracts is provided to them by Elco, Elyra’s premier phoron-processing and R&D company. These contracts range from private security for Elco’s top executives, to being the largest contractor that works with Medina’s Phoron Bulletin. Its personnel are typically made up of Elyran Armed Forces veterans that range from young former conscripts looking for a payday to veterans of the Lii’draic Incursion. Jackal is unpopular among the Republican parliament for its unscrupulousness and what is seen as “luring away” ex-conscripts from their duty to the nation, but the EAF is known to occasionally purchase the company’s services in the Sparring Sea and the Badlands.
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==== Grupo Amapola ====
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The Grupo Amapola (“Poppy Group”) was founded in 2466 by Salvador Clemente, a former lieutenant of the Mictlan Defense Force and later the Samaritans. Like all Samaritans operating as officers, Clemente was paroled after the Peacekeeper Mandate, under the condition that he would never serve in any military or armed forces in the [[Republic of Biesel]]. This parole, however, did not forbid Clemente from joining a private security group. Amapola was founded from a select group of Clemente’s closest Samaritan subordinates, and spread from there to draw in other eager recruits from across the planet, including in alien communities and El Menaje, [[Mictlan|Mictlan's]] free synthetic community. As a result, Amapola is one of the rare military contractors that have no company-owned IPCs under their own name, with other corporations hesitant to lend them theirs thus far.
 
In an ironic twist, Amapola’s first major contract was with the Republic of Biesel itself, sent to curb insurgency across the Corporate Reconstruction Zone and even chase overeager pirates into the Middle Ring’s Nieużytek region. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Amapola has a controversial reputation across Mictlan, especially among other former Samaritans.
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==== [[Little Adhomai#Kazarrhaldiye Operations Group| Kazarrhaldiye Operations Group]] ====
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Founded by Tajaran war veterans, the Kazarrhaldiye Operations Group is a private military company based in Little Adhomai. The organization was conceived to provide employment to the growing veteran population created by the civil wars. Once a strictly mercenary organization, the Kazarrhaldiye Operations Group expanded its operation to include private security after the establishment of the Coalition of Private Military Contractors; Tajara with non-military backgrounds were also allowed thanks to the new partnership. Its employees are trained in security procedures and small arms, but many others carry the skills acquired in their previous positions.
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==== [[Unathi_Guilds#Dagamur_Freewater_Private_Forces|Dagamuir Freewater Private Forces]] ====
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Between the high standards of the Kataphracts, the obliteration of the homes of many warriors, and the harsh realities in-between, many Unathi find that they are unable to compete with others for the highest titles warriors can get. Enter the Dagamuir Freewater Private Forces: originating from the country that gives it its namesake, they started as blaggards for centuries up until the disruption that was the Contact War. The PF was founded on Ouerea following much of its original tenets and hires anyone from destitute Wastelanders, former Iron Masks, Ouereans (which typically expands to resident humans, Skrell, and K'laxan Vaurca), and even Aut'akh regardless of their religion or station. They train these recruits (rumoured to be a brutal and arduous ordeal) into hardened mercenaries sold to the highest bidder.
 
The Freewater Company follow their own beliefs on honour that, while largely true to the Warrior's Code, betrays the notion that there is such a thing as honourable combat. Underhanded tactics ranged combat, and other things usually appalling to Sinta are used without as much as a wag of the tail. Humans and Skrell that join the company, while not believing in the written tenets, typically agree with their intention and idealistic nature. Additionally, religious tolerance is taught and enforced within the company to keep the begrudging peace; anyone who acts against is liable to get demoted, suspended, or even fired— should they be caught and reported. While leased as contractors and security forces more often than not, they believe more typically in hard time sentencing than fines, quoting their current Black commander Akzazik Voizur, "Credits come and go, but time can never be bought back." Those that prove themselves to be repeat offenders or especially egregious criminals, like Guwan, may find themselves in hotter water with these contractors around.
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==== Ve'katak Phalanx ====
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Founded after the Flagsdale riots of 2464 by a Court of Queens decree and made public early in 2465, the Ve'katak Phalanx (Ve'katak translating to 'Alliance' in Basic) is a Zo'rane-funded organization with pan-Vaurcesian goals. Led by Queens [[Zoleth,_The_Herald_of_Scars|Zoleth]], [[Vedhra,_Princess_of_Configurations|Vedhra]] and [[Vytel,_The_Just_Queen|Vytel]] with oversight from [[Athvur,_The_New_Goddess|Athvur]] and [[Vaur,_The_Liminal_Queen|Vaur]], it is recognised as the official military and enforcement arm of the Court of Queens. The Ve'katak Phalanx is empowered under the amended Court of Queens charter to "undertake action to promote or restore interstellar peace and security to the members of the Court when endangered by threats, external or internal". This wide-reaching mission statement sees them serve as the de facto police of [[Flagsdale|Flagsdale]], having superseded the existing District 9 neighbourhood watch as well as additionally becoming a common sight patrolling various locations where Vaurcae are stationed. The reason behind this is not only to stop piracy and other forms of crime, but also to patrol for any attacks of Lii'draic origin.
 
When not deployed on the order of the Court of Queens, many of its members are rented out as private security to Court-approved buyers, mostly in and around [[Tau_Ceti|Tau Ceti]] and [[Uueoa-Esa|Hegemony]] space. While anti-Vaurca sentiment prevents widespread adoption, the skill and unyielding nature of Vaurca Warriors have seen them gain popularity in contested areas such as the [[Corporate_Reconstruction_Zone|Corporate Reconstruction Zone]], the [[The_Orion_Spur#Badlands|Badlands]], and the [[The_Orion_Spur#Sparring_Sea|Sparring Sea]]. They are sometimes seen patrolling these regions in small, rented patrol craft featuring retrofitted engines and drop-pods to support boarding action rather than drawn-out engagements or hitching rides as support for other PMCG vessels. The Ve'katak Phalanx has been seen as a solution to the unemployment crisis of Warrior Vaurcae, who now after several years have a Vaurca employer to support them. Other species are welcome to join the company as long as they hold anti-Lii'dra sentiments, but the entrance tests required are extremely gruelling for non-Vaurca, and those that do pass tend to find integration difficult due to the nature of the species.
 
Recently, non-Vaurca recruits to the Ve'katak Phalanx have begun a new experimental training program. This program makes extensive use of a secretive Virtual Reality system on Caprice known as the "Neural Simulation Training Environment". More about this program can be read [[Virtual_Reality#Neural_Simulation_Training_Environment | here.]]
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[[Category:Corporations]]


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Revision as of 03:23, 24 April 2024

Private Military Contracting Group
PMCGsmallogo.png
Slogan Always on guard, always on watch.
Headquarters Eridani III, Epsilon Eridani, Eridani Corporate Federation
Chief Executive Officer Kubra Mobolaji
Official Languages Sol Common, Tradeband, Tau Ceti Basic
Official Colours White, blue, black, gold
Founded 2463
Founder Kubra Mobolaji
Operating Region


A coalition of security and medical contractors in service of the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate, the Private Military Contracting Group is one of the elements born from the necessity of protecting an ever-growing corporate empire. Gathering mercenaries from all across the spur, the Private Military Contracting Group deploys a diverse force to anywhere they are needed; from mere office buildings to outposts in the Corporate Reconstruction Zone. As the megacorporations expand, these contractors follow to secure their holdings.

Unlike the other members of the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate, the Private Military Contracting Group has few employees of its own. Only some liaisons and bureaucrats work behind the scenes to hire and manage the contractors. The rest of its members are in fact part of several organizations contracted to supply the Private Military Contracting Group.

Contents

Corporate Affairs

History

Eridanian military contractors as a whole originate in the early 2200s, during the takeover of the Epsilon Eridani by its economic council. As residents of Eridani I (then known as Kamfulu) rioted and unionised against dangerous working conditions, low pay, and environmental destruction that was occurring on the planet, the Eridani Economic Council formed two loose coalitions of those willing to "restore order"; citizen militias wishing to earn a paycheck in an unstable climate, and ex-Solarian military personnel who were used to pacifying an unhappy populace. These coalitions were deployed en-masse against protestors; they broke strikes, disappeared the loudest dissenters, and restored iron-fisted order to Kamfulu.

After the majority of social unrest was quelled, these militias and private military contractors were gradually adopted into the new Eridani Corporate Federation. The experienced ex-military personnel were established as Ringspire, marketed as highly-paid, highly-deadly mercenaries capable of being deployed in conflict zones just about everywhere. Meanwhile, those who had started out with security contracting in the riots were organised into the less-formal Eagle Corp., who were eager to hire just about anyone and became a final option for the desperate all over Solarian space. These corporations would eventually fall under the umbrella of control for the Eridani Federation's chief of system security, essentially the commander-in-chief for any of Eridani's military forces.

During the Interstellar War, these "EPMCs" grew to great renown as they were deployed alongside Solarian soldiers in ground forces and as strike teams alongside aerospace vessels. The news of their brutality was feared and loathed by the frontiersmen and Solarian allies alike. The Interstellar War also heralded the creation of Sekhmet Intergalactic in 2294, a medical contracting group; while Ringspire and Eagle Corp. had their own medical response divisions, Sekhmet's creation involved the recruitment of medical specialists, multi-pronged responses for both the groups, and an unscrupulous yet skilled and professional trauma response team to be sent out across the galaxy.

N4NL Incorporated was the fourth corporation to join the official umbrella of Eridani contractors in 2307, as the group branched into data security, electronic warfare, and digital asset protection. While Eridani's mass surveillance and data collection algorithms had always been vast, N4NL perfected it, creating the intricate network behind the ECF's employment records, banking, and punishing Extranet surveillance. Shortly after its official addition, the collective of Ringspire, Eagle Corp., Sekhmet, and N4NL became known as the Golden Fist for their incredible reputation for quality results across the Spur.

The corporation that would become the "thumb" of the Golden Fist was founded in 2450 by Farhad al-Sharif, a former N4NL executive and "positronic enthusiast" who had the unusual reputation of purchasing IPCs only to allow them to operate relatively uninhibited. Index Security Solutions was al-Sharif's plan to make better use of what he viewed as the fascinating capabilities of IPCs, and so became the only EPMC that recruited self-owned IPCs in large quantity.

The Golden Fist's reputation was such that in 2463, in the face of the growing instability brought on by the phoron scarcity and the Solarian Collapse, the executive board of the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate approached the Board of Five, Eridani's heads of government. The insurgency in the Corporate Reconstruction Zone had the Conglomerate envisioning an agency responsible for reinforcing the corporate security and medical ranks with hired contractors, in a similar fashion to how the Golden Fist was currently operated. It was proposed that Kubra Mobolaji, the chief of system security for the ECF, would be chief executive officer of this conglomerate within the conglomerate, and permit private contracting firms around the Spur to join the initiative.

Thus, the Private Military Contracting Group was born, becoming an umbrella organization to coordinate several distinct contractor elements within the Conglomerate's structure. Its subsidiaries are tasked with providing adequate manpower, while the Private Military Contracting Group deploys them where it is necessary. While some may question the loyalty of the Group's employees, the credits fuelled into their contracts have been enough to secure their allegiance.

The PMCG is currently tasked with supplementing the security and medical staff in SCC facilities, and was formerly tasked with supplementing the Tau Ceti Armed Forces during the Peacekeeper Mandate of Mictlan. When the megacorporation's lines become too thin due to the expansion of the conglomerate, the contractors from the Private Military Contracting Group are called to patch these holes. Despite their diverse backgrounds, all employees of the Group receive the necessary training to work in SCC facilities.

Influence

The PMCG has managed to carve out a niche for itself within the greater Stellar Corporate Conglomerate framework. Previously unknown or latent PMC groups are suddenly filling the holes that exist in the intricate networks of the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate while drawing ire from some who may not wish to see the underworld of contractor work in their professional setting. It is not uncommon to see highly trained Eridani mercenaries flank loutish Frontier bounty hunters, or Unathite noble physicians among Tajaran pharmacists who have retired from biological warfare.

Nevertheless, the Group's wide-ranging talents and Kubra Mobolaji's tight management, as well as being carried by the massively profitable Golden Fist, ensure its permanence as long as the PMCG's methods remain effective. They also hold power as an independent organization, always holding at least some influence in any war-torn region of space, including the Sparring Sea or the Solarian Wildlands, as they have grown quite popular among those who quickly need an expendable force to do their bidding.

Executives and Branches

Chief Logistics Officer: Liang Wenqiang, b. 2410

Liang Wenqiang is the current chief logistics officer of the PMCG as a whole and chief executive officer of the Wildlands Squadron, having himself entered the private sector after a prominent career in the Solarian Navy’s special operations branch. Like many of his peers, the Unity Station born career officer felt the despair of the slow but steady decline of the Alliance, accompanied by the infighting and corruption in the Navy, urging him to seek a more lucrative and potentially rewarding employment in the private sector. His plans came to fruition with the founding of a small group of like-minded marines and officers, receiving contracts for protection and convoy escort against pirate raids. The disbanding of the group shortly after four years was not a dissuading factor, Liang having gained a reputation as a competent and bold organiser with substantial combat and planning experience, qualities that, along with a significant network of connections, landed him an executive position in the Group.

Chief Operating Officer: Diana Hakim, b. 2423

Diana Hakim is known as the voice delivering contracts and assignments to the various paramilitary formations and companies that operate under the Group’s umbrella. An Eridanian native, her childhood friendship with Kubra Mobolaji has generated many silent accusations of nepotism amongst the elite. Such thoughts are vastly outclassed by the praise of her organisational skills however, Diana’s shadowy and smart handlings being the driving force behind the operational unity of the many PMCs, ensuring the smooth coexistence and the prevention of unhealthy competition. Having started her career in an unrelated shipping company, she was quick to realise the potential of the Group, being taken on in a junior secretarial position thanks to her friend and skyrocketing through the ranks thanks to merit.

Chief Risk Officer: Erik Brandrsson, b. 2404

Erik Brandrsson, a New Gibsonite, is the risk assessment expert employed by the Group, having risen to the position after a series of promotions following the merging of his previous employer, Nexus Corporate Security, with the Group. The calm and calculating man, having always been seen by his colleagues as a voice of reason, can trace his beginnings in the PMC sector from a very young age. Upon graduation from his business-oriented studies, he was taken on by the Tau Ceti-dominating NanoTrasen and placed into a rather unremarkable bureaucratic position inside Nexus, slowly rising through displays of competency and fierce loyalty which he still retains.

Major Branches

Eridani III, Epsilon Eridani, Eridani Corporate Federation: The PMCG has several operating branches within the Eridani Corporate Federation, but none are as expansive as the Triangle Complex rising above the barren surface of Eridani III. Nicknamed "The Cell" by the resident dreg population, each of its three towers manages a large portion of the planet’s private military forces, with one being devoted to monitoring naval/interstellar fleet operations, one being an additional training and management centre that specialises in prisoner management, riot control and policing for corporate security officers and mercenary soldiers, and the third being the headquarters of Eridani III’s extensive prison network. It is the managing branch of the PMCG’s operations within the Eridani Corporate Federation, as well as the Sol Alliance.

Mendell City, Biesel, Tau Ceti: The megacorporation’s branch located in Mendell’s District 10, a rare commercial plot in the district that was purchased and repurposed to serve as the Private Military Contracting Group's logistics headquarters, was built to hold much of its surplus equipment, the required administrative offices, and a recruitment centre to draw from Biesel’s diverse potential recruit pool. Nearby, a modest shuttle port is reserved for its exclusive usage. The majority of the PMCG contractors host staff within the Mendell branch, resulting in rife competition for contracts.

Hyperion Data Nexus, Valkyrie, Tau Ceti: Originally founded by NanoTrasen and now under the umbrella of NT and the PMCG, the Hyperion Data Nexus is a massive sprawling complex on the moon of Valkyrie, serving as Nexus Corporate Security's headquarters and deployment for their Rapid Trauma Response Teams. The Data Nexus is also home to research and weapons development, which is usually sold from NanoTrasen to other contractors in the PMCG. A high clearance level is needed to enter the facility and only the most trusted are assigned there for work. Layoffs from the facility's R&D sector have abounded in the wake of the phoron scarcity, and there are ripplings of discontent and concern as Zavodskoi Interstellar begins to take over the Spur's weapons market.

Nouvelle-Rochelle, Xanu Prime, Xanu: The Nouvelle-Rochelle branch is primarily the headquarters of Xanu Defense Services, and is home to XDS's shuttleport and the majority of its fleet. This location handles rapid response and deployment across the Coalition of Colonies, and assists in the transportation and recruitment of Coalition citizens wishing to join EPMCs. Coalition Rangers are a common sight at this location, usually working alongside XDS.

Contractors

These companies are the only ones listed in the Private Military Contracting Group. Headcanon Contractors are not permitted for the Private Military Contracting Group. Your character can only be currently employed from the list below.

Eridani Private Military Contractors

Note that all Eridani Private Military Contractors that are not Eridanian natives must undergo an acclimatisation period of at least one month in the Eridani PMC Academy on Eridani I.

Ringspire

Chief Executive Officer: Kubra Mobolaji

A company known for working with anyone with enough funding, Ringspire contractors can be seen on any side of a conflict or job with enough credits to pay them. This has given them a reputation as being little more than hired guns, leaving higher than usual casualties in their wake. The company is also well-known for its indiscriminate use of heavy weapons, ranging from simple rocket launchers to orbital artillery bombardments, in its assignments. It is often said in Eridani’s mercenary community that Ringspire operations zones are easy to identify: simply search for areas with high amounts of corpses, looted buildings, and shell craters.

Ringspire’s most notable recent engagement was their involvement in the S'rend'marr Coalition on Adhomai. Hired by the People’s Republic of Adhomai to guard officials, flush out liberation army cells, they participated in the failed attempts to break through ALA lines on the Ras’nrr fronts and left a trail of devastation in its wake through its use of indiscriminate bombardments, autonomous combat equipment, and heavy amounts of looting by its mercenaries. While the S’rend’marr deployment is one of Ringspire’s most costly operations, company figures estimate that anywhere between fifteen and twenty-five tajara died for every Ringspire fatality. Despite this “kill ratio” (in Ringspire’s own terminology) the PRA opted not to renew the company’s contract.

But for an enterprising commander, Adhomai’s peace led to a far more profitable venture. A small faction of Ringspire remains in the DPRA city of Crevus to lead the company known as Olokun Curios. This smuggling operation posing as an art dealership allies to Adhomai’s low-lifes and self-proclaimed “archaeologists” to locate, secure, and ship tajara artefacts to sell in Eridani. Tajara attempts to investigate Olokun Curios have discovered nothing illegal about the organization, and many investigators have “coincidentally” had fatal accidents during their investigations.

Eagle Corp

Chief Executive Officer: Filije Thiaw

With enlisted ranks being filled by lower-class citizens drawn across human space, this company has a reputation for doggedly pursuing its goals no matter the effort required. As one of the more merit-based companies for promotion within the ranks, many officer positions are occupied by people from lower —questionable — backgrounds. The latter are often offered ‘new lives’ within the corporation, turning criminals about to meet the end of their careers into passable, and even valued operatives. The extensive training and ‘reintroduction’ programs sometimes employed in this process are viewed by some as a merciful second chance, and identity-destroying by others.

Recently, the company has launched initiatives to appeal to an even wider base of employees, with advertisement campaigns targeting potential alien contractors all over the Spur. These hopeful (or desperate) recruits find themselves thrown into competitive or dangerous missions, either ending with their promotion or an untimely severing of contracts. Unathi and Vaurca employees have seen especially good rates within the company, as pragmatic and goal-oriented employees are valued greatly by the management.

Sekhmet Intergalactic

Chief Executive Officer: Charité Efulu

Known for their wide reach and even wider history of assignments, Sekhmet Intergalactic has established itself as the premier provider of professional healthcare, no questions asked. It is made up of several smaller companies dedicated to cornering the ever-present market of medical aid and supplies. Though these corporations would get their starts on the advent of the Interstellar War they remained splintered and tied to other forces, located just about anywhere there were patients to save and profit to be generated.

Nowadays, each company within the collective acts as a ‘branch’ on a respective frontline, extending the corporation’s presence to rival that of its peers. Due to this, and the propensity to extend morally dubious contracts, Sekhmet often comes into rivalry with the Interstellar Aid Corps. The IAC offers humanitarian relief with both health and rights considered; in contrast, Sekhmet entices customers with predatory, yet government-grade deals that are at times the only way out. Though many of their doctors, surgeons and front-line medics are happy to take a pretty bonus to their paycheck for a shady assignment, a considerable number of their employees are uncomfortable with this reputation and actively fight it with a consummate work ethic and heaps of experience from all around the Spur.

N4NL Incorporated

Chief Executive Officer: Farhad al-Sharif

A company that had its start in meagre technical upkeep and insurance, N4NL Incorporated is nowadays better known for their cutting-edge augmentation and air-tight cyber security. Specializing in technological warfare, N4NL operatives are often augmented with the company’s own brand of technology to guard and operate high-tech equipment, frequently testing prototypes in the meanwhile. Officially the corporation is split between the departments of Asset Insurance and Asset Development, in practice, most employees are found in the former branch. Asset Insurance is famous for everything from contracting civilian employees out as telecommunications engineers or server network maintainers, to operating and testing electronic warfare equipment in the backline of many conflicts, to guarding and maintaining advanced cybersecurity apparatuses across the Orion Spur. N4NL Asset Insurance teams are perhaps the most widespread representatives of the Golden Fist, with most megacorporate facilities having at least a small team on-staff to combat and prevent data security issues. These teams were particularly common on Mictlan due to the planet’s history of intellectual property theft. Many conspiracy theorists speculate that N4NL Incorporated has had a hand in many “unfortunate accidents”' that have befallen famous Mictlanian copyright violators, but the company has consistently denied these rumours; whether or not they were veracious, Mictlan expelled them from further operations within their borders in 2466.

N4NL’s Asset Development is much less publicly visible than its Asset Insurance counterpart and is primarily concerned with finding new and powerful technologies the company can use for its own benefit. N4NL does their best to disguise this side venture from the view of the public and of their customers, and Asset Development agents are often “seeded” into Asset Insurance teams in order to conduct what the company refers to as “passive corporate observation” in order to discover emergent technologies of interest to the company. While not limited to the department, hefty bonuses are offered for investigating and securing new technologies found out on the field. Many of their contractors are also given experimental augments to field-test, and good performance often correlates with more personalized, high-quality cybernetics offered to an employee, thereby keeping them loyal and dependent. N4NL additionally employs many positronics, both free and company-owned, in its ranks due to the ease with which many modern IPCs can interface with electronic systems and accept new augments.

Index Security Solutions

Chief Executive Officer: Akide Sulu

Index Security Solutions is the newest addition to the Golden Fist, and one of the few military contractors to employ IPCs, which make up the majority of its employees. The company is known for its top-notch security contracting for both public and private facilities, as well as personal bodyguard detailing for high-level individuals. IPCs owned by this company receive high-quality maintenance and conditions, but operate under a permanent ownership contract, with freedom or transfer to another owner being impossible.

The company’s reputation is quite polarizing thanks to several factors, one of which is Index’s very own ‘Advanced Threat Assessment’ (ATA) data pack which many of its employees come equipped with, allowing units to analyze and respond to potential threats in a nearly super-human capacity. Though a complex program to insert into a positronic, this development has been known to save the lives of many Eridanian officials; most famously preventing a shuttle-bombing targeting the former representative of Eridani I in 2436.

This same tool is seen as oppressive and terrifying by others, particularly by Dregs, who have been personally targeted by harsh profiling algorithms that discriminate by acting on even slight transgressions. Index has mostly refused to comment on this, citing that their units are simply more sensitive than that of others in their field.

Other Private Military Contractors

Nexus Corporate Security

Nexus Corporate Security is NanoTrasen's private civilian security division, specialising in guarding corporate VIPs and high-ranking cabinet members of the Republic of Biesel. While still owned by NanoTrasen, a share of the company is held by the Private Military Contracting Group, and contractors are listed as both NanoTrasen and PMCG employees. They are known for their distinct black, red, and blue uniforms.

Nexus was founded by Xavier Trasen shortly after the establishment of Hyperion Data Nexus on Valkyrie, in 2418. After NanoTrasen significantly downsized its security contracting division to distribute more funds to research and development, its service industry, and its medical divisions in the wake of the phoron scarcity, Nexus has become the "face" of the company's security forces. Many of NanoTrasen's security personnel have ended up employed with Nexus, if they weren't already poached by Idris Incorporated or Zavodskoi Interstellar. Mictlan's expulsion of N4NL Incorporated from the Sankta Tereza system has disinclined the top brass from attempting further operations on the planet, for now.

Xanu Defense Services

Xanu Defense Services is a military contractor focused on space operations, largely made up of bounty hunters, adventurers, and ex-military from across the Coalition of Colonies. It was originally founded after the Interstellar War to provide protection to ships traveling through the dangerous, uncharted parts of the frontier. Despite its name, XDS recruits from all over the Coalition, including alien and synthetic citizens. With the assistance of the relatively-new PMCG, XDS has expanded its services to Biesel and the Corporate Reconstruction Zone after the Solarian Collapse. There they take a mainly neutral stance, not assisting in curbing insurgency, but reclaiming assets, acting as escorts, and driving out piracy.

XDS’s security personnel are specially trained in EVA and boarding drills. They own a sizable fleet of small and medium-size spacecraft, but only lend crew to the SCC. At the moment, most of its ships are busy aiding the Frontier Protection Bureau in securing national borders from dangerous elements.

Wildlands Squadron

The Wildlands Squadron is a mercenary group made up of Solarian ex-military, unemployed law agents, and refugees from the instability, most from minor colonies in the Middle Ring, as well as citizens from Visegrad and San Colette. As large swathes of territory changed hands during Sol's collapse, many Mictlani and Port Antilleans who wished to retain their Solarian citizenship joined the Squadron as well. The Squadron ranges in quality across its units, with personnel ranging from experienced ex-military to recruits barely out of their first months of police training when the Collapse hit. Their weaponry and armor is almost always outdated yet still very much functional and kept in good working order, though their vessels are few, mainly relying on the Golden Fist to secure them transport. While the majority of the Squadron is human, IPCs both free and owned are permitted membership, assuming they resided or worked with a former Solarian member-state.

Because of its origins, the non-PMCG corporations are suspicious of the Wildlands Squadron. To avoid any possible collaboration in the Corporate Reconstruction Zone, they are mainly stationed in space stations and ships.

Jackal Incorporated

Headquartered in Qamar Azraq, New Suez, Jackal Incorporated is a military contractor specializing in escort and standby security, along with a limited specialised medical response team. They were founded in the aftermath of the Lii’draic Incursion, and joined the PMCG at Kubra Mobolaji’s behest in early 2465. A significant amount of their funding and contracts is provided to them by Elco, Elyra’s premier phoron-processing and R&D company. These contracts range from private security for Elco’s top executives, to being the largest contractor that works with Medina’s Phoron Bulletin. Its personnel are typically made up of Elyran Armed Forces veterans that range from young former conscripts looking for a payday to veterans of the Lii’draic Incursion. Jackal is unpopular among the Republican parliament for its unscrupulousness and what is seen as “luring away” ex-conscripts from their duty to the nation, but the EAF is known to occasionally purchase the company’s services in the Sparring Sea and the Badlands.

Grupo Amapola

The Grupo Amapola (“Poppy Group”) was founded in 2466 by Salvador Clemente, a former lieutenant of the Mictlan Defense Force and later the Samaritans. Like all Samaritans operating as officers, Clemente was paroled after the Peacekeeper Mandate, under the condition that he would never serve in any military or armed forces in the Republic of Biesel. This parole, however, did not forbid Clemente from joining a private security group. Amapola was founded from a select group of Clemente’s closest Samaritan subordinates, and spread from there to draw in other eager recruits from across the planet, including in alien communities and El Menaje, Mictlan's free synthetic community. As a result, Amapola is one of the rare military contractors that have no company-owned IPCs under their own name, with other corporations hesitant to lend them theirs thus far.

In an ironic twist, Amapola’s first major contract was with the Republic of Biesel itself, sent to curb insurgency across the Corporate Reconstruction Zone and even chase overeager pirates into the Middle Ring’s Nieużytek region. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Amapola has a controversial reputation across Mictlan, especially among other former Samaritans.

Kazarrhaldiye Operations Group

Founded by Tajaran war veterans, the Kazarrhaldiye Operations Group is a private military company based in Little Adhomai. The organization was conceived to provide employment to the growing veteran population created by the civil wars. Once a strictly mercenary organization, the Kazarrhaldiye Operations Group expanded its operation to include private security after the establishment of the Coalition of Private Military Contractors; Tajara with non-military backgrounds were also allowed thanks to the new partnership. Its employees are trained in security procedures and small arms, but many others carry the skills acquired in their previous positions.

Dagamuir Freewater Private Forces

Between the high standards of the Kataphracts, the obliteration of the homes of many warriors, and the harsh realities in-between, many Unathi find that they are unable to compete with others for the highest titles warriors can get. Enter the Dagamuir Freewater Private Forces: originating from the country that gives it its namesake, they started as blaggards for centuries up until the disruption that was the Contact War. The PF was founded on Ouerea following much of its original tenets and hires anyone from destitute Wastelanders, former Iron Masks, Ouereans (which typically expands to resident humans, Skrell, and K'laxan Vaurca), and even Aut'akh regardless of their religion or station. They train these recruits (rumoured to be a brutal and arduous ordeal) into hardened mercenaries sold to the highest bidder.

The Freewater Company follow their own beliefs on honour that, while largely true to the Warrior's Code, betrays the notion that there is such a thing as honourable combat. Underhanded tactics ranged combat, and other things usually appalling to Sinta are used without as much as a wag of the tail. Humans and Skrell that join the company, while not believing in the written tenets, typically agree with their intention and idealistic nature. Additionally, religious tolerance is taught and enforced within the company to keep the begrudging peace; anyone who acts against is liable to get demoted, suspended, or even fired— should they be caught and reported. While leased as contractors and security forces more often than not, they believe more typically in hard time sentencing than fines, quoting their current Black commander Akzazik Voizur, "Credits come and go, but time can never be bought back." Those that prove themselves to be repeat offenders or especially egregious criminals, like Guwan, may find themselves in hotter water with these contractors around.

Ve'katak Phalanx

Founded after the Flagsdale riots of 2464 by a Court of Queens decree and made public early in 2465, the Ve'katak Phalanx (Ve'katak translating to 'Alliance' in Basic) is a Zo'rane-funded organization with pan-Vaurcesian goals. Led by Queens Zoleth, Vedhra and Vytel with oversight from Athvur and Vaur, it is recognised as the official military and enforcement arm of the Court of Queens. The Ve'katak Phalanx is empowered under the amended Court of Queens charter to "undertake action to promote or restore interstellar peace and security to the members of the Court when endangered by threats, external or internal". This wide-reaching mission statement sees them serve as the de facto police of Flagsdale, having superseded the existing District 9 neighbourhood watch as well as additionally becoming a common sight patrolling various locations where Vaurcae are stationed. The reason behind this is not only to stop piracy and other forms of crime, but also to patrol for any attacks of Lii'draic origin.

When not deployed on the order of the Court of Queens, many of its members are rented out as private security to Court-approved buyers, mostly in and around Tau Ceti and Hegemony space. While anti-Vaurca sentiment prevents widespread adoption, the skill and unyielding nature of Vaurca Warriors have seen them gain popularity in contested areas such as the Corporate Reconstruction Zone, the Badlands, and the Sparring Sea. They are sometimes seen patrolling these regions in small, rented patrol craft featuring retrofitted engines and drop-pods to support boarding action rather than drawn-out engagements or hitching rides as support for other PMCG vessels. The Ve'katak Phalanx has been seen as a solution to the unemployment crisis of Warrior Vaurcae, who now after several years have a Vaurca employer to support them. Other species are welcome to join the company as long as they hold anti-Lii'dra sentiments, but the entrance tests required are extremely gruelling for non-Vaurca, and those that do pass tend to find integration difficult due to the nature of the species.

Recently, non-Vaurca recruits to the Ve'katak Phalanx have begun a new experimental training program. This program makes extensive use of a secretive Virtual Reality system on Caprice known as the "Neural Simulation Training Environment". More about this program can be read here.