The Kongsi Syndicate is a tight-knit group of miners, dockworkers, engineers, and transport crewmembers within the context of the broader Independent Miners’ Guild. Holding firmly to anarcho-syndicalist ideals, the Kongsi Syndicate organizes itself horizontally, with decisions voted on by relevant personnel and policy formulated from the ground up.
Prelude
The Independent Miners’ Guild is a loose confederation of miners who work those fields that have thus far remained undeveloped by larger mining companies. Their origin lies in the mistreated, dispossessed, and laid-off ex-employees of corporations like Kruger, Daumann, and BMM; with the growth of the so-called ‘Great Houses’, wages eventually stagnated, and working conditions further and further afield grew to become intolerable. The brave, adventurous, and simply desperate among those workers kept down by such circumstances struck out into the Border Worlds, squatting on long-abandoned DSE outposts or drilling homes for themselves out of asteroids, building a living atop the vast resources of these dangerous border systems and naturally coalescing over time into the transgalactic community that is the IMG of today.
Ideology in the IMG
The harsh conditions of the frontiers instilled a resilience into the Guildsfolk that has managed to keep their pseudo-society alive over the centuries, and while their commercial ties with fellow smaller economic actors like Gateway and ALG have led the mainline Guild to become more corporatized over the years, the legacy of oppression at the hands of Sirius’ states and their big corps has kept ablaze the fiery independent spirit which defined the IMG in its early years. Ideologically-driven subgroups have been far from unheard of in the Guild’s history, with the most noteworthy having been the ICMG of the 810s.
The Independent Communist Miners’ Guild were among the first to settle aboard Dounby Station in the Orkney star system, deep within the imposing Westray Belt. Here, isolated even from their fellow Guilders, for over ten years they mined the copper, niobium, and other resources of deepest Tau to try and fuel their creation of an ideal worker’s state without House interference. The situation persisted until the Gallic invasion of Sirius, with the Royalist forces pushing the miners out of Dounby and the station being largely abandoned.
Ad-Hoc Anarchism
Nearly a decade later, the most remote installation of the Guild would find itself serving a remarkably similar purpose to that which it had previously – with the great refugee crises resulting from the Gallic War, the unspeakably barbaric Glassing of Leeds, the Rheinland Civil War, Kusari’s political instability, and even the Insurgency Campaign in Liberty, hundreds of thousands of thoroughly dispossessed human souls found themselves with absolutely nowhere to go. Elements within the Guild quickly engaged in humanitarian assistance, and over time, several hundred civilians from all over Sirius found themselves populating Orkney’s remote rocks, eking out a hazardous living in one of the Tau sector’s quietest corners.
All these newcomers bore one thing in common – they had felt nothing but suffering from the war and strife that had stricken the Houses. The political machinations of Sirian elites had stripped and alienated them from their families, their homelands, and their basic livelihoods. Lex Setiawan, a charismatic escort pilot who had long been part of Dounby’s skeleton crew, immediately committed themself to not only integrating these refugees and ensuring that Dounby could continue functioning, but also to convincing these unfortunates that only by their collective action could they prevent everything from once again being taken away from them by the powerful. This radically communal, anti-state, anti-’politics’ (in the traditional sense) message found fertile ground at the edge of Sirius.
Present Day
As more comers arrived, and the radicalized Dounbyites adapted to their new lives, they soon developed a Charter to guide the shape of their lateral society and adopted a name to distinguish themselves from the more loosely-organized mainstream IMG – the Kongsi Syndicate was born.
Investing heavily into their own future growth, the Syndicate has commissioned the construction of dozens of heavy vessels from the nearby Singapore Shipyard. With the drydocks of Tau-44 working around the clock for months, fed by anarchist-mined and anarchist-processed metals, the Syndicate’s growing population has largely moved onto their fleet of agile ‘Hel’-class cruisers, many of which have been specifically designed to support civilians and even host small ore refineries. Slipping through the asteroids of the Taus and ducking through Bretonia, the ‘Syndies’ (as many have come to call them) have been sighted as far as the deep Omegas, often acting as heavy escort for their comrades in the hazardous extreme south of Sirius.
Goals
▪ Build up the Syndicate’s native industry and civilian carrying capacity. ▪ Improve the economic security and quality of life of all Syndics. ▪ Fend off corporate encroachment in the Tau and Omega border worlds via whatever means necessary. ▪ Assist the Mollys of Dublin in strengthening and maintaining their newly-won freedom. ▪ Undermine the Houses, preferably covertly, by fomenting anarchist unrest – both peaceful and violent. ▪ Get revenge for Åland Shipyard, Freeport 4, and the Hood. ▪ Exploit the unstable situations in Bretonia and Pennsylvania to the above ends.
Internal Organization
Within the Kongsi Syndicate, all are equal. There are no followers or leaders. However, the syndics are far from disorganized, and every group – transport crews, engineering teams, logistical planners, escort squads, et cetera – will temporarily elect a foreman to both argue for their interests in Syndicate-wide councils as well as call whatever snap decisions might need to be made.
The All-Syndic Council is tasked with laying out the Kongsi's general direction and course of action, with each and every syndic who is able being encouraged to attend either in person or via neural-net. Regardless, the course of the All-Syndic Council’s meetings are primarily charted by the elected foremen. All formal positions and offices are highly temporary, with foremen being elected and recalled as infrequently as annually or as often as every few days, according to the material exigencies of the crews they oversee and represent. Most capital ship foremen (‘captains’) serve for around three consecutive months at a time.
Each and every syndic possesses the right of free veto, in essence meaning that a single member who strenuously objects to any given decision or proceeding can single-handedly shut down the entire affair. This right is very rarely invoked, as the steering process that precedes ratification is focused around building consensus and precluding partisanship. Any syndic who abused their right of free veto would be liable to be seen as a capitalist infiltrator and saboteur – and suspected spies are very quickly ejected from membership, typically via airlock.
External Relations
Kin
▪ IMG–Whether they practice hierarchy or not, each and every Guildsperson is a comrade in the struggle for survival. Without each other, we have nothing – we keep us safe. ▪ ALG–The most important ally and partner of the Guild at large, tied with Gateway, the ALG stood up for us at Åland. They organize themselves democratically just as we do. Our friendship shall last forever. ▪ Mollys–Our fellow miners. They fight for freedom – they are the Crownbreakers. They give us unquestioned free passage through Dublin, and we make sure their gold sees use. More than anyone else, we and they are siblings in the struggle.
Comrades
▪ Gateway Shipping–They may be capitalists, but their hearts are in the right place. They've been tread on by the fat cats almost as much as we have. Without them, our metals would languish in the factories.
▪ Red Hessians–Once workers like us, they've since become significantly more unscrupulous. Living in a fascist galaxy like this, it's hard to blame them. Their significant combat prowess is crucial in defending ourselves from the Corsairs, they expropriate capital from the corpos, and truth be told, they're better shipwrights than we are – they are our comrades-in-arms.
Well-Wishes
▪ Bundschuh–We rarely ever hear from them, and what little we do hear indicates that they're wishy-washy liberals, but that's infinitely better than whatever the hell is going on in Rheinland's government nowadays.
▪ The Coalition–Isn't Omega-52 an authoritarian hellscape? At least their people don't go hungry. We sincerely appreciate that they're trying, but their military government and intense hierarchicalism is more than a little bit skeevy to us.
Cordial, Not Comrades
▪ Unione Corse–Mining is hard work, and the Unione Corse's drugs are a great way to unwind after clocking out. Plus, they hate the Outcasts almost as much as we do. We just wish it was because of the whole slavery-and-genocide thing instead of a gangster turf war.
▪ Zoners–Too diverse to say anything specific about them, but we can admire the desire to just piss off from the Houses and do your own thing. The ones at Freeport 10 sell us guns sometimes, too, so that's kinda nice.
It's Complicated
▪ Bounty Hunters Guild–The BHG frequently sells the Syndicate some of the most rugged and reliable offensive hardware we employ, and we have to appreciate their efficiency in neutralizing the omnipresent Hispanian would-be viacrats. They'll go where even the Hessians just won't. At the same time, they're vicious capitalists who'd make haymarket martyrs of us all for thirty coins of silver if the corps asked – and they already do so with almost all of our friends. Navigating this delicate balance is one of our most persistent diplomatic challenges.
Suspicious
▪ Lane Hackers–Before the Freeport 4 debacle, the Guild had a nice thing going with the Hackers – they let us be, traded some cardamine to the few Guildsfolk who partake, and in return we traded them whatever supplies they may have needed. Nowadays, we don't talk much, and until we reclaim our rightful place in Magellan, it's unlikely that will change. We know perfectly well who their friends are.
▪ Xenos–They may be one step away from ethno-nationalists, but they aren't there... yet. Still, they leave us be, and it's nice to see someone at least trying to stand up for the little guy in central Sirius. After all, Liberty's government is just as bad as all the others, even if they put up a more friendly face.
▪ Everyone Else–It's a tough world out there, and most of the people in it are looking to rip us off for a quick buck. Put another way – if you aren't with the workers, you're against them, and if you aren't mentioned somewhere above, you almost certainly aren't with us.
Fat Cats
▪ House Corporations–All economic activity is political, and politics is a war. Every cargo pod they haul, every credit they make, they've stolen from the working class. Depending on the circumstances; intercept, expropriate, or eradicate.
Class Traitors
▪ Bretonia Mining & Manufacturing–Their savagery in the name of profits knows no bounds. We haven't heard any reports of them punitively cutting off workers' hands, but if we did, we wouldn't be surprised. It isn't piracy, it's expropriation. It isn't terrorism, it's propaganda of the deed.
▪ Daumann and Kruger–Ditto.
▪ Crayter Republic–They arrived in Sirius as refugees in need of a home. When Bretonia cast them out, we Guildsfolk welcomed them in with open arms. We fought side by side for decades, yet when the very same people who turned them away asked, these worthless welwalas betrayed us and took our biggest shipyard from us. We will never forget. We will avenge Åland.
Existential Enemies
▪ Corsairs–They prey on us as if they were rabid dogs and we were rabbits. They are a literal ethnostate. So long as Crete's minions roam free, no worker can ever be safe. Any good Syndie kills a Corsair any chance they get. At least those artifacts are pretty, we suppose.
▪ Outcasts–A mutant subrace of slavers with a genetically baked-in superiority complex, they see us and all other Sirians as nothing more than cattle at best and pests at worst. The only thing worse than the Corsairs. Genocide is unquestionably evil and reprehensible, but if ever there was an exception, Malta might be it.
▪ Gallic Royalists–These fascist bastards made slaves of the Guild and caused us to lose both Freeport 4 as well as Åland. They destroyed an entire planet and killed over six billion people. They are even worse than the Nomads. For the good of humankind, they must be finished off once and for all.
Most of our members are not anarchists IRL, but we do run the faction out-of-roleplay the same way we run it in-roleplay; via voting, with each and every member having free veto.
However, for rules compliance purposes, our 1IC is @"Darkstar_Spectre". Our 1IC will likely change frequently and without notice. As we have no plans to go official, we don't anticipate this being an issue whatsoever.
As the rules require that we list at least one 2IC, but place no limits on how many "2IC"s we can have, every other member is the second-in-command.
FAQ:
▪ "Where does the name ‘Kongsi Syndicate’ come from?"
The names of the IMG's assets in the Taus all have Indo-Malayan theming. On the island of Brunei, there were historically small political entities called ‘kongsi republics’, mostly populated by southern Chinese (Hakka/Hokkien/etc) merchants and laborers who had moved there in search of economic freedom. These polities represent the first unambiguous emergence of an indigenous Asian democratic tradition. As such, we thought the name was fitting.
▪ "What's with the logo?"
It's a stylized representation of a banyan tree. In Indonesia, banyan trees are an ancient symbol of unity and strength emerging from diversity. Thus we thought it fit well with our aesthetic theming. Also it looks f*ckin' sick as hell.
▪ "What's with the tag?"
It's a stylized representation of a banyan tree.
▪ "What's your naming scheme?"
Ingame IMG assets are named after German placenames (‘Freistadt Base’), English towns (‘South Shields Refinery’), places in Orkney (‘Dounby Station’), places in Southeast Asia (‘Singapore Shipyard’), mountains (‘Shishapangma’, ‘Nanga Parbat’), and things that sound badass (the ‘Vampire’ and ‘Matterthief’ guns). All of these are perfectly fine conventions for Kongsi assets as well, but we also name things with leftist/anarcho-syndicalist theming (‘Bella Ciao’, ‘Haywood’, ‘Black Flag’, etc). We have a lot of names to choose from -- which is rather fitting given that our roleplay is all about freedom!
▪ "Can I roleplay with you guys?"
Please do! Just send us a comm on the forums, and feel free to BS why your character/faction knows about us.
This looks awesome, as someone who has a passing interest in Anarcho-Syndicalism irl I love seeing an interpretation of it in game. It kind of reminds me of the Clew Bay Mining Associates and how they RPed some sort of Anarcho-Communist Freelancer ID Mining thing. I really look forward to meeting you guys in game!! Best of luck!!
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