Consortium

Consortium
Origin
Alignment	Varies
Profile
Date of founding	Sometime prior to 615 A.S.
Founder(s)	unknown
Current leader(s)	Ironwatsas
Base of operations	Unknown, center of Consortium activity appears to be Northern Kusari
Primary role
Unknown
Secondary role
Military Insurgency against Kusari

The Consortium, more formally known as the Transhuman arm of the Consortium Legion is a shadowy and largely unknown organization, which is comprised largely of Transhuman, or Posthuman cyborgs. While their exact goals and activities are largely unknown, they are a heavily militarized organization possessing significant amounts of hardware, manpower, and connections to Sirius' criminal underworld. Most of the information collected thus far is based on outside observation, as the Consortium, by their cybernetic nature, are highly difficult to infiltrate or interrogate.

History

Little is known of the Consortium's history prior to their becoming active in 817 A.S. Prior to that, the Consortium had existed as a network of covert operatives, freelance and mercenary pilots, corporate executives, and crime bosses co-operating (apparently under duress) on mutual goals. Beginning of their conversion into the organized paramilitary they are today began in 816 A.S. with the activation of Ironwatsas, who would ultimately become the Consortium's leader, and mastermind most of their activities in the following years.

Initially active in Rhineland, after a scandal which resulted in many of their operatives killed by the Buro der Marineintelligenz, and the Consortium's failed attempts to garner an alliance with the Red Hessian Army, they moved their main operations to Kusari. With Ironwatsas as their main field operative, the Consortium attempted to garner an alliance with the NovaPG and Blood Dragons. However, both groups were rather unwelcoming of what they perceived as Gaijin mercenaries (which would pretty much sum up the Consortium's cover story at that time). The Consortium did however manage to gain an alliance with the Golden Chrysanthemums, after Watsas' intervention in several key battles with the Farmers Alliance.

Concurrent to this, Consortium covert operations and engineering units began setting the foundation for Project Olympus, the Construction of a Cybernetic army to give the Consortium a means of direct military action. The wreck of the RNC Kassel, an old Rhineland cruiser lost in Sigma-13 during the 80 years war, was chosen as a laboratory to conduct their initial experiments. Using technology stolen from Cryer Pharmaceuticals, and with captured enemy pilots used as (test) subjects, the Consortium slowly began creating their Cyborg strike force.

The Consortium received a further boost in status following the Morioka Incident, which resulted in the activation of Siren-1.7 (Also known as 'Kathryn'), a state of the art Artificial Intelligence, as well as a close alliance with the GC's Kiretsu Strike Squadron which it maintains to this day. In the months following, Watsas had consolidated the Consortium's command structure, paramilitary and covert ops as well as it's burgeoning industrial capacity. Also, the Consortium forged several key alliances with the Outcasts, the Junker Congress, a long term contract with the Slaver's Union to boost up it's troop reserves, and eventually also the Blood Dragons despite their initial rejection.

With the recent decrease of Kusari Naval Force's military presence in Kusari's core worlds ( as the bulk of their forces was deployed in the Taus to fight the Bretonians), massive increase in forces and hardware, and their partly successful attempts to sink their claws into the economies of Bretonia and Liberty, the Consortium is becoming increasingly dangerous to the security of House Kusari. It has since encountered more resistance than ever before - mainly from the Artisan Farmers Alliance, who have been aware of Ironwatsas since his initial point insertion into Kusari, and as a result of the escalating hostilities, the Consortium have become increasingly aggressive as of late.

The Consortium today functions as a military-oriented insurgency, with respectable manpower, hardware, and connections, but are ultimately few in number. Recently, the Consortium has also been sighted actively supplying, protecting, and assisting the Golden Chrysanthemums (as well as to some extent the Blood Dragons) with the ultimate goal of pacifying and taking control of Kusari's industry and natural resources for their own use.

Modus Operandi

The Consortium's most apparent element is it's paramilitary force. While small, the Consortium through it's political connections and military actions have acquired a significant technological base, and large amounts of military hardware which form the backbone of both their space fleet and planetary shock divisions. While they are restricted by their small size, their persistence, tactical prowess, and sheer ruthlessness have allowed them to outmaneuver and strike their foes where it hurts most. They tend to prefer small scale surgical strikes to debilitate Kusari industry and infrastructure, and also make many attempts at destabilizing or controlling the current government.

However, military operations are only one part of the Consortium's overall operations. Another aspect of quite equal importance is maintaining and securing diplomacy with anyone and anything that can potentially serve a useful purpose to the Consortium's goals. Their closest allies are the Golden Chrysanthemums, whom the Consortium forces are fiercely protective of, but there are also rumors of connections with other enemies of the Kusarian government. Their military forces have often been known to conduct almost suicidal attacks and sacrifice disproportionate amounts of hardware and personnel to protect small numbers of GC ships or individuals. The Consortium forces have also been known to supply the GC with various goods and assist in day-to-day operations and security. Mixed fleets are often seen conducting strikes against Kusari targets of opportunity.

Beyond the GC, the Consortium have forged close relations with the Blood Dragons and NovaPG, whom they also supply to a limited degree. In return, the Dragons have allowed limited use of their Mito Shipyards and other facilities which was extremely important prior to the completion of Takada Shipyards in Tau-65) for use in maintaining some of their larger ships. However, the Consortium-Dragon alliance is not nearly as close as the GC-CS relationship and much distrust occurs between the two factions. The Consortium also arranged long-term contracts with the Outcasts for purchase of spaceships and military equipment, and have an ongoing contract with the Slaver's Union to deliver bulk supplies of troops.

Finally, the Consortium still maintain a significant covert ops division, and even though even fewer information is available about them than the rest of the already rather secretive Consortium, rumors tend to suggest that it's primary tasks are intelligence gathering, political manipulation, and clandestine military strikes. Given the obvious veil of secrecy surrounding these operations, little proof regarding the truth of these activities has surfaced.

Capture Policy

The Consortium are notorious for systematically replacing their ranks with enemy prisoners of war, by means of Cybernetic enslavement and subliminal propaganda. The process by which this is accomplished is at least partially based on stock Cryer research, as well as several botched Liberty Security Force projects which the Consortium acquired through the excellent work of their widespread information network.

Captured enemy pilots are given initial physical and mental exams, and are taken to a medical facility where they are restrained. A Neurocyte, a semi-organic device which converts computer signals into brainwave patterns and vice-versa, is implanted through a hydraulic needle into the individual's brain, and is integrated with medical nanites. Additional cybernetic implants are surgically installed and linked with the Neurocyte, and the individual is subjected to a barrage of visual, audio, and mental subliminal messaging which serves both to overwrite some existing memories and personality traits, as well as to give a degree of operational education and military training to the host. This allows individuals with little or no military background to serve in the Consortium's ranks.

However, previous experiences and memories are not completely destroyed, and most captured individuals retain many elements of their former personalities (though still largely suppressed by their conditioning implants). Because of this, Consortium troops are usually assigned based on previous occupations and specialties. To prevent unwanted emotional impulses, the conditioning implants, when activated (based on adrenaline levels and brainwave patterns) effectively inhibit and suppress the emotions of the user, effectively forcing them to think logically and thoroughly. When inactive however, emotional stimuli are usually unaffected, as these are necessary for certain operational parameters and social interaction with non-consortium entities.

Military Hardware

Because of their close ties with the Outcast military , the Consortium make heavy use of spacecraft of both borderworld and Outcast design. Most of their strike crafts are from the XYZ Series shipline, including the Scimitar light fighter, Switchblade interceptor, Sabre space superiority fighter and the Falcata bomber. Older model Dagger and Stiletto crafts are occasionally used as training craft or target drones, but more commonly just "cannibalized" for spare parts. This appears to happen mainly due to their ease of repair and adaptability, as many are seen upgraded with Consortium technology and non-standard equipment.

The Consortium also possess a small number of Cruiser-class capital ships. One is acting as a mobile HQ, research lab and augmentation station, with reportedly two other Cruisers constructed for troop transport and combat duty.

Supporting all of this is an equally large logistics and trade fleet, consisting of an assortment of generic and easily obtainable transports, freighters, Repair Ships, and Mining vessels, as well as a few old Prison Liners used as improvised carriers and mobile factories. While some of these vessels bear \CS\ transponder signals, most are part of their covert operations units and are disguised as normal civilian trade vessels. These ships serve a number of vital purposes: hauling cargo to provide an extra source of income, transporting military supplies, providing mobility for Consortium ground forces, and supplying Consortium allies.

Diplomacy

Allies

Golden Chrysanthemums

Blood Dragons

Outcasts

Unidentified 'Benefactors'

Enemies

Kusari

Colonial Remnant

The Order

Identification/IFF information

Currently, the Consortium use an Outcast tag and transponder (or GUARD tag for capital ships). However, they are not technically affiliated with the Outcast nation or any outcast factions. The ID is simply the most befitting of their diplomacy and equipment.

Previously, the Consortium used a Golden Chrysanthemum ID and IFF, but this has been changed. Some vessels may still bear a GC tag until such time as the tag can be replaced with an Outcast one.

The faction tag is \CS\-name. No set naming convention is yet in place, and new personnel are typically given military codenames. Consortium covert operations ships or traders not officially part of the Consortium Airwatch may not bear a \CS\ tag.

Known Consortium Personell/Ships

• Apparent Leader:
  • \CS\-Ironwatsas (Ironwatsas)

• Known Airwatch Ships:
  • \CS\-Basul.Re (formerly \CS\-Athanauthe)(Ironwatsas)
  • \CS\-Biotechnika (Blackstarr2)
  • \CS\-Carla (Bobafett)
  • \CS\-Darak.Ti (formerly \CS\-Abyss)(Shared)
  • \CS\-Eskaluur (Ktayn)
  • \CS\-Helkos (Sivran)
  • \CS\-Hoshinokatana (Enko)
  • \CS\-Juliet.November (Nathrael)
  • \CS\-Lady.Aniela (Ironwatsas)
  • \CS\-Shelldrake (Tidomann)
  • \CS\-Tactical-HK1/HK2 (Enko)
  • \CS\-Vivio (Lunaphase)
  • \CS\-Zio.Internicine (Bobafett)

• Support Ships:
  • \CS\-Bank (Shared)
  • C-Miner (aka \CS\-Siim.Siilis)
  • Crucible-01 (Shared armory between the \CS\ and Kiretsu wing)