Consortium

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This is an unofficial player group.

Consortium
Origin	Kusari Empire
Alignment	Quasi-Lawful/Unlawful (varies by region)
Profile
Date of founding	Unknown A.S.
Date of dissolution	817 A.S., Reconstituted 818 A.S. A.S.
Founder(s)	Ironwatsas
Current leader(s)	Zeta Foxtrot, Overwatch
Base of operations	Tau-65
Secondary Base	Unknown
Identification
Primary ID	Pirate ID
Secondary ID	Outcast ID
IFF	Golden Chrysanthemum, Outcast (for capital ships, oversized transports, and some 'legacy' ships from the first era)
Tag(s)	\CS\
Primary role
Unknown
Secondary role
Unknown

The Consortium is a highly covert military-styled insurgency, which is comprised largely of Transhuman, or Posthuman cyborgs. Commanded by an Artificial Intelligence of unknown origins,they exist to bring about true order to Sirius and Humanity. The Consortium are mainly active in Kusari, and believed to be involved in a wide range of primarily military activities against the current government.

History

1st Era

There are a few conflicting theories to how the Consortium came about. The original history being the Consortium were the descendants of the lost sleeper ship Mayflower, and a colony it later established long before the Coalition-Alliance war. However, this is now known to be an internal cover-up, designed to confuse and throw off enemy spies and curious people. While the Mayflower is a known historical incident, the Consortium itself has no direct ties to it.

The second, was the Consortium's founding by a rogue AI known as OVERLORD, who's intents were to bring 'order' to Sirius. However, this too, was a falsification. OVERLORD was only activated after the Consortium's first era, and reformatted the Neurocyte network in order to further it's own goals, which ultimately failed, and lead to OVERLORD's expurgation.

What is known is the Consortium was created by the 'individual' known as Ironwatsas, to what exact end, and exactly how Watsas was able to assemble such a large organization in a relatively short amount of time with no clear external support remains unknown.

What is known was the Consortium mobilized a significant and competent fleet, forging an alliance with the Golden Chrysanthemums and other assorted Kusari revolutionaries, ostensibly to hasten the end of the Tau War. The 1E fleet was a highly mobile gurellia force, predominantly operating from GC bases and Consortium carriers, which would frequently raid commerce and skirmish with lawful forces, as well as the Farmers Alliance and Hogosha. While the AFA could not match the Consortium's equipment and firepower, they did learn much more of the organization that anyone else. But the disappearance of Ze'ev Barak meant that little of this was acted on in a meaningful way.

The Consortium's heavy firepower, combined with an alliance with the Golden Chrysanthemums, NovaPG and later Rising Sons, as well as arms deals with the Outcasts proved a significant thorn in the side of Kusari police and home guardsmen, and the Imperial Navy was forced to delegate additional craft to homeland security. Despite this, losses among frontline pilots gradually increased, and the Consortium's 'recruitment' policies of the era often caused concern among their allies. While some diplomatic scuffles did occur, most were dealt with gracefully and normal service continued largely unimpeded.

2nd Era

However, Watsas abruptly departed in 817 A.S., throwing the Consortium into disarray. Zeta Foxtrot also shut down at this time, and OVERLORD was activated as part of a contingency plan.

OVERLORD managed to gain full control over the Neurocyte network; a task it was not designed for, but the AI grew to manage such a task... abiet at a reduced efficiency. Placing itself as a leader and concerning itself with it's own intents. OVERLORD apparently desired to create a 'unity', presumably an extrapolation of the Transhumanist intentions of the 1st Era Consortium, and justified this with the fabricated history of it's supposed arrival in Sirius.

Operations continued for a time, and the Consortium achieved limited success in raiding, but quickly devolved into petty supply piracy, as front organizations began to atrophy and logistics suffered. OVERLORD was a dispassionate and self-interested AI, following ingrained hard-logic patterns as opposed to a foresight that Watsas or any other human possessed. It twisted the remains of the organization to it's end, and ultimately, hastened it's downfall. What remained of the Consortium Fleets were laid up in reserve, kept in operable condition.. just in case.

3rd Era

As of 818 A.S. CASE ORANGE has been activated, transmitting a wake-up signal to the surviving Consortium fleets. This resulted in a reformat of the remaining units and a rapid mobilization of the Armada's resources. The exact source of CASE ORANGE appeared to originate from inside the Kusari Military, hinting at a wider conspiracy. In the days after CASE ORANGE was activated, Armada ships have been seen moving around deep in Kusari space and anomalous transmissions and jamming was detected. This appears to be part of a strategic-level deception operation to cover the movement of forces. Of what disposition and intent is unknown at this time.

Divisions

The Consortium’s numbers are much smaller than those it wages war against, full strength numbering somewhere around twenty thousand agents. However, due to the very nature of its operations, more and more agents are assimilated every day, bolstering the strength of the Consortium and replacing lost agents. Agents are assigned to different sections of the overall Consortium, usually to match their skills (augmented or otherwise).

Armada

The most visible arm of the Consortium, the Armada acts as a paramilitary force to secure Consortium airspace as well as perform surgical strikes against targets of interest. Few know of the Consortium’s existence, at least in the public, and those that do mostly assume that the Armada is the Consortium’s entirety. Formerly, Much of the Armada’s ranks were filled by emotionless ‘blanks’, so highly cybernised that they have lost their emotions. The Consortium were also known to use child soldiers and nekomata as combat pilots and ground troops, to further horrify and demoralize the enemy. While these drones are generally more effective in combat, there are many notable exceptions to this rule, mostly those who were ace pilots before assimilations, who as a result have retained varying degrees of their personality.

As of the 3rd Era, with most veteran pilots dead or missing, most of the Consortium fleet consists of remote controlled Drones with a few surviving pilots who have been used to create a cabal of leaders to help rearm the organization. Most of the fleet's heavy warships and fighter squadrons fall under armada TSOG/BOLSOG units (or would normally), but are currently in a state of flux due to low numbers.

Intel Spike

The Consortium's intelligence department. INTELSPIKE is made up mainly of experts in the fields of espionage, covert ops, and often former officers and members of various factions. Unlike other groups, many in INTELSPIKE are those who joined the Consortium willingly, and with intent. INTELSPIKE runs a number of external operations, including deep recon, double-agent recruitment, liaison work, and recently, public propaganda.

Using a mixture of cutting edge technology and old-fashioned spy work, INTELSPIKE operatives are constantly monitoring both allied and enemy organizations alike for threats and opportunities. Typically, INTELSPIKE operatives remain well away from the battlefields in space, and often intermingle with both friend and foe alike, often allowing them to play on sympathies and beliefs much better than those of other house intelligence groups and members of the Armada.

INTELSPIKE also operates a few ships of it's own, seperate from the main armada (often using civilian freelancer identification to avoid public scrutiny and evade law enforcement if nescessary. Most INTELSPIKE ships are noncombatants, consisting of operative shuttlecraft, recon ships, and a few modified Commando Solo craft used for propaganda and neuro-communications broadcasting.

Blackwatch

Blackwatch serves two main purposes; Internal security and Shipboard/Planetary combat forces. The former taking a priority, as the Consortium land forces and marines are (currently) relatively few in number. Generally, Blackwatch troops are far more heavily indoctrinated and augmented even then most Armada pilots, and conditioned harshly to ensure loyalty to Overwatch and prevent defection and sedition. This is their goal throughout the organization, one which has grown more important with the influx of new members.

While Blackwatch operates some of it's own ships, these are mostly prototypes or stealth craft, or landing & support craft related to ground operations. Some types differ from those used by the Armada, so this should be taken into account. Though Blackwatch troops commonly provide on-ship security for larger Consortium warships and merchant marine vessels.

The Consortium's land and planetary forces tended to be relatively small and relied mostly on drones, but these were destroyed quickly after the Neurocyte net collapsed. A few small scale raids were staged on Planet Kyushu, but ultimately repulsed by the Imperial Kusari Army and local forces. Currently, a few units hoverspeeders and light mecha remain in service, and the Consortium lacks any planetary landing capacity as of this time. It should be noted, that some aquatic or amphibious forces may still be active, as they were largely submersible drones designed for long-duration stealth missions, and may have re-activated with CASE ORANGE.

There is a noted inter-service rivalry between INTELSPIKE and Blackwatch, with the former's often sympathetic attitude and the latter's brutality and authoritarianism. While it amounts to little in terms of disharmony of operations, it is one that is constantly kept an eye on by Overwatch and the cabal.

Logistics

Spawned from a need to move equipment and materials to Consortium-controlled and allied facilities and support the general war effort, the Logistics division is a major and integral part of operations. They also collect stolen goods and equipment for transport, and supply GC and allied bases as an act of partnership. Logistics spike performs many of the day-to-day service operations a force as large as the Armada needs to maintain operation and ensure fleets, warships, and personnel remain fed and fueled. With few permanent bases and a constantly mobile infrastructure, Logistics has a significant job to do. The Consortium's ability to maintain itself and ensure contacts and trading agreements abroad is both remarkable and the main reason the organization achieved as much success as it did.

As of the 3rd era, the Logistics fleet is in disarray, with many transports having been sold off or destroyed. It appears to be a high-priority restoring them, possibly higher than maintaining an offensive force in the current situation.

Overwatch

Not technically a division, but functions the leadership core of all branches of Consortium service. "Overwatch" can refer both to the single leader of the Consortium (Ironwatsas and later Zeta Foxtroy respectively, it is unknown if OVERLORD used this title), or a broader network of AIs and Cabal of admirals and adjutants which manage the day-to-day affairs of the Armada and subgroups.

Zeta Foxtrot currently bears the title of "Overwatch", with a lesser cabal made up of a few AI's (CANAL, MIGOU, & SYLPH) which were created for other tasks but are now taking some of the load off of ZF. As well, most of the surviving 'human' veterans have been promoted and serve as de-jure fleet commanders and admirals, helping the descision-making process move along and planning for operations ahead.

Sleeper Agents

Sleeper Agents make up the Consortium-embedded politicians and military personnel used to funnel intelligence and affect enemy operations from within, administrated mostly by INTELSPIKE. Most are not even aware that they are agents of the Consortium and carry out their mole activities as if it was in their job description. It is this quality that makes them so effective at infiltrating governments, militaries and corporations for the benefit of the Consortium. Not a lot minus a detailed scan of the cranium or brain biopsy can detect the Neurocyte embedded within.

Many voluntaries working for the Consortium and unknown individuals remained active after the dormancy period. These were key in the resurrection of the Consortium and the commencement of the 3rd era, relaying information and manipulating events to the organization's ends. After the activation, most remain active and as yet undetected.

Capture & Recruitment Policy

During the 1st and 2nd Eras, the Consortium primarily replenished their ranks with enemy prisoners of war, enslaved via a neurocyte and controlled by AIs. This was a highly efficient process, as bulk deliveries from the Slaver's union could effectively maintain the fleet with little down-time for training and indoctrination. However, the partial collapse of the Neurocyte network, as well as the collapses of the Slavers Union and a lack of ships and personnel capable of processing an influx of such slaves has lead to a shift in this trend.

The Consortium now have begun to recruit the 'old fashioned' way, seeking individuals with military experience, or those with transhumanist or militarist trains of thought. While generally an apolitical organization, some have noted a trend of what has been described as "techno-faschism" emerging as a result of the shift of operations. Raw recruits are more or less 'normal' humans; however, the Consortium tend to further indoctrinate, condition, and eventually augment their troops as time goes on and promotions increase. The highest ranking officers; the ones with organizational and internal power; tend to be the least 'human' among them.

Consortium Shiptypes

The Consortium fleet of the 1st era consisted mainly of second-generation Outcast and Borderworlds hardware. Typically 'off-the-shelf' hulls modified after purchase to the Consortium's ends.

Additional ship-types are known, but a complete list has yet to be acquired.

Zone of Interest

Zone of Interest

C-SEC 1: Consortium primary ZoI. Armada units are free to conduct autonomous operations throughout the sector

C-SEC 2: Consortium ships must request permission to enter these sectors, unless trading, escorting traders, or calibrating hardware/software

C-SEC 3: Sectors which are highly restricted, and may not be entered without command permission.

C-SEC 4: These sectors may not be entered under any circumstances, bar Psiops operations organized by Overwatch.

Identification

Consortium ships can be identified by their \CS\- tag. Naming conventions are based predominantly on Japanese Mythology, Spiritualism, and to some extent, History.

Most Consortium ships carry Pirate IDs, with GC IFF. The exception are Capital Ships and Large Transports which use Outcast ID (for lack of a better solution), and some Intelspike ships and couriers use Freelancer ID for special purposes.

Miner ID may also be used by some field logistics teams.

Diplomacy

As the Consortium has been dormant for so long, established diplomacy has for the most part collapsed, as many former allies and enemies have collapsed, and Overwatch has yet to normalize relations.

The Golden Chrysanthemums are assumed as an ally, and Kusari Lawfuls assumed as hostiles. All other factions are neutral to unfriendly until proven otherwise.