The UEF is composed of several large conglomerates that covered many fields. But as individual groups, these small corporatists specified their areas. A number of them gathered together to combine their interests and protect their backs. Within a few decades, their combined income managed to secure a large number of worlds in the Common Wealth, which they all co-funded and maintained. Even a couple of the conglomerates had a couple exclusive rights to some planets. But the entire corporation personnel had free-reign over the CWN colony worlds. They commonly shared technology to serve their purposes. There have been reports of infighting between some groups but these conflicts had all been resolved internally.

However, the UEF quickly found them selves with one major problem. That is a major lack of military in key positions. Almost 80% of their operating military is contained around their core Manufacturing Factories. This made them vulnerable on their borders from rival groups.

NOTABLE CORPORATION:

ANTIOCH
Antioch is the largest of the UEF sub groups. It handles the largest job of any corporation, that of terraforming worlds for the CWN. Most of their projects start off under Antioch before handing over to other corporations to finish the job. Antioch lands first, sets up atmosphere processors and leaves with a breathable atmosphere for colonization. Antioch barely survived the war. Summit often tried to destroy the reputation of Antioch because it was one of the few corporations with the funds and technology to build these processors.

SYNSOUND INTERNATIONAL

Synsound constructs the only exclusive synth not designed or built by Hyperdyne, the Musical models. Synsound resurrected the music industry, and promptly destroyed it by flooding the field with wall-to-wall noise. Synsound’s music is heard all across the UEF and its name is household to even Outer Rim worlds, making it the most well known but smallest of the CWN corporatist.

SKANK INC.

Skank is the prime consumer corporate of the CWN and also produced the main brunt of consumer products to the UEF colonies and a large chunk of the CWN as well. The infamous Ivy Derringer, who controls the corporation like her own personal cruise line, runs Skank.

ARMAT INC.

Armat’s size increased substantially when it was given one of the most exclusive contracts around. Armat builds and maintains the CWN weapons. They created the popular Laser Pulse Rifle as well as the Pulse Smart Gun. Whatever reduced stocks occurred in other corporations, the CWN would always be satisfied with the funds from Armat. Armat

ACCURACY INTERNATIONAL

AccInt is the other military contractor in the CWN, building and maintaining weapons for the Navy. AccInt is more than half the size of Armat with half the service contracts with the CWN. There was some controversy when some weapons were transported with faulty firing mechanisms.

SUMMIT (“The Company”)

Summit is a joint stock corporation that works closely with the Common Wealth government in the areas of space exploration, commerce, colonization, and military trading. The many branches of Summit work together under the close scrutiny of the shareholders to ensure that all projects meet Company standards.

In order to maintain control of large amounts of colonies, settled on distant planets, the government commissioned the Summit Colonial Administration Division. The Colonial Administration Division deems which planets are rich enough in raw materials to begin the terraforming process. The Atmosphere Processors are set up by Company employees and must be maintained over several decades in order to make the planet's air breathable. Because of the long-term contracts involved, Company employees have the option of bringing family members with them to the terraforming colonies.

Because of the Government’s inability to handle the over-burdened correctional system, the practice of using prisoners was commercialized and Summit became one of the top enterprises in the field. The company's success in space exploration and settling terraforming colonies made creating a network of outer-rim prison planets an easy task. The facilities act not only as prisons, but also as mines where inmates serve sentences of hard labor, and produce valuable commodities at the same time.

Summit works closely with the Government in the development of new weapons technology in order to ensure the safety of its terraforming colonies transport ships, and the lives of Company employees who serve on them. The Colonists have explored space for Millennia’s, and the discovery of every new world presents new dangers. The Company takes these factors very seriously, and the Bio-Weapons Division is constantly developing new forms of protection against unknown threats.

HYPERDYNE SYSTEMS

Hyperdyne was once the largest corporations around until Summit sprouted. At first Hyperdyne and Summit conducted a prosperous relationship for many years. When Summit started encroaching on Hyperdyne territory, Hyperdyne closed off their doors and attempted to curtail the progress of their “partner.” At about the time the UEF was formed, Hyperdyne sabotaged certain critical operations at Summit, and attempted to take full control of the Sector for itself. Summit recovered from Hyperdyne's treachery, however, and now holds a critical position in the Sector. There has been no open warfare between the two Corporations in many years, but there is a certain tension in their dealings with each other.

Hyperdyne builds many spacecraft designs and controls more worlds than any other corporation. They spearheaded the development of new ship classes and still controls large forces in the manufacturing of Synthetics. Even though Synths are constructed by almost ever corporation, none produce them in the volume of Hyperdyne. They are responsible for every new technology in the field including the AdCap synth, the Liston and Jerry type combat synthetics.

Hyperdyne still maintains an iron fist control over the colonies under their funding. Essentially, Hyperdyne is a twin of Summit, with fingers in almost every field of modern life. The twelve board members command the corporation in secrecy. They operate within their own sector and often follow their own rules, including setting up the Arcturus loop to avoid CWN regulations. They also have the largest military to enforce its control.

FREDRICK CONGLOMERATE “FREDCO”

Fredco dabbles in most fields not traditionally acknowledged by the general society. This includes nuclear waste containment, decontamination, and hazardous material transporting. Fredco is a necessarily evil, doing all those duties most hate to have in society but if business is to continue, they must exist. FredCo has one major subdivision.

SCHILLER BIOLOGICAL

Schiller Biological was a Genetic Experimentation division of Fredco, with absolutely no morals. They experiment on all forms of life in many conditions. When these tests go bad, Schiller simply disposes of the results, a job they are more than experienced with. Schiller experiments on alien life forms and on the mystical Ley Lines/Nexus Points.

BIO-NATIONAL INTERNATIONAL “BIO-NAT”

Bio-National is the largest medical conglomerate around. They stationed their primary headquarters on Nobel. Bio-National has always been under a watchful eye by its competitors because of their committed posture to being the only medical supplier to the colonies. They have achieved most of that already.

Their security force is the largest proportional to their size. The corporate population is the smallest of the big five even though its military is just slightly smaller. They are currently spearheading the movement in biological experimentation. This position is not looked upon highly by the other large corporations, all of which had a vested interest in the new scientific field.

Currently, Bio-National is the source of many of the most lucrative contracts for mercenaries. Only the most ruthless men and women are wanted. Bio-National answers to no one even though it still tries to follow the basic rules the CWN put down. Their controlling force consists of a board of eight members and a President.

Recently, Bio-Nat has been acquiring new subdivisions to add to their portfolio.

NEO-PHARM:
Neo-Pharm is a new extension to the R&D of medicine and surgery. Bio-National contains a bio-weapons division that produces the Nutra-cell power pack, which uses an alien ‘Royal’ Jelly as a prime ingredient. Even though the Nutra-Gel technology was stolen by ZCT, the formula has became a crucial component in space medicine. Neo-Pharm utilized more than 30% of Bio-nat’s budget.

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Other Ship Manufacturers

AERODYNE Corporation INC.

One of the larger corporations that sometimes is considered on the short list for being on equal stature with Summit, Hyperdyne, and a few others. Aerodyne runs colonies and builds spacecraft, making them very self-sufficient. They have a working relationship with a few of the other big corporations. Aerodyne is not known for stepping on other’s toes. They even have such lucrative agreements to actually supply Hyperdyne and Summit Corporations’ colonies with supplies and spacecraft. The three even work together to set up the Arcturus loop. It seems certain that Aerodyne would soon become a major contender because they are considered the one of the most popular of all corporations. The founding member of Aerodyne, Jonas Weir, works for Hyperdyne now.

DIGITAL ARCH TECHNOLOGIES (DIGI-ARC)

Digi-Arc has won a lucrative CWN contract for their superior trans-atmospheric fighter called the HALO-11, which has placed them on the corporate map. They proved their designs valid and are quickly making their fortune. The HALO-11 has yet to show any defects and unreliability. They produce a single design in numbers. Unfortunately, few of their other supplemented designs have ever caught on.

LOCKMART STARCUB INC.

Lockmart currently stands as the oldest corporation still in business. Lockmart builds the Stellarum Class Liner, the original spacecraft that ventured through the systems and consisted of the first interstellar drive.

However, they never ventured into colony management. Soon, they found themselves under pressure from growing corporations like Hyperdyne and Summit, encroaching on their field of expertise.

Lockmart builds few designs now, relaying on its older production line. The only new model they have produced in the last few years is the Inter-System Courier Shuttle.
Lockmart still has small buildings on almost every CW world.

FALCON INDUSTRIES

Falcon Industries spurned out of nowhere recently when their stocks soared. This spiral came from the amazing colony world of Pavilion. Flacon Industries ran its headquarters on the moon and all of its subsidiaries from this system, making Falcon very small. Most corporations don’t even have a world of their own even though they have headquarters over the CWN. Falcon resides exclusively on Pavilion’s moon and commits their entire budget to maintaining that world. To that end, Falcon Industries supplied itself with a substantial military force with grants with the CWN for security. This made Pavilion the most fortified world of its size.

Falcon Industries does not play ball with other corporations. They don’t trade much with any corporation and only deal with those that can supply Falcon with the necessities of life.

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Weapons Manufacturers

ALPHATECH HARDWARE INC.

Alphatech is a major military contractor and supplies many weapon systems to CW and UEF forces, but secretly keeps their most advanced weaponry for them selves. Alphatech is known for butting heads with many other corporations because of their refusal to disperse their massive arsenal as they continue to play their markets against each other. Alphatech answers to a board of one chairman and eight shareholders, half of which are ex-military.

VENTREL SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL

Ventrel was the other major small-arms manufacturer and often is considered the sole thorn in the back of Alphatech Hardware. Ventrel cornered the market by concentrating on smaller easier designs when Alphatech worked on heavier weapons. Ventrel hit it big when they snagged the contract to supply the CWN exclusively with small arms. The jewel here is the VP 70, produced in the hundreds of thousands. They also constructed older designs like the Shotgun. Largest of their designs was the Automatic Sentry Gun system with is almost infinite variations.

Ventrel refuses to fall even under the heaviest of pressure from Alphatech and even picked up a few more military contracts over the CWN. Their inexpensive weapon designs resulted in many of their weapons appearing on the outer rim colonies. Ventrel’s headquarters is located on

BOYARS INTERSTELLER INC.

Boyar isn’t recognized as an official UEF Manufacturer, but does a lot of weapon mounts for Digital Arch Technologies. They construct a large number of weapons for Aerodyne’s frigates class, Angelship, as well as producing the primary weapons for the Digi-Arch HALO-11 fighter and spearhead the design of an ultra state of the art phased plasma cannon. But their attempt to improve their prototype model has continually failed at every start-up test. Some rumors point to sabotage (probably Alphatech) but no proof can be offered. Whatever the case, Boyars holds only a few military contracts. However, soon their only surviving contract will be the Boyars 1500 Phased Plasma Cannon for the Angleship.

REPUBLIC SYSTEMS ELECTRIC/ REPUBLIC DYNAMIC

Republic Systems goes by two subdivisions, Republic Electric and Republic Dynamic. They are both weapon manufactures originally separated, but recently bought out and merged even though they still produce products under their distinctive logos. They largely construct heavy armor and weapons for spacecrafts. Their most lucrative contract is supplying the primary and most popular weaponry for the M577 CMC Armored Personnel Carrier: The 20mm Gattling Cannon and the 40 mW Free Electron Laser. They produced the weapons in numbers before finding their stocks slumping in the open markets. This was due to rival groups, like Alphatech, stealing new designs right off the drawing broads. Even though they had a good reputation with the CMC, they couldn’t persuade the CMC to drop the Alphatech contracts in protest.

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Hardware Equipment

ZAJER COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES or ZAJER – COMM – TECHNIC.

ZCT is an R&D group that develops high technology for outer colonies. They take existing designs and builds upon them, perfecting other companies’ models. They fell upon hard times when their Nutra-Gel technology was stolen Armats Inc. They soon developed many Radio Communication technologies when they hired a young scientist named Roland Barthes. They made a fortune selling his communications array to pirates and smugglers. Bio-nat funded the CWN investigation in ZCT’s activities when their research outpost was destroyed. By the time the investigation had started, ZCT requested bankruptcy protection and was later bought out by Bio-nat, which continues to make their products under ZCT’s name.

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