The Andromeda Syndicate
I relocated to Nas'jone to escape the stifling environment that the Pact put me through. They told me to leave the technology alone, that as a Parisan, my place was in the military or staying at my infrastructure job. I wanted to use my Akjhe to defend, but with mechanisms rather than my shield.
Core Philosophy
Meritism is Key
The Jupiter Syndicate at its heart is a series of mega-conglomerates taking on the role of government. A new style of economy and governmental guidance called Fundamental Meritism drives the Syndicate in every matter. It is the epitome of innovation through capital. Every citizen is an employee clinging to an individual rung of their own societal and corporate ladder. Life in the Syndicate is undoubtedly rife with stress, but that stress is outweighed by always letting citizens sit on the crest of the innovation wave.
Risk-Taking with Safety
The Syndicates progress and welfare is guided by the Jupiter Syndicate leadership, known as the Directoriate. Consisting of the most affluent and knowledge minds in the universe, the Directoriate combines millennia of experience into a single leadership council of which all other companies follow.
The Directoriate and the Jupiter Syndicate offsets the concerns of its citizens by treating failure as a survivable step on the path to success, instead of an unrecoverable pit that many like the Banners. These policies allows each citizen to strive for their dreams, instead of striving to survive.
Government
The Jupiter Syndicate is separated into two distinct tiers of government in order to balance solidarity and local representation. At the top level sits the Directoriate, while lower levels of government are managed by a single Directoriate member or its subsidiary. Planets wishing to join the Jupiter Syndicate need to be merged into ownership by existing Directoriate members or in the very rare case prove itself worthy of a Directoriate seat.
Interplanetary Politics
The Jupiter Syndicate is a meritocracy at the top levels, CEOs of all companies compete for a position in the prestigious Directoriate. A constant game of networking, revenue, showmanship, and corporate politics. It is a rare event that new companies join the Directoriate, as each new voice causes new tribulations to getting anything completed. The Directoriate's purpose is to maintain the corporations that the Syndicate consists of. they enforce the code of law, and keep the corporations within ethical and efficient guidelines.
Joining the Syndicate was simple enough. I declared what I wanted to do, passed some aptitude tests and got picked up by one of the many corporations looking for defense engineers. It was pleasant, the human recruiter didn't even question it. To be allowed to choose what you want, liberating! I start next week as a junior engineer for Magia.
Directoriate Members
| Victory Incorporated | Malcolm Blank and Osbourne Jadey |
| WWWWatchworks | Walter Wyatt Whittaker |
| Magia Technologiae | Eugene Eisenkov and Y'ceric tor Grylun'Siche |
| Willow Corporation | Name Corrupted |
| SysTome | Alastair Hepburn |
| Shroedinger Supply | Name Corrupted |
| Fontaine Corp | Name Corrupted |
Identity
My first few weeks were hectic to put it lightly. I joined a team working to develop a new form of physical damage mitigation. The amount of work I was given on my first week was a intimidating. Ramping up on ironClad was easy enough, but the sheer amount of knowledge my co-workers have... It took everything I had just to compete.
Cubicles, Work-Life Balance, Best-In-Class, Smarter not Harder. Jupiter Syndicate Culture can be summarized through buzzwords and office lingo. People live in their occupations. Corporations invent new ways to incentivize their employees to put in extra effort. It is the norm to be friends with your workgroup, and the talk around the dinner table is the newest company and technology trends.
This culture of effort has lead to an outcast lower class, trapped in a cycle of unproductiveness. Creative minds often wind up trapped, as the Jupiter Syndicate favors the more rationally inclined. Only artists who hold advertising positions manage to stay afloat. The lack of non-utilitarian art gives other Banners the impression that the Jupiter Syndicate sits within a cultural vacuum.
The Jupiter Syndicate culture of corporations has not come without a counter-culture. With low investment in the arts and faced with constant marketing ploys, the sub-culture of 'Net-leeches' took root. People who made it a point to beat out the corporations by living off the economic safety net and resisting every marketing scheme their corporate overlords placed on their shoulders. Often times these leeches take the form of artists, musicians, and hackers, serving what they believe is a higher purpose to expose institutional corruption.
By the end of three months, I was beginning to sense I was not making an impression amongst my peers. Sure I could keep that beer down after every other workday, but I could feel them slowly drifting away from me after my progress report showed some flaws in my code.
A few painful weeks later, I got a ping my from the boss, I was off the team. It stung for sure- to feel that failure for the first time. At least I had a working history now, straight to Career Assistance Department tomorrow.
Military Assets
The Syndication Accords of Jupiter invested the Directoriate to provide the defense and general welfare of the Banner and to raise armies from individual corporation employee pools. Jupiter Syndicate's Military Doctrine revolves around the basis that the Syndicate does not have the quantitative power of many other banners, so it focuses on deterrents and maintaining qualitatively superior forces. In summary, because the Syndicate is technologically inclined, their doctrine focuses on sending better equipment instead of more bodies, and focus on solid defense with the capability to ensure swift, decisive offensives.
While The Syndicate spends a considerable amount of its BDP on military funding, it is to ensure that technology will take the brunt of the attack, while the minds of the people remain able to support the front. What organic military the Syndicate maintains is almost entirely reservist in nature, which enforces the need for Early Warning systems and capital to ensure swift mobilization.
Found myself a new job, testing out the equipment I designed. Career assistance put me on the reservist list in exchange for giving me a QA job validating the technology I was just helping develop. A slap in the face for sure. Thank the Wheel the Safety Net keeps me eating enough and a roof over my head. Perhaps the Pact was right about my destiny.
Strategy
Jupiter Syndicate Military Strategy maintains a best-in-class early warning system and robust military intelligence capability. Corporations are individually tasked with maintaining their planets defense and having swift communication of any and all threats. Strategy for defense comes in several steps.- Maintain strong early indicators of threats, including a navigational prediction array try to determine unauthorized approaches to Syndicate-linked WayHalls.
- In the event of a credible threat, establish immediate naval superiority around the Wayhall, treating the gateway as a chokepoint. Use this strength to force surrender before engagement.
- During this time, Corporation Reservist Corps are to be rallied and then suited up or transported to control facilities. Orders will be established by the System-wide Defense Minister depending on naval outcome. Civilians are to be placed under emergency lock down, returning to their homes or in severe cases transported to evacuation shuttles.
Apparently some wild Netters decided to hold the Head of QA hostage, killed his bodyguards. I was right at the end of an energy shield test when the alarm went off. Heard the gunshots, didn't want to go out there defenseless. I took a minute, hacked that shield up to full strength and ran outside to get to my station. Ran right into the Netters trying to escape with the big boss himself.
Let's just say the shield works, and it makes a nasty smell when it hits flesh, too. I bet I'll have to file a Database Sighting on the stench. Oh yeah, saved the Head too, I think he likes what I did to the shield.
Resource
The Syndicate has little in natural resources because they do not have a sheer bulk of planets like other Banners do. What raw goods they do receive they gather through asteroid mining, this often leads to competition between the Syndicate and the Federation. The cornerstone of their economy is the refinement of raw goods into commodities for export.
Trade
Economy serves as the core aspect of life to the Jupiter Syndicate. Every concept that Government supports needs its fuel, and Syndicates powerhouse economy grants that fuel in droves. The Syndicate boasts an immense line of exports to other banners, while only taking in limited imports primarily consisting of raw materials and small goods. Notable exports range from almost any technology sector; armaments, nano-tech, artifical intelligence, etc. Much of the Syndicates powerful BDP is used to support citizen welfare and incentive programs.
Living Standards
The most influential feature of the Jupiter Syndicate economic policy is the 'Safety Net.' In Syndication Accords of Jupiter's drafting, corporations agreed to universally fund a base income for all citizens. This base income is calculated by length of citizenship, employment history, and includes a modifier representing the strength of the economy. While this safety net can be abused, the Syndicate retorts on the point that people can take risks and invest without worrying about job security.
Guess all that dreaming of making tech for defense paid out in the end. Head of QA was so thankful that he decided to boost me up to design. Kinda funny, started in the middle, hit the bottom, ended up near enough to the top. You take a risk here and there, and I finally took one that paid off. Might have been bloody, but it got me designing this new shield tech. Nothing gets my Akhje going like seeing a shield I design get sodered onto the new line of power armor.
Jupiter Syndicate
Head of Faction
The Directoriate
Statistics
Sophont Diversity
Head of Faction
The DirectoriateStatistics
Sophont Diversity
| Human | 72% |
| Sazashi | 12% |
| Verin | 13% |
| Other | 3% |
Universal BDP
36% of Universal ProductMilitary Spending
8.23% of Entire BDPPrimary Languages
| Ubiq | 65% |
| Saza | 10% |
| Aeai | 5% |
| Earthen | 20% |
| Other | 5% |
At Their Best
You hold firm to the efficiency and forward-thinking of the Syndicate. Bars are constantly set for you, and you do everything in your power to not only make that bar, but set a new standard. This efficiency can be infectious to others. Watching you tackle problems with such determination and drive brings out a productive fire with which to forge new possibilities and success. You do not waste your time berating those who can not match your success instead, you see them as a project to build up.At Their Worst
You are always playing the game, and if there is going to be a winner, which is you; then there has to be a loser, which is them. You use your skills to give yourself a leg up above everyone else. You are not scared to push a drowning person down if it means your head stays above the water. The corporate ladder is yours to climb, and anyone who can not keep up is destined to fall anyways. You don't let them drag you down too.They are the banner to join if...
Values
Put in the time to always be expanding your knowledge.
Never let the fear of the unknown stop your progress.