ZinZai
Weight-for-weight, Zin Zaibatsu is one of the most feared small-scale private military contractors in the Hundred Suns; their aura of intimidation and prestige generated by centuries of success as a mercenary hiring hall with a singular brand.
Secretive and defensive, ZZ operates from within the “fortress” heliosphere of Hodgson, ZZ tightly restricts traffic in and out of its slipway. A number of former citizens of Hodgson’s capital world, Olympus, have smuggled themselves out over the years. Their stories corroborate a ZZ practice of “recruiting” a percentage of their young people for training on Fuerza: a world hostile to all life save the unique, lethal organisms adapted to living there. All report their children and siblings returning years later as different people: cold and clear-eyed in the mould of a ZZ Lion. Little is known of ZZ training techniques or how they achieve this effect, but the charisma and remorselessness of ZZ operatives is the stuff of legend and horror stories, thrillers and human rights investigations. Attempts at rebellion on Olympus have been ongoing for generations. Thus far, no attempt has come close to succeeding.
ZZ’s business model and influence doesn’t end with outsourcing military personnel and hardware. They are equally if not more invested in privately managing entire heliospheres on behalf of less benign foreign leaderships (the Cragblack Throne, for example). On two occasions, ZZ has purchased the right to full and permanent ownership of more than one system after functioning as steward for a time (Pasco heliosphere in 973, most notably).
CEO and Chairman Winston da Silva has helmed ZZ for more than a century. Very little is known of him. He rarely leaves Olympus’ capital city (Citadel Winston da Silva), which is named for him.
