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</dpl>|mantic_store=*[https://www.manticgames.com/firefight/gcps/ Firefight] | </dpl>|mantic_store=*[https://www.manticgames.com/firefight/gcps/ Firefight] | ||
*[https://www.manticgames.com/deadzone/gcps/ Deadzone]|founded=0 AE|capital_planet=[[Old Earth]]}}'''GCPS''', which is the acronym for '''Galactic Co-Prosperity Sphere''', is the largest faction in the [[Warpath Universe]] and is governed by [[Council of Seven]] | *[https://www.manticgames.com/deadzone/gcps/ Deadzone]|founded=0 AE|capital_planet=[[Old Earth]]|games={{Deadzonelogo}}{{Firefightlogo}}{{Dreadballlogo}}{{Epicwarpathlogo}}}}'''GCPS''', which is the acronym for '''Galactic Co-Prosperity Sphere''', is the largest faction in the [[Warpath Universe]] and is governed by [[Council of Seven]] | ||
== About == | == About == | ||
Latest revision as of 12:38, 24 February 2025
GCPS, which is the acronym for Galactic Co-Prosperity Sphere, is the largest faction in the Warpath Universe and is governed by Council of Seven
About
The Galactic Sphere
The Galactic Co-Prosperity Sphere is the largest empire the galaxy has ever seen, and is home to the human race. In its expansion across the stars, the GCPS has reached further than any other civilisation, gathering more planets under its rule and boasting a population outnumbering its closest competitor many times over.
Far from being a collective, unified state, the GCPS is a collective of individual corporations, numbering in the thousands. From small family concerns mining remote asteroid belts and farming frontier worlds, to the so called hypercorps, vast business machines so large in their control, reach and wealth, they might well qualify as empires in their own right. Their operations can be bewildering in both their complexity and scale, spanning sectors hundreds of light years apart and spread throughout the spheres from Old Earth. The hypercorps are immense, juggernauts of commerce, industry and exploitation. All have made the investment in the manpower and weaponry to enforce their claims on their assets. Above all they are old. Their history reaches back to the very founding of the Co-Prosperity Sphere nearly a millennia ago, when a single sphere was all that existed.
Now, over a 150 years since the Mandrake Rebellion, which saw the formal creation of The Council of Old Earth, formed from the seven corporations that seeded the rebellion in the first place, much of what was lost has been reclaimed and a Fifth Sphere is being slowly established as humans reach ever further into the void.
However, the inner spheres were left unscathed by the fighting, and the breadth of inequality between them and the outer spheres has become more pronounced than ever. It is not surprising then, that resentment simmers just below the surface of every outer sphere planet, and Rebel activity is a growing threat to the GCPS.
The Council, for now, retains a vice-like grip on the GCPS and is fully aware of the difficulties brewing in the outer worlds. Few things happen within any sphere that they are not aware of, through their vast network of spies, informers and corporation military presence. But as the spread of humankind continues, further and further from the core worlds, how much control the Council can continue to maintain remains a concern. The wild, far-flung frontier worlds can be a law to their own.
The Fifth Sphere is still young and yet already shows the signs of reaping rewards unmatched by any previous expansion. For the last 20 years, there have been record applications for the establishment of trade hubs and Corporation Central is struggling to keep up with requests for the implementation of new routes to colony worlds. Much of this expansion has been found towards the western and southern edges of the galaxy. ‘Midnight VII’ is currently the most Core-distant outpost of the GCPS marked on NaviCorp maps, but it is only a matter of time before it is supplanted by another.
Sharing the Galaxy
The GCPS now extends unimaginably far from its origins in the Orion Arm. But human diaspora share the galaxy with a vast number of other species – some organised and advanced, others savage and warlike, yet all as hungry to grow and survive as the human corporations.
The GCPS is, officially at least, more than welcoming of alien races. It is far cheaper to absorb and incorporate an existing civilisation through diplomatic means than military ones. The well-oiled practices of incorporation are ancient, from before humans even contemplated leaving their own world. As the alien ruling classes come to depend on a corporation’s benevolence, the subtle transfer of power has already begun, and the once affable and generous corporation stance evolves into something far more controlling and manipulative, until the original alien leaders remain so in name only. The corporation makes all the decisions and a once-proud nation becomes just another backwater planet feeding the corporation machine. Of course, if the niceties of diplomacy do not bear fruit, corporations will always get what they want, through scheming, destabilisation campaigns or simply direct military action.
The Spheres are a spiderweb of interconnected systems, linked together via major junction planets or space stations. Thus vast swathes of the outer spheres are still unexplored. It is entirely possible that entire alien empires exist undiscovered with GCPS borders, either unaware of their encirclement or desperately trying to remain undetected. The idea is so enticing that it has spawned an entire industry of galactic treasure hunters, all seeking mythical alien nations and the riches they could find.
The galaxy is alive with danger. Ancient alien empires don’t take kindly to the predations and onslaught of human expansion and many will fight back, holding their own or even pushing the GCPS back. The same civilisations may trade or ally with the humans, or each other, as time, politics or convenience dictate. But alliances are fleeting and old grudges simmer under the surface.
Fighting Fires
In many ways, the GCPS is more powerful than it has ever been. Most of its constituent corporations are thriving, moving across the galaxy at unprecedented speed, snapping up exploitable resources and using them to feed the new markets they are building. Its colonies, cities, and space stations are bigger, its pockets deeper, its shareholders richer. But, like everything else in corporate space, all this progress comes at a price. All across the Five Spheres and in neighbouring territories, conflicts are becoming increasingly common.
The presence of Plague Fleets has destabilised traffic in multiple sectors. Starships and space freighters, carrying nothing less than death and destruction, have struck at outposts across the outer Spheres, seemingly at will and without reason. Piracy has always existed and is an accepted risk of interstellar commerce. But even the most ruthless thieves can be reasoned with and they rarely kill their victims - they understand it would be bad for business if starships stopped travelling through their sectors entirely or corporations ceased seeding colonies on their worlds. What the Plague does to the ships it attacks and the people it gets hold of is clearly far worse.
The consequences of more Plague presence are inescapably dire too. More Plague attacks require increased Enforcer responses. And, though there are many Enforcers in the corps, their numbers are not infinite and they are not a cheap commodity either. Diverting them from other operations creates rents in the GCPS’s interstellar armour, gaps through which other races - rebels, Marauders, the Nameless - can slip in. The Council is finding it increasingly necessary to call upon the private armies of the corporations to shore up some of these holes.
The political situation within the Asterian Empire is far outside the Council’s influence, of course, but upheaval across the border is being felt within the Five Spheres. Without a moderating voice to calm their anger, the Clades are becoming more aggressive. As well as seeking out the Plague wherever it spreads, Asterian armies have been encountered on apparently uninfected worlds too. Forge Father and corporate operations alike have found themselves under sudden assault from enemies able to teleport into their midst, seemingly at will. Whether they are there to stop an infection occurring or simply to bloody the nose of their perceived enemies is known only to their own commanders. Whatever their motivation, all these incursions must be met, often with unflinching aggression.
There are other consequences of the disruption of the normally well-regulated functions of the GCPS too. The Veer-myn, for a long time an accepted but largely invisible part of corporate life, have shown signs of increasing agitation across the Five Spheres. Sometimes their uprisings are understandable - the exodus at Exham IV, the internecine war sparked by the arrival of a new colony on Acreon. Other times though, the rationale behind these offensives is far more oblique. Analysts at ETCU have nevertheless put forward a theory: the Veer-myn, somehow, are reacting to the Plague.
Some, if not all of the recent exoduses of Veer-myn populations have occurred just before either the discovery of a Plague Artefact or an attack by elements of a Plague fleet. And the Veer-myn threaten the GCPS in at least one more certain and tangible way too - almost all the recent infestations of Forge Father clans have occurred at sites belonging to allies to the Council. Several of these have threatened the supply of armour for the Enforcer corps.
The border of GCPS space, at least where it runs up against the Star Realm, is often poorly defined. This is particularly true in areas where the local controlling dwarf clan is not one of the dozen or so who profit from trading with the Council of Seven. Ownership of planets unfortunate enough to be located in these contested parts of space is regularly, and hotly disputed. More often than not the argument over rights is settled - at least temporarily - through the application of superior firepower. A good example is the planet known as Upphämer. Some other just fight out of pure hatred, led by the likes of Ingulf Krestursson.
Some of the most persistent, and destabilising, security threats can come from within. Rogue corporations, while having the funding and manpower to put up a fight, are much easier to deal with than the scattered groups of disenfranchised or desperate people known as the Rebs. Seen as terrorists in the eyes of the council, these fragmented cells of humans and aliens can be found throughout the GCPS, instigating protests, riots, sabotage and will even, under the temporary leadership of a notorious human or powerful alien individual, bring full-scale war against the corporations which they revile.
In a hidden corner of the GCPS there are some whose ambitions for the coming millennium are less grand than the GCPS' though no less significant. A cadre of outcasts, non-humans who have been alienated from the rest of the Five Spheres, are about to put into action plans that are nearly a century in the making. Soon the whole GCPS will know their names - and the meaning of the name Mahu’Oran. It is an understatement to say Chief Mahúar is a legend amongst Gorans today. Leader of the Marauders of the Mandrake Rebellion, his name is engraved on the barrels of a hundred thousand guntracks and the hearts of ten times as many warriors. Only Mahúar had the sheer strength of will required to bind the fractious tribes of Gora and forge them into a fighting force that threatened the galaxy. Marshal Tung, the real name of the massive orc being Mahu’Oran, is the grandson of none other than Mahúar himself and he has a vision...
The race of almost uncategorisable beings known simply as the Nameless have also caused significant disruption to the GCPS. Argolis, Fergal, and the Colema systems have all been attacked by Nameless forces. These amphibious aliens seem keen to avoid direct confrontation with corporate forces. Instead, they appear to prefer more covert operations, secretly inserting their own bio-forming equipment before quietly beginning the remaking of their target world’s atmospheres. On the whole, the Council does not yet recognise the Nameless as any kind of existential threat - their attacks so far are more of an irritation than a deadly blow. Even small wounds must be tended to though, and elite teams of Enforcers or even private mercenary groups like the Eiras Contract Mercenaries have been dispatched to combat the invaders.
On the surface Mazon Labs is an ethical and responsible medial research company that works at the bleeding edge of pharmaceutical endeavours and is one of the backbones of the GCPS. However, scratch beneath Artemis Connor's shareholder-pleasing smiles and there are whispers of a much murkier Mazon Labs. One of their rival corporations' employees started to research the cause of Plague outbreaks on different planets and started to notice a worrying trend: they were often planets where Mazon Labs had one of its research facilities. It may not be clear exactly what that research is but what is clear, however, is that there is something rotten at the core of Mazon Labs and it will do whatever it can to protect that secret.
Other untold dangers lurk in the shadows, as made obvious by the incidents on Barker's World or Pluton III...
The GCPS thus finds itself both surrounded and infiltrated by its enemies. Each one of them is stronger and more prepared and motivated than ever before. But then so is the GCPS itself. Its history is brief in galactic terms, but it has arguably achieved more in one thousand years than any other race ever has. In that time it has also successfully faced down more than one existential threat. If history is a teacher, the lesson is clear: the GCPS and the Council of Seven are never stronger than when they are threatened. Time and time again, they have come together to meet the danger, using their wits as much as their military strength to overcome it.
The stakes of the conflicts breaking out across the galaxy today could not be higher. Will the next thousand years see even more expansion spheres added to an unstoppable and indefatigable Galactic Co-Prosperity Sphere? Or will it be their rivals that come to the fore, either reacquiring the glory of their past, or building something entirely new?
Government
The Galactic Co-Prosperity Sphere is not a single unified state; it is a collective of individual corporations, thousands of them, in many sizes, industries and creeds which is ruled by a Council of Seven
Within the GCPS there are several oppressive agencies which report to the Council such as:
- The Enforcers
Corporations
Inside the GCPS contains multiple different corporations spread throughout all 5 spheres. Corporation Central’s zeal for rules and regulations mean the corporations have to operate within an enormously complex and intricate network of laws in everything they do, and few other areas of their operation are as tightly controlled as their private armies
Some of those corporations are:
Defunt Companies/Corporations
Bounty Hunters Companies
Bounty hunters must be properly licensed with Corporation Central. The Council of Seven itself are not above their use,
- Stiegmeyer Group who are most famous for the execution of the Rogan Gang
- PPI - (Progger, Pieters, and Indigo Company) who have bases across much of the Third and Fourth Spheres.
Illegal but nevertheless often used are mercenaries. These are often contacted by corporations via the MercNet.
Military Involvement
GCPS troops are typically not deployed to a Deadzone, instead they’re often just unlucky enough to be on the planet or inside the city when the containment protocols are declared. Defence garrisons are quickly pulled together, as the chaos breaks out around them. In the early stages of a lockdown, when the Council of Seven wants to stop any evidence leaking out, the GCPS are responsible for crowd control of the planet’s local population. Sadly the loyal troopers are often unaware that they have been abandoned by their corporation – who will do doubt receive a hefty payout from the Council to keep things quiet.
Cut off by the communications blackout, these forsaken troops are forced to rely on their training, equipment, and cunning to survive in the face of alien invaders, cut-throat mercenaries, and dwindling supplies. Even the Enforcers, often heralded as heroes of humanity, are more likely to execute them than help them – the Council cannot afford to have witnesses to the atrocities of a Deadzone. It is a testament to the courage and resourcefulness of humanity that there are still organised and effective militaries fighting in active Deadzones across the galaxy, although it’s unlikely records will remain of their bravery.
Troops and Gear
Vehicles:
History
Leaving Old Earth: In 73 BE, the war with the Mojat began which resulted in their race becoming extinct
Birth of the GCPS: In 0 AE, Corporation Central was established and was the beginning of the GCPS
Second Sphere Expansion: In 133 AE, the Second Sphere licensing began
Third Sphere Expansion: in 340 AE, the Third Sphere licensing begins which resulted in the first contact with the Forge Fathers in 348 AE
Fourth Sphere Expansion: In 635AE , the Fourth Sphere licensing begins which included the incorporation of Teratons and Chovar
Mandrake Rebellion: In 850 AE, Orcs in the Mandrake Sector began to rebel which resulted in what they call the Mandrake Rebellion which continued for five years, ending in 855 AE. The resulted in the council taking full control of the GCPS.
Fifth Sphere Expansion: In 963 AE, the Fifth Sphere licensing began
Machinery of the Stars
The Galactic Co-Prosperity Sphere is not a single unified state; it is a collective of individual corporations, thousands of them, in many sizes, industries and creeds. Some are small with just a few hundred employees stationed on emergent frontier worlds. Then you have the hyper corporations – organisations so large they might fulfil many of the criteria of an empire. No one individual could hope to ever know all of a hypercorp’s operations let alone govern them, spread as many are across the spheres, at intervals hundreds of light years apart. Instead, their operation is overseen by extended management teams that can be tens of thousands strong. These hypercorps are immense, and above all, old. Their history reaches back to the very founding of the Co-Prosperity Sphere, when one sphere was all there was. When economically viable space travel became a reality the nascent corporations finished fighting each other for the finite custom of one planet, and turned their attention out into space.
Asteroids were snared and bored into, the nearest stars reached and stations made to hang in the orbits of the closest rocky planets as the first stellar colonies. But the real goal of reaching for the stars – hospitable worlds with breathable air – hung beyond reach. So began the construction of the first colony ships; giant haulers designed to hold everything a new settlement would need, and fitted for decades of travel. These ships departed for the closest stars in their hundreds. It is difficult to imagine the fear these brave souls must have felt as they travelled into the ultimate unknown, unsure if they would ever set foot on solid ground again. Many did not, but most did, and the first colonies erupted as more and more sought a better life away from Old Earth.
Considering how fast these colonies spread it is unsurprising that the first alien contact came as soon as it did. The disastrous first meeting with the race known as the Mojat and the following war is well documented, but the event needs marking nonetheless. Without the mass militarisation of the time humanity would not have developed the McKinley Gravitic Well Drive, and the subsequent mass dispersal of people across the stars would never have happened.
So swift was the race to the new worlds that the few remaining nation states of Old Earth were left behind.
This was the age of the agile corporations – the pan-national companies, answerable to no one but their bottom lines – and their rise was phenomenal. Free from laws, the corporations bloomed as the systems of the immediate galactic neighbourhood were plundered. Despite abundant resources, frictions ran high, and more than a few small conflicts erupted as multiple corporations made claims on the same planet.
With an act of self-interest, the largest corporations agreed to a formal coordinating body; a group of seven individuals elected from different corporations who would meet tot agree loose regulations and standards to help guide humanity out to the stars, and Corporation Central to enact those regulations. Central’s power was to be administrative – a unified body to oversee the bidding on colony rights and trade deals between corporations – rather than tangible. And the arrangement worked.
Now organised, the corporations spread faster than before.
The Founding of the Spheres
It was at this time that the first-colonised planets began to truly turn into the embodiment of extravagant luxury known today. The first megacities of the future began to grow across the planets’ surfaces – tall, architecturally glorious towers, the doing away of dirty, slow highways in favour of the gravity-defying cars which were once the epitome of the future. And all this was made possible for the lucky millions in the core worlds by the riches brought back from the frontier.
When the border of the First Sphere was drawn and the Second Sphere opened for optioning, the riches of the inner worlds grew in parallel to the new colonies. Today the opulence of the First and Second Sphere seems indistinguishable to the outsider. And while there are differences, it is primarily down to class and pretention rather than commodities.
Indeed, recordings and pictures of the First and Second Spheres are what corporation contact agents show to alien species when convincing them to join the GCPS. The first two spheres are almost like a separate state to the rest of the GCPS. But while the Third and Fourth Spheres were still establishing themselves, setting the seeds for their own extravagant future cities, rebellion erupted on the very edge of corporation space.
A group of the seven oldest corporations, who sought greater power than that of mere administration, seeded what was supposed to be a minor revolt among the Marauder mercenaries used as GCPS crack troops. A small mutiny, nothing dangerous, but large enough that after a few worlds were lost a feeling of panic would sweep through the corporations, fostering a feeling that a centralised power should take control to safeguard them all. Into that gap would step these seven corporations. Only the rebellion did not stop at a few planets. The unpredictable aggression of the Marauders had been unaccounted for. The small revolt led to uprisings throughout the Mandrake Sector and out into GCPS space.
When the fighting ended the GCPS had only just survived, losing over half its military strength and many of the planets in the Third and Fourth Sphere. In the century and a half since, much of what was lost has been rebuilt and the GCPS’s reach has extended into a Fifth Sphere. However, the inner spheres were left unscathed by the fighting, and the breadth of inequality between them and the outer spheres is more pronounced than ever. Resentment simmers just below the surface of every outer sphere planet, manifesting itself through growing Rebel activity. Where this bitterness could lead to is open to debate.
The Council, now firmly in control of the GCPS, is sure to be aware of it. Few things happen within the spheres it is not aware of. Perhaps they have plans to utilise the festering animosity for some unknown intention, or perhaps it is far down on their list of worries.
All that is certain is this state of affairs cannot continue without a reaction somewhere.
Gallery
External Links
- Mantic Store GCPS FIrefight - https://www.manticgames.com/firefight/gcps/
- Mantic Store GCPS Deadzone -https://www.manticgames.com/deadzone/gcps/
- Warpath Universe Sourcebook Digital Edition - https://www.manticgames.com/warpath/books-warpath/warpath-sourcebook-digital/
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