La Compañía Solsticia

### Class

Private military corporation, Export/Import corporation, Trained Militia, Freedom-Fighting Social Movement

### Capital

La Compañía Tacquería y Arcada, Tuhi District Fort, Omega

### Reach

Solid control of roughly 30% of Omega, and the resources, physical and fiscal, therein. Supported by a rising populist movement.

## Biography

After the Reaper War, Omega was in shambles. Its population had been decimated and much of its infrastructure destroyed by an event known by the survivors only as the “Devastation”; a week-long nightmare, as Reaper forces swept through the station, killing indiscriminately.

By the end of the war, there was hardly anyone left to rebuild...until an influx of millions of refugees, displaced by invasion, rushed into the gap. The same old rackets and fronts were thrown up, the liquor began to run again, and the gangs returned; Omega was reborn, and a new era of explosive, violent struggle for power began. La Compañía, according to Morgan Desatado, is not a gang, a mercenary company, or a political organization. Rather, it is meant to be the truest representation of Omega; a social movement, empowering the weak and strong in equal measure, banded together behind the ultimate, and un-precedented goal, of unifying the station behind one banner. It seeks to make Omega a place that, while still being free, is also safe from the brutality and fear-mongering of the old days under Aileen and countless other warlords. It is a lofty objective, for a disparate band of scoundrels, but despite all of their differences, the progress that has already been made is truly remarkable.

The core of the movement is “The Company”, the one hundred various persons that Morgan first contacted upon his return to the station. They are all former friends and contacts, from his days as an itinerant mercenary, eclipse goon, and officer GUARDIAN. The members of the company come from widely varied backgrounds, from pirate lieutenants to former colonial administrators, former slaves to former slavers, but all of them have one thing in common; a thread, tying them back to Omega, whether the station was their birthplace, employers, or the site of their explosive fall from grace.

As members of La Compañía, their roles vary; some serve as the center of what could be roughly described as the organization’s “elite” fighters (although they do not really look, or act the part), while many simply act as envoys, mouthpieces for the message of The Company. According to Morgan, they are the heart of La Compañía’s success; without them, they would never have gotten anywhere. The pact between the members of The Company was sealed on the date of La Companía’s founding; a heartily profane speech from Morgan, followed by a night of hard drinking, joining every member into one fraternal whole.

Thanks primarily to the efforts of The Company, the Solsticia’s message was rapidly disseminated across Omega following the initial founding. There, among the poor, weak, and downtrodden, it found a popular following. By the end of November, 2187, several of the station’s poorest and most populous districts had declared for the gang. With the company, they found protection without exorbitant cost, extortion, or threats; and, in turn, the message continued to spread among through the alcohol-sodden bars, pubs, and whorehouses, the political salons of Omega’s citizens. A small, stable power base had been established. But, with Eclipse, the Blue Suns, and the Blood Pack still vying for dominance in an increasingly brutal gang-conflict, any wrong move could see the movement crushed. They would need to be careful; or, gamble it all. Morgan chose the latter.

It was a combination of trickery, brutality, and charisma that won the day. The majority of the land that flipped to La Solsticia’s hands in the weeks after the message first began to spread was originally in the hands of Eclipse. That wasn’t without reason. Morgan, and many among the Company, has once worked for Eclipse, killed for them. They knew exactly how the gang operated. Moreover, Eclipse, more than the other two groups, was weak; the war had ravaged their leadership, both on Omega and Illium, and internal power struggles were already taking their toll.

Regional commanders and enforcers were all vying for position, trying to claim their own share of the power; and very few of them had any qualms about killing their compatriots along the way. Like a headless snake, the remains of the leadership on Omega thrashed without direction, the greatest burden of blood falling on their lowliest members. Resentment was building; a mass mutiny wasn’t hard to predict. That was what La Compañía was relying on.

Slowly, steadily, agents infiltrated the gang’s ranks. They spread dissent as they went, bitterness at command, guilt at their past crimes, and appreciation of what The Company stood for. Any chain is only strong as it’s weakest link, and La Compañía was spreading through Eclipse’s chain like the worst kind of rust. Finally, the commanders came to a realization; they needed to deal with the growing thorn in their side. They needed to deal with *Morgan.* So, they called up a barracks full of what they thought were loyal soldiers, and gave them a new mission; they wanted his head, on a silver platter.

But, these young men and women weren’t just gangsters anymore, triggermen for the ambitions of those who thought they were better. They had a cause now. Instead of going after Morgan, one engineer sealed the room off. The rest opened fire on their commanders. The chaos that rushed to the surface afterwards, as dozens rushed to fill the power vacuum, snapped to a sudden halt days later. A new contender had risen to the challenge, and by playing off on the disfunction and chaos between the separate Eclipse factions, took the organization’s reigns within a week. It took some time for the dust of chaos to settle after the fact, but when it had, and the impact of what had happened began to be felt, news rang out across Omega, and the galaxy at large. La Compańía Solsticia had, without substantial loss of life, eliminated one of its largest opponents. Almost immediately, the larger eclipse organization outside of Omega decried the move, denouncing it as an illegal hostile takeover.

The governments of the galaxy weren’t impressed. They knew that Eclipse was only really worried about its pocketooks. And, besides; what happened on Omega, stayed on Omega. Almost as significant as this was what came after. Morgan has played a significant part in the absorption of Omega’s Eclipse, partially because of his intimate knowledge of the organization. He had been a member for years; he knew the ins and outs, the comings and goings, and, most importantly of all, every single one demons. Solsticia claimed to support a better Omega; the Trials would be the first step in the process of fulfilling that process.

Organized through extranet social platforms by La Compańía’s resident PR man, the Trials were a series of public evaluations, meant to bring to light the many crimes committed by former-Eclipse employees, who would then be tried, sentenced, and punished or released accordingly, by an online jury of their peers. Surprisingly, to all save for Morgan and his fellow former-mercs, the actual volume of accusations was low. For the most part, the gang-members had just been...young. Young men and women, fucking up in a fucked up galaxy. Given the chance for better work, and possible redemption, they jumped eagerly. The vast majority of hard criminals that were “turned in” to justice were accused, captured, and contained by their own tamer compatriots; those same young men and women who wanted to redeem themselves turned their weapons on their own. Many were taken in their sleep, or in various states of intoxication. Others tried to flee; to Blood Pack, to the Blue Suns, offering up their services. Those that did escape would prove a constant thorn in La Compañia’s side. But, that was the price of justice.

Punishment ranged. Slavery, or any other kind of forced labor, was completely off of the table; it went against everything La Compañía stood for. Many of those with less serious offenses, which made up the majority of the bunch, were exiled, given transport tickets to the far reaches of the devastated Terminus colonies, and told to start a new life. The rest received punishment that has been judged “fitting” by the jury, or in some cases, by their victims. Most executions were private, and swift. Some were public, and in true Omegan fashion, cheered by hundreds. The worst, the true psychopaths, mass murderers, and war criminals, were hanged in front of audiences of thousands, their bodies spaced. . It was justice; and, it was a demonstration. Demonstration that there would be law; that Omega would change. It changed The Company, too. The gravity of what they were doing had just began to strike, and some couldn’t handle it. With the thanks of their peers, they departed for smoother waters. Others went the opposite direction. La Solsticia matured them, formed them anew. And Morgan...Morgan just wondered what he’d gotten himself into.

In the months since, however, progress has been unfortunately unforthcoming, stalled by the stalwart resistance of the Blue Suns and Bloodpack controlled sections of the station. Both groups dwarfed La Solsticia, resource-wise, and in sheer manpower. They would have to play smart, to take the day; smart, and slow. Already, the section of Omega controlled by La Compañía was beginning to change; a minimum wage was instituted, drawing workers and resources from the other sectors, alongside other reforms; safety regulation requiring actual warning labels to be put on narcotics, a cap on rent, and even a loose sort of courts system, so that citizens could resolve their disputes without murder or intimidation, the standard Omegan tools of negotiation. Only time will tell how effective these new reforms are, how they make change Omega...or if Omega can change at all. With the conflict currently locked into a stalemate, La Compañía Solsticia’s explosive momentum could stall permanently.

Eclipse was snapping at their heels outside the station, even parlaying with the other gangs to try and reclaim their lost territory. Their situation was as precarious as ever, seemingly stuck in the mud. There is only one real event that could break the tie on the station; interference, from an outside power. But...what interplanetary force wants to get tangled up in *Omega?*