Big Business, Big Government, and Big Lies

Back to Governments and Corporations

Everyone answers to someone and everybody wants to get paid. In the early 21st century, humanity stood on a precipice. Increased carbon emissions, inappropriate disposal of toxic wastes, limited nuclear exchanges, and overpopulation led to the mass extinction of several species, rampant disease, environmental decay, a worldwide energy crisis, and famine.

While stagnant governments were reluctant to change to meet these threats, multinational corporations headed by innovators like Peter Weyland stepped up and led the charge into the future. As many nations shut down their space programs, the private sector poured money and resources into pushing humanity out into the greater solar system and beyond. While politicians argued over global warming and health care, corporations set about repairing the ozone layer and curing most cancers. Establishing off-world colonies within the solar system, corporations gave humanity new places to flourish rather than wither on a damaged Earth.

As Weyland-Yutani and other companies explored the stars, they established extrasolar colonies before there was any legislation in place to govern them. As these worlds flourished, it was the corporations that made policy. Realizing their technological dependence on companies like Weyland- Yutani to both travel to and terraform these planets in the first place, the governments of Earth had no choice but to play by company rules. At the mercy of these corporate overlords, nations soon found themselves in severe financial debt to them.

Looking to the late 20th century’s formation of the European Union for inspiration, the major countries of the world soon merged to form larger nations. Dire economic necessity coupled with diminishing resources soon led to the unprecedented political merging of cultures that had been at odds in the past. During the last quarter of the 21st century, the Three World Empire was formed. The United Americas and the Union of Progressive Peoples soon followed, and governments began to regain some semblance of their old power. But the military industrial complex, interstellar commerce, and deep space mining all keep the system going, and you need the corporations to take care of that. Without them, the economy would collapse. The current depression on the Frontier is symptomatic of this political and corporate tug of war. Government control is an illusion, and it’s a bad card trick at that. You can be assured that behind every politician is a corporate overlord exerting some form of control.

What follows is a look at both the puppets and puppeteers of the 2180s.

**THE COMPANY YOU KEEP:** Weyland-Yutani doesn’t own everything, just mostly everything. Below is a small sampling of other corporate entities operating on the Frontier. You can bet that any of these corporations that are not allied with W-Y are on the company’s (s)hitlist.

* Alphatech Hardware - Major military contractor for the UA and other corporations.
* Chigusa Corporation - Rival of W-Y focused on colonization, plasma harvesting and mining operations.
* Gemba Systec - Electronics manufacturing and freight handling.
* Hyperdyne Systems - ICSC subsidiary of W-Y that makes high-end synthetics and cybernetic prosthetics.
* Jĭngtì Lóng Corporation - ICSC company that is a W-Y and Seegson rival focusing on colonization and weapons R&D.
* Kelland Mining Company - Deep Space Mining Company known for building massive orbital mining stations.
* Koorlander Corp - A company with tobacco farms on several colony worlds. Koorlander is the rival cigarette brand to Balaji Imperial.
* Souta Corp - Producers of the beer Souta Dry, a cheap alternative to Weyland-Yutani’s own Aspen Beer.
* Lockmart - ICSC company that is the premiere builder of commercial starships.
* Steer City Cattle Company - A small company out of Terraform 3 that provides draft animals and quality meat to Frontier colonies.