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The Consumer War

It all began with a cut throat struggle for absolute control over consumers. The origins of the Megacorporations didn’t start with bloodshed and violence. The true war began long before that. As a corporation gained more customers than others in their bailiwick, they gained more power. More money meant better advertising, more personnel, improved benefits, and greater limelight in the media. Instead of being fought with bullets and armor, the Consumer War was a series of clever propaganda and smear campaigns as each corporation fought viciously for complete monopoly over their sphere of influence. The generals were CEOs and the soldiers were Public Relations specialists. The first runners found a handhold in this conflict as well. Desperate for any edge they could grasp, the corporations were not afraid to use deniable assets whom they didn’t need to waste precious money to train. Sabotaging rivals and planting incriminating evidence were all part of the game, and this shady work fell to those criminals and ne’er-do-wells who were all too happy for the stacked paychecks. As the more successful corps devoured and assimilated the opposition their wealth and influence exploded to unseen heights. These new Megacorporations produced everything you could ever want or need, and then some. Comfortable living and entertainment all at an affordable price, as long as you worked for them…

The Corporate Wars

With their own slews of lobbyists and lawyers, along with massive Gross Domestic Product revenues, it was only a matter of time before the Megas were allowed their own private security forces. These ‘security personnel’ swelled in number. No expense was spared when outfitting and training these specialized soldiers who were to protect their valuable assets. As the Megacorporations grew in strength, world governments relied on them more and more. Corrupt politicians, brutal police and ineffectual military actions began losing face with the public as the nations of the world struggled to maintain their resources and quell the populace. Governments leaned on the corps heavily before they realized the folly of such a crutch. A truce was formed between all the Megas and The Corporate Wars were declared: a full-scale coup to seize the remaining power of the faltering national governments. Many countries refused to even resist; preferring to capitulate and spare the devastation that would sweep their lands. Thousands of soldiers defected immediately, favoring corporate fealty over nationalistic patriotism. It is estimated that by the end of the war, the armies of the Corporate Confederation actually gained more bodies than they lost, equating to a resounding victory. In the wake of the devastation all that was left were the Megacorps, a collection of puppet governments, and a handful of free cities.

A New World
The ultra-capitalist environment the planet now existed and led to many unnerving new facts of life. One of the most difficult to accept was the creation of new human subspecies. Racism and classism has always been prevalent in human societies, as has fear of those different than us. Welcome to the next level of societal stratification. It started before the onset of the Consumer Wars. Though the upper crust had been customizing their children for awhile now, the Corps decided to really up the ante.
Filtering certain choicey bits of the human genome they distilled the first sub-species: Paradigms. The originals were created to appeal to the masses and blessed with distinct abilities to excel in social arenas. Lobbyists, Lawyers, Politicians, and Entertainers. They were instrumental in a war won and lost by an entity's public presence, a secret weapon that the world didn’t even know existed until it was already deployed. Ironic that once the rest of the world began recognizing these supernaturally stunning humans were in fact unnatural, their admiration turned into jealousy and hatred. To this day many still see the Paradigms as yet another way for the rich and powerful to maintain their status and widen the gap between them and the lower class. Despite this, the ‘perfect race’ as they are often called, have learned to blend into society and excel. In a world where anyone can drastically alter their appearance it isn’t so hard to simply appear normal. Both GlobCom and Centurion make extensive use of Paradigms; only worsening the assumption that they are manipulative snakes and double agents.
In the early years of the Corporate War two more twisted versions of humanity arose. The first became known as Marauders. Cloud 9 had paved a path into extreme transgenics previously thought impossible, so some minor animal splicing wasn’t even an issue. Created by taking selective cells from apex predators and implementing them into a genetically compatible youth, then introducing a cocktail of steroids and experimental drugs into the subject’s system. Unlike Cloud 9 however, the corps didn’t limit themselves to the genes of mammals. They opted for some more extreme, though less extensive, modifications. Subjects inherited traits from various types of sharks, monitor lizards and crocodiles. This created imbalances; loss of control, sporadic behavior, blackouts, and some nasty temper problems. None of this hindered the Marauders from being lethally effective as shock troops, though transitioning into society proved rather complicated. Aggression and lack of patience constantly strains their daily lives and it doesn’t help that most of humanity finds them disconcerting at best if not outright fearsome. Luckily for them the world is beset by as much turmoil and conflict as ever. Combat tactics and maneuvers resonate with them their entire lives and as such many clandestine operations are spearheaded by them.
The other monstrosity created in the war came straight from a laboratory to the battlefield. Vat grown for vastly superior physical qualities and intimidation factors. Behemoths wrought havoc and destruction in wide swaths once released; entire squads fled in terror or became chunky heaps of meat in their wake. Capable of lugging around massive weaponry they were often used to savage key buildings and armored vehicle divisions, preferring large-scale attrition tactics. Very few manage to overcome their birthright and make a true name for themselves. Often they are forced to form societies all their own, and these are more like disorganized tribes. Certain Behemoth leaders have however proven to be tenacious, calculating, efficient and logical. Most however are reduced to muscle-for-hire, bouncers, and mob enforcers if not outright gangers.
In the aftermath of the global corporatization, many nations and corps started turning their attention to space endeavors. Exploration wasn’t exactly their main goal, more like exploitation. Mining operations were set up on the myriad moons, asteroids, and planets that were relatively safe to land on. The conditions were often unpredictable, the hazards unknown. A specially tailored race was created for the niche of charting and mining new worlds. If the Paradigms are the upper part of the caste system, then these new Sentinels are certainly viewed as the undesirable, labor oriented class. Forced to exist in brutal environs with scarce comforts or forms of entertainment left the involuntary explorers very bleak and bitter. They learned to adapt and use what they had at hand to fulfill their missions and survive, developing a knack for mechanical inclination. After their seventh year of thankless toil, the Sentinels went on strike. Heavily armed response teams were deployed in order to put them back in their place, resulting in a costly series of skirmishes that came to be known as the Dead Moon Rebellion. The Sentinels had modified mining tools designed to blast and cut through rock and ore for combat purposes. The invading response teams were well-equipped but ill-prepared to attack the workers on their home ground. Only three of the fifteen teams succeeded in their mission. The rest were massacred, their weapons reclaimed and once again modified for Sentinel use. They captured the Atrioch space station and shortly after a treaty was arranged. Now on Earth, they still face much prejudice. Most are reduced to working hazardous factory jobs and numerous activists are currently leading a rights movement.

The Divide
Before the great war and the Megacorporations the human population was expanding at an exponential rate. Ventures into space didn’t provide any real alternative living space for the foreseeable future. The insane but realized solution was The Divide. Similar to the The Wall built by Monolith almost twenty years later; it is a gargantuan structure built of plastcrete and densiplast filled with recycled materials, refuse and scrap. It is a durable platform that covers roughly 63% of the Earth’s land mass. It stands between 500-700 feet off the ground, held up by thick pylons called Obelisks. These huge columns contain internal lifts which lead up to the top-side of the platform. The Divide has three layers. The Underworld lies on the ground level beneath the platform, home to the industrial sector, working class, and dregs of society. The ‘roof’ created by The Divide is lined with high-intensity lights that provide illumination in the dim atmosphere, though most inhabited areas provide their own lighting as well. The middle section rests along the plascrete of the structure itself. The sun and fresh air can be seen and enjoyed, as can most of the finer things in life. It is where most everything outside of heavy industry and poverty and luxury occur. The third tier is composed of restricted access towers named Spindles that stretch up to 300 feet above the mid-level. Entry to these slender towers is gained through intricate elevators that run up their length similar to the lifts in the Obelisks. Each tower has its own small ring-like platforms built around it, mostly serving as terraces and such to the wealthy that live in them.