Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/Syndicate Military Subsidiaries

Legion Security
"We're here for you!"

-Legion Security Slogan

"...as long as you can pay us."

-Centurion Luigi Giorgi

In Antivan, following the Hawke War and the economic crisis of the post-war era, a number of war veterans' groups formed, federated under the ideas of nationalism and anti-communism. However, after (Benito Mussolini) was assassinated, the movement decomposed in the same kind of talks they had so despised, with the remnants forming a number of militia. These groups progressively lost their ideology, being instead paid by corporations and aristocracy to break strikes and beat up reds. Their former nationalist leaders were washed up by each row of assassination attempts by communist radicals and replaced by more business-oriented ones. Following the natural selection of the markets, small militias were gradually swallowed up by bigger ones until a single para-military contractor was formed; Legion Security.

For the last twenty years, Legion Security has been the single largest private military contractor in the world, and a juggernaut in the mercenary business. Though there has never been a formal third-party count of Legion Security employees, there is evidence to indicate that there may be as many as half a million Legionnaires. In addition to fulfilling the various contracts that they receive, Legion Security performs a number of functions, from protecting and enforcing order in the Sprawls to acting as the Lumeris Syndicate's equivalent of an army.

Certainly, while they are not all that large for an army, their training, technology, and equipment help to offset the disadvantage they have in numbers. Since they are a mercenary group, all of their soldiers are career soldiers, though the corporation has been known to draw on civilian auxiliaries when more manpower is needed. They are organized into security branches and Sprawl garrisons, which can be further divided into security legions.

Like many other Syndicate companies, Legion Security also attempts to emulate the ancient Sophitian and (Romans), as one might guess from their name. In the case of Legion Security, it uses (Roman) military ranks for all its personnel and also models the organization of its security legions after ancient (Roman) legions.

Legionnaires are not just soldiers, though, but also police officers and corporate enforcers in effect, being responsible for maintaining some semblance of law and order within the Sprawls and making sure that they (and by extension, the entire Syndicate) don't tear themselves apart and descend completely into anarchy and chaos. In this way, Legion Security may be considered the glue that holds the Syndicate together.

Spartan National Security Corporation
"Prepare for glory... and the perks that come with it."

-Holo-advertisement tagline, Acropolis Sprawl

After the desolation of Sophitia at the hands of the Voshkod Red Army during the GVAW, the Sophitian came to the Mediterranean Syndicate begging on their knees, pleading to them to help their country rise back. Desperately facing increasing debts, they even sold (Athens) and (Delphi) to the megacorporation in hopes that they will rebuild Sophitia's infrastructure. However, this course of action immediately played into the hands of Demetrios Giannopoulos, a Sophitian executive eager of reaping a wholesome profit - in whatever ways he can.

With the Regime of the Colonels backed entirely by the Syndicate, Giannopoulos gathered junta soldiers and ex-policemen together to substitute a mercenary group that anyone can hire, for a price. For a while, the Spartan National Security Corporation became the de facto police force of Sophitia until the Syndicate moved into the country with their Legion Security. Being the ever-opportunistic businessman he is, Giannopoulos has signed a contract with the megacorporation to make the SNSC a subsidiary of the Syndicate.

However, this strained Giannopulos' relationship with his fellow countrymen, as the members of the Sophitian parliament in the Alliance secretly consider him a traitor to his own country.

Wilderness Solutions Co.
Though all that was left of the company was one janitor who called in sick for the day the first Satyrs were given their psycho-surgery conditioning, this was enough to keep it on the payroll, enough to rebuild the company. Today, surgeons and implant specialists are imported from other companies, usually without their consent, to make new Satyrs as old ones die from battle, clashes with security, and insane stunts. As soon as the surgery is over, the Satyr is locked in a box and shipped elsewhere. Forgetting to do this results in a new team having to be hired.

AdvanceArmour Inc
AdvanceArmour Inc is the long-running rival to the far more reputable and respectable International Inc corporation. When the GVAW broke out, they were known as Advance Armour Solutions, a small, locally owned company. However, as a result of the outbreak of peace, and strong competition from International Inc, the business was close to bankruptcy. In order to avoid this, the business turned to a merger with the Lumeris Syndicate, and subsequently made a comeback by winning the contract for the Aquilan Army's main battle tank. Now with renewed resources and improved production capacity, the employees of AdvanceArmour Inc still maintain the bitter rivalry between them and their Ruffville-based nemesis. Several branches of AdvanceArmour are now operated by the corporation all over the world. Apart from the M90 Grizzly main battle tank, the company is also responsible for the Talos.

Black Lagoon ShipWorks
Black Lagoon Shipworks is a small manufacturing yard owned and operated by a man named Dutch. Other than the current owner and the fact that it is located in one of Dragon Clan's regions, little else is truly known about this subsidiary. Rumors however suggest that it is actually the main construction hub for Scylla Speedboat, a ship renowned across the world as the flagship of the human trafficking scene. As pirates, the employees spend most of their time at sea, or in a city very much alienated from "regular" civilization, as can be seen in the conflicts between major powers, using the chaos of war to their advantage.

Clandestine Shipyards
Arkesia's Aionysus coastline, where muddy rivers loop into the ocean, has long been a smugglers' paradise. Behind the jagged cliffs that jut into the ocean is a vast jungle, laced with mangrove-fringed coves and virtually thousands of kilometres of waterways, apt for clandestine shipyards. Arkesian Navy Comm. Samuel Cárdenas stated that it is most striking to notice the logistical capacity of these criminals to take all this material into the heart of the jungle, including heavy equipment such as propulsion gear and generators. Sometimes they are put together in pieces and then reassembled in other locations under the jungle canopy, in camps outfitted with sleeping quarters for workers. These submarines can cost about $200,000 USD and take upward of a year to build.

Mako Ballistics
With the creation of the first practical railgun, or at least more easily massed produced (as the Coalition were the first makers), the Blue Mountains Technology Group needed an outlet through which to market their technology. Rather than simply licencing the technology out, the Blue Mountains Technology Group instead decided to produce and sell their technology by themselves, reasoning that they would get a large percentage of the profits that way.

Given that the Blue Mountains Technology Group was focused towards research and design, not an arms manufacturer, they instead bought over Mako Ballistics, an obscure company based out of (Seattle). Apart from being a good source of income for its new parent company, Mako could also serve as a more respectable front for the somewhat questionable Blue Mountains Technology Group.

Once the company came under their ownership, it quickly began to grow in size and profitability, getting lucrative contracts with companies such as Legion Security, and supplying railguns to companies like AdvanceArmour, their most lucrative being the ADI. As the company's profits grew steadily, it also began to expand into other areas. Today, Mako Ballistics is a significant defense contractor, making other weapons in addition to railguns.

Maria Yachts
Founded in 1893 V.C., when Lorenzo De Sapin (1844 V.C. - 1914 V.C.), bought the Luna shipyard to found the Mercado Shipyards. The yard built commercial vessels, including fishing boats and oceanic trading ships. On his death in 1914, his sons Gino and Emilio took over and renamed the yard Maria Yachts. They continued using wooden construction, but now built ocean-going ships and some private yachts.

During the GVAW, the yard built medium-sized military vessels in steel, but due to highly ineffective construction practices, the production was severely limited. After the war, the yard produced the first steel-hulled diesel-powered vessel in the locality. Emilio has a holding in both companies, and chairs both companies.

In 1963 V.C., Emilio died and the running of Maria Yacht company was taken over by Gino and his son Lorenzo. Lorenzo was the driver of the yacht business, moving instantly from wooden to steel construction, and designing the style of yacht which brought the name Maria to the world: the Neptune Speedboat. Demand for these vessels outstripped the capabilities of the yard. In 1987 V.C., the yard was vastly expanded to 10,000 square meters (12,000 sq yd) to allow the indoor building of yachts up to 70m, taking the total capacity to 44,000 square metres (53,000 sq yd).

Nike Steel Works
"Nike spells 'Victory' in my dictionary."

-Martin Lopez, CEO

Raven Helicopters
Competing with other aircraft manufacturers such as Global United Helicopters and Westland Helicopters, Raven Helicopters is a subsidiary of aerospace behemoth VentureStar Aerospace, specialising in the design and production of helicopters. Originally an independent company, the corporation was acquired by VentureStar in 1990 V.C.

The helicopters that it produces include the Phoenix.

Vought International
"Today's heroes. Tomorrow's future."

-Vought's official slogan

Vought International, formerly known as Vought Aquila, was a Syndicate multi-billion dollar superhero entertainment conglomerate, formerly led by Homelander; with Ashley Barrett serving as the puppet CEO. It was previously led by Stan Edgar and previously managed by Madelyn Stillwell. The company is famous for founding the Seven and managing the global population of licensed Supes. The corporation is also extremely corrupt and aims for world domination, thanks to the ambition of former Third Reich member Frederick Vought.

A corporation that started out as an arms company and was infamous for its inferior products, most notably supplying the Aquilan Navy with faulty planes towards the end of the GVAW such as the Vought Grizzly, and faulty rifles to the Army during the Encantadia War. They managed to re-brand themselves, however, when they created some of the world's first Supes using Compound V, thanks to the work of Frederick Vought.

The company would be revived when Frederick Vought, an Aselian scientist who worked with the Alliance as the chief physician at the classified Dachau concentration camp in 1939 V.C. where Vought would perform unethical experimentation on human test subjects in order to develop Compound V to enhance human beings into what is now known as "Supes". Vought eventually created the first dose of Compound V and had his first successful superhero, his own wife, Klara Risinger, known as Stormfront II (despite being the first due to secrecy). When Vought realized the Alliance would not support his research (as it was bad for PR), Vought defected from the Alliance and asked the Syndicate to smuggle him to Aquila, where he joined Vought, and allowed him to give his newly developed Compound V to military soldiers to increase their odds against the Voshkod. This prompted President (Franklin Roosevelt) to pardon him in 1944 V.C. and allow him to continue his research on Compound V and create more supes (most notably Soldier Boy) and gave him his own corporation to further the development of the supes as an advanced race of living weapons. At some point, after Vought died, Stan Edgar would take over as CEO and (perhaps like his predecessor) would cover up any casualties caused by the supes. Compound V is shrouded from the public, who are led to believe that supes are chosen by Elysea. Instead, Compound V was shipped across Aquila to hospitals by Samaritan's Embrace under the guise of medical supplies.

Over the years, Vought has made a fortune selling superhero comics and merchandise, but their ultimate goal had always been to incorporate superheroes into the armed forces, something that a majority of politicians and government institutions opposed including the F.I.A.

But Vought was completely destroyed when its crimes finally came to light, due to Vought arrogance leading to a group known as "The Boys" being able to easily leak their information to the Aquilans, by which point the Syndicate had cut all ties to save face. Giving the Aquilans, who always wanted Vought brought down, the needed excuse to go to war. Leading to one of the bloodier internal wars with the known part of the war that had involved all of the Tacitus Rangers division, something unheard of since the first Mental Omega Wars, and had revealed themselves to the public. Leading to what could be described as "heroes vs villains out of a comic book" as the Promethea Rangers, alongside their allies, faced the Seven and the entirety of Vought's "heroes". Ending with all of Vought, including their "heroes", dead and Compound V "falling" into the Aquilan's hand.