OVERVIEW

Corporations adapt. When the streets became too dangerous for employees, the companies hired security guards and militias. When the government-run education systems collapsed, the corporations created their own schools. And when international law failed to protect their corporate interests, the companies built their own intervention forces. Although, strictly speaking, corporations still compete with each other, the rules of that competition are such that inter-corporate war is rare. Instead, the corporate hierarchy attempts to preserve its own world against the outsiders who are jealous of the corporations' riches.

There are major corporations in every country in the world. Technically, employees of a corporation are citizens of the country in which they live, but in practice it is almost impossible to enforce laws against them. For example, most corporate employees live in guarded enclaves subject to corporate policy. Even if a host country wanted to interfere in the local affairs of an enclave, it would have to use military force to do so. The economic system of the Corporations is mostly independent of the rest of the world. The Hierarchy has its own currency and does not recognize the currency of either the FUS or the UN.

HISTORY

The rise of the Corporate Hierarchy began in the 2020's when a series of UN resolutions compelled citizens to pay a World Tax. When the corporate enclaves refused to pay the tax, the UN deployed troops around various Earth Industry and Nakura Corporation enclaves. In retaliation, the recently established Corporate Hierarchy imposed an embargo on all UN countries. The resulting crisis hurt the UN members more than the corporations (who continued to trade with each other) and so the UN was forced to back down .

In the 2030's, as the United States abdicated its role as global policeman, and with the retreat of China into its Great Sleep, the Corporate Hierarchy was increasingly forced to play the role of government. An independent legal consortium resolved conflict between corporations, but conflict with the outside world frequently required some degree of military power. In particular, the relationship between the Corporate Hierarchy and both the US and UN was not well established, and the decade passed with a constant threat of hostilities.

Open war finally broke out in the 2040's. The UN was busy trying to establish a Martian colony to help with overpopulation, and the US was having its own problems with a covert war in Africa. The Corporate Hierarchy chose this time to begin the colonization of Antarctica, the last unexploited continent on Earth. In a classic case of miscalculation, the Hierarchy assumed that the UN would not fight for the uninhabited Antarctica. Meanwhile, the UN, having just spent billions of Euros in creating the United Nations Military Force (UNMF), was waiting for just such an excuse to challenge the power of the Hierarchy. Early in 2044, the UN attacked the Antarctica colonies with two light divisions. Unfortunately, while the UN forces were equipped for the harsh climate, they had very little training in real wars and the first assaults suffered very heavy losses. The overwhelming economic superiority of the Corporate Hierarchy enabled it to use efficient mechanical assets to break the UN attack.

Finally, late in 2045, having sacrificed more than 50,000 lives, the UNMF decided on one more push before settling for negotiations. In November 2045, the two main Antarctica colonies were shelled with tactical nuclear artillery, completely vaporizing the garrisons there and killing more than half of the corporate colonists. The Corporate Hierarchy responded by assassinating the top three generals of the UNMF, including the one who orchestrated the escalation. In early 2046, both the Corporate Hierarchy and the UN decided that further prosecution of the war was not worth the cost. An armistice was signed that allowed colonies on part of the frozen continent but kept more than half of Antarctica as a "nature preserve" under the protection of the UN.

By far the most severe test of the Corporate Hierarchy was the Eros Conflict, which started in 2075. During the late 2060's, the competing interests of the US-based Earth Industries Conglomerate and the Japanese Nakura Corporation resulted in several near inter-corporate wars and many covert operations. When the UN intervened in the Pacific Utopia's war of independence, the Nakura Corporation took the UN side and Earth Industries took the US side. Taking opportunity of the hostilities (and with help from the US), Earth Industries attacked the lucrative mining colonies on Eros, a near-Earth asteroid (NEO) claimed by the Nakura Corporation. The war soon escalated over the entire line of mining asteroids and other corporations joined both sides with interests in the outcome.

The bloodiest battle occurred on 4660 Nereus. As the Earth Industries' main presence in the NEO belt, 4660 Nereus was the main target of the Nakura Corporation offensive. In late 2079, a small fleet of landing ships penetrated the Nereus defenses and placed over a thousand space troopers on the main asteroid. The Nakura force was repelled in hand-to-hand fighting with everything from autons to plasma torches. Only a few hundred members of the landing force survived for extraction, but the damage inflicted on the EI defenders (both physical and psychological) was deep and long-lasting.

By the end of the year, negotiators from both sides agreed on a compromise: the Nakura Corporation would lease space on Eros to all interested companies. In exchange, Earth Industries would recognize the Pacific Utopia as a legitimate nation. In the end, the compromise helped to unite the Corporate Hierarchy, and today, there is little resentment between Earth Industries and the Nakura Corporation. The same could not be said for the United States, however. The secession of Pacific Utopia triggered a defection by the Republic of Texas; a year later the United States was no more.