Joint Conglomerates
20-09-2005, 06:49
In my last RP, a bunch of people telegrammed me to tell me they got confused by the way the Federation of Joint Conglomerates is set up. That is understandable. It is pretty complicated, so I thought I’d just take a minute to break it down for everyone. This helpful guide to the FJC should explain things for you. I divided it into the following sections: government, geography, citizenry, military and a roster of the members of the board themselves. I actually think that RPs would run much more smoothly if everyone did this because I’ve noticed there’s typically a lot of confusion about capability, capacity, etc.
Government
The Federation of Joint Conglomerates is exactly what it sounds like: twelve massive, multi-national, multi-billion dollar corporations working together as one governing body. The CEOs of these twelve corporations hold board meetings on the top floor of a five hundred-story skyscraper in the FJC capital city, Centralville. There, they make various decisions ranging anywhere from planning ways to insert FJC operatives into United Nations posts, to deciding which international figure they would profit most from assassinating. Nameless groups of covert operatives that appear in squadrons of black stealth helicopters and vanish just as quickly carry out their policies (although the nature of the FJC populous is such that actual law enforcement is never needed. See Citizenry). An important thing to remember about the Board is none of its members has even the most remote sense of morality. Occasionally, brief glimpses of a Board member’s humanity may be revealed, but even then only in anger or selfish intentions.
Geography
The Federation does in fact control an actual bordered nation (some people got confused on this point because certain corporate states like Raven Corps do not have a ‘country’ per se, but exist rather as a sort of international cancer… which is how FJC exists in many respects, but with the crutch of having an identified, centralized government). There are three main ring-like sections of the FJC sovereign territory. The first, outermost ring is known as the Outer Limits, a thin streak of industrial wasteland crowded up against the border. It is a barren wilderness of abandoned warehouses, ruined skyscrapers and gutted factories. Almost completely stripped of natural resources, the Outer Limits are capable of sustaining only the most rugged plant life that manages to push out of the cracks of pavement. The second ring is a several million mile wide city called Agglomeratia. It is within the spinning cogs and massive mechanizations of Agglomeratia that the actual “business” end of the twelve corporations’ business is performed – producing computer technology, medical equipment, high-powered firearms technology, etc. But in the very middle of the centrifuge of Agglomeratia, in the appropriately named capital city of Centralville, the decidedly more furtive enterprises of the FJC occur. A walled-in oasis of aesthetic and even natural beauty, Centralville is truly a remarkable sight. Normally, the Federation finds beauty to be a waste of dearly, dearly beloved money. They soon realized, however, that while they were comfortable having their citizenry live in industrialized, mass-produced containment units, they were not thrilled with the arrangement for themselves. Also, it would not do to have the decidedly sub-par living conditions of the citizenry exposed to the international community when the rare diplomat risks his life by coming to the FJC.
Citizenry
In a profound sense, there really are no, what one would call, “human beings” in the Federation of Joint Conglomerates- government or populous. But while the members of the Board are soulless, money-driven monsters, they at least maintain free will and independent thought. Actual citizens of the FJC do not share this luxury. They are referred to simply as “Human Resources.” When the rare occasion comes that the Board considers an individual Human Resource, it is by serial number, not name. Born not out of human relations but rather a massive, gray genetics complex known as “The Factory,” a Human Resource is denied individuality from birth. The mantra “Your purpose is your function. Your function is to serve us” is continuously repeated from the instant of birth to death over a national system of loudspeakers. A typical day in the life of a Human Resource may go something like this: (1) Perform a twelve hour shift at Chairman Wagner’s company, Pantheon Incorporated, during which you will probably break several bones and rupture a few internal organs. This will not hinder your productivity however, because BioGen Industries has developed an instant organic regeneration shot- just one dose, and you are back in line. (2) Return to your personal habitation facility for an allotted three hours of rest (under close video surveillance and monitoring, of course). (3) Repeat…. A Human Resource will perform this pattern every day of his life until he is too old to do it anymore, at which point the nameless, sourceless and omnipresent police execute him. When a Human Resource dies, his body is liquidated and fed intravenously into living Human Resources. From his birth until his execution, he will have not once had a single conscious thought. Meanwhile, in the distant, unimportant Outer Limits live the only actual independent humans in the FJC. Scattered, desperate and starving, these people might rebel if not for the Board regularly sending “national security” forces there to kill anything that moves… And yet for some mysterious, rather alarming reason that none of the CEOs on the Board can quite fathom, people continue to multiply there… Suffice it to say, “Retake the Outer Limits” has been on the Board’s agenda for quite some time.
Military
While the Board prefers to do things somewhat furtively, through cold, calculated manipulation of people, governments and even legions of governments, they are not above taking drastic precautions to ensure no one tries to disrupt efficiency and productivity through something as irritating as a human rights inspection or an invasion. There is not a single human in the FJC regular army. Rather, it consists exclusively of robotic death machines. Created by CyberTech Industries, the Droid Combat Unit™ (Version 9.0) is every bit as unthinking, unfeeling, pre-programmed and mass-producible as a Human Resource. But unlike Human Resources, DCUs can be generated almost immediately. The FJC maintains the capacity to produce one hundred thousand DCUs per day, as needed. In addition, the entire nation is completely blanketed at all times by the Satellite Weapons System, a lexicon of twenty satellites that serve the dual functions of intelligence gathering and missile launching. Despite its apparently invincible nature, there is one major (if not crippling) flaw in the Federation of Joint Conglomerate’s military forces: Both the army of Droid Combat Units and the Satellite Weapons System are controlled by a single, massive computer mainframe. This mainframe is hidden fifty-five miles below the ground and is fortified by several feet of concrete and titanium alloy, but if it were to ever be destroyed, the FJC would be utterly and completely helpless. In the mathematically insignificant chance of that occurring, however, each Human Resource is implanted with a microchip in the brain that, when activated, issues an electrical pulse that targets and destroys certain nerve endings, causing immediate violent psychosis. With the push a few buttons, the Board could turn every last Human Resource into a hysterical, bloodthirsty murderer. The confusion would then allow the Board to escape with the assistance of the anonymous covert operations detachment and its fleet of black stealth helicopters. The Board does not count on this ever occurring however, as they have been careful to maintain a very close relationship with the Black Agents who they have hired to ensure that no annoying little do-gooder nations spy on them…. Also, it is probably of little consequence, but a small, nondescript complex has appeared in Centralville with both the BioGen Industries and the CyberTech Industries logos. In the FJC expense report, the building’s construction is listed under the category of “paramilitary operations”…. Some very, very strange sounds come from that building. In one moment, it seems like the sound of delirious human screaming and the loud, raw grinding of metal. The next, one could think there was no human screaming, nor was there grinding metal, but rather a monstrous steel cylinder somehow roaring in unquenchable fury... The only ones to hear it, however, are Human Resources, and as everyone knows, it is not a Human Resource’s function to think.
The Board
Note: I only did the first three full biographies because everyone after Laszlo is relatively unimportant. The other nine are there to shake up the dialogue, lend depth to scenarios and maybe be assassinated if I am bored. As time goes on I’ll develop them more, but for right now you really only need to know the first three.
Chairman William Stryker, Leader of the Federation of Joint Conglomerates (majority shareholder), CEO of Omnipresent Inc.: Often described as “mechanical,” “robotic,” “inhuman” and “cold,” Chairman Stryker is easily one of the most insidious figures on the international stage. He almost always maintains a perfect Cheshire-cat smile, a bright, cheery tone of voice and an overwhelming aura of charismatic pleasantness. And yet, when one talks to him, one cannot escape the strange sensation that there is something very… wrong. Something strangely terrifying lurks in the corners of his eyes, something unidentifiable, but looming, monstrous and horrible. In addition to this unnamed terror, Stryker has been known to lapse into sudden, violent fits of psychotic rage. His eyes bulge, he turns blood red and he speaks with the voice of a demon. On one occasion, he very nearly choked another member of the Board to death. However, this side of him is not known to the international community, which, for the most part, believes the FJC to be a mere trade organization and Stryker to be a moral man. From behind his massive mahogany desk, Stryker will spend uncounted hours at a time sitting, staring out the window at his creation sprawling out before him, and smiling… Just smiling… for hours.
Chairwoman Debra Mackensay, Foreign Relations Minister, CEO of BioGen Industries: If you have ever gotten a telegram from Debra Mackensay, received a memo from her or seen one of her UN working papers, then you already know that she is not someone to screw with. She is a walking, talking declaration of war, an international incident in stiletto heels… a bitch, essentially. With a keen business sense and a sharp eye for deception, she is capable of sending entire governments much larger than hers cowering in fear without batting an eye. She has nothing but absolute contempt for the UN and the international community at large, both of which she views as buckling under the dead weight of human rights activism, pro-environment legislation and business regulation. However, she is highly skilled at manipulating both to her ends, and is the sole reason why the FJC is not crawling with UN inspectors. A master of all aspects of international law, she has been known to diffuse furious diplomatic aggression with a casual invocation of a simple loophole in an obscure clause in an obscure treaty. This, combined with her position as CEO of the massive BioGen Industries, makes Debra Mackensay easily one of the more influential women on the world stage. “Diplomacy is a business,” she once wrote, “and should be conducted with the efficiency of a business.”
Chairman Michael Laszlo, Internal Affairs Minister, CEO of CyberTech Industries: The smooth talking, slick-haired, conniving Michael Laszlo is the typical corporate jerk, a complete and utter weasel. Sexist, doused in way too much cologne and always dressed impeccably, Chairman Laszlo will do, say or destroy anything and everything to get to the top. He is dangerously ambitious and makes very little effort about hiding it. Secretly, he dearly covets Chairman Stryker’s position as majority shareholder, but is too much of a wimp to try to take it. As CEO of CyberTech Industries, the corporation that designed both the Droid Combat Unit and Satellite Weapons System, he is one of the most powerful members of the Board.
Chairman Robert Eisner, Military Operations Minister, CEO of PanGlobal Networks
Chairman David Wagner, Computer Technologies Administrator, CEO of Pantheon Incorporated
Chairwoman Julia Coxley, Development & Infrastructure Minister, CEO of OmniLux Lmtd.
Chairman Brock Heinz, National Security Coordination Officer, CEO of UberAmmo Firearms
Chairman Philip Clark, Human Resources Supervisor, CEO of UbiCorp Industries
Chairman James Lewis, Efficiency Insurability Minister, CEO of PanTerra United
Chairwoman Lillian Stoker, Research Division Administrator, CEO of SHDW Incorporated
Chairwoman Elizabeth Cleveland, Product Distribution Supervisor, CEO of Omniopolis Incorporated
Chairman Brian Maybury, Marketing Department Minister, CEO of PanContinental Corporation
(Note also that each of the corporation names include either "omni," "pan," or "ubi," which are latin prefixes for "everywhere" or "inescapable." Yes, I really am just that clever lol)
Government
The Federation of Joint Conglomerates is exactly what it sounds like: twelve massive, multi-national, multi-billion dollar corporations working together as one governing body. The CEOs of these twelve corporations hold board meetings on the top floor of a five hundred-story skyscraper in the FJC capital city, Centralville. There, they make various decisions ranging anywhere from planning ways to insert FJC operatives into United Nations posts, to deciding which international figure they would profit most from assassinating. Nameless groups of covert operatives that appear in squadrons of black stealth helicopters and vanish just as quickly carry out their policies (although the nature of the FJC populous is such that actual law enforcement is never needed. See Citizenry). An important thing to remember about the Board is none of its members has even the most remote sense of morality. Occasionally, brief glimpses of a Board member’s humanity may be revealed, but even then only in anger or selfish intentions.
Geography
The Federation does in fact control an actual bordered nation (some people got confused on this point because certain corporate states like Raven Corps do not have a ‘country’ per se, but exist rather as a sort of international cancer… which is how FJC exists in many respects, but with the crutch of having an identified, centralized government). There are three main ring-like sections of the FJC sovereign territory. The first, outermost ring is known as the Outer Limits, a thin streak of industrial wasteland crowded up against the border. It is a barren wilderness of abandoned warehouses, ruined skyscrapers and gutted factories. Almost completely stripped of natural resources, the Outer Limits are capable of sustaining only the most rugged plant life that manages to push out of the cracks of pavement. The second ring is a several million mile wide city called Agglomeratia. It is within the spinning cogs and massive mechanizations of Agglomeratia that the actual “business” end of the twelve corporations’ business is performed – producing computer technology, medical equipment, high-powered firearms technology, etc. But in the very middle of the centrifuge of Agglomeratia, in the appropriately named capital city of Centralville, the decidedly more furtive enterprises of the FJC occur. A walled-in oasis of aesthetic and even natural beauty, Centralville is truly a remarkable sight. Normally, the Federation finds beauty to be a waste of dearly, dearly beloved money. They soon realized, however, that while they were comfortable having their citizenry live in industrialized, mass-produced containment units, they were not thrilled with the arrangement for themselves. Also, it would not do to have the decidedly sub-par living conditions of the citizenry exposed to the international community when the rare diplomat risks his life by coming to the FJC.
Citizenry
In a profound sense, there really are no, what one would call, “human beings” in the Federation of Joint Conglomerates- government or populous. But while the members of the Board are soulless, money-driven monsters, they at least maintain free will and independent thought. Actual citizens of the FJC do not share this luxury. They are referred to simply as “Human Resources.” When the rare occasion comes that the Board considers an individual Human Resource, it is by serial number, not name. Born not out of human relations but rather a massive, gray genetics complex known as “The Factory,” a Human Resource is denied individuality from birth. The mantra “Your purpose is your function. Your function is to serve us” is continuously repeated from the instant of birth to death over a national system of loudspeakers. A typical day in the life of a Human Resource may go something like this: (1) Perform a twelve hour shift at Chairman Wagner’s company, Pantheon Incorporated, during which you will probably break several bones and rupture a few internal organs. This will not hinder your productivity however, because BioGen Industries has developed an instant organic regeneration shot- just one dose, and you are back in line. (2) Return to your personal habitation facility for an allotted three hours of rest (under close video surveillance and monitoring, of course). (3) Repeat…. A Human Resource will perform this pattern every day of his life until he is too old to do it anymore, at which point the nameless, sourceless and omnipresent police execute him. When a Human Resource dies, his body is liquidated and fed intravenously into living Human Resources. From his birth until his execution, he will have not once had a single conscious thought. Meanwhile, in the distant, unimportant Outer Limits live the only actual independent humans in the FJC. Scattered, desperate and starving, these people might rebel if not for the Board regularly sending “national security” forces there to kill anything that moves… And yet for some mysterious, rather alarming reason that none of the CEOs on the Board can quite fathom, people continue to multiply there… Suffice it to say, “Retake the Outer Limits” has been on the Board’s agenda for quite some time.
Military
While the Board prefers to do things somewhat furtively, through cold, calculated manipulation of people, governments and even legions of governments, they are not above taking drastic precautions to ensure no one tries to disrupt efficiency and productivity through something as irritating as a human rights inspection or an invasion. There is not a single human in the FJC regular army. Rather, it consists exclusively of robotic death machines. Created by CyberTech Industries, the Droid Combat Unit™ (Version 9.0) is every bit as unthinking, unfeeling, pre-programmed and mass-producible as a Human Resource. But unlike Human Resources, DCUs can be generated almost immediately. The FJC maintains the capacity to produce one hundred thousand DCUs per day, as needed. In addition, the entire nation is completely blanketed at all times by the Satellite Weapons System, a lexicon of twenty satellites that serve the dual functions of intelligence gathering and missile launching. Despite its apparently invincible nature, there is one major (if not crippling) flaw in the Federation of Joint Conglomerate’s military forces: Both the army of Droid Combat Units and the Satellite Weapons System are controlled by a single, massive computer mainframe. This mainframe is hidden fifty-five miles below the ground and is fortified by several feet of concrete and titanium alloy, but if it were to ever be destroyed, the FJC would be utterly and completely helpless. In the mathematically insignificant chance of that occurring, however, each Human Resource is implanted with a microchip in the brain that, when activated, issues an electrical pulse that targets and destroys certain nerve endings, causing immediate violent psychosis. With the push a few buttons, the Board could turn every last Human Resource into a hysterical, bloodthirsty murderer. The confusion would then allow the Board to escape with the assistance of the anonymous covert operations detachment and its fleet of black stealth helicopters. The Board does not count on this ever occurring however, as they have been careful to maintain a very close relationship with the Black Agents who they have hired to ensure that no annoying little do-gooder nations spy on them…. Also, it is probably of little consequence, but a small, nondescript complex has appeared in Centralville with both the BioGen Industries and the CyberTech Industries logos. In the FJC expense report, the building’s construction is listed under the category of “paramilitary operations”…. Some very, very strange sounds come from that building. In one moment, it seems like the sound of delirious human screaming and the loud, raw grinding of metal. The next, one could think there was no human screaming, nor was there grinding metal, but rather a monstrous steel cylinder somehow roaring in unquenchable fury... The only ones to hear it, however, are Human Resources, and as everyone knows, it is not a Human Resource’s function to think.
The Board
Note: I only did the first three full biographies because everyone after Laszlo is relatively unimportant. The other nine are there to shake up the dialogue, lend depth to scenarios and maybe be assassinated if I am bored. As time goes on I’ll develop them more, but for right now you really only need to know the first three.
Chairman William Stryker, Leader of the Federation of Joint Conglomerates (majority shareholder), CEO of Omnipresent Inc.: Often described as “mechanical,” “robotic,” “inhuman” and “cold,” Chairman Stryker is easily one of the most insidious figures on the international stage. He almost always maintains a perfect Cheshire-cat smile, a bright, cheery tone of voice and an overwhelming aura of charismatic pleasantness. And yet, when one talks to him, one cannot escape the strange sensation that there is something very… wrong. Something strangely terrifying lurks in the corners of his eyes, something unidentifiable, but looming, monstrous and horrible. In addition to this unnamed terror, Stryker has been known to lapse into sudden, violent fits of psychotic rage. His eyes bulge, he turns blood red and he speaks with the voice of a demon. On one occasion, he very nearly choked another member of the Board to death. However, this side of him is not known to the international community, which, for the most part, believes the FJC to be a mere trade organization and Stryker to be a moral man. From behind his massive mahogany desk, Stryker will spend uncounted hours at a time sitting, staring out the window at his creation sprawling out before him, and smiling… Just smiling… for hours.
Chairwoman Debra Mackensay, Foreign Relations Minister, CEO of BioGen Industries: If you have ever gotten a telegram from Debra Mackensay, received a memo from her or seen one of her UN working papers, then you already know that she is not someone to screw with. She is a walking, talking declaration of war, an international incident in stiletto heels… a bitch, essentially. With a keen business sense and a sharp eye for deception, she is capable of sending entire governments much larger than hers cowering in fear without batting an eye. She has nothing but absolute contempt for the UN and the international community at large, both of which she views as buckling under the dead weight of human rights activism, pro-environment legislation and business regulation. However, she is highly skilled at manipulating both to her ends, and is the sole reason why the FJC is not crawling with UN inspectors. A master of all aspects of international law, she has been known to diffuse furious diplomatic aggression with a casual invocation of a simple loophole in an obscure clause in an obscure treaty. This, combined with her position as CEO of the massive BioGen Industries, makes Debra Mackensay easily one of the more influential women on the world stage. “Diplomacy is a business,” she once wrote, “and should be conducted with the efficiency of a business.”
Chairman Michael Laszlo, Internal Affairs Minister, CEO of CyberTech Industries: The smooth talking, slick-haired, conniving Michael Laszlo is the typical corporate jerk, a complete and utter weasel. Sexist, doused in way too much cologne and always dressed impeccably, Chairman Laszlo will do, say or destroy anything and everything to get to the top. He is dangerously ambitious and makes very little effort about hiding it. Secretly, he dearly covets Chairman Stryker’s position as majority shareholder, but is too much of a wimp to try to take it. As CEO of CyberTech Industries, the corporation that designed both the Droid Combat Unit and Satellite Weapons System, he is one of the most powerful members of the Board.
Chairman Robert Eisner, Military Operations Minister, CEO of PanGlobal Networks
Chairman David Wagner, Computer Technologies Administrator, CEO of Pantheon Incorporated
Chairwoman Julia Coxley, Development & Infrastructure Minister, CEO of OmniLux Lmtd.
Chairman Brock Heinz, National Security Coordination Officer, CEO of UberAmmo Firearms
Chairman Philip Clark, Human Resources Supervisor, CEO of UbiCorp Industries
Chairman James Lewis, Efficiency Insurability Minister, CEO of PanTerra United
Chairwoman Lillian Stoker, Research Division Administrator, CEO of SHDW Incorporated
Chairwoman Elizabeth Cleveland, Product Distribution Supervisor, CEO of Omniopolis Incorporated
Chairman Brian Maybury, Marketing Department Minister, CEO of PanContinental Corporation
(Note also that each of the corporation names include either "omni," "pan," or "ubi," which are latin prefixes for "everywhere" or "inescapable." Yes, I really am just that clever lol)