"The environmentally-devastating Planetary Resource Harvester - P.R.M. Refinery Mk4 - is still widely considered the poster product of GigaCorp's Industrial division. Deployed in massive numbers on countless moons and planets, the P.R.M. Refinery reflects the manufacturer's true nature; ruthless, efficient and very profitable."
GIGACORP
Founded by the enigmatic Emmet Longstreet, this massive corporate entity has managed to survive the destruction of Earth. Led by Mercedes Kelleher - a cunning and ruthless businesswoman - GigaCorp has one goal: total domination of humanity's remnants.
IDEOLOGY STATEMENT
To gain total control of both the natural resources and markets of human space - and beyond - through the elimination, both economically and militarily, of all opposition.
BACKGROUND
The mighty corporate entity that is now known as GigaCorp has a long and convoluted history. Its origins are obscure, but seem to stretch back as far as the late 20th century. At that time, the eccentric Emmet Longstreet used a variety of dubious means to obtain controlling interest in an up-and-coming software company called GigaCom.
Although eccentric, Longstreet was far from stupid. He possessed remarkable business acumen. He parlayed his successes at GigaCom (both financial and material) to engage in another round of shady business deals. This time, Longstreet expanded his interests into other burgeoning markets, such as aerospace and defense contracting. Over a ten-year period, Longstreet continued to expand his financial empire until GigaCom had become one of Earth's largest multinational corporations (and the term “gigacorp” was first coined in the media when described his company).
By 2008, GigaCom had subsidiaries in areas as diverse as heavy manufacturing, hydroponics, weapons research, and fuel production - in addition to its traditional field of computers. In recognition of this, Longstreet renamed his sprawling enterprise GigaCorp, believing it “bigger and better than a mere megacorporation.” Critics denounced this move as arrogance and even megalomania, but consumers continued to buy the many goods Longstreet's corporation produced. Profits increased with each year, making Longstreet one of the richest men the world had ever seen.
Part of Longstreet's genius was his ability to keep pace with the changes affecting humanity. When near-Earth space first showed its commercial value in the 2020's, Longstreet was ready. Hge launched a space program of his own and, by 2030, had ten corporate space stations in orbit. Each of them was home to a research and production facilities designed to provide GigaCorp with the next wave of products for humanity's billions. More importantly, Longstreet wanted to ensure that no one - corporate or government - advanced too far ahead of GigaCorp technologically. Over time, Longstreet became obsessed with keeping GigaCorp's edge at all costs, an obsession that would ultimately lead his ouster from the company he built.
The first signs of Longstreet's obsessions manifested in 2033 when he initiated the ALEXANDER Project. Longstreet claimed this genetic engineering project would “improve” humanity for life in space and, therefore, life working for GigaCorp. In reality, Longstreet had grown increasingly paranoid and viewed the ALEXANDER project as a means of developing a Praetorian guard, fanatically loyal and physically unstoppable. He increasingly viewed the human race as weak and shortsighted; the ALEXANDER Project, he believed, would solve these problems.
Longstreet spent more and more of his time overseeing the growth and development of GeneFlex, the subsidiary responsible for the ALEXANDER Project. He ignored the public outcry that occured when proof of GigaCorp's involvement in genetic experimentation was discovered. Instead, he ordered the creation of Prosperity Station, the largest orbital station ever conceived as a monument to his megalomania. Longstreet hoped to transfer GigaCorp's headquarters to Prosperity once it was completed. He also planned to live at the station, far from the “teeming masses of Earth.”
Longstreet's growing obsession with projects deemed “unprofitable” worried GigaCorp's board of directors. At the time Prosperity Station was completed in 2045 (behind schedule and over budget), the board usurped day-to-day control of the corporation away from its founder. An interim CEO, Donald Claypool, was appointed. The eccentric multi-billionaire hardly seemed to notice, obsessed as he was with his ALEXANDER Project “children” and a desire to find resources on other worlds. The board was happy the old man had other projects to occupy him. In the meantime, they set about re-organizing the company's interests along “more profitable” lines.
Ten years later, Longstreet tired of his mistreatment at the hands of his own company. He ordered the brilliant and cunning ALEXANDER subjects into action. They commandeered a large transport ship filled with the ALEXANDER Project data and test subjects and headed off for the far reaches of the solar system (after a daring series of computer hacks that diverted a large chunk of GigaCorp funds and materiel into his hands).
Ironically, Longstreet's seemingly quixotic quest for off-world resources proved fruitful a year after his disappearance. He3 was discovered in the asteroid belt and GigaCorp immediately decided to mine it. The next thirty years were spent exploiting the resources of Luna, Mars, and the asteroid belt. Despite opposition from other corporations and outcry from the public, GigaCorp remained the largest and most successful enterprise in the solar system.
By 2070, this situation changed. Several ex-GigaCorp executives, unhappy with the post-Longstreet era, founded another corporate entity, the Crimson Group. The Group immediately attempted to acquire GigaCorp subsidiaries in hostile takeovers. A new era dawned for GigaCorp and for humanity. Corporate violence between the two behemoths spilled over into outright war when an He3 deposit was discovered beneath Luna's Leonov crater. For months, a standoff existed between GigaCorp forces and those of the Crimson Group. Only the intervention of the UN's new peacekeeping Coalition resolved the dispute.
GigaCorp resented the UN's attempts to curtail its operations (as it had during the GeneFlex incident). From that point on, the company strengthened its own security forces and began to operate more and more independently of Earth control. By 2111, it had begun to mine the asteroid belt extensively, using portable refinery technology that it developed. Other corporations quickly followed suit.
GigaCorp then began to infiltrate its rivals, especially the Iron Coalition. When General Eglin was killed in 2116, the company failed in its attempt to advance one of its own agents into the position of supreme commander of the Coalition. Nevertheless, its infiltration of the Crimson Group was very successful. Through its efforts, GigaCorp learned of the discovery of the Aleph in 2127.
The destruction of Earth in 2140 affected GigaCorp less than many of its rivals. Longstreet's quest to build Prosperity Station had paid off: most GigaCorp resources and personnel were not on Earth at the time of the asteroid strike. Under its new CEO, Mercedes Kelleher, GigaCorp returned to business as usual. GigaCorp resumed its attempts to control the solar system's resources and launched several expeditions through the Alephs to other systems as well. So successful was Kelleher's tenure that GigaCorp succeeded in destroying the weakened Crimson Group completely in 2145.
GigaCorp is now the only corporation left in human-occupied space. It remains in conflict with the Iron Coalition, but frequently (to avoid public relations headaches) backs down from major military engagements. Recently, however, this has begin to change. Since the defeat of the Crimson Group, GigaCorp has seized control of the entire corporate infrastructure, and has the military might to challenge even the Coalition. Consequently, GigaCorp has grown more aggressive in recent years.
INTER-CIV RELATIONS
GigaCorp has a long-standing hatred of the Iron Coalition. Consequently, it considers the Coalition to be its primary rival and the main obstacle standing between it and total mastery of human space. Because GigaCorp's security forces are not quite as skilled as those of the Coalition (although this may soon change), it prefers to rely on stealth and subterfuge when dealing with its enemy. Sabotage and infiltration forms its primary weapons. GigaCorp forces fight ferociously against the Coalition, but will retreat when clearly outnumbered or outgunned.
GigaCorp gives relatively little heed to the Belters, seeing them as mere riff-raff without any redeeming qualities. At the same time, the corporation is of two minds on how best to proceed with them. One perspective views the Belters as nuisance to be eliminated at a suitable time. Another perspective views them both as a potential market for GigaCorp goods (a dwindling resource if there was one!) and as allies in its war against the Coalition. At the moment, neither perspective has won full support of the board of directors. For now, Belters are viewed with caution and treated on a case-by-case basis.
The Bios, on the other hand, are considered enemies. Their origins as part of the ALEXANDER Project unnerve more than a few GigaCorp executives. To them, the Bios appear to be part of “Longstreet's revenge” from beyond the grave. More importantly, many view the technology possessed the Bios as the rightful property of GigaCorp. Currently, the company treats any contact with Bios as hostile. GigaCorp would prefer to absorb their technology and improve itself, but this seems unlikely. Instead, the company attacks the Bios whenever reasonable and hopes that they do not ally with another civilization.
NOTABLE PERSONALITIES