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# Cybersun Industries: An Origin Story
**How a Corporation Conquered an Entire Alien Species and then Lost It**

## Introduction

*In a lone tent, next to the ruins of a once great palace, two parties of men parley. One group, the rulers of a now fallen empire; the other, "paradesshee", foreigners. The transaction is quick. Parchment is laid out, names are signed, wax is stamped, and an agreement is made. A surrender.
Now, one of the oldest, longest lasting species in the entire history of the galaxy has just become a subject to a land mass just a tenth of its size.*

*But it wasn't the 2nd Empire of Brazil itself that laid claim to the plasmamen and their planet. In fact, the land and concessions won was not going to be transferred to the state or the crown at all. No, this conquest was done by a private army; as a business measure of the Cybersun Industries Corporation.*

## Preface
**War Never Changes**

When you think of the words "**imperialism**" or "**colonization**", what are the images that appear in your mind? Perhaps it's the old war propaganda of the British or French or German empires, maybe it's the division of Africa and the Near East, or perhaps you're thinking a little farther back where soldiers of a faraway empire directly planted a flag, claimed land, killed the natives, converting the ones that they didn't, generally winning said land by sheer military might.

Yes, there were many times this did happen, don't get me wrong, the Spanish and Portuguese winning their vast holdings in the New World by brute force (and the fact that most of the natives died from disease), but the thing was that this type of brutish invasive colonization only really happened in the New World (because, well, you know), and even then, despite being two massive continents, the Americas were not really that big of a profit maker. The only sizable long-term profit came from the West Indies and the American South with its sugar and tobacco plantations.

After all, the search for the East Indies is why Columbus made his journey to begin with. One of the most populated regions of the world that had access to all the exotic goods that Europe absolutely craved. Nutmeg, cotton, silk, pepper, and especially tea. Whoever could make the great journey to access these spices, or even better, control the spices, would not just hold incredible amounts of wealth, but most importantly, incredible amounts of power as well.

## 1
**The Men of Plasma**

In 2403, a mining company owned by the Indian government, **Silar Group**, made a bit of a monumental discovery in the Schwarzkopf cluster - massive gas giants made of a strange purple vapor with untold elemental properties. Some simple research revealed it to be a new element, a unique one in that it contains no neutrons, unique in that there is only one other element that shares this quality, hydrogen, but only in a specific isotope known as a protium.

Every griefer's favorite substance and every captain's worst nightmare, Plasma, as it came to be referred to because of its capability of gaining incredible heat, was found in large amounts in only this one area of space and seemingly only around dead, uninhabited star systems, such as that of White Sands, with one exception, that being the strangely well inhabited plasma-laden world of Centration.

The prior history of Centration is unimportant and largely based around archaeological findings and straight up speculation. Originally discovered by the Indian government sometime around 2410-13, the native plasmamen were the subject of mostly passive study by Indian scientists.

Though it is speculation (as the Indian government has still not declassified anything), it is believed that the Indians purposefully kept the existence of the plasmamen a well-guarded secret over fears of cultural contamination or needless exploitation.

By the 2420s, India already established a small trading and mining empire on Centration, with their forts,"kaarakhaana kila", dotting all across the coasts of the planet. Being the first humans there, they were pretty much unchallenged. The United Nations splitting the galaxy up like they did with Antarctica will do that sort of thing.

But much like with Antarctica, pretty much everyone else didn't really care much about what the UN had to say on the matter, and other nations soon set their eyes on tapping into the Schwarzkopf cluster.

## 2
**Cybersun**

The existence of plasmamen remained unknown to the wider world until their subsequent discovery by the 2nd Empire of Brazil in 2429. Noted for its strikingly high plasma content by an unmanned probe seeking to stake out claims on the various plasma-rich worlds and asteroid clusters, a manned exploratory vessel was quickly dispatched to the planet. Upon the explorer's arrival, in stark contrast to the live-and-let-live passive observation of the Indians, the Brazilians boldly sought to make diplomatic contact and establish their superiority over the plasmamen; seeking to establish both a monopoly on trade with the species as well as bringing them into the folds of their influence.

Here, merchants founded their own companies, purchased vessels, and fund expeditions across the planet (small at first, just so a risky voyage wouldn't lead to bankruptcy if it failed), reach agreements with local rulers, then bringing back goods from Centration. And merchants, as they always do, learned how to do this quickly and efficiently, to the point that the crown of Brazil formed the **Official Centration Company of the Brazilian Crown**, or in Portuguese, "*Empresa Oficial da Coroa Centração Brasileira*". It was often just referred to as Cybersun, due to their CEO's penchant for human-enhancing computer and mechanical technologies, and his testing of said technologies on the native plasmamen.

A long story incredibly short, Cybersun was basically a state-backed, but not state controlled company. They would be the first human group to strike gold in the mine that was Centration, rapidly overshadowing the already established Indians.

Since Cybersun was backed by the Brazilian government, they were granted freedoms that might seem strange in any other context. The company could hire their own soldiers to enforce their operations as well as to declare war on whoever threatened those interests. However, it was still a private business, free from the influence of the government itself.

Even with this, Cybersun couldn't just take land by force like some kind of gun-toting warlord clique. Their ports and factories were created from agreements made with local rulers, contracts seen as mutually beneficial to both state and company. Yes, Cybersun did have an initial investment from the Brazilian government, however they were largely independent and held up by private citizens themselves, investing in a private company to get returns back when its operations were successful.

## 3
**A Fracturing Empire**

In the 2300s, the entire (human) population of South America sat hovering at around 600 million. The planet of Centration had 1.5 billion plasmamen. Just like Earth, Centration has always been an ever-changing canvas of history, of different empires and kingdoms. Yet, for a period of roughly 200 years, most of Centration had been ruled by the giant, planet spanning **Bhavi** Empire.

By the 2300s, the Bhavi had conquered most of the northern continent (eventually both of the continents). They were basically a Bhavi ruling class over a majority **Effigen** population (the Bhavi are a race of plasmamen with an abnormally high concentration of boron in their body, giving it a pale skin tone, while the Effigen are the common purple plasmamen that you see working on your station). However, for a majority of its history, these racial and ethnic differences didn't really matter. There were no taxes against non-Bhavi, nor any restrictive social castes, and the period was generally a time of cultural growth and overall stability.

Now, if you're expecting some grandstanding propaganda about how Cybersun Industries and the Brazilians rolled in and brought that golden age to a stop, well, that wasn't really the case. By the time the Brazilian merchants held any influence at all, the Bhavi were having political problems brought on by the social upheaval caused by the general presence of humanity.

Because of this, the Bhavi, in the midst of a period of poor leadership, had enacted more hard-line racial laws against their majority non-Bhavi population, leading to resentment. By the time of Cybersun, the empire was in general decline, its capital was sacked by [a pirate clan](https://hackmd.io/@waspstation/lore/%2FxaKhQ6YYTVmVEM3x5MkczA), it faced rebellion and rioting by the Effigens, and so, Cybersun looked on earnestly. Cybersun had been allowed to have ports dotted all alongside the coasts, but their main base of operation was in an area in the east called Prakshaalit.

## 4
**A Foothold is Made**

The Bhavi were not having a good time, and Cybersun was more than happy to scoop up any areas of particular unrest that the Bhavi were unable to hold on to. With the Bhavi weakened, and the Indians gone, the Brazilians were now the sole human exporter of plasmamen goods. So, where do you go once you have a monopoly? Easy, you build an empire.

By 2446, the Bhavi empire, facing a century of decline and rebellion, completely collapsed. In its place were the Effigen, which while holding very much the same amount of land as the Bhavi, were far more fractured. The perfect time for the company to consolidate their investments in Centration. At this point in time, Prakshaalit was pretty much completely under the control of Cybersun Industries, its 50 million inhabitants subject to the whim of a few located in a mansion in São Paulo.

Not just was the company getting revenue from trade anymore, but from taxation on the locals as well. Now that Cybersun Industries could control the laws, the company reallocated land to be used for more cash crops, than plasma for food. Basically the people were harvesting more gat fruit and plasma cannabis than they did food for themselves. And all it took was one bad harvest season for things to get very bad very quickly.

This was called the Great Prakshaal Famine of 2450. In a short period of time, 10 million, one fifth of the Prakshaal population, starved to death. This was not helped by the fact that Cybersun officials would hoard food for themselves to try and make a profit off the skyrocketing food prices, more what the company cared about afterwards was the sharp drop in taxation revenue, which they gained back through brute force. But even then, this was really not a good look for the company. Profits were still lost, and plasma export was still down.

The immense suffering and casualties caused by the famine were not lost on the Brazilian National Congress at all. Reforms were called to at least limit the immense power of Cybersun, which was easier to do now considering how much of a hit the company had taken from the famine. There were many of these reforms made over the course of many years, but the basic gist of them was "Cybersun has too much power, the crown should have at least some oversight in what you do". Did these new government reforms work?

We like to think that corporate lobbyists holding control over our legislative powers is a new thing, when it's not, at all. Even if there were reforms against Cybersun Industries, the Brazilian state still worked side by side with the private armies in Centration. By this time, the company had their own private army numbering in the tens of thousands made up of primarily native plasmamen, and it really wasn't all that difficult to get local recruitment.

## 5
**The Largest Acquisition in Human History**

Centration is fractured, and there just so happens to be an independent corporate state owning a large chunk of the coast. I wonder what possibly happens next?

Between 2446 and 2455 was the greatest period of territorial gain in the company's history. With its immense military force, ability to straight up buy allies, and modern doctrines and equipment of warfare, by its end, most of the planet was directly controlled and the rest was allied with the Cybersun Industries Corporation.

The wealth caused by this expansion cannot possibly be understated. This was one of the richest regions in the galaxy, after all. A surge of wealth flowed into the new empire, along with the already much needed export goods. The equivalent paid by some of these plasma-princes to the Brazilians was in the hundreds of millions in today's money. The expansion of the company was so immense, it literally introduced the word "robust" into common vocabulary (from the plasmaman word for "strong").

Yet with all of this new growth, the company had to ironically take on the same task as the Bhavi and the Effigen before them of ruling Centration. And they did rule a majority of the world (for about 15 years), and at no point between the years of 2429 and 2457 did the Brazilian crown ever try to lay claim to Centration for itself. So what changed?

A good old riot.

The Cybersun Industries Corporation relied on local plasmamen for their military recruitment, and by the 2450s, there were many reasons why the local troops were not satisfied. Promotions were rare, wages grew stagnant, promised land was not given, and there were even problems with using rifle cartridges loaded with plasma powder, which being plasmamen, was not very welcomed by the soldiers. A very long story shortened, the Cybersun troops began to fight with each other (as in rebelled against the Brazilians in a mutiny), using the 2457 comms blackout as their catalyst.

The opposing armies numbered in the tens to hundreds of thousands, and atrocities were committed across the world by both sides. By the end of the two years of fighting, the casualties were incredible. Hundreds of thousands of plasmamen and humans together, mostly civilians, were killed, not including the total economic and agricultural collapse, leading to another famine. When the comms network was reset in 2459, the public was shocked and embarrassed to see that such a brutal rebellion could have occurred at all under the eyes of a private corporation.

It had gone too far. In order to bring some semblance of order to the chaos, the Brazilian crown officially seized all of Cybersun Industry's operations on Centration, its holdings officially brought into the United Earth Government, now known as SolGov, and the people of the new UGE Protectorate Niyam (from the plasmaman word for "rule") all given the rights of citizens (at least on paper). The holding up of this promise would be frequently brought up by future plasmamen, now under the human government. But the age of this massive megacorporation was over.

The legacy and future it created, however, carried on far longer.

## Epilogue
**The Syndicate and the Lessons of Prakshal**

There is a Chinese proverb, "The flag follows trade", and despite that saying existing, I think there is a common conception among UGE citizens such as us that these corporate empires spread much like the Spanish Empire did, or maybe the Romans, that these empires came and won through sheer military force, but when it comes to Centration, this wasn't really the case. The whim of companies and capitalists dictated where the empire would go. SolGov is the largest it has ever been, the largest empire human history has ever seen, thanks in part to its lucrative goods of plasma coming from Centration. Fuel was the first major interstellar commodity. It wasn't just plasma, however...

Before their fall from grace, Cybersun smuggled in illegal opioids to destabilize the populace of White Sands and Centration alike in an attempt to make them more compliant to try to get better trade agreements, essentially turning them into a giant drug cartel, which led to the disgraced Cybersun Industries joining the Syndicate forces (and eventually growing to lead them) in the Inter-Corporate War of 2470, as a form of revenge for SolGov taking away their planet.

At least for a time, **Cybersun is what defined imperialism**. And that is their true legacy.

And I say "for a time" because what we used to define "**colonialism**" or "**imperialism**" has always shifted. What drives nations or people to conquer others has just as well. As the 2400s came to an end, lessons were taken from the Centration rebellion and the Inter-Corporate War, and the new land that was seized was either under direct government control or strict government oversight as in the case of Nanotrasen, which is what shapes our common mentality about imperialism today. You might think of the Scramble for Africa, for instance.

But Africa was really just a small detour compared to what historically expansion has always been about. Africa was the exception, not the rule, where private companies didn't really invest in colonies. Yes, Africa did have resources, but the drive to split Africa was mostly just to fill in a map. Even then, European colonies only existed for a few years, a brief period compared to the days of the East India Company or the V.O.C.

Regulated capitalism and market-based economies do lead to better lives for the people within them, but when capitalism goes unregulated, that is when a company simply doesn't remain a company, it becomes a state within a state, and goes accountable to nobody...

… except for the bottom line.