Union of Corporate States

Profit is Power. Freedom is Leverage. Loyalty is Contractual.
– Internal UCS Doctrine File #342.1A

Overview

The Union of Corporate States (UCS) is a powerful, authoritarian corporatocracy stretching across several core and near-core star systems. Originally formed from a coalition of Earth-based mega-corporations during the early waves of colonial expansion, the UCS has since evolved into a formalized state—a nation where corporate boardrooms are government chambers, and stock performance dictates policy.

The UCS controls entire systems, including Alpha Centauri, Proxima, Wolf 359, Ross, and Epsilon Indi, using a combination of economic domination, military might, and logistical efficiency. Though publicly presented as a unified republic of progress and prosperity, behind the scenes the Union is driven by ruthless corporate infighting, espionage, and strategic monopolization of key industries.

To its citizens, the UCS offers high-tech urban life, career advancement, and economic opportunity.
To everyone else, it offers a contract—or conquest.

Corporate Rule and Internal Structure

At the heart of the UCS is a governing Board composed of the CEOs of its six most powerful corporations:

A dominant American-origin conglomerate specializing in security, heavy industry, and aerospace.
A formidable Japanese-origin tech and logistics empire.
A third major power of European origin—known for biogenetics, AI support, and black-market contract arms.
Three minor corps, each with niche markets (cybernetics, mineral extraction, or weapons manufacturing).

The Board appoints a Chairman, who serves as both the state’s executive and final arbiter in disputes. Though ostensibly equal partners, the corporations constantly engage in backroom deals, market manipulation, and sabotage—both of rivals within the Union and external threats to UCS dominance.

Each corporation maintains its own private security forces, giving them military autonomy. In practice, the line between state army and corporate army is blurred—often intentionally.

Military Doctrine and Mercenary Use

The UCS fields a highly professional, tech-forward military that emphasizes combined arms warfare, command-and-control efficiency, and logistics supremacy. However, corporate priorities often supersede strategic cohesion. It is not uncommon to see rival corporate units deployed side-by-side, cooperating on the surface but competing for profit-share, glory, or experimental testing data.

Key military elements include:

TAC CAMs – Each corporation has its own designs but will use and modify those of the others.
Contract Security Forces – Loyal to specific CEOs, used for "containment operations."
The UCS State Army – A unifying military force nominally loyal to the Chairman.

The UCS also makes extensive use of mercenaries, hiring out entire regiments for offensive operations. Contracts are lucrative—but risky. Many mercenaries learn too late that corporate betrayal can come with a non-compete clause written in blood.

Life in the UCS

Life within the UCS can be a paradox. For the privileged—corporate citizens, investors, and staff—life is filled with innovation, entertainment, and opportunity. Cities are clean, secure, and filled with conveniences.
But personal freedom is heavily regulated, and every right is transactional.

Employment contracts double as citizenship licenses.
Healthcare, housing, and education are tiered based on performance.
Freedom of speech exists—unless it damages stock value.

Those who live outside the corporate ladder—miners, transport crews, or "free settlers"—often find themselves trapped in debt cycles, their lives owned outright by the Union's lesser subsidiaries.

Yet for many, even this system is better than the chaos beyond UCS borders.

Colonial Expansion and Frontier Control

The UCS does not expand like traditional nations. It targets high-value worlds, establishes a base, and claims resources with corporate precision. It often does not seek full planetary control—just the mineral veins, orbital lanes, or industrial infrastructure worth owning.

In contested systems, the UCS may fund proxy wars, install puppet governments, or send security teams disguised as contractors. Colonies in dispute with the UCS often find their communication satellites mysteriously failing, supply shipments rerouted, and loyalist factions rising from within.

Where the Union cannot buy, it builds.
Where it cannot build, it destabilizes.
And where it cannot destabilize—it annihilates.

What Drives the Union

The UCS is not driven by faith, heritage, or ideology.
It is driven by profit, control, and the belief that humanity can—and should—be optimized through markets.

It believes that governments fail because they are inefficient.
That people are at their best when incentivized.
That freedom is best measured in shares, CRID, and clauses.

And above all, the UCS believes one thing:

If you can’t own the future—you’ll be owned by it.

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