Unity

HQ : Harkdaleko

Found on : System Wide

 

A small moon orbiting the planet of Patfall, Harkdaleko is where Unity have planted their base in The Threads.  A modest facility on the surface is complemented by a stardock in orbit, and a dense network of satellites whose primary purpose is to gather information on the events that unfold in C.271 XIV.

Although Unity are, first and foremost, considered for their military presence, this is not their true role.

Fringe systems such as this one are formally under Unity control, but for all practical terms are allowed to self-govern, so long as the local governments and authoritative collectives maintain a reasonable level of stability.  If they do not, Unity can declare martial law in part or all of the system, immediately enforce it with their five small warships and their complement of four hundred marines, and of course then call for reinforcements, who can bring such crushing weight to bear, at least in theory, that none choose to provoke it.  When Unity navies arrive, there is a significant risk that the system will be declared ungovernable, and be reabsorbed.

In the eight centuries since the system was colonised by humanity leaving Unity space to seek freedom elsewhere, martial law has only been declared a handful of times, to a localised degree, and it has never lasted more than a few months.

It also helps that Unity Special agents based on Harkdaleko, but rarely in residence there, prowl the system constantly, searching for destabilizing elements and external threats. These agents are often given wide-ranging authority and have been known to hire mercenary bands, salvage captains, and outright criminals to assist in their tasks.

 

When considering however the true role of the Unity mission, the founding precepts of the "Fringe Expansion" must not be forgetten.  Devised as an exploration into the “fringe” planets of Unity galaxies, the project was originally proposed as a sort of galactic test tube - an experiment to release the pressure on some of the more populated and conflicted worlds by populating planets that did not possess a wealth of profitable resources, but were able to sustain life. It was hoped that these worlds could cultivate a more radical and vibrant culture, which in turn would feed valuable concepts back, where they could be assimilated cautiously before a given world was re-admitted into Unity.

Hence a greatly underestimated role of Unity is its analysis of the cultural evolution of The Threads, and the feedback it provides to Unity itself.  More than two hundred scientists, trained in various disciplines of cultural engineering, are involved in its monitoring.  Nor, as the stereotype might conceive them, are they sedentary, butts in office chairs all day long : on the contrary, anthropological missions of investigation are constantly underway.  Are you sure, when you rate your latest experience with whatever interactions you have had today, that the questions were not carefully set up and directed by Unity ?

 

 

Will Unity one day seek to "cautiously assimilate" C.271 XIV ?  There are phases of Unity "expansion" and phases of stagnation, so it is difficult to say.  The Threads are not, however, so far removed from Unity borders.  Who can tell what paths the future might take, threading through billions of minds with conflicting interests ?