The galaxy is burning. The malevolent Corporation is ever expanding its sphere of influence, annexing more and more star systems. Their strategy is to make contact with alien civilizations, dazzle them with a few gifts of techno-bauble and then offer membership ‘as equal partners’ in the Great Galactic Co-prosperity Sphere. In the space of a few years, of course, the governments of those worlds will be changed by bribery, corruption, political intrigue, blackmail, threats and assassination, into puppet-states. They will devote all of their planets’ resources to enriching the Corporation and the few local bureaucrats that ‘run the business’ for it, while their populations plummet into a state of poverty and servitude.

When these more efficient (i.e. cheaper) means fail, however, and a culture resists the colonialist pressure of the Corporation, this evil empire does not shy away from deploying its military might. What follows is full-scale invasion and subjugation, or even complete annihilation of entire races if they prove too troublesome. A system that has been ‘cleared of hostile indigenous aliens’ is then ripe for re-colonization by the humans that form the largest part of the Corporation’s manpower and successive plundering of its natural resources.

From its ancient beginnings on the Solar System, the Corporation has now spread like a malignant cancer across the galaxy, covering entire sectors in its tyrannical rule and suffocating any attempt to live free of its clutches. Their expansion continues implacable, but the galaxy is a big place, and sooner or later the Corporation might meet its match in the remote and unexplored expanses of deep space…

The Corporate Legions
Well trained and equipped with the best in military technology, Corporation Troopers are used to fight against much greater number of opponents with ease. The Troopers armour is often invulnerable to the natives’ weapons, leaving them free to mercilessly mow down scores of the enemies with pulses from their laser weaponry. If they encounter heavier resistance, the Troopers can bring about the awesome firepower of their tanks and powered exoskeletons, or even unleash their more specialized force – the feared Star Commandos – to quickly dispatch the most stubborn of foes.

We Shall Fight!
The absolute and iron-fisted rule of the Corporation has obviously made it the arch-enemy of many of the galaxy’s intelligent races. It is just natural that all sort of freedom fighters, survivors of races whose worlds have been annihilated, disenchanted Corporation personnel, free thinkers, conscientious objectors and all sort of left-wing space-hippies have flocked to swell the ranks of the underground Resistance movement. This organization has grown through the centuries until it presently encompasses both a vast network of operatives that attempt to undermine the authority of the Corporation from the inside through sabotage and propaganda and a secretive Rebel Army. Calling themselves ‘The Rebs’ (a disparaging term used by Corporation Troopers), these heterogeneous volunteers form an army that is as eclectic in weaponry, fighting style and technological level as it is mixed in the number of different races that compose their ranks. What they lack in cohesion however, they more than make up in motivation, as they are fighting, at least in their eyes, a long war of liberation to eventually rid the galaxy from the Corporation, or the ‘Evil Empire’, as they often call it.

Worrying Reports
Quite recently, a new and alarming phenomenon has begun to afflict entire quadrants of the galaxy. Suddenly a ‘ghost ship’ would make landfall, all of the crew dead from unknown causes. Then, in a manner of weeks, all communication with the entire planet would be lost. Further research by Corporation Troopers and other races’ military has shown that the cause appears to be a most virulent contagion, some kind of unidentified agent that spreads like wildfire. Differently from other diseases that are more easily controlled, however, this affliction does not kill its victims straight away, but it causes terrible effects, which vary greatly with different races. Most subjects suffer brain death, but their most basic vital instincts remain active, turning them into cannibalistic automatons without a will (often inaccurately referred to as ‘zombies’). Other subjects develop horrifying physical mutations, becoming monstrosities that are too abject and revolting to describe. These too are driven only by their most basic instinct and impervious to pain, making a tide of these creatures a terrifying enemy to face, even for the most seasoned of veterans.