Corporations Move In

A signal from Tau Ceti reached across the galaxy. The resulting turmoil drew humanity's most powerful corporations to the dead colony.

Traxus OffWorld Industries, described as the most powerful corporation in human history, wants to recoup its massive investment in the original expedition. Through their agent Vulcan, they task mercenaries with salvaging high-value assets.

CyberAcme is a digital technology and AI megacorporation with its ONI (Onboard Navigation Intelligence) system installed in every Runner Shell. They are the all-rounder faction, focused on data and digital infrastructure. Their CyberAcme 1.1.1.1.1.3 software updates are, by all accounts, terrible.

NuCaloric Agricultural is a food production giant that had a major stake in the colony. They want to understand how the mission failed. Through their agent Gaius, they focus on exploration and historical data recovery. Their NuCafe coffee and NuCorn products were colony staples, as we learned from the recovered chat logs between two UESC employees, rsato and kdunne, who spent their days complaining about broken water dispensers, terrible meetings, and the corporate mantra that defined their lives: "Unity is power."

Sekiguchi Genetics, the most enigmatic faction, created the technology that makes the Runners possible. Their WEAVEworms 3D-print bio-synthetic bodies called biomata, and their consciousness-transfer systems allow human minds to inhabit these artificial shells. Their agent is Nona.

MIDA, the same Martian rebel organization that once tried to hijack the Marathon project, has evolved from a Martian independence movement into a broader anti-corporate anarchist faction. They spread chaos through explosions and malware, seeking to expose the secrets that Traxus, the UESC, and others are desperate to keep buried. Their agent is _Gantry.

Arachne is a mysterious death cult focused on what they call "the thermodynamics of violence." Their contracts require you to kill other Runners. Their agent, Charter, makes no apologies for this.

And looming over everything: the UESC itself, which has deployed sophisticated humanoid combat drones to patrol Tau Ceti IV and kill any trespassers. The UESC is not a faction you can work for. They are the enemy of all Runners. Haunted machines with floating locomotion, sparks, and sigils over their faces, enforcing the authority of an organization that may have caused the catastrophe it now tries to conceal.