Ad Astra: The SpaceCorp Corporate State

As promised I will now share some information on the only corporate state in the Omega Centaury cluster:

The SpaceCorp Corporate State (Quick Facts)

Main World: Kobe, 4th planet of the Kansai System
Government: Corporate State
Head of State: CEO Moriann Sakata
Official Language: Japanese
Official Currency: Yen
Military: Professional Army/Navy
Major Religions: Buddhist 62%, Atheist 28%, Other 10%
Major Worlds: Kobe, Toshima, Nerima, Shinjuku, Arakawa, Kanto, Chiba, Kyoto

“Contrary to the vulgar belief that men are motivated primarily by materialistic considerations, we now see the capitalist system being discredited and destroyed all over the world, even though this system has given men the greatest material comforts” – Ayn Rand 20th century writer

One of the corporations that took part in the colonization efforts in the 22nd century was the Japanese SpaceCorp Corporation. SpaceCorp not only supplied a lot of the space ships but also sent thousands of highly trained and qualified workers, engineers and managers to the new world beyond the wormhole.

The mainly Japanese employees of SpaceCorp clinged to their langauge, tradition and work ethic even after the wormhole collapsed. The Gaian branch of SpaceCorp survived all hardships and as the first Gaian space ships travelled to the stars they were built by SpaceCorp engineers.

In 387 NR the newly elected CEO of SpaceCorp Ken Watanabe convinced the Gaian government to grant extraterritoriality to his corporation. A few decades after that SpaceCorp bought the Kobe colony from the Gaian Republic for an undisclosed sum. Until today the SpaceCorp Corporate State is the largest supplier of space ships and heavy machinery.

As a corporate state, SpaceCorp is not governed but managed. Minor rules and regulations are set by corporate bureaucrats at all levels. The major day-to-day operation is handled by the CEO. The board of directors, which advises and directs the CEO is directly elected by the stockholders.

The standard of living in SpaceCorp is very high, especially in higher branches of the management.

SpaceCorp is the faction of the Ad Astra campaign setting that changed the most from my initial ideas. In the beginning it was just another corporation. And it was still American. In a later version I made it a Japanese-Americam corporation with extraterritorial rights (much like the megacorps in Shadowrun). When I was leafing through GURPS Space for inspiration I reread the section about corporate states and decided to remodel SpaceCorp into a fully-fledged corporate state. While doing so I made it Japanese to give it a more unique flavor. But there are still a few details I have to work out. But since my campaigns focus will probably be on the Gaian Republic and the Tovenaar Empire, this can still wait a few more weeks.

SpaceCorp tries to stay neutral in all conflicts but has several trade agreements with the Gaian Republic.