Concord
The Concord
Formation
With the massive, pan-world military of the Confederacy shattered, the only unifying force that kept the former superfaction of villains and warlords in check had suddenly disappeared, and plunged its territories into chaos. In the ensuing confusion, formerly united Confederate leaders and worlds set upon each other in a frenzy of war and conquest, attempting to seize the assets of their allies they had previously depended upon, or had coveted for a long time, and built up a great enough power base to rise up as the Confederacy's replacement as a dominant power in the Multiverse.
However, many worlds and organizations were uninterested in the prospect of another superfaction, no longer seeing the need, with the Union shattered beyond repair. Instead of going to war, these worlds swiftly began banding together in pacts of mutual alliance, in order to benefit from the same shared resources, trade, and stability they had previously enjoyed. Attracting worlds from beyond the Confederacy's former reach, these nations solidified under a single governing body, and adopted the identity of the United Legacy of Multiversal Prosperity, colloquially referred to as simply “the Legacy”, and gathered under a loose but effective rule of powerful and well connected agents, dubbing themselves the Assembly of Wisemen.
Not desirous of another disastrous attempt at a Multiverse wide super-military, the Wisemen nevertheless saw the need for a buffer against the volatile elements of conquest that surrounded, and so gathered up as many remaining, viable, military and economic strongholds that the Legacy could part with, and offered full ownership of the entire package to new and separate leadership, with no strings attached save for one: to keep all hostile elements away from the Legacy, and let it self-govern in peace. Structure As opposed to the Legacy, the Concord is not a nation. There is no Concord border, no Concord GDP, and no Concord anthem. The Concord is an organization almost entirely bankrolled by the Legacy, supported by the massive collective funds diverted by the Assembly of Wisemen instead of an internal infrastructure. Rather than building up shared territory with factories, fortresses, and standing armies, the Concord operates as a flexible and efficient conglomerate of political and military elements, analogous to a powerful, globalized PMC, but without a corporate structure.
With no need to make a bottom line, the Concord is an attractive offer to nations in need of internal stability, a big stick to scare away dangerous neighbours, or a powerful task force to achieve their ends, no questions asked. A governing body need only sign on the dotted, line, allow the Concord to install warpgates, bases to arm, treat and house any personnel that arrive, and recruiting stations to spread their influence, and then the associate government need only pay the expenses to support them; vastly less expensive than building up their own Elite forces, and without interference in the existing day to day affairs of the nation.
Because of this structure, the Concord actually operates mostly above board, relatively transparent in its methods and affairs. Likewise, the Concord dodges a great deal of accountability through the agreements that affiliate governments sign, frequently squeaking into the grey area through documentation and fine print. This makes it an ideal staging ground for the ambitions of powerful figures from all over the Multiverse, who flock under the Concord's umbrella in droves to benefit from its legal protection when employing sketchy means of achieving their ends, and the protection of its sheer military might when openly antagonizing others through force.
As a result, the majority of what can be considered the Concord's leadership is made up of those most willing to exercise their power and influence to meet their ends, claiming all kinds of kings and presidents, heroes and conquerors, mercenaries and criminal bosses, warlords and agent provocateurs; anyone with big plans, the drive to accomplish them, and a certain level of selfish disregard for others, for universal ethics, or for the spirit of the law. These elements form a complex web of pacts, alliances, mentorships, and agreements that support one another with immediate and fluid deployment of talent, resources and combat ability whenever necessary, so long as they return their end of the deal.
Methodology
As an organization, the Concord's basic needs are more than met by the extensive list of benefactors that collectively fill its coffers for the service of remaining as imposing and pervasive as possible. This deceptively simple task is what ensures the Concord retains such a robust and reliable base of power, even without the monolithic assets of the former superfactions. As a self-interested, internally organized, non-political, and ruthlessly mercenary faction, which draws its members from the pools of the ambitious elite, and answers to nothing but the vague and infrequent suggestions of the Assembly, the Concord is by far the most attractive option in securing and defending the kind if ideology that is often considered unpopular, but can be found anywhere one goes in the Multiverse: that the truly exceptional have the right to call the shots.
The Concord strikes an important place in the balance of power in Sector Zero, rejecting the ideals of the Commonwealth that the future of a nation should be determined by its ordinary people, disposing of the extremist ethical ideology of the Watch, and adhering to the rule of law championed by the Paladins only so far as it is decided by the “right” people, without indulging in totally disassociated, self-involved neutrality like the Syndicate, or swinging into the merciless Darwinism and antipathy towards the unremarkable majority that the League is infamous for. It is the mechanism which enables and perpetuates the rule of the powerful few in any world in which it is found, whether it be benevolent or tyrannical. Its very nature draws the Multiversal's upper echelons of wealth, power and influence into both its clientele and its membership, and thus the Concord cyclically cares only for the aims, needs, and concerns of the elite class. Operating this way is the source of its unprecedented success, and its most basic foundation as a platform for the myriad paths to power its membership follows. Operations Thus, the Concord's interests are diversified between expanding the influence, and performing the functions, of the faction itself, and empowering its member Elites, referred to internally as Partners, to achieve their individual goals and ambitions. Turning the wheels of the Concord as a Partner most often involves the expansion and improvement of the faction by recruiting promising Elites, contracting the support of noteworthy nations and organizations, eliminating radical elements that threaten the stability of client nations, and destabilizing regimes that foster policy or ideology harmful to its support base, such as disrupting pro-Commonwealth movements and parties, quashing Paladin approval in necessary areas, rooting out Watch sympathizers and destroying their cells, and curbing the League's activities within client territory.
Whilst these operations certainly prove a Partner's worth to the Concord, most opportunities for a Partner wishing to personally develop further than a factional soldier or well-paid lackey appear when the Concord answers to the requests of its constituent client worlds and factions. A smart Partner answers to a wide variety of these calls for assistance, ranging from stomping on uppity rebel elements one day, securing powerful magical mcguffins the next, aiding in a violent usurpation another, repelling an invading army the next week, and yet aiding in humanitarian efforts or destroying criminal organizations at other times. All of these jobs, quests, and contracts should be taken as opportunities for that personal development, as it is in the Concord's nature to allow its members to stake sizable claims on the results of a successful operation as their compensation.
The best way for a Partner to benefit from this modus operandi is to network with other Partners of the Concord and exchange their spoils, services, and cooperation, so as to heighten their standing and expand their ability to requisition what they need from the Concord's steady influx of talent, wealth, tech, magic, artifacts, and whatever else they find necessary to meet their personal ends. Professionalism, resourcefulness, and success by any means are highly valued, whilst aimlessness, compromise, and slavery to procedure are frowned upon. Based on the Partner's level of accomplishment, the Concord is often happy to offer various degrees of powerful, factional resources to an individual's ventures, so long as the Partner can credibly guarantee a return investment for the faction.
Additionally, in situations where the Concord does not get its way with a potential associate world that it perceives as too valuable to pass up, it is not uncommon for a number of Concord elements to steamroll into its territory and begin taking them by force, for the Concord to deflect accountability to the individual members responsible, and then invent reasons to protect those members from whoever decides to take them on, often under the guise of upholding their agreement to guard their members against outside interference, such as harassment, coercion, and violence. Partners who successfully achieve a Concord victory in these situations are especially lavishly rewarded, making the battlefield of proxy wars and factional skirmishes extremely fertile ground for personal gain and elevation within the faction. Concord Partners with a reliable record in dealing with interference from the Paladins, the Watch, and the League, are additionally valuable, and likely to secure large sums of Concord assistance in pursuing their aims.
Headquarters
In stark contrast to the superfactions of old, the Concord does not call a pan-universal super fortress as its home. As a decentralized entity, the Concord has no need of a military capital and nexus of armies, nor is it in significant need of infrastructure to support its machine. Instead, what the Concord calls its central headquarters is a statement to potential clients and members; a physical demonstration of its wealth, power, and disassociation from the constant, wasteful and paranoid military high alert of the past.
This statement takes the form of the Grand Dorado Metropolis, and its central executive tower complex, the Elysium Apex. With all of its construction sourced from a single world, the Grand Dorado Metropolis represents the traditional ideal of the ivory tower, cut and grown into an entire city, every inch of which can be considered nothing less than five star luxury space. Most of its urban area is broken up into the Dorado Gardens, and exists to play host to a large transient population of diplomats, dignitaries, VIPs, bureaucrats, and other world government representatives, or even world rulers, as well as the Concord's various Elites. Rare is the person who lives there on a permanent basis, as the Dorado Gardens require their city-like size simply to provide accommodations, amenities, care and entertainment for the sheer number of visitors it gets.
Most long-term Grand Dorado residents are those who work at the Elysium Apex at the center of the metropolis, which is where business is actually done. The Elysium Apex is the favoured place for the Assembly's meetings with the leaders of the Concord, as well as clients wishing to sign contracts with the Concord, or those petitioning for high-level Concord assistance. It is commonly understood that the Apex does not fulfill the role of the Concord's DEFCON 5 position, but functions as a convenient gathering point for upper management and important business that serves to overwhelm and impress with its sheer affluence and success. Instead, order is kept within the city by a private military reserve kept around on a semi-permanent basis, as the job pays exorbitantly and is considered a high honour, being posted by selection only. Furthermore, the Concord especially caters to Elites with significant combat experience, as the sheer number of Elites in the area at any given time makes it an unappealing target to attack.
