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Blacksteel Worldwide began in 1026 as a mercenary band founded by the Sankta "Clip" Cliff, who gathered war veterans into the first Steel Circle, a five-man decision-making core. Cliff acted as a middleman, keeping safe Columbian government and corporate contracts for Blacksteel while outsourcing risky ones to other bands, taking a cut of pay or absorbing survivors of failed contracts.
The Barron Mine incident of 1083 was a turning point. A secret Originium mutation laboratory run by Tower Mountains inside the mine suffered escaped mutated creatures; Blacksteel, with consultant Dr. Janet Longfellow, rescued trapped personnel and eliminated the creatures over 23 days. D.C. Telegraph exposed the military coverup, forcing Defense Secretary Connaught's resignation, and Blacksteel earned the Maylander Foundation Civil Hero Medal.
Cliff then shifted strategy amid a changing industry, expanding abroad. Blacksteel acquired the damaged Barron mining platform and a retired battleship, combining them into Fort Barron, its administrative, logistics, and training center. Blacksteel Worldwide was incorporated in 1086, with an administrative headquarters, a training center (76% of recruits fail), and three operational departments: Armed Personnel Dispatch, Equipment and Applied Technologies, and Oripathy and Biochemical Hazard Response, which includes the BPRS under Longfellow.
Blacksteel's signature is gun use, costly to train, especially for non-Sankta. Cliff, who witnessed the Columbian Revolutionary War, built an organized, stable home for mercenaries—Laterano for mercenaries—though some call him the Harbinger of War.
Blacksteel Worldwide began humbly in 1026 as a mercenary band founded by the Sankta "Clip" Cliff, seven years after Columbian independence. The Sankta "astray", then a solo mercenary, gathered veterans of the Revolutionary War and the Victorian pioneering era, persuading them to become the first Steel Circle, a five-man core responsible for decision-making. Cliff believed newly independent Columbia would need private military contractors, while the veterans sought a fresh start.
Unlike other mercenaries, Blacksteel avoided unnecessary risks. Contracts came directly from the Columbian government and corporations; risky ones were outsourced to other bands, with Blacksteel taking a cut on success and absorbing survivors through a "contingency plan" on failure.
The Barron Mine incident of 1083 was a turning point. Barron Mine, an old Originium mine in southern Columbia abandoned in 1058 after fraud allegations, resumed operations in 1079 under Tower Mountains with military support. A secret Originium mutation laboratory was established there. Though a military spokesman claimed the research aimed to help soldiers avoid infection, D.C. Telegraph revealed that researchers implanted active Originium into needleflies and other organisms to develop modified creatures for military use. Poor safety measures let mutated creatures escape, causing heavy casualties, and Tower Mountains hired Blacksteel to rescue trapped personnel and clean up the creatures. Over a 23-day operation, working with civilian consultant Dr. Janet Longfellow, Blacksteel rescued the researchers and eliminated all experimental creatures. D.C. Telegraph exposed the incident, forcing Defense Secretary Connaught's resignation. Blacksteel earned the Maylander Foundation Civil Hero Medal.
Cliff, a vagabond Sankta, also brought the technology to create replicas of Lateran guns, training operatives in their use—a Blacksteel signature. Guns give considerable close- to mid-range firepower advantage, but require good Originium Arts control, especially under fire, raising training costs. Modifications for non-Sankta users incur further costs; Fort Barron reports indicate training a competent non-Sankta gun user takes three times as long as a crossbow. Only pistols and hunting rifles are commonly used.
After Barron Mine, Cliff changed strategy. His co-founders had mostly passed away, replaced by well-trained, highly-educated leaders, and the industry shifted toward military academy graduates and investors' concepts of "armed personnel dispatch" and "private security contractors". Blacksteel's scope expanded beyond Columbia, to Bolívar and Sargon.
Cliff then built a ship: Blacksteel acquired the damaged Barron mining platform and a retired Columbian-built battleship from Bolívar, combining them over two years into the mobile platform Fort Barron, now Blacksteel's primary administrative, logistics, and training center. Blacksteel Worldwide was formally incorporated in 1086 as an independent private security contractor, with an administrative headquarters, a training center, and three operational departments.
The administrative headquarters handles internal administration, negotiations, and legal matters; its staff are traditionally called "accountants" and receive basic field training. The Fort Barron training center targets recruits without military experience, with programs up to two years followed by trials; 76% fail. Debate persists over training recruits versus hiring veterans.
Armed Personnel Dispatch, the largest department, provides "soldier for hire" services. The Department of Equipment and Applied Technologies, once internal maintenance, now offers product testing and equipment development to Columbian manufacturers. Oripathy and Biochemical Hazard Response (OBHR), the youngest, handles Oripathy sources and biochemical hazards with highly selective operatives. Its Biochemical Protection Response Staff (BPRS), commanded by Dr. Longfellow, grew into an independent unit capable of handling incidents like Barron Mine.
Blacksteel's reach extends worldwide: advising Sargon power-brokers, weapon testing in conflicts between Rim Billiton and Kazdel, and tripartite Catastrophe response agreements in western Yan.
In a D.C. Telegraph interview, Cliff, over 90, said the 1016 Revolutionary War led him to found Blacksteel. Having witnessed the war, Laterano's tenents never taught him how to face violence, so he chose organized, controlled war as his "cure"—Blacksteel was Laterano for mercenaries. Some call him the Harbinger of War, others the Astray Pariah. Whether private security contractors make Terra safer, only time will tell.
BS BLACKSTEEL
EPIGRAPH
Kazdel sends hardened mercenaries across the land, and the corporate unions of Kazimierz gave rise to private contractors. Columbia combined the two to create the industry of private security contractors. On a land of cities constantly on the move, constantly exposed to the dangers of Catastrophe and other threats, private security contractors fill a niche where conventional military forces and law enforcement are unavailable, allowing suppliers to leverage their professional skills in a targeted environment, and providing a stable income that is simply not possible for a loose mercenary band. In the five decades following the conclusion of the war in 1031, geopolitical turbulence and an influx of immigrants have nourished the development of Columbia's security industry. Blacksteel Worldwide was officially incorporated in 1083, several years after the Barron Mine incident. There are hundreds of private security companies in Columbia, but few are as decorated as Blacksteel Worldwide, or as ambitious — how many contractors would put the word "Worldwide" in their name at the time of their founding?
— Contract Muscle: Conflicts and Security Contractors
The beginnings of Blacksteel Worldwide (or simply Blacksteel) were humble. It began as an unremarkable mercenary band founded by a Sankta known as "Clip" Cliff in 1026. Seven years after Columbian independence, the Sankta "astray", a solo mercenary at the time, traveled to several cities, gathering a group of partners who longed to return to battle. These veterans of the Revolutionary War, even the Victorian pioneering era, were certainly not the tough customers you would want to encounter out on the barrens in the dark, but Cliff was able to persuade them to come onboard, becoming the first Steel Circle, a five-man core responsible for the organization's decision-making. He knew that newly-independent Columbia would have need of private military contractors, while the veterans were looking for a fresh start.
Unlike their fellow mercenaries, who often went to great lengths to make names for themselves, Blacksteel mercenaries were not in the habit of taking unnecessary risks. Their contracts came directly from the Columbian government and corporations; contracts that entailed "unnecessary risks" were outsourced to other mercenary bands. Cliff's business strategy broke the unwritten rules of mercenary work: he was a middleman for risky contracts, while hoarding safe, low-risk contracts for Blacksteel. High-risk contracts were outsourced to select mercenary bands. If the contract was successfully executed, Blacksteel
simply took a cut of the pay; if the mercenaries failed, Blacksteel absorbed the survivors through their “contingency plan” at a reasonable price. Fortunately, the Columbian wilderness was big enough to accommodate bloody clashes between mercenary organizations, without driving business to a grinding halt.
The Barron Mine incident of 1083 was an important turning point in the history of Blacksteel. Defense Secretary Connaught tried to cover up the incident as a simple mining accident, hiding the military’s responsibility, but the truth was revealed to the public through some outstanding investigative journalism by D.C. Telegraph.
Barron Mine was an old Originium mine in southern Columbia that was abandoned in 1058 after allegations of fraudulent deposit reporting caught the attention of the tax authorities.
In 1079, Barron Mine resumed operations under the administration of Tower Mountains, and the support of the Columbian military. Under the guise of Originium mining, a secret Originium mutation laboratory was established within the mine. After the incident, a military spokesman claimed that the research was oriented towards helping Columbian soldiers avoid Originium infection in combat. D.C. Telegraph’s investigations, however, revealed that Tower Mountains researchers implanted active Originium into needleflies and other organisms, in order to study how active Originium affects their physiology, hoping to develop modified organisms for military use.
Tower Mountains’ lack of proper safety measures led to Originium-mutated creatures escaping their enclosures, causing heavy casualties in the experiment zone. As infected creatures escaped en masse, Tower Mountains was forced to
★ WRANKWOOD VISTA THEATRE ★ Needlefly Hill ADMIT ONE THEATER: 03 SEAT A12 DATE 12/15/1084
The blockbuster Wrankwood horror movie Needlefly Hill, based on the Barron Mine incident, came out in 1084. Paul Brando plays a brave mercenary captain who rescues a beautiful scientist from the jaws of subterranean monsters. While the movie appears to have a happy ending, the last shot reveals that Brando’s character had began to exhibit similar traits to the monsters.
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It is a story familiar to every Blacksteel Worldwide operative: The vagabond Sankta who founded the company brought with him the technology to create replicas of Lateran guns and ammunition, training operatives in their use, which became a signature of Blacksteel. The use of guns gives Blacksteel a considerable firepower advantage in close- to mid-range, at a price. Firing a gun requires good Originium Arts control, and is even more difficult while under fire, placing high demand on the user and increasing training cost. Blacksteel has gone to considerable lengths to modify their guns to make them easier for non-Sankta operatives to use, but this in turn incurs costs of its own. Fort Barron training center reports indicate that it takes three times as much time to train a competent non-Sankta in the use of a gun as a crossbow. Even within Blacksteel, only pistols and hunting rifles are commonly used, providing fire support and tactical complement.
hire Blacksteel to rescue their trapped personnel and clean up the experimental creatures. Working with Dr. Janet Longfellow, engaged as a civilian consultant, Blacksteel rescued the trapped researchers and eliminated all experimental creatures over a 23-day operation. Despite the military's attempt at a coverup, the incident was brought to light by D.C. Telegraph, forcing the resignation of Defense Secretary Connaught. The Barron Mine incident put Blacksteel in the spotlight and earned them the Maylander Foundation Civil Hero Medal, amongst other accolades.
It also gave Cliff an opportunity to change Blacksteel's operational strategy. Most of Cliff's co-founders had passed away, replaced by a new generation of well-trained, highly-educated leaders. The mercenary industry of Columbia was changing; just as veterans were being replaced by young military academy graduates, urban investors were becoming increasingly aware of the concepts of "armed personnel dispatch" and "private security contractors". Blacksteel's scope was no longer limited to Columbia; from the plains of Bolívar, to the sand dunes of Sargon, gun-toting Blacksteel mercenaries could be seen providing services to foreign employers.
In the face of this new wave, the vagabond Sankta embarked on another ambitious and novel project: He wanted to build a ship. Blacksteel acquired the damaged Barron mining platform and, at great expense, a retired Columbian-built battleship from Bolívar. It took two years and a long trail of paperwork, but the battleship and mining platform were combined into a new mobile platform, now known as Fort Barron. Today, Fort Barron is Blacksteel's primary administrative, logistics, and training center.
■ A firing range in Fort Barron, mostly used for gun training. Blacksteel also uses abandoned settlements or plates for live combat training. Wandering wastelanders sometimes occupy one of these training plates, providing live targets for training.
With the introduction of Fort Barron, Blacksteel Worldwide was formally incorporated in 1086 as an independent private security contractor. Public documents indicate that Blacksteel Worldwide's organizational structure consists of an administrative headquarters, a training center, and three major operational departments.
The administrative headquarters is responsible for Blacksteel's administration, from internal administration to negotiations to legal matters. It is the proof that the pen is, in fact, mightier than the sword in this case. By mercenary tradition, these administrative staff are often known as "accountants", whether or not their job involves accounting. Even the paper pushers of Blacksteel receive basic field training, though they are not required to go through the grueling trials of the training center.
The Fort Barron training center supplies professional staff to the operational departments. The training center's program is targeted at recruits without formal military training or combat experience. New recruits are put through a grueling training program lasting up to two years, following which they undergo a series of trials to determine whether they are fit to become official Blacksteel operatives. 76% of recruits fail to make it through the process. There has long been debate within Blacksteel regarding whether invest in the training new recruits, but hiring retired veterans, on its own, is clearly insufficient to meet the personnel needs of the operational departments.
Of the three major operational departments, Armed Personnel Dispatch is the largest, providing typical "soldier for hire" services. Consisting mostly of graduates from the training center, it forms Blacksteel's primary military force, providing reliable, well-trained, armed personnel to its clients. These are the Blacksteel mercenaries that most people are familiar with.
The Department of Equipment and Applied Technologies started out as Blacksteel's internal development and maintenance division. As Blacksteel's operations grew, however, the department began to offer product testing services to other Columbian manufacturers. Consisting of technical staff and experienced testers, the department is also occasionally engaged to develop new equipment and improve existing ones.
Oripathy and Biochemical Hazard Response is the youngest of the three departments, consisting of special units such as the Biochemical Protection Response Staff. They are responsible for dealing with Oripathy sources, biochemical weapons, and other hazardous materials. The department is exceedingly selective; operatives must possess professional knowledge on dealing with biochemical threats, in addition to combat ability. The presents of OBHR operatives indicate the spread of an invisible threat, and these operatives are often the last line of defense.
The Biochemical Protection Response Staff, or BPRS, is one of the special units under OBHR. The current commander is Dr. Janet Longfellow, who participated in the Barron Mine cleanup. It was initially formed to provide support to Blacksteel operatives working in environments involving Originium or the infected, but Dr. Longfellow quickly proved that she is capable of being much more than just a consultant. Under her leadership, the BPRS quickly grew into an independent unit with full technical and personnel support capability, its professional capacity spanning a wide range of fields. In essence, Blacksteel
now had a team that could deal with sensitive and dangerous matters like the Barron Mine incident on its own. The BPRS remains one of the few organizations capable of providing a professional solution for industrial Originium pollution or outbreaks of infected creatures.
Supported by these three departments, Blacksteel's security operations reach far beyond the borders of Columbia, true to its "Worldwide" moniker. Blacksteel consultants are esteemed guests for local power-brokers in the Sargon desert, advising clients on Columbian training methods for their soldiers; the involvement of Blacksteel weapon testing teams in local conflicts in the no-man's land between Rim Billiton and Kazdel is an open secret; and in the western parts of Yan, Blacksteel's emergency response team has tripartite agreements with local disaster response departments and civilian Catastrophe response organizations in Catastrophe prevention and response... all these are examples of how Blacksteel Worldwide's operations far exceed the stereotypes about mercenaries. In addition to armed personnel dispatch, Blacksteel operatives have proven reliable under pressure, in unexpected circumstances, and in long-term operations.
■ Dr. Janet Longfellow
In a D.C. Telegraph interview, Cliff, already more than 90 years-old at the time, said that the Columbian Revolutionary War in 1016 was the event that led him to found Blacksteel. With two other young Sankta, he had traveled across Terra, ending up in Columbia, where he witnessed the entirety of the war, from its inception to its conclusion. In 1016, he left his friends and joined the war on the southern front as a mercenary, taking on the nickname "Clip" Cliff. Laterano's tenets never taught him what to do in the face of rampant violence and death, so he delivered salvation to the soldiers lost in war in a more practical, worldly manner. From a vagabond in the wilderness to the leader of Blacksteel Worldwide with its thousands of employees, the "cure" that Cliff chose was not peace, but war in an organized and controlled manner, where mercenaries have the power of choice.
In a sense, Blacksteel was Laterano for mercenaries, a place where their career is stable, planned, and predictable. Some call him the Harbinger of War, others call him the Astray Pariah, but none can deny that many lives have been changed because of "Clip" Cliff and Blacksteel Worldwide.
Will the growing industry of private security contractors make this land safer? Only time will tell.
■ A BPRS specialist.
The bulky protection suit is made from high-performance protective fiber. With insulative coatings on both the outside and the inside, it provides protection against extreme temperature and Originium. Even with such protection, the Oripathy rate of BPRS operatives remains well above average.