Binderburg - History

Background Briefing for Trusted Clients
Addendum 1: Historical Information
Cypher Key #TI-339IS156BFR238#
Security Level: 4
Last Updated: 35.11.2422
Access granted by: EDL (FA-SE)

The original Binderburg Corporation was founded in 2090 as a provider of space-based agricultural installations and habitation systems. Over the span of several decades it became a leading megacorporation on and above Earth and Luna, fueled by increasing demands for its products during the expansionist drive of the Lunar Silver Age.

In 2137, while the Lunar-Martian War was bringing the wider economy to its knees, the Binderburg conglomerate began investing heavily in R&D. At the time this took the form of funding a series of “moonshot” initiatives to respond to the changing economic climate, ranging from advanced AI "quick response" piloting systems, to an array of increasingly far fetched bio-fuels, all meant to make interplanetary travel (and conflict) more practical.

While few of these early projects ever achieved widespread use outside of the Conglomerate or otherwise, the department must have nonetheless proven itself financially worthwhile to Binderburg leadership, as it was never shut down. Little is publicly known about R&D's currently ongoing projects, but evidence suggests that some of the codenames from these original projects are still in use today, presumably for their successors.

In any case, with the dawn of the Lunar Golden Age in 2145, the Conglomerate emerged from its lean years in a staggering boom of growth. It began expanding into space infrastructure alongside its ongoing endeavors in biological and agricultural processes. This stage of expansion continued up until the creation of the Tenebris Advisor AI by the Lunar directorate. The technological singularity represented by Tenebris, alongside its policy advice to the Directorate's government launched a wide-spread technological revolution that damaged the dominance of the Conglomerate, as did the subsequent emergence of the government-backed Terran Combine. Soon, Binderburg found itself mostly relegated to subsidiary roles for the Combine’s projects.

Following the completion of the Sol Dyson Sphere, however, the possibility of interstellar expansion soon led to a renewed interest in Binderburg’s proprietary technology. Self-sustaining habitats and viable food sources were uniquely and overwhelmingly necessary for frontier colonists. What’s more, the Conglomerate quickly maneuvered to position itself the prime option for several construction projects that were deemed too risky for the public-private nature of the Terran Combine or distinctly partisan MPL, further increasing their range. It was during this time that scouts began reporting the existence of Binderburg facilities in what was documented as unexplored space, however these strange discoveries were largely brushed aside as clerical errors surrounding the company's expanding facilities.

In 2309, the Conglomerate was confronted with a new threat, after reports surfaced that the leaders of XAOC’s House Bogrov had been targeted for assassination by Binderburg agents. These explosive allegations, vehemently denied by the Conglomerate, were more than enough to prompt a violent response from XAOC. The high point of the conflict between the two organizations came in 2312, in the form of a lightning strike against a high-security Binderburg research station. Personally led by Anarch Anastasia Bogrov, several of XAOC’s elite strike teams entered the installation's command center and succeeded in assassinating Tyr Ramon, the Conglomerate’s CEO.

In the aftermath of the battle, XAOC's Enduring Council announced that "the scales have been balanced", and offered to negotiate. While many observers expected a strict refusal, Loreana Ramon, Tyr Ramon's hastily installed successor, agreed to a settlement, concluding a private treaty with XAOC. To this day Binderburg maintains it had no hand in the assassination plot.

After signing the treaty, the Conglomerate largely faded from the news once again, returning to business as usual. Only after the rise of the "Sovereign Six" factions did Binderburg’s operations once again start to draw focus. Of particular interest is the Conglomerate's ability to maintain its own interstellar travel networks, which has been suspected since shortly after the completion of the first Dyson Sphere. While Binderburg has never claimed to be in possession of such capabilities nor made any attempt to declare independence, we believe that the conglomerate is in possession of its own Dyson Sphere, or equivalent technology, and a travel network perhaps even older than those of the other factions.

Additionally, Binderburg appeared unusually capable of locating the so-called “mechanisms”, gravimetric anomalies discovered in remote areas of space. Undocumented and heavily fortified Binderburg research stations have been found in the vicinity of many of these mechanisms. Contemporary analysts (especially specialists from the Gelecek corporation) suspect publicly that the Conglomerate knows more about this phenomenon than the general public, though Binderburg has been steadfast in its refusal to comment.

It is no surprise then, given what we know of the Conglomerate's interests, that they were among the first megacorporations to send scouts to the Spiral Expanse following the emergence of the Time-Space anomaly known as "The Abyss". While no established Binderburg facilities have been found in the area, and they have so far abided by the blockade established around the Abyss, it cannot be doubted that at the very least the Conglomerate's R&D department has taken an interest.