GCW6



{| width=900 align=center = Peace?  by A Docile Sloth =

Peace at last?
W ith the fall of the Gladius headquarters in OMSK to Starfisher’s Coffee Initiative, hopes of long term stability has fallen across the general population. With little resistance left to SCI in the Asiatic regions and Europe predicted to fall within hours, there is a wide spread belief that the headquarters in Mexico will offer a surrender within days, giving Generalissimus Starfisher total control of the world. It is expected this control will allow SCI to instill new stability in the world.

With Starfisher’s Coffee Initiative being born in the service sector, before turning to a more militant stance after the PRIDe vs DARK war, the residents of territories formerly held by GLD believe that STAR will put the customer first and help maintain peace. This is supported by a resident of Eastern Australia, saying that “throughout the war STAR has shown [us] kindness and a relatively straightforward way of life”.

Leading think-tanks on the PMC wars also expect increasing stability in the coming years. The Ronstein Institute of Skirmishes and Kinetics believes that Starfisher’s Coffee Initiative will bring peace due to their unusual heritage. “STAR is an unusual PMC” Dr Mars from the Institute commented. “Their formation was not one of war but of service. This is unlike any PMC that has come before.” He continued on to say that “STAR was never in it for the power, it was just a commercial venture. We here at RISK do not expect them to behave as previous victors in the PMC wars have. This will likely prevent further conflict.”

However, there are those that do not expect the fighting to stop. Residents of Mongolia are expressing concern over STAR’s recent conquering of the Asian region. Having been controlled by both GLD and STAR over the past few months, residents claim that SCI has treated them poorly with harsh curfews and movement restrictions where as Gadius mainly left the Mongols to themselves with minimal supervision. There are rumors that some of the disgruntled Mongols have been gathering in secret and gathering looted weapons from all of the battles which have taken place in the area.

It appears that the future of the world hangs in what Starfisher’s Coffee Initiative plans to do over the next few days.

Trouble at the Plantations
C offee farmers are suffering starvation and social degradation as a result of SCIs rise to power. Coffee production levels are on the rise while coffee prices skyrocket. It is not a new phenomenon: commodity producers throughout history have lived at the mercy of internationally dependent, volatile markets. Coffee, in particular, has tended to entice farmers with high prices on the New York exchange for several years at a time only to crash when newly planted trees begin to bear bountiful harvests--of despair. The latest blut on the market has been blamed on the caffeinated propulsion of the recent victory and dominion of the world by Starfisher Coffee.

However, such an explanation falls far short of accurately unraveling the international web of factors spawning this coffee crisis. The failure of global cooperative measures among coffee producing and consuming nations as well as maneuvering by the coffee market's foremost giant, Starfisher Coffee, significantly contribute to the global coffee crisis. Coffee farmers from Latin America to Africa find that they have little reason to harvest their beans. Drought in Latin America is exacerbating the situation, but participants along the entire production-consumption chain are wondering which viable solutions remain and despair in the knowledge that the average farmer only receives 3 cents a day for farming coffee beans while Starfisher Coffee rakes in trillions charging upwards of $10 for a basic cup of Joe.

As is often the case, when tensions rise internal fissures grow wider. The population of Vietnam, Brazil and Colombia, three of SCIs primary plantation regions, have suffered a long history of repression. A controversial foundation only known as L.O.D. has established its own website to educate the world about what it claims are the abuses lobbied by the Starfisher Coffee Initiative against the citizens of these counties. It states that coffee has sown "bitter seeds of hate" by encouraging the government's torturing, repressing and persecuting (including sterilizing women) of the local populous to force them to farm the fields. While such claims remain largely undocumented, there are whisperings of an uprising among the local people.

Television Broadcast Hacked!
A n unidentified person wearing mask hacked into a worldwide telecast of a much anticipated informational program deemed mandatory viewing by world dominating Starfisher Corporation earlier today. He spoke in several languages; so many viewing would only understand small portions of what he was saying. The effect, chilling as it may be however was obvious. George Davis, of Global Conflict Weekly and is fluent in 7 languages, was first to decode the message in its entirety. George gives an account of the hacker’s oratory: "His voice had a metallic tone and was susceptible to all the inflections appropriate to what he was saying, passing rapidly from accents of anger and menace against tyrants and exploiters to take on those of suffering, regret and consolation...we could understand his expressive mimicry and follow his speech." The speech seemed to be targeted at those most suffering under SCI, seemed to be longing for something more than the mild radicalism of the day, and is quickly becoming the core of the anarchist movement. Cells are already spreading "The Idea" across the oppressed coffee producing countries of this world. The oppressed and marginalized working classes were very susceptible to an ideology attacking institutions they perceived to be oppressive, namely: the state with its corruption and brutality, capitalism with its gross divide between wretched poverty and grand wealth, and the supremely powerful and coercive institution of organized capitalism, and corporate greed.

One of the phrases repeated throughout the broadcast was “Anarchy and chaos! You will soon know my name and the Legion of Doom!” It is unknown if this Legion of Doom is also the same organisation as the mysterious “L.O.D.”. There are no confirmed ties between the groups, however given their target area and name; it is likely they are the same organisation. Our sources in SCI intelligence say that such a large scale hack is simply not possible without having detailed knowledge of how SCI network infrastructure operates. Our sources suggest that these attacks were carried out by rouge SCI agents, but there is a possibility that the still-missing Gladius Command could be the masterminds before the attacks. No one within SCI intelligence seems to be able to confirm or even guess at the identity of the masked man, it is possible a new player has entered the field.

Peace?


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