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                                  L U N A
                         Resistance Information File
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                            TABLE OF CONTENTS

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
TACTICAL SITUATION
LONG-RANGE STRATEGY
E-MAIL
RESISTANCE OPERATIVES ON LUNA
WEAPONS AND FIELD EQUIPMENT
    I.   PROJECTILE WEAPONS
    II.  ENERGY WEAPONS
DEMOLITION EQUIPMENT
PERSONAL EQUIPMENT
ENEMIES
    I.   ENEMY PERSONNEL
    II.  ARMED SERVOMECHS
    III. ANTI-PERSONNEL PLATFORMS
HISTORY       

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                            HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
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                    RESISTANCE SITREP G43-DELTA: LUNA  
                        Prepared by General Staff 

Precis: Summary analysis of tactical and strategic Resistance options
regarding operations on or involving the LMC Darkside Base on the moon. 

The Lunar Mining Base in the Mare Nubium crater, aka "Darkside Station",
has been in operation for more than a century. The original base was
constructed in 2091 as a joint project of several multi-national
manufacturing concerns. (This alliance, usually referred to simply as
"The Lunar Partnership", has been regarded as an important predecessor
to the WEC.) Originally, the Darkside mines were largely engaged in
producing raw materials for the new Orbiting Production Platforms, first
providing construction materials, then later producing raw materials for
the orbital stations' manufacturing operations. Shipping raw materials up
from Luna and finished goods down to Earth was, in the long term, a far
more economically efficient model than a closed earth-to-orbit loop, since
the Luna-orbit-earth model minimized the economic impact of overcoming
earth's powerful gravity well.

Even at its inception, however, the LMB site was selected because of the
high concentration of the radioactive compound di-coreallium. Even if the
eventual economic dependence on Di-Cor was not foreseen, its potential
usefulness as a power source and catalyst was obvious from the very
beginning.  Lunar Di-Cor mining, however, proved to be an economically
problematic endeavor, and the problem was not so much the logistics of
spaceflight, but the human element. Because of the hazards of the lunar
environment, particularly the high radioactivity of Di-Cor, prospective
Lunar miners demanded and received extravagantly high wages and radical
(and expensive) safety precautions. This extremely high overhead kept
Di-Cor prices inflated, which in turn kept the demand for Di-Cor low,
which kept production at a trickle. Although the scientific community
was constantly discovering new applications for Di-Cor power, that
potential remained largely theoretical, until the rise of the WEC and the
creation of the cartel system.

In 2152 the original Lunar Mining Commission (the predecessor of the Lunar
Mining Cartel) was established with the mission of fully exploiting Lunar
resources; Di-Cor is explicitly named in the Commission's charter as its
highest priority. By 2176, when the Cartel system was introduced, the LMC
and the Security Cartel were ready to move immediately on a previously
negotiated co-operative venture. SecCart would allow the LMC virtual carte
blanche to select "conscripts" from among SecCart prisoners to serve as
lunar Di-Cor miners. In return for the use of the conscripts, and for
providing personnel to guard the new lunar penal colony, SecCart would
receive a flat 20% of LMC gross Di-Cor revenues. The advantages of conscript
labor were obvious. In addition to massive savings on wages (most conscripts
receive nothing whatsoever; a few senior prisoners receive a minuscule wage
for the purchase of small luxuries), the WEC could also cut down radically
on safety precautions. The pre-WEC, highly efficient safety devices were
reserved for the use of supervisors and guards, while the conscripts were
issued vastly inferior protective measures.
Immediately, the lunar mining operation expanded from a large industrial
site to humanity's first non-terrestrial city. Not only did the importation
of the conscripts cause the population to balloon, but the non-conscript
citizen/partner population also expanded. By 2189 there were almost 10
conscripts and three citizen/partners for every pre-Cartel lunar resident. 
The death toll among Di-Cor miners also soared. The Resistance estimates
that 25% to 40% of LMC conscripts die of Di-Cor related injury or illness,
with an additional 15% to 25% suffering permanently incapacitating injury
or illness (official public WEC estimates are 7% death, 5% injury).
The current director of the LMC, and the de facto chief executive of
Darkside Station, is Judith Leach. Leach was appointed director in 2192,
and immediately began work on an administrative program that combined a
zero-tolerance policy for conscripts with a series of improvements,
upgrades and amenities for lunar citizen/partners. Although her strict
policies toward conscripts have not wavered, the reforms for citizen/
partners have constantly lagged far behind projections, and have recently
slowed to a halt, as ever-increasing WEC demand for more raw Di-Cor has
forced the LMC to devote all its energies to increasing production.

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                            TACTICAL SITUATION
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Passive Resistance
The Resistance estimates that 70% of all prisoners currently detained by the
WEC are imprisoned for political (as opposed to felonious) activity. The
penal colony on Luna reflects these proportions. Furthermore, even those
prisoners who were convicted for crimes against person or property have
little reason to be loyal to the WEC. Since, as has been pointed out above,
the Lunar conscripts outnumber Lunar citizen/partners by more than three to
one, it is obvious that the Resistance has a tremendous pool of potential
recruits on Luna. Unfortunately, the Security Cartel is not inefficient in
its task of controlling prisoners. There have been prisoner riots both in
the mines and in the conscript barracks - at least three in the last five
years have been confirmed by Resistance intelligence. The Security Cartel
is quite merciless in controlling such outbursts. In the three known
incidents, one was controlled by simple force of arms, while the other two
(one in the barracks, one in the mines) were controlled by sealing off the
area, then withholding life support. In all three cases prisoner casualties
were at or near 100% in the area. Likewise, the flow of information and goods
in and out of the conscript population is effectively controlled.
This does not mean that there is no access to the prisoners whatsoever -
every large-scale prison in human history has succeeded in evolving some
sort of black market with the outside, regardless of all security
precautions. However, SecCart is normally able to keep such exchanges well
below the threshold necessary for effective, organized operations. A few
operations have been successfully coordinated through the prison population,
but logistics and intelligence factors make such operations difficult to
coordinate and unacceptably risky, except in the most extreme necessity. 
The Resistance is, however, far from dead among the conscripts. There is a
highly efficient, if subtle, "passive resistance" dedicated to undermining
WEC authority and productivity. This conscript effort is largely coordinated
independently of the external Resistance effort, due to the logistical
difficulties noted above. The informal conscript resistance can and does
undertake minor industrial sabotage and even occasional anti-personnel
actions against specific security cartel targets. However, the primary
function of the passive resistance is to simply ensure that cooperation
and production among the conscripts remains at the absolute minimum possible
without arousing active LMC retaliation. Although precise estimates of the
passive resistance's efforts are extremely difficult to derive from
available data, a tentative estimate of a 10% to 20% reduction in
productivity has been calculated. This means that, without the passive
resistance, the WEC's current "Di-Cor crisis,"  (a 7.9% deficiency in
worldwide Di-Cor demand) would probably not exist.

Active Resistance
The organization of a traditional, active Resistance cell on Luna has been
a slow and dangerous process, but the beachhead has been established, and
there is every reason to expect more rapid growth of our movement in the
future. When Darkside Station was first established as a penal colony,
Resistance recruitment was difficult to the point of impossibility.
All lunar citizens were gainfully employed, carefully screened WEC
professionals - traditionally not the most fertile ground for fifth-column
operations. The discontented majority among the Conscript population was
inaccessible. In time, however, this equation became much less clear cut,
and therefore Lunar operations have become a much more attractive Resistance
prospect. Despite the health hazards of the mines and draconian WEC
sentences, many conscripts have managed to complete their sentences and be
released. As has been the case in penal colonies throughout history, many of
the recently released choose to remain on Luna and work for the LMC, rather
than return home and face social and professional ostracism as malcontents.
The LMC, for its part, is often content to allow former prisoners to stay
on, because of their experience and willingness to take on more dangerous
assignments than most citizen/partners. Although this population of released
prisoners is small (about 3% of all non-Conscript personnel) they already
form a crucial recruiting base for the Resistance, and their numbers are
expected to continue to swell over the next several years. Also, and perhaps
more significant in the long run, intelligence indicates a dramatic downward
shift in morale among the lunar citizen/partners over the last few years.
Since the establishment of the LMC, earthside demand for Di-Cor has risen
steadily and quotas have increased dramatically. At the same time, on Luna,
wages have remained largely static, workloads have shot up, and improvements
in the Lunar quality of life have been negligible. In short, the free
population of Luna started out as a WEC elite, but is now well on the way
to becoming yet another population victimized by the WEC, and ripe for
Resistance influence.  
At present the full-time Resistance garrison on the moon remains tiny, with
only one officer who does not also maintain a full-time WEC cover identity.
Nonetheless, operations are efficient and effective given the current
personnel situation. There is a small unit of guerrilla forces trained,
active and on-call at all times. There is also a large and extremely
efficient intelligence network. (There is presently, however, a significant
flaw in the Lunar Resistance intelligence operation, in that the absence of
secure communications between earth and the moon require that intelligence
reports either be smuggled to Central by hand, or encrypted and sent over
public information networks. For the moment, there seems to be no obvious
solution to this problem.
Immediate goals for the Lunar Resistance cell, in addition to general
readiness and crisis management, include enhanced recruiting with an eye
to augmenting available guerrilla forces, and cultivation of deep sleeper
operatives in the LMC leadership hierarchy. Logistics are, for the moment,
not a problem, as sufficient stockpiles of munitions and provisions exist
to support an operation up to five times the current force, for a full year.

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                           LONG-RANGE STRATEGY
============================================================================
Staff has identified three possible strategic options for the Lunar
Resistance. Lunar command should ready its forces for any one of these
options, depending on the strategic situation as it develops earthside.  
Note that two of the options below place Luna as a cornerstone of
Resistance strategy in "all-or-nothing" gambits designed to decisively
end the conflict with the WEC.
This makes Luna one of the five most important Resistance operations, in
the long term. 

Option 1: Maintenance and Readiness
In this plan, Darkside Station is treated just like any other urban center
in the ongoing struggle. Recruiting and training are prioritized, and
activist operations are kept small-scale and infrequent, in order to
maximize operational security. The long-range goal for Luna is to become
one more link in the chain of resistance, so that at a pre-arranged time
the Lunar Resistance can rise in concert with cells all over Earth, and
simultaneously end or disrupt WEC control in each individual locality,
compelling the Consortium to enact sweeping democratic reforms. This is
the default strategy for all Resistance operations. In this plan, control
of the moon becomes a strategically significant objective (because of the
necessity of ongoing Di-Cor production after the action). Lunar Command
should prepare contingency plans not only for military and propaganda
operations during the action, but also for sustaining mining operations
throughout the re-organization period to follow. 

Option 2: Takeover
This high-risk, but extremely attractive, strategy makes Luna a Resistance
beach-head, and a catalyst for earthside action. Its basic premise is for
the Resistance to take control of the moon, and thereby take control of
all Di-Cor production, forcing the WEC to negotiate with the Resistance,
exchanging Di-Cor for lunar autonomy and for democratic reforms and
concessions to the Resistance earthside. In essence, Luna offers the
Resistance a unique opportunity to successfully re-create the Petra
experiment, without the strategic flaws that doomed that operation. A
Resistance occupation of Luna would represent a significant military threat
to the WEC, since an effective counterstrike against orbital targets is far
easier to launch from the lunar surface than from the earth. Likewise, a
retributive assault against terrestrial targets from the moon would be
relatively simple to mount, and this knowledge should serve as an effective
deterrent to WEC retaliatory action. There also seems little risk that the
WEC could simply refuse to negotiate with the Resistance. Available
intelligence indicates that Darkside station could be maintained without
any earthside support for nine months, whereas if Di-Cor production were
cut off entirely, the WEC would face economic collapse within no more than
three months. The primary drawback to this strategy is that it would require
a far larger and more highly trained Lunar force than that currently
maintained, and it may in fact prove impossible to build the Lunar
organization to a level that makes this option viable. In the event of a
successful Lunar coup, it becomes even more vital for Di-Cor production to
be sustained without interruption.

Option 3: Demolition 
The final option is highly problematic due to humanitarian concerns, but
should be reserved as an option in the event of catastrophic reversals
against the earthside Resistance. Command should plan for this contingency,
but it should not be revealed to or discussed with any subordinates unless
it becomes essential to do so. This operation is, in essence, a suicide
strike against the lunar Di-Cor operation with an eye towards precipitating
the economic collapse of the WEC as discussed above. Such an operation would
probably result in the deaths of virtually all Resistance personnel on the
moon, and possibly all human life on Darkside station. For such an operation
to be effective it would be necessary not only to stop all Di-Cor production,
but also to leave the mining operation in such a state that production could
not be resumed without a major construction effort. In short, the wholesale
destruction of the entire Lunar colony is implied. Furthermore, if the WEC
economy was externally destroyed in this fashion, there would also be
tremendous resultant human suffering earthside. Lunar Command is not to
initiate this operation or any similar action without express authorization
from Central Command.  

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E-MAIL
============================================================================
Message From:  Maxis, Q 96.09.01.14.22.54  
Captain:       If you are reading this, it means you are well and at large,
               presumably on Luna. Your orders, for the record, are to make
               contact with our forces on the moon and put yourself at the
               disposal of Lt. Col. Shepherd. I imagine that by the time you
               read this, you will already have accomplished the above. My
               congratulations on your successes in the Vigilance Platform
               affair, and my sincere condolences for the loss of so many of
               your comrades. Despite these losses, I am fully aware that
               your actions turned what might have been a crippling loss for
               the Resistance into a major victory. Finally, since the
               question of your loyalty seems no longer in doubt, even to my
               most skeptical officers, I have expanded your clearance on
               this server. In your main directory, you will find an area
               called LUNA, which contains information on our current lunar
               operations. Please examine it in detail at your earliest
               convenience. This is, of course, sensitive information of the
               highest level of secrecy - please exercise all due caution. 
               Likewise, I have cleared you for personnel profiles of some
               of our key Lunar operatives. If you're reading this, it is
               likely at least one of these individuals has already contacted
               you, but this information should help you to adapt to your
               new theater of operations.
               Good luck. - M_

Message From:  Brooks, L 96.09.02.07.55.23  
               Hey, Red. Well, I still feel like one big bruise, but the
               docs say I've got no excuse for more sack time, so I'm
               shipping out. Can't say much about my new assignment, of
               course, but {TEXT REMOVED BY RESISTANCE CENSOR: Gen. Auth.
               14.2}, so maybe we'll work together again sooner than you
               might think. Anyway, just wanted to say way to give 'em
               hell, and keep up the good work. Good luck, sir. 

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                        RESISTANCE OPERATIVES ON LUNA
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Denning, Allen (civilian op) 
    Citizen # 4F-16DT-2729-EXX 
    Age 36, Height 172 cm, Weight 82 kg, Hair brown, Eyes brown 
    b. 60.7.6 Liverpool
    Denning was an 18-year-old high school student in Sydney when he and four
    school friends were caught vandalizing a food processing plant. The five
    were convicted of willfully causing 40,000 cr damage to the facility. The
    other boys, all being under 18, were sentenced to local work/detention
    facilities, but Denning was sentenced on 79.2.2 to 5 years hard labor. In
    '81 he killed a fellow prisoner. According to Denning's own account, the
    prisoner believed, incorrectly, that Denning had informed on him for
    smuggling narcotics into prison. The prisoner attacked Denning and was
    killed in the ensuing struggle. Denning's sentence was extended for 10
    years. In 91.4 he was transferred to Luna. Upon completion of his term,
    he was offered training as a shuttle pilot by an LMC administrator who
    had befriended him during his sentence. He accepted, knowing that as a
    former convict he was unlikely to find an equivalent job on Earth.
    Denning's patron was a Resistance sympathizer, and he introduced Denning
    to the movement. In '95.5 he was diagnosed with untreatable leukemia
    linked to Di-Cor poisoning. At the time doctors gave him no more than
    six months to live. He has requested that he be allowed to continue
    Resistance operations as long as he remains physically able. His
    position as a shuttle pilot makes him one of the Lunar Resistance's most
    trusted operatives for smuggling and courier operations.

Shepherd, Matt (LtC) 
    Citizen # 3D-24GT-4742-DDD 
    Age 36, Height 183 cm, Weight 82 kg, Hair brown, Eyes brown 
    b. 59.12.2, Toronto 
    g. 80, BA (admin) ULV, Las Vegas 
    g. 82, SecCart Acad OT, Singapore Reported
    d. (disinfor) 95.10.2
    Shepherd served 15 years as a Security Cartel officer, holding several
    site chief and subchief assignments across the globe. He was assigned to
    Luna in 93.4 as Deputy Security Chief (Mines), in charge of supervising
    the physical security of the mining operation itself. His disenchantment
    with the WEC and SecCart began with misgivings over the treatment of WEC
    convicts in the mines. In screening interviews he has stated that, in
    addition to reservations over the general inhumanity of the mining
    operations, he was particularly aware of the fact that nonviolent
    political dissidents were often more harshly treated by their captors
    than violent criminals and social deviants. He first made contact with
    the Resistance in 93.11, desiring to leak information on human rights
    abuses and obtain covert humanitarian relief for members of the mine
    gangs. Over the course of the next 16 months he steadily increased his
    Resistance involvement to encompass general intelligence gathering,
    smuggling (material and personnel) and occasional sabotage. He became
    the Resistance's highest-level operative in the LMC hierarchy. In 95.6
    Shepherd and central command came to a joint decision that further
    double-agent operations might jeopardize Shepherd's safety and
    Resistance security. Shepherd returned to Earth for a seven-week
    furlough, during which time he received further Resistance training and
    indoctrination. After his return to Luna, on 95.7.25, Shepherd's "death"
    in a prospecting hovershuttle crash was successfully staged. After the
    "accident", Shepherd was smuggled back to DarkSide Station, where he
    became the Resistance's first full-time underground guerrilla officer on
    Luna, with a Resistance rank of Major (promoted 96.4). He now serves as
    commander for all lunar military operations. Shepherd is an experienced
    and competent commander and administrator. In his months in charge of
    Lunar operations he has been responsible for major improvements in
    recruitment and training, and has materially assisted intelligence in
    enhancing the efficiency of their operations.
    Note: Although Shepherd is still officially regarded as deceased on
    public records, it is by now a virtual certainty that WEC counter-
    intelligence on Luna knows or strongly suspects that he is alive and
    operating on behalf of the Resistance. As long as his location remains
    secret and operational security remains intact, this is considered an
    acceptable level of risk.

Leibnitz, Marian "Torch" (civilian op)
    Citizen # 9G-26TF-3732-AXX 
    Age 30, Height 193 cm, Weight 132 kg, Hair black, Eyes brown
    b. 66.7.5, Houston
    "Torch" Leibnitz (he expresses an extreme distaste towards being
    addressed by anything other than his nickname) grew up in the slums
    of the Houston metroplex, and made a name for himself within the local
    youth gangs by showing a remarkable affinity for explosives, even as a
    small child. Torch was arrested for the first time in 78.2, at age 11,
    on charges of arson and looting during the Houston riots of that year.
    He was incarcerated at the high-security Dormitory for Violent Youth
    near New Orleans. He escaped three years later, and fell in with the
    Resistance in 81.10. For the next 12 years, Torch distinguished himself
    as one of the movement's most proficient explosives and demolitions
    experts. However, he fell into Security Cartel hands during a sabotage
    operation in London in 94.8. Sentenced to conscription for life on Luna,
    he did not stop his Resistance activities, but soon joined up with the
    other Resistance sympathizers among the conscript population. His
    specialized skills have allowed him to earn a position of responsibility
    and relative trust in the mines, which grants him a certain degree of
    freedom for Resistance activities. His demolitions experience made him
    a natural saboteur for the Resistance. However, the loss of an arm in
    95.6, due to a Di-Cor contaminated injury, caused him to largely forgo
    actual commando operations in favor of mission planning and coordination.
    Torch is one of the Resistance's most effective undercover ops within
    the conscript population. His special skills make him one of the most
    dangerous guerrilla operatives on Luna.

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WEAPONS AND FIELD EQUIPMENT
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I.  PROJECTILE WEAPONS
    ------------------

RP-32 "Pacifist" Semiautomatic Assault Rifle .30
    Loaded Weight:          2.4 kilos
    Effective Range:        75 meters (single shot),
                            25 meters (autofire)
    Maximum Refire Rate:    10 shots/second
    The standard infantry weapon for all WEC military forces, the RP-32
    can be fitted with optical or electronic sights, which increases its
    effective range to about 200 meters. It's constructed entirely of
    ballistic-grade plastics, and fires a frictionless, caseless .30
    round. It normally mounts a 60-round magazine, and is preset to fire
    in 3-round bursts. Standard options include shoulder sling and bipod-
    mount.

SG-A1 "Conformer" Shotgun
    Loaded Weight:          3.1 kilos
    Effective Range:        20 meters
    Maximum Refire Rate:    2 shots/second
    This deadly anti-personnel weapon is standard issue for riot control
    and urban security units. It fires a 13-gram fragmenting shell, and
    carries a 12-round magazine.

AC-88 "Reaper" Riot Gun
    Loaded Weight:          3.25 kilos
    Effective Range:        20 meters
    Maximum Refire Rate:    6 shots/second
    One of the most devastating anti-personnel weapons in the WEC arsenal,
    the AC-88 is a variation on the SG-A1, with an improved semi-automatic
    action that allows it to be fired at more than twice the rate of the
    SG-A1.

AR-7 "Rico" Rocket Launcher
    Loaded Weight:          3.25 kilos
    Effective Range:        1,200 meters
    Maximum Refire Rate:    6 shots/second
    The unique round fired by the AR-7 is a low-power canister shell that,
    immediately after discharge, ablates to release three self-propelled
    micro-missile rounds which take off from their point of origin in a
    "fan" formation encompassing an arc of roughly 45 degrees. The Rico
    canister round is 9 cm long and 6.3 cm in diameter, and the individual
    micro-missiles are 5 cm long with a diameter of 3 cm. The magazine can
    hold up to 8 rounds. This experimental weapon, not yet in general use,
    is designed for anti-sniper, anti-siege and recon-by-fire applications.

GL-303 Grenade Launcher
    Loaded Weight:          4 kilos
    Effective Range:        50 meters
    Maximum Refire Rate:    1 shot/second
    A GL-303 is carried by at least one member of every WEC fire team, and
    is also used extensively by police and anti-terrorist units. The normal
    Consortium anti-personnel load for this weapon is a grenade that
    combines concussion damage with limited incendiary capabilities.
    Standard grenade rounds are streamlined, 9.2 centimeter plastic
    projectiles weighing 102 to 144 grams. The GL-303 mounts an internal,
    10-grenade magazine. 

BK-16 "Crystallizer" Molecular Inhibitor
    Loaded Weight:          6.7 kilos
    Effective Range:        30 meters
    Maximum Refire Rate:    3 shots/second
    One of the most technologically advanced projectile weapons ever
    created, the BK-16 fires a low-velocity 12 cm cartridge which, upon
    impact, creates a field that inhibits all molecular motion within a
    area that conforms tightly to the target's shape. This creates a
    "freezing" effect comparable to several minutes' exposure to absolute
    zero. This instantly immobilizes the target. Humans in the inhibition
    field are killed instantly and their flesh becomes extremely brittle.
    Servomechs usually suffer massive and irreparable damage to circuitry
    and hydraulic systems. This weapon mounts a 10-round magazine.

LNR-81 "Liquefier" Catalytic Cartridge
    Loaded Weight:          6.4 kilos
    Effective Range:        33 meters
    Maximum Refire Rate:    4 shots/second
    This weapon fires cartridges that carry a highly classified, wide-
    spectrum chemical catalytic agent, designed to break down complex
    organic molecular bonds. The agent is dispersed through a powerful,
    localized concussion charge which ignites upon impact. Against flesh
    its effect is catastrophic, capable of reducing a human body to a small
    accumulation of semi-solid matter in a fraction of a second. The
    cartridge is also effective against mechanical targets, since it
    triggers rapid transmutation in alloys and synthetic materials which
    make it impossible for most electromechanical devices to continue to
    function.

II. ENERGY WEAPONS
    --------------

PA-31 "Adjudicator" Laser Rifle
    Weight:                 2.22 kilos
    Effective Range:        50 meters
    Maximum Refire Rate:    5 shots/second
    Power Drain:            45 Power Units/shot
    At least one trooper in every WEC infantry squad is designated the
    "lightning rod", and carries this weapon. In addition, the WEC
    maintains special-forces "lightning teams" where all the troops carry
    PA-31s as their standard arm. These "lightning teams" are used for
    anti-armor, attacks on armored emplacements, and special missions.
    This weapon is particularly effective against robots and ambulatory
    weapons platforms. It fires a single pulsed varicolor laser beam.

PL-1 "Unifier" Plasma Rifle
    Weight:                 3.7 kilos
    Effective Range:        40 meters
    Maximum Refire Rate:    12 shots/second 
    Power Drain:            80 Power Units/shot 
    The PL-1 is the WEC's only plasma-based rifle. It fires a pulse of
    superheated plasma along a condensed magnetic field. A direct hit
    from a PL-1 is capable of literally disintegrating a non-shielded
    human target, leaving behind only a small scattering of carbonized
    residue. Its incendiary capabilities also make it extremely effective
    against vehicles and servomechs. This fully-automatic weapon is
    capable of firing up to six bursts per second. It is normally used
    for military commando operations and police SWAT teams.

EM-4 "Vortex" Electromagnetic Pulse Rifle  
    Weight:                 4.4 kilos  
    Effective Range:        150 meters  
    Maximum Refire Rate:    3 shots/second 
    Power Drain:            200 Power Units/shot 
    Originally designed as an anti-servomech weapon, the EM-4 is also
    highly effective against human targets. It fires a concentrated
    electromagnetic pulse, which interferes with the guidance mechanisms
    of all standard servomechs, temporarily nullifying their offensive
    capability. Against humans, the electromagnetic charge is capable of
    instantly incinerating an unprotected target to the point of
    vaporization.

UV-9 "Pulsar" Ultraviolet Rifle  
    Weight:                 5.7 kilos   
    Effective Range:        50 meters  
    Maximum Refire Rate:    2 shots/second 
    Power Drain:            210 Power Units/shot 
    Still in development, the UV-9 generates and fires a pulse of highly
    concentrated ultraviolet energy. This charge has an extreme incendiary
    effect on any substance it impacts, and is capable of literally burning
    all the flesh and organs from an unarmored human target. At present,
    field trials are being conducted by experimental heavy-weapons units.

XP-5 "Broiler" Microwave Projector
    Weight:                 5.9 kilos
    Effective Range:        25 Meters
    Maximum Refire Rate:    5 shots/second
    Power Drain:            140 Power Units/shot
    This experimental weapon fires an intense and tightly focused microwave
    pulse. This charge is powerful enough to liquefy the flesh of an
    unprotected human target. Against mechanical targets it is also
    extremely effective, producing damage effects comparable to extreme
    heat as well as disrupting and destroying most electromagnetic
    processes.

===========================================================================
DEMOLITION EQUIPMENT
===========================================================================

Detpac:           The standard-issue WEC military satchel charge, the
                  detpac is a two-piece unit consisting of the actual
                  explosive and a hand-held radio remote control detonator.
                  The range of a detpac is quite limited - it must be
                  detonated from no more than 50 meters away in open
                  terrain, considerably nearer than that indoors or in
                  rough or heavily forested areas. It weighs slightly
                  less than 1 kilo.

Limpet Mine:      A limpet mine can be affixed (via electrostatic charge)
                  to any reasonably flat, firm surface. Once placed and
                  activated it will detonate when any moving object
                  approaches within about 1/2 meter (there is a built-in
                  three second delay after activation to allow the placer
                  to get out of range). Limpet mines are used for territory
                  denial in areas where it is not practical to place larger
                  mines, or when time does not permit the use of more
                  permanent mines. Extremely small and light (less than
                  0.3 kilos), several limpet mines can be carried by a 
                  single soldier, even on a light patrol.

Spider Bomb:      This ambulatory munition can be released by a soldier from
                  concealment, and literally walks on mechanical legs to the
                  point of detonation, guided by a hand-held joystick unit.

Spider Mine:      This is a spider bomb with a proximity sensor built in.
                  Once set, it waits for an enemy to approach, then homes
                  in and moves into position to detonate.

Pocket Betty:     This defensive munition must be manually detonated. On
                  detonation it flings out four "minelets" to a distance of
                  about three meters, which explode on impact.

Mine-Det:         This is a single-use, hand held detonator which can be
                  used to detonate limpet and spider mines from a distance.

Disrupter:        This munition is placed on a teleporter platform. When an
                  incoming teleportation signal is received by the platform,
                  the disrupter activates and scrambles the teleporter
                  signal, resulting in the death of the incoming personnel,
                  and the destruction of the platform.

===========================================================================
PERSONAL EQUIPMENT
===========================================================================

Ionic Shield:     This personal shield generator surrounds the wearer in a
                  protective sphere of highly energized electrons capable of
                  absorbing the kinetic energy of ballistic projectiles,
                  greatly reducing their lethality. The ionic shield is
                  often used by police and riot-control units. It weighs
                  1.2 kilos and can be belt- or shoulder-mounted.

Plasma Shield:    This shield surrounds the user in a sphere of plasma,
                  which reduces the energy of ballistic projectiles more
                  efficiently than the ionic shield, and also provides an
                  effective reduction of the destructive potential of
                  energy weapons. The plasma shield weighs 3.3 kilos and
                  is either worn in a web-harness or built into a rigid
                  armor suit.

Graviton Shield:  The highly experimental graviton shield surrounds the
                  wearer in what is, essentially, a localized space-time
                  distortion. It provides unprecedented protection against
                  large projectiles and high-power energy weapons.
                  Unfortunately, the expense and extreme power drain of
                  this shield make it impractical for general issue at this
                  time. It is only used for VIP protection and special
                  missions. It weighs 5 kilos and is built into a special
                  vest (which can be worn beneath normal business clothes)
                  or into rigid armor.

Radiation Shield: This device emits an energy field which protects the
                  wearer from all known forms of hard radiation. This
                  compact (1.7 kilos) unit can be worn on a belt or
                  slotted into a suit of powered armor.

EMP Inhibitor:    This defensive weapon is capable of emitting a tuned,
                  high-powered electromagnetic pulse which will
                  temporarily cause all standard-model servomechs
                  within an approximate 10-meter radius to malfunction.
                  Due to its extreme power requirements, use of this
                  defense must normally be strictly regulated under
                  battlefield conditions. It's usually used for
                  infiltration, sabotage and other commando-style
                  operations. It weighs 0.7 kilos.

Datalink:         This is a hand-held mission computer and communications
                  device. A datalink is often built into combat-armor
                  uniforms. A datalink can hold mission briefings and
                  intelligence reports for in-field review, and can also
                  receive tight-focus satellite communications (usually
                  encrypted).

Medikit:          The medikit is a one-use, electronic field dressing.
                  Upon application it seals wounds and injects anesthetics,
                  stimulants, antibiotics and anti-shock medications, and
                  is also effective at countering the effects of several
                  common respiratory and contact toxins. Its effect is not
                  so much to heal the user, as to keep him alert and
                  functioning until he can accomplish his mission and get
                  medical attention. Because of the radical nature of
                  medikit treatment, there is the potential for long-term
                  side effects or delayed reactions. Therefore, use of the
                  medikit is recommended only in hazardous conditions, when
                  under imminent threat of loss of life or consciousness.
                  Each kit weighs 0.4 kilos and can be carried in a belt
                  pouch. Each medikit carries its own internal power cell,
                  and it does not need to be linked to an external power
                  supply.

VIR Chip:         This is an optional enhancement to visual imaging
                  devices (for example, the faceplate of standard combat
                  armor) which allows the user to see normally invisible
                  infrared beams.

Batteries:        A battery or other personal power supply is necessary to
                  run shields and energy weapons. There are three types of
                  portable, rechargeable battery currently available, the
                  chemical (maximum charge 2500 power units), fission
                  (maximum charge 50,000 power units) and fusion (maximum
                  charge 100,000 power units). Multiple devices (i.e., a
                  shield, an inhibitor and an energy weapon) can all be
                  run off the same battery. Most batteries weigh about one
                  kilo.

Energy Cubes:     Energy cubes are disposable, non-rechargeable energy
                  storage units. Equipment cannot run directly off an
                  energy cube, but cubes can be used to recharge a battery
                  when its reserves are starting to get low. Energy cubes
                  initiate a catalytic reaction in a battery that will
                  cause any given battery type to recharge about 1/3 of its
                  total storage capacity.

===========================================================================
ENEMIES
===========================================================================

I.  ENEMY PERSONNEL
    --------------

Guard:
    In response to increased Resistance action, the WEC has been upgrading
    their guard forces. Today's guard is a well-trained professional,
    probably armed with an RP-32.

Special Forces:
    The WEC employs several distinct varieties of special forces unit. He's
    probably carrying an AR-7 or a PA-21, but some elite units will deploy
    with PA-31s or even PL-1s as their standard arms. In addition, his
    combat uniform includes built-in nuclear-biological-chemical protection.
    Special forces troops are highly trained and motivated.

Elite Guards:
    These special forces troops are assigned to defend the most sensitive
    WEC facilities and the most important leaders. They usually carry a
    UV-9 or sometimes an LNR-81.

Enforcer:
    The cream of the WEC's conventional forces. He's often encountered
    using a PL-1 or even an AC-88, and always wears a plasma shield and
    NBC gear. Extremely deadly alone or in a group, in any environment.

Silencer:
    Definitely not conventional forces - a killing machine trained to be
    the ultimate soldier. Silencers are given complete freedom to choose
    their own weapons and equipment, but can always be recognized by their
    unique uniform of rigid plastic-armor plates.

II. ARMED SERVOMECHS
    ----------------

MS-110 Android:
    The human-like android is a common maintenance servomech. Some
    androids, in use in sensitive areas, are capable of carrying and
    effectively using small arms.

MS-40 "Roaming Susan":
    The most common maintenance servomech. Optional programming and
    hardware allow a light weapon to be mounted on a Roaming Susan for
    site defense.

M-35 "Roach":
    These small, low-profile servomechs are designed to carry messages and
    light cargo around a site. Recently, some have been issued with an
    integral small-arms mount.

III. ANTI-PERSONNEL PLATFORMS
     ------------------------

APP-4210 Vetron:
    This was the first autonomous security anti-personnel platform in
    general release. Current models are normal armed with an integral
    PA-31 laser.

APP-4400 Thermatron:
    The follow-up to the 4100, the heavily-armored 4400 is still one of
    the most effective combat servomechs available. It is usually armed
    with an RP-32 gun mount.

APP-4450 Avatron: 
    The small Avatron is lightly armed, lightly armored and cheap. It's
    a security cartel attempt to provide a APP option that falls between
    the armed maintenance servomech and the heavier APPs.

APP-5100 Cryoton
    The first of the advanced-weapon 5000 series in general release, the
    5100 mounts a BK-16 molecular inhibitor weapon. It is a rather light
    platform, with armor only slightly heavier than the original Vetron's.

APP-5200 Solartron
    In addition to mounting the devastating UV-9 microwave projector, the
    5200 is also the heaviest APP ever produced for security purposes,
    having almost twice the armor protection of the original Vetron.

APP-7200 Cametron
    Almost nothing is known of the capabilities of this experimental
    prototype other than its codename and designation. Rumors suggest
    that its major innovation is a radical new stealth technology
    application.

===========================================================================
HISTORY       
===========================================================================

Message from Gen. Q Maxis, CIC      
AVOIDANCE OF ACCOUNTABILITY       
The Death of the Old Order       
The Dawn of Dissent       
The Rise of Resistance       
The Petra Experiment       
World Economic Consortium: Origins      

From:  Gen. Q. Maxis, CIC 
To:  All field commanders and special operatives 
Re:  "Avoidance of Accountability" by Dr. Singh  
The attached document is an article entitled "Avoidance of Accountability:
The Rise of the World Economic Consortium," by Doctor Ethan Singh.
I consider this to be one of the cornerstone documents of our movement -
it will come to be regarded much as the Federalist Papers were to American
democracy. Every senior officer in my command should study this work
carefully.
You will notice that when Dr. Singh discusses the growth and mission of
the Resistance, he does so "warts and all." Dr. Singh is a committed
member of our movement, but he has not allowed that to cloud his scholarly
objectivity. The Resistance is a movement of ordinary people reacting to
extraordinary provocation. In the course of our history, mistakes have been
made, opportunities have been lost and principles have sometimes even been
compromised. This in no way detracts from the essential justice of our
mission. What would, however, compromise our credibility would be to resort
to the sort of whitewash and distortion that our enemies employ on a daily
basis.
As a life-long soldier, though, I recognize that wartime is not always the
appropriate time for absolute historical objectivity, Therefore I leave it
entirely to the discretion of each unit commander whether to distribute
this document to his troops. I only encourage you to distribute this
document to the maximum degree you find consistent with unit morale and
efficiency.  At the moment, HumOps is considering how best to move this
document out to the general public. Therefore, for the time being, it
remains "Confidential." Please do not distribute it outside the
organization, even via secure channels, as such efforts may compromise
future efforts to capitalize on this information. 

===========================================================================
                        AVOIDANCE OF ACCOUNTABILITY
                 The Rise of the World Economic Consortium 
                                  -------
                         By Ethan R. Singh, Ph.D.

It is the nature of civilization to progress from chaos, to a strongly
controlled social order, to a social order founded upon individual liberty
and maintained by the consent of the governed. There are those who charge
that the cycle then proceeds once more to chaos, but it is more accurate
to say that chaos is always the result of the breakdown of the social order
at any stage of this evolutionary process. It is the chasm which social
evolution constantly skirts.
In understanding the rise of the World Economic Consortium (WEC) and the
revolutionary Resistance which now challenges WEC global dominance, it is
necessary to remember that all human progress is incremental. It is
impossible for a civilization to go from anarchy to utopia in a single
step. When the reformer of today asks himself, "Why did people ever
surrender their liberties to the WEC?" he is avoiding an answer that is
painfully simple - there was a time when the WEC was far preferable to any
of the other available options.

                         The Death of the Old Order 

Every school child knows that at the dawn of the 21st century the globe was
divided up into hundreds of autonomous states, which often warred against
one another. It is commonly believed that the peoples of the world turned
to the WEC to unify them and save them from war and international strife.
This belief is completely erroneous.  Although international war was tragic
on a human scale, it was also, in many ways, a sign of social health and
vigor. It often stimulated industry and trade, and increased overall
economic efficiency by bringing the population together in a common cause
against a common enemy. Nations often emerged from wartime stronger than
they were when the war began - and if this statement is more true for
winners than losers, it is by no means exclusively true for winners.
The fears that caused the people of the 22nd century to turn to the WEC for
relief were, generally speaking, not fears of violence from without, but
fears of stagnation and chaos from within. Across the globe the old social
orders were breaking down. National authorities were ineffectual or simply
absent. Crime was not merely rampant - in many places organized crime had,
in fact, become the de facto government for neighborhoods, communities,
sometimes whole regions. Often, such informal gangster "governments" were
more stable and less corrupt than in those areas where the remnants of the
original government still held sway.
The reasons for this international disintegration of the social order are,
of course, extremely complex, but they can all be boiled down into three
words - global economic collapse.
By the end of the 20th century, governments had completely ceased to be
self-contained economic units. The economic well-being of each government
had become completely dependent upon the economic health of the rest of
the world's governments. Various policies and agencies were created to
regulate this global economy, but all were entirely dependent on the
consent and co-operation of the governments they regulated. There was no
central economic authority with the power to enforce financial prudence
on the world. The history of the early 21st century is one of nations
sacrificing one prudent economic safeguard after another in response to
some local or short-term need or crisis. Each such action only set up more
such crises in the future.
The remaining leaders of the 21st century, however, were by no means
unconscious of the roots of their problems, or of the obvious solution.
They needed an economic compact with teeth in it - something that could
restore order to the economy, and if necessary enforce that order against
destabilizing forces. By the last half of the 21st century, when DOMO,
followed by NAA, EEI and ALN, came on the scene, the people were more than
ready to welcome any organization offering relief from civil disorder and
poverty, and the former national governments were so weak and decentralized
that they could not offer any effective resistance.
The effects of membership in one of the new economic alliances were marked
and nearly immediate. Hunger was drastically reduced, employment rose,
medical care improved. Those regions which tried to hold out for autonomy
were soon forced by their own population to join a union. It is at this
point that we begin to see the first glimmers of imperialist ambition in
the new alliances. Prospective members were told they must capitulate
entirely to the new order, or they could not participate at all. This
refusal to compromise was portrayed as a necessary safeguard against the
kind of creeping isolationism that had destroyed the first global economy.
Certainly a more potent economic regime was needed, but it would have been
entirely possible to make certain concessions to local rule without
seriously compromising the mission of the organization. It is clear that,
in refusing benefits of membership to nations with any degree of hesitancy
whatsoever, the economic alliances were not merely after stability, but
were in fact actively pursuing the economic subjugation of the member
states. Any remnant of the original national government was so thoroughly
stripped of real political power as to be left a mere ceremonial courtesy.
(A few such ceremonial relics of the pre-alliance past still survive to the
present, including the monarchies of Denmark and Kuwait, and elective
ceremonial offices like the Mayor of Chicago and the Governor of Texas.)
In the early '60s, a few areas of the globe, although officially part of
the WEC for more than a decade, still held out against full assimilation
of all local autonomy. The WEC, in its first blatant act of global
suppression, embargoed all such territories for three months, from August
through October of '62. All official trade was ended to seven cities
worldwide, and they were blockaded to prevent citizens from leaving.
Economic chaos soon reigned in the affected areas, and starvation loomed.
In all seven cities, rioting broke out among residents convinced (sometimes
with cause) that the local government was withholding stockpiles of food.
The food riots effectively crushed any lingering spirit of independence
among the local governments in the embargoed territories, but it also
created a lingering mistrust against the WEC. Decades later, the Resistance
would find its most fertile recruiting grounds among the survivors of the
food riots. In general, however, it must be admitted that the member states
were only too happy to be subjugated. For most, the bottom line was that,
for the first time in several generations, hunger was on the decline,
employment was on the rise, and children were being educated. Most regions
welcomed the new alliances as saviors; only a few yielded to them as
conquerors. In either case, the end result was the same. As long as the WEC
endures, the average scholar will probably never have access to any of the
records of the secret negotiations and behind-the-scenes machinations that
finally led to the formation of the WEC in 2150. By all standards the
consolidation was an astounding success. Disorder vanished, crime continued
to fall and the economy continued to soar. The WEC probably reached its
all-time apex of success in 2176, when the original "five states" were
abolished and replaced by the cartel system as the primary administrative
sub-unit of the WEC. For the first time humanity had achieved a dram of
centuries - a world completely devoid of geographical borders.

                           The Dawn of Dissent

About the same time that the WEC was achieving its greatest success (with
the establishment of the cartel system), it also began to feel the first
real pressure from dissident reformers. Their message was simple - the WEC
had been formed using emergency powers during a crisis situation. Now the
crisis was over, and it was time for the WEC to step back and allow its
"partners" to explore other alternatives of self-governance. Scholars had,
of course, long been speculating about the proper limits of WEC power and
the long-term options available for the new global economy. The 2170s,
however, were the first time such speculations began to gain popular
support. The average citizen-partner remained grateful to the WEC for
providing him with security, employment, health-care, education and
sustenance. He was, however, beginning to question whether those benefits
really justified the average 55% of his nominal earnings withheld by the
WEC for security and economic development.
It is difficult for us, in these days of 90%+ taxation, to appreciate how
indignant the world population could become over a 7% rise in the tax rate
between 2167 and 2173. This issue led to public demonstrations and even
some isolated incidents of rioting. The anti-taxation movement of the early
2170s is historically significant as the first organized resistance movement
in WEC history. It was also (at least nominally, and in the short term) a
success. The tax rate was reduced below 50% in 2173 and did not rise to
pre-movement levels until 2181.
However, even if the WEC was willing to cut its own profit margins a bit to
ensure public tranquillity, that gesture was far removed from actually
compromising its political autonomy. The WEC response to calls for political
reform has always been, to say the least, ingenious. The WEC claims that it
is not responsible for governmental reform because it is NOT a government.
Whenever it needed to claim one of the traditional prerogatives of a
national government the WEC would do so, but publicly it maintained the
fiction that it was merely an economic regulatory body, with no interest
in how its "partners" chose to govern themselves, so long as their policies
were not bad for business. Of course, every time a policy was proposed that
compromised WEC political authority, that policy would turn out to be
somehow "bad for business." It has, of course, been repeatedly pointed out
that the WEC had all the authority of a government, that there was no other
governmental body to be found anywhere, and it seemed to be functioning as
a government. However, these arguments were at first ignored, and later
violently suppressed.
After the anti-taxation unrest, the WEC moved on to a new method for
avoiding public accountability. Previously, the WEC's justification for
its own existence had been entirely functional - the WEC deserved to
exist because the alternative (pre-WEC chaos) was infinitely worse. Now,
people were actually proposing viable alternatives to the WEC. The WEC's
answer was "Scientific Administration." Basically, it began to present its
policies not merely as pragmatic responses to new circumstances, but as
scientifically established, and PROVEN, optimal responses. No longer were
the WES's ideas simply the best ideas of informed individuals - they were
now scientific FACTS, as unquestionable as a proven mathematical theorem.
Of course, the actual theories or algorithms that determined these policies
were never revealed to the public.

                           The Rise of Resistance

The introduction of the "Scientific Administration" propaganda campaign
proved remarkably successful among the general populace, but it was far
less so among intellectuals. When told that a given idea is "scientifically
proven," the average worker will probably respond, Oh, that's good then,"
and go about his business. Saying the same thing to a scientist, however,
will immediately awaken a burning desire to examine, dissect and elaborate
on the theory and its proof. When the WEC claimed scientific infallibility,
but refused to present the proofs underlying that claim, suspicions soared. 
Even among the intelligentsia, however, opposition to the Scientific
Administration movement was muted. This is not surprising, since the WEC
has always been a scientific meritocracy, seeking out the most gifted
scientific minds and rewarding those who contribute most to Consortium
interests. Scientists might have been intellectually skeptical about
Scientific Administration, but pragmatically they knew where their bread
was buttered. Those who could come up with plausible-sounding support for
the WEC's scientific administration claims were richly rewarded; those who
challenged them were disgraced. Inevitably, however, the friction between
the claims of Scientific Administration and the demands of real science
increased in the minds of at least some intellectuals. In 2186, several
economists attempted to publish criticism or refutations of Chen's
"Predictive Economics" - one of the cornerstones of Scientific
Administration theory. These works were systematically suppressed, and the
authors were made the targets of WEC surveillance and harassment. 
Word of this program of intellectual repression quickly spread on the
academic grapevine. Here and there, cells of scientists began to meet
secretly to consider what they had come to regard as the "problem" of
the WEC. In a very short time these clandestine reformers began to
reach out to one another and form a worldwide underground movement. 
Popular disgruntlement with the WEC was both wide and deep by this time.
Citizen anger had been growing steadily for years, due to taxation,
corruption, bureaucratic stagnation, and even lingering resentment over
the food riots of two decades past. Rioting and anti-government sabotage
was an ever-growing menace to the Consortium's world-wide social order.
What this tide of resentment lacked, however, was any sort of central
organization to give it direction and make it effective. It is the
seemingly-minor academic backlash against "Scientific Administration,"
and the semi-organized network of dissidents it spawned, which provided
the catalyst and nucleus around which the global Resistance (capital-"R")
could form.
The Petra Experiment  Gradually, these intellectual dissident cells began
to reach out to the general public. There they found an ever more willing
ear for dissent. Government monitoring of citizens, on the rise since the
turn of the century, was starting to chafe. The temporary propaganda boost
the WEC got from the introduction of Scientific Administration had exhausted
it in the face of the old specter of rising taxation. In 2189 taxes, for the
first time, rose over 75%. Once again there were protests, but this time
the protests turned much more easily to violence, and this time the WEC did
not back down - the violence was suppressed. Even more alarming, for the
first time since the introduction of the cartels, parts of the globe were
experiencing food shortages, and while employment remained nominally at
100%, rumors were on the rise of whole communities where the people's
"jobs" didn't involve actually doing any work ... or collecting any pay.
The "refusenik" anti-registration movement surged during the late '80s,
from a worldwide total of barely a thousand ideological extremists in 2185,
to at least a half-million non-registered persons by 2190.
At the beginning of the decade, the Resistance began to go cautiously and
quietly "public," actively recruiting new members from all levels of
society, and taking a generally more militant stance in demanding WEC
reforms. They even won a few victories, here and there, notably the
de-installation of cameras and microphones from the non-public areas of
all Ontario housing complexes in 2192. Of course, WEC reaction was growing
at an even faster rate. The Resistance estimates that at least 75,000
dissidents were incarcerated or assassinated by the WEC between 2190 and
2193, and countless more were harassed or demoted for Resistance activities.
One of the main reasons for both the success and the persecution of the
nascent activist resistance was a small but efficient underground cadre
that specialized in harassing the WEC through guerrilla tactics. The
Resistance guerrillas became almost folk-heroes in certain areas, due to
their success at creating violent demonstrations that seriously impeded
WEC operations while minimizing civilian casualties and collateral damage.
Gradually, even WEC administrators and civic authorities began to be
influenced by Resistance rhetoric, and to formulate their policies
accordingly, often in direct defiance of WEC policy. For a time, it
seemed that sheer concentrated public will would restrain the WEC from
taking any extreme reactionary measures.
"Policy reviews," "public inquiries" and "blue-ribbon commissions" were
promised by the WEC, with the professed purpose of evaluating the
possibility of reform along Resistance lines. Few of these efforts ever
came to fruition. Those that were actually formed either stonewalled and
stalled, or turned in reports supporting existing WEC policy. The whole
thing came to a head in the city of Petra in 2194. In January of that
year, Petra announced that a public referendum would be held March 1st,
on the question of whether the city should renounce its affiliation with
the WEC. Much to the surprise of everybody, the election was allowed to
proceed. 71% of the populace turned out to vote, and the final tally was
82% in favor of secession. Immediately, the provisional government of
the city declared itself in power and took over all WEC administrative
functions. Any Consortium officials that opposed the takeover were held
for deportation. A full month passed as the Petran government established
itself. New civic elections were scheduled for September. A trade delegation
sent to Admin Cartel headquarters to attempt to negotiate with the WEC for
commercial relations was arrested and imprisoned, but allowed to stay
in contact with the Petran government, and apparently not mistreated. 
Other cities with strong Resistance ties began to make plans for a
referendum on secession. Speculation was voiced about the possibility
of a worldwide network of Resistance enclaves, offering an alternative
to WEC control - trading freely with each other, and perhaps even with
the WEC, but each with purely local administrative jurisdiction. In what
later proved to be a major strategic mistake, Petra began to welcome
thousands of Resistance sympathizers from around the globe.  
On April 7, 2194, at 0545 hours, more than 300 stratospheric fighter-
bombers were launched from the MilOps cartel air base at Brasilia. At
0700 hours, the Petran trade delegation was executed without trial.
Simultaneously, saturation tactical nuclear bombing of Petra and
surrounding regions began, first with a missile barrage launched from
the still-under-construction Vigilance Platform, followed by a second
strike from the stratospheric craft. The last bomb detonated at 0744,
at which time 14 million people were dead or dying. Over the course of
the next four days, the WEC began a vicious worldwide pogrom aimed at
stamping out the Resistance movement. A further 2.3 million people were
summarily executed, and more than a million were imprisoned. The entire
globe remained under martial law for six months while Security Cartel
monitoring was stepped up, and the tax rate was raised to an all-time
high of 94%. The WEC announced that Petra had been reclaimed by the
MilOps cartel, and that further separatism would not be tolerated. The
official death toll was set at 440,000. 
Despite this crackdown, riots occurred on an almost daily basis, all
over the world. WEC economic loss due to civil unrest for the year 2194
(excluding Petra, which was not restored) are conservatively estimated at
700 trillion dollars. The Resistance has reappeared during the last year,
literally with a vengeance. Since Petra it has regrouped, reorganized, and
has begun operations as a full-scale guerrilla army. Although care is
still taken to avoid civilian casualties, military operations have been
seriously escalated. Before Petra, guerrilla operations were mostly
intended to harass and demoralize the WEC. Since that time the goals have
changed to serious and continual disruption of the WEC economy and direct
action against WEC security measures. At this point, the economy of the
WEC continues to worsen, public dissatisfaction grows, and Resistance
opposition becomes increasingly focused and effective. To the objective
student of history and economics, the signs of irreversible societal decay
are unmistakable. The timing for dramatic reform along Resistance lines
could not be better. However, the odds against the Resistance remain
astronomical. The rebel forces live a dangerous, hand-to-mouth existence
completely surrounded by their enemies. WEC personnel and resources can
only be described as infinitely more extensive than the Resistance's.
Nonetheless, the genie of revolutionary change is out of the bottle. If
this Resistance should eventually fail, a new one will soon arise in its
place, and if that movement is not immediately successful, it's only a
matter of time until, like the Soviet Union of the 20th century, the WEC
crumbles beneath the weight of its own corruption.  

Origins of the World Economic Consortium:The origins of the WEC can be
traced back to the beginning of the 21st century with the economic
decline of geographically defined countries as the cornerstone of world
power. With the decline of the superpowers (formerly known as the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics and The United States of America) in the late
20th century, a new economic power struggle began to rise in the wake of
the failure of Russian economic reforms and the US protectionism amendments.
Early attempts to form multinational coalitions (The Common Market, League
of Arabic States, NAFTA) met with little success within the global community.
It was not until the creation of DOMO (better known as the Asian Alliance)
that the true economic power of a multinational affiliation was realized.  
After the collapse of the United States (due in part to the loss of
California in 2025, and the continental flooding of its eastern coast
caused by global warming), the remaining states voted to incorporate the
last states of the former countries known as Canada (in 2037) and divided
federations of Mexico (in 2064) to become the North American Alliance.
Though not as economically powerful as DOMO, the NAA shortly took over as
a world leader when China left the Asian Alliance after a long battle over
scandal and corruption within DOMO.
2067:  The North American Alliance jointly puts the first Orbiting Industrial
       Platform (OIP) in space. This is followed closely by the Europa
       Economic Interest completing theirs in 2069, and the first venture of
       DOMO in 2070.
2094:  After years of famine and civil war, peace is finally established on
       the continent of Africa with the signing of the African League of
       Nations. Though renegade states threaten to destroy the alliance
       during drought of 2094 to 2097, the ALN survives its most bitter
       years of internal fighting.
2098:  DOMO establishes the first permanent lunar colony. Minerals are mined
       on the moon and transported to the many DOMO OIPs for processing,
       demonstrating for the first time a full scale extra-terrestrial mode
       of production.
2105:  The NAA becomes the American Alliance after La Unidad (its Latin
       American counterpart) signs the historic pact that merges the whole
       of North and South America into one single economic superpower.
2109:  With their reserves of fossil fuels depleted, the League of Arab
       States declares bankruptcy. The territories are soon annexed after
       a long proxy war fought between the EEI and DOMO. The Asian Alliance
       emerges victorious, but at a cost that weakens DOMO financially for
       the next decade.  
2112:  Though never a strong power, the New Russian Republic of States
       divides again after the food riots at Yeltsingrad. This time the
       eastern-most provinces vote to join with the Asian Alliance, while
       the western ones decided to side with their longtime allies of the
       Europa Economic Interest. In a surprise move, the orbiting industrial
       platform of Pasternak joins with the EEI and its fleet of OIP, even
       though Pasternak's main spaceport had sided with DOMO. This is the
       first time an OIP becomes an independent entity from its parent
       corporation.
2125:  Under an equal charter, the EEI, the ALN, and the American Alliance
       establish the first colony on Mars, setting the stage for the ongoing
       program of terraforming and colonization.  
2147:  Under the burden of its failing economic empire, DOMO is the last of
       the coalitions to concede and agrees in principle to a pact that will
       combine all of the world's coalitions into one super coalition with
       five economic states (America, Europa, Asia, Africa and a blanket
       state for all ETs). Talks between the major coalitions take three
       years to reach a full agreement. 
2150:  The World Economic Consortium is founded.

WELCOME TO THE RESISTANCE
-------------------------
If you are reading this document, that means you have chosen to throw in
your lot with the global Resistance opposing the tyranny of the World
Economic Consortium. The fight ahead of you will be long and punishing.
The enemy is alert and powerful. Only through the absolute loyalty of its
operatives does the Resistance have any hope of success. What is the
Resistance? The Resistance is a global network of individuals dedicated to
the ideals of freedom and individuality. The Resistance has no fancy,
high-sounding or "impressive" name because it needs none. We are a
movement dedicated to action, not rhetoric.
The Resistance is both a subversive movement and an armed rebellion. As a
subversive movement, we seek to infiltrate and educate the public,
informing the general populace that an alternative to the WEC regime
exists, and that it is within the power of the people to reach out and
take it. As a rebellion we make armed surgical strikes against the most
important and vulnerable bastions of WEC social and military power.
Because the physical and personnel resources of the WEC are vastly greater
than our own, we rely on guerrilla tactics, taking full advantage of the
element of surprise by maintaining a cloak of absolute secrecy over our
operations.

Why Do We Fight?
----------------
The WEC is a failed experiment built upon a deliberate lie. It is a corrupt
and tyrannical regime sustained only through ruthless oppression of the
common citizen. Its promises of equality and prosperity are only hollow
mockeries, except for the tiny privileged cabal of the elite.
The Resistance advocates the institution of an enlightened and progressive
government based on the principles of constitutional democracy, individual
rights and free enterprise. Don't be surprised if some of these terms seem
unfamiliar to you. The WEC has labored for decades to suppress these ancient
and proven governmental ideals.
Now that you're a full agent of the Resistance, you'll be educated in real
history and social science - not just the lies and propaganda that pass for
education in the WEC schools. 

What Are My Duties to the Resistance?
-------------------------------------
As an agent of the Resistance, your most fundamental duty is to do anything
necessary to advance the ideals of the Resistance, and further the cause of
Revolution. Your first duty to the Resistance, at all times, is absolute
secrecy. Never discuss Resistance business in public, unless at a specific
time and location that your leadership has pre-cleared as a secure area.
Even in private, avoid casual discussion of Resistance business. Always
assume that the nearest person is a WEC agent or sympathizer, and the
nearest object conceals a WEC microphone. Even if talking with someone you
know to be loyal to the Resistance, in a secure area, keep your discussions
of Resistance operations on a strict "need to know" basis. This is for the
protection of both yourself and your Resistance comrades. If an agent of
the Resistance is captured and subjected to WEC interrogation, he should
not be able to reveal anything about any operation he was not directly
involved in. Remember, if you are ever taken alive by the WEC, you will
tell everything you know - no agent is ever "tough" enough to resist WEC
interrogation techniques.
Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to recruit anyone else into the
Resistance. If you know someone who seems to be sympathetic to our cause,
report that individual to your leaders. He or she will be evaluated and
approached by Resistance recruitment specialists. The Resistance is not
the only side in this war with secret agents, and Security Cartel spooks
are always on the lookout to gain the trust of some overly-optimistic agent.
Obedience and discipline are the duty of every agent. You must be willing
to follow the orders of your leaders to the letter and without question.
You must also resist the temptation to take direct action against the WEC
without first clearing that action with your leaders. Such rogue activity
can seriously threaten your own safety, the security of the local
Resistance forces, and possibly even long-term Resistance operations of
which you have no knowledge.
Finally, while the Resistance seeks to avoid all unnecessary violence
against innocents, the WEC thugs have no such scruples. It is expected
that all Resistance operatives will be willing to give up their own
lives in the pursuit of the cause, but you must also realize that if
the WEC comes to know or suspect your identity, they will not hesitate
to harass, torture or kill your friends and loved ones to pressure you
into surrendering yourself or betraying the Resistance. This is the
greatest sacrifice any agent is ever asked to make, but all agents must
resign themselves to such possibilities.
