RIVAL SYNDICATES

BACKGROUND INFO ABOUT THE ORGANIZATIONS YOU MUST DESTROY

The info about rivals is not vital to your survival, and it won't help you when on a mission. Anyway reading this will help you better feel the game climate.

This description comes from original Syndicate game manual.


The Tao

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Orient-based Syndicate formed from the unification of competing Chinese Triads and Japanese Yakuza factions. Having infiltrated the monolithic Sonbushi corporation, Tao executives found they had their hands on the levers of power from the South China Sea to the Russian Steppes. Not since the days of Genghis Khan has an empire of the East spread so far West.

Tao agents are well-disciplined and equipped with the latest hi-tech weaponry, the result of millions invested in research. Assassinations are generally immaculate with very little civilian wastage. Agents of the Tao are not a vicious or sadistic adversary, but a frighteningly efficient one.

 

I.I.A.

(logo)

Starved of state funding for decades, the C.I.A. decided to enter the marketplace and contract out its services to the highest bidder. Using the espionage and counter-terrorism skills the organisation had gained keeping the free world secure, the I.I.A. (Independent Intelligence Agency) soon became the favourite third-party agency of international crime associations.

Assassinations, blackmail and the overthrow of governments to order was a very lucrative business and, following a hugely successful and over-subscribed flotation, the I.I.A. entered the corporate arena. Everything was in place for their ascendancy to the top of North America's corporate tree and it was a natural progression into full-time Syndicate operations.

I.I.A. operatives are chosen for their massive muscularity. Heavy armaments are the order of the day, the logic being that a few civilian casualties helps keep the rest of the citizens in line. Expect no mercy.

 

The Castrilos

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Unparalleled viciousness is the major attribute of Castrilo agents. Originating in Cuba just prior to the fall of Communism, this Syndicate began as a political party dedicated to the memory of the late President Castro. When they couldn't get what they wanted through the ballot box, they turned to bombs and bullets - a far more effective way of keeping the masses in line.

Spreading through the Caribbean like a 'flu epidemic, this Syndicate soon established itself as a primal force throughout most of South America. A fortune was made by the Castrilos blackmailing world governments with threats to destroy what remained of the Amazon rain forest; whenever they're short of a bob or two. Castrilo executives still like to pull this old trick. A war of attrition exists between Castrilo agents and the I.I.A. as they attempt to establish a foothold in the lucrative N. American zone.

 

Sphinx Inc.

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Sphinx Inc. executives try to expand their Syndicate into rival territories with an almost religious zeal. They aim to re-capture the lost majesty of the ancient Egyptians and establish an empire through Africa, the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Rivals claim this is just an excuse to commit acts of violence on a Biblical scale.

Although not the best-equipped, Sphinx Inc. agents are injected with an unnatural dedication to duty. Even alone and injured they fight to the last and are far from easy to kill.

 

Executive Jihad

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Caught between a rock and a hard place by the expansionist policies of both Tao and Sphinx Inc., and near bankrupted by World Government fines levied for exporting oil and thereby increasing world pollution, the Jihad is a Syndicate fighting for its home. But adversity is a great motivation and the Jihad executive has seen to it that its cyborgs are kill-hungry maniacs. They may be few in number and poorly armed, but you overlook the Jihad at your peril.

 

Tasmanian Liberation Consortium

(logo)

When they exported criminals to Australia in the 18th Century, the Brits couldn't know what they'd started. Crime was a genetic certainty, and Australian youths were taught the finer points of maiming and slaughter at their mother's breasts. Unfortunately, a lifetime spent intoxicated meant that Australian criminals didn't succeed as well as their international rivals. The Tao easily established a foothold in Australasia and a lifetime of saki and sushi looked imminent.

Then, in the Great Lager Rebellion of 2140, there was an uprising led by the Tasmanian Liberation Consortium. From their hydro-electric power-generating island base they cut off the electricity to the mainland, stunning Tao executives who could no longer operate their game consoles. They surged across the Bass Strait like beer from a barrel and drove the Tao from Australia to re-establish the Barby as the Australian national pastime.

With a fortune made from exporting weak, fizzy lager worldwide to spend on research, the TLC gained influence and were soon second only to the Tao itself as a world power. Their agents tend to be wayward in their aim, mainly because their executive controllers are always drunk, so civilian casualties are high. But TLC agents have no real sadistic streak, and only turn nasty when denied access to Vegemite.

 

EuroCorp

By 2100 the European Community was suffering internal breakdown. The novel idea of compartmentalising European affairs - with Belgium responsible for entertainment, Italy for defense, and Britain the continent's cuisine - was a nightmare scenario and trouble inevitable. Centuries-old national rivalries could not be put aside and the Germans were (to use the diplomatic language of the time) 'putting down their beach towels' on every sun lounger in Europe.

In this atmosphere of mutual distrust and aggression the CHIP was perfected. It kept the populace occupied while, in the background, competing governments fell to corporate interests and the Syndicates moved in. When the dust had settled only EuroCorp remained. But EuroCorp's monopoly of world CHIP production couldn't last forever, and soon the executive was defending itself from rival Syndicate interests on all fronts.


This is the situation into which you are plunged. Defend your Syndicate and, at the same time, use your agents to re-establish EuroCorp's pre-eminence.