Valice II – Divisions

Once known as Nova-Quantum after the company bought out Quantum-Phase Industries a decade ago, NovaQ has its roots buried deep into the reconstruction era following the Civil War, although exact details of its creation are sketchy and often delve into the rarely believed stories of Red Nova. Although NovaQ supports Earth’s inhabitants with billions of jobs and trillions in public funding and is seen as a force of good, in truth it has a rotten core that has been using its unlimited power for nefarious deeds. The GUA is nearly powerless to go against the company for fear of public backlash, and shutting it down entirely – or even piece by piece – could drag human civilization into a depression. Led by Mr. Perseus, president of the company, NovaQ also controls much of the aerospace industry and is a major player in the colonization of Centreon. The company mostly detests Valice’s strict corporate rules and refuses to expand there, but it does have its sights on Atiquin, an independent city-nation that it may be able to take over in a buyout-raid.

The GUA would never stand by and let NovaQ have free reign over the commercial sector without having an espionage program in place. The Blue Groups, lacking any true meaningful name, are a secret organization as loosely connected to the government as possible. Although combat situations have been almost non-existent, the Blue Groups – numbering in a few dozen or so – have been infiltrating and gathering information on NovaQ sectors for years now and have only gotten better at what they do. Lower level groups merely observe the network from outside, but higher level teams like Andrea Casomos’s are prepped for combat situations and Class White operations; they would be on the front lines of the specialist divisions in a possible all-out government takedown (or war, perhaps) of the company. Up until now, the Blue Groups’ abilities have been frustratingly limited and governed by a select few military officials and Chancellor Wrin herself, but should the need arise to prevent NovaQ from taking over the GUA, these people may find themselves legends like the Rebels who fought against the Terra-Forces.

The Civil War devastated over half of the planet’s countries. Confusion and fear only added to the chaos. Laws brought from the old world into the fledgling GUA had given the government too much power in some areas, and not nearly enough in others. One thing the GUA lacked was a covert intelligence gathering agency, and thus one was created. The existence of the White Ops is not even officially public knowledge, which speaks volumes about the GUA’s efforts to keep it hidden – for over seven decades. Always comprised only of 16 individuals, some picked for their combat fluency, espionage ability, or vast political and military intelligence, the White Ops is essentially the right arm and the trump card of the Grand Chancellor. Though typically deep under cover, any agent can and will get done what needs to get done if the Chancellor gives them the go-ahead. They are as benevolent as the current Chancellor, and their varied skill sets ensure any mission’s success. They always work in pairs, deep under even the shadows, to secure the future of humanity. Or at least the future that the current Chancellor might see.

Red Nova is on the other side of the same coin as the White Ops. Do they actually exist? Most would label Red Nova as an overblown conspiracy theory, maybe something to do with Valice and the Day of Darkness. The truth is that Red Nova, like Valice, knew that the reality of the universal forces had to be kept a secret to the public. The difference is in how the two entities saw how to use them. Red Nova was created, likely by surviving Terra-Force scientists, in the early years following the Day of Darkness. They sought the truth of that day, and an early revelation was that Kesha was somehow connected to both those events and to Valice. They captured her, but their research went nowhere and the group fell into obscurity – although it never quite died. Decades later, the surviving heads of Red Nova created a startup company called Nova-Ion. Knowing enough about the forces to be able to open and close tears to the realm of Light and Dark, they advanced Force-based technology enough to develop the latest, and cheapest electronics and skyrocketed the company into the heavens. What could its current staff be up to?

Valice has recently been struggling to find its a place in a changing world. People no longer look to it for guidance as they did before and after the years of the Civil War. Its technology and form no longer impress. And with felile integrating further into society, its status as sanctuary to the people who founded it is almost unnecessary. Even its internal political force isn’t sure what direction to go into or exactly how much power they still have. Requests from the GUA senate have been repeatedly made for Valice to relinquish its title as an independent country, but the floating city’s stubborn leaders have yet to oblige. Valice is still a technical marvel, the only mobile city on Earth, and frequently makes tours around the globe and attracts millions of tourists each year. Of course, the one thing really on the royal family and Emperor Nemil’s minds is the city’s ability to keep the truth of the forces hidden. With Vince having returned, how might the prodigal child affect Valice’s future?