The image used below is Mining Colony by TheArtofSaul.
In Pursuit of Profit
"If your conduct is determined solely by considerations of profit you will arouse great resentment."
- Confucius
"If your conduct is determined solely by considerations of profit you will arouse great resentment."
- Confucius
Ten years ago, the Cobb Larson corporation struck gold when it surveyed the uncharted Zunus sector and discovered the desert world of Sunryria, a planet rich in lightstone - a rare crystal used in the manufacturing of highly advanced laser weapons and electronics - with numerable surface deposits and even more underground. Entire wars have been fought throughout the history of the galaxy to secure deposits of this valuable resource as its possession grants great wealth and power to those who control it. True to form, the deep-space mining giant immediately lay claim to the system and began the lengthy process of setting up permanent mining operations on the planetary surface, shipping in heavy equipment and landing prefabricated infrastructure on top of the most lucrative of extraction sites.
There was only one complication: natives. The primitive Ellians of Sunryria did not take kindly to the desecration of their religious sites and violently opposed the occupation of their homeworld. But after a few days of brutal slaughter and a few hours behind a set of secretive closed doors with Cobb Larson executives, one by one, the petty kings of Sunryria sold their country and countrymen for luxury space palaces and lightstone firearms. In return, the peasants were turned into an army of slaves and made to unearth the priceless crystals that Cobb Larson was so desperate to obtain.
For ten long years, the brutal subjugation of Sunryria had gone unnoticed or unopposed by the rest of the galaxy. Those who had something to say were largely preoccupied with issues closer to home while Cobb Larson's clients kept their mouths shut so long as they got their shipments on time and at a good price. But throughout all of this time, there was one group who did not turn a blind eye to the abuses of the deep space megacorporation. As animosity and resentment grew between the natives and their overlords, a secretive group of Ellians slowly learnt the ways of their oppressors and prepared to fight for the freedom of their people - or die trying.
The fighting began as the magnetic sandstorms of the dry season blew across the planet, blinding the Cobb Larson ships in orbit from what was happening on the ground. When the dust had cleared two weeks later, a growing rebellion had seized some of the critical infrastructure on the surface, disrupting the vital supply of lightstone to the wider galaxy. Slowly, the media headlines caught on: Cobb Larson's regular shipments had stopped coming in. Nations that had previously stayed silent now spoke up against the corporation and those that wanted to seize the planet for themselves could now cite the moral casus belli of liberation.
A new conflict for the control of lightstone had begun.
