Line #5 TabletopGame/MERCS


1	In the year 2121, in a response to the increasing socio-economical instability across the world, the various nations of the EU, Asia and the US place a moratorium on merger and monopoly litigation. This resulted in various companies getting free rein to buy up or merging with their competitors across the world, forming global [[MegaCorp Mega-Conglomerates]] that rapidly grew to usurp many traditional functions of the state. Eventually, these [=MegaCons=] [[OneNationUnderCopyright merged with or replaced the state itself, effectively supplanting the nations of the world altogether]]. By 2145, the world was divided between 16 different, trans-continental corporations, each of which control territories the size of several countries.
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3	By the year 2183, as a result of the [=MegaCons=] heavy focus on profit, and the large amount of collateral damage that they cause, wars as fought during the 20th and 21st centuries have effectively seized to exist. Instead, the armies/corporate security of the [=MegaCons=], known as [[FunWithAcronyms Military Economic Reconnaissance Counter Security]] [[http://www.mercsminis.com/ (MERCS)]], perform covert (and overt) actions against rival [=MegaCons=], ranging from corporate espionage, to assassination of key targets, to the capturing and holding of territory.
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5	Note: Despite the name, most [[NonIndicativeName MERCS are NOT]] [[PrivateMilitaryContractors mercenaries]].
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8	!!This tabletop-game provides examples of:
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10	* AbnormalAmmo: Several [=MegaCons=] make use of these; CCC uses diamond laced bullets, the FCC have irradiated bullets, [=KemVar=] has magnetic sniper rounds, etc.
11	* AssKickingPose: The USCR [[http://www.mercsminis.com/world-of-mercs/uscr/booster Booster]] is seen doing this.
12	* BigDamnHeroes: The Cães de Guerra, [=KemVar=]'s most distinguished unit, who managed to see off the combined FCC/Texico/ISS assault on Guanabara Bay (Rio de Janeiro). This effectively made them into national heroes.
13	* BroughtDownToNormal: The African [=MegaCon=], sefadu, was effectively dissolved in 2184, after coming under repeated assault by the FCC and CCC. This means that, while their MERCS unit still operate as [[PrivateMilitaryContractors PMCs]], they no longer have the funding of a nation-sized corporation backing them.
14	* CorporateWarfare: MERCS forces in a nutshell.
15	* FacelessGoons: Most MERCS wear face-consealing helmets, with the one exception being the FCC.
16	* FunWithAcronyms: Besides the name of the MERCS forces, many of the [=MegaCons=] also have these: Commercial Corporate Continuity (CCC), United Social Corporate Republic (USCR), Free Corporate Control (FCC), etc.
17	* GunsAkimbo: The USCR Commissar, [=KemVar=] Heavy, and CCC Assault Leader all wield their guns like this.
18	* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: What Texico and, to a lesser extent, [=EUInc.=] are suffering under. [=EUInc.=] still has old money to keep them afloat, but Texico has been reduced to holding so few assets that they're almost broke. The only thing keeping Texico relevant is the Panama Canal which they control... until [=KemVar=] made the decision to occupy it.
19	** Since the 2184 Paradigm Shift campaign, sefadu has suffered from this more than either of the above, having effectively seized to exist as a [=MegaCon=].
20	* InstantIceJustAddCold: The USCR Commissar has access to a single-shot grenade launcher that fires an Ice Grenade. The grenade itself is filled with liquid nitrogen and corn syrup.
21	* InvisibilityCloak: [=KemVar=]'s MERCS make use of stealth suits with Active Camouflage, [[PhlebotinumBreakdown though the stealth function of the previous iterations was notoriously (and sometimes fataly) unreliable]]. The current version, version 2.7, is the most reliable iteration to date, but it should still not be entirely relied on.
22	* KickedUpstairs: What [=KemVar=]'s board of directors are trying to do to Jorge Machado, the leader of the Cães de Guerra, (when they're not trying to get him killed) lest his popularity with the masses makes him a threat to them.
23	* KillItWithFire: There are several [=MegaCons=] trying to [[EveryoneHasStandards legislate against the use of flamethrowers]], [[CruelAndUnusualDeath because there is such a thing as being unnecessarily cruel to your enemy.]]
24	* LegacyCharacter: All Behemoth operators have their names legaly changed to Kir Petrovic, in honor of the first Behemoth operator who held back the FCC advance into Kolmna, saving the USCR from dissolution.
25	* LivingWeapon: The [=KemVar=] Worm Grenade. When the grenade is thrown, it agitates the Sugue Worm inside, and when the grenade touches a suit of MERCS armor it magnetically attaches to the armor, allowing the angry worm to [[EatenAlive eat its way out of the grenade and into the MERCS body]].
26	* MegaCorp: What the corporations of the world turned into during the first half of the 22nd century, before eventually growing into nations unto themselves.
27	* {{Nanomachines}}: What the CCC infuse their armor with, allowing it to self-repair during combat.
28	* OneNationUnderCopyright: What every country in the world has effectively become, with the (technichal) exception of the FCC.
29	* PoweredArmor: The USCR make extensive use of these, and their suits of armor are the heaviest wielded by any [=MegaCon=]. Its Behemoth suit is so large and heavy, it effectively serves as a [[MiniMecha walking tank]].
30	* TheMole: Most [=MegaCons=], including their MERCS units, seem to have at least one FCC sympathiser in their midst. This turned out badly for sefadu during the 2184 Paradigm Shift campaign.
31	* WeAreStrugglingTogether: The FCC consists of several different "houses", each of them fighting to bring down the [=MegaCons=]. Unfortunately, the houses do not always cooperate with each other, and many times actively work against one another. For instance, House 9, in cooperation with Texico and the ISS, could have brought down [=KemVar=]'s corporate headquarters and capitol, if House 6 hadn't tipped off [=KemVar=]'s MERCS forces to the attack.
32	* WithFriendsLikeThese: sefadu being the CCC's main diamond provider didn't save it from being attacked by its "ally".
33	* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: The FCC; if you're [=MegaCon=], they're terrorist ([[PragmaticVillainy when they're not working for you to terrorize your competition]]). If you're Lost Margin, or otherwise unaffiliated with the [=MegaCons=], they're either fighting back against the oppressive system, a [[LesserOfTwoEvils lesser evil]], or just a [[EvilVersusEvil different type of evil]].
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Context TabletopGame / MERCS