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  1. THE FRACTURED REACH
  3. Lore

CORPORATE CONSTELLATIONS’ CLAIM OVER HARDSPAR

CORPORATE CONSTELLATIONS’ CLAIM OVER HARDSPAR

“Property of Constellation Holdings. Trespassers will be fined, prosecuted, or eliminated.”

I. Official Stance: Corporate Ownership

Corporate Constellations formally assert that Hardspar is a protected corporate asset, signed under a long-forgotten colonial charter from over a century ago.

This claim is based on:

  • Old terraforming rights

  • Mining deeds registered with the now-defunct Frontier Governance Board

  • An asteroid-settlement treaty predating the Freecrews’ independence

  • A technicality involving “latent mineral zones of strategic value”

In short:
Constellations dug up a dusty legal document and said “This razor-crystal death world is ours.”

No one else takes the paperwork seriously —
but Constellation enforcement units absolutely do.

II. Enforcement of the Claim

Constellation deploys:

  • armored mining mechs

  • heavily armed corporate security detachments

  • siege-class heavyframes

  • automated defense grids

  • “trespass reclamation drones” (yes, they fire lasers)

They treat anyone not wearing a Constellation badge as:

  1. trespasser,

  2. thief, or

  3. liability

— in that order.

Constellation contracts posted on the Wall often involve “removing unauthorized operators” from Hardspar, phrased in corporate euphemisms.

III. Why They Want Hardspar So Badly

Hardspar contains:

• Spar Cores

Crystallized energy sources that outperform standard reactors by a factor of 10.

• Deep Core Vault Loads

Unmined reserves of ultra-dense mineral composites used for:

  • ship armor

  • mech plating

  • orbital railgun components

  • Rift stabilization experiments

• Seismic Resonance Fields

Constellations believe these can be weaponized or turned into energy farms.

• Research Sites

Some contain Rift anomalies locked inside crystalline matrices — the corporation wants them for “containment and study.”

Hardspar isn’t just valuable.
It’s strategic.

IV. The Problem: No One Else Accepts Their Claim

• The Freecrews refuse to recognize corporate land rights over any frontier world.

• The Void Cartels laugh openly and continue siphoning spar cores under cover of shard storms.

• The Mercenaries Guild accepts their contracts but does not enforce domain claims.

• The Rift Pilgrims warn that controlling Hardspar is impossible; the world rejects ownership.

• Independent prospectors appear in droves, hoping to strike rich before Constellation troops sweep them out.

Hardspar is effectively contested territory, no matter what the corporate lawyers say.

V. Corporate Constellation Zones on Hardspar

Constellations maintain temporary strongholds, each precariously perched in hostile terrain.

1. Sparhold Enforcer Bastion

A fortified extraction base surrounded by:

  • automated turrets

  • seismic stabilizers

  • shield obelisks

  • bunkered mech bays

2. The Glintforge Main Pit

A massive open-pit mining zone where heavyframes carve out spar cores under armed escort.

3. Resonance Research Array 19

A scientific installation studying “controlled spar core oscillation.”
Half the staff is missing.

4. Corporate Recovery Zone North

A graveyard of failed operations they refuse to abandon due to sunk-cost fallacy.

Constellation loses ground every month — and regains it through overwhelming firepower.

VI. The Political Fallout

Constellation’s aggressive claim has created a volatile triangle:

Corporate Constellations vs. Freecrews

  • Freecrews claim Hardspar belongs to no one

  • They sabotage corporate extractors

  • Occasional open firefights erupt

Corporate Constellations vs. Cartels

  • Cartels siphon spar cores illegally

  • Constellation deploys “deniable enforcement teams”

  • Cartels retaliate with ambushes and shadow mechs

Corporate Constellations vs. The World Itself

The planet’s tectonics and spar resonance actively fight extraction attempts.
Hardspar destroys corporate facilities on a weekly basis.

Everyone vs. Hardspar

It is the great equalizer.

VII. Gameplay & Story Impact

1. Mech missions on Hardspar always involve Constellation presence

They maintain checkpoints, drone patrols, and recovery teams.

2. Players may be hailed, warned, taxed, or fired upon

Depending on who they’re with and what they’re carrying.

3. Constellation contracts on the Wall often relate to “Asset Retrieval”

Which may be:

  • spar cores

  • illegal miners

  • research data

  • crashed prototypes

  • missing personnel

4. Players can support or sabotage Constellation operations

Both paths have consequences.

5. Black-Brace pilots earn their mark here

Constellation pays well for Redline operations involving:

  • Rift anomalies

  • spar core meltdowns

  • lost mechs in dangerous zones

  • recovering research from collapsing facilities

VIII. Constellation’s Flaw: They Believe Hardspar Can Be Controlled

Every other faction knows this is false.

Hardspar resists control.
It resists settlement.
It resists extraction.
It resists civilization.

And sometimes…
it resists physics.

Constellation’s insistence on controlling Hardspar may be its undoing.