In a cluster so often torn apart by war, prejudice, and dank memes, it is important to remember that there exist, also, cooperative ventures that have bettered the lives of untold billions. To that end, behold, the Arataka Corporate Messaging Competition!
The basic idea is this. There have been some awesome things that happened in the lore that demonstrate that, indeed, this isn’t the Grimdark Future Where There Is Only War, but instead a deep and evolving narrative with constantly-shifting factions, political plays, and unexpected alliances of convenience and mutual benefit. Just so happens we’d like to show them off.
So, where do you come in? Why, with the art, of course!
We’re offering 3500 PLEX for first place, 1500 PLEX for second place, 1000 PLEX for third, and 500 PLEX for each honorable mention. Judging will be done after competition closes at the end of 21st December, and announced shortly thereafter.
Suggested topics: the Intaki-Ishukone system deal, the Caldari Prime DMZ, the Kyonoke Inquest, or more generally the Ishukone Corporation, or the Arataka Research Consortium! More on this will follow after the rules. Of course, if you know of something that you think really needs showing off, please do! Just be warned that there’s a tiny bit of bias toward cooperative ventures involving the Caldari. 
Oh, and if you’d like some suggestions for slogans? Here are a few to start off, but whatever you think works, go for it. 
“Peace, progress, prosperity!”
“Prosperity through peace!”
“Peace: good for business, good for the State!”
“Strength through peace!”
The Rules:
- Yes, you may submit multiple images! In fact, a well-designed, well-executed set of images can be quite smashing. However, be forewarned that sets will be judged as a single entry, and multiple independent entries may be marked down if they are not of high quality.
- Please use a lossless format such as .PNG or a similar format.
- Please use an A series aspect ratio, whether landscape or portrait, for ease of printing. If you aim for a print-quality DPI at A3 size, then that’ll give us the flexiblity to print smaller versions if need be. Yes, these may end up being printed.
The competition is to show off multinational, peaceful ventures, or those corporations that are commonly associated with them. Please keep this in mind, whatever theme you go with! - Competition ends 23:59:59 UTC 21st December, which is to say the end of the day, 21st December, by server time.
- Prizes as of the beginning of this competition are 3,500 PLEX for first place, 1,500 PLEX for second place, 1,000 PLEX for third place, and 500 PLEX each for honorable mentions. These prizes may go up. If so, we’ll let you know.
As we receive questions, we will probably update this post with clarifications.
Some Possible Themes:
The Intaki-Ishukone System Deal:
In YC111, the Caldari militias had complete control of the Gallente-Caldari warzone. Tibus Heth decided to auction off rights to the Gallente systems. The most heavily-inhabited system, Intaki, needed to be protected from exploitation by less savory types, and so brought in the Ishukone Corporation as a way to protect the Intaki people. After some backroom dealing, the Intaki system is now served by Mordu’s Legion and the Ishukone Corporation in many capacities, preserving the system and demonstrating the power of a collaborative approach to resolving what would otherwise be a crisis.
The Caldari Prime DMZ:
Tibus Heth had preserved the Caldari control of Caldari Prime in the Luminaire system, the heart of the Federation, by threatening to bombard Gallente population centers on Caldari Prime. Indeed, he went so far to attempt to order the Doomsday bombardment of the planet seven times during the Operation Highlander attack, which would have been an extinction-level event. When Heth’s gambit failed (seeing as not everyone was so keen on destroying Caldari Prime, and the admiral in charge ignored his order), fighting continued on the ground. As it turned into a stalemate, the Ishukone Corporation stepped in to offer a deal: joint administration of a demilitarized Caldari Prime, with Mordu’s Legion security presence, and major population centers being under the governance of the appropriate party. To this day, Caldari Prime remains peaceful, and just over half of it remains in the State’s hands. The situation is far more stable than what occurred under Heth’s rule, and Caldari Prime has largely recovered from the tumultuous end of Heth’s regime.
The Kyonoke Inquest:
This one’s more recent! A small group of Templis Dragonaur, an extremist, racist Caldari terrorist group, managed to secure a sample of the Kyonoke Plague, and then things started to go terribly wrong. While we don’t know the full story, it does involve an intelligence agency trying to subvert the plot, weaponization projections, and a secret project operated by Poteque Pharmaceuticals. Despite this, the Inquest itself was a smashing success.
Players collected intelligence, shared it rapidly, and aggressively pursued any lead that turned up. This ultimately resulted in the creation of a treatment, apprehension of one of the intelligence agency personnel, and passage of mandates to begin widespread treatment, release intelligence that might expose other parties that might be involved, while also preserving the sovereignty of governments to handle internal matters as they needed.
This is certainly a story of cooperative work trumping nationalist tendencies, with players of many factions working together!
The Ishukone Corporation:
The Ishukone Corporation ends up often being the odd man out in the State. While even Kaalakiota, Patriot stalwarts, have stations and a presence in the Federation, the Ishukone Corporation ends up being far more outspoken in its preference for prosperity through peace. During the Heth regime, Ishukone’s fortunes were uncertain, as it was in many ways frozen out by the Provists that favored war with the Federation. Despite this, it persevered, and we see its success with Intaki, with Caldari Prime, and in its continued (if sometimes controversial!) presence in State politics.
The Arataka Research Consortium:
Well, we can’t miss a fine opportunity to get some propaganda made, can we?
The Arataka Research Consortium is styled as a multinational scientific group that seeks to cooperatively resolve the mysteries or troubles of our times. We routinely operate fleets in Drifter Hives, we were a major presence at the Kyonoke Inquest, and we’ve done periodic events such as the recent Corrupted Trinary Relic drive, from which we produced some material, and have more to come! We also try to make the world more accessible and engaging with our Discourse production, a Scope-styled in-world news program that we produce on about a monthly basis.
So, if you want to go for brownie points, you can always do something for us. Just remember the themes!
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