// FACTIONS

The Beacon Network

"We report the facts. All of them. Even the inconvenient ones."

The galaxy's primary news and information service, operated under a Nexus Industries subsidiary structure that three separate Bastion Arms legal challenges have failed to untangle. The Beacon Network genuinely believes in its journalistic mission - its reporters take real risks in hostile sectors, its accuracy record is exceptional, and it has broken stories that embarrassed all three major houses simultaneously.

It is also, structurally, impossible to fully trust. Ownership shapes coverage in ways too subtle to catch from the outside. The Beacon Network has never provably suppressed a story. It has published stories at exactly the wrong times, framed in exactly the wrong ways, with exactly the wrong emphasis.

Players who achieve Trusted standing with the Beacon Network get access to market intelligence - advance notice of faction events, supply shortages, and political shifts that move prices. The information is accurate. The question is always: why are they sharing it with you?

Space: Offices at every major station. No patrol ships of their own.

What they want: Access. Stories. The ability to operate without faction interference. A galaxy sufficiently stable that people can afford to buy news.

Starting standing: All races: +100 (everyone uses them; no one loves them)

Missions: Investigative work, document retrieval, source protection, courier runs for sensitive materials.

Exalted perk: Intelligence briefing - daily market/faction event notifications; early access to mission board postings before they go public.