The Conseil of Workers’ Systems is the premier communist state in the Milky Way. It is one of the galaxy’s three superpowers and finds itself constantly butting heads with the Coalition of Western Republics and the United Technocracies of Man. It is currently the leader of the Communist International, a counter to the Coalition’s Springfield Pact.



The Conseil Systems is very much a child of the Collapse. When the United States and Soviet Union destroyed almost ninety percent of human infrastructure, many colonies suddenly found themselves alone. With terraforming technology still in its infancy, many colonial governments had trouble feeding their own people. Soon, radical groups of all stripes arose throughout the colonies, especially in those colonized by the now non-existent Western European powers. Officials from the defeated Soviet Union, who needed to flee the wrath of the various American remnants, founded many. These groups promised the people that they would never go hungry again and all they need was the power to be able to help. Fearing for their own power, the colonial authorities began to clamp down on these revolutionary organizations. As governments began spending more of their resources oppressing their people rather than helping them, mass protests and violent revolts began to spread. Several governments collapsed. Some had their dictators empty the coffers and flee for their lives, while others were violently overthrown. The former German colony of Wilhelmswelt, the most powerful of the former European colonies, was taken over by former Soviet commissar Nikolai Bulganin and his “Red Brigades.” Bulganin soon renamed the world to Karl-Marx-Welt, and declared that the Soviet Union was reborn and he would liberate the stars from capitalists and imperialists. Bulganin’s revived Soviet Union saw the most support in the former European and American colonies, while the former Soviet colonies resisted against him.



As word of Bulganin’s revolution spread, colonies were plunged into anarchy, as various groups of all stripes jockeyed for power. Nationalists and democrats fought communists, religious fanatics and government loyalists on the streets. Weapons of mass destruction from the war were sold by opportunistic pirates and were used indiscriminately. Cities burned in atomic fire, entire colonies choked on chemical and biological weapons of all stripes, and some worlds were rendered uninhabitable by asteroids repurposed as kill vehicles. To make matters worse, some of the remnant governments tried to take control of their former colonies, or take systems they couldn’t have before the Collapse. In the unimaginable bloodbath, untold billions died, either through direct conflict or the famines that followed. The Soviets emerged from the conflict victorious, having considerably more support from the starving people than the other competing groups. Once war ended, the paranoid Bulganin initiated a massive purge. Any enemies, real or imagined, were imprisoned and placed into forced labor units that would help rebuild the ravaged colonies. These prisoners were meant to be worked to death and regularly abused by prison officials. Meanwhile, Bulganin oversaw the expansion of the Soviet military, fearing another invasion from beyond.



After Bulganin’s death, the Soviet Union was again plunged into war as he had failed to name a successor. Generals and intelligence officers attempted to manipulate each other’s units. Navy captains depressurized the cabins of rivals who had foolishly trusted them. Although the Soviet Civil War was at risk of dragging on for years, first contact with the Coalition of Western Republics put a temporary halt in the rivalry. At first, the Soviets attempted to simultaneously give off an image of strength and friendliness, but after both sides heard of one another’s histories hostilities began. The Soviets believed they could spread their revolution to the Coalition still recovering from its Endless War, while the Coalition believed it could crush the disunited Soviets and dominate the region. The various Soviet factions united against the Coalition threat under the banner of Marcel Dijon, a general and war hero from the days of the revolution. Although the Coalition made early gains against the Soviets, it soon became clear that its population would not stand for another bloodbath, and an agreement of mutual avoidance was reached. Dijon used the war as a way to get rid of his enemies and solidify his power base. After personally killing the General Secretary on Karl-Max-Welt, he declared a new government: the Conseil of Workers’ Systems. He justified this new revolution by saying the Conseil would abandon the corrupt, imperialist ways of the USSR, and that it was a true socialist state. Dijon spent the rest of his days building up the Conseil military, knowing that the war with the Coalition could restart at any time. He was later proved right in 2741, when after centuries of bitter border conflicts, the Galactic War began.



Although the Conseil Systems, like its Coalition rival, presents itself as a bastion of freedom, it is in truth a totalitarian state. The Conseil economy is managed by supertabulators, but given the sheer size of the Conseil state they do not run it very efficiently. Incidents where settlements were accidentally deleted from the Conseil’s records and starving to death have happened more than a few times. Although the Conseil Systems' communist ideology dictates that the state's resources be distributed equally, much of the state's resources go to the military or the leadership.



Ironically, the staunchly communist Conseil Systems has degraded into a pseudo-monarchy. The so-called “People’s Dynasty” reigns from the General Secretary position with an iron fist. The Communist Party has become nothing more than a corrupt court, filled to the brim with the descendants of Dijon loyalists from the Civil War and other friends of the “royal family.” Conseil children are taught from birth that the General Secretary is the “perfect Marxist,” and that anybody who says otherwise is a Coalition-friendly imperialist. The current General Secretary, Louise I, gained the position when her father was poisoned. Much more idealistic than her predecessors, Louise believes in the inevitability of the revolution’s victory, and her insistence on opposing capitalism wherever it arises is, according to her opponents, a major cause of the Galactic War.