Founded: 3386PT.
Founding Faction: Various cybernetic enthusiast groups.
Interests: Development, manufacture and use of advanced cybernetics.
Headquarters: Unknown, thought to be in the Julius Sector.
The Corporeal Perfection Syndicate is considered to have been officially founded as a MegaCorp during the latter part of the First Tulaki Invasion, but its unofficial beginnings lay in the purchase of a small biotech company nearly 4 decades earlier. This company, the name of which is no longer known, had cracked the problems surrounding cybernetic interfaces and was quickly bought wholesale by a collective of small groups of cybernetics enthusiasts. Although records from the period are fragmented due to the war, the founding groups seem to have been scattered across inhabited space, some hailing from the Ascendancy, the newly-declared Sovereign Worlds, and even a few from the Elysian Commonality. After the initial purchase, many within these groups pooled their resources to travel in large numbers to the fringe system where the company was located - the exact system has been lost, but it is thought to be near the leading edge of the Julius Sector. Once gathered together, they pooled their various research and manufacturing techniques and apparently made tremendous leaps forward in cybernetics technology and neural interfaces.
By the time the declaration of sovereignty was made in 3386 PT, the Corporeal Perfection Syndicate had developed functional cybernetics that seamlessly integrated with most biological nervous systems, providing working limbs and other replacement organs that performed at and equivalent or even superior level to their biological counterparts. They had covertly purchased exclusive holdings throughout known space, which were declared sovereign MegaCorp territory, and their facilities offered cybernetic augmentations to anyone who could pay. At this stage of the Tulaki Invasion, many soldiers and high-ranked individuals has been maimed in the conflict, and the political pressure to accept the Syndicate's declaration proved impossible for local governments and even the Noble Houses of the Ascendancy to resist. The initial flurry of orders to get military personnel back into the conflict gave the Syndicate a solid financial base to consolidate their power, and by the time of the First Armistice two decades later the Syndicate were unassailable.
Although cybernetics technology in the Factions has developed in the intervening period, it is still primitive compared with Syndicate tech. A lot of the difficulty lies not in the augmentations themselves, but in how they integrate with the host's nervous system - a part of the installation process that has been closely guarded by the Syndicate. Although attempts have been made to reverse-engineer Syndicate implants, certain aspects of the devices, such as their internal programming and circuitry composition, has eluded researchers. Without the secrets held by the Syndicate and more knowledge of their processes it has proven impossible to break their monopoly on cybernetics that are any more effective than their biological equivalents. The Syndicate has also used their considerable financial and political clout to stymie research and buy out companies that are making promising developments, integrating their advances into its own techniques.
Little is known of the internal culture of the Syndicate, but any time spent conversing with their representatives reveals that they are evangelical cyber-enthusiasts, and seem to connect the acquisition of augmentations with obtaining spiritual completion. Their internal culture seems to draw large parts of its inspiration from the Transhumanist movement of Ancient Terra. As a MegaCorp, their interests are strongly directed towards maintaining their monopoly on advanced augmentations, advancing their own knowledge of cybernetics, and enthusiastically advocating for the rights of augmented individuals in the Factions. They are also heavily interested in research and exploration concerning species that integrate cybernetics into their pre-contact cultures, and typically send envoys seeking after any newly-discovered implementations of cybernetic technology. Faction individuals who built a reputation with the Corporeal Perfection Syndicate by assisting them are usually granted significant price reductions on cybernetics.
Although it is not a widely held belief, some corporate historians believe the Syndicate has roots stretching as far back as post-Fall Terra. After the partially successful restoration of Terra, numerous underground groups of survivors were found - some of whom relied on rudimentary cybernetics or genetic manipulation to survive the harsh conditions. Many of these groups were recorded as having a quasi-spiritual connection to the technology that enabled their survival, and several had constructed religions around them. Although most of these survivors were deemed outside Ascendancy norms and eradicated, some vestiges of the technology and belief structures may have survived and covertly integrated into various Ascendancy subcultures. Records from this period are sparse, however, and it is impossible to trace any direct links between these groups and the Syndicate using available preserved knowledge.
Full members of the Syndicate hail from a variety of species from across the Orion Sphere, but all Syndicate representatives bear significant cybernetic augmentations. When encountered in public, Syndicate members wear loose-fitting hooded robes or cassocks, typically in deep browns and greys. It is generally thought that these robes hide a variety of powerful augmentations.