Union of the Outer Planets Alliance / UOPA

Before this Union was established, the populations in the Belt had been brought together with the Outer Planets Alliance through a shared sense of struggle, oppression, and in many cases rebellion. With the change of conditions brought about because of corporate cronies and the treaty which brought about union, the power base of the OPA dissolved, and many constituents were absorbed in a new role within the Union. Deft members of the old OPA leadership parlayed their political capital for a position in the Union.

During the hunger years caused by the devastation of the solar system, the union was tasked with establishing and running the trade within the ring network. Corporate and planet powers were devastated by the attacks of the Free Navy and desperately needed the resources from new colonies. The belters were chosen to form and run the union not only because of their experience in low-g environments, but also to integrate them into the new order of the solar system by providing economic opportunities.

The Union with their monopoly on transportation proved to be immensely successful: Not only were the regular shipments from outer-world resources extremely important to stop the starvation of the entire system, but the wealth distributed through this success made the Union very rich and powerful. The construction of new colonies, a belter-dream blockaded by the inner planets repeatedly in the past, is the most prominent example of this change.

While the Union is officially just a union that oversees transport inside the ring network, in reality, the Union is a merchant marine free navy, working as mercenaries, bringing them more and more on a collision course with the colony worlds who are dependent on trade through the ring network, which use is monopolized by the new cronies.

Shortly after the Rocinante returned to Medina Station an announcement came through the Laconia Ring stating that they would be entering the slow zone. The Transport Union formed a small two-ship fleet consisting of the cruiser Tori Byron and the frigate Rocinante along with the ring station railgun emplacements to fend off any aggression. When the Heart of the Tempest entered the slow zone it destroyed the Tori Byron. The captain of the Rocinante Bobbie Draper ordered the railguns to fire on the enemy. However, the enemy warship absorbed all projectile hits and fired it’s a mysterious weapon against the ring station destroying the railguns. The Rocinante then surrendered and Medina Station was lost to marines in boarding pods.

With the arrival of Laconia, factions of the old OPA re-emerge and act in ways reminiscent of their heyday. Factions such as Golden Bough and Voltaire as well as Johnson’s OPA and Ochoa’s OPA. After the defeat of the UN, MCR, and Transport Union at the Battle of Point Leuctra, the transport union became a client state of a new Empire with its President Camina Drummer becoming the puppet voice of this new controlling order. Today the Union OPA operates as a free merchant navy trying to bring power and wealth back to their pockets to become an independent authority. Their new focus is on protecting belt miners, junkers, providing medical treatment and care for the workers, and providing transport trade and exploration when opportunities exist.