The Conglomerate

The Conglomerate is a 'shadow council' of exceedingly wealthy business owners that have been sidelined by the current Atlas Government. They have been adept at manipulating events to favour their cause, supplying arms and intel to other rebel groups and pointing them at their enemies. The Conglomerate have been meticulous about keeping their identities secret, and so far no Atlas personnel have been able to track their funds back to anywhere in the Coalition.

History
The Conglomerate was believed to have been founded in 2010, directly after the Executive Council seized control of what was then the United States of America. The original members of the Conglomerate were angered by the sudden change in the power balance in the country, and found their old contacts in the US Government were out of a job. In addition to this, Atlasian-approved companies were being favoured over them. With their large amounts of capital, the Conglomerate began to form and recruit. With the advent of the African War, the Conglomerate were able to increase their business and get into Atlas' 'whitelist' through supplying weapons technology to the Atlas Defense Force.

The Conglomerate, however, were not satisfied with being in an 'okay' position. Chasing the profits they once saw, the Conglomerate began to expand throughout the 20s. They began to subtly set up rebel attacks on business competitors, and helped smaller groups gain the technology they needed to become proper threats to Atlas. It is believed by Security Commander Michael Crow that the Conglomerate is behind up to 30% of all Resistance Factions, even influencing some unknowing groups that would usually refuse the Conglomerate's help out of principle.

Currently, the Conglomerate is still active in the Atlas Coalition. It is unknown where they base their operations, and to date the only time the Conglomerate has been foiled or any associates arrested is when a subsidiary group is destroyed.