CGIL, CGI – Lavalin Engineering and Counseling

A merger of two middle-ages Terran corporations from the Quebec territory, CGI-Lavalin has been a staple in both engineering solutions and computer counseling since the early days of space travel. With a presence in all regions of the Inner Sphere, CGIL (often said as “Sigil”) is a non-partisan in most cases, outside of their support of the Star League in its various incarnations. With the collapse of the HPG network, CGIL has begun investing in technology and techniques to repair damaged HPGs with the help of Clan Sea Fox.

Early space age

CGI and SNC-Lavalin merged in the mid-21^st century after years of mismanagement and political scandals by SNC-Lavalin and their engineering services. During the early years of Terran colonization, CGIL often assisted with setting up energy grids and basic infrastructure, both physical and electronic, of new worlds. CGIL moved their headquarters to Caph in late 2249 due to tax incentives offered by the local government but kept offices on most Terran Alliance worlds. Due to the issues which plagued SNC-Lavalin in the past, CGIL generally kept themselves out of politics outside of bidding on large Alliance contracts. CGIL satellite offices on various worlds which became independent during the Outer Reaches Rebellion remained in contact with the head office, even though they gain a large autonomy.

The creation of the Terran Hegemony was a boon for the corporation, which reconnected in a more direct way with a lot of their smaller offices, while also integrating new worlds in their network as some of those smaller offices grew over time and expanded themselves. CGIL kept offering engineering and counseling services at a competitive rate, while also acquiring patents which would allow them to grow their business in the energy and computing markets.

Age of War and Star League era

CGIL played their cards close to their chest during the Age of War, giving more leeway to regional offices who still had to adhere to the “5 Core Values” of the business and report to the head office on Caph when required. With all nations of the Inner Sphere investing large amounts in military affairs, civilian engineering was mostly left to local government and other corporations, allow CGIL to remain mostly out of the fighting and politics once again.

When the Star League was established, CGIL did integrate themselves more into the political and commercial apparatus of the coalition. While they did not have much to do with the development of the HPG , CGIL was integral in the development of the HPG stations, with specifications on the building and its computer infrastructure having been set in place by CGIL.

The devastation of Caph during the Amaris Civil War hurt CGIL, but as a mean to compensate, regional offices in the other successor states and periphery states were given more leeway, which they kept ever since, as long as they adhere to the 5 Core Values and use the standardized CGIL branding.

CGIL in the Succession Wars

CGIL’s association with the HPG network was not lost on ComStar, which infiltrated the corporation and made sure “their secrets” would not be shared with the outside world, while also making sure they kept the necessary knowledge at the ready to rebuild any damaged devices and their computer systems. The Capellan state having taken Caph, they also began trying to infiltrate CGIL, who refused to follow their principles but was happy to provide service to the Confederation in a similar way they did the Hegemony earlier. The devastation on the planet was mitigated by CGIL’s investment in several radiation and toxic cleansing equipment, but satellite offices were not ready to transfer funds to the head office as it was seen as a potential loss in the long run.

Damage on the planetary infrastructure during the 2930 invasion by the Davion forces as part of Operation Roland’s Horn had the advantage of allowing CGIL to leverage their position in the Federated Suns state to get contracts into rebuilding Caph, while also serving as a gate between the Lyran state and Federated state, helping with what would end up being the alliance of the two nations. Capellan assets of CGIL were impacted by this as the Capellan state did not agree that “one of their company” was now helping the enemy, but this increased the prestige of CGIL in Marik space and various periphery nations as they were seen less and less as partisan outside of their desire to help local populations.

While civilian engineering and counseling was at the core of CGIL business, the necessities of the Succession Wars led the business to expand into military engineering, with the conception of planetary bombardment-invasion resistant energy grids, reinforced structures and, secretly for ComStar, various HPG fortresses and EMP resistant computer systems.

Clan Invasion and Civil War

The early Clan invasion affected CGIL a small amount as they lost some of their satellite and regional offices in the Coreward territories, but with most of their operations being centered around “major worlds” in the Inner Sphere and somewhat decentralized, this did not affect their core business. After the Battle of Tukayyid, CGIL did try to make approaches with the Clans, but their closeness to ComStar caused the various merchant caste to not let them act independently. The schism in ComStar did affect CGIL more significantly, with several offices aligning with the Word of Blake against the policy of political neutrality of the company. CGIL celebrated the creation of the 2^nd Star League, even though the project was short-lived.

The Chaos March resulting from the Federated Commonwealth Civil War again damaged Caph and CGIL’s head office, with the collapse of local powers, the destruction of the Federated Commonwealth and general unrest in the Inner Sphere also impacting CGIL’s core business of civil engineering and IT counseling for civilian entities. With pressure from both the Word of Blake and ComStar rising, CGIL did not know if they could weather this storm as well as some of the other.

The impacts of the Jihad on CGIL

The Jihad was damaging to CGIL mostly because the company could no longer remain neutral as both “sides” became embroiled in the schism in ComStar. Regional offices and satellite offices were actively fighting each other in contract bidding wars, along with providing services to their “favored” side in the conflict breaking any form of neutrality CGIL had cultivated over the years. Things got progressively worse for the corporation as nobody trusted them anymore outside of some local government, leading to losses in market cap and shares.

The defeat of the Word of Blake led to a purge of CGIL offices and employees which had supported The Master, and CGIL requested some financial assistance from the Republic of the Sphere in order to remain solvent in its core markets around Terra.

Gray Monday and the ilClan era

With their integration with the Republic of the Sphere, CGIL was also hurt quite a bit by the failure of that state and their subsequent collapse. Luckily of them however, their knowledge of HPG technology and infrastructure gave them an “in” with Clan Sea Fox, which was looking for ways to repair the HPG network. Other corporations approached CGIL for the same reason, with a new protocol to repair and restore various HPG established by CGIL even though it was not “approved” by any powers that be. With the capture of Caph by the ilClan forces, CGIL made approaches to Clan Wolf leader Alaric Ward in order to remain independent in that period while also supporting the concept of a 3^rd Star League.