This forum is an in-depth look at the social and historical background of the Ursa Major Mercenary Group: 4130 for Man of War. Though every topic may not be looked into completely, additions will be added as time goes on. If you have any questions, or wish to have something brought up, feel free to post a question.

The Ursa Major (formally just the Ursa's) became a mercenary group in 4091, but didn't become as powerful as they are today until 4125. The beginning group was comprised of two earth ponies, a unicorn, and a griffin named; Lily (was born into the group in 4108), Heavy Hitter, Solar Flare, and Joerik. They mostly worked in the Griffin Colonies and the Soviet Bear Union. This group never grew beyond these simple friendships, until they lost Joerik during a excavation near Damascow. From there, they decided to add more members to attempt to fill the void. It wasn't easy, as their personal bias turned many would be members away, until they met a halfling named True Will. With this new member, he slowly convinced the others to add more and more members as they became more well know.

The first six members to join after True Will would be the founding members of the Ursa Major corporation. Though many have kept their identities a secret, two have leaked to the nations of the world. Si Ye, a chimpanzee from Duan zhi (Short Shoot) and an earth stallion named Orange Cream (allegedly from Saddle Arabia). These members work today as the leading chair members of the organization and have more global influence than the Summit Meetings (allegedly). They employ 100% of all active mercenary groups and have ties deep into every government, major business, and large scale agriculture co-ops.

The Ursa's treated their group like one would a corporation. They started out by under bidding their competition to gain favor. Where the average price would be 1000, they would offer 250. Any business or person asking for aid would simply have to try them first, as it was the fiscally smarter option. With their constant success, and aggressive sales tactics, other mercenary groups in their area slowly faded out. Once they had control of a region, they would raise the prices dramatically (1000/ 3500). With no other options, this drove their profits to new, unheard of levels.

With a new large source of income, came a new method of competition. Surprisingly, at the same time, other groups attempted to under bid the Ursa's. But at this point, they had the resources to simply buy out the competition. Most mercs were simply trying to find their fortune, so offering a large sum of money would be far easier than losing out on profits. And with such a large area of control (half of the G.C. and one third of the S.B.U.) they had collected an armory of ancient relics. If they couldn't be bought out with money, promises of ancient weapons usually would.

The last groups that simply refused, most often disappeared. Being mercenaries, these people would often never be on any political radar to begin with. If a group of mercs wound up dead one day, not many would notice. In the first decade they were able to gain control of the entire G.C., and half of the S.B.U. By the end of the next decade, their influence was world wide. Now there isn't a single dealing doesn't in one way or another go through the Ursa's. It is rumored that they even have dealings with the goats of the Isle's.

Estimated Net Worth: 2.7 Trillion bits

Number of Contracted Employees: 1.5 Million

Ursa's Highest Bounties (As of 4130): 5. Oni (6 mil, plus orc nation), 4. Longhorn (7.5 mil, plus nation), 3. Bolas (10 mil, plus immortality), 2. Starke Herzen (15 mil, plus business ownership), 1. Princess Luna; must be captured alive (25 mil, Immortality, personal nation, Blessings of Death)