Although the vast majority of known space is dominated by the Supercorporations, pockets of anti-corporate sentiment still exist. Many individuals with anti-corporate sentiment have organized themselves into a loose collection of cells.

Supercorporate loyalists use “Friend of the Shrike” as a general slur against anyone and any group expressing any sort of anti-corporate sentiment, and the derogatory usage has spread into common usage. Whether these groups are truly related is anyone’s guess.

Some Friends of the Shrike wear small, discrete bird imagery on their clothing and carry a pouch of basic medical supplies or similar item, always ready to lend a hand to those in need as a nod to the ancient paramedic origins of the Friends movement.

A Brief History

• In the ancient past, the Etheriet Protection and Rescue Corp (EPRC) was a volunteer organization offering low-cost paramedic, search and rescue, and medical services, funded primarily through community support. If you were stranded in space with failed life support, you could send an SOS and the EPRC would come to your rescue.
• Shrike, the EPRC's Central Field Coordinator (“leader sounds a bit too authoritarian”), was a Sankta with a red glow and a bleeding heart. She personally funded many EPRC operations out of her own pocket.
• The EPRC frequently engaged in direct anti-corporate action, such as "investigating" health and safety violations and evacuating workers from poorly constructed refineries. Most famously, the group raided a secure supercorp compound to rescue political prisoners.
• Several centuries ago, 9LL performed a hostile takeover of the EPRC, turning it into a for-profit wholly owned subsidiary. This sparked a massive conflict between 9LL and the largely anti-corporate staff of the EPRC.
• The conflict grew, with all the major supercorporations on one side and the remnants of the EPRC on the other. The anti-corporate rebellion drew support from across civilization.
• The anti-corporate rebellion was crushed. Shrike and her remaining fleet fled through the En hyperspace gate, never to emerge. While the corporations declared them dead, legends persist that Shrike and her followers still watch over the universe from a higher plane of existence. Some even claim the Maelstrom is Shrike's vengeance against the supercorporations.
• In the modern era, anti-corporate activists sometimes identify themselves through discrete bird imagery on their clothing or by quietly declaring themselves a "friend of the shrike." Anti-corporate cells exist throughout known space. After all, the dream of freedom from corporate control will never truly die.