Kel-Morian Combine

"Real men drill deep."

- Kel-Morian Combine slogan

The Kel-Morian Combine is the name of the terran faction controlling the planet Moria. The Kel-Morian Combine is commanded by General Mah Sakai. Its militia color is green (teal in-game).

It has its own Ghost Program.

History
Moria established contact with Tarsonis after sixty years of development. The following economic boom resulted in the creation of numerous family guilds. Using shady tactics, the larger guilds began eliminating the competition until only the Kelanis Guild and Morian Mining Coalition dominated the economy.

When the Terran Confederacy was founded, the Morian colony, which had benefited from having the largest resource mining operations in the Koprulu Sector, began to fear that this new Confederacy might attempt to move in and regulate their lucrative operations. Thus the Kel-Morian Combine was formed from the two most powerful guilds: the Kelanis Guild and the Morian Mining Coalition; a shady, corporate partnership that would supply military aid to any Mining Guild that was oppressed by Confederate policy. Led by General Mah Sakai, the two groups also banded together in order to maximize their ability to drain the resources from the numerous worlds within the sector. The line between corporation and government vanished.

Tensions heated up as the Confederacy continually stole Kel-Morian mining operations from locations such as the Paladino Belt and the world of Sonyan, actions internally justified that the Combine was composed of pirates and other criminals. The Combine planned on war with the Confederacy so it could control all the scarce resources. The Combine became increasingly antagonistic towards the Confederacy over its actions.

The Guild Wars and the Aftermath

 * Main article: The Guild Wars

The war started when the Confederacy tried to steal the Noranda Glacier vespene operation on Onuru Sigma. The Confederates feared the Kel-Morian Combine had planned something big there.

Alpha Squadron captain Edmund Duke and Dominion section lieutenant Arcturus Mengsk led an attack force which fell into a carefully prepared ambush. The Confederates destroyed the complex when brigade-sized ground forces and battlecruisers descended onto the field of battle, forcing their retreat. This marked the official beginning of the Guild Wars.

During the war, Kel-Morian Combine soldiers, known as rippers, continually made raids on Confederate bases, often more interested in plunder than in military victory.

As the war drew on, it became obvious that the Combine couldn't last. The Guild Wars lasted for nearly four years and battles took place on planets such as Mar Sara and Char.

Aftermath of the Guild Wars
The Confederacy eventually "negotiated" peace with the Combine. Although the Combine retained its autonomy, almost all of its supporting Mining Guilds were annexed into the holdings of the Confederacy, along with worlds such as Mar Sara. The Umojan colony, fearing the Confederacy's power, created the Umojan Protectorate in response.

The Combine became the largest non-Confederate organization operating within terran space. Equipped with thousands of armed troops and hardware, the Combine strictly enforced its myriad territorial operations. It was rumored that the Combine actually supplied the Confederacy with fuels and resources. So great was their political influence, the Confederate forces were banned from prosecuting the Combine for any potentially criminal action.

Fall of the Confederacy
After the Confederacy was overthrown by the Sons of Korhal, which became the Terran Dominion, Moria came under Dominion rule when the Kel-Morian Combine rallied to Emperor Mengsk's banner.

The Dominion Engineering Corps, an arm of the Kel-Morian Combine, assisted the Dominion by constructing a number of space stations for them.

The Combine during the Brood War
During the United Earth Directorate domination of the Sector, the Combine did not clash with the UED, which Fenix found a surprising example of terran greed.

The zerg, having been weakened by the UED's now-destroyed Psi Disrupter, staged a fuel raid on Moria. Their Queen, Infested Kerrigan, needed a substantial cache of resources in order to build up her primary hive clusters for an assault on the UED-occupied world of Korhal. Praetor Fenix, engaged in an unusual alliance with Kerrigan, led the assault on Moria, bypassing the Combine's defenses and harvesting a large quantity of minerals. Kerrigan's zerg infested as many of their command centers as possible.

Current Operations
"It was always the damned KMs. Here they were in the middle of one of humanity's darkest hours, with two alien menaces wreaking havoc on the Koprulu sector, and the Kel-Morians were busy threatening the Dominion's mining interests."

- Walden Briggs

The Combine is currently independent of the Terran Dominion and is vying with the Dominion for influence. It fears the Dominion will attack its poorly-defended planets, but continues to claim more worlds nonetheless.

The Kel-Morian Combine awaits the inevitable war with Arcturus Mengsk or the zerg.

The Combine frequently came into economic conflict with the Terran Dominion, sabotaging their mining operations with nuclear weapons. Kel-Morian spies were known to arm themselves with nuclear detonators, blowing themselves up if captured.

The Kel-Morian Combine valued alliance with opponents of the Terran Dominion, and struck an alliance of sorts with Jim Raynor c. 2502. Its leaders spent much time discussing matters with him. Raynor did not remain, however. Afterward the Combine continued to cover for Raynor and even offered him mercenaries available for hire.

Mar Sara
The Combine began salvaging Mar Sara as soon as the planet was declared habitable after the destruction wrought by the zerg and protoss. The KMC also mined Chau Sara.

The Combine is capable of cooperating with the Dominion to some extent, inviting Dominion outposts to Mar Sara to help deal with piracy and mining camp revolts, partly due to the Combine's workers having a great deal of spare time on their hands. Tensions still exist, among them being the Dominion shutting down the Combine's salvaging of the Jacobs Installation, the reasons having been put under Level Black censoring.

Shortly before the Second War, the Dominion annexed Mar Sara.

Government
The Kel-Morian Combine is split into guilds. Each guild's leader is democratically elected, but once in that position, they are difficult to dislodge. The Terran Confederacy claimed the Combine's guild leaders were chosen through heredity, and family retainership was an acknowledged part of life.

Military Structure
The military was organized along corporate lines.
 * Overseer
 * Assistant Overseer
 * Foreman
 * Taskmaster

Territories
"Locusts! That's what those infernal Kel-Morian Combine mining teams are! You think you have a good claim all to yourself, but then the Combine comes to ravage everything in sight right from under your nose. They'll leave me with nothing after they're done. Well I'm not going to take it anymore, and I've got just the thing for them! I'll make this a hot spot they'll never forget! I'll show them!"

- Final recorded words of Usagi Hidalgo before the surface detonation of a 20 megaton nuclear device on the planet of Uilila IV.

Planets

 * Chau Sara
 * Feronis (mining world)
 * Mar Sara (formerly)
 * Meinhoff
 * Moria (capital world)
 * Onuru Sigma (formerly?)
 * Raydin IV
 * Redstone III (formerly)
 * Turaxis II (at least temporarily)
 * Uilila IV (at least temporarily)
 * Sonyan (formerly)
 * Warrant VI

Other

 * Meteor Station (formerly)
 * Paladino Belt (formerly)
 * Scrap Station

Known Members

 * Lemuel Baden (miner, originally from Tarsonis)
 * Rory Swann (former member)
 * Bill (miner)
 * Hogan (vulture driver)
 * Tavish Kerr
 * Dr. Moller
 * Pard (SCV operator)
 * Ulrik (diplomat)

Guild Wars Military Personnel

 * General Mah Sakai
 * Foreman Oleg Benson
 * Overseer Hanz Brucker
 * Assistant Overseer Danick
 * Overseer Dankin
 * Taskmaster Evers
 * Ras Hagar (Hellhound pilot)
 * Taskmaster Kurst
 * Taskmaster Lumley
 * Foreman Kar Ottmar
 * Overseer Aaron Pax
 * Overseer Scaggs

The Generous Profit Salvage Team

 * Macy Clift (information officer, formerly)
 * Uriah Cyris (commander, deceased)
 * Luke Keegan (engineer, formerly)
 * Chuck Tyrosine (combat specialist, deceased)