CHEG

The Chesapeake Energy Group. CHEG built the Chesapeake Aegis seawall that failed in 2058 and caused the Drowning. They walked away with the contracts intact. Today they own the regional grid and most of the "restoration" subsidiaries that dredge, desalinate, and re-engineer the bay for profit. CHEG is the campaign's animating injustice given a corporate name.

Role in the world

CHEG runs the grid. Everything in the Beltway that uses energy — meaning everything — depends on CHEG infrastructure. They meter the Joules, license the substations, and write the contracts that lock the watermen into energy debt: leased grid gear and metered power they can't refuse, then can't pay off.

CHEG's "restoration" subsidiaries claim to be repairing the bay. What they actually do is monopolize who can work it, fence off salvage zones, and prosecute anyone — including Vịnh Mới's oyster-reef restorers — for "poaching" inside their permit lines. Their newest target is smaller and more dangerous to them: the bay communities have started generating their own — water wheels they build, stored in the independent Slinger sheaths the corps don't control — keeping their own lights on, off the CHEG meter entirely.

Public faces

• VERGE — the system CHEG runs regional grid logistics on. The company calls it an optimization platform.

Allies and friction

• Allies: the other four corps; the Corporate Council
• Friction with: the Old Bay Council (existential); Vịnh Mới; every bay community

Where they operate

CHEG is omnipresent. Powered by CHEG on every transformer and grid node. Slingers work in CHEG's shadow. The Slinger sheath standard predates CHEG, and CHEG would dearly love to bring sheath production in-house.