DAIA (Faction)

The Democratic Australasian Independent Army, commonly shortened to DAIA, is a private military corporation, humanitarian organisation and combatant faction in the Farsight conflicts, with key bases throughout Australia and Southeast Asia.

Formed during the Australasian Conflicts of 2045, DAIA prospered greatly from the crisis, lending governments and independent factions their services as a defense contractor and quickly becoming one of the single largest employers in the region before turning their back on their clients and claiming sovereignty in the region.

Australasian Conflicts
Following severe flooding and famine across Australasia, DAIA was deployed with funding from the Australian government as a peacekeeping and humanitarian faction throughout the ASEAN nations.

DAIA’s deployment in the region followed a long period of diplomatic unease in the region, and despite Australia’s support, the deployment of DAIA resulted in a worsening of diplomatic tensions, with many of the nations involved accusing Australia of manipulating ASEAN governments.

Following this, DAIA was formally incorporated. Whilst they still received funding from multiple government and non-government organisations, this positioned DAIA as a freely-operating contractor, able to accept and decline work as they saw fit. Following their incorporation, DAIA was used as a private security force by many countries in the region, often operating on both sides of diplomatic tension.

It was during this time that DAIA elected their first and only Chief Executive – Nguyễn Đức Bao, a Vietnamese national who enlisted in DAIA’s first year and quickly rose through the ranks.

Territorial Disputes
In a few years, DAIA had established tactical bases from Indonesia reaching as far north as Myanmar, with talks to build installations in Nepal and Bangladesh.

At this time, DAIA began to build military bases and establish a presence on the Spratly Islands, a group of disputed islands in the South China Sea.

Many international groups became worried by this, and queried why a self-proclaimed humanitarian or even security organisation would need tactical installations where there were no indigenous populations to defend. Their presence in the Spratly Islands was seen by many as a preparation for sovereign disputes and reactive conflict, but DAIA repeatedly justified their presence there as being appropriate to the interests of several of their national clients.

Relations with other PMCs
Since its inception, DAIA differentiated itself from many other private militaries as a distinct humanitarian security organisation, with no declared interest in the destabilization of the existing world order or the replacement of a traditional nation-led political sphere (despite mounting evidence of their interference with national politics in various places.)

In addition, DAIA was initially reluctant to engage in the Farsight conflicts, choosing to wait and use only defensive measures until asked for assistance by the Zafar corporation.

However, as time went on, many of the countries within DAIA’s area of operations struggled to function in the changing global political stage, as anti-nationalist actors began to rise across the western world. As a result, DAIA’s humanitarian functions began to encompass more and more of a traditional government support system, leading to the creation of their first safe zone in Vietnam only five years into their incorporation.