The Karaguchi Conglomerate holds a monopoly on most of the world’s food and drinking water supply. After the Solar Wreckage and global warming left large parts of the planet unavailable for exploitation and its resources out of reach, it became apparent that having access to food and drinking water would be more valuable than ever. The KC was founded in Osaka by young chemist Masashi Karaguchi with a mission of making the most out of the limited natural resources that the island of Japan possessed. The combination of the outstanding technological advancements Karaguchi achieved, the growing global need for food and drinking water alternatives, and Karaguchi’s ties to the Yakuza made the conglomerate grow at a dizzying speed.
The company engineered crops that required less water and nutrients to grow as well as making incursions into cultured meat in order to produce meat for human consumption without the need of devoting space to cattle. The political pressure to maintain the economic growth and the company’s connection to the Yakuza forced the government to relax the legal requirements regarding food quality and the hygiene standards for laboratories and production sites, making the company even more profitable. The wide availability of food on Japanese territory made Japan’s economic recovery faster than that of other countries. However, this dependency on cheap food only strengthened the KC’s grip over the Japanese government. Eventually, the KC forced the government to legalize the cloning of non-humans, a process Karaguchi developed to simplify biological experimentation. Some also speculate that this extended into the exotic animal cloning business to service the demand of their ultra-rich clientele. The cloning technology has not been made available to anyone else, and the United Nations’ Bioethics Council heavily opposes its use, though other companies have shown interest in it. The social controversy revolving around the use of this technology has been growing stronger and stronger. The company is currently expanding to territories outside of Japan and Eastern Asia, where its political influence is weaker and is facing some pushback from competitors.
The KC is also responsible for developing cutting-edge water filtering technologies. These technologies mainly focus on recycling water contaminated by human activities, both industrial and non-industrial. There are rumors that the KC has developed a process capable of turning seawater into drinking water, but has kept it secret in order to keep the price of their bottled water products high. There are also claims that the KC sends potentially harmful products made in facilities with substandard hygiene conditions to regions of the world it intends to extort or hurt, causing diseases and malnourishment to its people. The KC denies these rumors and claims the studies that suggest their products cause cancer are inconclusive and biased. However, the fact remains: only countries that have stood up to the KC in any way have suffered these abnormal rates of diseases associated with malnutrition among their population, such as scurvy, cancer, infertility, parasites, and jaundice. Citizens of countries blacklisted by the KC can be often be recognized by the scars and marks left by the Conglomerate’s products: scorbutic gums, yellowish or greenish pigmentation of the skin, and carcinomas.
The KC holds on to its roots and tradition. Their logo is a red cherry surrounded by cherry blossoms, which is similar to the Japanese flag, and the roofs of their buildings are reminiscent of traditional Japanese temples. The inner walls of their offices are decorated with paintings of rice fields and rivers, all in stereotypical Japanese style.
Their main headquarters in Osaka are divided into two separate sections: the front building is the modern part of the HQ and serves as the commercial offices and main research facilities. Access to this building is for employees and contractors only. Behind this first building is the Karaguchi sacrosanctum, a five-story high pagoda located in the middle of a zen garden. The garden is accessible only via a bridge that connects with a landing pad on the back of the commercial offices. This jewel of classical Japanese architecture is both the main personal dwelling of the Conglomerate’s CEO and a place where private meetings are held with the upper management and the most important guests. The pagoda itself is built from a special polymer that resembles wood and also carries nutrients from the rain and sun into the roots of the garden.
Although the pagoda is located in the middle of Osaka, it proves to be virtually inaccessible. A swarm of weaponized drones oversees the movement around the building and makes sure no unauthorized entities are in the area. If any threats are detected, the swarm organizes each of its members to neutralize them.
The Corps are everywhere, in every decision, and every movement you make. Whether you are asleep, awake, or in the limbo-state of the network, they are there.
Some Corps are small enough to look harmless, but they are most likely part of a much, much larger scheme. The “Mega Corporations”, the ones that truly own everything. They hire the best they can get, although some of the real best don’t have a price tag. And even if their AIs protect part of their networks, there’s always a Corpo Runner in there, and where there’s a human, there’s the possibility of human error.
Corporations are not invincible, they “bleed” as the living organism that they are, and what bleeds can die.
It’s widely believed that the Wardlord family has been turning a profit on war ever since the middle ages. Duncan Wardlord discovered very early that it was easier to accumulate power and wealth by selling weapons and armor, instead of doing the actual warring. Most other noblemen thought him mad when he married his eldest daughter to the village’s blacksmith. History proved them wrong.
What started as a blacksmith in a castle making swords and shields for his father-in-law grew into a global behemoth of weapons manufacturing: Wardlord Defense Industries makes 65% of all weapons on the planet (85% if the illegal secondary market is taken into account) and holds defense contracts with almost every existing country.
WDI’s Research and Development Department has a larger budget than most countries’ GDPs and is responsible for some of the most important technological breakthroughs: undetectable plastic single-bullet handguns; bullet-resistant flexible fabrics and bullet-proof vehicles; ground-to-ground missiles; and weaponized drones. WDI has also invested a significant amount of resources into developing armor-piercing knives and blades. While WDI has developed chemical and biological weapons in the past, recently there have been hints of joint projects with a major medical corporation to work on more specific and deadly products, as well as cutting-edge combat implants. WDI has also been linked to an African company specialized in producing robots and automatons, and it is thought they are working on several joint products. WDI also has quite an exclusive line of products related to EMP fields and weapons that disable electronic devices. If it has kill potential or bullet-deflecting capabilities, the odds are WDI has people working on it.
WDI also provides what they call “defense solutions”, which is a euphemism for mercenary services. If a government needs to suppress its citizens or to fare war without openly sending its armies to fight, they can hire WDI’s elite professional soldiers to do their dirty work for them. WDI caters to governments, dictators, drug lords, or simply ultrarich people who either have a need to attack others or are paranoid about being attacked themselves and are willing to pay large sums of money for protection.
Wardlord Defense Industries is a sober organization, with a brutalist sense of aesthetics. Their main offices, located in the Autonomous City of Greater London is a fortress-like building made in concrete and steel. Above ground, the building houses the administrative headquarters and warehouses of the corporation in the upper levels, while the 100-meter deep basement contains the less public aspects of the organization — its manufacturing and testing facilities. These headquarters and their surrounding area are guarded by a complex system of defensive weaponry called Titan’s Web. The full capabilities of this system are not publicly known, but aerial imagery suggests that WDI’s main offices would be more than able to intercept and repel rockets and missiles, as well as resist a frontal assault. Given the company’s reputation, some theorize that Titan’s Web has functionalities not entirely within the scope of the law.
The center of the courtyard is mostly occupied by what appears to resemble a massive chimney. When asked about the purpose of this structure, company spokespersons have explained that it is part of the ventilation system which cools the fusion reactor that provides energy to the whole building. However, the hollow pillar appears to also serve as some sort of communication tower, which fuels some of the more radical theories about the chimney and its relation to Titan’s Web.
ADEG is the largest producer of entertainment and also the owner of several of the world’s biggest news outlets. The company started in the Nueva Buenos Aires settlement under the name Telecommunications and Digital Media (TDM). It was founded soon after millions of citizens had to be relocated due to the rise of the sea level and the flooding of most coastal cities. The company started as a small news outlet that attempted to do serious journalism in a country ridden with corruption and poverty in the middle of a climate disaster. While this integrity earned it some respect, it did little for its financial growth.
After Pablo Mariano Timaréns joined the company, first as host of his daily stream La noche de Timaréns, later as VP of Programming, and currently as CEO, the company changed direction and began to focus on creating simple-minded entertainment, making this its prime source of income. While all other media outlets were busy showing the corruption of the authorities and the heartbreaking images of the flooded coastal cities or the thousands of dead people and broken families, Timaréns decided to give people a place to escape reality. His show contained light humor and showed attractive people dancing and performing, an instant hit with a nation trying to stop feeling the hurt of their reality. Rapidly after Timaréns was appointed VP of programming, all the group’s content descended into either tawdry and cheap entertainment based on sexual exploitation and shallow humor, or into overwhelming sensationalism plagued with clickbait. Not only did the group’s profitability skyrocket, but also its an influence on public opinion. No matter how implausible a story was, if the company ran with it, a large percentage of the public would believe it. This has remained the norm, not only in the surviving American continent but also worldwide.
Once Timaréns took over the role of CEO, he changed the name of the company from TDM to ADEG and conducted a series of aggressive mergers with other media companies all over the globe, consolidating them into a single group under his leadership. He also began to acquire smaller technology-oriented companies and invested heavily in developing a new VR-haptic hybrid entertainment system, one that could stimulate users to the point of making their brains think they were having a real experience. After this system was commercially rolled out and people embraced it, ADEG introduced what they call “pleasure NFTs”, consumable Non-Fungible Tokens that can be exchanged for sensory experiences that are difficult to achieve in the real world, such as tasting exotic or expensive food and drinks, riding amusement park rides and even realistic sexual activities. This way, ADEG controls the most popular and addictive social media on the globe. Given that the NFTs are consumable and often the only chance common people have of enjoying certain activities or products, they have become an important part of ADEG’s revenue stream.
ADEG not only turns a profit on the traditional model of viewers and advertisers, they also charge politicians and public figures exorbitant sums to portray them in a favorable light. The group is indirectly responsible for influencing the outcome of elections and referendums in every major country. Celebrities also pay to keep their secrets out of the news. This way, ADEG has managed to keep many known figures in their pockets, threatening them with exposing them if they don’t do as they are told. Some say that ADEG still does serious investigative work, but instead of investigating corruption to expose it, it investigates personal affairs to extort individuals. The terms and conditions of use of their entertainment system give ADEG almost absolute control of its user’s personal data, which they then sell for profit to other companies.
ADEG also produces propaganda for several dictators and has covered up major scandals in order to protect those who can afford it. Another service offered by the company is the policing of social media on behalf of these regimes, pinpointing individuals who speak out against their governments so that they can be reeducated or silenced.
The group’s main office is in the center of the former Argentine Republic, in what is now known as Nueva Buenos Aires City. The building is an ode to the art déco aesthetic, an excess of gold and exuberance. 70 stories high, heavily decorated on both the outside and the inside with sculptures of muscular figures posing in all their glory. The logo of the company resembles a Venn’s-diagram with a circle in the middle which looks like an eye. The company’s official website states that the eye is a reference to the company’s dedication to showing its viewers and consumers the reality in which they live, but their commitment to keeping always its gaze on the future to come.
“Zebra Synthetics has a single mission: perfection. Yesterday, we made the first steps on artificial intelligence autonomy. Today, we already produce the implants, automatons and AIs that assist humankind in every field. Tomorrow is coming, and we will stop at nothing to make it flawless.”
— Owatha Hlengiwe, CEO
Zebra Synthetics was founded 80 years ago, in 2032, by pioneer artificial intelligence programmer Nabinala Mabte, who received the Turing Medal for Excellence in the Field of Robotics in 2030 for developing an AI that could run an entire large freight company, from its infrastructure and logistics to its finances, after having observed the previous human management for only 3 weeks.
The funding that came with this award allowed her to carry out the research needed to install similar AIs onto robotic bodies and frames. More current and updated versions of this technology are common nowadays, and serve humankind in many aspects and industries. Some say a modern iteration of the freight company’s AI is currently running ZS’s HQ, but the company has never confirmed it.
Zebra Synthetics’ headquarters are located over the city of Mwandez, in the Sahara Desert. This part of the continent received new life when the flooding and rising sea levels allowed life to thrive where it used to be impossible.
ZS’s main facility is called Monolith, a pyramid-shaped arcology that stands over the city, supported by huge pillars covered in thick cables as wide as trucks that sink deep into the ground.
The factories in which the automatons and robots are built are located at the base of the pyramid. Higher up are the labs where research and development are carried out, the living quarters for ZS’s employees and their families, and an area devoted exclusively to employee’s relaxation. The top of the pyramid is dedicated to the CEO’s apartments and office. Rumors say that there is another area, a top-secret enclosure called The Sarcophagus: a huge server room where the arcology’s physical mainframe is.
Monolith has a formidable defense system, with only one entrance reachable by land. This access point serves as an entry for trucks loaded with prime materials. All movement in this area is heavily monitored by automated turrets and security personnel. Higher levels of the pyramid have docking bays for flying vehicles to land and for freight airships to load finished automatons before distributing them to their final destinations, which is why the surrounding air space is under ZS’s total control.
The pyramid is covered in massive solar panels which power the whole complex. The surplus of energy produced provides electricity to the rest of Mwandez. Given that the city was formed around the arcology, it’s safe to assume that the sharing of resources is not intentional on the part of ZS.
Mwandez has a complex relation with Monolith. Its main economic activity is being one of the world’s most important markets for rarities and special technological items. The products here range from antique vintage items to cutting-edge machinery made in Monolith, most likely brought to the market illegally.
Aside from suffering the noise pollution caused by the airships that constantly fly over the city, the people of Mwandez are subject to breathing in the fumes spewed by the immense exhausts of Monolith’s factories, which are not only harmful in themselves, but can also cause sandstorms. Mwandezians also feel envious of the luxury those who live in Monolith seem to enjoy, while they are dependent on scavenging the arcology’s wastes in order to make a living.
Monolith employees have the best legal salaries known on the planet, due to the company’s intention to only hire the best of the best. This has led many parents who live in Mwandez to try and force their children into becoming ZS employees so that all the family can move into Monolith and have a better life.
Another important aspect of how Monolith and Mwandez interact is the area situated the closest to the arcology. This part of the city is called Zone 9, and is a somewhat liberated zone. Local authorities don’t dare to attempt to control an area so close to Monolith, so the streets of Zone 9 are crowded with mercenaries, scavengers and corporate thugs, all often heavily armed. The tension between ZS’s armed personnel and those who live or visit this zone is high, but it supports what has been until now a delicate peace.
Also in Zone 9, and located under the base of the pyramid, is The Underlith. Hidden behind the jungle of thick cables that go into the ground, away from the city and in what seems a blind spot or a neglected zone by Monolith’s surveillance, some squatters have taken residence here. Given that the base was the first part to be built, is not strange that security here is weaker than in other places. It is a wild place, ripe for scavenging and shady dealing. Most citizens stay clear of it, but some think it’s only fitting that people of Mwandez live off whatever they can take from ZS.
Apart from Monolith, ZS has another important facility: Mandala Horizons, in Delhi. Mandala Horizons is a huge arcology decorated with mandalas and flowers, where both the most powerful intrusion programs and defensive ICE are developed. It’s well known that some of the world’s most complex, effective, and beautiful Grids are designed here.
Having Monolith and Mandala Horizons under its control, ZS develops both the best AIs used in cyberspace and the state-of-the-art automated androids that assist humans in the real world.
The company’s automatons, often called simply Zebras, are classified into several groups and types depending on the complexity of the tasks they are able to perform. The most common and massively produced model is the type Z, which was the first one to be built and it is currently on series 7. These Z-7 models are the most common android assistant and can be found in stores, front desks, and other customer service settings all over the world.
The company has also made enormous advances regarding high-tech cyber-implants that enhance the user’s physical and perceptive capabilities. However, there are rumors that seem to indicate that the Monolith facility is employing unorthodox research methods, including human experimenting, in their development of new and improved AIs and robots.
S&S does not have the long history that other large mega-corporations are known for. The company started its meteoric rise less than 20 years ago when twins Emma and Renate Schäfer decided to put their combined medical and business expertise to work in a joint venture. Renate was a prominent medical researcher and Emma had a natural gift for branding and marketing. The company started out making experimental painkillers and palliative treatments for the pandemic of 2095. The initial products were highly effective, but each of the twins held equal shares of the company and Renate was reluctant to make profit a priority, declaring on more than one occasion that her products should help humankind as a whole in the long run and not merely make her rich. She was nominated for both the Medicine and Peace Nobel Prizes but asked not to be considered for either.
After a few years, Renate retired from public life and from the S&S board of directors. She hasn’t been seen in public for over a decade and she announced her retirement in a recorded message. Emma immediately took over the position of CEO and the company began to change its business strategies and research priorities. S&S started focusing on developing and aggressively marketing opioids, painkillers, and performance-enhancing drugs. These highly addictive drugs were first introduced as part of new medical cocktails for common ailments, but after a few years, the company began selling them as separate more potent products, at an increased price.
With both the masses and the elite hooked on their products, some because they had an actual need for treatment and others because they were addicted to their recreational use, S&S lobbied the Unified Swiss Commonwealth of European States into relaxing the quality requirements for drug manufacturing and legalizing almost all recreational drugs. The company then started developing cheaper, less pure, and more harmful recreational drugs to keep the masses dependent on their products, while offering a premium safer line of drugs to its richer customers. At the same time, S&S started building and managing drug rehabilitation centers all over the globe, offering people the chance to break free of their addictions. However, the rehabilitation’s costs are so out of reach for most people that they often end up being indebted to S&S for decades to come. On some occasions, the company has offered to reduce the debt of those who accept to take part in medical trials as subjects.
Shortly after securing this apparently endless stream of revenue, S&S started heavily investing in researching and producing high-tech prosthetics and genetic manipulation technology. Some of these enhancements are aimed to augment physical performance and are popular amongst athletes, soldiers, and the like, while others offer connectivity to technological devices, such as neuronal implants which allow the user to interact with computers and other devices without the need for any peripherals. Although some are so dangerous that they require regulation, S&S products have no problem finding their way onto the black market, often straight off of the assembly line, but under other brands and with lower quality. The company has been accused of using its products to interfere with its customers’ bodily and mental autonomy and has been on trial for these accusations more than once. All cases have been dismissed in a matter of minutes due to obscure interpretations of the law which absolve S&S of any responsibility. All the judges involved in the cases so far have been seen receiving complimentary implants and recreational premium drugs after the rulings. The laws that forbade this type of behavior were repealed in previous years thanks to the lobbying S&S had done.
Conspiracy theories seem to imply that S&S is constantly trying to secure human test subjects for its R&D Department and that they are ultimately involved in human trafficking. Some even imply that the company has been trying to secure cloning technology that would provide them with nearly endless test subjects, even though they publicly have taken a position against the legalization of cloning. The company does have an agreement with a London-based defense company that has several contracts for managing private prisons that allows S&S access to inmates for testing. Whether or not the defense company is legally allowed to make use of their prisoners in this way has been the center of a lot of debate.
S&S’s buildings and uniforms all share a minimalistic aesthetic, often in colors that project a hospital or health clinic look. Their main office in Zurich is a domed sleek white building. This building houses the company’s main laboratory, where the company carries out its drug development, experimental research, and equipment production activities. This lab rivals the most advanced genetic manipulation facilities. At the bottom of this immense workplace is a pool of antiseptic and refrigerant liquid, which is pumped throughout the building’s walls by the main energy core, a lustrous radiant orb that gives life to the whole operation. Suspended above the cooling liquid hangs a catwalk, flanked by vats of cryogenic liquid with test subjects inside. The content of the vats is cataloged as “organic material” and no other details are available.
Most S&S personnel sport lab coats, scrubs, or PPE made of hydrophobic material to prevent stains and contamination. A filthy appearance is considered valid grounds for dismissal within the company. This strict dress code and the constant threat of discipline give visitors and employees alike the feeling that they are in a place where they should always keep their voices and head down so as not to invite punishment.
