Author Topic: Shard Incorporated  (Read 5505 times)

Glow

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Shard Incorporated
« on: October 12, 2016, 02:09:33 AM »

Location: Shard Incorporated's original and main facility is located within Atlas, the birthplace of the company. It has smaller facilities located within the other kingdoms - in particular, they have a large R&D facility in Vale. In total, they have seven facilities; several of these are rather small-scale, with only the main one in Atlas and the R&D department in Vale being of any particularly large size. The others are mostly used for singular small-scale projects.

The main facility is the largest, mainly due to the mass-production efforts that take place there. It consists mostly of automated production lines, with smaller buildings around the main factory for PR efforts in one and for research in another. Finally, a small tower marks the location of David Shard himself, where he operates the company's time schedule and political matters. The Vale facility has a much smaller factory facility; however, in exchange their research division is much larger, and while their actual PR department is smaller the structure is much larger, used to actually host public displays and events. There is also a large network of underground locations from the main research lab, used for the company's shadier dealings and for hosting of volunteers and people currently involved in the more secretive projects. The other locations are dotted around; one more is located on the outskirts of Vale itself, with the main facility being further out, and two more are located in the north-west region and south-east region of Atlas' safe zone. There are plans to further expand into other locations once more specific research into different areas is required, but the company is not yet large enough to warrant doing so.


History: Remnant is a land of technological advancement; materials are easily accessible, and ideas are always being born and put into action be it out of brilliance or out of necessity. David Shard was inspired by both the constant technological revolutions taking place during his childhood, and the skill and resolve that hunters and huntresses protected the world of Remnant. He himself at one point wanted to be a hunter, but several events that followed each other one after another pushed him away from this goal; publicly, these reasons are known to be some of his close friends loosing their ability to fight over time as the injuries they took were severe, and David realizing he was appalled with not only the local but more nation-wide efforts in the handing out of solutions to the injuries that these warriors took in their line of work, and aimed to resolve this. In reality, it amounted to more of a personal reason turned into an obsession, but the former sounds better for PR purposes.

Thirteen years ago, Shard Incorporated was tentatively set up, with assistance from a few of the people David Shard had come to trust most where he was taught. Setting up the first facility, they began research, and over time started coming up with methods of producing efficient implants cheaper and more efficiently, using more easily accessible materials to form sturdier parts. This progress was surprisingly rapid, and with this came several thoughts to the director of the corporation; this was an area where research simply hadn't been thoroughly undertaken, and the potential was huge. However, he knew that Atlas would perhaps not be the greatest fan of projects that could be undertaken, due to stupid superstitions over the morals of the topic; sometimes, progress did require small sacrifices for the far greater good. With the resources the company had now obtained, he started to expand the company, making several more production plants to afford the move, then six years ago requested permission from the Vale government to construct new locations around the city. Of course, with the idea of having implants of the quality and affordability that Shard Incorporated provided, they were approved; as such, both a production plant and a much larger R&D department were constructed there, where research is now undertaken for the Modulerization project underneath the main building, while the additional limb enhancement is practiced both in Atlas' main facility (testing how public reaction would be with occasional nods to the research) and in the R&D department of the Vale location, where scrutiny is much less intensive.

However, for these purposes there would need to be volunteers, and there presence was at the time virtually unheard of in Vale. To this end, for research in more of the controversial topics that Shard Incorporated undertook, several small-time gangs were contacted around the location of the facility and provided with resources in exchange for the bringing of potential subjects to the location. Only a few were obtained, and the line of communication was dropped apart from occasional messages; however, a new line of communication was opened with the White Fang, and communications are currently working to make a basic trade agreement. As the popularity of the company began to rise, volunteers were more easily available, and as such the Modulerization process is currently under full swing, with an aim for eight total subjects in the preliminary phase.


Structure: Shard Incorporated is lead by its CEO, David Shard, who tends to take a primarily hands-off approach to the day-to-day running of the company. Instead, he works mainly on the political and PR aspects of the company, enjoying good relations with Atlas higher-ups. He helps to keep the public view of the company as clean and upholding high moral standards in their testing facilities. He works with an advisory board, the stakeholders of the company, who as a group elect locale managers to each facility. Each locale manager can then choose further subdivisions at their discretion. In total, the company hosts several thousand workers.

Around a quarter of these are kept within the main facility, mostly working as either R&D, public relations or repairing the automated production lines. More are located at the Vale facility, if just due to a lack of automation within the location and a focus more on intensive experimentation rather than PR, requiring additional manpower. There are only a smattering of individuals at each of the smaller facilities.

For the Atlas department, the local manager is David Shard's close personal friend, Marcus Jett, put there for both someone to talk to in a more relaxed environment on a day-to-day basis and for the fact that, despite the slight loss in efficiency compared to a dedicated manager, he can trust the man far more than any of his other employees due to a string of past dealings since childhood. The local manager for the Vale department is one Benjamin Gris, fellow entrepreneur and visionary - if a bit more focused on the physical results of his ideas, rather than the possible effect of them. The local managers for the rest of the facilities aren't publicly known, simply due to the lack of media attention on them and the very slow progress in comparison to the two main locales.


Technology: Shard Incorporated represents the cutting-edge of biomechanical technology. They aid in development of more and more advanced prosthetics along with heavy research into aura manipulation and neurological-mechanical links to streamline the control of mechanical devices and take tentative steps into AI development.

Currently, Shard Incorporated's general mass production involves the creation of affordable but effective replacement body parts, including arms, legs, digits and (to a lesser extent) eyes, with the latter still being perfected. They commonly gift knowledge of their consumer-range products to Atlas in exchange for a reduction in taxes and more leniency given on their foreign practices; however, they do not receive anything but publicly known details of any of Atlas' own developments in return. Limbs (in general) created by Shard Incorporated tend to be not quite cutting edge; for their price, however they are very efficient, still being of good quality for their low price (especially in terms of ones designed for Hunters and Huntresses, where artificial limbs that can channel aura are much more necessary). The one item they have requested from Atlas, several aura anchors to research, was presently granted; these have been forwarded to the Module Project and to try to further develop the efficiency of their prosthetics production.

Following this, Shard Incorporated has slowly released details of a further process in which the capability for further additions to be attached to the body may be possible, testing public opinions of the matter with ideas and 'self-testing' from researchers interested in the procedure, amounting to more precise hand movements, better eyesight or similar small-scale experimentation. In reality, testing has proceeded on individuals who were kidnapped by the various organisations Shard Incorporated's Vale department had paid off, with most individuals not surviving the testing process; only after a series of tests did the organisation create a working prototype, and proceeded to discard it to avoid any possibility of connections to them, instead now using the gathered data on volunteers for the process. Examples include an extra set of mechanical arms, and a series of mechanical tools implanted into the wrist for engineering purposes. These, more legal examples are planned to be released to the public with a slow introduction. These are made possible through the editing of existing biomechanical interfaces and artificial neurone junctions into a fully artificial neuromechanical junction, implanted into the designated location and then having the actual accessory connected to said junction electronically; nothing that wouldn't be possible by even other companies in the same research area, let alone military research, but nonetheless an area not explored due to the perceived morality and ethics issues behind the methods and outcomes. They also require acclimatization to the implantation process, and so a person must first successfully prove compatible with a normal implant in order to be deemed safe (and not a waste) to attempt the second implantation step.

However, outside of both partner and public eye, this has been taken a step further. With further research into the interface, the Module Project has been opened up. The aim of this project is to create a full-body implantation of mechanical components designed to serve a particular function, most of these aimed at military operations. Said modules involve invasive inplantation procedures, and are are step above the previous step; as such, it requires both of the previous steps to be completed first to ensure compatibility, since a failure would be expensive. Despite this, the procedure requires a lengthy recovery time to avoid a large health risk to the user, involving immunosuppresents and large dosages of painkillers to limit damage to the person's body and prevent rejection. In addition, each usually features some of its own downsides for future use, along with long-term prescriptions being needed that tend to have their own side effects such as lethargy or hallucinatory effects. However, in exchange, users get essentially what amounts to a technological semblance; a highly toned down version of a normal semblance created through the use of machinery powered by the user's aura. Examples of these include:
- Surveillance Module, aimed at security officers, one that allows the user to control a small network of drones directly connected to the user's neural network for surveillance or light combat purposes, but have a large strain on the user's mind and tends to cause severe miagraines and eventual unconciousness when used for extended periods
- Barrier Module, aimed at Riot or Bodyguarding, allows for the creation of hardlight barriers in variable sizes. They can also generate a charge that allows for the temporary deployment of a barrier in a location, based on the amount of energy they generated before planting said barrier down, with the disadvantage of the user feeling a portion of the damage inflicted to the barriers due to their aura being present to allow for the formation of strong barriers and shattering of one causing temporary nausea
- Reaper Module, aimed at Hunters and Huntresses with certain semblances (specifically ones that generate some kind of temporary substance) that allows for said substance to cloak items that contain the user's aura, such as weapons or clothing, without having to constantly generate more of the substance. The disadvantage to this is prolonged usage can cause the user to begin taking damage from their own effect; for example, someone who generates fire may start getting lightly burned from areas where they have cloaked in fire. It also limits aura usage while active, as it is making efforts towards keeping their semblance in place rather than healing or shielding them, which is why (as it is used up) the user starts taking damage from their own semblance.

Shard Incorporated also does research in a broader variety of biomechanical areas, including rudimentary AI systems, automated defense systems and biomechanical interfaces for mechs or terminals to allow a user better and more instinctive access to these devices.


Political Relations: Shard Incorporated has a polite, if somewhat strained relationship with the Atlasian military. They are granted a certain degree of freedom from a combination of working to better humanity as a whole and David Shard's connections with a small number of Unit Commanders, but rumors surrounding the methods used to obtain said results are counteractive to building further connections. David Shard also holds video conferences with politicians in the other kingdoms, having more success in Vale, but relies on local managers in each location to go to physical demonstrations and to the revealings of new lines of products. Each local manager is granted a certain degree of freedom in their research topics, as long as their general progress is towards the betterment of humanity against the Grimm; of course, it has to be approved by the manager himself first, though.

With the Vale government, there is a much more strenuous relationship. The only reason that there hasn't been an official investigation into the company is due to the positive public opinion of the company; thanks to a large PR campaign and frequent demonstrations of new technology, the company enjoys high levels of public support, meaning that the government is hesitant to make any steps around the company despite the rumors and accusations against it.

Previously, several of the locale managers within Vale trained personal assistants to communicate with the more shady side of the business; this amounts to several smaller gangs located around the area. A small number of these groups who were considered to be more easily manipulated were granted access to a small stream of funding and several prototype devices that weren't marked officially by the company for their usage, in exchange for reporting upon the success of the devices. Eventually, this ended up with bringing in unremarkable and easily missable individuals for testing purposes. However, the forced testing has completely halted in recent years for two reasons; firstly, for someone being targeted out of spite and being a known citizen rather than a random gang member or a homeless bum, and secondly due to a string of eager volunteers generated by the company's now much higher public opinion and knowledge than when it was first still developing, including Hunters and Huntresses who have suffered debilitating injuries wanting to test out the cutting-edge of technology for limb replacements.  If the company simply takes it a bit further or somehow has those individuals decide to stay at the location because they have been grateful enough or inspired enough by the work that occurs there, well. They won't turn them down. While tenuous relationships are still kept with the local groups, any of them with possible links back to the company after the fiasco were quietly dealt with over time to make an example of what happens if they fail in an attempt to keep the rest of the gangs quiet. Supplies are still traded; namely resources to the groups and in return funds back to the Vale department of the company.

Shard Incorporated has recently opened up shaky connections with the White Fang through the assistants previously used for said gangs, attempting to strengthen relations through the drafting of possible trading operations that could take place - mainly to avoid any possible attacks from the organization, but also for possible connections in the future. The criminal side of the organization is mainly kept in the Vale location, where there is less chance of a negative response on the company, but rumors have spread into both kingdoms on the possible connections they hold - treated more as conspiracy theories to most but still causing distrust on the Atlas front, with Dr Shard having to call in several favors already to prevent any possible scandals.

Shard Incorporated's main sources of income are profits from large-scale prosthetics production and research grants (mainly from Atlas). In the Vale locales, the research is also funded through money gained from the groups the organization still deals with.
« Last Edit: March 22, 2017, 04:09:05 PM by Glow »
Lynn Aubin, Module-003 'Reaper' of Quartz Industries

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Glow

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Re: Shard Incorporated [Early WIP]
« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2016, 09:56:08 PM »
Reserved for character details.
Lynn Aubin, Module-003 'Reaper' of Quartz Industries

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Re: Shard Incorporated [Ready for Review]
« Reply #2 on: October 17, 2016, 09:30:33 PM »
fucking brilliant

100/10

approved by gus telling me to approve my own creation while i'm fucking hammered

Edit: Gus why would you do these things
« Last Edit: October 18, 2016, 04:27:52 AM by Glow »
Lynn Aubin, Module-003 'Reaper' of Quartz Industries

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Re: Shard Incorporated [Ready for Review]
« Reply #3 on: November 12, 2016, 10:58:42 PM »
Okay, you're close, but for one bit. The Political Relations bit needs some work. With the level of criminal interaction while maintaining close relations with a major power, namely Atlas, I'm not comfortable approving the worldbuild. If you can lower the level of interaction he has with them, I'm good with it, but as is, you've got a bunch of major officials consorting with a borderline crime lord/mad scientist, and they're either complicit or incompetently unaware, which I'm not okay with painting a canon governments leadership in that light, yet.

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Re: Shard Incorporated [Ready for Review]
« Reply #4 on: November 28, 2016, 04:43:30 PM »
Alright, Glow. Word has come down regarding this WB. You're going to have to drop the level of interaction with Atlesian politicians. Cap it out at a few unit level commanders, at most. Think Colonels and the like. With the emphasis Atlas has put on eliminating White Fang influence in the past, it doesn't stand to reason that any of their higher ups would consort with their foes, risking all manner of bad political juju.

Additionally, the level of knowledge regarding their criminal operations can't be known by two people. Keep the shit limited, keep it hearsay, keep it unsubstantiated, but it does need to be a bit more known than just two people.

Glow

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Re: Shard Incorporated [Ready for Review]
« Reply #5 on: November 30, 2016, 03:21:52 AM »
Hopefully made the tweaks you've asked for.
Lynn Aubin, Module-003 'Reaper' of Quartz Industries

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Re: Shard Incorporated [Ready for Review]
« Reply #6 on: November 30, 2016, 04:46:55 PM »
Approved. Go forth and do things.