Omegatech Megacorp
Omegatech is, by far, the largest and richest corporation on Ained. Laboratories or manufacturing centres are present in more than half of the existing habitat, even though some are only small specialised branches. In most other habitats, the corporation has usually (publically or secretly) allied organisations or contacts. It is estimated that they are present, in one way or another, in over three-quarters of habitats.
Rumour has it they own several state-of-the-art weapons and secret defence armaments to protect them even from nuclear missiles installed in their most important facilities.
Currently, their main research focus is robotics and cybernetics.
History
Before the Slingshot menace was even discovered, Omegatech was among the largest technological manufacturers on Ained, but they shared such a position with many other companies. Their area of expertise was the energetic sector, where they were the leading industry. From projects to pieces manufacturing, they were able to build a power plant from scratch.
When the first papers about the possible apocalypse came out, the Omegatech research division started to study the phenomenon. At first, physicists tried to predict what would happen and formulated various scenarios. With a better understanding of the possible events, the engineering department started working on the first habitat blueprints.
When, finally, more and more papers and researchers from independent universities confirmed the Slingshot was going to happen, the blueprints had been completed, and Omegatech started selling their expertise to build the habitats for well-paying customers.
The habitats construction and the following housing market made the corporation increasingly richer to the point that it hoarded more wealth than the rest of the world had.
After the Apocalypse War ended and people got accustomed to their new way of living, Omegatech executives invested in the corporation's resources into more energetic research, to develop safer and more efficient power plants, and into automation, the new technology necessary to enhance the habitat's productivity.
In time, Omegatech became the largest corporation in the new world. It incorporated many of its rivals, extending its reach both in the physical world and in the academic one. Nowadays, the corporation's scholars are active in most branches of engineering and informatics, with some rare expectations for particularly niche fields.
Its most prominent rival is the Weyer Biotechs, a relatively new corporation to the Ainedling political game. Weyer focuses on biology, pharmaceutics and genetics, with almost no overlap with Omegatech's research. People and habitats support either, sometimes strongly, sometimes blandly, someone thinks agreements would be more beneficial than the current very tense rivalry.
While Weyer and Omegatech share some interests, like exploiting the opportunity for the colonization of 212 Caeli but contend with each other resources to do so and appear not willing to cooperate.
Cultural Reception
People's appreciation of Omegatech has been quite mixed during the years. When the corporation was selling life-saving houses inside the habitats for millions, many thought they were monsters preying on people about to lose everything to the cataclysm. Others supported the choice, especially among those who had already secured a place. "Why would they receive a place when we had to buy it? They could have been more far-sighted and bought it when they first started selling them." was the most used argument at the time.
When they started reinvesting money in research to improve life inside the habitat, they regained some popularity, even though many people did not forget their past behaviours and remained still wary of them.
Again, during the Expropriation Riots, Omegatech was quick to transform its ownership of vital facilities according to a shareholders model, and many people appreciated that move. However, administrators, research directors and other Omegatech affiliates bought most of the shares, thus partly invalidating the popularity gain.
When the corporation started performing robotic enhancing surgery, they lost a large piece of support. The First Order Church publicly announced enhancing was an evil act against God, and many followers stopped, or at least tried to, using Omegatech products. Even among non-religious people, many were not ready to make the "transhuman upgrade", mostly out of general distrust of automatic technology, maybe originated from too much old sci-fi literature.
However, when the FTH Complex Accident happened, Omegatech witnessed their major influence loss to date. Since the accident, people strongly distrust their automated systems and AI-aided control grids, but the situation goes beyond a mere decrease in sales. Less support for Omegatech means, in the modern political scenario, more support for Weyer Biotechs, especially in a time where the latter is advancing their utopian "genetic revolution".
Founding Date
11751
Type
Megacorporation
Controlled Territories
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