American cybernetics and structural enhancements specialists
Headquarters: Austin, Free State of Texas
Regional Offices: Washington D.C., Chicago, Denver, Atlanta, Baltimore, Seattle, Dallas, Night City
Chief Officer/Designer: Jacinda Hidalgo
Employees: 125,000
Background
Founded in 2004 by Andrew Rocklin, Rocklin Prosthetics was a major supplier of artificial limb technology to the Veterans Administration after the Central American Police Actions. But as prosthetic devices evolved from simple medical aids to full cybernetic enhancements, Rocklin found itself eclipsed by more aggressive Cybercorps like Dynalar and Kiroshi. While the Corp eked out an existence through their old government contracts, they found their sturdy but basic products falling out of favor in the hyper charged markets of the Cyberpunk Age.
Then, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Rocklin was radically reborn in 2030 as Rocklin Augmentics. Now led by Andrew's daughter, Jacinda Hidalgo, the Neocorp burst onto the scene with an entirely new catalog of enhancements: bleeding edge designs that emphasized their artificial qualities and unique aesthetics. Still boasting the Rocklin reputation for reliability and strength, these new enhancements refused all pretense at organic simulation with open frameworks, bizarre color schemes, and proportions and variations that seemed brazenly inhuman. Public response was immediate and enthusiastic.
Hidalgo followed up with her "Signature Cybernetics Series," each created by a popular artist, from street calligrapher Visser with her daring post-human punk aesthetic, to the Art Nouveau-inspired stylings of Hamilton Welch. Rocklin still offers a selection of good-quality, domestically-made cybernetics in more conventional styles, albeit with greater sophistication than before, but it's Rocklin's more outré lines that are burning up the Data Terms, and Hidalgo keeps pouring CHOOH2 on the flames.
RA has grown like a Siamese fighting fish since then, with new facilities in several New U.S. and Free State cities, and has garnered a sizable portion of the domestic augmentations field, focusing on cyberlimb and skeletal enhancement systems. There are no overseas manufacturing operations; Rocklin has proclaimed itself an American company first and foremost, even as the term ‘American' is being rapidly redefined. They employ a lot of people displaced during the Time of The Red and enjoy a strong populist reputation with the public.
Still, controversy erupted in 2041 when an independent Media, Duel Murata, posted interviews with two of Rocklin's former designers who claimed that they were instructed to sign their names to prototypes that they were handed by management; baroque designs that implied the possibility of a "cyberware gestalt," uniting augmentations from multiple individuals. They cited the work as truly next level and possibly a violation of the AI Protocols. Netwatch quickly stepped in, determined to ferret out any illegal AI experiments. But despite a thorough sweep of all Rocklin facilities, including a Warrant Watchdog on all intercompany data traffic, no charges have been filed as of this date.
Naturally, Rocklin responded with a new advertising campaign: "Rock Aug! Cyberware for Humans, by Humans!" Rocklin has since filed suits against both the designers for slander and violation of their NDAs, despite the fact that one of them has been missing for almost two months now.
Face: Jacinda Hidalgo
Jacinda Hidalgo lost both her legs to a landmine in Costa Rica at age 10. It was while she was getting a set of cyberlegs at the Rocklin clinic in Dallas that her mother, Leticia, met Andrew Rocklin. They married two years later, with Jacinda adopted as Andrew's legal heir. She became known as something of a wunderkind around the Rocklin offices and soon attended the Texas Institute of Technology, graduating with honors in 2022.
Unfortunately, Andrew Rocklin disappeared in 2023, the rumor being that he died during the War (or flew off to Mars; post-DataKrash records vary). Jacinda took control of the Corporation at the age of 26, and quickly applied her energy and vision to remake Rocklin into a company that could compete in the brutal post-Corporate War market. She held true to her father's tenets of strength and durability, while bringing her own unique sense of artistry to the tech.
Now 42, Jacinda still has the face of a young woman, but much of the rest of her body has been made into a display case for Rocklin products. The exact extent of her augmentation is unknown, although she was recently seen sporting a Hamilton Welch cyberarm in addition to her matching cyberlegs, and extensive endostructural enhancements seem likely. She changes cyberlimbs like evening dresses, often displaying her company's creations with acrobatics that would be the envy of trained martial artists. Co-workers describe her as intensively creative and driven, with a no-nonsense, direct management style and take no-prisoners competitive attitude. Her enemies have given her the nickname ‘The War Orphan' to which Hidalgo has responded, "They don't know what war is. But they will."
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