TIONS
“‘More human than human’ is our mot- to.”—Dr. Eldon Tyr-
ell Although most corp-orations of the 20th century perish e d with the devastation which the Twiligth War inflicted upon the
economic, gove-rnm
ental, moral and
social structur-es, a
few of the larg-er o
nes survived which laid the foun-
dation for the emer-gence of the mega-corporations. Some of these old co-mpany brands, which are
still com-mon in the 24th century,
are the following: Coca Cola, Atari,
TDK, PanAm, etc.
France, not directly taking part of the War, preserved its capitalist market economy almost intact. Mo- st of the larger and global compa-
nies of the 20th century maintained
franchises and department filials in France. And although the company main headquarters may have peri-shed as a consequence of the nucl-ear exchanges, their local
departm-ents in France survived, and hence the companies survived and beca-me resurrected, modelled upon th-ese French organizations and fran-chises.
Otherlarger companiesand tran-
snational corporations (Transnats)
survived the war and its afterma-
th because they were powerful eno- ugh to engage a private security fo- rce to defend them against the an- archy and onslaught of the mara- uders, developing into organizatio- ns which governed small territories or kingdoms until government res- urged and claimed its lawful power again. These powerful organizatio-
ns later developed into future me- ga-corporations.
But there are also several new
companies and corporations that
have emerged since the resurgence of the capitalist system in the wake of the pax francorum, growing into
powerfulmega-corporationsandco-
mpeting with the old ones for glob- al monopoly. Some of the more pr- ominent ones have to be mentioned here.
Tyrell Corporation/Association
This is the corporation whose gre- atest contribution to human tech- nological, social and cultural effort cannot be underestimated, the cre- ation of the replicant or artificial human, and animal. The company motto is “More human than hu- man”, something it takes great pri- de in.
The Tyrell Corporation was actu- ally originally a conglomerate of se- veral companies specialized in cy-
bernetics, robotics, biomechanics,
andartificialintelligence,whichme-
rged into one large mega-corporat- ion under Dr. Eldon Tyrell’s super- vision (literally). It has multiple go- vernmental contracts of various sp- ace faring powers, often competit- ive, specialized in making and exp- orting replicant slave labour for the off-world colonies. The power of the
Tyrell Corporationextendsto all th-
ree arms and their respective fin- gers, without any major prejudice. They sell replicants to all who may afford them. The finger prints of th-eir schemes, intrigues and
manip-ulations for global power
may be se-en in most off-world
systems. Wh-en it comes down to it, the Tyrell Corporation always serves its own interests, both economic, political, and spiritual.
However, there seems to be a ge- neral competition between the Fre- nch Empire and the Tyrell Corpor- ation, the French who instinctively distrust the mega-corporation and its power, backed by the Catholic Church, regarding its replicants to be an abomination and their mak-
ing ethically abhorrent, preferring
bionic androids and In Vitroes (art- ificially gestated genetically engine- ered humans) instead. So, there is a bias amongst the board of direc- tors of the Tyrell Corporation, to fa- vour any power who competes with the French and their allies, such as
theManchurians, Mexicans,Argen-
tinians, Americans, and as lately
the Germans.
The corporation in its present
form was originally founded by Dr. Eldon Tyrell and bears his name.
The corporation has always been
run as a family operation; most of the board of directors were kindred to Eldon Tyrell, and his niece Sar-
ah (the person whose memories
we-re implanted unto the Nexus-7
unit designated as Rachel) was one
of its major directors prior to Dr.
Tyrell’s death. She succeeded him as the Chief Executive and inherited his shares of the company, making her the major owner. This makes Sar-ah Tyrell into one of the most pow-erful persons in human space and the most powerful woman ever.
Dr. Tyrell chose the owl as the symbol for his new company, and he kept one owl animoid as his pe- rsonal pet and company mascot, as the owl as a species was the first to become nearly exctinct from envi- ronmental pollution, global animal genocide being one of the main inc- entives to develop biogenetic engin- eering, replacing the extinct speci-
es with artificial ones, replicating
the genome of the original species. This owl still lives and is owned by Sarah Tyrell who resides in her uncle’s old royal residence, the lar- ge bed chamber emulating and ex- ceeding the grandeur of the Roman Catholic Pope’s, inside one of the twin pyramid Tyrell buildings over-
seeing the L.A. “Hades” industrial
landscape. Thus, the Tyrell plant
and headquarters doesn’t reside in
central L.A. but at its outskirts,
wh-ere it has created its own gravital nucleus.
This choice of place for its maje- stic temple-like buildings is an ex- pression of the hyperboil of Dr. Ty- rell and his own perceived mission;
he regarded all other mega-corpo- rations as “profane”, taking upon himself almost a spiritual attitude of divinity, rather than purely mat- erialistic (although he indeed was one of the richest men in the hu-
man universe), making himself as
the new God, or demiourgos, supe- rseding all the old gods and their
religions, biomechanics being the
new chosen religion and his corpo- ration as its new church, his engi- neers being the new holy clergy wi- th himself as the high-priest or po- pe, priest-king and man-god. Veri- ly, he regarded God’s (or Nature’s) creation—the Human—as severally flawed; in all respects, the Nexus-6 (and Nexus-7) was seen as a perfe- ctly manufactured being, with him- self as an unflawed creator contra- ry to Nature or God. Thus, Dr. Ty- rell suffered from a severe case of
God-complex, taken to the extreme.
Dr. Tyrell regarded himself and
asty destined to rule Earth and all of its off-world colonies, himself as the Almighty Father and his replic- ants being his children. Sarah Ty- rell inherited her fathers fanatical attitude, his narcissistic fantasies, and his innately spiritual faith, and became the new heir to the crown, anointed by the high-priest himself at his death bed. With the intro-duction of the Nexus-7 generation of replicants, Dr. Tyrell
and Sarah T yre l l regarded the
evolutionary process to enter a new golden age and final transitional stage, were ordinary mortal humans—the ho-mo sapiens— would ultimately be-come succeeded by the next sup-
erhuman race of immortals—the
homo nexus.
The Tyrell Corporation is inna-
tely an evil organization, at least as seen from the perspective of hum- anity, and ultimately conspire aga- inst the human race to replace it with replicants of the Nexus-7 gen-
eration, with superior Mental–A
and Physical–B or A abilities. The
long term plan is to reverse the so- cial order of 2300 and to make the replicants the new masters, relega- ting mankind into a state of slave- hood. These Nexus-7’s are now be- ing manifactured en masse at the Tyrell facilities and much of its hig-
her level employees and work force
in L.A. have secretly and illegally
been replaced by replicants.
Tyrell Corp. has recently purch- ased a majority share of the stocks of the Rekall Corporation, who sells virtual travels and adventures
usi-ng memory implant technology.
Me-mories have secretly been
extracted by that company from
their human customers, without
their consent, while put in deep sedation during the virtual trip, in which they have been subjected to a brain scan se-nsor devise applied directly to the skull which has extracted their full memories all the way from birth (and prior) to the day of the extrac-tion. A data bank of human indivi-dual memories, deemed worthy (i.e. lacking to much psychological tra- uma), has thus been covertly stor- ed at the Tyrell Association faciliti- es, which has been used to mental- ly give birth to a new generation of Nexus-7’s.
The company disregards all ethi- cal or moral considerations in do- ing that, as it is run as a religious cult rather than a traditional corp- oration. This is why Sarah Tyrell recently changed the name of the company to Tyrell “Association” in- stead of “Corporation.” Even thou- gh the Tyrell Association shares so-
me ideas with the ProVolution it doesn’t consider itself to be part of that movement; on the contrary, it regards the overly bionic ProVolut- ion to be a group of vulgar amate- urs ignorant of bioengineering. Th-
ereeven circulate rumours that Sa-
rah Tyrell herself might be a Nex- us-7.
Referee: That last assumption is
actually correct. In 2295 Sarah Ty- rell downloaded her entire persona- lity and memory bank, both consc- ious and unconscious, extracted fr- om her brain into that of an im- mortal Nexus-7 generation Mental- A and Physical-A replica of herself, her old mortal body and self com- mitting ritual suicide (overseen by
hernewreplicantself)and beingse-
cretly cremated without any burial. The homo sapiens Sarah Tyrell reg- arded this final act to be a mental transition or spiritual transmigrati- on into herself as homo nexus—She did it without any regret or sorrow; in all practical respects, Sarah has survived into her new immortal se- lf, and in this transition becoming
the arch-villain of the 24th century.
The greater majority of the higher echelons of the Tyrell Association has followed her suit. They all re- gard themselves to be the new elite
oraristocracy ofhuman society, wi-
th Sarah as their divine Queen or
goddess,the new center of their cu-
lt since the demise of her uncle. As a matter of fact, the experi- ment of transferring Sarah’s mem- ories unto the Nexus-7 designated Rachel Tyrell anticipated this act, serving as a species of “test run”,
everything overseen by Dr. Tyrell
himself. After the successful initial experiment of transferring his nie- ce’s “soul” into Rachel, he “employ- yed” the latter as his personal assi- stant, so that he could study her personally up-close. In fact, not on-
ly was Sarah’s memories copied
but also her body; Rachel is Sar- ah’s replicant twin or enhanced cl- one.
The original plan was that after
a successful transferral of a full
and intact human memory bank
in-to a replicant’s brain, Dr. Tyrell
wo-uld himself go through a similar tr-ansition using a Nexus-7 Mental-A replica of himself as a host. His pr-emature death hindered this proc-ess, which was already in its early stages; the manufacture of the Dr. Tyrell Nexus-7 clone was never co-
mpleted and Dr. Tyrell’s memory
banks were never saved electroni- cally in the computer. The entire process was only completed by his niece the following year.
Once known as the Shimata-Domi- nguez Corporation, also renown si- mply as “Off-World,” and recogniz- ed by many different
brand symbo-ls, it is one of the major North American compa-nies.
This Argentinian, Mexican and J
apanese conglomerate is the larg-
est corporation exploiting off-world
colonization into Alpha Centauri
and the Chinese arm (and in parti- cular Beta Hydri and the Latin fin- ger), as well as the 61 Ursae Major- is system of the French arm. It has
started to compete somewhat on
the markets of the American arm
as well. Its motto is “Helping Ame- rica into the New World”.
Its compelling commercials, seen on the large megalopolis blimp bill- boards, broadcasted on huge video screens, are a common feature in
America (the Americas or Western
Hemisphere), trumpeting:
A new life awaits you in the Off-World Colonies. The chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adv- enture. New climate, recreational facil- ities, easy advancement, great pay. Pl- us, a loyal trouble free-companion, gi-
ven to you on arrival, absolutely free. Use your new friend as a personal bo- dy servant or a tireless field hand. The custom tailored genetically engineered humanoid replicant, designed especia- lly for your needs. So come on Ameri- ca, let's put our team up there. Lets go to the Colonies! This announcement has been brought to you by the Shim-
ago–Domínguez corporation, helping
America into the new world.
The term “America” is used in
this context to designate the entire North and South American contin- ent or Western Hemisphere, which sometimes is simply referred to as
America; it doesn’t make an exclu-
sive reference to the USA. The Mex-
ican,Argentinian,andJapanesego-
vernments have contracted the Sh- imago-Domínguez corporation with the task of administering and sup- ervising the colonization of the Chi-nese and French arms, such as la-nd distribution, the issuing of com-pany permits and industry licence-es, the building of facileties, work-shops and factories for
companies or entrepreneurs, and
housings, fa-rms and ranches for the settlers, etc. They also do
landscaping, bui-ld roads and railroads, as well as stations and airports, etc. They rai-se buildings for urban settlements, as well as found towns and cities. They also
offer troubleshooting ser-vices and
are a likely employer of pl-ayer
characters. I.e. they are invo-lved in all aspects of building and maintaining a human society in a strange and foreign land. And they are good at it.
The Shimago-Domínguez corpor- ation is especially renown for the pioneering efforts, with the special allowance from the above govern- ents and in cooperation with the Tyrell Corporation, to use replican- ts on a larger scale for off-world co- lonization, as a work force for all of their projects to raise a human so- ciety on the off-world frontier, som- ething which has become common- place throughout the Chinese and American arms, and on the Germ-
anand Japanesecolonies of the Fr-
ench arm. It’s greatest marketing campaign to date, in its efforts to
persuadefuture colonizersfrom Ea-
rth, is to promise them the delivery of one brand new Nexus-6 replica- nt upon arrival to a colony, and all this for free. One replicant is issu-
edeach to one single colonist or co-
lonizing pair, or family.
Vid-Phōn Company/AT&T
Vid-Phōn is a registered trademark for the largest telecom company on Earth, with a large percentage off- world market as well. Being a sub- sidiary of the multinational conglo- merate AT&T (American Telephone and Telegraph Corporation), it pro- vides hardware and any necessary
operativesoftwareforcontrollingea-
ch unit or station of the world-wide video telephone net. After being re-
surrected, following the Twilight
War and its aftermath, AT&T rev-
erted back to its classic pre 1984 logo of the phone bell, which is vis- able on all Vid-Phōn units, thus:
In 2300 all telecommunication is done using videophone devices as a base, a technology closely associa-
ted with the Vid–Phōn Company
(the name “Vid-Phōn” is short for videophone). It is also the sole ope- rator selling subscriptions to all of the Vid-Phōn units. This fact has
made the Vid–Phōn Company the
largest subsidiary of the AT&T cor-
poration,makingit synonymouswi-
board of directors the most power- ful of the AT&T executives.
The Vid–Phōn Company owes a
near monopoly over the telecom market on Earth, both on the hard- ware and software sides. Vid-Phōn sells videophones and subscriptio-
ns of different types and models,
bo-th for the domestic and corporate market, but also to city authorities. It issues a special
videophone cred-card needed to ac
tivate the device and which holds
the subscription—the Vid–Phōn
Ca r d. The most common public
phones and phone booths are from Vid-Phōn. The rea-son behind this is that the telecom system
nowadays is transmitted th-rough
communication satellites, wh-ich
relayinformationtoeachcity bl-ock
or house, having its own sat-ellite dish receiver. Vid-Phōn owns a
global satellite system to serve ea-
ch subscribers wherever they are
on earth.
MetroKab Corporation
This is one of the largest metropoli- tan cab companies on Earth, servi- ng the inhabitants on many Terran megalopolices. It competes with ot- her cab companies in most Terran cities and owns a monopoly in ma- ny others, often in the largest ones such as Los Angeles.
What is unique, and obviously
commercially viable, with the Met- roKab corporation, is its cars that more resemble small busses rather than classical taxi cabs. Thus, the usual way to go with a MetroKab car is to travel jointly with several passengers. Either several custom- ers agree upon a common desti- nation at the start, or the car an- nounces it on a digital message bo- ard on top of the car roof, such as “3 fares to...” and picks up cust- omer passengers on the way. Also,
the metrokab may drop off passen- gers on the way to a major destin- ation, if its situation approximates
the predestined travel path. The pr-
ice for each customer is not affect- ed by the actual amount of passen- gers in the car, much like in the
publicbus; eachpassenger paysin-
dividually for himself only.
Also, like any cab company, the MetoKab corporation is connected to the city travel electronic network making it possible for the customer
toannouncehisdestinationandpo-
int of origin on the city street light message network system, making it simpler for the cab driver to plot his travel path beforehand along a series of destinations making his fares more rationalized. This also makes it easier for the customer to fetch a cab on the street, not by simply waving his hand like in the
20th century, but by plotting in his
information on a keyboard. Wher- ever the MetroKab company has a
presence, it makes itself seen with a large volume of yellow cars.
EQUIPMENT
Rachael–“Hello?”
Deckard–“I’ve had people walk out
on me before, but not wh- en I was being so charmi- ng. I’m at a bar here now down in the Fourth Sector. Tafy Lewis’s on the line. Why don’t you come on down here and have a drink?
Rachael–“I don't think so, Mr. Deck-
ard. That’s not my kind of place.
Deckard–“Go someplace else?”
Videophone
The videophone in general and the Vid-Phōn line of products in parti- cular is the most common telecom (telephone communication) device used on Earth and off-world. It is a
standard item in all homes (not
counting the pitiful quarters of the gutter-folk) and workstations, eith- er as a stationary phone unit or as a portable pocket version (resem-