- Joined
- Sep 24, 2006
- Messages
- 5,156
- Reaction score
- 0
The Arc Corporation
"Tomorrow, Today."
"Tomorrow, Today."
"The Arc Corporation; a brief history"
A.J. Mackey
The Arc corporation, or the Arc for short was founded by Sir Henry Herdun, a prominent and powerful figure within the Corellian Nobility. 20 years ago, it began as a simply shipping company, using fast private speeders to carry valuable cargoes in small numbers. It turned out to be an intelligent strategy, as more and more rich customers demanded more and more cargoes, allowing for expansion, until it reached an interstellar level, in just under a decade.
Arc really came into it’s own then, as it’s credo of speed and expensive cargoes was relished in an environment where bulk was most important and time a secondary factor.
However, the policy also had it’s own pitfalls. Pirates became a problem, and upgrading ships to be faster or better protected didn’t solve the problem, and only ate into profits. It took him two and a half years to sort ut the pirate problem, but Sir Henry came up with a novel solution.
He allowed himself to be captured, along with an empty ship, and bartered with the pirates. His natural charm and compelling presence did him proud, and the pirates signed contracts to serve as mercenaries, protecting, rather than plundering his cargo.
This strategy caught on, and mercenary forces quickly became an important part of the Arc. In fact, the mercenary system turned out to be a very shrewd move, allowing rapid and efficient expansion, over the next five years, both in shipping and new directions.
Using it's reputation as reliable, efficient and being a supplier of only the highest quality products to expand into areas that were previously unexplored. Initially, it’s forays into the armament industry were poorly met. It attempted to provide high quality versions of existing weapons, but no military wanted more expensive versions of what it already had.
The Arc company remained in a state of limbo for around eighteen months, until a new face arrived on the scene. The young man became an adviser to Henry, and the company took off once more. It began research and development in areas that were avoided by other more public companies and governments. It remained a respectable and reliable company, providing the best and most reliable in cutting edge technology, including some of the best battle droids and human enhancements.
It rapidly grew, employing more and more people in more and more areas, some old like it’s famous shipping branch, and other new ones, like experimental technologies. This massive move took it a whole year, an incredible feat, considering the scale of the expansion.
This massive period of expansion really made Arc one of the most powerful and famous companies in the galaxy. It entered into military contracts, but never took the side of the Galactic Republic, or the Alsakan Union. To say it remained uninvolved would be untrue, rather it took both sides equally.
This brief account brings us up to the present day. The Arc Corporation has never been more powerful, and is beginning to exert more and more influence in almost every sector of business.
"The Arc Corporation; ventures and enterprise"
A.J. Mackey
The Arc corporation is an interesting entitiy. Rather than being based on a single business model, such as Advanced Armaments which puts all of it's time and effort into research and development of new and more powerful weapons, the Arc has no limits to it's enterprises.
This can be easily seen by looking at the corporation's history. Originally, it started as a high quality shipping firm, then expanded into a small amount of contract based policing with it's mercenary forces. It later on shut down this enterprise, but it moved on to several new ventures, a perfect example being setting up various research and development teams of it's own, into a huge variety of fields, including but not limited to arms, artificial intelligence, genetic enhancements and bio-technology.
The corporation is not limited to research by any means, as it has expanded to manufacturing goods of the highest quality and even building ships, for those that can afford their high prices.
It is a curious business model, but it seems to be working quite well for the fledgling company. Included below is a brief summary of all of the various branches of the Arc corporation, and their subsidiaries as far as are known.
Known Research and Development fieldsKnown Manufacturing fields
- Armaments
- Armour
- Shielding (Both personal, and vehicle based)
- Genetic modification
- Bio-tech integration
- Artificial intelligence
- Battle droids
Known Business fields
- Armaments
- Armour
- Battle droids
- Ships
"The Arc Corporation; the public face"
- Shipping (still the most prominent and profitable element of the corporation)
The high ups at the Arc Corporation have always portrayed the business in a very positive light, and many argue they are right to, having created numerous jobs and done uncountable good deeds, often funded straight from Sir Henry's own pocket.
However, there are those who would vehemently disagree, and proceed to tell you of the dirty tricks that The Arc uses. In the interests of impartiality, a number of these rumors have been included, but it must be stressed that it is simply to get the fullest picture available. After all, a contemporary source is useless if it is not complete and comprehensive.
Many people claim that it was immediately before the second period of expansion that the company changed from a simple, fair and innocent business into something much shadier. Many claim that the company began using intimidation, threats, violence, bribery, kidnapping and extortion to its advantage, amongst others.
Others claim that the company began actively working against it's rivals, as opposed to merely competing; destroying or stealing from rival projects and even killing the lead sceintists, to encourage others to make the 'right' choice.
However, all of this is hearsay, and since nothing has ever appeared in anything even remotely official, it can safely be assumed that the Arc Corporation is not the sinister entity that many make it out to be.
The Arc Corporation is now hiring! Your chance to be part of the most respectable and powerful emerging business is withing your grasp!
Simply submit your resumè to your nearest branch, and our dedicated staff will decide which of our hundreds of fields of work you would be most suited to.