Smith-Shimano Corpro

The Constellar Worlds

Smith-Shimano Corpro is another of the Triumvirate Corpros, the smallest and most mission-focused of the three, with their physical territorial holdings dwarfed by their presence in the omninet and in Diasporan biologies.
SSC is the second-oldest corporation in the galaxy, preceded only by GMS. Founded by Cartwright Smith and Shimano Hideyoshi, SSC’s emphasis on private stellar and interstellar travel, the fantastic wealth of its founders, and favorable contracts within Union’s First Committee, Smith-Shimano quickly became an early leader in the race to develop sublight, downwell, and EVA vehicles. SSC grew throughout Union’s First Expansion Period, managing the majority of all private and corporate contracts’ design, outfitting, and clinical needs. Over time, the corporation diversified to specialize in bio-bespoke, long-range scout suits – personalized hard suits, for those with the manna to afford them.
The necessities of deep-space exploration require humans to spend long periods in hostile environments; pre-Deimos Event, SSC sought to address this challenge by breaking down the barriers between human and machine, creating a symbiotic relationship between hardsuit and wearer. Following the Deimos Event, however, SSC wound down most of its human/machine integration research in accordance with the First Contact Accords, choosing instead to focus on perfecting the first machine: the human body itself.
Smith-Shimano frames reflect the corpro-state's pedigree and its agile, adaptable business model. They are built not to take hits – though they’re resilient enough – but to avoid them entirely. SSC designs emphasize mobility and sleek profiles, precisely tuned to land not the hardest hit, but the most accurate. Economy, precision, and singularity is the name of the game for this manufacturer: why fire a thousand rounds when one can be just as effective?
The mechs developed by SSC are known for their license exclusivity, appealing silhouette, and exacting design. Their LUX-Iconic line of chassis are coveted, single-designer models, each unique to the pilot with the requisite licenses and access to afford them; as such, unlike other manufacturers, SSC frames tend to be longer-lasting in service, with more emphasis on retrofitting and repair than recycling and reproduction.
SSC’s corporeal development pushes the edge of what it means to be a human being. Cybernetic enhancements, subdermal nettings, aurals, implanted neuroneutral omnihooks, ontologic bridges, co-subjectivity nodes, panacea glands—the list is exhausting, and that only covers the Foreign Body department of SSC’s massive R&D campus-worlds. The real bulk of SSC’s cutting edge research comes in the form of their own citizens, a population of billions spread across a constellation of moons, worlds, stations, and habitats. These populations are monitored and cultivated to produce best-fit genetic material for SSC’s big manna buyers: colony firms looking to license bespoke populations for as-yet-unexploited worlds.
The average galactic citizen sees SSC as a luxury brand that emphasized attachment to the craft and expertise that creates the material world around them. SSC’s advertisements emphasize the hand-crafted nature of their goods, the long-cycle growth of their biologicals — to SSC’s public face, printing is a necessary evil, one that can make the goods the masses need, but not the perfect, unique item you need.
SSC’s power comes from the licensing of these luxury goods, cybernetics, and biological lines. They do not cede control over their genestock to the colony firms that use them: in fact, they retain ultimate rights over them, as they rely on the risk of other corporations, states, and private groups to inject new and interesting mutations into their finely cultivated genelines.

Assets

The worlds under SSC’s direct control are, generally, small worlds -- atmospheric moons and arcadian worlds that are lightly developed, with tightly controlled populations that are
purpose-bred in arranged couplings in order to create biome-specific lines of bespoke colony seed. The people on these worlds are aware of SSC’s mission -- they are citizens of the corpro state, most invested in the same mission as their corporate masters. Save for a donation of genetic material (a few hairs, a drop of blood) and a cultural insistence on arranged coupling, life on a Constellation World is largely similar to that of life on a given non-SSC core world. SSC mounts expeditions into all sectors of space to seek out new and interesting genetic materials. Their recruitment materiel leans heavily on the benefits for immigrating to an SSC world: they are, in a phrase, your ideal paradise.
SSC is also known for their luxury-forward consumer goods and machinery. Elegant ships, chassis, and hardsuits for the discerning Cosmopolitan and Diasporan alike. Fabrics and materials that feel perfect against your skin, cybernetic and biological enhancements that will never fail or be rejected by your body, flash-grown internals and extremities—insurance, should the worst happen. SSC’s LUX line of consumer goods is bespoke down to the atom, crafted for the person who ordered that ship, chassis, suit, or bottle of wine. There’s only one of you in the galaxy—shouldn’t there be only one of these?

History

SSC came to prominence during the second expansion period, growing rapidly to dominate the Core market in Union’s liberal, pre-RA transhumanist approach to biological and cybernetic enhancement. Following the Deimos Event, the RA Accords, and the ensuing crackdown on AI generation and civilian ontologic/singularity-focused experimentation, SSC tacked to a more “natural” approach to biological and cybernetic human enhancement. Instead of pursuing marriage between human and artificial intelligences, they would focus on improving the bodies we lived in; instead of removing the need to step to the stars, they would make it so we could step to the stars.

You only need one.

Type

Corporation, Conglomerate

Alternative Names

SSC