Novaya Zemlya Scientific Solutions

Written by Zach Batson
Edited by Eowyn Cwper

Based out of the Severnaya Climatic Research Complex on Vaygach Island, Novaya Zemlya Scientific Solutions has the cleanest reputation among Russia’s many Mega Corporations. Founded in 1904 by eccentric billionaire Zakhar Lipovsky, the company was founded simply as a weather research institute, with multiple laboratories across the empire. Zakhar was fascinated with meteorology, and wanted to find methods of “wresting control of the skies from God in order to benefit the Russian people.” While incredibly ambitious, it is hard to say he did not succeed in some capacity. The foundation successfully pioneered cloud seeding as early as 1912, and has since developed methods of small-scale cloud dispersal, acre-sized artificial convection, and wind current manipulation. In the years leading up to his death, Zakhar had turned his ever-zealous aims towards full-scale terraforming, a dream carried on by his successor.

Lana Lipovsky assumed the role of director in 1923, expanding the institute into a full-fledged corporate empire in the years that followed. She acquired special land grants on the Yamal Peninsula and Nenetsia in order to prevent other industries from contaminating their research base. This territory, in addition to her father’s stomping grounds in Novaya Zemlya, gave NZSS a massive experimental zone for their terraforming projects. Local farmers currently have a contractual agreement to share crop yields, as the company often disables one region’s weather controls in order to serve as control data. This deal came about after a wave of paranoia among the locals, who thought the scientists were there to steal their crops and land. When a given season’s tests affect the harvest in the extreme, NZSS is known to also monetarily compensate them as well. That said, their experiments have ultimately led to Northwestern Siberia turning into a veritable breadbasket, though the costs of climate control are still apparent.

NZSS makes a small profit from agriculture deals with the farmers, however their real funding in recent years has come from government contracts. Namely, the Russian military contracted the corporation to miniaturize their weather manipulation technology into a smaller, portable unit. This multifaceted Cloud-Engine was shrunk down enough to fit on a heavy truck in 1932, and their military applications wing has since experimented with even smaller models. Modern Russian battle units are even trained with this piece of technology in mind, and are taught tactics to capitalize on the advantages of poor weather conditions.

Innovations in Cloud-Engine technology have altered the future of warfare for the Russian military, allowing them to generate optimal weather conditions while en-route to battle. While initially an institute with ecological sustainability in mind, Novaya Zemlya Scientific Solutions has gracefully stepped into the markets of the military industrial complex, cornering an invaluable market. Some may critique this move as war profiteering, though Lipovsky insists that their research requires a blank check for funding, one that only the government can provide. Just as she often states in the words of Imperial Aethernaut Otto Lilienthal, “sacrifices must be made” for the betterment of mankind.