The Sun Oil Company
Founded in 895 PC by Daedalus Ritsuki, the Sun Oil Company got its start pioneering research on a technique to refine a rare breed of algae native to the Yakonami Gulch. Each year during the dry season the Gulch dries out and the remaining algae burns for days on end. Ritsuki heard of this and thought of the potential for such a potent fuel source. However, three years into this research their attention was diverted by the discovery of a rare material called Residium on the small island of Outear. By this point their refinement process was nearing completion, but they were so far unable to find a means of reliably cultivating the algae on a larger scale. Gurtholo Bletz, an Occidental conservationist, stumbled upon Residium one day as he was taking a walk in the woods. He found a small cave and rested at its mouth, smoked a cigarette, and flicked it deeper into the cave once he was finished with it. As the cigarette hit the ground within the cave the remaining spark ignited something within the cave walls causing a massive explosion. Bletz was thrown by the shockwave, but was mostly unharmed. Upon investigating he found a light blue crystal that had embedded itself into the rocks which, upon review by the board of geologists, would be designated as Residium. At this point Bletz contacted Ritsuki, his college roomate, and asked him to come examine their findings. When Ritsuki and his team of scientists experimented on mana they were blown away not only its physical potential, but its magical potential as well. The company immediately relocated to Outear, leaving the Elvish Empire and settling in the Nation of the Occident. The refinement process was modified to suit the properties of Residium, and by 900 PC the refinement process had been perfected. The team had invented Mana, a revolutionary fuel source that not only could burn externally, but when injected into a subject would ignite the latent fire inside and allow for powerful fire magic. This would revolutionize the world, allowing industry, trade, commerce, and transportation to boom simultaneously, all centering on the Sun Oil Company. Within the span of two years the fledgling startup turned into one of the most powerful companies in the world. Their control over commerce became ubiquitous as they found more and more applications for Mana. Soon railways covered the Occident carrying Sun Oil Company goods on Sun Oil Company trains. Electricity went from being a novelty of the wealthy to an omnipresent force as Mana powered generators were constructed, powered by trained fire mages which quickly became one of the most in demand jobs across the globe. Over the next two decades The Sun Oil Company would continue to develop Mana based technologies such as the Auto Carriage and the Zeppelin. Eventually, however, a problem began to arise. First in Outear, then Erange, then even in the Winterlands; sources of Residium began to dry up. It was at this point they returned their attention to a central, unanswered question, what even is Residium. Using a radio wave emitter and a broad spectrum receiver they were able to date the substance and they found it aligned with the Interplanar Collision nearly 1000 years ago. They theorized it was a kind of residue left over by the force of the collisions, the melted and crystalized fabric of the universe itself. This hypothesis was confirmed when the Second Interplanar Collision occurred in 920 PC, bringing many new races and species into the world, along with refilling the world's Residium reserves. While this patched the hole in the sinking ship for the moment, the threat of Mana scarcity still looms over the heads of the Sun Oil Company. In the year 950 PC, the company is now headed by the son of Daedalus Ritsuki, Icarus. The company still stands as the largest and most powerful corporation in the world, but even they are not immune to the economic recession the world has fallen into. On top of this, the company's Residium supply is once again running out, and to deal with this the R&D department has turned their full focus onto studying Interplanar travel. Now they race against the clock, each day drawing their supplies closer and closer to empty. Will they find what they are looking for out in the planes, or could these experiments have disastrous consequences, unraveling reality itself?
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