Saeder-Krupp
The crown jewel of Lofwyr's hoard. Formerly the top rated megacorp. Unapologetically identifies their Johnsons as "Herr Brackhaus", a common psuedonym of Lofwyr himself, so you always know when you're working for them. Notably, not publicly traded at all -- the entire business is solely owned by Lofwyr, and Lofwyr doesn't like sharing power. Effectively the governing body of Europe.
Saeder-Krupp is the number-two megacorporation of the AAA-rated Big Ten. The company keeps its main headquarters in the Allied German States, though Saeder-Krupp also maintains business centers in every continent of the world, including the Mount Kirkpatrick Arcology in Antarctica.
Culture
With the corporate motto “One Step Ahead” and a great dragon as CEO, Saeder-Krupp possesses corporate goals that frequently, if not overtly, align with those of Lofwyr. This arrangement has created a hierarchy of employees throughout the organization well-accustomed to receiving and being expected to act upon orders they may not fully understand. This can lead to some disgruntlement among S-K employees, who do not typically enjoy much autonomy. Prospective employees may wish to second-guess that invitation from an S-K headhunter. There exists the possibility (however remote it may be, it increases the farther one travels up the corporate ladder) of becoming dragon food should an employee fail. Added to that, there will never be any possibility of rising to the top of the corporation—the dragon will not be vacating his position any time soon. On the other hand, well-performing employees are rewarded handsomely. Saeder-Krupp is in the enviable position of enjoying a protection of sorts, thanks to the great dragon’s far-seeing mind.
Saeder-Krupp maintains a steady and conservative reputation. They are reported, year after year, to pay better wages than their competitors, offer an outstanding package of employee benefits in the form of fine living quarters, employee services, and discounts on a wide variety of attractive products, and maintain a sense of longevity among its official and unofficial employees, free agents or otherwise. Because of the near-unknowable machinations of the great dragon at the head of the company, the pathways by which employees may strive to help grow the corporation are not always evident or consistent with the predetermined steps that may or may not have been already planned. Therefore, the company is not always the swiftest when it comes to moving on opportunities. In fact, Saeder-Krupp has largely kept to itself this past decade. Whether due to the stresses on the CEO and the changes wreaked upon the world during the Dragon Civil War, or whether due to the sheer contentment at watching NeoNET crash and burn, Saeder-Krupp has largely remained quiet and maintained its status quo.
But what does all this mean for the more shadowy aspects of a corp, which we sometimes worry about? A few things. First, working with Saeder-Krupp, if you can bring yourself to work for a mega, can pay in spades. Just like the company pays its employees well, they are known for paying runners well and also keep good performers on hand. If you’re a runner for S-K and you do your job well, you’ll have a friend in and some longevity with the corp. At least, until they decide to dump your corpse in the Baldeneysee. In short, you have to decide for yourself whether it’s in your best interests to deal with a dragon, because let’s be honest: when you’re dealing with Saeder-Krupp, you are most certainly dealing with a dragon, even if the Herr Brackhaus you’re speaking to lacks scales.
Public Agenda
The megacorporation spends most of its attentions and resources on its industrial customers, preferring to allow other megacorps to scurry to meet the whims of private consumers. However, Saeder-Krupp does provide a small selection of products for the private consumer market, mostly consumer electronics and drones. With the corporate motto “One Step Ahead” and a great dragon as CEO, Saeder-Krupp possesses corporate goals that frequently, if not overtly, align with those of Lofwyr.
Assets
Today, Saeder-Krupp is one of the top producers in the world of heavy industry and manufacturing, chemical production and processing, Matrix technology, and construction, although the company has ceased its nanofabrication business interests since CFD appeared on the world stage. Saeder-Krupp is also known for finance, space technologies, and magical research.
Now, if you’re running against S-K, good luck. Saeder-Krupp is well-known for its military technology and equipment, and their security forces, as well as the black ops of Saeder-Krupp Prime, are no joke. Saeder-Krupp Prime in particular is a mercurial, shadowy intelligence group with no apparent headquarters of operations and a budget in line with the amount a great dragon would spend to quash troublemakers (read: boatloads). However, keep in mind that one of the more common jobs S-K Johnsons hire runners to perform is to test S-K security. Of course, if you fail, there’s not much else to worry about, because you’re dead. But if you succeed, well, the security forces are probably going to be the ones made dead, but you might find yourself with another job offer. Maybe don’t meet Mr. Johnson in person after a successful run, though. One can never be too careful.
History
Saeder-Krupp was kicked off in 2037 when the great dragon Lofwyr, disguised as a metahuman, walked into a board meeting for the then-German corporation, Bayerische Motoren Werke, revealed himself as the largest shareholder of the company (and as a great dragon—oh, to be a Flyspy on the wall of that meeting!), and took over the company. It’s said that Lofwyr was maneuvering to obtain his very own empire, and that taking over a corporation was the quickest path to his goal. He renamed the now privately owned corporation Saeder-Krupp and used every opportunity presented to him to grow the company. Much of the company’s movements during those first few years focused and depended upon the strength of the German economy and workers as Lofwyr gathered contracts for infrastructure construction, Matrix grid construction and support, and a myriad of others in countries around the globe, solidifying Saeder-Krupp’s portfolio of holdings and resources into one of the most valuable in the world.
Saeder-Krupp is in the enviable position of enjoying a protection of sorts, thanks to the great dragon’s far-seeing mind. Such was the case when Lofwyr installed a kill-switch on all Saeder-Krupp- owned Matrix grids. S-K was able to protect much of Europe’s grids as the Crash 2.0 worm destroyed nearly every other grid in its path in late 2064.
Saeder-Krupp’s headquarters are nestled deep within the corporate city and extraterritorial territory of Neu-Essen. In 2072, Lofwyr, having come to own every piece of property within a four-kilometer radius of Saeder-Krupp’s headquarters, formalized the region into a brand-new city and extraterritorial property entirely owned by Saeder-Krupp. Today, the only people who are able to gain legal entry into Neu-Essen possess SINs, and the only people who are able to gain entry to the more centrally located portions of Neu-Essen, such as the gated community of Kettwig, possess S-K SINs.
Rumors milled earlier in the 2070s about Saeder-Krupp’s space arm sending probes to Mars. Whispers spoke of S-K setting up an arcology on Mars, particularly when it was revealed that S-K was testing “live buildings” created from nanite materials. However, upon the shutdown of all nanofabrication, the plans for Mars appear to have stalled. It is yet unknown whether S-K plans to run with more traditional construction—something that is certainly in the company’s wheelhouse—or abandon the project altogether, if it ever was a project to begin with.
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