Ares Macrotechnology
Ares Macrotechnology is a megacorporation headquartered in Detroit Michigan. Formed when Nick "Old Nick" Aurelius consolidated his various assets under General Motors following the Shiawase Decision, Ares Macrotechnology has been a major player on the international stage. Their major divisions include their weapon department Ares Arms, their space department built from the bones of NASA AresSpace, and their security department Knight-Errant Security.
Structure
Ares operates with a very traditional corporate environment. Each division of the corporation has several active projects to which teams of employees are assigned. Each project is then further delegated amongst smaller teams and, in the case of some larger projects, subsidiaries owned by Ares. Although Ares does not operate a corporate enclave, employees are encouraged to buy and live within the confines of the company as much as possible, with rewards given to employees who do so in the form of promotions and occasionally stock.
Thanks to their involvement in the arms and security industries, Ares tends to have a massive amount of influence on the cities it establishes itself in. Detroit in particular, home to the headquarters for both the main branch of the company and three of its major departments, is heavily under the control of Ares interests. The wider UCAS is also heavily tied to Ares corporate interests, although official representative from both Ares and the UCAS government insist that there is not official collusion between the two entities.
Public Agenda
Of the major divisions of the company, the Knight-Errant division has seen by far the most growth within the last few years. Initially developed as a private security firm, Knight-Errant has expanded into a wide range of industries, including municipal policing, urban crisis management, and counter-insurgency operations. This expansion has provided the foundation for further and further interaction between Ares and several national governments, most notably that of the UCAS. As of now, Ares supplies weapons for the UCAS army, provides security for major government officials, operates special operations forces, and entirely owns the national space agency. Internal documents imply that future plans intend to further tighten the connection between the two.
Assets
Alongside the hundreds of subsidiaries owned by Ares are five main departments. Each is headed by close friends of Damien Knight, who takes personal interest in the operations of each divisions major projects.
AresSpace
Headquarters: Houston, Texas, UCAS Executive VP: Charles Pollack Although it is not what Ares is best known for, AresSpace is the most profitable of the Ares divisions, in large part due to the monopoly it currently holds on the spaceflight industry. Formed when Ares bought out NASA in 2016, AresSpace operates most space and low-orbit flights in the Americas, with several exclusivity deals signed with the UCAS in particular. It also operates five orbital habitats, including a research station and a luxury vacation station. It also handles the day-to-day operations of the Zurich-Orbital Habitat, home of the Corporate Court, although Ares sold ownership of the station to the Court itself in 2023.Ares Arms
Headquarters: Baltimore, Maryland, UCAS Executive VP: General Guido Cantarelli Ares Arms is the division that made Ares a household name. As the world's largest weapon distributor, Ares Arms maintains contracts with everyone from major national governments down to guerilla factions. Most of what the division sells are weapons manufacturer by Ares itself, but it has be known to act as a middle-man for the resale of weapons built by other companies. At the scale of the average consumer, Ares weapons tend to be viewed as the expensive but reliable option, an opinion trumpeted by the division's highly competent PR team.Knight-Errant Security
Headquarters: Detroit, Michigan, UCAS Executive VP: Roger Soaring Owl When Damien Knight took control of the corporation in 2033, he wasted no time in founding a new division for the company, now called the Knight-Errant Security division. In addition to being a power base for Knight to maintain control of the company, the division also acts as a PR synergy for the Ares Arms divisions. Knight-Errant promises customers to protect them with the best weapons and technology available, often from Ares' own warehouses, meaning that both clients and prospetive attackers associate Ares Arms with the best weaponry currently available. In more recent years, Knigh-Errant security experts have been known to work with a wider range of customers, ranging from national security to police precincts.Ares Global Entertainment
Headquarters: Paris, France Executive VP: Gustav von Sydow Often seen as the runt of the litter, Ares Global Entertainment only recently gained enough traction to turn a profit. For years it languished, only known for operating the North American Broadcasting Systems (NBS), a news network infamous for broadcasting thinly veiled and poorly produced corporate propaganda. Things started looking up for the network with the promotion of Gustav von Sydow, who worked to improve production within the company. The same underlying propaganda was now packaged in an exciting and flashy veneer that brought in record ratings. For this feat, Sydow was again promoted in 2054, this time to VP of the entire division. While still substantially behind in numbers compared to its sister divisions, Ares Global Entertainment finally exists on the same playing field with plenty of potential left.General Motors
Headquarters: Detriot, Michigan, UCAS Executive VP: Eugene Fischer Although General Motors (GM) provided the foundation for the company that would eventually become Ares Macrotechnology, the company operates almost completely independently from the megacorporation. When Nicholas Aurelius consolidated his assets under Ares, he did not formally own the company and so a massive chunk of GM's stocks were owned by the owner of an outside company. In the time since then GM has been incorporated into the larger fold of Ares, but interest in integrating its business structure with that of Ares has never been very high. Most believe the Damien Knight sees the company as little more than a historical remnant, despite the fact that the company remains a major player in the automotive industry.History
Ares Industries
When the Shiawase Decision cemented extraterritorial rights for corporations in 2001, bussinesmen around the world caught on to the massive ramifications of the landmark court case. One of these businessmen was Nicholar Aurellius, then a major shareholder in General Motors and owner of several other modarely large businesses. After seeing the growth potential experienced by Shiawase in the years following the decision, Aurellius began consolidating his assets under a single business, which he called Ares Industries. The new business grew quickly, thanks in part to tax exemptions and other concession handed down by the US government. Within a few years Ares applied for and gained extraterritorial status, essentially giving it free rein to operate as Aurellius saw fit. Aurellius quickly gained a reputation for being a risky but shrewd businessman. He regularly depleted his biggest assets for the sake of new aquisitions, with great success more often than great failure. With a combination of strong-man tactics, suspected espionage, and plain old smart business negotiations, Aurellius skyrocketed the financial standing of his newly born behemoth. Perhaps the best known exploit of his was the acquisition of NASA in 2016. The US government, reeling as it was from the VITAS plague and the Great Ghost Dance, agreed to lease out the facilities, staff, equipment and vehicles of NASA to Ares, effectively selling the agency off to the highest bidder. The original agreement stipulated that Ares would have to return these resources to the US government in 2055, by which point the government hoped to have rebuilt. This deal was void when the US government fully collapsed in 2030, forming the United Canadian and American States. Following the NASA acquisition, Ares saw a massive increase in power and influence, especially within what would become the UCAS. As it collapsed, the US relied more and more on Ares to supply weapons and maintain order where the government couldn't afford to. The newly born UCAS carried over these relations, which have only expanded since then. Aurellius oversaw this expansion campaign, but claims about conflicts of interest plauged his career. As such, he formally passed the title of CEO over to Sakehisa Tajika, a figurehead that Aurellius could control while he himself faded into the background. He would later resume the title in 2028, at which point public opinions of megacorporations had become both more positive and inconsequential.Ares and the Corporate Court
During Tajika's tenure as CEO, Ares saw its influence on the world codified into psuedo-law with the creation of the Inter-Corporate Court. The ICC named Ares as one of the Big Eight, giving it massive authority over the corporate world. Additionally, in 2023 ICC bought the Freedoms space station to use as a home for the judges of the Corporate Court, but still allowed Ares to continue operations and maintenance on the station. This meant that even amongst the Big Eight Ares had extensive influence, which Tajika was quick to turn into power on the worldwide stage. By 2024 Ares, now operating under the name Ares Macrotechnology, had nearly complete control of Detroit, the city where their new headquarters were located. By the time Aurellius regained formal powers as CEO, Ares was in an excellent position globally. The following year challenged his abilities as a leader, as 2029 saw the spread of a virus that ripped apart the internet. Ares was well insulted from the incident thanks to a network of offline computers established by Tajika, but the collapse of the US alongside several other global powers created power vaccuums that the megacorporations fought over for the next decade. Aurellius' relations with the US thankfully carried over to the newly established UCAS, giving Ares a solid foundation to build on in the following years. By 2031, the aging Aurellius felt confident enough in the longevity of Ares to pass the company down to his son, Leonard Aurellius, and live out his final days a rich man. A year later Nicholas breathed his last, believing that he had left an unbreakable empire for his son.Ares under Knight
Unfortunately for Leonard, just months after the loss of his father he would also lose the company to a newcomer on the corporate stage. On January 24, 2033, a network of computers at the Boston Stock Exchange performed thousands of transactions that lasted just over a minute. Within that minute a massive amount of money and stocks changed hands, costing several multi-millionaires their fortunes and placing that money in the hands of Damien Knight, who now had a majority share in the company at 22 percent. This Nanosecond Buyout, as it has come to be known, instantly passed ownership into the hands of Knight who immediately leaped into action to solidify his holdings. Leonard tried to hold on to the company his father had built, but Knight out-maneuvered him, stripping him of his titles of CEO and chairman. The following decade saw an intense rivalry between the two, with Knight creating the Knight-Errant Security division to solidify his holdings in the company and Leonard constantly attempting to undercut his success. Leonard did eventually succeed in regaining his position as chairman in 2049, but Knight's hold on the CEO has held firm in the years since.
Founding Date
2002
Type
Megacorporation
Alternative Names
Ares Industries (2002-2024)
Leader
Notable Members
Rivalry
Although Ares and Aztechnology aren't actively at each other's throats, both megacorps have an interest in political power. Control of the former South US region is a high priority of both corporations, leading to tensions.
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