Richard Villiers

CEO of Novatech and Fuchi

Richard Villiers is the CEO of Novatech Incorporated and nominally the CEO of Fuchi Industrial Electronics. He sports a long career as a corporate raider, bouncing between corporations, snatching up assets, and building his own personal power.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Richard Villiers was born in Boston in 2000 amidst the rising power of corporations. Growing up amid this world, Villiers quickly learned the power that corporations were beginning to wield. He bought and sold local businesses to increase his personal value, in the process gaining a reputation for being one of the earliest corporate raiders. 
In 2029, Villiers was handed an opportunity on two fronts. First, the Crash of '29 demonstrated both how fickle the Matrix could be, but also how powerful cybertechnology could become. Secondly, due to an earthquake devestating New York City that same year, the Stock Exchange moved to Boston, giving the city a fresh burst of business. Villiers worked with two veterans of the Crash, Ken Roper and Michael Eld, who had both been members of Echo Mirage. Together, they formed a company called Matrix Systems which aimed to create more usable cyberterminals. Even as Fuchi and Renraku competed to re-establish a global network and make cyberterminals more affordable, Matrix Systems beat the much bigger competitors at their own game. By 2034, Matrix Systems had developed a desk-sized cyberterminal, substantially smaller than those developed at Fuchi and Renraku, which they called the Portal.  
The Portal never went to market, however. Both Eld and Roper died under mysterious circumstances in 2034, after which Villiers shut down Matrix Systems and moved most of the company's assets into his own ownership. He then approached Fuchi with a deal; if they gave him a third of the company's shares, he would sell all of Matrix System's assets to them, including the rights to the Portal. The company's rival heads, Yamana and Nakatomi, argued over whether to take the deal, but Nakatomi wound up dead and his son, Shikei, gained his shares and happened to agree with Yamana's stance. So Fuchi brought Villiers on board, where he instantly gained almost complete control of the company. 
For the next twenty years Fuchi climbed higher and higher alongside Villiers himself. Under Villiers, the company gained control of JRJ International, a member of the Big Seven granting them a spot on the Corporate Court. Villiers faced internal conflicts with Yanama and Nakatomi, but Villiers and his faction consistently wound up on top. In 2050, Villiers formed his own private holding company for assets his stole from Fuchi called Novatech Incorporated which he headquartered in his hometown of Boston. Three years later, his close friend Miles Lanier betrayed Fuchi and helped Renraku destroy important Fuchi assets. As Fuchi floundered, Villiers sold off more of their assets either to Renraku or to Novatech, the latter of which gained control of JRJ alongside Fuchi's seat on the Court. Villiers now seems set to fully transition over to Novatech, leavng Fuchi to die out, his old rivals with it.

Species

Human

Year of Birth

2000 55 Years old

Sex

Male

Aligned Organization

Novatech Incorporated

Other Affiliations

• Fuchi Industrial Electronics