Ariel Enterprises

Ariel Enterprises
Origin	Rheinland
Alignment	Independent
Profile
Date of founding	789 A.S.
Founder(s)	Prof. Vlad H. Rothstein Dr. Ernst G. Jaeger
Current leader(s)	Board of Executives
Base of operations	Planet Holstein
Secondary Base	Planet New Berlin
Identification
Primary ID	Civilian ID
Secondary ID	Independent Trader ID
IFF	None
Tag(s)	None
Primary role
A growing private corporation that specialises in the development and research of technology
Secondary role
Expand business opportunities beyond Rheinland

Covering Information

Ariel Enterprises is a growing private firm that specialises in the research, development and manufacture of technology. Ranging from domestic tools and appliances to suppressive policing equipment and military grade ballistics. Ariel has nearly bankrupted itself on a number of occasions persuing theories and trialling every product to perfection before it goes into production. The company has frequently been subject to alot of controversy due to the nature of their research and ethics of their experiments. However Ariel today continues to be a growing name in the technology market that's frequently pushing boundaries in scientific research.

Background Information

The Foundry

Ariel was about pushing limits from the beginning. About taking research into the unknown and persuing the improbable or impossible. Two men that shared this passion; Professor Vlad H. Rothstein of Freie Universitat Berlin and Doctor Ernst G. Jaeger who led a promising career in nanoelectronics at the time. In early 789 the two became business partners and plunged their life savings into it in an attempt to successfully launch the company. Approximately $2,200,000 loss over the next two years was to follow after numerous attempts to market a number of their ideas. The two finally got a break in 791 with eventual completion of the Virgo Series Emergency Personal Defence Orb. The EPDO hit markets, billboards and neuralnet ads thanks to a gambit on an advertising agent the two made earlier that year. The two soon invested in a derelict terraforming platform on Planet Holstein with the profits. They continued to throw cash at their new location while the steady sales of the Orb kept them afloat. They began to recruit curious and intuitive scientists to the firm, bringing together a group of minds that were to have a hand in a majority of Ariels most successful projects in the years to come.

Pushing Limits

In 792 an accident happened at the Holstein manufacturing facility killing 7 Ariel employees, 9 civilians and a Rheinland Federal Police officer. The incident was dubbed a disaster by the tabloids and the company was held responsible for mass manslaughter and a number of violations in research conduct. Prof. Vlad H. Rothstein was sentenced to 15 years incarceration by the Bundesgericht Court of Justice for pushing project 'Phoenix' into dangerous and unstable circumstances. Dr. Ernst G. Jaeger was acquitted of all charges associated with responsibility but was revoked his title and his right to involve himself in scientific research as an accessory to manslaughter. With the firm's reputation in tatters Mr Ernst Jaeger pressed forward as the new chairman of the executive board under the close watch of the Rheinland Government. Ariel turned it's focus onto the domestic environment, manufacturing gadgets and tools for the everyday handyman and housewife. None of the products seemed to hit home but the sales of the EPDO continued to soar despite the dent the incident had made. The next big break came about after a prototype of the AE-54c Enforcement Baton was finalised. It was made with police enforcement in mind, and this time the Rheinland Federal Police was welcomed back to the Holstein for a viewing. A large order was placed shortly after and in three weeks the Holstein plant produced over 6,000,000 units to be sent to police stations across Rheinland. With the profits of the government contract that remained open for maintainance, the company invested in facilities on Planet New Berlin, Alster Shipyard, Planet Hamburg and was one of the first corporations to invest in a property on Planet Nuremberg. The Holstein facility was transformed into the firm's new multi story HQ and now stands as towering island of alloy in the vast oceans of Holstein, and a testiment to how far man's reach can extend.

Evolution

In recent times Ariel Enterprises has been very diverse and unexpected with it's choice of direction. Investments have been made into bioenhancement projects, hovercycle engineering and technology exhibits. A large proportion of the headquarters on Holstein stands as an open exhibit to the public for all of Ariel's accomplishments, failures and unfinished works. Since the return of Vlad Rothstein, the company gave way to Ariel engineering, a division that specialises in the development of specialist hovercycles. Business opportunities have a arisen in both Bretonia and the Edge Worlds. However some controversy seems to have returned and continues to linger since Vlad Rothstein was released. Numerous enquiries have been made into remote Ariel facilities and disregard of ethical procedure but to no conclusion as of yet. However Ariel continues to be a reliable name in the Sirius technology market that's set on expanding it's horizons to rest of the sector.

Other Information

Project Phoenix

The Phoenix is a trial and error disaster recalled and rejected countless times throughout Ariel Enterprises' production history. In 792AS Prof. Vlad H. Rothstein assembled a team of particle physicists, nanotechnology specialists and engineers to develop a design for a tachyon-photon particle meld. What result was a series of nuclear fusion reactors that was said to be capable of generating theoretical dark matter. A series of five prototypes for the mounted ordinance weapon were produced and tested resulting in the deaths of 17 people at Ariel's manufacturing plant on Planet Holstein. The first two prototypes were underpowered and didn't deliver the desired effect of the project so were destroyed. The third was believed to be built with corrupt materials from unverified sources and was ordered destroyed by the authorities before it could be tested. The fourth protoype is believed to be stolen or missing and an attempt to replicate it resulted in the fifth version that caused an explosion killing 7 Ariel personnel and 9 civilians and a Rheinland Federal Police officer.

The project to create a mounted weapon of this sort was abandoned in 802 and left for two years. The tachyon-photon theory was reinvestigated a number of times under regulation resulting in a number of failed projects ranging from domesticated products to energy generation. However in 818AS a final attempt was made to replicate the technology but in a different format.

The state of the art tachyon-photon technology effectively allows would allow one to weild the power of a Cruiser Mortar in one's hand. The theory of downscaling the size of the output projector; using nano-particles; down to a quarter of it's original size would effect the output pulse at 5.7% of it's original amount. At this point, 94.3% of the original output power of a Cruiser Class mortar is ably shrunk into a weapon suitable to be mounted on most small spacecraft. This was the aim of the initial experiment. Although the latest attempt aimed to push this factor a bit further. They intended to downscale the size again to a 16th of the original, resulting in something small enough to be hand held that can deliver approximately 77.2% of the power of a Cruiser Class mortar. In the trials they found that such firepower on such a small scale would disintigrate the user by sheer kinetic backfire. But they employed a technical anomoly found in most spacecraft shields. When a shield's capacity is hit, the shield will fail but no harm will befall the proteted material unless a latter pulse should impact before the recovery time. So they applied their own Virgo class DC shielding power to protect the user from the blast, seperating the airspace between you and the contact point of the Phoenix glove so that the user remains stationary and unharmed during the discharge. The pulse produced disintegrates almost anything within a one mile distance at a circumferance of over 22 feet approximately.

Ariel successfully produced a stable form of conjuring tachyon-photon energy in the palm of one's hand, quite literally. But with the result being a glove that could take out about 20 city blocks and some.

The project was only allowed to continue with permission of the Rheinland Military, who looking for a weapon for military reconnaisance. They were looking for a device that would deliver as much punch as an orbital strike, seing as a strikes were proving too innaccurate at hitting structural targets. Other similar military uses were suggested such as sabotage but once the prototype was completed it was rejected and considered too powerful for the required purpose. Public resale was not permitted and considered unthinkable.

The only two prototypes now remain at Ariel headquarters on Planet Holstein as an exhibit to the public.

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Under the Table

In recent times Ariel has been covertly supporting the political party known as the Bundschuh. Delivering financial, technological and intellince based aid to the group in their endeavours against the Rheinland government. Ariel's motives in this brash move are unclear but thus far appear to be synchronised with the goals of the party itself. The authorities of the Rheinland remain to be unaware of Ariel's affiliation at this time.

Recently Ariel has established Siegen Research Facility within the confines of the strictly Bundschuh controlled system Luneburg. The Facility serves as a more discreet location for the firm to work on some of it's more controversial research projects and serves as a secondary supply depot to the Bundschuh stationed at the nearby Bielefeld and Bruschsal bases. So far, scientists at the facility have succeeded in enhancing the efficiency at which nuclear devices are manufactured. The facility itself occasionally sells on the products of this project as it further tests it's production line.