Basilisk

Basilisk is a Human personal and spacecraft armor manufacturer headquartered on Cascom in the Castra system. It also manufactures shield generators. Founded in 2530 to research new armor composites, Basilisk received the bulk of its initial funding from the United Empire of Earth (UEE) until the end of the Messer Era in 2792. In the aftermath, its budget was significantly reduced during the governmental reorganization, so it opened its products to the civilian market.

Although most of its yearly profits come from military contracts, the armor it supplies to the military is comparatively cheap and weak as a result of the budget cuts from the UEE. It reserves its higher quality product for high-end private sector sales.

History

In 2535, High-General Volder toured the facilities of an upstart hull plating manufacturer that had recently landed a major UPE military contract, to the surprise of many industry insiders. Simone Visconti, the company's chief engineer and CEO, followed along carrying her research data, ready to answer any questions about how her techniques had created some of the most damage-resistant hull plating in the Empire. According to legend, Volder had only one question for her: "Why the hell did you name it Basilisk?" "Because they're extremely hard to kill," responded Visconti. Before she could elaborate on the few ways the mythological creature could reputedly be killed, Volder strode off, indifferent to the details. Historians agree that Volder was focused on the big picture, while Visconti obsessed over every detail. This dedication to detail established Basilisk's reputation as a producer of high quality armor, a distinction that still holds, though some claim the company's product quality has eroded over the years.

Birth of Basilisk

Simone Visconti was born on Asura in 2509. Her parents worked for one of the major mining conglomerates that fueled the planet's economic boom. A constant curiosity and intellectual aptitude were apparent in Visconti from a young age, and they eventually earned her a full scholarship to the University of Persei Analytical Research and Quantification (UPARQ). Visconti spent a little over a year studying physics at the prestigious school before leaving to finish her education at the considerably less esteemed University of Tram.

When asked about it, Visconti simply said that "it wasn't for me," a phrase friends and colleagues grew accustomed to hearing when something did not interest her. Biographers later learned from Visconti's UPARQ classmates that by mid-semester of her second year she had become bored with studying physics and wished to switch disciplines to engineering. UPARQ officials denied her request and told her to wait until the following semester to make the change. Instead, Visconti stopped attending classes and spent her time in the library reading engineering texts. Her scholarship was soon in jeopardy, as the prospect of her failing all her classes became a reality, but rather than return to classes she had no interest in, Visconti walked away.

After completing her engineering studies at the University of Tram, Visconti borrowed money from her parents and rented a small research lab where she could focus on her work, trying to create photovoltaic hull plating that would simultaneously protect and power ships. Most believed it to be an impossible task, but some who saw her early work were encouraged. Bernard Pak was one of those people. A longtime friend of Visconti's parents who had made a fortune in local real estate, Pak offered to fund Visconti's vision, upgrading facilities and hiring a small staff, in exchange for a significant stake in the company.

As years wore on without a breakthrough, Pak became increasingly impatient. Eventually, he threatened to stop bankrolling Visconti unless he saw concrete progress. Though she had not solved the mystery of photovoltaic plating, the experimental manufacturing techniques Visconti developed along the way had other advantages. She organized a field test to show Pak how their hull plating withstood damage better than that of other manufacturers. When Pak saw the results, he knew what to do.

Market force

Pak insisted Visconti bring the current hull plating to market, pitching it as a way to ensure her research stayed funded while also allowing him to receive some return on his investment. Pak poured credits into establishing a manufacturing plant, and soon the first pieces of Basilisk ship armor rolled off a Tram production line. The company targeted local mining consortiums and industrial operations by promoting its product's durability, and it was not long before demand outpaced supply. Asura's booming economy, filled with high-skilled, blue-collar workers, and Pak's real estate prowess allowed them to rapidly expand operations.

Meanwhile, tensions between the UPE and the Xi'an Empire were on the rise. A few years earlier, in 2530, Humanity had encountered the species for the first time in the Pallas System. After the initial diplomatic difficulties, mistrust between the two was high. In the face of a possible alien threat, modernizing the military became High-General Volder's primary mission. The UPE significantly increased military spending just as Basilisk's new manufacturing facilities came on line. Riding on its growing reputation and the fact that its competitors had not had the time to reverse engineer its plating, Basilisk landed a coveted government contract to supply hull armor for the latest line of destroyer-class capital ships.

In 2541, the UPE's fear of an alien war came to pass, but the new enemy was the Tevarin rather than the Xi'an. As military spending increased, Basilisk was one of the major beneficiaries. Lucrative government contracts soon became the company's primary business, making it next to impossible for anyone in the private sector to obtain its armor, which in turn strengthened its reputation in the public's eye. By the time the First Tevarin War came to an end, Basilisk had become one of the UPE's leading military suppliers, having expanded its operations to include personal armor and ship shield generators.

Over the ensuing decades, Visconti grew uncomfortable with her company's increasing ties to Ivar Messer's regime. Visconti made her objections known to the board of directors, only to discover her research budget halved. She confronted Pak and threatened to quit if the issue was not addressed. Pak claimed the cuts were because her research had failed to produce any further advancements, and reportedly said that if she could not live with the cuts then maybe Basilisk "wasn't for you" anymore.

Visconti sold her stake in the company and walked away. She used those credits to fund her research, and among her many pursuits she returned to the one that continued to elude her: photovoltaic plating. She never achieved the breakthrough that she envisioned.

Beyond Visconti

When Pak retired in 2586, Francis Kelting, a former advisor to Messer, stepped in and gained control of Basilisk. He signed numerous government contracts that included options and extensions, solidifying the ties between the company and the regime for decades to come. Any board member who opposed Kelting's decisions was quickly unseated or, in one case, convicted of corruption and embezzlement on what were widely regarded as trumped-up charges.

Kelting held onto power at Basilisk until he suffered a catastrophic heart attack during an intense board meeting in 2673. According to legend, one board member quipped, "I take it this meeting's adjourned," then collected her files and left without offering any help. Basilisk executives spent the following decades trying to undo their connections to the Messer regime without facing retribution. Once again, the tides of history intervened in their favor.

In the late 28th century, mining conglomerates were leaving the Ferron System in large numbers after depleting Asura of its resources. Basilisk followed suit, claiming the rising crime rate was not conducive to its employees' safety or to beneficial business conditions. The company moved its headquarters and main manufacturing hub to Castra. Internal documents show that board members, eager to disassociate themselves from the growing corruption of the Messer regime, timed the move so that their operations would not be fully functional when the next round of government contracts became available. Citing a lack of manufacturing capacity, Basilisk extricated itself from over half of the government contracts that it would otherwise have been expected, or pressured, to undertake.

Basilisk also used the move to Castra to shift its business model back toward the private sector. The market was flooded with products of a similar quality, but few had both Basilisk's reputation and name recognition. Though it could not avoid its associations with the Messers, ex-military personnel attested to the brand, and its initial sales in the new market were encouraging.

After the Messer regime finally fell, the UEE made sweeping changes to the military budget that reshaped the landscape of government contracts. Basilisk soon found itself having to undercut competitors to retain the government contracts it had come to rely on, while re-establishing its place in the civilian and industrial markets. As profit margins shrank on its government contracts, Basilisk was forced to institute cost-cutting measures.

Present

Items destined for the UEE military are produced at different facilities and using cheaper materials than their private sector counterparts. Amid accusations of inferior manufacturing, Basilisk insists that all items it produces meet exacting military standards. It is said that Navy pilots often joke that if Basilisk armor is strapped to their ship, then it had better have been purchased from the company's public site.

Despite these quality concerns, Basilisk remains a preeminent defense industry manufacturer, one that has weathered centuries of turmoil on the strength of a product made possible by Simone Visconti's dedication to detail.

Trivia

• A joke among the Naval rank and file holds that anyone strapping Basilisk armor to their ship should make sure to order it from the company's public site.

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