折叠 | |
| 蛇怪公司 | |
|---|---|
| 产业 | 飞船组件，装甲 |
| 产品 | 单兵护甲, 舰船装甲, 飞船组件,护盾生成器 |
| 种族 | 人类 |
| 总部所在地 | Cascom, Castra |
| 所属地区 | 地球联合帝国 |
| 创建者 | Simone Visconti, Bernard Pak |
| 创建于 | 公元2530年 |
蛇怪公司是一家 人类 personal 飞船装甲制造商，总部设立于Cascom. 他们同时也生产shield generator. 成立于2530年，致力于研究新型复合装甲材料，蛇怪公司的大部分启动资金来源于地球联合帝国(UEE)直到2792梅塞尔政权倒台. 在那之后的一段时间里，政权更替使得他们的经费受到了大幅度的削减，因此他们开始将他们的产品推向民用市场。[1]
尽管他们每年利润的很大一部分来自于军事合同，但由于来自地球联合帝国经费的缩减，他们提供给军队的装备总是廉价且不堪一击。相反的，他们向高端私人企业销售高品质的产品。[2]
历史背景
在2535年, High-General Volder参观了一家新兴的船体镀层制造商，令许多业内人士震惊的是，该公司在最近获得了一份重要的UPE（地球行星联合国 ）军事合同。这家公司的首席工程师兼CEOSimone Visconti正带着她的研究数据紧张的跟在后面。她已经准备好并乐意向最高司令沃德尔解答任何有关她如何革命性的创造出帝国中最强抗损船体镀层的问题。然而根据传说，最高司令沃德尔只向她问了一个问题。"为什么你将它命名为蛇怪？"维斯孔蒂回答道：“因为它们极难被杀死”。她还没来得及详细说明如何杀死这只神话生物，最高司令沃德尔已经大步地离开了，对剩余的细节毫不关心。后世的历史学家们一致认为，最高司令沃尔德关注的是大局。西蒙·维斯孔蒂则在另一层面，专注于每一个微小的细节。这种对微小细节毫不动摇的执着造就了蛇怪公司作为高质量装备制造商的声誉，尽管一些人声称近些年来该公司的产品质量有所下降，但这一区别依然存在。[3]
蛇怪的诞生
Simone Visconti2509年出生在 Asura。她的父母为一家足以推动全球经济繁荣的大型矿业集团工作。维斯孔蒂从小就对何种事物充满好奇同时也足够聪明，这最终让她取得了University of Persei Analytical Research and Quantification的全额奖学金。维斯孔蒂在这所大学仅仅学习了一年的物理学，在某一天突然离开了这所大学，去到了另外一所名气远不如UPARQ的University of Tram完成了他的大学学业。
当被问及此事时，维斯孔蒂风轻云淡的说：“这不适合我”——这是她的朋友和同事习以为常的听到她对不感兴趣的事情的回答。然而，传记作者后来从维斯孔蒂的UPARQ同学那里了解到，到了她的第二学年中期，她已经对学习物理感到无聊，并希望转学到工程学科。UPARQ的教授们拒绝了她的请求，并告诉她等到下一个学期再作出调整。与教授们的要求相反的是，维斯孔蒂不再去上课，而是花费大量时间在图书馆学习工程学相关的知识。这时候她的奖学金岌岌可危，她离所有科目全部挂科已经不远了。但是，与其回到她不感兴趣的课堂上，维斯孔蒂做出了一个更干脆的选择，离开这所学校。
在University of Tram完成工程学学业后，维斯孔蒂向她的父母借款租了一个小实验室，她在那里沉迷于工作，试图创造能同时保护船只并提供能源的光伏船体镀层。大多数人认为这是不可能的任务，但一些看到她早期成果的人都受到了鼓舞。Bernard Pak是其中一人。作为维斯孔蒂父母的老朋友，在当地房地产领域小有名气的帕克提供了一些资金支持维斯孔蒂的研究——而他的实际目的则是使用她的研究去升级设施并雇用少量员工——以获得他所在公司的大量股份。
随着时间的推移，研究并没有明显的突破，帕克变得越来越不耐烦。最终，他威胁要停止支持维斯孔蒂，除非他看到研究有具体的进展。虽然她没有解决光伏镀层的问题，但维斯孔蒂沿途发展的实验制造技术具有其他的优势。她组织了实地测试，以向帕克展示他们的船体镀层比其他制造商更能抵御损伤。当帕克看到实验结果时，他立刻就知道了该怎么做。[3]
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 smartly targeted local mining consortiums and industrial operations by touting their product's excellent durability. It wasn't 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（地球行星联合国 ） and the 希安帝国 were on the rise. A few years earlier, in 2530, Humanity had stumbled upon this species for the first time in the Pallas System. After the initial diplomatic snafus, 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. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. Riding high on their newfound reputation and the fact that their competitors hadn't had the time to reverse engineer their 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 塔维因, rather than the 希安. As military spending skyrocketed, Basilisk was one of the major beneficiaries. Soon, lucrative government contracts became the company's bread and butter, making it next to impossible for anyone in the private sector to get their hands on their armor, which in turn only strengthened their reputation in the public's eye. By the time the 第一次塔维因战争 came to an end, Basilisk had become one of the UPE's leading military suppliers, having expanded their operations to include personal armor and ship shield generators.
Basilisk was the envy of the defense industry. Yet, over the ensuing decades, Visconti grew uncomfortable with her company's increasing ties to Ivar Messer's regime. Visconti let her objections be known to the board of directors, only to discover her research budget halved. She stormed into Pak's office and threatened to quit if the issue wasn't rectified. Pak claimed the cuts were because her research had failed to produce any further advancements. Supposedly, he said that if she couldn't 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; among her many pursuits, she returned to the one that continued to elude her: photovoltaic plating. Sadly, she never achieved the breakthrough that she envisioned.[3]
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 which solidified the ties between the company and the despotic regime for decades to come. Any board member who opposed Kelting's decisions was quickly unseated or (in one shocking case) convicted of corruption and embezzlement on clearly trumped-up charges.
Kelting held onto the reins of power at Basilisk with an iron fist until he suffered a catastrophic heart attack during a particularly intense board meeting in 2673. Legend has it that one board member quipped, "I take it this meeting's adjourned," then collected her files and left without offering any help to the man many had come to despise. Basilisk executives spent the following decades trying to undo their Gordian knot of connections to the Messer regime without facing retribution. Then once again, the tides of history intervened in their favor.
In the late 28th century, mining conglomerates were fleeing the Ferron System in droves after depleting Asura of its resources. Basilisk followed suit, claiming the skyrocketing crime rate was not conducive to its employees' safety or to beneficial business conditions. The company moved their 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 wouldn't be fully functional when the next round of government contracts became available. Citing a lack of manufacturing capacity, Basilisk extricated themselves from over half of the government contracts that they would have been expected, or more accurately pressured, to undertake.
Basilisk also used the move to Castra to shift their 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 they couldn't avoid their associations with the Messers, ex-military personnel attested to the brand and their initial sales in this new market were encouraging.
After the Messer regime finally toppled, the 地球联合帝国 made sweeping changes to the military budget that reshaped the landscape of government contracts. Basilisk soon found themselves having to undercut competitors to retain the government contracts they had come to rely on while re-establishing their place in the civilian and industrial markets. As profit margins shrank on their government contracts, Basilisk was forced to institute cost-cutting measures.[3]
Present
Today, 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 they produce meet exacting military standards. It is said that Navy pilots often joke that if Basilisk armor is strapped to their ship, then it better have been purchased from their public site.
However, despite any quality concerns, Basilisk remains a preeminent defense industry manufacturer, one that has weathered centuries of turmoil thanks to a revolutionary product made possible only because of Simone Visconti's dedication to the details.[3]
琐事
- 蛇怪公司经常被海军士兵们开玩笑说：如果你想用蛇怪的产品装配你的飞船，一定要确认你是从他们官网上订购的。[2]
画廊
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引用
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