[Mirikon]

Renraku has been far too quiet, far too long. They didn't/don't have a major role to play in the TM scare, tempo, the Az-Am conflict, the dragon conflict, the Artifact chase, or any of the big events that are going on. Frankly, that makes me very nervous.

[FastJack]

They've been very beat up in the PR and Business markets ever since the Arcology "incident". And, they've been behind the curve on SOTA for some time now as well.

But I agree, when you back them into a corner, that's when they become dangerous.

[Longshot23]

I don't think Renraku is quite in a corner yet, but i do agree they've been quiet for a long time.  Their beating in the business markets isn't all for the same reasons - sure, Seattlites snark them for the Arcology frag-up but the home market - Japan - sees things differently.

[Patrick Goodman]

Yeah, but even in the motherland, they see the Arcology as a screw-up of near-Biblical proportions. Personally, I'm surprised more heads weren't made to roll over that fiasco.

[ArkangelWinter]

I'm waiting to find out that Renraku has perfected some kind of A.I. Hunting agent or task forcr, because Emergence must have scared them shitless. Or maybe they know something everyone else doesn't, possibly about Pulsar, and are biding their time til they can use that info to get back to the top.

[Angelone]

They are due for something big soon. I think they are going to dethrone Ares as the "gun guys". The corp blurb in CI suggests they are up to something, haven't finished reading the book yet however.

[Longshot23]

Yeah, but even in the motherland, they see the Arcology as a screw-up of near-Biblical proportions. Personally, I'm surprised more heads weren't made to roll over that fiasco.

Didn't Sherman Huang lose his position because of that, in part?

[Crimsondude]

Not really. As I recall, his arrest was due more to his insider trading during the Novatech IPO.

[Longshot23]

Oh, yeah, that's right.

So basically, it's back to 'wait and watch'.

[Nath]

A classic writer issue. Renraku was driven in a corner as the "Seattle arcology megacorp" from 1998 to 2005. When Brightlight, Deus, Megaera and Sherman Huang were out, and the arcology seized by the local government, there would obviously be a void.

MCT and Neonet were given the AI interest precisely to stop it from a being Renraku exclusive domain. The "Japanese megacorp" angle always has been overcrowded, with MCT (Yakuza megacorp), Shiawase (Shinto megacorp), Evo (East European-Japanese melting-pot) and even smaller players Monobe (random Japanese megacorp #1) and Yakashima (random Japanese megacorp #2).

Renraku would have to be reinvented. But freelancers already have their hands full (or more precisely, made their hands full) with Horizon as a whole, Aztechnology war, Ares and Neonet internal feuds, artifacts... Renraku currently lies in the same "take and use as you wish" hole where Federated-Boeing, MCT, Shiawase or Cross have been serving their time.

[Mirikon]

Cross is just straight up gone, Nath. The big man himself died in the Crash, and in the aftermath it was divvied up and torn apart (mostly by Ares).

As for Renraku, I was rereading their chapter in Corporate Guide, and some questions rose up:

How does Netcat know that Aneki is dead, beyond all doubt?
When are we going to see what Huang's people have been working on, considering that they appear to be delving heavily into the tech Deus came up with in the Arcology?
What is "The Learning Project" looking for?
Who in the NAN is stockpiling Terracotta Armaments weapons?
What are project FarSight's goals?
Just how close is Genecraft to isolating the Awakened gene?

[Nath]

Cross is just straight up gone, Nath. The big man himself died in the Crash, and in the aftermath it was divvied up and torn apart (mostly by Ares).

I know. That's the other way of leaving the Pit of Oblivion : a freelancer decides that corp is lame and needs some room for a new one on the Corporate Court and in the books (Horizon in Cross' case). To the dismay of the gamemaster who did use said corp in their game.

[Angelone]

MCT isn't in a limbo, they are still doing the whole brain in a jar connected to the matrix stuff with new twists. Also making hack-cyborgs. I wonder how long it will take for it all to blow up in their faces. Honestly MCT scares me the most of all the corporations.

[Mirikon]

MCT and AZT are tied in that respect for me, Angelone.

[CitizenJoe]

Renraku has a lot of subsidiaries... actually it was founded on being a holding company.  The black eye of the Seattle Arcology is actually a pretty local phenomenon.  They simply moved offices to NYC for the North America division.

Even in Seattle, Renraku had other facilities.  It is listed as having factories in Bellevue and Auburn.  In Auburn, there is Renraku Biocomp which eventually takes over Algona Community Hospital.  I ran with the Bellevue facility close to Overlake Medical.  It had the local gas powered vehicle facility (Renraku Executive Vehicles) which produced the Renraku Honor and Paramed vehicles, both of which used the same powertrain.  It also had a major distributor of Festival Foods and training facility for Armada Personnel.  There was also banking and architectural facilities as well as programming farms.  In Algona, I had a second facility (corporate park) with electric vehicles, chips, and consumer products.  It was also very close to Renraku Biocomp.  I had that whole area under the protection of Najime Security and all the citizens were chipped creating a very Big Brother/Stepford Wives sort of feeling.  The whole town was like stepping back into the 1950's with polite children and such.  The Algona/Pacific area was a model town (like Disney's Celebration near Orlando FL) which was going to be used for the Arcology.