Jovian Megacorps

What's the Difference Between a Megacorp and a Hypercorp?

Megacorporations were common on pre-Fall Earth, what many saw as the natural end result of capitalism. More than just large companies, megacorps are vertical and horizontal monopolies with secure enclaves and often extraterritorial status. On Earth, megacorp enclaves were exempt from many local laws so long as their practices were limited to their private property, functioning more like embassies than headquarters. Megacorps had their own paramilitary forces, foreign representatives, top-level domains, and even citizen-status for full-time employees. The megacorporations that survived the Fall in Jovian space are far smaller in scale than their predecessors, but they enjoy many of the same benefits.

By contrast, hypercorps are less bound to physical spaces and trade more in design and networking instead of infrastructure. A hypercorp might build up a monopoly on the popular image of "Martian aircraft" rather than airplanes in general, for example, or they might focus on branding and a pervasive culture of locyal customers. Most importantly, hypercorps don't seek out extraterritorial enclaves like megacorps but instead graft themselves onto governments so that they are central to society and integral to the citizens of a polity. Many leverage these into some of the same benefits as megacorp, but the means of getting these is different.

The real distinctions between hypercorps and megacorps is bound up in complex economic theory and business tactics. Most people don't have enough time for this and the difference for the majority of transhumanity is much simpler: megacorps are the lumbering monsters of the past and hypercorps are the vicious monsters of the future.

Before the Fall, the Earth was a stagnating patchwork of entrenched holdings and sealed national borders. Paranoia and exclusion ruled the day and companies were massive powerhouses built up over the years like the pyramids of pharaohs. It seemed like nothing could topple the powerful megacorporations that bought and sold governments like play things. And then the TITANs came.

Nobody knew what was going on when hostilities began, but eventually it became clear that Earth was no place to stay. Thousands fled the planet to find better fortunes in the rest of the system, but the megacorps had plenty to lose. Some of their citizen-employees abandoned their corporate masters, but a disproportionate number of megacorp personnel were lost when Earth was closed off. Between those losses and the loss of so much of their important infrastructure, most megacorporations collapsed after the Fall. In the months immediately following the TITAN's disappearance hat off-world resources were left consolidated in the most secure part of the system: the Jovian system. Hiding amongst the military bases and warships of the Jovian moons, the megacorporations bought their place in the developing Jovian society by providing the infrastructure that military and research groups needed to make a self-sufficient society.

When it became obvious that the TITANs weren't returning, the megacorp remnants left Jovian space to reclaim their lost territories… and found the hypercorps already there. Before the Fall, the hypercorporate model of running businesses was used as a tool to rapidly expand into the rest of the system. Megacorporations that embraced the hypercorp mentality made significant expansion into new markets, but plenty saw these small markets as not worth it. The chaos of the TITANs' attack led to a massive shift in corporate mentality as well as the economic landscape in every colony except the Jovian system. Throughout the Inner System, megacorps turned to hypercorps and reinvented the rules of business and society. Around Jupiter, however, the old rules still held and megacorps were preserved, albeit in a much reduced state.

Today, the Jovian megacorps are attempting to rebuild the old economies and regain their previous standing. They are strongest in Republic space, but their influence can be found in the Main Belt and on the moons of the Outer System. Most of the hypercorps are unconcerned about the megacorps, considering them dinosaurs stumbling towards the grave, but others remember the past and look nervously at the old names of their enemies.

Altai Technologies

Industry Strengths: Arms, vehicles, computers
Corporate Enclaves:

Run by Justína Bronislava and headquartered in Liberty Station, Altai Technologies is the largest corporation in the Jovian Republic. As the lead producer of defense and aerospace technologies in the Republic, they have a tremendous amount of potential as well. The five main divisions of the megacorp are Altai Propulsion, Altai VR Design, Altai-Sabre Arms, Khan Security Services, and Golden Mountain Detection Systems.

Aztechnology

Industry Strengths: Consumer goods, programming, chemistry
Corporate Enclaves:

Horizon

Industry Strengths: Communication, PR, habitats, media
Corporate Enclaves:

Mitsuhama Computer Technologies

Industry Strengths: Robotics, computers, heavy machinery
Corporate Enclaves:

NeoNET

Renraku Computer Systems

Saeder-Krupp

Shiawase

Wuxing

Evo

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