TriOptimum Corporation

TriOptimum Corporation
Information
Leader(s)	Roy Sitwell Anatoly Korenchkin
Type	Corporation
Status	Active
Achievements	Citadel Station Von Braun
Notable Members	Edward Diego Rebecca Lansing
[Source]

The TriOptimum Corporation is a business company responsible for the creation of, inter alia, S.H.O.D.A.N., Citadel Station and Von Braun. It is considered a megacorporation due to the fact that it has influence in the government and is a major supplier for both the military and consumers.

The company was born when three companies, Optimum Capital, Paragon Security Group, and ChemCal; all merged.

TriOptimum saw its golden age thanks to the Hays-Bishop Bill. Ιn 2059, the corporation absorbed whatever remained of the United States. After that, TriOptimum purchased the rights to Saturn's L6 orbit in 2061, at which place the construction of Citadel Station started a year later and was completed in 2062.

The company is considered only a beholder of the incident that took place there, even though it was the TriOptimum that created Citadel's AI, S.H.O.D.A.N., which went out of control due to the actions of Vice President of the Station, Edward Diego. TriOp desperately tried to remedy the situation, but ultimately it was the Hacker who saved the day.

TriOptimum competed with a corporation called TetraCorp.

History

Early History

See: System Shock Timeline

In 2000 Optimum Capital is founded by Roy Sitwell, an investment bank focused heavily on tech. Two years later in 2002, Optimum Capital purchases private security corporation "Paragon Security Group" after DotCom downturn. Soon after in 2004 Paragon Security Group is awarded federal military contract for one billion dollars.

Due to a landmark court case in 2010 against the Federal government allows unlimited corporate spending in government, allowing the companies to grow further. This would eventually lead to Optimum Capital backing the first CEO president of the United States in 2016.

In 2020 Optimum acquires the biggest pharma corporation in the world "ChemCal". Only two years later in 2022, Optimum officially merges with Paragon and ChemCal, and rebrands to TriOptimum.

Soon a virus would spread after emerging from an amusement park known as Magic Kingdom in 2024. Because of this it was dubbed MKV (Magic Kingdom Virus) and soon a pandemic would sweep across the world and kills around 40 million people and was caused by zoonosis. Only a few years later in 2024 TriOptimum creates and releases vaccine for MKV, free of charge.

In the same year the futurist, Herman Faustus, creates his master work plan. His work would be taken by TriOptimum and quoted in some of their Employee Manuals.

The following years the Great Merger begins. A three year period in which 18 mega-corporations either absorb or destroy all other smaller corps between the years of 2027 to 2029.

The Hays-Bishop Bill passes in 2031 and allows corporations of whose employees make over 2/3 of a region's population form sovereign governments. The following year in 2032, TriOptimum develops a municipal wing of corporate vassal's dedicated to governing territory.

In 2036 an assassination attempted was made on TriOptimum board members, it failed and caused corporate board members permanently go into hiding under the "Veil Act".

Four years later in 2040, a top engineer was blackmailed in one of TriOptimum's most classified R&D facilities. They stole intellectual property for a prototype engine that was then leaked to another corporate nations. It is unknown who was involved, though TriOptimum believes TetraCorp to be.

Around this time at an unknown date, US State boundaries are dissolved and new boundaries are partitioned into corporate controlled sectors.

A period of government by industrial mandate begins in 2047. Industries reign the world and TriOptimum reigns over industry. They also achieve a controlling interest in remaining American corporations over its rival Tetracorp after years of rivalry. At an unknown date Tetracorp flees the United States to avoid being absorbed. They then began to operate at a lesser capacity out of Eastern-Europe.

The following year in 2048, a now notorious turncoat Executive, Colter Reeves, left a TriOptimum Grove with a patented Nox-Synthesis seed. Four months late, reversed-engineered Tetracorp brand moonlit corn went first to market.

Ιn 2059, due to the Hays-Bishop Bill only token governments, in the traditional sense, remained in the west. the TriOptimum corporation absorbed whatever remained of the United States. The company consolidates all other corporations under its exalted branding. The corporate singularity begins to seem inevitable.

Around the world in the past several years, due to work by TriOptimum and others, wildlife was decimated with many species becoming extinct as a result.

In the early 2060s work begins on SHODAN (Sentient Hyper-Optimized Data Access Network), a number of engineers work on her, including Morris Brocail. SHODAN (Sentient Hyper-Optimized Data Access Network) is created by TriOptimum to run space stations more efficiently. Once completed she is installed onto Citadel Station.

On October 8th of 2060, Hackers working for Tetracorp discovered a list of TriOptimum board members and ransomed the corporation. An exchange was agreed upon for a substantial deposit of mineral rights in Mexico.

Around this time TriOptimum purchased the rights to Saturn's L6 orbit in 2061, at which place the construction of Citadel Station started a year later and was completed in 2062 and staffed to capacity. It was designed by a number of people, including Elizabeth Taggert. Work begins swiftly and soon after computer staff exploit bugs in the Station's operating system and develop Turbo Navigation Booster software.

Other stations are also built by TriOp for various purposes at unknown dates. They include Netplex Station, Benedict Station, and Telos Station.

In 2063, the Corporate Computer Protection Conference (CCPC) adopts "Ethical Restraint Countermeasures" protocol for Artificial Intelligence. This leads AI such as SHODAN to have Ethical Restraints put in place. It is unclear if she had any prior to this.

Years later on April 3rd, 2068 the Heartbreaker attack occurred by hacker group the Coin-Op Council, which consists of 4 anonymous individuals. The group hacked into TriOptimum's company email and sent divorce papers to every executive in the company, citing infidelity as the cause. It created mass hysteria, particularly for those in space transit, which could not promptly call their significant other to verify if it was true.

The next year on June 15th, 2069 the Double-Tap attack occurred by the same hacker group. This hack came in two waves; phase one crashed the entire TriOptimum mainframe sending their engineers into a panic. When the technicians rebooted the system, phase two kicked in, and the hackers stole millions of admin codes. The damage is still being assessed as of 2077.

The following year on January 6th, 2070 the Widow's Hourglass attack occurred by the same hacker group. A visible timer appeared on TriOptimum's central mainframe after an attack was made. The countdown has been ticking up since the attack (at least as of 2077). The code that caused the attack cannot be found, and it seems to jump servers when a transfer is made. No one knows when it will stop and what will happen when it does.

Around this time at an unknown date, onboard Citadel Station, Edward Diego starts monitoring viral experiments aboard Citadel Station, waiting to find one suitable to be bought as the perfect bio-weapon.

System Shock

During the events of System Shock, TriOptimum was at its peak. Being a megacorporation and government, there was nothing in the world that TriOptimum could not provide.

On April 7, 2072, the arrest of the Hacker would unknowingly set the company down a destructive path. TriOptimum executive Edward Diego, who was secretly funding illegal experiments, offers the Hacker both a chance to drop the charges and a military grade interface if he disables SHODAN's ethical restraints.

During the Hacker's coma, all of TriOptimum workers aboard Citadel Station were either killed, mutated or converted into cyborgs by SHODAN. It was the Hacker, with the help of Rebecca Lansing, a TriOptimum counter terror consultant, who managed to stop SHODAN and save humanity. Upon returning back, the company offered the Hacker a job, but they refused and went back to their own ways.

Death and Rebirth

Once news spread of how humanity was very nearly destroyed by SHODAN, TriOptimum's stock plummeted, smaller corporations that had contracts with it withdrew, employees resigned en masse, workers whistle-blew, reporting massive labor and ethics violations, and the public was outraged.

Lawsuits flew in every direction from families who lost loved ones on the Station and from work violations. At first TriOptimum would pay the lawsuits directly out of pocket, but soon the money began drying up. With no investors wanting to put money into the company and no new business contracts, TriOptimum became a shadow of its former glory. The creation of the UNN was the final nail on the coffin; as TriOptimum could not function other than paying lawsuit settlements.

But TriOp had thousands of patents, trademarks and copyrights and hundreds of consumer brand names which were still held in good esteem, even 30 years later, when the SHODAN incident began to be forgotten. It was not until the arrival of the shrewd Russian ex-gangster Anatoly Korenchkin, who bought 51% of the Corporation with his millions of black market gains. Korenchkin rebuilt the company by exploiting the brands, and brought TriOptimum back to its feet.

Although the UNN is the official government body, Korenchkin also leaned on his UNN contacts to relax technology restrictions even further. The newly re-licensed TriOptimum reestablished itself and the company became the sole supplier of wares from military hardware to consumer goods. Soon, the company's hold on the UNN was well known, as neither could live without each other.

Korenchkin's major asset was the employment of Marie Delacroix who worked on the first FTL starship prototype. Korenchkin saw in interstellar travel a new market that would consolidate TriOp's monopoly.

System Shock 2

By this time, TriOptimum had grown back to the giant megacorporation it was before. Virtually everything in the world had TriOptimum logos on it, from small lighter matches to military hardware. Even the mighty UNN was powerless to oppose TriOptimum interests. Many of its members were stockholders and had deep connections.

When the Faster than Light engine was proposed to the TriOptimum board, the company would become not only the biggest consumer corporation, but a monopoly in interstellar space travel as well. Soon, construction of the Von Braun was underway. By the time the player awakes from stasis almost all TriOptimum workers have been consumed by the Many.

Locations

• Saturn
  • Citadel Station (R&D Facility)
• Jupiter
  • Netplex Station (Quantum Repeater)
• Mars
  • Benedict Station (Resource Depot)
• Earth
  • New Atlanta
    • TriOptimum New Atlanta HQ (Name Unconfirmed)
• Luna (The Moon)
  • Telos Station (Mining Station)
• Sun
  • Dyson Nexus 1
  • Dyson Nexus 2
• Von Braun
• UNN Rickenbacker (via partnership)
• Black Site (likely cut content)

Fan Made

• Ponterbee Station

Members

Notable members and employees include:

• Edward Diego
• Rebecca Lansing
• Anatoly Korenchkin
• Vladimir Zhukov

Products Developed

System Shock Weapons Hand-to-Hand Lead Pipe TS-04 Laser Rapier Pistols and Rifles Magnum 2100 Pistol SV-23 Dart Pistol ML-41 Minipistol AM-27 Flechette MARK III Assault Rifle RF-07 Skorpion MM-76 Accelerator Rail Gun SB-20 Mag-Pulse Rifle DC-05 Riot Gun Energy Weapons SparqBeam Sidearm LG-XX Plasma Rifle RW-45 Ion Pulse Rifle ER-90 Laser Blaster DH-07 Stun Gun Explosives Concussion Bomb Gas Grenade Earth-Shaker Nitropack EMP Grenade Land Mine Fragmentation Grenade Items Hardware Attachment Energy/Projectile Shield Head-Mounted Lantern Infrared Night Sight Unit Multimedia Data Reader Biological Systems Monitor Jump Jet Turbo Motion Booster System Navigation and Mapping Unit Sensaround Multi-View Unit Target Identifier Dermal Patch Detox Universal Antidote Staminup Stimulant Sight Vision Enhancement Genius Mind-Enhancer Medipatch Healing Agent Reflex Reaction Aid Programs Cybershield Recall Escape Decoy Evasion Pulser Combat Turbo Navigation Booster Integrity Restorative Trioptimum Fun Pack Module I.C.E. Drill Fake ID Other Z-44 Plastique™ First Aid Kit Robots Autobomb Exec-Bot Flier-Bot Hopper Maintenance-Bot Repair-Bot Security-1-Bot Security-2-Bot Serv-Bot

System Shock 2 Weapons Standard Weapons Wrench Talon M2A3 .45 Caliber Pistol 10 Gauge Shotgun M-22 Assault Rifle Energy Weapons Apollo H4 Argon-Suspension Laser Pistol Mark IV Laser Rapier Dual-Circuit EMP Rifle Heavy Weapons TC-5 Fusion Cannon TC-11 "Brick" Grenade Launcher Stasis Field Generator Other Black-Ops Psionic Amplifier Items Armor Powered Armor Hazard Suit Heavy Combat Armor Medium Combat Armor Light Combat Armor WormSkin Armor Tools Disposable Maintenance Tool Recycler Auto-Repair Unit Diagnostic/Repair Module French-Epstein Device Implants LabAssistant™ BrawnBoost™ PsiBoost™ SwiftBoost™ EndurBoost™ ExperTech™ Robots Maintenance Robot Security Robot Assault Robot Protocol Droid Other Access Cards Power Cell Simulation Chips Sympathetic Resonator

Trivia

• The Hacker mentioned the company in his personal log, calling it both Tri-Op and TriOp.
• Tri is Greek for three (τρία) and the significance of this meaning is reflecting in TriOptimum being divided into three major branches Military, Science, and Consumer.
• TriOptimum is a company that regularly engages in corporatism which is the practice of unfairly being able to collude with government in business practices. This has been shown in the game to hurt the general populace.
• TriOptimum is an unethical corporation regularly neglecting safety standards, ignoring employee input, working with criminals (Anatoly Korenchkin), having employees who become criminals (Edward Diego), and gaining unfair privileges over the populace through the power of government.
• Through Audio Logs the employees of TriOptimum are shown to be very dissatisfied with the way they are treated, as well as how the firm is operated, further reinforcing the company's lack of ethics.
• Despite being a company revolving around the number three, TriOptimum's logo is technically a hexagon rather than a triangle as it has six sides. However, since one set of them is different that the other set, it is an irregular hexagon.

Gallery

TriOptimum Security Forces

Animated Logo

Animated Logo

TriOptimum Background