History
The Rise of Aether Atmospherics
Aether Atmospherics and Recycling is one of the oldest megacorporations in the galaxy. It can trace its lineage to reconstruction era Sol, where it was founded to fill demand for the rapidly expanding Sol system. Its first projects were atmospheric stations on Venus, Titan and the moons of Jupiter. It remained a comparatively small corporation at this time. Indeed, it had largely missed the first-generation rush to colonize beyond the solar system. Aether’s big break came when the now United governments of the newly formed Orion Confederation turned their combined resources to try and make habitable one of the least habitable places in the Solar system, Venus.
At the dawn of the 23rd century Venus had at the time many atmospheric and orbital stations. However, the harsh atmosphere of the planet had prevented mankind from exploiting the surface of the most Earth-like planet in the solar system. Aether was contracted along with numerous other corporations and the for-most experts of atmospheric science to attempt to find a way to make Venus into a beautiful paradise worthy of its namesake. This was known as Project Aphrodite and became the single largest money sink the newly minted Confederation would sink taxpayer dollars into. Venus stubbornly to change in any significant way, the massive crushing atmosphere acidic rain and boiling heat continually proved best whatever man could throw at it.
After nearly a half century of next to none progress, during rather tumultuous budget negotiation within the Orion Confederation, Project Aphrodite was abruptly stripped of funding, leaving the best atmospheric scientists Sol had to offer suddenly out of work. Aether on the other hand had only grown with the proceeds from the Project Aphrodite contract, which allowed to expand beyond the borders of Sol in that same half century, just as new generation FTL technology caused a second rush of colonization to ever further frontiers. Project Aphrodite had failed but it had given Aether the connections and budgetary surplus it needed to make a play for megacorporate power.
Within a week of being informed they were out of work, the scientists employed with Project Aphrodite found work again, this time with Aether Atmospherics and Recycling. Instantly the scientists were put to work. Across the frontier, Aether ships brought expertise normally only reserved for the Sol system to the most distant colonies of mankind. For the right price Aether scientists optimized the unreliable older atmospheric system of frontier and in the process saved hundreds of thousands from asphyxiation caused by those failing systems. Soon Aether ships and Aether stations began popping up around the galaxy and where Venus proved too stubborn to terraform other planets were easier to mold and even if they could not be terraformed many had atmospheres Aether could mine for gas.
Now being the for-most experts on atmospheric technology in the galaxy, Aether’s R&D department kicked into overdrive. Aether decided to set a galaxy spanning standard for atmospheric management systems and to this end. Aether developed a cylindrical canister that had an automatically sealing and self-adjusting valve on its bottom along with an equally adjustable hose for filling gas tanks at any size. Overall, it could withstand up to 42.5 Megapaschals of pressure which was its legal limit. These Aether gas tank would quickly become the galactic standard and would be the beginning of a humanity wide standardization of atmospheric infrastructure guided by Aether atmospherics, which made them one of the most power megacorporations in the galaxy. Sadly for Aether, their dominance was not to last.
The Woes of a Gas Giant
By the latter half fo the 25th century Aether was at the top of the galaxy, second probably to only Nanotrasen and this dominance bred complacency. Nanotrasen which was at the time one of Aether’s largest partners offered to by its ‘purple planets’ out from under it. Phoron known at the time as Element P (as it was the 16th exotic element observed by human scientists) had been a thorn in the side of Aether, its own experiments showing it had similar applications to Hydrogen but was far heavier, dirtier, and more unstable. As such the rights to Aether’s deposits of Element P were sold to Nanotrasen for a reasonable fee. A decade of research later and Element P branded phoron by Nanotrasen is sold to the public with a variety of applications. Thrusters that were more efficient than hydrogen thrusters, miraculous medicines such Peridaxon and Dexalin, and many many more. Aether had effectively handed Nanotrasen a monopoly on the greatest known fuel source in the galaxy. Aether still profited from the phoron race however, Nanotrasen’s phoron exploitation efforts required extreme atmospheric infrastructure which only Aether could reasonably survive. This partnership prevented the companies from going to war however, their relationship was forever strained, and the proceeds Aether received from supporting Nanotrasen’s monopoly were chump change compared to the Nanotrasen’s own phoron profits.
Things would only get worse for the corporation. In 2496 AAV Geyser was in orbit of Mars heading for a cargo port in orbit of the planet. Geyser’s cargo was gaseous Phoron from one of Nanotrasen’s mining worlds. The vessel broadcast a fire alarm, warning of a fire in one of its container decks. Four minutes and thirty-seven seconds later, the bulk gas tanks ignited, and Geyser exploded violently sending shrapnel hurtling into Mar’s atmosphere and into nearby civilian stations. Within 48 hours over ten thousand were dead from the damage done to nearby ships, and civilian stations.
Geyser’s Blackbox was recovered on the edges of the asteroid belt by Orion Government authorities. The black box revealed that an Aether standard orange phoron canister located in storage near Geyser’s hangar deck had burst. Faulty electrical systems then caused a fire which ignited other cans. The overloaded cans created such heat and pressure the hull of the ship melted away before bursting open causing the bulk gas tanks on the ship to rupture. Quickly the raging phoron fire met a bulk tank of super chilled oxygen. The reaction caused a detonation equivalent to around 350 kilotons of TNT turning Geyser into a kilometer long fragmentation grenade. The subsequent investigation into Aether proved that their standard canisters had design flaws that the company knowingly concealed. As it was found the canisters could no be relied upon to keep airtight, the tanks were instead regulated where before Aether would load gas canisters with as much as 42.5 Megapaschals of gas pressure, they now could only be commercialy transported with no more than 5 Megapascals of gas pressure. Private businesses and operators could still load tanks up full a concession Aether barely managed to win from an enraged Orion Confederation government, but commercial sales of the gas canisters were kneecapped by this regulation which was soon copied by the Vikara Combine and Moghes Hegemony. This cooperation between the major powers is citied as an early example of the galaxy spanning corporate oversight and would develop throughout the 26th century as a response to the phoron wars.
Modern Day
Aether today manages to hold onto its megacorporate status despite the hardships of the 25th century. Well beneath the big three of Nanotrasen Hephaestus and Vey-Med, Aether maintains itself as AAA megacorp which considering its string of bad luck in the 25th century is proof of their resilience as a company. Aether sold gas mining equipment to both sides of the phoron wars. At first this was done secretly and in small amounts to Nanotrasen’s competitors but as non-aligned major megacorporations began to claim their own phoron deposits Aether’s business with them became more overt. Aether itself claimed massive phoron deposites leveraging its own expertise to squeeze as much purple gas as it could out of any deposits it could find. Today Aether’s phoron deposits are second only to Nanotrasen’s in terms of value and make up but a small part of the atmospheric juggernaut’s business.
The fastest growing part of Aether’s business is terraforming. With the needs of the galaxy constantly expanding the galaxy needs not only to be livable for humanity but comfortable to them. To this end, Aether has invested heavily in atmospheric regulation, where small projects include raising the average temperature of a planet five degree Celsius so lands beyond the equator of that planet become arable without greenhouses. However, even with plenty of small projects Aether has its eyes set on a big one. The rapidly growing population of the Sol system has led many in the Orion Confederation to suggest taking another crack at terraforming Venus. Such a project would be ideal for Aether and as they still represent the foremost experts on terraforming in the galaxy their inclusion in such a project is practically guaranteed. To this end Aether invests billions if not tens of billions of thalers into lobbying for the terraforming of Venus and hundreds of Oricon politicians have found themselves accepting Aether’s patronage in one way or another. It’s a long shot making Venus as beautiful as its namesake but for Aether, it’s a shot that can return them to the top of the megacorporate world.
Ethos
Clean air is Aether’s primary product, their motto is ‘Clean Air and Blue Skies’ with an optional second part ‘From Now On and Forevermore’. The air hundreds of billions breathe if not directly supplied by Aether was recycled and purified by one of their facilities. To this end Aether tries to present itself as clean as possible. Aether facilities are designed in such a way that they do not produce visible emissions, such as smoke or steam. Their exteriors and public areas are methodically cleaned to appear pure and most importantly non pollutive especially ironic when the facilities purpose may be to use greenhouse gas to slowly warm a planet. White, Gold and Blue are the colors of Aether, and Yellow and Teal have become synonymous with atmospheric work adopted by many megacorpoations because of Aether’s efforts in standardization. The actual industrial parts of their facilities not normally visible to the public are often filthy by comparison however Aether maintains strict codes of hygiene and their works are often the cleanliness of the megacorporate world.
Aether is obsessed with standardization even more so than many other megacorps. They are very bad at improvising, however, are very good at having protocols for everything. When designing atmospheric systems large scale maps are first created by AI then refined by experts making sure every room has at least one vent, one scrubber, one air alarm and that if there are multiple of these things they are at least 10 meters apart unless special circumstances require more care. Facilties are similarly assembled in a systematic manner, simply pipes go in first, then scrubbers and vents, simultaneous the atmospheric nexus of a facility is worked on, the final step is always hooking the atmospheric center up to the pipes after which maintenance tunnels and the main halls are the first to be pressurized and brought to standard atmosphere then the rest if the engineering facilities followed by the rest of the facility.
Quirks/Questionable Activities
Despite their appearances of cleanliness, work with Aether is filthy and long. Workers are placed under constant pressure to keep up their appearance and many workers are fined for things as minor as dirty work boots. Aether canisters like the ones responsible for the Geyser disaster are still in use and are no safer despite the regulations. However, since the time of the disaster Aether’s legal abilities have improved. Once the canister is out of Aether’s hands, they are no longer legally responsible for it. With contractors now moving Aether canisters rather than Aether itself many further tragedies since Geyser are officially no longer Aether’s fault.
More disturbingly their legal practices though are Aether’s terraforming research. Though they normally research in how to make planets more like earth this has also increased their knowledge on doing the opposite. Many conspiracy theories and some corporate intelligence officers fear Aether is developing capabilities to rapidly transform planets to either more habitable or less habitable climates which poses danger to entire planets if harnessed as a weapon.
Influence
Aether is everywhere much like their air is everywhere, most spaces station with over 10,000 permanent inhabitants have an Aether owned and operated facility that supplies their air and recycles their atmosphere. Indeed, most large stations, no matter who is building them often contracts Aether to build the atmospheric systems. This has made Aether largely indispensable to the rest of the megacorporation in the galaxy and as such they work everywhere from Blackstar bunkers to Nanotrasen research facilities. This has given Aether more insight into the infrastructure of their competitors than any of those competitors would like to admit. Aether is, however, one of the least militarized corporations, with its services contracted out to governments and other corporations it tends to rely on those groups for facility security. Terraforming however, presents Aether with an opportunity to become master of entire planets, to craft hellish wastelands like Venus into heavens with them masters of these new worlds. Should this come to pass Aether may come to surpass even Nanotrasen in terms of influence and power.