ADVANCED CONCEPTS INDUSTRIES (ACI) Created by multibillionaire Franklin Stone (see Champions Universe, page 59), ACI is one of the most diverse megacorporations in the world, with tendrils in countless different industries and fields. Stone, well-known for his cold-blooded busi- ness brilliance and succession of gorgeous young wives, has his primary office in New York City and a large satellite office in Renaissance Center. His primary interests, in approximate order, include high-tech manu- facturing, mining (primarily copper and bauxite, but also two small diamond mines in Africa), and chemicals. How- ever, ACI also dabbles in oil, banking and finance, shipping, construction, and professional lobbying on Capi- tol Hill (where Stone has made and broken the careers of several politicians).
ACI also has an interest in food services. It owns Ace Burgers, the third largest national burger chain, as well as several regional restaurant chains. It has a control-
SUBCULTURES
ling interest in Nar-Cola and its various spinoff soft drinks (including Diet Nar-Cola, Strawberry Nar-Cola, Nar-Cola Extreme Blue Sports Drink, and Pixie).
Stone and ACI did not really become involved in the building of Millennium City, aside from a few token donations and the like. Rumors in the business community suggest Stone may have decided that was an oversight; his (and his com- pany’s) increased level of community involvement over the past two years lends weight to this theory. BINARY CORPORATION
Third on the list of the world’s largest con- glomerates after ACI and Pharos is probably the Binary Corporation, a Millennium City-based company created via the merger of Binary Com- puters with three other companies in 1993. Binary’s interests are primarily in technology fields — com- puter software and hardware, mostly, but also medi- cal technology, genetics, and through a subsidiary the exciting new field of plasma-based weapon design. It’s also well-known for sponsoring the duplicating superhero Binary Man (see Champions Universe, page 58).
The Binary Corporation suffered through a scandal in 2001, when the Champions discovered that Monica Knowlton, one of its top executives, was the Morbane in charge of the local Demon- hame. Fortunately, the Champions and Binary Man brought her down before she could carry out her evil plan to summon demons to possess the entire Board of Directors.
DRAKE-VICTORIA INC.
One of the largest weapons and defense con- tractors to the US Army, Drake-Victoria designs military vehicles and weapons, especially rockets, missiles, tanks, and trucks. It competes in the American Soldier Enhancement Project (ASEP), an effort by several major defense contractors to bring reliable and affordable personal mechanical armor to the modern battlefield.
DVI leads the field in the fledgling science of force-field generation, from electromagnetic-based “repulsion fields” to “cold plasma” ionized gas gen- erators. The Bureau of Prisons tests many of DVI’s prototype devices at Stronghold, and thanks to the efforts of Victor Eversole the Champions used DVI “repulsion-field” technology in creating the super- structure of their V-Jet.
Founded in the late 1800s as a gun manu- facturing firm, DVI has its headquarters in Ames, Iowa and its second-largest office in Millennium City. Arthur Drake IV, great-grandson of the com- pany’s founder, serves as CEO.
In the last couple of years, the supervillain team known as the Ultimates has attacked several of Drake- Victoria’s offices and facilities in Ames and on the East Coast. The authorities suspect one or more of the Ultimates once worked for DVI, or has some grudge against the company, but corporate spokespersons have no comment on the matter. The attacks haven’t made it as far north as Millennium City yet, but it may just be a matter of time.
DUCHESS INDUSTRIES
A multinational conglomerate based in Bonn, Germany, Duchess Industries has subsidiaries all over the world, including several plants and offices in and around Millennium City. Most of its inter- ests lie in science and technology; it has holdings in aerospace, oil, nuclear plants, and biotechnol- ogy (especially engineered foodstuffs through its Italy-based subsidiary Laboratori di Unita, which is trying to end famine in sub-Saharan Africa). A privately-owned corporation, Duchess allows little access to its facilities, but is known to have a lot of influence in the White House and to lobby the U.S. Congress extensively on a variety of issues. HARMON INDUSTRIES
Like Drake-Victoria, its primary competitor, Harmon Industries is a general-purpose defense contractor, with specialties in rocketry, missile design, aerospace, satellites, and infantry weapons. Almost wholly owned by World War II and Korean War hero James Harmon III, HI keeps its main headquarters in New York City but has offices around the country, with its largest satellite offices in Millennium City, Atlanta, and Los Angeles. Har- mon’s younger son, James IV, lives in a luxurious Grosse Pointe mansion; he halfheartedly manages several divisions of his father’s company. It’s widely known his family regards him as a bit of a disap- pointment, since he’s done nothing spectacular like his illustrious ancestors, but he doesn’t seem to care as long as there’s another party he can attend. IRONWOOD INDUSTRIAL
TECHNOLOGIES (IIT)
The other major corporation competing for U.S. space-based defense contracts, Ironwood co- designed the GATEWAY Space Station for UNTIL and also contributed to the creation of the V-Jet. Originally based in Chicago, Ironwood moved to Millennium City in 1996; it has a large manufactur- ing facility in North Detroit and corporate offices downtown. Its CEO, James J.“Jay” Rowell, recently got divorced; the gossip columnists consider him one of Millennium City’s most eligible bachelors. KENDRICK & COMPANY
Darryl Kendrick, a chemistry professor at Millennium City, founded this small company in 1997 after accidentally creating Kendrium, a titanium-steel alloy much stronger than ordinary steel but not much heavier. Thanks to a loophole in the patent laws, he patented the process of making the material while keeping the actual chemicals involved as a trade secret. He’s received several sub- contracts from government contractors to manu- facture armor plating for tanks and other vehicles.
MARKETING
Corporations — and even some superheroes, like Cavalier — need all the good publicity they can get. That’s where advertising and mar- keting firms enter the picture. Some of the best ones in Millennium City include:
Barton Gardner Smith: Millennium City’s larg- est public relations firm, BGS represents many of the companies listed in the main text, as well as the City itself. Superhe- roes needing a “positive spin” in the public eye sometimes turn to BGS for help as well. Graham-Blackburne Part- ners: Founded in 1988 by Calvin Blackburne, scion of one of Detroit’s wealthiest families, and his partner Michael Graham, G-B is the city’s largest and best-known advertising firms. It has created many award- winning and humorous ads that appear on the viewscreens and 3-D billboards all over Mil- lennium City. Kincaid Solutions, Inc.: Although primarily a sort of lobbying firm, Kincaid also does some types of PR work for select clients. Its founder and chief employee, Daniel Kincaid, is a trendsetter who’s at home in the most exclu- sive social circles.
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Millennium City
■Chapter Three
PHAROS INDUSTRIES
Pharos Industries may be the only conglomer- ate on Earth that can challenge ACI for breadth of interests. Headquartered in Millennium City, and well-known for its distinctive “lighthouse” logo and skyscraper headquarters (see pages 89-90), Pharos competes directly with ACI in fields like electron- ics, construction, finance, and shipping. Its most successful subsidiaries include Rabben Kybernetikk (a Vienna-based company specializing in medical cybernetics, artificial limbs and organs, and other biotechnological interfaces), Belanger Transporta- tion Infrastructure (the company that designed and built Millennium City’s “Smart Roadway” system), Taurus Supercomputers, and Delphinus Shipping Lines.
Pharos’s CEO, Linda McCormack, has become something of a local celebrity with her good looks, glamorous parties, and lavish gifts to charity. How- ever, the Board of Directors as a group has a great deal more power within the company structure. REGENT ENERGY
One of the world’s largest oil companies, Regent keeps its headquarters and the bulk of its employees in Oklahoma, where Marshall Atwood founded the company in the 1920s. However, Regent is also quietly at the forefront of explora- tions into alternative energy sources, and its Mil- lennium City office houses several of the world’s top scientists working on breakthroughs in solar power, geothermal energy, and synthetic replace- ments for gasoline.
WHITCOMB INCORPORATED
Like DVI and Ironwood, Whitcomb partici- pated in the design and building of the V-Jet for the Champions. Located in Milwaukee, Whitcomb’s success as an aerospace firm has mostly come in airplane design and manufacture. It has little con- nection to Millennium City itself except that it reg- ularly winds up partnered with local corporations on government space projects, like the design of the latest round of Space Shuttles. It also holds the exclusive contract to provide planes for Liberty Air