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Multifold Industries

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 72
Diversity And Automation
Manufacturing Centers: Aballon (01, Pursuit, Striving)
Specialties: Highly automated ships for custom needs
Famous Models: G7 Autohauler, Seedship

One day, the creators of the anacites—the First Ones—will return. Until then, Those Who Wait collect and store knowledge, doing so through automated exploration and cooperation with other species, primarily through Multifold Industries. The company’s origin lies in the arrival of non-anacites on Aballon. As more and more off-worlders arrived, many were assigned to starship design, construction, and maintenance. Those Who Wait established Multifold to support this growing workforce. The company employs individuals from many different species, though androids rapidly became a plurality. Now, Multifold’s status as an industrial leader in diversity is a point of pride widely embraced at the company.

Multifold’s primary specialization is automated starships, which has led to investment in artificial and virtual intelligences, or A/VI. Ships that can travel with minimal or no crew are broadly useful, with more space for cargo and equipment and lower overhead costs for wages and life support. Crewless vessels can also be used on missions considered too risky for living crews, such as exploration into systems with known Swarm activity or that have been colonized by the Azlanti Empire, or on missions that are simply so unpleasant or boring that no sapient creature would willingly participate. Because the needs of an exploration drone in a hostile environment are significantly different from those of a cargo hauler navigating busy trade routes, the A/VI in most Multifold craft are built to order. But the rapidly growing demand for these vessels and their A/VI technology has prompted Multifold to radically expand its construction and research and development facilities.

However, this emphasis on automation has created controversy for the company. Multifold’s rapid growth has negatively impacted adjacent industries, and now pilots, mechanics, miners, and navigators are having a harder time finding work. The company faces both increasingly aggrieved unions representing a wide array of professions as well as hostile competitors about to be made obsolete because of Multifold’s so-called “launch and leave” vessels.

Multifold ships vary widely in appearance. Unusual floor plans and a diverse workforce influence its ship designs. Two examples of the same starship model, built at different facilities, may be mechanically identical, but their hull and interior decoration may be radically different. The company has no unifying aesthetic, instead advertising its craft as being as unique as its many customers.

Manufacturer Perk: The computers aboard a Multifold Industries starship are especially conducive to computerized assistance. Decrease the total cost of any virtual intelligence installed in a Multifold starship by 2 BP.