The Corporations

NOAH
The Northern Ocean Alliance Holdings are the remnants and amalgamation of several on TransNational Corporations who had the foresight, and the money, to move under the oceans when it all started to go wrong. They are not the oldest corporation, but money, technology and capitalism will take a hungry CEO a long way. Carving out much of what was the Atlantic Ocean, NOAH is a force to be reckoned with.

At the cutting edge of trade and technology, NOAH will work with almost anyone as long as there is profit in it. Still clinging to their roots in the Good Ole USA, they’re focused on the idea of freedom, money, and the NOAH dream - despite the rampant poverty and deep inequalities. There are worse corporations to be born in, but you’d better have money or your life is going to be hard (which is true almost everywhere).

The CEO, an elderly woman who simply refuses to die, is the ultimate power in NOAH. Everyone bows to her and carries out her wishes as if she were a vengeful deity with an itchy trigger finger, which probably isn’t far from the truth. Under her, the directors implement her strategies and decisions. Few get to see them, but their reach is long and clawed.

Each city has a Mayor, who is in direct control of all trade, migration, power, services, residential and other business which keeps the air flowing. No mayor is elected, they are promoted to the position, and exercise near limitless control of each city. Driven by wealth, and the desire to advance further up the corporate ladder, a Mayor is be admired from afar.

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VIKN
You might think that every member of VIKN was as their namesake from the histories; tall, blond, and capable of detaching your head from your neck with one swipe of an axe. You would not be far wrong. DNA manipulation and a deep desire to reconnect with their routes has led to a fashion for tall, blond, and muscular. However, intellect was not ignored and it would be a fool who thought a VIKN was dimwitted or slow.

Vest inn i Kommunal Norse (The western community of Norse) is always shortened to VIKN. As a corporation, they are fiercely protective of their borders and defend them with little mercy for those who stray into their territory. However, trade agreements and defined shipping lanes have reduced the accidental losses, for which they always politely apologise, of shipping over the years.

The war with NOAH depleted their submarine force, however they are rebuilding and there is something of a cold war between the two corporations - trust on the surface. Spies, subterfuge, treachery are never far away.
Upwelling currents here make the sea floor a rich source of food, and with humans no longer polluting the skies in anything like the excess of the pre-flood times, the ice has come again, extending its reach in the winter, retreating in the spring.

The Clan Chief rules VIKN and none seem willing to stand against him. 

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Da Long Inc
On the other side of the world, and a long journey by transport sub, Da Long Inc has a long history (no pun intended - Corin). Dating back to the Middle Kingdom, the Empire of Qin, and the checkered history of China, Da Long is a power to be reckoned with. Unlike their predecessors, Da Long Inc is not overtly militaristic or expansionist. With Mizu to the north, and all its technical masteries, mysteries, and advances, and Podale Inc to the south, with its rich mineral deposits, Da Long finds itself sandwiched between two large corporations. There are struggles over territory, and skirmishes are not unheard of, but Da Long looks to the future not the past.

All of their strategies are long term, well planned, generational, and committed to. For instance, they believe that we could return to the surface and have bent much of their capital to researching the plagues and engineering bio-tech weapons which forced us below the surface with a few to neutralising them. What can be built, they say, can be destroyed.

However, don’t be fooled by clean cities, the smooth lines, and technical integration, the (relative) lack of poverty, below it all is a seething underworld of crime, backstabbers, thugs, and overlords. Even big business pays its share to the criminal powers in the corporation. Alongside that however, you’ll see the parks, the temples, and experience the mysticism which the corporation is still steeped in. Portents, prophecies, wisdom from ages past, martial arts, and spirits all exist alongside technology and the comforts of modern life.

To visit Da Long Inc, is to see a different world.