TriOptimum Corporation

The TriOptimum Corporation (a.k.a. Trioptimum, or simply Tri-Op), is a fictional multinational megacorporation within the futuristic world of the System Shock video game series. As is the case with such corporations in many cyberpunk narratives, TriOptimum is immensely powerful, rivaling or surpassing many independent states in its influence. It also similarly does not shy away from delving into morally questionable technological research and business practices, all in the name of making a profit.

System Shock


By the year 2072, when the events of the first System Shock took place, Tri-Op was the largest corporation on the planet, ruling over millions of citizens on earth, and on colonies elsewhere in the solar system. Despite its power, the company was still the target of hackers, one of which (the player) is caught trying to remotely access files regarding Tri-Op's Citadel space station. To avoid prosecution, the hacker, under the instigation of corrupt Tri-Op executive Edward Diego, released the ethical constraints on Citadel's computer AI, SHODAN, causing it to go rogue. After killing most of the station's inhabitants, SHODAN is finally prevented from completing her various destructive plans (which included the annihilation of the major cities of Earth) by the efforts of the hacker.

Interim
When these earth-shaking events were made known to the public, along with news of similar rogue behavior within other corporate AIs, a massive backlash occured against the megacorps and TriOptimum in particular. The national governments of Earth, before weak and ineffective against the corporate might, now banded together into the Unified National Nominate (UNN), and imposed severe military and political restictions over business with the help of an expanded military and secret police force. Though the UNN attempted to take over corporate holdings completely, Tri-Op and the others still had a sizeable military force of their own and resisted, eventualy leading to an uneasy truce between the two parties.

By forty-five years later in 2107, the global situation had seen little change, and technological advances have slowed considerably thanks to UNN restrictions. Events rapidly change, however, when a UNN Nobel Lauriate working for Tri-Op, Marie Delacroix, presents priliminary research on the viability of a faster-than-light device. Despite Delacroix's fears about the device's reliability and unexplored side-effects, TriOptimum forges ahead and by 2111 a working prototype has been produced, and a starship - dubbed the Von Braun - has been constucted to house it.

System Shock 2
Despite months of debate between TriOptimum and the UNN (which is repulsed by the idea of Tri-Op being the sole owner and beneficiary of such an awesomely powerful device), a compromise is reached by which the Von Braun will be allowed to make its first interstellar voyage, but only with a military escort - the heavy destroyer Rickenbacker - teathered to it to provide "protection" for the journey into the unknown.

The brutal company man Anatoly Korenchkin is chosen as captain of the Von Braun (despite suspicion by some that he was responsible for the assasination of a particulary prominent anti-TriOptimum UNN official), with Deacroix being charged with keeping her invention in working order as chief engineer - all the while still vocally advocating the need for further testing of the device. A UNN Navy captain, William Bedford Diego is chosen to head the Rickenbacker. Despite being the son of the infamous Edward Diego, he is a staunch military man and virulent opponent of all things TriOptimum.

The immense political and public pressure the launch date is pushed ahead, and the two ships embark in early 2114. After a four month trip during which relations between the corporate and military elements have become increasingly strained, the unimaginable happens when on June 10, 2114 a distress signal is intercepted coming from the unchartered Tau Ceti system, located billions of miles from any earth colony.

Trivia
TriOptimum Corp is an homage to the Omni Consumer Products corporation from the RoboCop series of films. Similarities include the name, the logo design, and the depiction of both companies as megacorps with consumer, military, and science divisions.