Küiser Laboratories
Küiser Laboratories was a research company at the forefront of the fields of robotics, computing, synthetic intelligence, machine learning, particle physics, materials science, and weapons development. It was founded in 2001 by a group of scientists led by Christopher Küiser, many of whom were previous employees of Nevrin. The company was dissolved in 2037, following bankruptcy and a bid for acquisition by Helios Corporation that culminated in a violent conflict between Helios paramilitary forces and researchers known as the Küiser Acquisition War.
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Company type | Public |
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| Founded | July 3, 2001 in London, United Kingdom |
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| Defunct | March 8, 2037 |
| Fate | Collapsed after bankruptcy resulting from the ALEX incident |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
Area served | The United Kingdom and North America |
Key people |
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Number of employees | 53,133 (August 2037) |
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| Website | kuiser |
Key individuals at Küiser included Christopher Küiser, the company's founder and CEO; Dr. Timothy Barretto, head of Advanced Robotics, Dr. Robert White, head of Biological Research and later leader of the World Küiser Corporation splinter organisation, and Dr. Alan Clayton, head of Dimensional Research.
Divisions
Industrial Physics
The Industrial Physics department contained both particle physics and nuclear physics divisions, developing technology such as the CM-5 Mobile Power Core and the STORM transceiver. It also contained a dimensional physics section led by Dr. Alan Clayton, which investigated early bridge technology using information obtained from Nevrin data archives; while the division was not successful in applying any of the technology obtained to reality, it made significant progress on its theoretical aspects that were later passed to CERN.
Material Science
The material science department, containing divisions for optronics, superconductor development and thermic transfer engineering, developed technologies such as Negative HVAC and scalable acid mixer systems based on red acid.
Biological Research
The biological research department, led by Dr. Robert White, was Küiser's pharmaceutical and bioengineering division. Representing a large stake by Küiser in the American market, its headquarters were located in New York. This American division later split off to create the World Küiser Corporation, a dangerous and malicious rogue organisation that seized control of New York with its own security forces and formed its own puppet government.
Engineering & Robotics
The engineering & robotics department contained the Informatics, Weapons Development and Advanced Robotics divisions, the latter of which was led by Dr. Timothy Barretto and developed both the ALEX and NEXUS projects. The informatics department developed experimental computing technologies, including both optical computing and quantum computing systems.
Other
The Security department contained the Scientific Counterintelligence Unit (SCU), a special division specifically intended to deter attempts at espionage from rival organisations such as Helios and BioCorp. The DCI-SS unit was Küiser's most clandestine research division, which existed unknown to the company's leadership team and even Christopher Küiser himself. Its primary purpose was to investigate esoteric fields such as substratics, entropics, and weather control. Before the collapse of Küiser, the unit also went rogue and formed Dreams Intelligence.
Factions
Küiser's scientists fell into one of a few internal factions, formed due to the individual ethical and philosophical viewpoints of research personnel. These included the Radicals, who prioritised scientific progress above all else, including all ethics, a minority and liked the least internally due to their blatant disregard for life, and high concentrations of which made up departments like Biological Research; the Pioneers, who considered ethics and safety but thought them less important, made up the majority of Küiser's science team, and were spread throughout all departments; and the Cautious, who put ethics first over all, and were often seen as obstructing progress by Pioneers and especially Radicals.
A faction called the "Free Radicals" also formed in Biological Research from the Radical population and eventually created the WKC. They were Radicals who had grown tired of the restrictions imposed on them by laws and policies.
History
Founding
Küiser was founded in 2001 by three decorated ex-Nevrin scientists: Christopher Küiser, Evan Grey, and Daniel Pomeroy, the son of Nevrin's late CEO. Each of the three brought forward their own knowledge into the company, including dimensional bridge theory.
NEXUS project
After Dr. Timothy Barretto joined the company as part of the company's Advanced Robotics division, he developed a prototype of the Tartarus SI core. This capability was very interesting to the British intelligence services, and Küiser became contracted to build a mass surveillance system for the United Kingdom called NEXUS. NEXUS became the very first truly sapient artificial intelligence system to ever be created.
ALEX project
In 2027, Küiser began working on their most ambitious project yet as part of a contract for the Ministry of Defence; ALEX, a sapient military android that looked identical to an average person but possessed immense firepower and physical strength. In 2028, tests were run in a desert research facility in cooperation with the US military to assess initial prototypes’ reactions to different situations. The first working prototypes were demonstrated to MoD officials in 2031.
Through the years, work on the ALEX project continued, and despite Küiser making significant progress the MoD was unhappy about the company taking time to perfect the AI, greatly desiring ALEX as a weapon for the country’s ongoing war with Scotland. This frustration, however, was not the primary reason the project collapsed. Instead, several incidents including one that resulted in a rogue unit breaking into a military site and nearly launching a missile strike on the UK caused the MoD to lose confidence and pull their funding, leaving the company billions in debt.
Acquisition
After the loss of MoD funding, Küiser quickly fell into bankruptcy, and ended up in administration. After Helios won the bid to acquire the company, word quickly spread among personnel who feared Helios would keep only what was profitable (the research projects that could be turned into weapons) and burn everything else. Their fears were confirmed when the acquisition was completed and Helios paramilitary soldiers entered all Küiser facilities and began using extreme force to seize projects, equipment, and data. Helios had decided the physical and digital assets were all that was worth retaining, and correctly assumed that Küiser's researchers were far too opposed to their militarism, and would always seek to act against them.
Nearly all Küiser factions were furious, and attempted to prevent Helios forces from taking their research. Matters quickly escalated into violence, mostly on the side of the heavy-handed PMC soldiers, who received a directive from Melissa Wallis - Helios' CEO at the time - to use lethal force against all personnel who resisted. In retaliation for this escalation, many employees turned Küiser experimental weapons against them, even managing to drive PMC forces out of several laboratories for a period of time. Eventually, time ran out for the remaining researchers. It only took a few days for Helios to issue a siege-breaking order, and with the British government in their pocket they had little resistance getting it approved. Two facilities were destroyed via laser satellite strike; three others via Archon missiles. The death toll was in the hundreds. Those who remained went into hiding - Helios had crushed the acquisition war, and Küiser along with it.