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Sagawa Corporation
Sagawa corporation
Image from Tasp
Home Office:Osaka, Japan, Earth
Major branches:SupraTokyo Habitat, Earth Orbit; and Cydonia City, Mars
Final CEO:Mariko Sagawa (439-565)
Final Chairman of Board:Etsuko Sagawa (448-565)
Founded:155
Destroyed:565 (during the Technocalypse); remnants of the corporation formed the SaKor habitats

Among the most diversified of the triple-A Interplanetary Age orbital corporate conglomerates, Sagawa operations ranged from solar power generation, to biotech, to environmental engineering, with terraforming investments. The corporation was run by a single family, the Sagawas, who maintained their hold throughout the centuries via evocation, cloning, and eventually uploading and life extension. They owned most of Sagawa Corporation, with other significant blocks held by various investment banks. None of those other blocks represented more than 5 percent of the company's outstanding shares at any one time and many owed loyalty to the family.

The key divisions were Sagawa Solar Power, Sagawa Biotech, and Sagawa Envirotech. Across the Interplanetary Age, the envirotech division grew to prominence in the L4 and L5 habitats. As the primary supplier of ecosystem maintenance and waste processing services, the branch generated enough revenue to maintain a large private habitat for use by company executives, shareholders, and their collective staff, and families: SupraTokyo. In addition to its major divisions, Sagawa also owned subsidiaries that operated in a wide range of industries, allowing it to compete in markets across Solsys. The Sagawa Corporation wielded considerable influence in the Orbital League, and its later incarnation, the Cislunar Alliance. This relationship was fraught at times, and often resulted in bitter litigation in Inner Council courts.

While some executives had left Solsys to establish extrasolar branches, the corporation in its integral form did not survive the Technocalypse of 565 AT. However, uploads of Mariko and Etsuko, twin pillars of the family that had run the corporation for more than a century, fled to SupraTokyo. An immediate policy of extreme isolation prevented contamination by malware (a possibility the upload rulers were determined to prevent), and the envirotech expertise of the habitat workers ensured air and food were in good supply. Little more was known about the habitat until the 8th century (surface temperature at least indicated someone was alive inside), at which point tentative expeditions were sent from it to nearby trust networks.

A quasi-religious society had emerged over the generations. Calling themselves the SaKorese, the descendants of the corporate workers and shareholders had turned to worship the "Gosutotsuinzu", the Ghost Pair. Mariko and Etsuko, like many uploads of the Interplanetary Age, suffered from cognitive degeneration owing to imperfect emulation software. Over their long span of isolation the SaKorese periodically reset the Gosutotsuinzu under the command of a ruling priesthood. The reset purged most of the later memories of the uploads, which proved to be an advantage for the habitat. As their more advanced infrastructure had broken down due to a lack of replacement parts, the skills Mariko and Etsuko had gained in their early days of envirotech management proved vital in avoiding the fate of so many habitats during the Dark Age.


SupraTokyo
Image from Steve Bowers
SupraTokyo during the late Dark Age
For the remainder of the Sundering, SaKorese culture persisted as part of a lucrative trust network in the Lagrange 5 cluster. With the founding of the Federation, all remaining policies of isolation were lifted. During the resulting flourish of prosperity SaKorese culture was absorbed into the wider medley of emerging Federation societies. The practice of Gosutotsuinzu reset was abandoned (its status dubious under Federation law). The original copies of Mariko and Etsuko, along with all surviving records of their deteriorating forks, were transferred to a virtual habitat in Mercury orbit. In a matter of years almost all the forks were ported to superior emulation software, allowing them to be stabilized. Some left the habitat, but the majority stayed, along with the originals. In 1691 a Mercurian hive mind, into which the originals had integrated, ascended. Some godwatchers speculated the hyperturing, calling itself Core, was influenced by its memories of ancient corporate culture. During the Federation renaissance the hyperturing sat on the College of Advisors, as well as investing in a number of envirotech ventures.


 
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Appears in Topics
0900 to 1200 AT: The Early Federation Age130 to 400 AT: The Interplanetary Age530 to 900 AT: The Sundering
EconomicsFamous AIs and Hyperturings
 
Development Notes
Text by Ryan B (Rynn)
From an original by M. Alan Kazlev; updated 26 November 2022
Initially published on 31 August 2000.

Logo by Tasp added March 28, 2025
 
 
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