My field of expertise is corporate black ops. Shadowruns are just a part of this, as are blackmailing, media and government manipulation, and many other activities. If I have so much to say about Esprit Industries, it's first because I lived and worked in France and because few megacorporations carry as much black ops as Esprit does. Every branch work with their intelligence service, the SDEI. They do everything to help them extending Esprit network of influence and sign armament deals.
Esprit Industries is the French armed forces most important supplier, and France is Esprit most important customer, explaining a very close relationship. As Esprit operates in both the defense industry and natural resources extraction, the French foreign policy in some part of the world pretty much start and end at Esprit. As a consequence, the SDEI and its national counterpart, the DGSE (Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure). From a practical point of view, it's like they were a single entity.
Though Esprit turned to a rather classical organization as it grew, a key element are the industrial shareholders, GIAT and Aérospatiale SA. These corporations, GIAT in armored vehicles and Aésa in aerospace, are Esprit two largest shareholders. They conduct most of their business through partnerships with Esprit. Latest example is the cruise missile Agas, Aésa developped the engine and airframe, Esprit the guiding system.
Esprit CEO manages the corporation under the board of administrators watch. The shareholders elect seven of them to sit on the board. Each of them has a voice on the board, no matter how many shares he owns or controls.
Herbert de Vaucanson is heading Esprit Industries, period. In theory, he has to follow the board, but his skills and analytic mind make his ideas the starting point for every moves the corporation make. He never let a mistake slips or, at least, he never let one being uncovered. He sumed up his way well enough during an interview, explaining he learnt just as much attending the Ecole Polytechnique than in did fighting in the Eurowars - if you want to know, he was lieutnant in the 94th Moutain Artillery forward observation teams. After that, he worked for Total-Elf before the takeover by Esprit, moved to Esprit International, which he headed before becoming Esprit Industries chief executive officer in 2048. Though he always elude the question, many thinks he could make a successful bid on the political stage if he was to step down from Esprit management.
> Medias built him a political agenda out of thin air. Ares Global Entertainment did it first, never missing an opportunity to disturb the relationship between Esprit and the French government. The only actual fact is that Vaucanson has been meeting president Paladines a lot more often in the last few months than they previously did.
> I.mage
> Not so surprising, since Paladines has trouble geting along with her ex-majority and ministers, Vaucanson is the one who get things going one way or another the president and the minister of foreign affairs disagree with each others.
For the people in the know, André Fergern has a shady reputation as an international arm dealer involved in the most secret dealings with dictators and paramilitary organization on Esprit and a number of other corporations' behalf. Is career started in the early 2030ies, when he was an engineer in material science at Esprit. French intelligence services were using his knowledge to analyze thermal scans. A few years later, he became first head of the R&D departement and then managing director of a small Esprit material chemistry subsidiary called Sofcom, which was at the time also laundering money from DGSE and SDEI smuggling operations in Asia.
When the operations were interrupted, Esprit sold Sofcom to Saeder-Krupp, and for which Fergern received a generous amount of soft money. He used it to start up gunrunning operations, possibly as a DGSE agent all along. In 2044, he was in Southern Pacific, selling weapons to the aborigines and Free New Zealand terrorists. In 2046, he was supplying the Indonesian communist government against the rebels. He dropped everything suddenly in 2048 around the same time operation: Reciprocity started. It seems someone asked him to be a top-level middleman for Aztechnology board during the crisis.
> I wouldn't be surprised that someone was Thomas Roxborough or someone close. The shitbag has been in touch with Esprit for a long time, when he acquired corporations such as Hawker-Siddeley (previously Raytheon Aircraft) or Acquisition Technologies while Esprit was buying out the oter remnants of Raytheon.
In the early 2050, the money Fergern earned in weapons smuggling was invested more legally, including Esprit Industries stock. An exchange offer negotiated between Esprit Industries and one of Fergern shell company, AL International, came to complete his slowly built position. By 2054, he was the eighth shareholder in volume. His election as chairman of the board in 2058 clearly demonstrated the DGSE and SDEI influence over the corporation was to remain.
> I remember another interesting thing about Fergern. He's born in France but was raised in Egypt, where his father was working when he met his mother. Although Fergern spend a lot of times in Paris, he runs his illegal business from a villa on the Egyptian coast, far from everything and without the Egyptian authorities bothering.
> This guy is Esprit Industries shadowy side. No surprise he's chairman of the board. It's like the entire corporation is only working with secret contracts and black ops. Fergern is just an apparatchik.
A brit and a dwarf, Kyle Walther is the only metahuman on the board. Before joigning the Aérospatiale last year, he headed Trans-Orbital division of military equipment. Since Trans-Orbital maintain both CAS and United Kingdom spy satellite networks, he knows their defense sectors very well. He is now in charge of both Aésa and Esprit growth opportunities assessment. He is a very skilled negotiator, very well paid by Aésa, with an obvious taste for power.
> It seems Lofwyr took GIAT and Esprit with him to negotiate with the CAS government. Confedered armed forces have a technological gap with the UCAS, Aztlan and Pueblo. Esprit has the kind of gear they need and Walther has dealt with the CAS military when he was working at Trans-Orbital, since the corporation maintain their spysats.
> I almost sure SK has something to do with the removal of the confedered troops assigned to defend the Matagorda launchpad near the Azzie border. The insurance companies raised the premiums so much that Trans-Orbital was forced to shut down the facility. Now, Trans-Orbital has to launch all its stuff from Novatech and Proteus facilities.
The fact that the head of GIAT Industries, Pierre Barneau, sits in person on Esprit board is a display of how close the two companies are. Also a graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique, he's likely the one board member with the longest experience and the best understanding of military technology. Unlike most S-K subsidiaries, GIAT has limited horizontal integration, and a lot of projects are carried out with Esprit.
> In such situation, S-K Prime troubleshooters would have scalped the manager a long time ago. But Barneau directly answers to Lofwyr. It seems the dragon is a lot more interested by the influence he can get through Esprit.
LLR Finance is a holding company that belongs to Patrice Lévenan and Henri de La Rochefoucault. There are the main investor in Esprit, with a 13.2% stake. La Rochefoucauld sits on the Esprit board. His family kept close ties with the UCAS and CAS establishments, every since his ancestor fought during the US War of Independence. He is a personal friend of UAS presiden Kyle Haeffner, while most French top players rather know vice-president Daviar from her parisian days.
> He was seen a lot in Atlanta lately. While Walther and Lofwyr are pulling their own strings, La Rochefoucauld is acting a the head lobbyist for Esprit and Saeder-Krp to sign military contract.
Benoit Estève, another graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique, is the incumbent Director for armament of the ministry of defense. He sits on Esprit board to represent the shareholing French state, and is as such considered as the ministry number two, even ahead of the joint chief of staff, especially when it comes to messing up with the ministry of foreign affairs. He has faint ties, so it is impossible to say where his political loyalty lies.
> The thing with Estève is that he doesn't seem to have a social life. His wife manages a big hospital in Dakar, his older son is probably drunk in a Japanese club, wile the younger one is attending Harvard. The only person he met either belong to the ministry or Esprit Industries.
> No man can wait that long. I'm sure a corporation like Esprit can provide its directors young and beautiful extra.
Few people know that before becoming a hero during the Eurowar, general-to-be Alexandre de Rochefort only was a reserve officer and, as a civilian, a renowed expert of the Institut des Hautes Etudes Stratégiques. He was involved early in the creation of Esprit Industries, and acquired over time a portfolio of shares and options. However, he stayed in the army after the Eurowars, and did not exercice his voting rights for as long as he was serving as a general officer. It changed when he retired, and his long experience allowed him to het elected to the board.
> When the general first passed and succeed the exam for Saint-Cyr military academy, his future career path to the top made no doubt. If he started a civilian career instead, it was to prepare the military coup d'état by infiltrating diplomatic circles.
> If they ever planned it, which I highly doubt.
> Prof
> It is nonetheless interesting to remark that, despite a late calling, the general is held in high-esteem by his peers. Since he helped define a lot of the current French military doctrine, he's very useful to Esprit.
Zurich-Orbital became a shareholder of Esprit Industries with the death of Wilhelmina Graff-Beloit in 2063. She inherited them from her late husband Michel Beloit. the French businessman is better known for building Saeder-Krupp, but he also chaired Esprit board for two decades.
Accordingly to Wilhelmina Graff-Beloit contract to live on Zurich-Orbital and benefit from its medical equipment, all her belongings reverted to the bank after she died. With at least Saeder-Krupp and Ares interested in opposite ways by Esprit fate, everyone expect the bank to stay neutral. Z-OG board nominated Cortez Quesada, a very experience employee, to manage the shares and sit on the board. As with most Zurich-Orbital Gemeinshaft Bank staff, there is little difference between a 53-years old accountant from Argentina and a pocket calculator beside the size. He only concerns himself about financial results, which actually made everyone mindful about the way he vote.
> Though some regret Mina Beloit for her all-time caution for moves that may hide a Lofwyr's trick, Quesada control allows Esprit to get good rates from Zurich Orbital financial services. I suppose the Z-OG goal to keep a status quo is best served by having Esprit as independent as possible from Saeder-Krup funding.
> Wiat, Monobe has no representative on the board with a 10% stake?
> Nope. Monobe former president/CEO, Sho Kubota, never bothered a lot about Esprit (okay, he never bothered about many things save his own bank accounts). He actually handed proxy voting rights to the Hassler Financial Consultancy in Bern, better-known as the management office for Mitsuhama assets in Europe. His replacement Toshio Mitsukuri is more actif than he was, but he thinks it doesn't worth the hassle to try to exert influence over a megacorporation internal struggle 10,000 kilometers west of Japan. As long as dividends arrive...
> Cible
> From the beginning, Monobe underwent the FN Herstal takeover more than anything else. The company was profitable, but the Japanese accountants and lawyers probably had cold sweat. In the 2030ies, the French government funded FN to produce the Uzi-3 of fame, which represented as much as 80% of the company output! They were first to arm Greek militias but once the Eurowars were over, we started seeing them about everywhere in Europa, Asia, Africa and South America. At that point, everyone at FN Herstal, from the shareholdes to the transport contractors, was working for the SDEI. When they shut down the operation in 2038, the entire financial apparatus just vanished, leaving Monobe alone with a majority.
> Monobe is a shareholder of FN Herstal through its subsidiaries Société Suisse Technique and Cryptec. The former is a mid-sized engineering firm, building lock mechanisms and safes. The latter is one of its subsidiaries, publishing encryption software. It is said the operation termination and the disappearance of businessman Thierry Cassin has more to do with security "flaws" discovered inside Cryptec products than with weapon smuggling.
> I.deal
Esprit Industries is primarily run as a defense industrial firm. The parent company Esprit Industries SAS does project management, key electronic components production and military products final assembly. First rank subsidiaries either operate specific defense business or are one of the few larger companies with a broader range of activities. The result is a management clearly dominated by defense operations.
Beretta SNC is a partnership co-owned by Esprit Industries and Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta SpA, the company you're actually thking about when you're saying "Beretta". The Beretta family remains in charge of their company, especially the firearms design, while the joint-venture with Esprit does the marketing and retailing.
Egis is even more discreet than Esprit usual defense business. They build and maintain infrastructures, roads, telecom lines, military bases, and also offer transporation services. In most cases, they deal with governments which also have procurement or militarys support contracts with Esprit. The Egis group also allows Esprit to run its extraterritorial facilities and military forces autonomously.
> Egis activities include water fountain refilling and water-closets cleaning. The kind of business that can make millions of nuyen with no one paying attention. At least, no one until a plumber on a mission for the SDEI get arrested.
Esprit Electronics made Esprit a brand for the average consumer in the 2050ies. Several store chains, including Esprit Electronics' own in France and the Netherlands, retail Esprit cellphones and pocket secretaries. The company is a joint-venture of Esprit Industries and Dolmen Data Systems, a subsidiary of Mitsuhama Computer Technologies. It is affiliated to Esprit Industries for extraterritorial purposes. However, Mitsuhama is in charge of most markets in Asia and components manufacturing and distribution in America.
> Esprit Electronics best-seller is the "Global" handphone, made famous by trid serie "Red-5". There are rumors about a backdoor for the SDEI to use. But the security flaws in the version Mitsuhama produce for the American and Asian markets are a lot better documented as of now.
> They are not actual flaws. It seems some of Esprit engineers spent too much time working on military-grade equipment, and created a over-secured phone. The first serie of Global who got out before Esprit Electronics downgraded the performance to lower the cost sell for a bucket on the black market.
Esprit International sits at the top of Esprit Industries pyramid of shell companies. It controls various sets of financial and commercial companies, often used to sign a single contract before fading out of the picture. Departements at Esprit International handle commercial negotiations and other arrangements with governments and corporations. Most Johnsons of Esprit work at Esprit Industries, and more especially at the documentation service, the SDEI, which acts as Esprit Industries intelligence service. Contracting for intelligence operations, a sector in which Esprit competes wit MET2000 subsidiary Argus, Aegis Cognito and Infolio, is however handled by shell companies, legally distinct from the SDEI. Esprit Industries military forces also are legally maintained by subsidiaries of Esprit International.
Hardore automotive fan may have heard about Panhard & Levassor cars, and the luckier ones may even have seen one. But Panhard (more accuratelt, the Société de Construction Mécanique Panhard & Levassor) only produced military vehicles for most of its existence. Since 2048, Esprit controls the company, with the previous owner, Peugeot-Citroen, retains one third of the stock. Tasks are well defined between Panhard and GIAT. GIAT focus on long-term development projects for main batte tanks and other "order of battle-structuring capabilities", while Panhard produces lighter vehicles sold "off-the-shelf" to renew and adapt support capabilities.
Current products include the 105mm Trebuchet self-propelled howitzer and the Dague all-terrain vehicle. Orders already passed for the Trebuchet are likely to give Panhard and Renault factories work for several years. Panhard recently initiated a joint project with Aésa for a small multirole vectored-thrust armored vehicle, but it is still in preliminary stages of development.
> The Trebucht quick aiming system suffer for wear just as quick. The armed forces who cannot afford heavy maintenance will be in for bad surprises.
> Moulineaux
SEPER is the center of Esprit research and development. They develop polymers and integrated circuitry used by other divisions and a few outside customers. They also produce two major piece of equipement for the French army: the fourth generation FAMAS assault rifle and the ARMAS military armor. The ARMAS is widely considered as the best military armor currently in use, and receive regular upgrades. Despite this highly successful product, SEPER costly research program require funding from the parent company. But Esprit, Thales-Raytheon and Total-Elf greatly benefit from SEPER technological advances.
> The French army gets ARMAS evolutions for free at least for Foreign Legion units, in return for ruthless real-scale testing in French Guiana swamps and the Danakil desert in Djibouti.
> Even Ares is equipping some Firewatch teams with Esprit ARMAS for insect hive cleaning operations. Ares Arms would like to win some market shares, but Knight Errant is not willing to make its best troops more vulnerable for that.
Thales-Raytheon Systems, or TRS, is Esprit main subsidiary in military eletronics. It originally was a joint-venture of Thales of Raytheon of America, two companies Esprit took over, fully for the former and partly for the latter. Esprit Industries still frequently uses the Raytheon brand on North American markets. TRS manufactures detection and communication electronics and interfaces, which amount for a significant part of Esprit defense business.
Third generation TRS Ether multispectral sensor is considered as the one to beat for stealth technology experts. The details of this technology, along with the list of customers, are among the best-kept secret of Esprit. It is more than likely than the French armed forces are among them. A tailored version was also developped with Saeder-Krupp for the space wreckage detection system of the Orbital Dynamix satellite constellation.
> Huh? I though Saab-Drakensys "Beholder" detectin system was considered the best?
> Both are, because they are different things. Beholder is a system that analyze data gathered by different sensors. The actual reference on the market nowadays is an Ether sensor connected to a Beholder station. Esprit is paying Saab a hefty sum to market that pack.
> I know that kind of stuff. I lost five months and two teammates only to bring back incomplete information on Fuchi proprietary ASSIST code. It was another "best-kept secret". Paid on delivery, miserable result, twice as hard as expected, the only good news is the reputation you can get will open you the doors of high-level runs.
After Esprit Industries took over Total-Elf in 2042, a reorganization downsized oil operations to invest other fields in chemistry. It produces plastics, industrial chemical compounds and probably chemical weapons. Often in conjunction with Egis Services, Total-Elf also exploit natural resources in friendly countries, especially in Africa. In the Middle East, Total-Elf handed most oil extraction facilities over to Saeder-Krupp, though it still provide most of the technical staff for these sites.
> Total-Elf negotiators in touch with governments are very useful to the SDEI. Since the company has a lot of subsidiary around the globe, they are often asked to provide support for operations.
> Ironically, a century ago, Elf has the same kind of relationship with the French intelligence services that Esprit Industries now ha. Total-Elf executive have no problem mingling with spooks, it's kinda traditional for them.
Esprit Industries remain a centralized corporation, with no formal regional divisions. The defense activities are supervised by Esprit International departments for Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and America, while Total-Elf and Egis Services have their own organization with North Atlantic, Africa, Middle East, Pacific and South America sectors. As a consequence, there are no actual regional headquarters, but there nonetheless are a number of key major sites.
Esprit owns two skyscrappers in La Défense business district of Paris (in this case, a fitting name), which are Esprit Industries and Total-Elf world headquarters. The Esprit tower hosts administrative, financial and legal services, which means most of the building is not classified as a particularly sensitive, except for the offices involved in military contracts and, of course, the management in the uppermost floors.
> Esprit has extraterritoriality, but it uses a lot the French national police services to secure its offices. Afterall, any operation that targets Esprit can be considered as a national security threat.
Located west of Paris, the Complexe Vauban can be looked at as the Esprit arcology, at least for its size, since most employees reside in the vinicities and not inside the building itself. It deliberately looks like a giant polygonal fortress, imitating Vauban design. It hosts laboratories and manufacturing units churning out software and electronic components. A communication backbone, the Force Esprit central command and a SDEI antenna are also inside the building. Some Force Esprit units are also stationned here, ostly airbone infantry and radar and missiles stations, with no heavier units.
> The complex has been nicknamed the "French Pentagon". Not exactly the shape, but the place has a similar feeling.
In 2053, Esprit Industries was one of the founding members of the SOX control council. The oldest and largest of Esprit facilities inside the SOX is the Guentrange fort, which was refurbished just a few years after the Cattenom accident. The fort originally belonged to the Maginot line, buried defensive positions built by the French all along the German border between the two world wars. The original facility to host one thousand soldiers, but it is likely Esprit enlarged it.
Works in the zone are about personal and electronics shielding against radiation, and possibly NBC weapons. Testing is done directly in the zone, with additional ones in the Lybian desert. However, the French army, which don't like to mingle with corporate forces over there, uses Esprit facilities to carry out live exercices in contamined area inside the SOX.
> Medias have been regularly invited to Guetrange top levels, where troops and engineers develop shielded drones, with an historical comment on the place's original duties. Since it is less than 20 kilometers from Cattenom, they often add some exclusive footage from a drones driven into the plant. Pure corporate propaganda from beginning to end. Real stuff is below.
> From the few people who visited the entire place, it's a weird microcosm full of hotheads. The worst are the military engineers who work in a remote station on nuclear weapon reprocessing. They have a big urge to unleach the pressure, usually on someone else.
The Esprit offices in Lisbon are a glass building on the Parque das Nações. It is a small division, with few assets in Portugal and Spain to manage. But when it is needed, they perform "resources adjustments" concerning other branch on Paris headquarters' behalf. They're also in charge of a backup communication lines accross the Atlantic ocean, which land in another building nearby Lisbon.
> It is also the place where executives from the American and Asian branch spent a few months before getting promoted to the Parisian headoffice. It is called the Aquarium for the view but also for the sharks swimming inside. Most of Esprit internal feud either start or end here.
> Still, you can never tell if a run managed from Lisbon was tasked by an executive to advance his career or by the SDEI to eliminate an inconvenient element.
As a french-speaking megacorporation, Esprit easily obtained one of the Enterprise zone of Montreal. Since tensions flared up between Ares and local magnate Cross in the mid-2050ies, Esprit has been an evident ally for the latter. Even before that, Montreal already was used as a base for Esprit black ops against Ares. Local industrial operations came as distant second in importance. Most of the contracts with the Quebec armed forces belong to MCT, with Esprit as a subcontractors for specific piece of equipement.
> It is not that Esprit executives don't have the time to negotiate multi-millions deal, but dividing things between Esprit and MCT make the numbers palatable. Esprit doesn't want to be accused of arming every aggressive stance taken by the government of Quebec.
The North American headquarters of Thales-Raytheon Systems is a facility in the suburbs of Albuquerque, Pueblo. It includes several electronics R&D laboratories, with a few manufacturing sites in the area. Esprit has a limited market in North America, as it is widely cornered by Ares Macrotechnology. Esprit is relatively quiet in the Pueblo Corporate Council and avoid any activity that could bring on unwanted attentin. Though it does provide the Pueblo air force with some critical equipment, it seems Esprit doesn't want to take any risk with their operating license. For this reaso, the SDEI never installed an antenna there.
> Esprit played the nice guest so far, but it may nost last. Mesametric, the Sioux heavy vehicle manufacturer, wont recent contract with the Sioux and Pueblo thanks to technologies stolen from Esprit and Saab in Europe. In Esprit case, the thieves let evident to point toward Ares, but they outsmarted themselves by stealing components from a targeting system than Ares had already acquired several years ago.
> Well, it is a virtual loss for Esprit, who did not intend to bid against Ares and Shiawase Armaments for these contracts in the first place. It would be a safe bet for them to let Mesametric fight instead. In the worst case scenario, the UCAS or Aztlan may complain about the Sioux and Pueblo military capability increase, but that's about it, at least as long as Mesametric doesn't try anything outside of North America.
Djibouti city-state has a defense contract with Esprit Industries tied to the defense treaty with France, which include permanent military bases for both. Djibouti also hosts headoffice for Esprit Middle East division (which include Horn of Africa, while other African operations, Ceuta, Dakar and Libreville offices and the facilities they manage, directly refer to the world headquarters in Paris). The Djibouti offices mostly concern themselves with oil production and maritime transport. The most important part of Esprit presence in Djibouti nonetheless is the military base, which hosts air and naval assets, clearly oriented toward the Suez canal and oil sites in the Middle East.
> The aggressive stance taken by the so-called New Islamic Jihad worries a lot of people. The frequency at which joint exercices of the French armed forces and Force Esprit take place has increased significantly, and several other megacorporations moved in troops who were previously operating in eastern Africa.
Yet another city-state, most of Esprit facilities in Asia are gathered inside Singapore territory. The head office is a local subsidiary, Defense Electronics of Singapore. It cannot claim to be a major player on its own on the local scene, but it nonetheless contribute to MCT stranglehold through its web of alliances. Esprit does not have much more weight in the rest of the Asian theaters, except for several major gunrunning operations involding Karachi and Bangkok underworld.
Since it was put into lew-orbit by Saeder-Krupp in 2052, Horizon is Esprit largest space station, with a crew of 63. It acts as a command and control center for three smaller stations (each with less than a dozen persons onboard). Esprit main operations in space are SEPER material R&D and maintenance for the French-Esprit joint spy satellite networks. The stations also provide secure communication channels and contribute to Total-Elf geological studies.
> There are also several Esprit engineers who work for GIAT onboard one of Saeder-Krupp orbital factory as consultants. Officially, they are only working on cannon to function into space, but internal documents are establishing an entire military doctrine for non-terrestrial battlefields.
The only thing that should surprise you nside Esprit facilities is the small size of security teams. Otherwise, they have everything you would expect from one of the largest defense corporation, with military-grade weapons and armors. Their security system first use a large number of high performance sensors accross the entire compound. Next, most of the security guards either are security riggers or sharpshooters. Magical security is likely to be the weakest point, since Esprit employ less mages than most megacorporations. However, wards and bio-fibers are widely used.
Esprit computer systems use the corporation own software, so all encryption is of the latest generation Thales-Raytheon developped, the same level than best military standards. Counter-intrusion systems are a bit under that level. They usually are MCT or Cross software, one or two generations below what you would encounter on those corporations' own hosts.
> To sum it up, you can enter, but getting what you want will be very hard.
> It is only the standard in civilian zones. The most important laboratories have offline computers, kept in the middle of military bases. Indeed, the sensors in the securty perimters can hardly be as tight as they already are elsewhere, so what's different is when it is an armored squadron who comes up to check what triggered them.
Force Esprit is Esprit military force. It is one of the largest unit permanently fielded by megacorporations (if you separate security goons from actual soldiers) with a combat brigade and about 6,000 soldiers around the globe. They have good air projection capabilities, while their naval foces are more limited. They only have six frigates fitted with electronic warfare systems and cruise missiles, plus a handful of smaller patrol ships and stealth boats. Force Esprit main tasks are protecting for critical facilities, training contracts for government and corporate troops, and testing new products.
> Force Esprit does well in the Desert Wars, but they keep it too pro. They don't how to make a show, so their popularity stays low.
> I.doll
> The rumormill says CBC and ABS, who produce the new Gobi Desert War, want to make Force Esprit their new star. As a reminder, Mitsuhama owns CBC and Saeder-Krupp, ABS, if you see something of a connection.
> From a friend serving in the Force Esprit, the high command only accepted after MCT offered magical support to operate in the Gobi. Esprit command doesn't care much more about ratings, but the opportunity to train with top-level magical units worth the hassle. Of course, MCT asked its mages to cast spells as flashy as they can.
Force Esprit clearly assures its supporting role for the regular French armed forces. There is an actual contract between Esprit and the French sqtate, but everyone supposes they are many secret clauses anyway. Esprit soldiers are trained to maintain full interioperability with the French forces.
> Bot that hard. Almost everything Esprit sells, the French army buys. Except for the air vehicles, which are produced by Dassault and Aésa, and still with a lot of components by Esprit, I don't see. Maybe the ordnance lighter and underwear, but I'm not really sure about the underwear.
The Reconnaissance, Intervention & Security Teams, or ERIS, are Force Esprit special operations teams. They are also used by the SDEI for clandestine actions and as bodyguards for Esprit top management executives. Each ERIS counts ten soldiers, and teams train in pair for situation where a larger unit would be required. There are 12 ERIS currently active, but the number of ERIS operators is more likely to be above two hundreds, as many of them are on duty outside the official listing. Their reputation is not as well established as other special forces, but they are considered as a reference when it comes to individual armors. The impressive drills of ERIS black armors may probably one of the reason for ARMAS armor sales around the world.
> The ERIS receives what likely are the most up-to-date armors in existence, from full-polymers jumpsuits to assisted armors. The undergo ruthless physical training, but in the end they operate the bulkiest armors like ballerinas.
Esprit intelligence service is one of the few corporate services who is widely known. Inside the corporation, it is rather referred to as the "SD" or "la doc'" but the medias made the SDEI acronym popular as they uncovered several joint operations with the French DGSE. The ties between those two services run very deep, especially when it comes to their shadiest black ops. Because the SDEI is far from only only being a documentation service. Its primary tasks are counter-intelligence, political influence and industrial espionnage, roughly in this order.
> On militay topics, Esprit rarely copycat stolen technologies. They'd rather develop a new toy who will counter the technological advance made.
SDEI agents excel in electronic surveillance. As the security teams, they have the best military sensors available. Targeted killing and border crossing come close. On the other hand, their performance has been poor for infiltration. They don't have a lot of sources inside the competition, and use the few they have very cautiously.
> The SDEI is at the core of Lofwyr plans regarding Esprit. He carefully play on common interests to maintain links between his own intelligence services. Fonsard, who currently heads the SDEI, work for the DGSE after the Eurowars with another rookie who made his way since as a diplomat and in the private sector: Jean-Claude Priault, currently representative of Saeder-Krupp on the Corporate Court.
> The SDEI also has ties with the CATCo Seraphim. It helps to speak the same language, but their primary motivation is to combine their forces against Ares.
> Fallen Angel
> I wonder which one gave the other that bad habit of going rogue and initiate operations without receiving any order.