Ballpoint

Ballpoint Technologies is a company of unknown origins and is both a protagonist, antagonist, and dumb muscle in the Spearbreakers story. Their main base of operations is not known, even to most of its employees, though at a more advanced point in Everoc's history they have a massive facility in the northern parts of West Everoc's Coastal Reaches that they operate from in-story. 
==The Organization==
Ballpoint Tech is comparable to Parasol in terms of goals, constantly performing research on new and exciting things. The primary difference is while Parasol will work on anything from battlesuits to magma proof parasols, Ballpoint's focus is mainly on things to kill other things with, though bouts of projects that seemed smart at the time are also very common.
The company is mostly known for its largest department, Private Security.
==Departments==
Ballpoint is divided into several departments in charge of differing facets of the company or its polocies. They are as follows:
*Administration and Logistics
*Private Security
*Research and Development (R&D)
*Commerce
*Engineering (includes aviation)
*Health and Safety
===Administration and Logistics===
Also known as 'UpManage,' A&L is responsible for all of the clerical and logistics work for the rest fo the company. it is staffed almost exclusivly by dwarves. It is also the branch headed by the company president, currently one Vutok Bronzeclasped (otherwise just called Mr. Bronzeclasped)
===Private Security===
Known as the Ballpoint Technologies Security Coroporation, this is the largest department in terms of sheer numbers of employees. This is staffed mostly by humans but other races are far from uncommon. They perform mercenary operations to help fund the company, gather resources, or protect its interests. Most of the time however units are permitted to operate on thier own for profit, so long as they remain on-call to assit in corporation matters. Combat doctrine tends towards closing the distance and engaging the enemy in melee combat, and as such many of thier weapons are actually melee based or very short ranged projectile weapons. They often suffer immense losses in personell, but it often gets the job done quickly, if not cleanly. Private Security also heads espionage missions for the company. Noteable members include:
*Commander Raza
*Commander Hollowscourge
*Commander Acetalyta
*Commander Craftchasm
*Sergeant Ecem 'The Flayer'
*Sergeant Dovash (Necromancer)
*Contractors Bugi 'The Haze', Aret, On, Fischer, and Koth
*Mr Frog
*John Smith
===R&D===
R&D is the second largest department in the company, and covers all things that help the company hurt things better in their interests, because they may have a use for it further down the line, or the most often used reason, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Mr Frog worked in the bioresearch division of R&D before his exile.
Products of R&D include everything from vehicles, to weapons, to genetic abominations such as:
*BTM22 Magnetic Accelerator 'Rifle'
*BTM3 Magnetic Accelerator Pistol
*M2 'Oracle' Sniper Rifle (now produced by Sewaturet under license)
*M11 Infantry Service Rifle (now produced by Sewaturet under license)
*M11 Multi-Role IFV/APC "Octavia"
*UA181 VTOL "Moghopper"
*M41 Stealth Field Generator
*Holistic Spawn strain HS-2
*Self-propogating Vampires
It all has the same universal role though: They make things to kill other things with.
===Commerce===
Commerce is the part of the company responsible for the sale of weapons and armor to various nations and city states once a world's history has progressed to a certain point. It is also the department tasked with finding various well-paying mercenary contracts for Private Security, either handing them to said department directly or if prior consideration is needed, to A&L.
They also tend to lend services to various down-on-their-luck nations, acting as middle men or a temporary bank provided UpManage is feeling generous or if the country in question has already paid a fair sum to act in such a fashion. Simply by being present in some economies Ballpoint has prevented various disasters from uprisings (due to nobody wanting to be shot with a railgun,) to simple economic collapses.
===Engineering===
Engineering is responsible for creating the various contraptions Research devises, be they railguns, moghoppers, or megaportals. They aren't afraid to take initiative themselves and can sometimes be seen modifying various machines on their own and testing them in the field without R&D's knowledge and sometimes their pet projects are taken over and refined. It is staffed again, almost exclusively by dwarves.
===H&S===
Compared to Parasol, Ballpoint takes employee safety, Contractors aside, very seriously. Due to the large numbers of dwarves, they place a massive value on skilled workers and will make great efforts to keep them alive and healthy, even if its more for productivity than altruism's sake.
Category:Groups