Carthage Industries

Carthage Industries, originally Ross Technologies, is an interstellar manufacturing and engineering conglomerate based in the United Kingdom. It was founded in
2397 by Johnathan Ross in the United Kingdom and started off manufacturing USB cards and telephones. It was only in 2478 that Carthage began to focus on engineering and the manufacturing of vehicles and other public necessities, which got it to where it is today. As of today, Carthage is the largest conglomerate in the United Kingdom, the eighth largest on Earth, and the fifteenth largest in Earth-controlled space.
As of today, 48% of shares belong to Concourse Transportations, while 52% belong to Unified Earth Manufacturing. Joseph Ross is the current CEO and Henry Thomson is the current co-CEO.
== History ==
=== Pre-Insurrection ===
It all started with Johnathan Ross, son of disgraced politician Samuel Tyler Ross, who was convicted of first-degree murder during his reign as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Johnathan, gifted in technology since the day he was born, had a vision to restore the positive things that came with his family's name. And so, he formed Ross Technologies out of his home in Bristol. After partnering with large-scale USB producer Masters & Sons, he began to produce cheap and affordable USB cards to be sold in gas stations throughout the United Kingdom.
When Masters & Sons filed for bankruptcy, Ross Technologies partnered with United Communications and began to produce house telephones. Several magazines, the most notable one being UK Technology Enquirer, named Ross Technologies the fifteenth most popular house telephone brand in Bristol. By 2400, Ross Technologies was the most popular telephone brand in Bristol and the fifth most popular in the UK. Around this time, Samuel Tyler Ross died of malaria in prison, never knowing of his son's successes. Johnathan had him buried outside of his childhood home in York and would later move it to the family cemetery in Bristol.
It was also around this time that Johnathan's son, Mark, was given the rank of co-CEO, replacing former co-CEO and friend of Johnathan, Andrew Hannaford. Hannaford would later found Hannaford Higher Technologies, which you may know as the first company incorporated into Unified Earth Manufacturing. Following the death of Johnathan, Mark took over the company and began to partner with other companies, starting with the North Irish Private Communications and the Scottish company, VideoComm. Their focus switched from standard telephones to more advanced videocalls. Mark's ambitious ideas didn't last very long, as he would retire in 2458 at the age of 77 and would give the company to his illegitimate child, Daniel Carthage. Carthage was also an experienced businessman, having worked with the Arizona Oil Company for a decade.
Carthage wanted to make the company something to be truly remembered. Something that couldn't just be replaced in a day by something bigger. And so, to begin this, he rebranded the company to Carthage Industries. He also dropped all the partnerships Mark and Johnathan had, causing the company to plunge in value. This was all a part of Daniel's idea, though, and he later ended up partnering with Ross Technologies' long time rival, Hannaford Higher Technologies. Hannaford, by this point, had outdid Carthage and was twice its size. Carthage reassured Andrew Hannaford's son, Jeremy, that Carthage Industries no longer followed the ways of business that Ross Technologies did.
From that, the Universal Helper Mark Two, commonly known as the "Herbie", was born. It could fly, was lightweight, and followed orders quite easily. This ended the rivalry between the companies and ended in Hannaford being incorporated into Unified Earth Manufacturing a year later. Carthage, now lacking a partner and knowing that the UEM wouldn't work with them, entered a state of heavy decline. With Daniel Carthage announcing that he was stepping down as the CEO, the company was left in a state of constant power struggles. Ultimately, co-CEO Nicholas Faulk ran the company until he retired in 2499.
During Faulk's reign, Carthage Industries focused more on public transportation. In 2478, the Fully Automated Transport "FAT" Vessel was born and was placed on the market. It effectively replaced transit systems throughout Earth's urban areas and became the most popular form of public transport of all time. Faulk finally restored Carthage Industries to its pre-collapse state. This would continue on until the Human-Covenant War.
=== The Insurrection ===
Carthage hadn't stopped producing anything since the collapse, even during the Insurrection. Despite the trade ban on a select few Outer Colonies, Carthage continued and continued to just ship out everything they had to everywhere they knew. The UNSC couldn't really stop them because, if they had, they would've lost one of their largest public transport companies. When Nicholas Faulk retired, Jessica Royce took over. She would continue to keep the company stable and is often considered to be one of the more important CEOs of Carthage.
Category:Company