Avatar Industries

**Avatar Industries** is originally known for producing heavy-duty mech suits for the industry. Starting in the forties, they have expanded their market share by acquiring smaller manufacturers like Creedence & Weber and Tobias Maschinekraft.

The company was founded by Kenton Wa, a man who inherited a large trust from his father's corporate investment bank Bronzeman & Zachariah. Instead of relying on the trust to provide him with a comfortable life, as most of his direct peers did, he felt it necessary to re-invest the money into a much more risky proposition. His father enabled him to get in contact with multiple real-estate companies, which combined with his personal experience in robotics, lead to the AVA-1, one of the first robots that could autonomously perform simple maintenance on large skyscrapers. Despite its high cost, Avatar industries managed to sell dozens of units in their first two years.

This success fueled Wa to further diversify the portfolio of the company and began developing versions of the robot that could be used in other hard to reach or dangerous situations. This lead to the development of robots that could be used in mining, cargo handling, deep-sea diving and even volcanic research. In each of these areas, where Avatar Industries provided specialized robots, they enjoyed moderate success upon the first release. Critics at the time argued that the company would never grow beyond the hobby project of a bored rich kid. They, however, failed to see that Avatar Industries was able to keep the R&D costs of such new robots low, as they were little more than re-branded AVA-1 robots with minor specialized upgrades that could be sold at a high premium.

During the mid-thirties, Wa met with Rand Ellesmere at a dinner party, where he learned of the level of success Rand had achieved with his private mercenary company Mere-Sec. Together with Rand, Kenton started a pilot project where the first real innovation since the AVA-1 would be realized; The MERC-1 Conflict Resolution Automaton. The initial prototypes were essentially nothing more than re-fitted AVA-1 robots that had some guns and targeting systems strapped to it. Despite its ability to endure heavy punishment, it simply did not have what it took to be effective in a true combat situation. Enthralled by the promise of "real" profits, both Rand and Kenton invested large sums of money into the further development of the MERC, even going as far as selling their own shares to fund its research.

When the development of the robot was completed, the general public quickly dubbed them "Killer robots", as many of them feared for their for the safety of allowing automatons to carry out sensitive, violent operations in such close proximity to civilians. The initial sales of the robot were barely enough to keep the company afloat.  However, when Futuratect troops betrayed the trust of Markus Ourelian upon revealing that they were already under an agreement with Mikkia Ma of Be Happy, inc., Ourelian abandoned his longstanding business relationship with Futuratect and bought several hundred MERC-1 CRAs from Avatar. This single order saved both the company as it did Wa's and Ellesmere's reputation. Despite the negative connotation the public seemed to have with the machine, a ever increasing number of companies flocked to Avatar Industries to order personalized versions of the MERC.

## Products

### AVA

The AVA line of robots was the first robot to be developed by Avatar industries. It's rugged frame and easily modifiable sensor suit allowed it to be used in a wide array of inhospitable situations.