Forward (The public story - As listed in the BPHI catalog inside cover, and as told by the sale people.)
Black Phoenix Heavy Industries or BPHI, has been around for many centuries, and can actually trace its origins back to before the coming of the RIFTS. BPHI or as it was known before the RIFTS, Phoenix Industries or PI, was a major corporation with its claws in nearly everything, and had contracts with countries throughout the world including Japan, China, Australia, and of course the North American Empire.
It is known that PI was into everything from space technologies to Genetic Engineering, political manipulation, pure research, and was at least as advanced as Lone Star and other such organizations. Although it is believed that their focus in Genetic Engineering was on direct human modifications rather then creating animals with human intelligence.
Beyond that, it is known that they had facilities all over the world conducting research in fields of all types. Some of those facilities were built as bunkers due to the research being conducted there, and when the RIFTS came they survived intact. At first the occupants stayed underground, but when their surface scouts started reporting things calming down, they decided to set up shop again. Using the information and technologies they had stored to get them started.
Knowing that they didn’t have all of the technologies that the corporation once had access to, they started snatching up experts in any field they could find, and combined with learning from the original corporation. They also tapped the people that would end up using what they created as well.
This philosophy of combining the real world knowledge of the user with the expertise of specialists in many fields has resulted in the creation of some of the most advanced weapons and systems on the market today.
Examples of this include the Land Shark and its sub-types the Hammerhead and Tiger Shark, as well as the LSTS, LSHAB, and LSAS. One of the most advanced vehicle systems ever created. Their weapon systems packing more punch then most weapons twice the size.
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The reality -- GM's Notes -- The truth not put in the catalog. Never as clean as the fantasy but sometimes much more interesting.
At least that is what BPHI salesmen tell people, even reinforcing it in their sales pitch. The facts are a bit different. BPHI is the exploratory branch of Black Phoenix Industries (BPI), an inter-dimensional corporation similar to the Naruni but from an alternative earth and with at least as far a reach. They have opened BPHI outlets or shops on RIFTS Earth, as well as Phase World, and other locations to test the waters as they expand their operations into this new dimensional space and the new markets it brings.
The recent inter-dimensional wars and the associated shock waves this created through the multi-verse brought BPHI’s attention to this section of the multi-verse. The BPHI division is tasked with investigating and securing footholds in any new location, be that a new planet, or a new universe.
They spent 5 years observing and documenting the technology levels and equipment available on RIFTS Earth and many of the major players including Naruni Enterprises, the Splugorth, and Phase World. They purchased tens of millions of credits worth of technology from Naruni and other sources in order to tailor their offerings to the location and technological levels of the target markets.
This is one of BPI’s primary guiding principles even before making money. The idea being that selling technology that is significantly more advanced than the target market will quickly result in there no longer being a market to sell in. They go through great effort to tailor their offerings to the local market, a bit more powerful, more compact, more shots per magazine, but never anything beyond what the local market is capable of producing. This means they might have offerings that people haven’t seen, but those offerings won’t actually be more advanced than the local technology, perhaps just put together in novel ways. They also are very careful about things such as nukes, sure they offer them, but if such things are only readily available to governments, then they are only going to sell such things to governments. Much like selling overly advanced technology, such things often result in the elimination of a market when sold to radicals and fanatics. It is a careful balance that BPI through BPHI doesn’t always succeed in keeping, but they have gotten very good at it over the millennia and many mistakes.
The truth about BPHI is known only to the highest level of executives within the corporation’s local hierarchy. The truth can however, be determined with sufficient research, as they haven’t bothered to create a false history in older documents. Trusting that based on the condition and incompleteness of records from Pre-RIFTS Earth, they can bluster through most investigations into the companies’ origins, and likely bribe their way out of any more determined investigations.
Such investigations may not specifically point to the fact that it is an inter-dimensional corporation like the Naruni, but it will certainly raise some questions with any players that might dig a bit deeper, perhaps too deep for their own good. There is also the fact that a careful examination of anything not manufactured locally by anyone familiar with the signature of a dimensional transition will be able to tell something is out of the ordinary with the equipment. It is said that ignorance is not bliss, and unasked questions are the dumb ones, but in the case of BPHI, ignorance and the unasked question can sometimes be better than knowing.
It is possible, with the right bribes and contacts, for Players to gain access to technology significantly outside of their local capabilities. However, much like Naruni, BPHI has its own wing of enforcers that are tasked with enforcing the technology level moratoriums they set for a given market, as well as enforcing financing agreements and hunting down those who fail to make their scheduled payments. This means, if you have that Pulse Cannon you got on Phase World, keep the receipt, but at least register it with the company.
BHPI offers more than just Technology, they also offer magic, magical items, and with their discovery of techno-wizardry when they started their examination of the available technology, they are also now offering those types of items. These are offered either in separate facilities when magic is frowned upon in the local area. Where things are more lax, they are just different departments of the same shop. In fact, a BPHI shop looks much like a pre-RIFTS department store, including house wares and furniture, all with MDC options for those that might need it. The offerings just reflect the location, something they have mastered. Allowing them to quickly and easily slip into the culture of the location.
BPHI employs as many locals as they reasonably can in order to maintain the impression that they are from the market in question and in that vein. They also employ local artisans and manufacturing facilities as early in the process as they can to help eliminate the need to shift in materials and equipment from their home base as well as to ensure that their offerings reflect the aesthetics of the target market.
The impression, and not wrongly taken, is that the technology available to BPI as a corporation exceeds anything you can find in any catalog they may offer, no matter how advanced the culture that they are selling to. This again is not an inaccurate impression and a great opportunity for Player Characters who discover the true nature of BPHI and BPI to seek out technology and equipment far more advanced then they would normally have access to.