BY LETTER
Trillicon Arms
 Image from Anders Sandberg |
"Wherever you go, whatever you want to blow up, we will be there to sell you what you need". Nicosia Tessin.
"Weapons don't kill people, people do; unless it is a Trillicon Autonomous Self-Replicating Interceptor!"
Trillicon Arms was a prominent megacorporation, active from the First Federation era until after the Version War. Founded in 1660 A.T. on Atlantis (Zeta1 Reticuli II) by Nicosia Tessin, Trillicon specialised in military research, armament design, manufacture and supply. Originally part of the Transhuman Research Institute on Atlantis, it was one of the most successful NoCoZo arms dealers; its competitors included Dauntless Incorporated, Federation Arms and Militeck.
As well as creating many widely used arms and weapon systems, both for military and personal use, Trillicon specialised in extreme, outrageous and advanced designs. They produced everything from projectile handguns, laser rifles and kinetic kill systems to plans for planetwrecking devices. Some of their truly extreme weapons were never built, but existed only as theoretical concepts or simulations. But many of these theoretical concepts, long thought impossible to build in reality, were eventually constructed by transapient technology after the emergence of the Archai; some were used in the Empires wars and the Version War.
 Image from Steve Bowers and Phil B | |
| The Lost Valley on Atlantis. Here customers can be seen testing short-range tactical megaton weapons | |
On the island continent of Madeline, Trillicon owned the Lost Valley, a private testing range where customers could take a weaponry-hike and try out their catalogue. During the Second Federation period Trillicon purchased a whole planet in the JD 3340033 System (in Dorado), which they renamed Tessin. This planet served as a test-bed for some of the most destructive weapons that the megacoporation could create, and its most effective defence systems too; despite being extensively damaged on many occasions, the planet supported a population of several million modosophonts, who were protected by some of these advanced defence systems. Some of the Tessian population were military technology research specialists and weapons testers, while others were employed as `professional civilians' in order to demonstrate the efficiency of Trillicon civil defence and protection systems.
Trillicon also manufactured military spacecraft of various kinds, and space based defence and attack systems. On Tessin and in the Lost Valley of Atlantis they would regularly arrange a variety of wargames, and in addition would stage spectacular space battles in various planetary systems as a form of advertising; the megacorp strived for a high profile even in peacetime, and sponsored Gun Pride Day on Atlantis and many other worlds. Their researchers published the widely respected ezine Destruction Review (a technical journal of weaponry, of high academic standing).
By the time of the Version War many of the senior posts in the corporate structure were occupied by low transapient entities of various kinds. The use of transapientech weapons (supplied by Trillicon) against the wormhole at Pico Danab caused widespread and spectacular destruction, and considerable information loss within the Nexus. Some commentators suggest that this action, and other comparable and spectacularly destructive events during the long interstellar conflict, created ill will among the Sephirotic Archai against the ancient megacorp, and that soon after the version War ended the Archai brought about the effective end of Trillicon as a functional entity, by engineering a process of demerger and hiving off the most profitable parts. Other commentators blame the ultimate demise of the corporation on overextension and overdiversification; the corporation was attempting to operate in too many systems, often hundreds or even thousands of light years apart, and could no longer function as a unique entity.
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- Smart Weapons - Text by M. Alan Kazlev, from Anders Sandberg's Big Ideas Grand Vision
Weapons with have varying amounts of intelligence in them (rarely more than turingrade). The simplest Smart Weapons link to a control-command subturing and give the owner the ability to shift between types of ammo, see through the aimpoint camera etc. This kind of connection is necessary for use in teamware, and is practically standard among even the simplest baselines. The scramjet bullets of the sabot pistols of Trillicon have built in cameras and some limited steering capabilities. Zetatech's Marksman Gun is equipped with a n expert system that can act as a point defence or drone if placed on a tripod or suitable vehicle (although the price tag deters most people).
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Development Notes
Text by Anders Sandberg
Initially published on 09 January 2002.
Initially published on 09 January 2002.
