Rucker Group
In TN 1898, Dysan Rucker inherited a failing military arms manufacturer from his father. Dysan was faced with the daunting task of making something from a company that was nearing its deathbed. He quickly decided to cut his losses and sell off all of the company’s manufacturing facilities, keeping the research and development branch only. With the money he raised, Dysan paid off the company’s remaining debts and with the rest he went about rebuilding his father’s dream.
His first step was to approach Garamond University with a proposal. Dysan contributed a very large sum of money to the university’s engineering department for the right to establish the Rucker Scholarship for the “less than affluent, middle-class students” who can not afford the high tuition fees at Garamond. Students who receive the Rucker Scholarship, most of whom would not normally be accepted into the elite private school because of their low social standing, are welcome there. Their tuition fees are completely paid by the Rucker Group. Periodically, one of Garamond’s wealthier alumni complains about the “rabble” being accepted into their elite school, though these complaints are often answered by an “anonymous” donation to the school’s alumni fund.
The students who attend Garamond under the Rucker Scholarship agree to work for the Rucker Group upon graduation for a period of ten cycles, after which they may leave if they choose. Of those few that leave after serving their time, 45% return to the Rucker Group since few other companies are prepared to take care of their engineers like the Rucker Group does. The engineers begin at the lower rung of the pay scale, but over time, their pay grows quickly, accompanied by an increasing number of perks, eventually leading up to stock options. This has developed a strong sense of loyalty within the company and while the Rucker Group has some of the highest paid engineers on Terra Nova, it also has the hardest working employees.
Dysan learned from his father’s failure and decided to alter the company’s focus from design and production to simple design. He began by establishing a reserve of design engineers to accomplish this goal. Over the following 35 cycles the Rucker group grew steadily into one of the premier weapons designers in the South, many of their designs being sold to Territorial Arms for production in their facilities. Recently, however, Rucker has purchased two small productions facilities and is presently gearing up to produce the soon-to-be-released 18mm IAU-X7 Infantry Field Gun, commonly thought to be the next Anti-Gear Rifle. The success or failure of this new field gun could determine whether or not Rucker continues to expand their production facilities.