The Big Ten

There are ten Megacorporations that have a AAA rating from the Corporate Court (not surprising since they are the Corporate Court). They have all the gold, so they make the rules, and you need to know the basics about them if you want to make it in the shadows.

Chances are, if you are a runner, you will run into them: either doing dirty work for them...or taking things unasked from them.

Ares Industries
Headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, UCAS, is the seventh largest corporation in the world, the largest in the UCAS, and the current leader in the defense and aerospace industries.

Ares specializes in law enforcement, military hardware and arms, aerospace (they have five orbital habitats), entertainment, automotive (the former General Motors is also part of the Ares family), and smaller divisions in many other areas.

Most shadowrunners know Ares from their Ares Arms division, and with good reason. The Ares Predator is the staple sidearm for the discerning runner. Run by wealthy playboy Damien Knight, the corp has a reputation as a very “American” outfit: gung-ho, militaristic, patriotic, and individualistic - Mom and apple pie, in other words. Don’t let that fool you - sure, they’re one of the better megas to work shadow ops for, but keep your eyes open, because they can be as underhanded as the rest.

Renraku
Headquartered in Chiba, Japan, is the fifth largest corporation in the world, and the third largest corporation in Japan. As the name implies, its business core is computer technology, especially memory storage and databases. Renraku controls the world’s largest data repository and they own almost all of Asia’s local grids and are said to be very effective in blackmail due to having everything stored somewhere in their servers.

They’ve got a seriously traditional Japanese culture, and their Red Samurai military units are universally feared. Not respected, feared.

Saeder-Krupp Schwerindustriegesellschaft
Headquartered in Essen, Germany, is the largest corporation in the world.

It controls BMW, one of the seven founders of the Corporate Court and thus possesses permanent AAA prime megacorporation status. Since a leveraged buyout in 2038, S-K is wholly owned by the Great Dragon Lofwyr.

S-K's main business interests lie in heavy industry, nuclear energy, oil, chemistry, finance, aerospace and telecommunications.

Lofwyr owns nearly one hundred percent of this German-based megacorp, and he rules it with the kind of attention to detail that only one of his kind can maintain. It’s not impossible to trick Lofwyr, but it’s very difficult - and usually fatal. The wyrm doesn’t suffer fools gladly, and shadowrunners who go against him (or fail in one of his jobs) might just find themselves on his list.

Wuxing
Headquartered in Hong Kong, is one of the Big Ten AAA Megacorporations, and it is the largest Hong Kong/Chinese megacorporation, owning a sizeable chunk of the Pacific rim..

It is most heavily involved in finance, shipping, and consumer goods and services, but like most megacorporations, it has investments in other areas, including agriculture, engineering, consumer goods, and chemicals..

Wuxing is well known for its unique magical research, focusing on Spirits of the Elements and Wujen. Its influence with the Pacific Prosperity Group gives it power and influence out of proportion to its relatively small size, and it is starting to make waves in the Sixth World.

The corporation is quiet and conservative, the stealthiest of the Big Ten. Their employees are steeped in Chinese culture, even those who’ve never been within a thousand clicks of Asia.

The megacorporation has long standing ties to several Triads, and has recently expanded its ties to the Red Dragon Triad and its master, the Great Dragon Lung.

NeoNET
Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, UCAS, that was formed from Transys Neuronet, Erika, and Novatech after the Novatech IPO and Matrix Crash 2.0.

Primarily responsible for the wireless backbone of the new Matrix throughout the world, the influx of money brought on by the IPO, the Grid Overwatch Division and its lucrative wireless network contracts has allowed it to buy into a diverse group of businesses in almost every industry, including Matrix infrastructure, software, electronics, biotech, aerospace, cyberware, software and small arms.

As a corporation, NeoNET is pretty fractured, with the major factions controlled by a long-time corporate raider, a reclusive dwarf, and the Great Dragon Celedyr. Runs for or against NeoNET are a grab-bag, all the time. Randomness can be fun, until that time you end up reaching in the bag and grabbing a scorpion.

Aztechnology
Headquartered in Tenochtitlan, Aztlan, is the second largest corporation in the world and the largest corporation in North America.

Aztechnology is the number one producer of consumer goods in the world. It is also number one in the Magical Industry.

The corporation strongly supports the Aztlaner government, which in turn enacts a number of laws to the advantage of Aztechnology. The corporation is privately owned and does not disclose the names of its shareholders and board members. On the other hand, it heavily uses publicity to support its foods and consumer goods sales.

If you’ve bought any kind of consumer goods recently, chances are you’ve contributed to Aztechnology’s bottom line. Sixty percent of the goodies you find at your local Stuffer Shack (ninety percent if you count the Stuffer Shack itself) come from them. They make everything from chemicals to trideo-game software to military goods and magical supplies. They’ve got their fingers in more pies than just about any other mega, and their public relations campaigns are second to none.

Which is good, because they’re also all about blood magic and evil conspiracies. Allegedly. Just don’t say anything about that within earshot of the Big A’s ferocious legal team.

Shiawase Corporation
Headquartered in Osaka, Japan, is the eighth largest corporation in the world, the largest Japanese corporation and the oldest in the Big Ten. Shiawase was the first corp to claim extraterritorial status.

It was founded by the Shiawase family (幸 or 倖) in post-WWII Japan, and to the current day, it remains a family-owned corporation, with most employees signing lifetime contracts and even marrying within the corp. The corporation works a lot with a Triad in NY City, the Large Circle League, which is an affiliate of the Red Dragon Triad.

Either directly or through subsidiaries, Shiawase has its hands in nuclear power, environmental engineering, biotech, heavy industry, technical service, minerals, military goods, and a whole lot more.

Mitsuhama Computer Technologies
Headquartered in Kyoto, Japan, is the third largest corporation in the world (as of 2075), and the second largest Japanese corporation. They’ve established quite a presence in North America over the last few years.

It deals primarily with computers and robotics, but also possess extensive holdings in heavy industry, multimedia and thaumaturgy.

MCT is the largest source of entertainment worldwide, standing completely in front in profit-yielding markets like the simsense industry, the trideo market and the Music Industry. MCT is number two in heavy industry, just behind Saeder-Krupp, and likewise is number two in the Magic Industry, behind Aztechnology.

MCT is connected closely with the Japanese yakuza.

The corp pays very well for success in shadowruns, but when you fail they… disapprove. Be extra careful when you’re running against them. MCT is considered very aggressive with regards to intruders. Their defense concept is known as Zero Zone: There is no penetration and no survival. MCT does not take prisoners, shooting first and asking questions never. The magic defense is top class and each important asset is defended with riggers. In addition, they use paranormal critters more often than other Corporations.

Horizon Group
Headquartered in Los Angeles, PCC. It focuses on public relations, media, and entertainment. Its main headquarters is in Los Angeles. While Horizon is best known for its presence in all aspects of advertising, marketing, and entertainment, it also has subsidiaries in consumer goods and services, real estate and development, and pharmaceuticals. Subsidiaries include New Line, Polyaural, and Hisato-Turner.

They’ve managed to score many exclusive contracts for dealing with the development of California. With charismatic ex-simstar Gary Kline at the helm, its corporate culture is “people-centered,” and employees are well taken care of and encouraged to develop their talents and pursue their interests on company time - as long as the corp reaps the profits.

They had been renowned as being technomancer friendly, but a series of events culminating in a massacre in Las Vegas helped people understand that even the nicest of megacorps can spin out of control.

EVO Corporation
Formerly known as Yamatetsu. Headquartered in Vladivostok, Russia. It is the largest Russian corporation. Evo is one of the main producers of biotechnology appliances, nano-machines and ergonomic goods for metahumans. They focus a lot on transhumanist projects ranging from bioware cybernetics, anti-aging experiments, and other even more out-there projects designed to take metahumanity to the next stage of evolution. On top of that, they’re the first megacorp to successfully set up a base on Mars. It is also one of the largest members of the Pacific Prosperity Group.

“EVOlve,” they say in all their ads. Let’s be fair, they are a megacorp that looks to the future.

Their CEO is an ork and their largest stockholder is a Buttercup, free spirit. Their entire board of directors is a strange and diverse group of individuals, including an eccentric space scientist, and a SURGE changeling.

Evo leads the megas in goods and services designed with orks, trolls, elves, dwarfs, changelings, and other nonhuman people in mind. Their corporate culture is pretty touchy-feely, but don’t misunderstand: they can be as cold and calculating as any other mega.