SteemHeroes Episode 0-6: Zenethen - The world's most powerful company

steemheroes (52)in #gaming • 6 years ago (edited)

The corporate juggernaut known as Zenethen (aka Zenith Energy) started as a humble mining company, initially established as the Hillsford Mining Company in 1885. The company started with relatively humble roots, with a focus on the extraction of gold and other minerals. Over the next century, the company managed to keep the business in the family and even turned down several acquisition attempts by larger corporations. While the gold deposits dried up by the 1930s, they managed to find other minerals to keep the business going.

Episode 0-6: Zenethen - The world's most powerful company

In the year 2024, as they continued digging deeper into their mines, they discovered a mysterious glowing yellow substance. The floor of their mine seemed to be comprised entirely of this material. While this was initially considered to be a catastrophe for the company since they didn’t know what this mineral was, samples were sent off for testing and the rest is history. They had discovered a new element, which was named Olympium and this discovery not only made them insanely wealthy, it changed the world.

And they alone controlled the entire world's supply of this essential commodity.

After the discovery of Olympium, the company grew from a small family operation to a global powerhouse practically overnight. Zenethen walled itself off with an army of lawyers and bought off politicians that kept them safe from legal challenges and attempts to use imminent domain to take the mine. They were basically untouchable.

Rising to such a powerful position on the global stage kept them squarely in the public eye, which spurred them to create the Zenethen Foundation, a non-profit which poured billions into causes like funding medical research, fighting worldwide hunger, improving access to clean water and establishing schools in developing nations. Not only was it a tremendous tax write-off, it greatly improved their public perception. Zenethen became one of the world’s most admired companies.

The owner of the company when Olympium was discovered was Harold York, who oversaw the transformation of the company from Hillsford Mining Co. into the massive international corporation it evolved into. The first few years for Zenethen were tremendous growth and ethical business practices, thanks to the fair and honest leadership of Harold York. Sadly, he was already in his early 70’s when he created Zenethen and passed away in 2027 after a few short years as the company’s leader.

Following his death, his son Edward inherited both the company and the position of CEO. Edward quickly ousted many of his father’s appointments and installed his children into high ranking positions within the company. His son Gabriel (age 41) became the Vice President, oldest daughter Estelle (age 44) took the position of chief financial officer and youngest daughter Ellen (age 34) became the company’s chief technology officer.

With new leadership in place, the company maintained its popular public image, but the inner workings became much more sinister. The establishment of The Ravenwood Agency both provided bodyguards for the York family and served as what was essentially the corporate brute squad. Threats, internal or external, were dealt with swiftly as the agents of Ravenwood, known as The Grove, were dispatched wherever needed to assure Zenethen remained the world’s most powerful corporation.

// Prologue to be concluded in Episode 0-7: The Discovery of Dimensional Fissures

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