Erika

Erika

"Connecting People"
Mono-Corporate Parliament of Finland
Connection	4
Type	AA Rated Corporation
Player May Join	Yes
Health	Maintaining
Area of Operation	Espoo, Finland

Faction Information

Summary

Erika is the AA telecommunications corporation headquartered in Finland, partly responsible for the Wireless Matrix as it's known today. It's ranked third in worldwide consumer electronics and was briefly part of NeoNET before the AAA's collapse. Even today, Erika is a household name in terms of telecoms and portable computers, having been born from a merger between Nokia and Ericsson in 2019. Its initial CEO, Anders Malmstein, was an aggressive expander who played the system as well as he could but led strong policies on free healthcare, education and maintaining a dedicated population of a local workforce.

Nowadays, Erika practically owns Finland, having all but complete control of the parliament. Their vast intelligence agency ensures they maintain this status quo and their military might keeps Russia at bay in the wake of the EuroWars when Russia attempted to annex the country. Anders Malmstein is over ninety years old and not active most of the time in Erika's ongoing activities.

Details

Finnish Companies like Nokia and Ericsson spearheaded the cellular revolution, defining Finland as a leader in wireless communications. After the merger in 2019, Erika, under the firm hand of one Anders Malmsten, continued on this path, enjoying rapid growth with popular innovations and becoming a force to be reckoned with.

Unknown to most Finnish citizens, Erika nearly went under after the Crash of '29. Malmsten saved his corp by encouraging the nationalization of his competitors, even accepting a government-appointed role to oversee the process and using the inside information this granted him to his advantage. After the Euro Wars, when the threat of Russian Invasion had subsisded, Malmsten quietly arranged for several key nationalized companies to be privatized and sold to Erika, cementing its dominance. By this point, Malmsten had built up such a wide powerbase through economic success and years of behind-the-scenes networking, coercion and extortion that he could not be stopped. By '48, Erika had acquired every other significant Finnish corp, growing enough to achieve AA status.

• "Erika's Mr. Johnsons ran so many black ops in those days that even S-K Prime was impressed. Erika's shadows-oriented personnel have a lot of experience under their belts and they use it to full advantage." --Kimi
• "It's not fair to make Malmsten out as some unscrupulous monster - he's through and through a good person. He may be aggressive, but he continually gives back to the people and ensures our welfare through his connections in the parliament. If it wasn't for him we wouldn't have free health services and schools." --Finnished

Today, Erika's hold over the Finnish government is effectively complete. It's extremely hard to get elected for parliament or office without selling your soul to them. And if you don't, Erika's web of informants and electronic surveillance will certainly dig up enough dirt to keep you inline.

• "Malmsten is nearing ninety and is more absent from Erika's daily affairs. There's no natural successor lined up either, so when he's gone there'll be a wild scramble to fill his top slot. Two of the chief contenders are Tommi Hakala, CEO of Alcatel-Nokia and a notorious ladder-climber, and Swaraj Verghese, the efficient director of operations for the WMI who has tight connections with the upper ranks of Transys Neuronet and key Scandinavian Union officials." --Kimi

Though the public is ignorant of this, the all-seeing eye of Zurich-Orbital is not. The Corporate Court is pressuring Erika to use their influence in the upcoming summit, which might prove to be the wildcard we have anticipated.

• "This has really put Erika on the spot. They've mostly benefited from the amendments which have kept competitors out of their own backyard. If they were to switch sides, it might cost them some of their more powerful backers in the parliament, but at the same time they're afraid of pissing off the Corporate Court, especially when Saeder-Krupp has iut out for them. Most likely they will play both sides but they may get caught between the hammer and anvil." --Snoop Catt

Publicly, Erika is seen as a corp with a distinct social conscience; Malmsten always underlines the importance of retaining a local workforce where over 90% are highly paid Scandinavians, even if it were more profitable to move production abroad.

• "They couldn't do it if they wanted to. Most of the production is automated so the human controllers have to be highly qualified." --Hugin

The company also helps to fund many of the welfare benefits the Finnish people enjoy and their military forces form the backbone of Finnish defense. One might think that it's hard for them to stay competitive, but you'd be surprised at how much you gain when your assets include a whole country.

Goals

• Maintain Finland's economy and social stability
• Increase influence and profits worldwide
• Maintain good shadowrunner relationships
• Avoid Corporate Court's continuous pressure
• Find a worthy successor to Anders Malmsten
• Resist Saeder-Krupp's pressure in particular

Major Locations

Operates Worldwide

Leaders

Anders Malmsten is the CEO of Erika. He has been the CEO of Erika ever since the merger of Nokia and Ericsson to form the company in 2019. His influence was responsible for keeping Erika afloat through the Crash Virus of 2029, mostly by the nationalization of his competitors. He was even given a government-appointed role to oversee the process, and used the inside information to his advantage. By 2048, Erika had acquired nearly every other Finnish corporation.

By 2084, he is 111 years old. He's assumed to have undergone leónization treatment, but he's not very active in Erika's public image. Most Finnish shadowrunners and citizens have nothing but praise for the man, but he's known to have made aggressive moves in his past to get to where he is now. His list of successors is less than appealing to say the least.

Subsidiaries

Alcatel-Nokia

Electronics, matrix

Dorada Genetech

Genetic engineering

Fuchi Studios

Trideo Production Company

Nanoglobe

Nanotechnology

RYAsys

Software company from Pomorya

Background

Allies

• Finnish Shadow Communities

Enemies

• Saeder-Krupp
• Corporate Court (Partial)
• Evo
• Russian Federation

Members

Contacts

Name	Connection	Archetype	Profession
Grani	2	Service	Erika Retainer
Pozemka	2	Legwork	Black Ops Magician
Rosmontis	2	Fixer	Erika 'Connection' Specialist
Saga	3	Networking	Erika Engineer
Taina Kauhava	5	Gear

PCs

Name	Position	Faction Rep
Olivia Silence	IBIS Project member	7

Narrative Significant Runs

Name	GM	Metaplot	Date of Run
No Escape Part III - Operation Gramr	Archtmag		4 May 2085
I Had Strings But Now I'm Free	Sarcarian		13 January 2085
Hegemony of the Food Chain	Asmodeus	Swarming Season	20 November 2084
Knock Knock	Asmodeus	Swarming Season	10 November 2084
Shadow Over Kuopio	Sarcarian		11 September 2084
Mainilan Fire	Asmodeus		14 February 2084