BioMass Laboratories Group

BioMass Laboratories Group is a German corporation based out of Berlin, Germany in Cyberpunk 2020 pen n paper RPG.

History
Created in Amsterdam around 2014 by Dr. Rijk Leidsplein, backed by the financial acumen of Dieter von Manhoffen-Mass. Their plan was to follow the lead of BioTec Σ in inventing and producing chipware that affected actual body functions rather then the usual skill/knowledge transfer. It was von Manhoffen-Mass that came up with the idea of making the main office merely a support center for a set of semi-autonomous regional groups.

Most analysts believe that inside knowledge gained during his EC-government service guided him in creating this unusual corporate structure. The corporation was run as a partnership until 2019, when Leidsplein dropped out of sight on a trip to the U.K. At that time, von Manhoffen-Mass restructured the management and brought Dr. Christopher Mitchell on as chief of R&D.

Business Practices
"If it's in your head, it's been BioMass-produced" is the corporate motto. The BioMass Group breaks down into three continental divisions, each trading under its own separate identity. In the Americas it's BioMass Labs, in Europe it's BioMass Tel, and in Asia it's BM NeoTek. Each division is lead by a Continental Chief, with an associated board made up of Regional Heads and Board Members. The board breaks down into a series of Regional Office Heads who deal with the Corp business in their area.

Instead of several research facilities scattered worldwide, BioMass has one large, expensively maintained/secured secret facility. It is built under a hill in Mexico about 50km north of Mexico City. A nearby town approx. 1000 inhabitants is indirectly run by BioMass via the town council. Corp Security has substantial long-term assets in the area to keep the facility secret.

BioMass Security has a sizable amount of operatives, due mainly to EBM's interest in ·acquiring BioMass' cutting-edge chip technology if it ever gets a major nu-tech breakthrough. However, most of its people are untested against well equipped/trained opposition. Personnel on guard duty at factories, warehouses, etc. are fully licensed for lethal response, carrying smartchipped weapons and wearing top-rated armor. The few heavy weapons available are for the defense of the R&D base. There is no heavy military equipment CMBTs, gunships or combat 'borgs in the inventory, but such could be procured if a takeover threatened, or if there were proof that the R&D base had been compromised.

Most covert agents are aimed at keeping EBM at arm's length and keeping BioMass' secrets secret They are under-funded in other areas and have had some trouble in keeping their workforce as "loyal" as they could be. BioMass Net security tends to be high, especially in the Continental HQs and Mexico City offices; including several layers of lethal defense. The Mexican R&D base has a separate Net grid, only connecting to the World Net once a week for a few seconds via their CommSat in orbit (to exchange info with BioMass execs). During this process, the area is crawling with Corp 'Runners and defense software.

Resources
There are three satellites owned covertly by BioMass through holding companies. These are used mainly for secure communications and corporation-only Net links. They are also used by the security department to keep an eye on the movements of specific employees, executives, and agents via transponder tags either worn on their work clothing or surgically implanted. These transponders are individualized for each person, and are only given to those who are in danger or need to be monitored. The corporation also owns an orbital workstation, close to Crystal Palace. It is a large facility, fully-computerized, with a crew of twenty. The workstation produces "pure" blank chips for their more intricate designs. Each continental head office (Berlin, Atlanta and Tokyo) is a small arcology. They have full hospitals, libraries, schools, training facilities, etc, as has the Mexico R&D base. The Berlin office also has an extensive med facility that can do cyberware emplacement up to full-body replacements.

Reference
BioMass Laboratories Group