Robotic Technologies Institute is a company that was recently privatized - that
is, the American government decided to sell a piece of the government that didn't
earn their keep very well. Lavalle Enterprises more or less jumped at the opportunity,
and grabbed RTI with both hands - and grabbed it hard.
RTI has a fairly flat structure - there is a leader, and a gang of eggheads that
are trying to come up with new things within robotics and cybernetics. Usually
it works - but it demands quite a lot of resources, as all other research does.
It was probably these numbers - expenditure, and perceived return on the government's money - that
made some paper pusher or other decide that the American government didn't need
this particular piece of it any more.
The scientists at RTI are among the foremost on their area, and has made quite
a lot of progress recently. This progress has been well publicized (in those
circles where research on robotics and cybernetics is conducted), and has actually
made a bit of money - but not enough to warrant LEI's expenditure of funds. Yet.
RTI was founded by John Slater in 1989. John Slater was a wonder boy specializing
in robotics, and had recently graduated. When he founded RTI he was working through
a government grant, and RTI were therefore owned by the government.
John Slater kept his reputation as a wonder boy - but got another as a drunkard
and peerless boatrocker. RTI didn't go very well financially, and the grant
from the government was revoked in 1994. A short time after that, John Slater
sold the company to Lavalle Enterprises (through Francois Lautrec), and disappeared
with his money to an unknown place in Asia.
As a part of the buyout contract, a representative for RTI were to sit in the
board of Lavalle Enterprises, and the employees of RTI should collectively own
a part of the A shares - all to safeguard their interests in RTI. This contract
was honored, and the employees of RTI hired Emil von Drachenberg to represent their
interests on the board.
Emil von Drachenberg is originally German, but moved from Germany as a child.
Educated in the USA, he ended up as a stock broker. He did fairly well as a
broker, and in the end he got a job offer from some company called RTI which he
just couldn't refuse. Which he didn't.
Emil is a man of medium height, but a sworn trainaholic. He is fairly broad-shouldered,
and likes to show off his excellent athletic build. Never quite managing to get rid
of his German accent, Emil has cultivated it so that he most of all reminds people
of Arnold Schwarzenegger light when he talks. To further cultivate his image,
Emil has bleached his hair blonde.
A fairly good amateur boxer when he was younger, Emil still likes to go a few
rounds, just to show how tough he is. He prefers to think of himself as one of
the tough guys, capable of taking care of himself - and taking care of others
if they annoy him. Somewhat of a bully, he isn't above using intimidation tactics
to make others do what he wants.