Products: Crop seeds, GMOs
Services: Hospitality, Tourism, Recreation, Residential, Nature Conservation, Agrochemical R&D, Agriculture, Biotechnology
Subsidiaries: Park Rangers, TerraFirma, Blue Marble Research, Perfect Parks, Cosmic Amusements, Stay Awhile Hotels, VIP Concierge, NOVAcancy,
Headquarters: Quito, Ecuador
Motto: “Experience life like never before.”
Tranquility Resorts is primarily known as a premier hospitality corporation, responsible for many of the most desirable and prestigious resorts, hotels, tourist attractions and private communities on Earth and beyond. Some of their most popular properties include The Domes at Tsukiyomi; a series of domed parks on Luna each with wildly different themes, The Business End Hotel; a luxurious hotel near the VESL Muzzle frequented by corporate execs and government bureaucrats, or The Promenade, an exclusive floating arcology off the west coast of Ecuador.
Additionally, they operate a number of nature reserves across the globe, preserving the original flora and fauna of ecosystems threatened by pollution and ever-expanding cityscapes. The reserves are protected by Tranquility’s powerful private security force, the Park Rangers, and include Whistler Park, Mt. Rainier Park and the Protected Amazon Region.
The third, lesser known branch of Tranquility is the research and development divisions focused on agritech, biotech and genetic engineering, with a particular emphasis on creating advanced plants and crops and furthering agricultural technology. The division was initially formed to attempt to preserve plant species dying from pollution and urban sprawl, eventually paving the way for hardier crops that could survive, flourish, and be planted and harvested efficiently in a post-disaster, cramped for space and highly industrial world.
History:
Tranquility was initially a crown corporation of the Ecuadorian government. After the completion of the South American space elevator, Alma’s Hoist, the promise of bountiful resources elsewhere in the solar system motivated the South American governments to finally agree on and pursue an aggressive nature conservation initiative. Part of this initiative included parceling off sections of what remained of the Amazon to each involved country. Tranquility was formed to manage the Ecuadorian claim and preservation effort. The initiative was highly successful, and with the immense wealth brought in by the Hoist, Tranquility expanded their efforts and purchased land from across the Americas, including from the North American governments who were struggling financially and near bankruptcy.
During the VanTle Purchase, when Vancouver, Seattle and the founding corporations of VanTle bought their way out of their failing nations, Tranquility already owned quite a bit of land along the west coast, granting them significant leverage during the negotiations, emerging in an extremely strong position.
Years later during the Equatorial War, the Hoist was destroyed, causing unrecoverable damage to many South American nations. The Ecuadorian government dissolved, but Tranquility was able to survive thanks to their many holdings, though now without the backing of their wealthy government. Looking for new revenue streams, Tranquility took advantage of the beautiful land they owned and began constructing the resorts and parks they would eventually become primarily known for.
Controversy:
While Tranquility attempts to maintain the impression that their parks are natural, preserved and unaltered snapshots of nature as it was, there is mounting evidence that most Tranquility parks are full of species genetically modified to grow larger, flower more, and generally appear more impressive and beautiful than naturally possible. Critics also suggest that Tranquility parks are carefully arranged, planned and landscaped, as opposed to raw, wild nature.
Tranquility’s private security division, the Park Rangers, are known for their extreme zeal when it comes to protecting their reserves. Rangers go through an extensive training program and are instilled with an almost fanatical drive for preserving the natural state of their jurisdictions. The mantra of “Leave only footprints, take only memories” is strictly enforced. Many charges of excessive force have been levied at the Park Rangers, and one critic describes them as “…ludicrously armed and laughably unregulated.”
Tranquility’s modified crop seeds now amount for a significant majority of crops grown in the Americas, due to their high resilience, small footprint and high yield. However, Tranquility closely guards the secrets of their products, and so all their crops are encoded with a sort of genetic DRM that renders them useless without application of a particular proprietary additive. Tranquility has been accused of unfairly withholding the additive from buyers that fall behind on payments, work with their competitors, share classified seeds, disagree with price hikes or otherwise invoke Tranquility’s ire, forcing buyers to bend to their whim, causing hundreds of thousands of tons of spoilage each year, and contributing to food inequality.
