Duvolle Laboratories
Formed in YC79 and headquartered in Carirgnottin, Everyshore, Duvolle Laboratories employs over 30 million employees and is a technology leader in biotech and drive systems. Although their primary market has traditionally been the Gallente Federation, within recent years the company has been expanding into foreign and private markets, propelled mainly by the voracious appetite of capsuleers and the growing popularity of Duvolle small arms among PMCs.
History
Before the founding of Duvolle Labs, a young Jinneth Duvolle was completing her doctorate in Nanomolecular Engineering at the Center for Advanced Studies. Her thesis on K-series contact surfaces attracted immediate attention from both academia and the military. Soon after graduation she perfected the production of K90, a robust structure that permitted a threefold increase in plasma propagation in stock fusion reactors. Immediately recognizing the commercial value in this technology, she teamed up with her older sister Jorouette Duvolle, a business graduate from the University of Caille, and — with a sizable grant from Garoun Investment Bank — the pair established Duvolle Laboratories.
As the company's profits grew, so did its product and research lines. Duvolle hired aggressively, offering compensation packages far higher than their competitors' to attract the best young minds. One such mind was Avagher Xarasier, a physicist and fellow alumni of the Center for Advanced Studies, who would later go on to be one of the most influential designers of starship systems in the entire Gallente Federation. Other promising minds followed. Patent office records show that, at its height, Duvolle Labs applied for as many as 30 patents every day.
By YC100, Duvolle was a major fixture in the Federal military-industrial complex. Their research and technologies found their way into thousands of products in the form of first party products and licensed tech, including fusion reactors, starship weaponry, infantry warfare systems, ground-to-orbit shuttles, rapid-charge power cells, industrial refineries, and even cutting-edge kitchenware. Only 30% of research projects ever saw production, but the strategy of rampant growth and aggressively licensed successes delivered healthy profits: Duvolle Lab's "failed" technologies were regularly recycled into runaway successes in completely separate fields. Soon, Duvolle began branching into the emerging biotech field, contributing several key patents relating to cloning technology. This placed them prominently center-stage when the capsuleer population developed and exploded.
It was during this time that the Federation Navy began shopping around for various contractors to take part in the Advanced Starship Program, to significantly upgrade existing naval hulls in the coming years. In response Jorouette formed a multi-disciplinary taskforce within Duvolle Labs and rapidly increased the company's in-house production capabilities. Led by Jinneth and Avagher Xarasier, who had in the interim married, the team won the bidding for ASP.
Although broadly successful, the early days of the ASP project was marred by scandal. In an escalating series of public clashes, it was revealed that many in the company had severe doubts over Jinneth's ability to manage such a large team. In response, Jinneth issued a public letter accusing Jorouette of unethical business practices. Duvolle Labs might have collapsed were it not for the quietly competent management of Xarasier. In the annual shareholder's meeting in YC102, it was announced that Jinneth had left the company and was replaced as Chief Researcher by Xarasier. Jinneth herself went on to form Progressive Plasma, now one of Duvolle Labs' favored sub-contractors.
The Advanced Starship Program eventually matured into its "Tech Level II" banner. After years of design and secrecy, Duvolle released the Taranis interceptor, a model that became an immediate success on the capsuleer market. The company subsequently expanded the Taranis's design principles — strong all-round performance, rapid acceleration, and hardpoints heavily optimized for plasma blasters — to the cruiser-sized Deimos heavy assault ship and eventually to the battleship-sized Kronos marauder, as well as other more specialized hulls. Duvolle Labs was now a household name, with a universe-spanning brand.
In YC110, shortly after the start of the Empyrean War, Duvolle Labs began acquiring several smaller companies directly. The two largest acquisitions were Cromeaux Inc. and ArcLite Arms. ArcLite was a planet-side, Jin-Mei small-arms manufacturer who specialized in rugged weaponry designed to withstand hostile terrestrial environments. Despite having a dedicated following, ArcLite lacked the capital needed to expand their product line. Selling to Duvolle allowed the company to experiment with newer technologies and attract lucrative government orders. The entire company was re-branded the "Duvolle Labs Personal Weapons Division," and its workforce was immediately expanded almost tenfold. Duvolle weapons quickly became a favorite of Gallente PMCs and security forces for their durability and back-to-basics interface. Biometric devices were soon worked in, ensuring that each weapon would respond only to the appropriate users.
Cromeaux Inc. began as a division of Duvolle Labs' competitor Chemal Tech. As a research house, it had spent several years experimenting with new applications of cloning technology. Although its researchers made many small advances in the use of biomass in modern medicine, their owners at Chemal Tech were continuously disappointed with Cromeaux's inability to create low-cost cloning that could be brought to mass market. The entire division was in danger of liquidation when Duvolle Labs offered a very generous bid for the company. Industry analysts expected acquired staff to be folded into Duvolle's own cloning department, but Cromeaux Inc. remained largely autonomous.
In early YC111, an internal document from Cromeaux leaked to the press describing a new program called "Final Soldier." Although the aim of the project is unknown, the document does confirm that resources from both Duvolle's Personal Weapons Division and Cromeaux Inc. are involved, and that the team is headed by Xarasier himself.
Timeline
- YC79: Duvolle Laboratories founded by the Duvolle sisters, Jinneth and Jorouette
- YC80: CreoDron obtains a license for Duvolle Fusion Propagator; Duvolle Laboratories moves to new facilities in Carirgnottin
- YC84: Federation Navy obtains a license for Duvolle Compact Plasma Pulsar as part of the Mark IX Foxfire upgrade program
- YC85: Duvolle Laboratories opens first out-system laboratories in Trosquesere and Mies
- YC91: Duvolle Laboratories takes ownership of its first wholly owned station, the "Manufactory One" plant in Carirgnottin. Production begins immediately on a range of Duvolle components and licensed products incorporating Duvolle technology.
- YC92: Production begins for the first fully Duvolle Laboratories-designed consumer product (DV100 Materials Analysis Workstation)
- YC94: Duvolle Laboratories opens its new hub research station in Oursulaert as part of the FA/CAS "Tech Node" initiative
- YC97: Duvolle Laboratories completes construction of its flagship Luminaire Manufactory in the Luminaire system
- YC102: Jinneth Duvolle begins a new Duvolle Laboratories-backed independent venture focusing on advanced plasma theory
- YC106: Federation Navy commissions its first "Taranis" hull, the first starship class designed and manufactured entirely by Duvolle Laboratories
- YC109: Kronos-class Marauder enters service with Federation Navy; alongside recently successful Deimos hull and the perennial Taranis, this product makes Duvolle Laboratories the first corporation to supply the Navy with frigate, cruiser, and battleship hulls simultaneously
- YC110: Duvolle Labs acquires ArcLite Arms and Cromeaux Inc.
