User:Cavalier One/Workpad4

"I suggest we leave. It appears that Arakyd Industries manufactures its droids very well."

- I-5YQ

Arakyd Industries was a major manufacturer of droids, heavy weapons, and starships. Founded by Veltzz Arakyd on the planet Vulpter during the reign of the Galactic Republic, Arakyd was primarily a supplier of exploration droids. Arakyd was a member of the Techno Union during the Clone Wars. While they supplied the Confederacy of Independent Systems with war materiel, Arakyd also spied on them for the Republic.

After the Clone Wars, Arakyd was spared the nationalization that befell the Techno Union, and the company saw a major boost in business with the rise of the Galactic Empire. Arakyd acquired Viper Sensor Intelligence Systems in a hostile takeover and using their propriety technology coupled with artificial intelligence advances, developed the Viper probe droid. The droid was instrumental in helping the Empire to locate Echo Base on the planet Hoth.

Arakyd also developed the RA-7 protocol droid, which was used by the Imperial Security Bureau to spy on Imperial personnel, and the XR-85 tank droid. Following the collapse of the Empire, Arakyd underwent a change of leadership and began to work closely with the New Republic.

Description
Arakyd Industries was a major technology manufacturer, specializing in producing droids, heavy weapons, and starships, as well as individual starship components. Over the course of its operational history, Arakyd's products were always designed with combat applications in mind.

Although known primarily for producing droids, Arakyd's strong share in the droid market allowed the company to compete in other markets. Many of their weapons systems used integrated droid brains as a means to enhance their efficiency and performance.

Arakyd focused on constructing droids with military applications, supplying them to groups such as the Imperial Navy and Sector Rangers. By the time of the Galactic Civil War, Arakyd branched out into the commercial market. Many of their droids were non-humanoid, as the company favored functionality over appearance.

Arakyd's products were used extensively throughout the Core Worlds. However, due to their military nature, many droids required certification and waivers to be purchased. Aside from its headquarters on Vulpter, Arakyd maintained facilities on Mechis III and a large assembly plant on Kelada. The Kelada plant was used to manufacture components and assemble speeder bikes and repulsorcraft.

History
Arakyd Industries was founded on the planet Vulpter around nine thousand standard years before the Battle of Yavin. The industrialist Veltzz Arakyd started the company with his children, and vowed to eliminate all of his competitors. From the beginning, Arakyd's droid models were designed for war despite strict Republic laws governing the manufacture and sale of combat automata. Arakyd used his company's well-armed droids to cow his rivals into submission, and they reluctantly agreed to become subsidiaries of Arakyd Industries.

Despite amassing a large amount of wealth, Arakyd continued to employ bullying tactics to convince rival corporations to bend to the company's will. Arakyd developed a reputation for ruthlessness and was known for design philosophy that expressed menace.

Arakyd produced a range of successful exploration droids, including the Prowler 1000 exploration droid and the Vanguard probot. Arakyd's ultimate goal was to supplant Galalloy Industries as the primary manufacturer of scout droids. When Senator Palpatine was elected Supreme Chancellor, Arakyd was awarded with a substantial government contract to supply Vanguard probots to the Republic Survey Corps. The Vanguard were put to use mapping new hyperlanes into the Deep Core.

Shortly before the Clone Wars, Arakyd joined the Techno Union as an official member. Arakyd entered a dispute with Viper Sensor Intelligence Systems, claiming that the younger company's prototype XPLR-R hyperspace-route-mapping and habitation location unit was based off of Arakyd's own proprietary designs. The two companies entered into an eighteen-month-long dispute, with Arakyd demanding renumeration and technology rights.

Eventually, Arakyd participated in a hostile takeover of Viper Sensor Intelligence Systems, deploying sixty AAD-4 assault droids to take over Viper Tower in Hpaq on Vulpter. After the takeover, Arakyd kept Viper Sensor Intelligence Systems active as a research-and-development division. Now in possession of the company's propriety Viper technology, and pioneering advances in artificial intelligence, Arakyd developed the Viper probe droid.

When the Clone Wars broke out, Arakyd donated weapons, droids and equipment to the Confederacy of Independent Systems to use in the Clone Wars, Arakyd made sure that their officials remained away from the conflict. As a result, they were able to retain their connections within the Republic, although their contracts dried up.

Agents from Supreme Chancellor's inner circle approached the Arakyd CEO Hordis Boil. In exchange for supplying the Republic with intelligence on Techno Union foreman Wat Tambor, the agents arranged for the Kaminoans to purchase Arakyd products through a shell company and provide them to the Republic's clone forces.

In the aftermath of the Clone Wars, the Techno Union was nationalized by now-Emperor Palpatine. Due to their arrangement during the war, Arakyd was spared nationalization, and even inherited the assets of several liquidated Techno Union companies.

During the reign of the Galactic Empire, Arakyd aligned itself with the galactic government and increased its reputation with several high-profile contracts with the Imperial Military. Using political maneuvering and competitive infighting, Arakyd positioned itself to receive the first Imperial droid contracts, and became the Empire's primary droid manufacturer. Veltzz Arakyd continued to lead the company during this period.

Arakyd's loyalty to the Empire was rewarded with more contracts for weapons and vehicles. Expanding their product line, Arakyd also began to produce prisoner-control equipment including nerve disruptors and interrogation droids. Through hard work, Arakyd became the galaxy's primary supplier of military droids. Arakyd's models for the general consumer market were successful, but only accounted for a small percentage of the company's yearly output.

In an attempt to get into the protocol droid market, Arakyd produced the RA-7 protocol droid. The rest of the droid manufacturing industry were surprised by the move when the RA-7 was unveiled at the North Quadrant Intergalactic Automaton Show on Zug. Examination of the RA-7 showed that the droid was a less than stellar design; it was cheaply assembled, the design was not aesthetic, and the cognitive module was a generation behind the current models. Arakyd's rivals could not believe that the company had produced a substandard design.

The Galactic Empire bought the entire run of RA-7 droids. Unknown to its rivals, Arakyd had no intention of selling the droid on the open market. They had produced the line at the behest of the Imperial Security Bureau to act as an spy within the Empire's own ranks. The Empire wither assigned or gifted the droids to governors, Moffs, and officers.

During the Galactic Civil War, Arakyd's Viper probe droid was instrumental in the Empire's discovery of the Rebel base on the planet Hoth. Arakyd continued to develop refinements of the Viper probe droid. Arakyd engineers and Imperial technicians developed the Infiltrator probe droid at the direction of Admiral Damon Krell.

After the death of Emperor Palpatine, Arakyd remained loyal to the Empire. Further advances to their probot line led to the one hundred and fifty meter tall Hunter-Killer probot. It was primarily used for deep space customs inspection and blockade enforcement duties.

Arakyd also consulted with top advisors from the Imperial Army to produce the XR-85 tank droid. The first prototypes were built prior to Grand Admiral Thrawn's campaign. However, the experimental droid interface technology used in the unit was deemed too costly for the design to enter mass production.

Imperial designers worked to refine the XR-85, and within a year Arakyd was given the contract to mass produce the design. The droid saw extensive use during the Imperial reconquest of Coruscant.

As the New Republic gained ascendancy, Arakyd regrouped and a new board of directors took control of the company. Despite their past allegiance, the new board of directors convinced the New Republic of its loyalty, and began producing security droids, personal security devices, and legal weapons. The new products were moderately successful, although they only accounted for a small percentage of the company's annual output. Arakyd continued to work with the New Republic on new weapons and droids until the invasion of the extragalactic Yuuzhan Vong.

Behind the scenes
Arakyd Industries is paid homage with a new crowd-funded space telescope called ARKYD.

Notes and references
 Category:Arms manufacturing companies Category:Droid manufacturers Category:Personal gear companies Category:Separatist organizations Category:Shipwrights Category:Techno Union corporations Category:Vehicle manufacturing companies