Velmoran Military Engineering Works, commonly abbreviated to simply, VMEW, is a production and design company which specializes in military-grade materiel, and often subcontracts projects to Sprig Arms and V Armory, and has subcontracted to foreign companies, including Ikest Industries, Rendili Star Drive, the Intergalactic Banking Clan, and the Mon Calamari Shipyards.
VMEW's corporate headquarters are located in the port city of Del Shikaw. The company is organized into three divisions: VMEW Commercial; VMEW Defense and Security (VDS); and the VMEW Galactic Initiative (VGI).
History
Before 200ABY
As Velmor's precious stones and minerals were projected to be fully depleted by the end of the second century ABY, the Velmoran monarchy made efforts to restructure its economy, investing the world's accumulated wealth into a dense array of infrastructure to provide for growth.
One industry chosen for development was in advanced manufacturing, specifically of vehicle technologies. A scattered distribution of local facilities around the planet were unified under Velmoran Vehicle Manufacturing (VVM) in 180ABY, a nationalized administration which organized its collective assets to develop technological innovations in the design and manufacture of sensors, engines, shields, and weapons.
The gamble was looking to pay off for the planet as it eased into this new economic model, but it was brought to an end by an invasion of Sith forces in 199ABY.
200-210ABY
After the Velmoran royal family was slain or driven into hiding, the Sith created an occupational government which assimilated the nationalized industries of its predecessor and reorganized them under the threat of extermination. VVM was one such victim of this consequence, and was re-purposed into Engineering Corps- Velmor (EC-V) in 200ABY.
In its new role, EC-V was tasked with tracking down and requisitioning military-grade vehicles and weapons from around the planet, for use, sale, or destruction by the Sith. Manufacturing facilities which once held the potential to pioneer new technologies became glorified warehouses for the depository of a government collection apparatus.
Already chafing under the oppression of the Sith, a small army of overqualified designers, engineers, programmers, and pilots became quickly disaffected as they were reduced to the role of cataloging and storing machinery. Politically, the seeds of rebellion had started germinating on the eve of the Sith invasion, but recognizing the military and political climate was not in their favor, many loyalists of EC-V began laying the groundwork for an underground network as they maintained their duties, occasionally misplacing items and falling prey to clerical errors that contributed to a slowly-growing store of materiel for resistance.
In five years, the Sith had squandered what little remained of Velmor's natural resources, and began to approach financial desperation. They began to seize upon the exiled monarchy's strategies and returned economic capability to Velmor's neutered industries. EC-V was a beneficiary of this move as it was re-purposed once more, this time into Manufacturing Corps- Velmor (MaC-V).
The organization began at a disadvantage; after half a decade of atrophy, it was poorly-suited to an invigorated boom of production. However, as economic and logistical necessity mandated that the Sith concede greater independence and autonomy to MaC-V, its prowess was rekindled, as was its spirit of resistance.
With MaC-V being the closest to a national corporation that Velmor had seen since the days of VVM, its members applied themselves eagerly to their restored roles. MC-V recieved a number of licenses for the proprietary parts and weapons of dozens of other companies, and began to produce ground support vehicles and infantry equipment used by the Sith. One of the organization's first innovations was the redesign of the Sith's armored personnel carriers and supply transports, from the APT-2 and MM/PT-60 into the APT-3 and MM/PT 70 respectively. The latter would go on to develop into the MM/PT 71 Series.
210's
MaC-V established itself as a resource of the Sith, and it began to enjoy greater degrees of independence, which were soon covertly channeled into a burgeoning resistance force. MaC-V proved a much greater boon to the resistance than to the Sith, for as Velmor's occupiers struggled to retain control of the world while divided on a galactic scale, its citizens became emboldened by their ebbing influence. MaC-V began to pioneer original designs with a line of military ground vehicles under the tacit approval of its Sith overseers. This began with the manufacture of the ATX-3 and would end with the VT-RSV in 218ABY. While some of its designs went on to enjoy moderate commercial success as the Sith sold them to other planets and militaries, the program was overall a failure.
However, a trio of MaC-V's best design, engineering, and testing teams emerged from this program, and played dual roles as covert instruments of the resistance. They were code-named V-1, X-1, and C-1.
In 215ABY, Civil War broke out between the Sith government and Velmoran loyalists, which were eventually lead by Velmor's heir-in-exile, Hyacinth Janick and calling themselves the Velmoran Freedom Fighters. MaC-V remained as a supplier to both sides of the struggle, although its contributions to the occupational government quickly gained a reputation for violent unreliability. MaC-V defied suspicion only through the willful ignorance of an increasingly desparate occupational government.
Velmor's loyalists failed to achieve any decisive victories, but their consistent activities made the world's continued occupation untenable. In 218ABY the Sith withdrew from Velmor, allowing the loyalists to fall upon an isolated and de-fanged occupation that quickly collapsed.
Queen Janick returned to her liberated homeworld. Rather than re-institute an absolute monarchy, she served as a provisional queen while stewarding the creation of a democratic representative government and mixed-market economy. Velmorans embraced this change, and Velmor's industries tackled the new economic climate with cautious enthusiasm.
To pre-empt the creation of trusts, MaC-V was divided into a number of sub-components drawn from their original incarnations prior to the nationalization, including V Armory and Sprig Arms. However, VVM was restored more or less intact while becoming a public corporation, losing only a small number of specialist companies like the Velmoran Royal Shipyards. VVM was renamed Velmoran Military Engineering Works and immediately set to producing equipment and vehicles for export.
VMEW's ties to the Velmoran Freedom Fighters naturally transitioned into an association with the Republic Liberation Front, Janick's next political operation. The teams which had secretly served the Velmoran Freedom Fighters in MaC-V - V-1, X-1, and C-1 - became leading forces of VMEW, and divided their efforts between VMEW's commercial endeavors and its materiel support for the RLF under the VMEW Galactic Initiative division. Janick's personal bodyguard and lover, Selkisto Horten, was assigned as the RLF's liaison to these teams, and contributed to some of their early designs.
VGI disseminated surpluses of its military vehicles to the RLF, especially its failed products created under the Sith occupation. The division also initiated the Experimental Fighter program, whose initial offering of the XF-35, designed by the V-1 team, played a central role in gaining support for the RLF. VGI also reached out foreign shipyards, looking for channels of support for the RLF. It found one in Rendili Star Drives (RSD), which began construction of a fleet of capital ships co-designed by the C-1 team.
Another ally was found in the Intergalactic Banking Clan, which infused much-needed capital into the RLF, including funding for the XF-38, designed by the X-1 team. With this funding, VGI released production models of the XF-35 and XF-38 as the Vev and Xesh fighters respectively.
VMEW's other divisions also utilized the RLF, as well as the Velmoran Security Forces, as a testbed for its early products. Having established itself most prominently as a producer of military transports, the VMEW Defense and Security division looked to replacing the APT-3 and MM/PT71 series. For their premier design, they settled on the MM/PT 80 Series.
Within a year, it became clear that the MM/PT 80 would be a commercial failure. VMEW already suffered for inheriting MaC-V's overall subpar production lines, and Velmor as a whole began to experience severe economic growing pains. V-1, X-1, and C-1 were all assigned to redesign the MM/PT 80, and the company gambled the last of its resources on a new model, the MM/PT 85. With so much on the line, the company's viability was thrown into question, and its shareholders became desperate. If the MM/PT 85 was not a success, the company was expected to go bankrupt within 10 years. Increasingly, VMEW's hopes hinged on the success of the RLF and the military contracts it might secure from a future government founded by the political movement.
220's
In 220ABY, on the day the MM/PT 85 first entered mass production, the Galactic Empire invaded Onderon, all but destroying the RLF and reportedly killing its leader, former queen Janick. The company's last hopes were pinned then on its successor, the Republic Liberation Forces. In a show of both financial dependence and political solidarity with the RLF, VMEW's board of directors voted to officially and publicly support the RLF.
During the RLF/Imperial War, VMEW dedicated itself to producing materials for the rebellion. In addition to supplying proprietary MM/PT 85 transports, it supplied nearly the entirety of its aging surplus. It also expanded the production and supply of infantry equipment, engaging with other Velmoran companies like V Armory and Sprig Arms, which shared VMEW's political sympathies.
VMEW also answered pleas from RLF command for redesigns of the Vev, and especially the Xesh fighters. Team V-1 quickly re-released the Vev as a new model CB/I-17 with significant improvements, and the model went on to become ubiquitous among the RLF's fleets by the war's end. X-1 devoted considerably more time to redesigning the problematic Xesh fighter. Looking to the future, team V-1 began work on the XF-40, the first prototype of what would become the troubled Aurek Program.
Acantha Heron disappeared early on in the war, and the IBC's support began to wane. Ikest Industries stepped forward to honor a vague agreement between its owner, Grunda Ikest, and Selkisto Horten in the early days of the Republic Liberation Front. The small production facility was provided the designs and specifications of the new Vev and Xesh fighters, which it began to produce in limited numbers.
For larger projects, VMEW continued to interface with RSD. The former convinced the latter to initiate a gamble similar to their own and back the RLf politically. The two companies worked out an agreement delineating the division of military contracts to a republican government which would succeed the RLF, presuming its success. RSD moved to produce a starfleet based upon VMEW's designs for the rebellion to use against the Galactic Empire. These included the M450 Gavel and the M640 Vindicator.
By the end of the decade VMEW was all but bankrupt, its stock prices dipping to just above zero. The company exploited Velmor's general sympathy to the RLF by equating its own stocks to bonds in a future republic. While many Velmorans seized on this opportunity, more out of a sense of patriotism than financial acumen, several prominently wealthy Velmorans stepped forward with their support, among them Tiffany Vandergraff.
The Attack on the Devi and the ensuing fracturing of the Galactic Empire catalyzed a surge of hope among the company. Anticipating its first contract with the Republic, VMEW made the decision to continue the Aurek Program after the failure of the XF-40 and XF-41, assigning it to the CGI's X-1 team.
Finally, by 230ABY, the RLF defeated the Galactic Empire and took Coruscant. VMEW's board of directors muted expressions of deep relief as the company's stocks surged almost overnight. With confidence, VMEW's shareholders anticipated an age of prosperity.
230's
VMEW soon became the primary military contractor of the newly-founded People's Galactic Alliance, ensuring its financial security for a generation. It celebrated the creation of the new republic with the release of the Aurek starfighter, after releasing final prototypes to GAR's Emerald Squadron for review.
As the PGA's military branch, the PGAF, became an organized government security force, it honored Velmor's contribution to the RLF with an array of lucrative contracts. The MM/PT 85 (renamed the MT 85), the Vev and Xesh fighters, as well as weapons and equipment produced under license or subcontracted by VMEW like the MB-2 Rifle and HARP-51.
Tiffany Vandergraff emerged as VMEW's largest stockholder and became the honorary chairwoman of its board. She was approached and threatened by a Sith named Takaki Rejkus who demanded an order of oversized hyperdrives from VMEW. After disclosing the deal to the PGA, the deal was approved, subcontracting RSD's shipyards for production. Due to suspicion of the Sith's motives, the hyperdrive designs were intentionally sabotaged, but the secrecy of the operation meant that RSD technicians identified and corrected several inherent design flaws as they built the machines.
The PGA senate extended debt remuneration to the company and approved the PGAF's assorted contracts. Its influence increased with the election of Vandergraff as Velmor's senator, who helped secure further contracts to VMEW. Dac soon joined the senate, and it was not long before a VMEW liaison approached the world's Mon Calamari shipyards for larger capital projects. The M1200 Baron was contracted as the PGA's primary capital ship model, named after Baron Carver, captain of the Devi, who gave his life protecting the RLF Constitutional Convention.
The reformed Fel Empire also approached VMEW, offering contracts for purchase of the MT 85 by the Imperial Storm Corps and Imperial Knights. VMEW went on to supply additional equipment to the Fel Empire for its use against the Imperial Remnant, including HARP-51's and E-62 blaster rifles licensed from Blas-Tec.
Further expansion was made into the civillian sector,
VMEW surpassed solvency halfway through the decade and began reporting record profits every year. Looking to expand to meet the needs of the PGAF, it opened its own shipyards on Velmor. The company began to suppliment Ikest Industries' starfighter production, and designed and produced its first cruiser, the LPC-7 Hermit.
Activities by the Revenant Armada served only to bolster the company's standing. After the theft of sections of RSD's shipyards by Rejkus, VMEW rose to an even stronger position as it was tasked with compensating for the other shipyard's loss in manufacturing capacity. The invasion of Coruscant by the Revenant Armada and the PGA's ensuing declaration of war precipitated VMEW's most profitable years.
Another boon came in the form of the senate's Military Equipment Processing Bill, which assigned VMEW as the primary entity in charge of decommissioning military assets captured by the PGAF and refurbishing them for second-hand sale. Although its profits from this operation were heavily taxed as a source of PGA revenue, the remaining income supplimented the company's growth.
Not all PGA legislation benefited VMEW, however. Early in the War with the Revenant the senate passed a bill which established tight trade zones and incurred heavy tariffs on republic corporations shipping or contracting beyond them. VMEW lost lucrative contracts with the GAR as a result of this measure, and was restricted to trade with the Fel Empire, in addition to its contractual obligations to the PGAF.
240's and future
As the PGA entered its second decade, VMEW stood poised to dominate its trade sector and well beyond it, even as the Fel Empire and its contracts collapsed. By the end of the War with the Revenant, VMEW had undertaken two new phases of armor for the PGAF (Phases II and III), a new transport (the RAP-1), and new weapons and equipment, in addition to the thousands of weapons, starships, and other materials the company and its subcontractors churned out every month.
The PGA, however, was heavily indebted to the company. The war and ensuing reconstruction of Coruscant lead the PGA to choose between unsustainable further expansion and large-scale belt-tightening. The republic chose the latter, decommissioning large swathes of its military assets and severely cutting its defense spending.
VMEW's newest planned offering of the ASP gunship was soon indefinitely shelved as the PGAF began to abandon its contracts. It expanded further into civilian markets with the T215 Streak and the CPA-12s, but it quickly became clear that the company's age of prosperity had ended. Briefly, the company considered abandoning the PGA in its increasing isolation and gambling with offering military contracts to other governments. It's debated whether VMEW chose to remain with the PGA out of loyalty and honoring their long relationship, or because foreign governments began to look increasingly unstable.
One prominent board member of VMEW did choose to make such a gamble, however, as Tiffany Vandergraff defected to the Tetan Empire, formerly a subcomponent of the Revenant Armada, unilaterally pledging large numbers of VMEW's assets. Vandergraff was already suffering under poor regard after her ignominious impeachment from the executive office of the PGA, and her newest act only provoked outright outrage. In retaliation, the other directors ejected her from the board and revoked her shares, denying the company's facilities to Vandergraff and the severely distrusted Tetan Empire.
VMEW later suffered for the act as Thalia Janick assumed absolute control of the Velmoran government, ending the two decades of democratic populism initiated by her grandmother. Vandergraff, who had groomed the young queen, figured prominently in her administration. Sensing the woman would use her position to leverage government authority to favor her own family's Vandergraff Company and either commit a hostile take over of its infinitely more successful rival or run it out of business with oppressive monarchical law, VMEW evacuated from Velmor in full, taking all of its assets off-world and moving them to Rendili.
Velmor's monarchy soon devolved back into a pseudo-democracy before the queen finally faded from the galactic stage. The economic impact of VMEW's total withdrawal was implicated in an alleged financial collapse, but the private investigation, undertaken by VMEW, which concluded this was accused of corporate bias. VMEW moved its headquarters back to Del Shikaw after the monarchy proved no longer to be a threat to its operations, but it cautiously maintained most of its facilities off-world.
VMEW continues to honor modest, if not token, contracts with the PGAF while focusing on commercial sales. While there is a heavy culture of nostalgia for the lucrative days of the PGA, the company is largely content with its profit margin today, even if it is merely a "respectable" fraction of its former enormity.
Products
VMEW's range has diversified substantially since its incarnation as VVM, with its numerous products spread across three primary divisions: VMEW Commercial, VMEW Defense and Security, and the VMEW Galactic Initiative. While originally each division was directed centrally from VMEW's headquarters, each has evolved into a more distinct entity.
VMEW Commercial
VMEW Commercial gained significant influence within the company after its selection to head the PGA's Military Processing Center, and sells the entire range of the PGA's decommissioned vehicles, including those both for military and civilian sale. It has pursued a small number of independent product lines, administering both their design and production, in addition to its sale of the MT85C civilian transport.
Airspeeders
Decommissioned Vehicles
List of decommissioned vehicles sold by VMEW
Transports
VMEW Defense and Security
VDS forms the backbone of VMEW, and sells its most complete range of military and paramilitary-use designs. Most manufacturing is subcontracted to other companies, most notably Ikest Industries, Rendili Star Drives, Sprig Arms, and V Armory, but VDS continues to produce some of its original military support vehicles from in-house facilities. VDS acquired one license from Sprig Arms to manufacture MB-2 rifles for the PGA during the War with the Revenant, but most MB-2 factories were closed as the war ended.
Armor
- Phase I Velmoran combat armor (exclusively produced by V Armory)
- Phase II Velmoran combat armor (exclusively produced by V Armory)
- Phase III Velmoran combat armor (exclusively produced by V Armory)
Equipment
- HARP-51 (exclusively produced by V Armory)
Firearms
- MB-2 Rifle licensed from Sprig
- LAVS-82 Missile Launcher (exclusively produced by Sprig)
- LAAS-12 Missile Launcher
Ground Vehicles
- ATX-3 Main Battle Tank
- LSV-6 Strike Tank
- MAV RC-92 Artillery Tank
- RRLV-17 Speeder Bike
- VT-RSV Scout Walker
Military Transports
Starfighters
- Eta-8 "Xesh 1" (exclusively produced by IBC)
- Eta-8C "Xesh 2" (also produced by Ikest Industries)
- F/B-1 "Trill"
- CB/I-16 "Vev 1" (exclusively produced by IBC)
- CB/I-17 "Vev 2" (also produced by Ikest Industries)
- PF-1 "Aurek" (also produced by Ikest Industries)
Starships
- LPC-7 Hermit-Class Light Cruiser
- M1200 Baron-Class Star Defender (exclusively produced by Mon Calamari Shipyards)
VMEW Galactic Initiative
VGI is VMEW's most visionary division, absorbing most of its R&D budget. Home to the V-1, X-1, and C-1 teams, it is primarily focused on design and revision, and has taken part in most VMEW projects, usually in designing or refining their early stages.
Starfighters
Prototypes
Starships
- M450 Gavel-Class Light Attack Cruiser (exclusively produced by Rendili Star Drives)
- M640 Vindicator-Class Frigate (exclusively produced by Rendili Star Drives)