Ketshire Automotive Technologies

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Ketshire Automotive Technologies
t/a Ketek
Type Subsidiary
Industry Automotive
Founded 1661 AN
Headquarters Ketsire, Elwynn
Area served Benacia
Products Automobiles, armoured vehicles
Production output 727,000 (1685)
Employees 36,300 (1685)
Parent DKA Group
Website ketek.elw

Ketshire Automotive Technologies, usually abbreviated to simply "Ketek", is a formerly Goldshirean automaker based in Wintergleam which survived the Kalirion Fracture and resumed operations in 1674 under the protection of the Sovereign Confederation and the Raspur Pact. Its name, Ketshire is a portmanteau of Ketsire (no h!), its original location, and "-shire" as in 'Goldshire'. Ketek was originally a manufacturer of vehicles aimed towards the Masses of Goldshire and the proletarian castes of Shireroth (and even Benacia) as a whole. Their commercially available automobiles could be reliably identified by only using three wheels; a practice which saved time and money in acquiring raw materials and in manufacturing. Another staple of the brand during its Goldshirean years was their use of processed wood gas-run engines - a trait which endeared Ketek vehicles to certain export markets. In 1686 the company announced a 50-50 merger with Sanaman automotive manufacturer Derry Motors under the DKA Group brand.

History

Shortly after the return of Wintergleam to Goldshire, ex-convict and Timothean businessman Johen Rinsly Brines moved to Ketshire in hopes of taking advantage of the disorder and upheaval of Elwynnese systems as they transferred to their Goldshirean analogues. After running out of funds, Brines found work in a Benacian Railway Construction and Redevelopment site where he met an engineer for the project, Dr. Harl R. Kinner. Kinner had lived in Wintergleam under the Storish regime once worked in repairing and rebuilding the impressively garish car collections of the local aristocracy before the Auspicious Occasion, thus leaving him without a client-base and, therefor, a job. After some months of planning and discussion, Brines and Kinner came to realize just how much money the Kingdom was spending on either foreign or expensive custom-made personal automobiles and decided to propose a business opportunity to King Ryker Everstone. The proposal included giving Brines and Kinner access to scrapped military blueprints regarding small landcraft designs in exchange for significant control in the company and a Royal Contract. The King, seeing this as a clear way to further his dream of a more self-sufficient Goldshire, agreed and provided capital for the venture. Ketek was founded in 1661.

  • Disreputable activities in central Benacia - trade with Kalgachia and the RIB
  • Sales to the ESB Group
  • Prominent role in the modernisation plans set out for the Goldshire Regulars
  • Financial troubles during the final years of Old Man Ryker's life
  • Some brief moment of Elwynnese occupation that everyone has forgotten because it doesn't scan with the narrative
  • Kalirion Fracture
    • Disruption of supply chain, combined with the abrupt cancellation of orders and missed payments by customers, causes factories to fall silent
    • Workers down tools and assume a hostile attitude on account of arrears owed
    • Owners appeal to the Sovereign Confederation to send troops to quell disturbances and protect company property
  • The rapid evaporation of working capital leaves the company vulnerable to its creditors. With the collapse of the judicial system of the Imperial Republic, the thorny matter of unpaid debts tended to be resolved by other forms of dispute resolution - foremost amongst these being the employment of privately hired cudgellers to arrive en masse and effect the removal of goods or even a direct change of ownership
  • This impending fate however was averted, ironically enough, by the outbreak of the War in Wintergleam which resulted in the fortuitous retention of Ketsire by the Sovereign Confederation and the preservation of the factories by the installation of a garrison under orders to preserve the factory at all costs.
  • There was however some trouble in getting machine tools returned from Benacia Command
  • 1674 - resumption of commercial activities and occupation of Stonetree.
  • In 1686 the company announced a 50-50 merger with Derry Motors under the DKA Group.
    • In that same year Benacia Command announced the compulsory purchase of Ketek's Stonetree facilities, following the deployment of Varþataræn (Praeta: Homeland Defence) troops to company sites throughout the UGB and the condominium protectorates (Lepidopterum, Northbloom, & the Upland Confederation).
    • As a response to the seizure of company assets in the UGB, Ketek announced plans to expand operations in Elwynn and Shireroth.