Endron International is the largest and most profitable of the Pentex subsidiaries. They are an energy company with numerous parallels to real world companies including Exxon, Enron, and Standard Oil.
Overview
A sizable and diverse oil company. Endron produces a wide range of petroleum products, but primarily gasoline. Every product it produces is below current standards. The poorly refined gasoline is among the cheapest, and continually increases the pollution level. Endron is also responsible for some of the worst oil spills in history. These spills have become favored ways of decimating the environment, and the damage done is well worth the cost of the subsequent cleanups. Endron is the oldest Pentex company, having out of Premium Oil.
The oldest, also became the largest after absorbing Atlas International in 1995. Endron now specializes in cheap petroleum, natural gas and nuclear energy. All their products are below minimum standards for emission and octane levels. Safety standards at the refineries and power plants are a joke; worse, the company has been responsible for a number of oil spills and contaminations. The death, disease and ecological nightmares have been well worth the price of cleanups. One of the largest subsidiaries, floods the seas with toxic waste and crude oil. They also manufacture some of the most environmentally friendly eletric cars in the world, though the vehicles stink of the Wyrm purely to distract the Garou from important targets.
Fundamentally, Endron is Pentex, its black heart and blacker soul, and the corporation would not exist without it. No name save that of the Wyrm itself can command such Rage in the hearts of the Garou, and no force on Earth has done more direct damage to Gaia than Endron. Began in Pennsylvania at the height of the American oil boom. Quickly outgrew the limited oil reserves of Pennsylvania and became Pentex, spinning off its oil and gas bussiness into Endron Oil, a publically traded company. At least, public in theory, though Pentex has maintained a majority share since buying back most of the stocks it sold to weather the Great Depression. Through corporate acquisitions and aggressive practices, Pentex has regained total control of Edron.
Hiram Bollingsworth was the original mind behind Endron's early growth. A man under the sway of Banes thanks to his wife's misguided meddling with occult forces, Hiram nonetheless led Endron to prominence. His power over the company was so absolute that Endron's Board of Directors arranged to have him killed in 1959. They were successful, but some say that Hiram's ghost still haunts Endron corporate headquarters so that he can torment the Board members.
Current Practices
Endron today follows the same policies it has in the past, favoring rapid expansion and profit opportunity over safety. Due in part to ignoring or buying off environmental regulations, it is the world's single largest oil company. The power it wields often shapes the laws of third-world countries in Endron's favor. The almighty dollar is a weapon that cuts through any armor, as Endron well knows. The corporation can prey upon fears of job losses or outsourcing, or the greed of conservative and liberal elements alike. Cares about the negative environmental effects fall to the wayside in the light of skyrocketing gasoline prices.
The prospect of employing a huge workforce in the process of liberating a country from foreign oil interests buys them much goodwill amongst politicians and voters alike. Through press conferences, quarterly reports and talking heads on the RED Network, Endron belittles environmentalist positions. "Certainly, there are some casualties in the ongoing process of human expansion, but they're necessary cost. Do we let ten thousand people go without work; ten thousand families starve, in order to save a species or two that most people never see?" When faced with questions like these, people can justify relaxing regulations, and the number of people who truly care enough to protest on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves dwndles with every year. More and more people become complacent, shrug, and say that the modern world runs on oil. They believe there's nothing that will change that, except the discovery of some cheap alternative energy source.
Naturally, Endron is also one of the leading developers of alternate energies. The current wave of research is geothermal energy, stored deep in the earth. Of course, Endron employs a veriety of oil-fueled, highly destructive plants to harness this energy, doing as much damage as it can away from public eye. The Endron Eletric, a sleek eletric car, is prone to short-circuits, leaks dangerous heavy metals from the battery in any collision, and costs ten times more to recharge than filling up a gas tank. Endron spokespeople claim that eletric cars are inherently expensive and temperamental, encouraging most drivers to switch back to gas-powered vehicles. (20th aniversary ed)
Gallery
References
- WTA: Subsidiaries: A Guide to Pentex, p. 8-33
- WTA: Book of the Wyrm, p 38
- WTA: Book of the Wyrm Second Edition, p. 62
- W20: Book of the Wyrm 20th Anniversary Edition, p. 7, 46, 47
