Silent Light Corporation is the company charged with building Velwythe‘s first high speed railline. The company is based out of Emigration Plains in Sed City. Silent Light was founded in 122EM by William Richard Maybach. The Silent Light of 122 was vastly different than the company it is today. After scandals, deaths, disasters and arrests, the company completely overhauled its management and began designing and engineering railcarts.
Maybach created Silent Light to produce quiet burning Orb-lights. At the time, Orb-lights still radiated significant heat and produced a vibrating, hissing sound during use. Some poor quality lights were so loud that home owners frequently broke their lights in frustration. It is estimated that 15% of all home fires between 50EM and 125EM were caused by broken Orb-lights. Maybach wished to create a quiet, cool light that would replace the archaic designs of the RH-OL that the Rockenheimer Corporation had been selling for nearly a century. Unfortunately, his drive to create a product capable of outselling the RH-OL led to more than a few controversial methods.
The first silent orb-lights Maybach produced were coated in lead and a lightly radioactive substance. Only 3 years into the new orb-light’s existence the first users of the lights (and many of the workers in the company) were diagnosed with a variety of cancers. But sales were strong for the Silent Lights and Maybach refused to change the design. When more than 100 people died as a direct result of using or manufacturing the lights (all within four years), the Grand Council was forced to intervene. To deal directly with Maybach and other individuals selling faulty or dangerous products, the GC created the Consumer Protection Agency (CPA). At once CPA agents investigated Maybach’s company and found a number of illegal manufacturing methods and materials. Maybach was forced to completely redesign his orb-lights.
Despite new government regulations and a changed formula, Maybach wasn’t done creating chaos. While the CPA made certain Maybach ceased using the dangerous materials, they gave no instruction on what to do with all of the toxic, radioactive refuse. Deeply angered by the government’s intrusion, Maybach dumped all of the waste material into the rivers and swamps to the east of Sed City. Within months hundreds of protected natives died from poisoning. Entire villages were forced to flee their ancestral homeland. It took over a decade for Provincial Representatives to clean even a fraction of the contaminated lands. Many areas are to this day still uninhabitable. Maybach was charged with dozens of severe criminal acts, including 15 counts of murder. He was found not guilty of every charge. It was later revealed that he bribed the judge. Unfortunately, that revelation came several years after Maybach’s death.
After several years of selling gimmicky, dangerous or broken orb-lights, Maybach made one last attempt to overtake the Rockenheimer’s market dominance. After giving the company over to his younger brother, Edwin Maybach, he attempted to burn the Rockenheimer Corporate Office to the ground. He managed to burn down only 5% of the building and was killed in the inferno.
After Maybach’s death, his younger brother Edwin began salvaging the pieces of a broken company. He opted out of producing orb-lights and instead focused his sights on motorcart production, which at the time was still in its infancy.
The company, under Edwin’s direction, thrived. By the year 182EM when Edwin died, Silent Light was the leading research and development company for motorcart technologies. Almost all of the major motorcart manufacturing companies at the time bought their technology from Silent Light making it both the most profitable and popular R&D company on Atla.
For the next decades Edwin’s daughter ran the company. She continued the tradition of excellence set in place by her father, and maintained the company’s position as number one R&D institution. Well before her death her son, Robert, took the position of company head. Robert just happened to be in attendance when Golden Carnival unveiled its MagSlide ride. Thoroughly intrigued, Robert made certain his company was an integral part in the railline’s creation.
Today, Silent Light is run by Robert’s nephew, Andrew Gibson. Robert never married or had children, but always shared a deep bond with young Andrew. Andrew valued the advice and wisdom of his uncle as much as that of his own parents. Robert gave Andrew his first job as a janitor in one of the corporate offices. It didn’t take long for the Maybach family business acumen to show through, quickly propelling Andrew from janitor to assistant to supervisor and eventually, owner. It was Roberts idea to build the first high speed railline, and he has been working closely with Belinda Zabriskie, the lead engineer for the project.
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