What IS Night Corporation? Richard Night's legacy. The foundation stone of Night City. Its silent, watchful guardian.[3]
Night Corporation[4] (commonly stylized as Night Corp) is a development firm and public works corporation based in Night City. Originally founded by Richard Night as a development firm known as Night International[1][5] (or Night Industries[6]), it was later restructured into Night's Foundation by Richard's wife and widow Miriam Night, and later again into Night Corporation.[2]
Overview[]
Night Corp is a unique enterprise that puts its full attention on Night City and its affairs, inspired by the ideals of the city's founder, Richard Night, and his wife Miriam. By adhering to their founders' vision, the company aims to improve the living standards of all Night Citizens, putting the metropolis' welfare first and foremost.
Night Corp is development firm and public works corporation that acts as the largest contractor of public procurements within Night City's boundaries, building and renovating facilities such as roads, bridges, tunnels, metro lines, power plants, net transmitters, waterworks, sewerage, among others. The corporation is also known for their charities designed to aid the poor children of Night City, scholarship programs to benefit gifted youth — Jefferson Peralez, future Mayor of Night City, was among them — or donations to the various city orphanages. Night Corp is also heavily invested in research for ecology and alternate power sources, as well as other developments involving avant-garde technology, financing multiple local projects in the process. They also posses orbital stations and satellites around Earth.[2][3]
Due to the corporation's seclusive and often downright secretive policies, not much is publicly known about Night Corp, sparking many rumors about their operations, which supposedly include underwater works in Del Coronado Bay, secretive engagements in mayoral elections, or shares in their orbital projects. Night Corp security is tight, and most corporations prefer to not mess with them in their own territory.[2]
The company's headquarters are located in the City Center district of Night City.[7]
History[]
1990s - 2010s[]
Richard Night, a successful businessman who during the early 1990s was concerned by the violence and disruption of the impending United States Collapse, saw himself in an unique position to deal with the forthcoming issue. Working mainly on corporate-funded projects under a notorious company known as Halsey, Ferris and Night, Richard was dreaming to create his own ideal city. For that reason, he decided to depart and start his own development firm, Night International, and began to plan his utopian dream of Coronado City, an exemplary metropolis that was to be completely self-sufficient and capable of holding off even the most determined criminals. It would boast planned neighborhoods dedicated to preserving the feel of different types of nationalities and cultures, as well as a super-modern corporate center that would stand as a shining beacon of enlightened capitalism. By 1992, Night had managed to secure the unheard-of amount of capital needed to finance such a large-scale enterprise. Arasaka, EBM and Petrochem had all signed on with the project spearheaded by Night International, leading to the formation of the Coronado Partnership. Not long after MA&F would also join them as one of the major bankrollers.
After rearranging the terrain, Coronado City was finally founded in 1994 at the former site of Morro Bay. Night International had the capacity to start construction, but a project of such scale needed more companies to provide much of the needed workforce, machinery and materials, eventually lending to the unwarranted employment of the Mob, who controlled most of the construction companies in the West Coast. However, Night's plan required the use his own advanced building techniques and materials that Night International was capable of, but which excluded a number of established unions and construction firms controlled by his new partners. This displeased them, and Night's further insistence that his new city would be safe and crime free angered them even more. Over the following years though construction of Coronado City advanced positively, the furious mobs finally had enough of the entrepreneur's ideas and his luck ran out. On September 20th 1998, Richard Night was shot and murdered in his penthouse suite at the top of the newly constructed Parkview Tower. Night's killer was never apprehended, and in his memory, the newly appointed City Council officially renamed Coronado City as "Night City" in his honor.[8][6][5][2]
A year after her husband's death, in 1999, Miriam Night restructured Richard's company and founded Night's Foundation, with the primary goal to protect and promote her husband's vision of the perfect city.[2] However, in the following decade Night's Foundation struggled to keep the welfare of Night City, which soon fell into chaos as the Mob and gangs took over. During the infamous Mob War set between 2009 and 2011, the foundation attempted to gain megacorporate support to end the reign of crime in the city, but to no avail. Allegedly, after the conflict Miriam realized that to have any power in the city, you had to play by the rules of the big businesses to get ahead. As such, Night's Foundation was restructured, returning to its corporate roots, and renamed to Night Corporation — Night Corp for short. Ever since, the company remained a constant presence in Night City, expanding their field of activity but avoiding power struggles with other major corporations. Although Miriam would eventually step down from the role of CEO during the following years, her legacy and ideals were always upheld by her successors.[2][7][1]
2020s - 2050s[]
During the Fourth Corporate War, especially after the Night City Holocaust of 2023, Night Corp constructed a number of soup station operations throughout the ruined city to aid those who needed it the most. However, once the war had finished in 2025, this only lasted for a few more months before Night Corp decided their funds were better spent elsewhere.[9]
Night Corporation would become more notorious during the rebuilding years of the metropolis. They were a major reason as to why the nomads traveled to Night City to help, as well as one of the instigators for the local squabbling factions controlling the city to cooperate and form a new government. The company offered generous pay and free cyberware and biomonitor upgrades to anyone willing to help clean up the crater of radioactive rubble at ground zero. Both Night Corp and the City Council claimed that casualties were kept to a minimum, while at the same time they did not provide official statistics to substantiate said claim. Nevertheless, they were never under pressure to release such documents since most rescue, engineering, and rubble cleanup teams were not local Night Citizens, but nomads — especially from the Aldecaldos nation.[10][7][5]
During these years, Night Corp and the City Council gave a grant and buy-in to the recently founded Ziggurat corporation in order to help them transform the old fiber-optic Data Term network into a new system — creating one of the first CitiNets and Data Pools in the world — and restore cheap and reliable communication across the metropolis.[6]
By the early-mid 2040s, Night Corp was investing a large portion of their resources in the reconstruction of Night City, which included an upgrade to the police headquarters in the Glen. Although they were doing this by transferring the resources destined for the neighborhoods that needed it the most, like South Night City, to more wealthier areas.[9] The corp was the one who appointed Zohara Freeman as the city manager for the Glen.[11]
In 2045, Orbital Air was tasked to construct a mass driver in Night City, but the project was abandoned and instead the NCX Spaceport was built. Night Corp, who had frequently collaborated with OA in the past, was furious with this outcome as the city lost its chance to become a "frontier to conquer space." This caused Night Corp to cut all ties with Orbital Air, starting a sort of cold war between them.[12]
At some point since Night City's reconstruction, the oil fields north of the city became a joint project of Petrochem and Night Corp.[13]
2060s - 2070s[]
In 2068, NCART was bought out by Night Corp after an incident in which unknown attackers released poison gas in the subway stations across Night City, leading to prolonged riots and NCART's bankruptcy. Ever since, this public transit system became more reliable.[7][14]
Due to the much less competent leadership figures in Night Corp, by the 2070s the company had lost the race against major corporations such as Arasaka and Militech, both of whom came to wield the most power in Night City. With the metropolis reconstruction era behind them, Night Corp's glory days were over, and the company's influence was waning quickly. Still, in spite of how they managed their resources, Night Corp's leadership kept a significant say in the matters pertaining to the public administration and social issues in NC. They were involved in many of the city's projects, essentially running much of the local infrastructure, and were known to fund local organizations such as the NCPD and MaxTac, though every passing day their coffers kept shrinking. However, a number of Night Corp employees did not yet lost faith in the city's founder vision, and due to the merited history throughout the years, some residents expressed their wishes for the corporation to return into a position of true power.[4][7] Moreover, due to Orbital Air's neglect in maintaining the spaceport, there were those wondering if Night Corp would try to push OA out of Night City.[15]
By 2076, Night Corp was beginning to turn their luck. Their public image was good, though not much was known about their operations due to the company's secretive nature. Even its employees knew only as much as they needed to do their jobs and little more. This caused a number of conspiracy theories surrounding the corporation, though this didn't deter them from their objective. One of the biggest projects they had recently acquired was the revitalization of the Night City portion of the old transcontinental maglev system, which they were hoping would connect the new Corporate Plaza with the continent's East Coast.[16][7] Night Corp was also sponsoring the Night City Corsairs football team, giving them exclusive rights to cyberware equipment designed in the company's top-secret "Football Science Lab" to give them the upper hand against the competition.[17]
In early 2077, Night Corp's labor was recognized when it was nominated as the fifth biggest and best corporation to work for in Night City. Despite not being able to compete against the largest powers, they had managed to enter the top five after announcing a reduction of the mandatory workweek hours to 80.[18] The corporation had also finalized their conceptual engineering efforts to revitalize the local intercontinental maglev system, and were starting to repair sections of the old network, as well as drilling a new tunnel beneath the city foundations from a construction site on the Badlands to the north east. Construction was expected to finish in 2078, with the first connections operational by the end of said year, and with the city of Chicago by 2080.[16]
Around early-mid 2077, Sandra Dorsett — an employee of the corporation — stole information from Night Corp on a databank, which was something Sandra wished to expose to the public. The databank itself contained the information on tests the corporation had conducted using an AI to condition its own employees. The AI was designed to control not just their workers, but other figures Night Corp deemed useful to them.[19]
Database Entry (2077)[]
NIGHT CORPORATION
If there's one thing Night Corp is known for, it's secrecy – nobody really knows how much the corporation is worth, what its main source of revenue is, nor how many people it employs. The corporation is part Richard Night's legacy, the visionary industrialist who laid the bedrock of Night City. It was founded by Night's widow, Miriam, who used the money her late husband left behind to build it from the ground up and structure it around Night's ideals and principles. For many years, Miriam was the CEO of Night Corp before the helm was taken over by much less competent figures, who ultimately lost the race with Arasaka and Militech – both of whom ultimately came to wield the most power in Night City. Now, Night Corp's glory days are long behind it. After years of progressive degeneration, Night Corp's influence waned to nearly non-existent. Still, outside of managing its own capital, Night's successors have maintained a significant say in matters pertaining to public administration and pro-social causes. Public road works, construction and conserving institutions for the public good, revitalizing the Maglev system – these are only a handful of projects financed by Night Corp. More well-known beneficiaries include the NCPD and MaxTac, which are still partly financed by the Night Corp's shrinking coffers. It seems there are still those in the company's rather mysterious structure who have not lost faith in the vision of the city's founder. Even if cheapened by corporate slogans and guided primarily by politcal interests, the merits of Night Corp's role in the Free City's history cannot be diminished. In fact, with this in mind, some residents have expressed they wish for the day Night Corp returns to a position of true power.[4]
Behind the Scenes[]
Night Corp's seclusive and often downright secretive policies have become the subject of much speculation over the years. This topic comes from time to time, until it loses public interest, is proven to be a hoax, or is shut down by corporate authorities. Night Corp supposedly owns their own satellites, and rumors also tell of their underwater works in Del Coronado Bay, secretive engagement in mayoral elections, and their shares in the orbital station projects. Any potential attempts by the press or by other corporations to uncover the truth have failed so far. Despite being a public contracting company, Night Corp has very tight security, and it seems that none of the other corporations want to mess with them on their own territory.[2]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Cyberpunk 2077 (Night City Netpage)
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 BATYLDA, M. The World of Cyberpunk 2077. 1st ed. Milwaukie, OR, Dark Horse Books, 2020. (pp.88,139)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Cyberpunk 2077 (Night Corp Netpage)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Cyberpunk 2077 (Night Corp Database Entry)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 CD Projekt RED. A Visitor's Guide to Night City. Poland, CD Projekt S.A., 2019. (pp.6–7,11)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 PONDSMITH, M. Cyberpunk RED Core Rulebook. Kenmore, WA, R. Talsorian Games, 2020. (pp.280–281,284–287,291–293,314)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Mission Kit - Edgerunner's Handbook. Kenmore, WA, R. Talsorian Games, 2024. (pp.18,24,30)
- ↑ PONDSMITH, M. Night City Sourcebook. Berkeley, CA, R. Talsorian Games, 1991. (pp.33–34)
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 GRAY, J. et al., Danger Gal Dossier. Kenmore, WA, R. Talsorian Games, 2023. (pp.79,131,136)
- ↑ Nomads at Ground Zero
- ↑ GRAY, J. Night City 2045 Atlas. Kenmore, WA, R. Talsorian Games, 2025. (p.7)
- ↑ Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty (Orbital Air Database Entry)
- ↑ LUDKOWSKI, Ł. Cyberpunk 2077 World Compendium. Poland, CD Projekt S.A., 2020. (p.11)
- ↑ Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty (NCART Database Entry; NCART Netpage)
- ↑ The mass-driver provocation. NCX today and tomorrow
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Cyberpunk 2077 (Maglev Network & Maglev Tunnel Database Entries; Night Corp Maglev Advertisement)
- ↑ Cyberware Controversy in Football?
- ↑ Big 5 Employers in Night City - 2077
- ↑ Full Disclosure