The mix of technology available throughout the WOP is a study in contradictions.  Mechanical typewriters have been in high demand for the last 600 years, yet they use a poly-chromatic ink that is easily erased or the color changed.  Computers are ubiquitous, yet most people have little idea of how to use them except by asking a simple AI construct to perform the task for them.  Broadcast TV is the most popular media; yet full immersion virtual reality pods are available to those with money.  It comes down to costs, much of the WOP can hardly afford to feed themselves let alone purchase, not to mention learn to use, an advanced piece technology.  While certain items are cost effective to produce for mass consumption, many simpler items are cheaper to produce and are more likely to be used by the ignorant public.  Only the advanced tech that bring a distinct advantage to the big picture make it to the general public.

The dual backbones to most of SLA Industries’ technologies lie in the hands of two of the most powerful sub-companies; Dark Lament and Karma.  The two rivals have the two largest R&D budgets of any in the WOP and each alone is in constant competition for the holder of the most patients.  Any other competitors are several hundred years behind the two giants of industry.

Karma’s technological background firmly rests in biogenetics and it has leveraged that knowledge into a consumer product empire of regenerating fabrics, vat grown food items and living toys for the whole family.  Dark Lament on the other hand, reins in the computational sciences; this includes advanced physics and its various real world applications, the material sciences excluding organics, and computers, sensors & control systems.

While both sub-companies mainly only manufacturer products for their constituency, both heavily license their breakthroughs to other sub-companies and they themselves sponsor and invest in a number of smaller startups that do the actual development and manufacturing of the vast array of products that make up the WOP.  Like the corporate sharks that the companies are, any promising independent sub-company with a potential breakthrough is often bought out quickly and their expertise added to Karma’s or Dark Lament’s patient portfolios.  The competition is brutal between the two, often leading to murky deaths and disappearance of key management or researchers.  Whole careers have been spent by many top Operatives dealing with the tangled and often semi-legal in fighting between Karma and Dark Lament.

While simple electronic and semi conductor control systems are still plentiful in simple devices, the real powerhouses in gadgetry are biogenetic wetware from Karma and the Dark Lament dominated Analogue Colour Codex Streams.  As far as market share goes, Colour Codices own the vast majority of the systems out there for the simple reason that they are more powerful and efficient at what they do.  Karma’s niche market for biogenetic wetware developed initially as just a simple alternative but quickly gained advantages in security, design and interface.  There is a strong fan base of loyal customers for Karma wetware that keep the market alive.