Furkea Meraki

Furkea Meraki was a small spacecraft producing that operated briefly during the Fourth Age. Despite operating for only 22 years, the company became a legend among starship operators for how incredibly bad, cheap, and horrifyingly unsafe their products were.

History

Furkea was founded in A.Y. 4807. The company slogan was "Bringing inter-stellar travel to the power of the common man!" The companies goal was to produce an FTL-capable space craft cheap enough that it could be owned by middle-class families.

The company opened with a produce called The VeroCar, a four-seat, sub-light capable spacecraft that would be their flagship product. The VeroCar could not reach FTL, and had a top speed of only about 10 PSL with a very poor Acceleration Curve. But, it was capable of VTO/VL, atmospheric exit and entry, and leaving orbit. The whole ship was only about twenty-four feet long and eight wide, making it possible to land on a modest piece of property(though most regulations required the use of a spaceport. See "Repercussions" bellow).

The VeroCar cost only about a quarter of a million credits - expensive, but attainable by the upper-end of the middle class.

Furkea followed up the the next year VeroCar with the VeroCar Excelsior; only twelve feet longer than the original VeroCar, it was capable of FTL, and cost the same as the original VeroCar. Both products suffered a similar problem: cramped internal spaces and long travel times.

In A.Y. 4810, Furkea released the Somniabus and Somniabus Ultra, touted as "a recreational vehicle... IN SPAAAACE!". The Somnibus was essentially a VeroCar Excelsior fitted with seats that folded into the walls and some basic amenities, such as a toilet and optional refrigerator, and seats that folded down into beds. The usable interior space was nearly double that of the VeroCar, but passengers taller than 5'8" still couldn't stand upright. The Somnibus Ultra had about double again the space and a 7' head room, but was advertised as "comfortably sleeping eight", which it did not do.

A Somnibus cost around 300,000 credits, which was out of the reach of most individuals; the Ultra was much pricerier at 500k. Though a few families bought them, as well as some people at the low-end of the upper-class, the primary market was rental agencies, which itself led to even more disasters.

In A.Y. 4812, the VeroCar II entered production, basically an updated version of the VeroCar Excelsior with a few of the more deadly bugs worked out. Also introduced was the AlloCar, a re-branded VeroCar with very few changes and several features removed to reduce the price. AlloCar's replaced VeroCar's in production and cost only about 200k.

In A.Y. 4813, Furkea lost the first major lawsuit against the company, a wrongful death suit from two familities that had died aboard a Somnibus Ultra. Most suits had been kept at bay, directed instead at re-sellers and rental agencies, but in this case the Somnibus had been purchased directly from Furkea. The company settled out of court, and immediately suspended all direct sales.

In the intervening years, several variants and re-designed models were produced.

By A.Y. 4829, Furkea had succeeded in it's goal with the 90k BovomokoVia(essentially an even more stripped down VeroCar), and the palatial Furkea NoGo, which was as large inside as a spacious motor home, not much larger outside, and sold for just 250k. It was advertised as a "mobile retirement home in the stars!". Plans were also made, for discerning customers, to create the Furkea NoGo eXtreme, which

Repercussions

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