Shinra Electric Power Company


 * For the group of Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- missions, see Missions (Crisis Core)/Shinra Electric Company.

The Shinra Electric Power Company, also known as Shinra Inc. and sometimes spelled Shin-Ra, is a company in the world of Final Fantasy VII. It is primarily a power company, supplying Mako energy to the world and making electricity efficient and easily available. Shinra also operates in genetic engineering, space exploration, and has a strong military power including the elite group SOLDIER. This military power, combined with their monopoly of Mako energy, gives Shinra a measure of control over the world populace.

Nearly every central character in the entire Compilation of Final Fantasy VII has been negatively affected by Shinra's tyrannical rule, even many who work under its banner. The main characters of Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII- and Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- work for the company.

Story
Shinra was originally a small weapons manufacturer known as the Shinra Manufacturing Works. When they discovered how to refine Lifestream into Mako energy as an electrical energy source, they exploded in power. The company spread power to the entire world, setting up Mako Reactors, quietly taking over every aspect of the Planet. With their ever-increasing finances, they expanded into many areas, including space exploration. As people became more dependent on Shinra's power and goods, President Shinra, the owner of the company, became a global autocrat.

Starting a private army, using Mako energy to power the elite SOLDIER class and funding an undercover corps called the Turks, Shinra ruled with an iron fist. They began performing human experiments to create supersoldiers. When the people of Wutai disagreed with setting up Mako Reactors to their land, Shinra sent in their army to force their influence.

Shinra constructed the metropolis of Midgar, which houses the Shinra Headquarters and eight large Mako Reactors. Shinra controls the city and the lives of its people, although the company introduced a figure-head mayor. It obtained control of much of the world's information and broadcasting services, and created a propaganda news service called "Shinra News". The main purpose of this propaganda machine is to declare those considered disloyal to Shinra dead and to distort events to Shinra's favor. In protest to Shinra's lies, an anti-Shinra news service called "Shinra Truths" appeared. Both of these can be viewed as emails in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-.

Shinra pursues the Promised Land, a fertile land famous from Cetra legends; Shinra believes the land to be full of Mako energy, and plan to relocate their center of operations there in a project named Neo Midgar. Shinra goes through great lengths to create a person with Cetra's power who could lead them to the Promised Land, but in the end, Neo Midgar is never built.

Dissent had long been felt among the people under Shinra's rule. As the Mako Reactors destroy wildlife and outcast villages, people begin to despise their work. Many researched Mako, and realized Shinra was ripping life out of the Planet. Some Shinra employees desert as they discover the truths of the company, such as First Class SOLDIERs Zack Fair, Genesis Rhapsodos, Sephiroth, and Angeal Hewley. Anti-Shinra groups, such as the eco-terrorist group AVALANCHE, and the Wutai Crescent Unit, spring up to combat the army. Even the Turks mutiny over their leader's unfair treatment and the human rights abuses the company regularly performs, causing a major fallout of many members.

President Shinra is killed when Sephiroth enacts his plan to summon Meteor to harm the Planet, and takes over Jenova's remains stored in the Shinra Headquarters, morphing her body into his image and slaying the President in his office. Vice President Rufus Shinra takes over the company and hunts Sephiroth down to North Crater, a site of immense Mako energy the company believes to be the Promised Land they have been looking for.

Their dreams are cut short as Sephiroth successfully summons Meteor and the Weapons, the Planet's defense mechanism, are awakened and begin attacking Shinra's sites of power. Shinra fails to destroy the Meteor with the Shinra No. 26 rocket. In an attempt to destroy the Weapons, Shinra fires the Sister Ray, a powerful Mako cannon, destroying Diamond Weapon. Diamond Weapon fires off a salvo of energy before dying, and causes heavy damage to the Shinra Building.

President Rufus Shinra, thought to have been killed in the explosion at the Shinra Building, survives after a daring rescue and evacuation process by Vincent Valentine and Yuffie Kisaragi. With the leader of Shinra thought dead, the other executives at Shinra go rogue and begin acting on their own volition. Reeve Tuesti, the head of Urban Development, is stripped of his title and imprisoned by Heidegger and Scarlet, the leaders of Turks and Shinra army and Shinra's weapons development, who are soon killed while facing AVALANCHE.

Professor Hojo, the head of Shinra's science department, is killed when he tries to use the Sister Ray to help Sephiroth. The final remaining Turks abandon their mission to hunt down AVALANCHE and decide to help evacuate Midgar instead. As the Meteor falls on the city, it rips apart what remains of Midgar. When the Lifestream ejects from the Planet to stop the Meteor, the people realize how important the Lifestream is, and Shinra can no longer use it popularly as an energy supply.

In a conversation between Reno and Rude in Healen Lodge in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete, it is revealed that some Shinra employees are still dedicated to the company, and return to the company remnants to help atone for their past sins. Whether this refers only to the Turks or other employees as well is unknown.

Hierarchy
Shinra is led by President Shinra (who is later replaced by his son Rufus Shinra) and its multi-affairs are divided into several departments:

Weapons Development Department
Led by Scarlet. It develops most of Shinra's weapons of war. Some weapons developed by the department include the Sister Ray, the Proud Clod, and the Gelnika.

Science Department
Led by Professor Hojo, who vacates this position during Final Fantasy VII. The Science Department is the main manufacturer of the army's Materia. It also conducts secret human experiments, heading the Jenova Project, and Deepground. Other scientists include Professors Gast Faremis, who led the department before Hojo, Hollander, Lucrecia Crescent, and the late Grimoire Valentine.

Shinra has been involved in many immoral human and animal experiments during the course of their existence. They were directly involved in the creation of monsters for military use, which led to the increase of monsters seen on the Planet in Final Fantasy VII. They experimented on the effects of Mako energy on human subjects; in small doses, it led to enhanced warriors called SOLDIER, but prolonged exposure created the Makonoids seen inside the Nibelheim Reactor.

Professors Hojo and Hollander competed in the Jenova Project in creating a human with Cetra's powers and Hojo performed shape-shifting experiments on Vincent Valentine. After the Nibelheim Incident, Hojo injected Zack Fair, Cloud Strife, and the other Nibelheim survivors with Jenova cells and Mako to test his Jenova Reunion Theory. The results of this experiment were the Sephiroth Clones.

The Deepground underground medical facility slowly transformed into an experimental soldier site after Genesis's birth. In this madhouse experimentation went on without the interference of morality and produced such monstrosities as Azul the Cerulean, Rosso the Crimson, Shelke the Transparent, Nero the Sable, and Weiss the Immaculate.

Hojo experimented on Red XIII, planning to cross-breed his species with the Cetra to increase their life-span for study.

Urban Development Department
Led by Reeve Tuesti who designed the city of Midgar from this department, and runs the city's day-to-day affairs.

Public Safety Maintenance Department
Led by Heidegger, this is the Shinra army and police force. Being charged with the responsibility over all of Shinra's armed forces, this department consists of a few different sub-branches:

The Investigative Division of General Affairs Department


Also known as the Turks, this department was first headed by Veld. Officially speaking, the purpose of the Turks is to seek out potential SOLDIER recruits, but in reality, the Turks are skilled special agents used by Shinra for gathering intelligence, providing additional security, and protecting the company's secrets no matter what the cost. Membership in the Turks is exclusive, having just over ten members towards the end of the conflict with the original AVALANCHE.

As a result of various factors, such as the Veld's desertion, the Turks go rogue and several Turks desert Shinra at the end of the conflict with AVALANCHE. Thus the Turks' numbers dwindle down to three members who are kept on a tight leash by Heidegger. Tseng takes over leadership responsibilities, and Shinra allows for an additional member to join the Turks, Elena.

SOLDIER
First led by Lazard Deusericus, this department deals with Shinra's elite branch of warriors, SOLDIER, and their battle strategies. After a rash of defections and betrayals Heidegger assumes full control over SOLDIER. SOLDIER operatives are divided into three classes, depending upon skill and success in the field.

Security Department
No explicit details are ever given on this Shinra department, which is in charge of Shinra's non-Mako infused infantrymen. Although not having as much of a reputation as SOLDIER, the Security Department's infantry make up the majority of Shinra's military force, and is deployed far more often than SOLDIER. This department has a rivalry with SOLDIER and extends challenges in the form of training sessions.

The Security Department serves as a fallback for SOLDIER hopefuls deemed unfit to go through the Mako infusion procedure that all SOLDIER members are required to pass. The leader of this department has not been identified, although it may simply be run by Heidegger.

Space Exploration Department
Headed up by Palmer, the Space Exploration Department plans on using rockets to launch men into space, their first being the ever-willing Cid Highwind. After the failed launch of Shinra No. 26, funding for the department was pulled, but it remains a part of Shinra.

Development
Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega sheds some light in what Shinra's history was like in the game's early drafts. Old Midgar (before the plate was built) was intended as the company's capital, where Shinra would have developed and constructed weapons, monopolizing the defense industry. The Ultimania states that Shinra would have made profit from a long-lasting war with an unnamed nation, where they secretly exported weapons to the enemy country as well. The traces of the secret trade were meant to be visible in various towns and cities, and characters such as Barret Wallace would have noticed.

Further, Ultimania tells that at the start of the previously mentioned war, the company would have already begun using Mako energy, and towards the end of the war, Shinra would have created the SOLDIER. Due to SOLDIER, the country on Shinra's side would have won the war and after the war's end, due to the company's monopoly on Mako energy, Shinra would have gained economic control of said country.

Musical Themes
The theme most commonly associated with Shinra in Final Fantasy VII is titled "Shinra Company", a slow piece featuring ominous piano (and, later, choir and digital effects) against a sinister, heavy beat. This track may have inspired "Immoral Melody" from Final Fantasy IX, as the two songs share strikingly similar beats. A slightly more upbeat remix, called "Mako Monopoly", plays in Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII -.

Merchandise
Various Shinra merchandise have been released by Square.

Etymology
Shinra comes from the first two characters of Shinra Banshou, a Japanese and homophone variant of Shinra Banshou , a Buddhist idiom which has come to mean "All of Nature" or "All of Creation". This refers to the Shinra Company's status as global superpower, monopolizing industry and governing most of the Planet.

Trivia

 * Square Enix's cafe Artnia serves pancakes with the Shinra logo.
 * In Final Fantasy X-2, Square Enix dropped hints of a connection between Gaia and Spira, as Shinra and Rin discuss the potential of the Farplane as an energy source, though Shinra states the technology to safely and successfully refine energy from the Farplane would not be developed for generations. This connection is confirmed in the Final Fantasy X-2 Ultimania guide, where Kazushige Nojima states that Rin would fund Shinra's efforts to refine energy from the Farplane using the Vegnagun's remains, but failed. His descendants, a thousand years later when space travel was developed, would travel to Gaia and found the Shinra Electric Power Company.