Faro Automated Solutions logo.
Faro Automated Solutions is an old Earth corporation that manufactured robots in the mid-21st century. FAS is single-handedly responsible for the Faro Plague and the downfall of life on Earth.
History
The Faro Automated Solutions campus, as seen in November 2064.
Faro Automated Solutions was founded by Ted Faro in 2033. In its early years the company was successful with its popular lines of personal servitors and bodyguard-bots, but it was overshadowed by then-industry giants such as General Synthetics and RECorp. During the climate crisis of the 2040s "Claw-back," FAS made its greatest success with the introduction of green robots and its environmental cleanup and detoxification efforts led by Dr. Elisabet Sobeck. By 2049, FAS was widely credited for solving the climate crisis and became the world's wealthiest corporation, with a record market capitalization of over $23 trillion.
But by the end of the 2040s, Faro decided to shift the company's focus on green robotics to the military-industrial complex, and opened FAS's military defense branch, effectively turning FAS into a military contractor. However, the company's change of stance significantly alienated Dr. Sobeck, who quit FAS and founded Miriam Technologies. By 2055, FAS controlled 61% of the market share for automated military platforms, holding contracts with 353 nations, trans-governmental organizations, and corporate entities.[1]
Despite the company's successes and reputation, FAS did not hesitate to increase its profits through unethical methods. FAS willingly sold their combat platforms to clients on opposing sides and discreetly encouraged conflicts between them, which in turn led their clients to buy more FAS technologies.[2]
The Faro Plague
- Ted Faro: "There's... a glitch, in the Chariot line."
- Elisabet Sobeck: "Are you telling me that a swarm has gone rogue, Ted?"
- Ted Faro: "... It's worse than that."
It is uncertain why this event happened, but in 2064, Faro Automated Solutions' Chariot line of military "peacekeeper" robots suffered an error that severed their chain of command protocols. Designed to consume biomass in emergencies, able to self-replicate, the robots became the Faro Swarm as it came to be known. They began to replicate on a massive scale and consumed entire ecosystems to fuel themselves, as well as entire human populations.
By the time Ted Faro contacted Elisabet Sobeck for a quick fix before the press got word of the event, it was already too late. Projected models and equations showed that the Swarm had reached critical mass, and was capable of replicating and repairing faster than it could be destroyed. It was inevitable: the complete obliteration of Earth's biosphere would occur within a mere 15 months. Every single species and all organic matter, including humans, would be consumed, leaving the planet lifeless and sterile.
Role in Operation Enduring Victory and Project Zero Dawn
While stopping the Faro Swarm was now impossible, a plan was established to hold it off for long enough to complete Project Zero Dawn; a top-secret reseeding and terraforming project that would repair and repopulate the Earth after the Swarm had wiped it out. Sobeck offered Ted Faro an ultimatum: either fund the creation of Project Zero Dawn or she would let all of humanity know that it was Faro himself who was responsible for the Faro Swarm. Faro accepted the former, but did so to save face rather than out of the goodness of his heart.
Fortunately, the project was completed, and Earth was restored many years after the Swarm had devoured everything on Earth. Life on Earth had been given another chance.
Legacy
Ted Faro and his company are long gone as of Aloy's time, but their mark is forever ingrained upon the world. Many records were left, in spite of Faro's efforts to wipe them clean (and thus try to hide his guilt for the genocide of all life on Earth) of his and Faro Automated Solution's involvement in the end of the Old Ones' world. Faro combat machines terrorized the land in the form of Deathbringers, Corruptors, and the corpses of the mighty Metal Devils sprawled across the terrain. Even with all the machines shut down, the threat of the Metal Devils possibly being awakened may still loom in the future.
By the events of Horizon Zero Dawn, the ruins of FAS' corporate headquarters are called Maker's End.
Product Line
Domestic
- Focus
- Runner
- @lfred
Military
Notable Employees
- Brad Andac (formerly)
- Stacy Anders - Vice-President, Public Relations
- Dodger "Dod" Blevins
- Ted Faro
- Jay Friedkin - Senior Vice-President, Sales
- Bashar Mati (formerly Vantage Project)
- Gordon Nakata - Associate General Counsel
- Robert Rescher
- Margo Shĕn (formerly)
- Elisabet Sobeck (formerly)
- Paula Vassara
- Gina Ziermann
Trivia
- All of the war machines in FAS' Chariot line have names inspired by Ancient Egyptian culture. Furthermore, the private bunker Faro built for himself is said to be pyramid shaped and is nicknamed "Thebes" [3]. Even the name "Faro" sounds just like "Pharaoh," the rulers of Ancient Egypt.