Collapse of an Industry is a series of eBooks in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided that describe the state of the mechanical augmentation industry in the post-Aug Incident world. They can be found at the following locations:
- Chapter about Sarif Industries – in the Golem City, on a card table inside one of the police barracks at the exit of the Narrows.
- Chapter about LIMB – inside in a 3rd floor apartment in the alley next to the Temp Tacle building in the Red Light District.
- Chapter about Tai Yong Medical – in Ludvik's Lounge, on a window table to your left.
Part 1: Falling Star - Sarif Industries[]
At its height, Sarif Industries was moderately-sized. They employed only about 1500 people. Where they distinguished themselves was in creating progressive, forward-thinking, custom-made mechanical augmentations. Their strength was innovation and it earned them the respect of the industry and the scientific community.
The brainchild of founder David Sarif, Sarif Industries was poised to expand the human enhancement technology market to the masses when the Aug Incident occurred. It was their death knell.
David Sarif himself was badly injured during the Incident. His company was eviscerated. Hit hard by regulatory measures, cancelled contracts, and anti-augmentation sentiment, Sarif Industries declared bankruptcy in 2028. Many of its assets were snatched up by Tai Yong Medical, one of the only augmentation producing companies to survive the industry's collapse.
L.I.M.B.[]
Funded through government grants, corporate sponsorships, private endowments and bequests, Liberty in Mind and Body International, better known as L.I.M.B., was the populist face of the augmentation industry. Its mandate was to provide information, medical treatment, and outpatient care for anyone seeking to improve their quality of life through mechanical augmentation.
When the Aug Incident hit, funding dried up overnight, and demand for augmentation surgery plummeted. Before long, many countries were passing laws prohibiting the installation of new augmentations.
Within months, the majority of the 1900 L.I.M.B. clinics worldwide closed their doors. The few that are still open no longer perform augmentation surgery. Most are run by technicians who distribute Neuropozyne and may do minor maintenance on augmentations, and this, only where local governments allow.
While human enhancement technology has not yet suffered a deathblow, it may be argued that the vanishing L.I.M.B. clinics portend the end of mechanical augmentations for the general public, at least for the foreseeable future.
Last Man Standing - Tai Yong Medical[]
Prior to the Aug Incident, Tai Yong Medical was, depending on the source cited, either well on their way to becoming the largest mechanical augmentation producer in the world, or had already achieved the top rung.
The loss of their dynamic CEO, Zhao Yun Ru, was a major blow. However, the biotech giant was bolstered by the support from the Chinese government, and they weathered the storm with much less upheaval than other human enhancement companies.
With a new CEO at the helm (Shen Dian Fan), Tai Yong Medical has picked up where it left off before the Incident. They have spent the last two years acquiring and absorbing smaller biotech companies left high and dry in the wake of the disaster, including the dregs of their one-time rival Sarif Industries.
Tai Yong continues to develop augmentations and augmentation-related technologies, mostly for military contracts.